Tidbits
Political Quotations
To Accompany the February 12, 2020 edition of Tidbits
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2020/Tidbits021220.htm
Bob Jensen at
Trinity University
My Latest Web Document
Over 400 Examples of Critical Thinking and Illustrations of How to Mislead With
Statistics ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/MisleadWithStatistics.htm
Animated Visualization of the United States’ Exploding Population Growth
Over 200 Years (1790 – 2010) ---
A Visualization of the United States’ Exploding Population Growth Over 200 Years
(1790 – 2010)
USA Debt Clock --- http://www.usdebtclock.org/
The published national debt is a lie
Here's the real federal debt ---
https://www.truthinaccounting.org/about/our_national_debt
In September 2017 the USA National Debt exceeded $22 trillion for the first time
---
http://www.statedatalab.org/news/detail/national-debt-surpasses-20-trillion-for-the-first-time-in-us-history
Human Population Over Time on Earth ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUwmA3Q0_OE
Here's a humorous and serious TED talk that seriously argues why the world needs billionaires
https://www.ted.com/talks/harald_eia_where_in_the_world_is_it_easiest_to_get_rich
Why did Cuba abandon its socialist/communist dream of equality for everybody?
The Guardian: This was the egalitarian dream of Cuba in the 1960s: For years in
Cuba, jobs as varied as farm workers and doctors only had a difference in their
wages of the equivalent of a few US dollars a month.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/12/cuba
Here's a somber and serious Guardian article on why the Cuban
model of income equality for all is a disaster ---
Fidel Castro says his economic system is failing ---
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/09/fidel-castro-cuba-economic-model
The Singapore Dream: How Singapore's richest man went
from welding in a factory for $14 per hour to owning a $17 billion hotpot
restaurant chain ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/life-of-singapore-richest-man-from-welder-to-hotpot-billionaire-2020-1
While a
move is underway to destroy the American Dream of rags to riches (by taxing away
the riches) the Chinese dream is on the rise.
The Chinese Dream
How a Chinese billionaire went from making $16 a month in a factory to being one
of the world's richest self-made women with an $8.3 billion real-estate empire
---
https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-richest-self-made-woman-wu-yajun-net-worth-2019-2
Top 50 Billionaires in China ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_by_net_worth
Jensen
Comment
The question for students to debate is why a supposed
communist country allows so many billionaires to rise up from poverty.
That's supposed to happen in the USA where a child growing up in deep
poverty (think Oprah Winfrey or Howard Shultz) became a multi-billionaires.
But is it also supposed to happen under communism? If
so, why?
One reason is that many billionaires can afford to pour lots of money into high risk ventures. When's the last time you heard about a high risk (think Silicon Valley) venture in Europe?
Wikiquote from Wikipedia --- https://www.wikiquote.org/
Excellent, Cross-Disciplinary Overview of Scientific
Reproducibility in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ---
https://replicationnetwork.com/2018/12/15/excellent-cross-disciplinary-overview-of-scientific-reproducibility-in-the-stanford-encyclopedia-of-philosophy/
[Researchers] are rewarded for being
productive rather than being right, for building ever upward instead of checking
the foundations.---
Decades of early research on the genetics of depression were built on
nonexistent foundations. How did that happen?
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/05/waste-1000-studies/589684/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20191022&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0
Bob Jensen: My take on research validation or lack
thereof is at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm
Tom Lehrer on Mathematical Models and Statistics ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfZWyUXn3So
You must watch this to the ending to appreciate it.
Kobe Bryant: We need to make the most of
every minute we have ---
https://www.newsweek.com/i-wont-take-see-you-later-granted-148449
And nevertheless conclude that the optimum
amount of restriction of immigration is zero point zero, zero, zero? Amazing.
Economics are generally skeptical models that yield corner solutions ---
https://www.econlib.org/do-you-talk-about-it-in-open-borders-yes/
Jensen Comment
To the list of questions I would add "Do your talk about the Tragedy of the
Commons?"
The problem with open borders is somewhat related to the economic problem of
"The Sharing of the Commons" where giving everybody the right to use a free
resource leads to everybody losing that resource. At what point will allowing
billions of people share in the free medical care, free college, and other
scarce resources ruin it for everybody ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons
History of United States Immigration Laws ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwGCkZzrvQkcFbRplBPwBFwmFDs
Open immigration can’t exist with a strong
social safety net; if you’re going to assure healthcare and a decent income to
everyone, you can’t make that offer global ---
Paul Krugman
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/724654-open-immigration-can-t-exist-with-a-strong-social-safety-net
History will prove former President Donald
Trump was correct about Mexico one day funding an impenetrable wall --- to keep
out over 2 billion starving green immigrants seeking to enter Mexico from the
north.
Bob Jensen
Some Fatherly Words of Wisdom from Jack Bogle, Founder
of Vanguard Investments, to My Sons ---
https://jborden.com/2019/06/16/some-fatherly-words-of-wisdom-from-jack-bogle-founder-of-vanguard-investments-to-my-sons/
Milton Friedman: The Lesson of the
Spoons ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/08/spoons-are-in-aisle-9.html
Chopsticks would be even better
The Young
Left’s Anti-Capitalist Manifesto: Its goal is to remake our economic system —
and the Democratic Party ---
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-young-lefts-anti-capitalist-manifesto/
I have a complaint about America today, and it
is simple: we don’t love business enough ---
Tyler Cowen
https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2019/Klingbigbusiness.html
The Amazon Rain Forest Is Nearly Gone ---
https://time.com/amazon-rainforest-disappearing/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=20190914&xid=newsletter-brief
Amazon rainforest fires: Everything we know and how you can help
---
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/amazon-rainforest-fire-whats-happening-now-and-how-you-can-help-update-indigenous-tribes/
There Are More Fires Burning in Africa Than Anywhere on Earth ----
https://time.com/5665794/africa-forest-fires-amazon/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=20190901&xid=newsletter-brief
If forests go up in smoke, so can carbon offsets ---
https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/13/20859156/forests-fires-carbon-offsets-amazon-california
"In
Praise of Cheap Labor," by Paul Krugman,
Slate, March 21, 1997 ---
https://slate.com/business/1997/03/in-praise-of-cheap-labor.html
Corruption in general has a deleterious effect
on the readiness of economic agents to invest. In the long run, it leads to a
paralysis of economic life. But very often it is not that economic agents
themselves have had the bad experience of being cheated and ruined, they just
know that in this country, or in this part of the economy, or this building
scene, there is a high likelihood that you will get cheated and that free riders
can get away with it. Here again, reputation is absolutely essential, which is
why transparency is so important. Trust can only be engendered by transparency.
It's no coincidence that the name of the most influential non-governmental
organization dealing with corruption is Transparency International.
A Conversation with Karl Sigmund: When Rule of Law is
Not Working
https://www.edge.org/conversation/karl_sigmund-when-the-rule-of-law-is-not-working
The History and Economics of Mexican Drug
Cartels ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/02/the-history-and-economics-of-mexican-drug-cartels.html
Mortgage Backed Securities are like boxes
of chocolates. Criminals on Wall Street and one particular U.S. Congressional
Committee stole a few chocolates from the boxes and replaced them with turds.
Their criminal buddies at Standard & Poors rated these boxes AAA Investment Grade
chocolates. These boxes were then sold all over the world to investors.
Eventually somebody bites into a turd and discovers the crime. Suddenly nobody
trusts American chocolates anymore worldwide. Hank Paulson now wants the
American taxpayers to buy up and hold all these boxes of turd-infested
chocolates for $700 billion dollars until the market for turds returns to
normal. Meanwhile, Hank's buddies, the Wall Street criminals who stole all the
good chocolates are not being investigated, arrested, or indicted. Momma always
said: '"Sniff the chocolates first Forrest." Things generally don't pass the
smell test if they came from Wall Street or from Washington DC.
Forrest Gump as quoted at
http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.sport.tennis/2008-10/msg02206.html
It is not that machines are going to replace
chemists. It’s that the chemists who use machines will replace those that don’t
---
Derek Lowe
Gallup: Americans Say No. 1 Problem is
'Government,' No. 2 is 'Immigration' ---
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/survey-americas-no-1-problem-government-no-2-problem-immigration
Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so on ad infinitum ---
Augustus De Morgan
Prior to 1980 what was unique about the year of his birth in 1871?
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/De_Morgan.html
Also see
The
enemy is fear
We think it's hate
But, it's fear
Gandhi
Hermann Weyl born in Hamburg, Germany. He wrote,
"One may say that mathematics talks about the things which are of no concern to
men. Mathematics has the inhuman quality of starlight---brilliant, sharp, but
cold ... thus we are clearest where knowledge matters least: in mathematics,
especially number theory." ---
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Weyl.html
Also see Mathematical Analytics in Plato's Cave
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm#Analytics
Almost anything can be preserved in alcohol, except health, happiness and money
A Brief Animated History of Alcohol ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/01/a-brief-animated-history-of-alcohol.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29
Georges Simenon wrote nearly 200 novels.
Hitchcock telephoned one day and was told, "Sorry, he’s just started a novel."
"I’ll wait,’ came the reply
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/08/if-only-georges-simenon-had-been-a-bit-more-like-maigret/
12 inspiring quotes from Martin Luther King
Jr.---
https://www.businessinsider.com/inspiring-martin-luther-king-jr-quotes-2017-1
21 outstanding Warren Buffet quotations ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-21-best-quotes-2019-2
Also see
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-25-best-warren-buffett-quotes-in-one-infographic/
The Atlantic: The Swiftly Closing
Borders of Europe ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/12/europe-france-italy-immigration-border/578179/
History of United States Immigration Laws ---
https://rapidvisa.com/history-of-united-states-immigration-laws/
NYT: American history textbooks can
differ across the country, in ways that are shaded by partisan politics ---
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/12/us/texas-vs-california-history-textbooks.html
Jensen Comment
I remember years ago when an American History textbook intended for all high
schools in Texas had hundreds of mistakes including the "fact" that the USA
dropped a nuclear bomb in the Korean War. Most of these "mistakes" were not
typos. Gone are the days when American History textbooks are factual.
The levels of methane and propane (arising
naturally from the Red Sea) were 40 times higher than expected, making the sea’s
emissions comparable to those of fossil fuel-exporting countries like the United
Arab Emirates or Kuwait ---
https://www.ozy.com/presidential-daily-brief/pdb-271496/polluting-seas-272032/
Americans’ financial satisfaction hit an
all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to the Personal Financial
Satisfaction Index (PFSi) ---
https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2020/jan/americans-financial-satisfaction-q4-2019-22785.html
NY Times: Socialism, despite its
flavor-of-the-month appeal to young people, is not popular with the general
public.
Bernie Sanders Cannot Beat Donald Trump
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/31/opinion/bernie-sanders-campaign.html?auth=login-email&login=email
Report ranks NYC as having worst municipal
finances in country ---
https://www.data-z.org/news/detail/report-ranks-nyc-as-having-worst-municipal-finances-in-country
Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron thinks
Astros should be banned 'for life' after sign-stealing scandal
---
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/baseball-hall-of-famer-hank-aaron-houston-astros-banned-life-sign-stealing-scandal
NYC Doesn't Care About Victims
Suspect in brutal mugging of elderly woman
caught on video released under new bail law ---
https://nypost.com/2020/02/01/suspect-in-brutal-mugging-of-elderly-woman-caught-on-video-released-under-new-bail-law/
Michael Bloomberg's Claim About 'Children'
Killed by 'Gun Violence' Is Off by 73% ---
https://reason.com/2020/02/02/michael-bloombergs-claim-about-children-killed-by-gun-violence-is-off-by-73/
It appears that Bloomberg's claim is an outright lie.
Mike Bloomberg Uses Obama-Era Photo of
Detained Migrants to Slam Trump ---
https://sputniknews.com/amp/us/202002041078223204-mike-bloomberg-uses-obama-era-photo-of-detained-migrants-to-slam-trump/
Bloomberg Proposes Huge Increase ($ 5
trillion) in America’s Tax Burden ---
https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/danieljmitchell/2020/02/03/bloomberg-proposes-huge-increase-in-americas-tax-burden-n2560597?bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&utm_campaign=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=thdaily
Wharton School at the University of
Pennsylvania: Bernie Sanders 'Medicare for all' plan could shrink GDP by
as much as 24% ---
https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2020/1/30/sanders-medicare-for-all
Eight Iowa Counties Have Total Registration
Rates Larger Than Eligible Voter Population – More Than 18,600 Extra Names on
Voter Rolls ---
https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-releases/judicial-watch-eight-iowa-counties-have-total-registration-rates-larger-than-eligible-voter-population-at-least-18658-extra-names-on-iowa-voting-rolls-2/
Pelosi Predicts Defeat If Democrats Reach Too
Far To The Left ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/765319-pelosi-predicts-defeat-if-democrats-reach-too-far-to-the-left-special?utm_source=c-mid&utm_medium=c-mid-email&utm_term=c-mid-GI&utm_content=5iEzoSRA3OwmMZouDYnIqL3RgHsaffHcB6hB5DcjF-f0.A
The New Yorker on the "Shadow" in the Iowa
caucuses ---
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/inside-acronym-the-tech-consultancy-behind-the-disastrous-iowa-caucus-app?utm_source=onsite-share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=the-new-yorker
NYT: A dollarized and somewhat
deregulated Caracas is booming, sort of, at least relative to the immediate past
---
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/world/americas/Venezuela-economy-dollars.html
NYT: Black Worker Wages Are Finally
Rising ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/business/black-unemployment-wages.html
Adam Schiff’s lifetime of lies ---
http://www.floppingaces.net/2020/02/02/adam-schiffs-lifetime-of-lies/
Impeachment Hurt Joe Biden, Not Donald Trump
---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/impeachment-gave-trump-exactly-what-he-wanted/606172/
Nancy Pelosi has nobody to blame but herself, Joe Biden's history, and the
media.
Plano, Arlington Texas among most fiscally
sound cities in US; Houston, Fort Worth among worst ---
https://www.data-z.org/news/detail/plano-arlington-texas-among-most-fiscally-sound-cities-in-us-houston-fort-worth-among-worst
New York City considers $500 million bailout
for its taxi drivers ---
https://www.data-z.org/news/detail/new-york-city-considers-500-million-bailout-for-its-taxi-drivers
Arutz Sheva: How Orthodox Jews Became
Republicans ---
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/275603
Islamic Republic of Pakistan: 108 women
murdered for honor in 2019 in one province alone ---
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/02/islamic-republic-of-pakistan-108-women-murdered-for-honor-in-2019-in-one-province-alone
Video trip shows media praise of Cuban
socialism 'is a lie' ---
https://www.wnd.com/2020/02/student-activists-visit-cuba-reveal-streets-like-dumpsters-rotting-trash/
Now we know why Michael Moore is no longer mentioning Cuba
New U.S. jobless claims fall 15,000 to 202,000 and
return close to a 50-year low ---
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-us-jobless-claims-fall-15000-to-202000-and-return-close-to-a-50-year-low-2020-02-06
U.S. Trade Deficit Narrows for First Time
in Six Years ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-trade-deficit-narrowed-in-2019-for-first-time-in-six-years-11580909498?mod=djemCFO
NYC Earns an Unwanted Honor: Biggest Loser of
Jobs in 2019 ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-05/u-s-metro-area-employment-since-president-trump-took-office?cmpid=BBD020520_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=200205&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily
Maricopa County (think Phoenix) is the big winner., although absolute numbers
are somewhat misleading, especially for NYC. L.A. is doing well in absolute
numbers, but not so well in terms of percentage.
Note the graphs. In this booming economy it's bad for any city or county to be
negative.
Texans: Build a wall to keep out the
Californians ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/the-truth-about-the-california-exodus/605833/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20200205&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0
'This Is What Bias Looks Like': How The NYT Reported
Trump's Acquittal Versus Clinton's ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2020/02/06/nyt-on-clinton-acquittal-vs-trumps-n2560884?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167
MSNBC's Chris Matthews Goes After Socialist
Bernie Sanders ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/770894-msnbcs-matthews-goes-after-socialist-bernie-reds-would-have-executions-in-central-park-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=697zxgAhCmuHg4vas74EBzlnoWM3eNVp0oCrhLuQnY-I.A
Jensen Comment
Bernie plans to have employees and unions take control over businesses ---
https://berniesanders.com/issues/workplace-democracy/
China's military was behind the Equifax hack
that exposed the personal information of 145 million Americans, according to the
Justice Department ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/doj-china-pla-military-hackers-indicted-equifax-2017-breach-2020-2
AOC, holder of an economics degree, cites “Milton Keynes” in a video message
“I was just reading today about how in 1930, famed economist Milton Keynes predicted that by 2030 GDP and technology would have advanced so much that it would allow everyday people to work as little as FIFTEEN HOURS a week and provide for their families,” Ocasio-Cortez said while discussing the benefits of a four-day workweek with her Instagram followers.
Jensen Comment
This must embarrass economics history professors at Boston University. Milton
Friedman and John Maynard Keyes promoted very opposite economic theories
although neither one favored Bernie Marx communism like AOC.
It's also ironic how people were lucky in the 1930 to find 15 hours of work. Families the 1930s were starving like the socialists are now starving in Venezuela.
Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania: Bernie
Sanders 'Medicare for all' plan could shrink GDP by as much as 24%
---
https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2020/1/30/sanders-medicare-for-all
Over 85% of the non-home capital markets value is owned by the theTop 10%:
Why is this much more of a problem for Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren than
if the Top 10% only owed 10% of the capital markets value instead of 85%+?
All voters should read
National Bureau of Economic Research
HOUSEHOLD WEALTH TRENDS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1962 TO 2016: HAS MIDDLE CLASS WEALTH RECOVERED ---
https://www.nber.org/papers/w24085.pdf
The top 10 percent of families as a group accounted for about 85 to 90 percent of stock shares, bonds, trusts, and business equity, and over 80 percent of non-home real estate. Moreover, despite the fact that almost half of all households owned stock shares either directly or indirectly through mutual funds, trusts, or various pension accounts, the richest 10 percent of households controlled 84 percent of the total value of these stocks, though less than its 93 percent share of directly owned stocks and mutual funds.
Democratic socialists like AOC, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren want to spend over $20 trillion per year in cash (perhaps only $10 trillion annually before open borders are factored in) or green initiatives (think solar panels and batteries everywhere), Medicare-for-All (think cash for doctors, hospitals, and medications), College-for-All (think tuition plus other aid), Housing-for-All (think of all the new homes required), Guaranteed Annual Incomes, free meals for all the children of the USA, and all else that is added on for open borders when tens of millions of unrestrained immigrants pouring into USA ---
https://berniesanders.com/issues/
(for each initiative click on the Details button)
The Atlantic: Sanders is a Marxist of the old school of dialectical
materialism, from the land that time forgot ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/bernie-sanderss-biggest-challenges/605500/
These democratic socialists want to raise as much as possible
from the Top 10% before taxing the middle and lower income citizens.
Here lies the problem: If the Top10% owned only 10% of capital markets value the
capital markets might survive when Sanders or Warren wipe out the Top 10% of the
wealthy.
But in reality wiping out the Top 10% will crash over 84%
of the capital markets value!
This alone will cause most of the USA private sector labor force
to become unemployed and force Sanders or Warren to make good on promises for
government to pay all pensions of those unemployed. They promise to take on all
pension liabilities even for business firms who have not paid anything into the
government's Pension Benefit Guarantee fund ---
https://www.pbgc.gov/
Let's consider the example of the General Motors (GM) 2008 bankruptcy--- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors#Chapter_11_bankruptcy
In theory the economic crash of GM shares in 2008 should not
legally have forced GM into bankruptcy when share prices crashed, but the
economic reality is that if stock values crash companies like GM that have a lot
of debt will be forced into bankruptcy. That in turn could have resulted in
unemployment for over 500,000 employees of GM factories, dealers, suppliers, and
others impacted by GM closures. In addition the Federal government would've had
to pick up the pensions of most of those employees ---
https://www.pbgc.gov/
To prevent such massive unemployment and pension impacts
the Government bailed out GM in 2008 ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors#Chapter_11_bankruptcy
Through the Troubled Asset Relief Program the US Treasury invested $49.5 billion in General Motors and recovered $39 billion when it sold its shares on December 9, 2013 resulting in a loss of $10.3 billion.
Jensen Comment
The good news is that the USA economic crash of 2008 did not wipe out anywhere
close to 85% of the value of the capital markets of the USA. The
government bailed out GM and some other other companies. The bailouts enticed
investors, especially the Top 10%, to put more cash into capital investments
like GM shares.
But commencing to take $20 trillion annually after 2023 will out wipe out over
over 85% of those capital markets in order to pay cash for all of the
initiatives of Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren ---
https://berniesanders.com/issues/
The Top 10% will not have any cash left to put into hopeless capital markets.
The real problem is that the $20+ trillion initiatives of Sanders or Warren require cash. If the government confiscated the wealth of the Top 10% and did not not need so much cash it could keep the $20+trillion iinvested in stock shares, bonds, trusts, and business equity, and non-home real estate. But having to covert all that $20+ trillion in value into cash will essentially wipe out the capital markets of the USA.
Sanders and Warren realize this and only propose taking a fraction of the wealth of the Top 10% (although AOC, Omar, and Michael Moore want to take it all and are totally unaware of the consequences). This is why Sanders and Warren know they have to get most of the needed $20+ trillion annually from the middle and lower income taxpayers.
But $20+ plus trillion per year is just too much for the USA to take on beyond
the roughly $4.5 trillion being spent currently by the Federal government.
Trying to take so much more cash out of wages and the USA capital markets will
totally destroy the USA economy with hyoer inflation. What can be worse than
living in socialist Venezuela in 2020 hyper inflation? What can be worse? The
answer is living in the democratic socialist world of Sanders or Warren in 2025
USA hyper inflation.
Inflation risk is exacerbated by having the Top 10% owning 85%+ of the capital
markets value in 2020 rather than a mere 10% rather than 85%+ --- such that
wiping out the Top 10% of investors for democratic socialist initiatives will
cause hyper inflation and destroy the USA economy.
It's no wonder that Barack Obama and the majority of the Democratic Party are trying to prevent Bernie Sanders from winning the 2020 nomination. If they're smart they will also stop other big spending, open-border advocates like Elizabeth Warren from being nominated.
Please don't make us vote for Donald Trump just to block doomsday spenders lik Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in 2020.
Open immigration can’t exist with a strong social
safety net; if you’re going to assure healthcare and a decent income to
everyone, you can’t make that offer global ---
Paul Krugman
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/724654-open-immigration-can-t-exist-with-a-strong-social-safety-ne
And it can't exist with a $20+ trillion annual social program offer for those already in the USA.
How to Mislead With Statistics
MSNBC Contributor: 'The Iowa Caucus Is Essentially the Perfect Example of
Systemic Racism'
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2020/02/04/msnbc-contributor-the-iowa-caucus-is-essentially-the-perfect-example-of-systemic-racism-n2560703?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167
"Yes, but I think for a different reason than a lot of folks probably will think. Maybe I’ll be the only person to say this today. The Iowa caucus is essentially the perfect example of systemic racism. 91% of the voters in Iowa are white," Maxwell said.
Jensen Comment
That (91%) is about right without any racism since the population of Iowa is
90.7% with a "Black or African American" population of 4.0% ---
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/IA/PST045218
Doesn't 90.7% round to 91%?
This article is essentially the perfect example of crying racism ad nauseam on MSNBC.
The New "Populist" Leaders Are an Unexpected Bunch Around the World
Revolt, Populism, and Reaction --- https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/commentary/revolt-populism-and-reaction
. . .
The great political divide of our time is between the public and elites: and what matters to the public is to strike a blow at the elites.
The astounding events of 2016, which included the British vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency, become comprehensible from this perspective. Britain’s elites, in a solid phalanx, campaigned to remain in the EU. Precisely for that reason, the public voted the other way.
Likewise, Trump was an impossible candidate and president: he said and did outrageous things, possessed zero government experience, and seemed to be an ideological cipher. The public that supported Trump chose him as its instrument precisely because of, not despite, these apparent failings. That the president ranted about his opponents on Twitter only increased his charm as a rule-breaker. That the elites treated him like the Beast of the Apocalypse only enhanced the appeal to his base. Charges that Trump had an “authoritarian personality” and lamentations that democracy was dying in darkness left the president’s supporters cold—the public had long ago written off democratic politics and democratic government as an undemocratic sham. The aim was to disrupt the system: and what better way to achieve this than to insert Donald Trump at the center?
The populism Trump represented has contributed mightily to the instability of the last decade. The public has elected outlandish characters to high office across the world: Johnson in Britain, Orbán in Hungary, Duterte in the Philippines, Salvini in Italy, Modi in India, Obrador in Mexico, Bolsonaro—whose statements make Trump, by comparison, sound like Miss Manners—in Brazil. In France, Germany, and the Netherlands, populist figures have gained ground. These are disruptors and system-smashers. If they aren’t exactly Mussolinis-in-waiting, neither are they overly concerned with the rituals and rhetoric of democracy. The populist, like the public, aims to stand against. A fundamental question, if we are to understand our moment, is whether these off-key politicians are the cause of the public’s surly mood or merely a symptom of it.
For our demoralized political and media elites, the populist is the ultimate archvillain, responsible for the multiple disasters of recent years. By their account, the populist gains power through lies. Boris Johnson, for example, lied about the EU’s cost to Britain. Donald Trump lied about everything. Several news outlets have kept a running tally of presidential lies: according to the Washington Post, Trump had blustered his way past the 10,000-lie barrier by April 2019.
Such lies, disseminated by social media, are said to stir up the worst instincts of the public: racism, Islamophobia, and so forth. This is the murky realm of “fake news,” “post-truth,” and the dark lord of manipulative illiberalism, Vladimir Putin. The persuasive value of the truth is believed to have somehow collapsed. The elites, who claim to stand for scientific rigor and rationality, in this way explain why they have been defeated and disarmed. The brave new upside-down world, to them, is an artifice of cunning demagogues.
Whether the current crop of populists tell more or better lies than their elite predecessors can be left an open question. But that they are the prime movers in a decade of revolt may be safely doubted. The arrow of causation points in the opposite direction. From Tunisia in 2011 to Hong Kong today, the majority of protests have been leaderless—quite consciously so. These spontaneous outbursts have developed out of the same set of symptoms as populism: the decline of traditional political parties, for one. Both share the same digital vectors of communication, the same rhetoric of rage. The far spread of populism, rightly considered, should be viewed as an argument against the notion that it is personality driven. Structural and global factors appear to be at work
The public has voted bizarre characters into office for a very simple reason: democratic political institutions, and the elites who manage them, have refused to offer meaningful alternatives. The populists in all their strangeness are a message from the public that this narrow status quo cannot stand. In the age of post-truth, however, nearly the opposite message has been received by those at the top of the hierarchy.
Since 2016, the elites have launched a series of counterattacks against populism. In Britain, the public had voted to “Leave” the EU, but a Parliament with a “Remain” majority for three years refused to implement Brexit in any form—or to move to a general election to settle the matter. The prime minister, Theresa May, opened the door to a second referendum before being forced to resign. In Italy, Matteo Salvini was squeezed out as minister of the interior by a procedural maneuver. The current Italian government, composed of establishment cats and antiestablishment dogs, seems to exist simply to avoid elections that might result in Salvini becoming prime minister, which polling indicates would be likely if a vote were held today.
Meanwhile, in the US, the anti-Trump establishment has invested tremendous levels of energy dreaming up ways to remove the president. For two years, elite hopes rested on the special counsel’s investigation into Russian electoral meddling—but when that process came up short, the House voted to impeach Trump on an entirely different bill of particulars.
The pervasive temper among elites has been reactionary: driven by the wish to erase 2016 from memory and return to something like the comfortable top-down control of the 20th century. For this to happen, the chaotic digital environment first had to be tamed. The public had to be pushed off the commanding heights of the information battlefield, so that truth and science, as defined by those who understand them best, could be restored to their former places as unquestioned sources of authority.
To achieve this objective, ruling elites in the US and Europe have fined, taxed, and sought to “regulate” on various principles the big digital platforms that host much online content. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook has assumed a place in the elites’ roster of villains comparable only to that of Putin and Trump. Zuckerberg and other masters of Silicon Valley have been dragged to Washington, DC, for congressional hearings and castigated there with rare bipartisan zeal. Several Democratic presidential hopefuls are running on a promise to “break up” Facebook, Google, and Amazon. One of them, Elizabeth Warren, has accused these companies of having “too much power over our economy, our society, our democracy.”
Elite reaction has been fierce yet, so far, largely futile. Boris Johnson finally got his general election and earned a landslide victory under the slogan “Get Brexit done.” Impeachment has packed little political punch—President Trump’s approval ratings have actually improved during the process. Activists around the globe have moved away from Facebook—but only in favor of applications like Telegram that are much tougher for governments to crack. Finally, in 2019 the public’s mood of anger and negation seemed to reach critical mass.
Almost exactly eight years after Mohamed Bouazizi’s momentous self-immolation, large-scale protests broke out in Sudan. These continued into 2019, beginning a new cycle of disorder in the Muslim Middle East: Algeria, Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon have since been engulfed in bloodshed and unrest. As in 2011, but on a greater scale, the virus of revolt spread relentlessly outward to infect the world. France was shaken by the Yellow Vest Movement. Hong Kong blew up over a new extradition law. Chileans swarmed into the streets to condemn a 4 percent increase in mass transit fares. Bolivians rebelled against a third term for Evo Morales and succeeded in ousting him. At least 25 significant street protests rocked the world in 2019, many of them running concurrently; most of them are continuing as I write these words. By the end of the year, two dictators and one would-be strongman had been overthrown. Several elected governments had resigned, while others, mired in constitutional crises, cast about helplessly for the means to pacify the public.
The rise of the public as a leading actor on the political stage, and the angry impulse to repudiate the established order, provide the theme for the 2010s. The decade ended in a flood tide of revolt—and the meaning of it all is up for grabs. The human race seems to be wandering in the wilderness, caught in a migration out of the industrial age to parts unknown. The public is trapped in a mesh of rejection and negation, unable to articulate positive demands. The elites face a dire choice: between reacting on behalf of the old order or leaping into the void of structural reform. Democratic institutions, adapted to a largely vanished era, continue to bleed authority and legitimacy at a dangerous rate.
Updates on Medical Insurance
Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania: Bernie
Sanders 'Medicare for all' plan could shrink GDP by as much as 24%
---
https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2020/1/30/sanders-medicare-for-all
The Fiscal Effects Of The Public Option ---
https://www.hoover.org/research/fiscal-effects-public-option-0
The price
advantage of paying for medical care (and prescriptions) directly ---
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/482164-the-advantage-of-paying-for-medical-care-directly
According to a PBS health report about a retiree on a Medicare Advantage plan, Z. Ming Ma was issued a prescription from her physician that cost $285 for a 90-day supply. “A month later,” the article says, “Ma and his wife were about to leave on another trip, and Ma needed to stock up on her medication.”
But her 90 days weren’t up, so Anthem wouldn’t cover it. “Ma asked the pharmacist how much it would cost if she got the prescription there and paid out of pocket,” the article says.
The total cash price was about $40.
This is not uncommon. In fact, a study from USC demonstrated that nearly 25 percent of all prescriptions filled at the pharmacy cost the insurer less than what the patient paid in a copay. Yes, that means paying cash is more affordable than using your insurance card.
Over the past several decades in the United States, the health care industry has become increasingly dominated by third-party payers. An individual’s health coverage, whether it is private, Medicare, or Medicaid, can significantly influence health care decision-making — through deciding what it will, and will not, cover.
A health plan can determine which medical professional is seen, which prescription drugs are filled, and even whether a procedure can be done.
Because it increased the power of third-party payers, the Affordable Care Act was essentially a benefit to special interest groups such as insurance companies and other middlemen. The United States health care system hasn’t always been dominated by third-parties but has become distorted from many years of government regulations.
The policy makers forgot about the patients and the medical professionals who provide the care.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
When we lived in San Antonio our great (I mean really great) dermatologist would
not accept any insurance payments. He said he kept prices down by accepting only
cash. Of course we were free to submit the bills to the insurance company along
with our cash receipts.
Bob Jensen's threads on health insurance (including Obamacare
and Medicare-for-All)
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm
Bob Jensen's
Tidbits Archives ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbitsdirectory.htm
Bob
Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm
Summary of Major Accounting Scandals --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals
Bob Jensen's threads on such scandals:
Bob Jensen's threads on audit firm litigation and negligence ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001.htm
Current and past editions of my
newsletter called Fraud Updates ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Enron --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudEnron.htm
Rotten to the Core --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm
American History of Fraud --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudAmericanHistory.htm
Bob Jensen's fraud
conclusions ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm
Bob Jensen's threads on
auditor professionalism and independence are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001c.htm
Bob Jensen's threads on
corporate governance are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001.htm#Governance
Shielding
Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm
· With a Rejoinder from the 2010 Senior Editor of The Accounting Review (TAR), Steven J. Kachelmeier
· With Replies in Appendix 4 to Professor Kachemeier by Professors Jagdish Gangolly and Paul Williams
· With Added Conjectures in Appendix 1 as to Why the Profession of Accountancy Ignores TAR
· With Suggestions in Appendix 2 for Incorporating Accounting Research into Undergraduate Accounting Courses
Shielding
Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm
By Bob Jensen
What went
wrong in accounting/accountics research? ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong
The Sad State of Accountancy Doctoral Programs That Do Not Appeal to Most
Accountants ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms
AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE ACCOUNTING REVIEW:
1926-2005 ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm#_msocom_1
Bob Jensen's threads on accounting theory
---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm
Systemic problems of accountancy (especially the vegetable nutrition paradox)
that probably will never be solved
---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#BadNews
Bob Jensen's economic crisis messaging http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm
Bob Jensen's threads --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm
Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/