As a Californian I see the stories of Sacramento demanding higher taxes, the Governor too confused to know the difference between a surplus and a deficit, special interests demanding more spending and productive companies leaving for Texas, Kansas and other States. The Democrats have a super majority in the legislature and can, and do, pass anything they want.
It is sometimes a lonely situation. Thinking you are part of only a small group of people publicizing the excesses and corruption of government, makes you wonder why do it all? You can enjoy life, watch re-runs of your favorite detective stories and spend time with the family.
The Franklin Center and its series of conferences brings together people like myself from all over the nation. These past few days I spent in Alexandria, Virginia, with more than thirty others, like myself, bloggers in their States and some nationally known bloggers, learning about the economic excesses and problems of a Federal government gone wild. These are bright, decent people with a concern about their State and the nation. They write and report because they are driven to alert their communities, in the wider sense, of the danger of a government that appears to want to be all encompassing and controlling. The Franklin Center is creating a bond between bloggers and organizations, those with an audience and those with information. While mostly I am pessimistic about the future, the conference this weekend reminded me the Freedom Movement is larger than anyone can imagine. Importantly, it is growing.
Editorial by Stephen Frank: America’s Economic Condition is Critical
Editorial by Stephen Frank, California Political News and Views, 2/24/14
Many of you know I have been writing the California Political News and Views (originally called “Frankly Speaking”) since 1996 and have published it through the Internet since 1998 and on its own web site since 2003. In that time I have gone through thousands of newspapers, newsletters, involved in political campaigns, public policy projects, lots of meetings, speeches and radio shows. Seldom did I attend conferences or listen to other speakers. Guess I was too busy doing.
In November I had the opportunity of attending a bloggers conference about “School Choice” in Milwaukee. That conference was sponsored by the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity. We visited Charter and Voucher schools, heard from education experts and saw firsthand the value of parents being able to choose the best education venue for their child—not going through the cookie cutter approach of the government/union cabal.
A few weeks ago I was again approached by the Franklin Center—would I attend another bloggers conference in Alexandria, Virginia. This time the subject was “The Tax & Regulatory Impact on Industries, Jobs & the Economy, and Consumers. A little over 30 bloggers partiicpated.
For Californians the most pertinent point was made by Stephen Moore, of Fox News fame. He noted that while California has 12 million more residents, Texas in the past ten years has, in raw numbers, tripled the number of new jobs created. Then he went on to make another important statement, this time about the future of California. Based on the number of productive people leaving the State, our high taxes, crazy regulations, if we do not change them, our mix of population will cause the economic death of the State.
Just as a comparison, the Feds say North Dakota has a 3% unemployment rate—in fact it has a NEGATIVE unemployment rate. The State has 15,000 jobs it cannot fill. In fact, if you show up in Fargo on a Friday, if you want to work, you will have a good paying jobs by Monday.
Moore said, “When you include the unemployed, the discouraged to look for employment and the underemployed, the national unemployment rate is between 10-11%”
Then we have the fraud of the Federal government. We all know that many defense contracts are based on “specs” that are geared to one company or another—but not more than one. Now we find that the FCC (the same people that want to bully news rooms into silence about Obama scandals) are holding “Spectrum” auctions based on “specs” geared to one company. Last year the FCC was going to auction off a portion of the “H” Spectrum—but didn’t when the bidding came in $100 million below expectations—oh, only one company was “qualified” to bid on this—Madoff would be proud! This was a scam, in the name of the America people, by our government for the protection of special interests.
We also heard from Jim Pinkerton, also of Fox News fame, explaining the Obama budget. You have seen the stories of where Barack has said the “era of austerity” is over”. I have no idea what he is talking about—in five years as President the national debt has grown $6 trillion, his friends and donors have made out well, while income inequality has grown due to his policies. For instance he wants to raise the minimum wage, which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says will cost 500,000 jobs—those people will be pushed into poverty by the Obama policies “to help them”.
Pinkerton noted that the Obama budget for fiscal year 2014-5 is $57 billion more than this year—with raises everywhere, but for the military. The good news is that against the wishes of President Obama, by 2020 the United States will become a net exporter of oil. Currently we spend $250 billion a year buying oil for other nations, many of which do not like us and are either terrorist nations or supporters of terrorism.
Another lesson learned at the conference is that the nation is going to have hyper-inflation due the Federal Reserve buying trillions in bonds—with no productive actions behind it. We are still adding to the future inflation by a factor of $60 billion a month in QE spending. During the Carter years our inflation rate was over 14%-we could face that again.
One thing for sure, our economy is fragile and the numbers given show how we could tip over the edge into a recession worse than the one we had that started in 2008. The good news, is that it can be prevented via smart free market approaches to economic policy. But, that would mean a change in policy by all in Washington.
P.S. How bad off is California? When I left Alexandria Sunday morning the price of a gallon of unleaded was $3.35. When I got back to Simi Valley, the price was $3.93—the difference is why California is dying and not only from the drought.
