It’s near the middle of April (check local listings for the date in your area) and that means one of two things. First, the Chicago Cubs are mathematically eliminated from the postseason. And second, it’s tax day.
Along with December 7th, April 15th is a day that will live in infamy, mainly because the Internal Revenue Service makes the TSA look like gentle lovers as they probe you in ways that make proctologists wince. And Leftists think the rich need to pay more. After all, the rich make more money and have more loopholes, so they’re literally cheating the rest of us by not paying their fair share.
Which brings us to one of my favorite topics. No, not the mathematical elimination of the Chicago Cubs, but the concept of “fair share.” Seems it’s a lot more complicated than the Left makes it sound.
fair share
What the Left thinks it means – making sure everyone pays their portion of the tax burden
What it really means – a meaningless term Leftists throw around to get people to hate the wealthy
Before we get into the “what constitutes fair share” discussion, we have to go through some numbers. In the fiscal year 2023, the IRS collected over $4.7 trillion in tax revenue. To put it mildly, that’s a shit-ton of money. For those who use the metric system, that’s a shit-kilo of money.
As big of a number that is, it’s overshadowed by a smaller number: 97.7%. That’s the percentage of the tax burden paid by the top 50% of taxpayers in 2020. Granted, there’s a significant difference between 2020 and 2023 or 2024 for that matter, but the numbers haven’t changed very much since 2020.
The Tax Foundation did a breakdown of the 2021 numbers, which are the most recent we have to work with. And that’s where we find the 97.7% of the tax burden I referenced above. If current trends match the 2021 numbers (and I have no reason to believe they wouldn’t given the glacial pace at which the federal government adopts change), that means the top 1% paid over $12 trillion in federal income taxes.
Now, let’s look at the other side of the equation. The bottom 50% chipped in a little over $108 billion. I think we could scrape that together from the change in our couches, right?
Seriously, though, the Left doesn’t see anything wrong with this, except for the part where the rich are only paying a paltry $14 trillion. To hear Leftists talk, the rich are using the tax code to their advantage to get out of paying what they owe.
In other words, they’re doing what most taxpayers do. Even Leftists who tell us paying higher taxes is our patriotic duty. But fortunately we would never let such a mouth-drooling idiot to become President, right?
The problem with the Left’s approach is it doesn’t exactly have a foundation in facts. The numbers give us a vastly different story: there are a shit-ton (or shit-kilo) of people who are riding on the tailored coattails of the wealthy. And guess who the Left convinces the rich aren’t paying enough taxes?
If you need a hint, check out Bill Gates’ coattails.
Of course, people like Gates, Warren Buffett, and (surprise surprise) Leftist politicians like Elizabeth “Chief Running Mouth” Warren are all on record saying the rich need to pay more. And why? Because they make more! Once the rich pony up a few trillion more, then maybe…and I do mean maybe, things will be more fair.
Actually, it will never be fair enough for Leftists. Every time a group negotiates with Leftists and comes closer to their side, the Left moves the goalposts a little bit further out, requiring the group to do more to come closer to the new goal. But it’s never at the expense of the Left, mind you. If you want compromise, it has to be on their terms and their terms alone.
Which means this whole “fair share” bullshit is dishonest at its face. I was as shocked at you were to find out Leftists are liars.
What the Left really means when they demand the rich pay their fair share is for the rich to pay more. Once the top 1% is taxed to infinity and beyond, then the focus will shift to the top 2%. Then the top 3% and so on. And at every step, Leftists are counting on gullible poorer people and useful rich idiots to justify their actions. Of course, anyone with a lick of sense (which means Leftists won’t get it) sees this eventually getting to a point where anyone with $1 above the average is seen as the rich and has to be taken down a peg or two. Or fifty.
Then where will the money come from exactly? That’s right, kids, it will have to come from the people who were cheering this shit on from the jump. And since they don’t have as much to start with, it’s going to be damn tough to get any more blood out of that turnip.
And here’s the funny part. And by funny I mean grotesque and sad…which isn’t all that funny, but work with me here. If the Left gets what it wants and taxes the rich more, it’s not even going to solve the major issue that it’s allegedly supposed to fix: the national debt. In fact, it’s not going to do anything but give Leftists more money to spend on stupid shit we don’t need and only a handful of people demanded in the first place. There’s a reason some Congresscritters come out every year with examples of wasteful government spending.
One such Congresscritter is Senator Rand Paul. I don’t always agree with him on policy matters, but he has been consistent in his commitment to reducing government waste whenever possible. His 2023 “Festivus Report” showcased some pretty absurd expenditures, like paying dead people. Although I have to admit I’m down with the funding of “Monkey Island” because, well, monkeys are awesome!
That being said, raising taxes makes it easier for people who don’t care about how the money gets spent to spend the money it gets. If it were being spent on infrastructure (which Leftists have said is just about everything except Donald Trump), that would be one thing, but the very fact we paid for Monkey Island tells me it’s not.
But there are ideas floating around that truly are closer to fair than the current shitstorm…I mean system. Two such ideas are the flat tax and the national sales tax. With the former, everybody pays the same percentage with fewer deductions. The latter only taxes items and services purchased. In both scenarios, the rich are paying more by virtue of what they take in or spend depending on the system. And both of them make more sense than what we have now.
Which is why Leftists hate them.
One of the great many paradoxes the Left operates under is how conservative they are when the system works for them. The minute something changes their status quo to the point it jeopardizes it, the Left goes into complete lockdown, can’t change a damn thing or it will be utter chaos with dogs and cats shacking up together mode. When the system doesn’t work for them, they are the most liberal (dictionary definition, not ideological) people out there. Then, they go into complete open up the flood gates, change every damn thing or it will be utter chaos with dogs and cats shacking up together mode.
And right now, they’re not happy with the rich being able to keep more of what they generate by…following the tax code. I could go into all the problems with the tax codes, but then this piece would be longer than the tax code itself and I don’t want to bore you any more than I already do. If Leftists were truly serious about making sure the rich pay more, they would look at the tax code and try to close up some of the legal loopholes.
But that would mean some of them might be subject to the same “tax the rich” arguments they’ve been making for decades. We can’t have that, can we? So, instead, we have to put up with more “the rich need to pay their fair share” talk for the foreseeable future.
But remember these are the assholes who think a flat tax or a national sales tax wouldn’t work to make things fair when they’re arguably the very definition of fairness. Why, it’s almost as if Leftists want the tax system to remain unfair while proclaiming they want it to be fair!
Good thing we aren’t electing total dumbasses who play this stupid game, right?
Category: Economics
Going From Bad to Worse
Since the advent of COVID-19, the world has been a weird fucking place. Things that would have been inconceivable even 5-10 years ago are ho-hum today. You know, like having one of the most popular social media platforms today run by the Chinese Communist Party, allegedly. Well, now that politicians from both sides of the political aisle wanting to ban or force a sale of this social media platform, or as the kids call it TikTok, it’s time for something really, really fucked up.
I’m going to defend TikTok.
As anyone who’s read my blogs can tell you, I’m not a fan of TikTok. The popular content makes me want to rip my head off and put it in a Tupperware container in the back of my freezer until Armageddon or people get better taste in entertainment (you know, whichever comes first). There are some really creepy asshats out there making said content, too. I’m talking people you would purposely avoid if you ran into them in public because they give off a skeezy vibe. Put into geek terms, TikTok is Mos Eisley with worse music.
My defense of TikTok isn’t based on it being the second coming of the Library of Alexandria. In fact, there isn’t anything resembling intellectualism within 100 light years of TikTok. So, why am I sticking my neck out for it?
Because the proposed solution is worse than the disease.
Name a time in recent history when the federal government got more power and then voluntarily gave it up once it was no longer necessary to have it. Considering the TSA is still giving away free rectal cancer screenings with each security patdown at the airport, I’m guessing it hasn’t happened yet. But I’m sure there’s no threat of government overreach with the proposed TikTok law, right?
Not so much.
Even if the proposed law is written so narrowly as to not be misconstrued, Congresscritters will find a way to muddy the waters just enough to allow for unintended applications. Take the US PATRIOT Act, for example. Since its passage, we’ve seen what can best be called questionable applications that haven’t really moved the needle on national security. But it’s been a boon to national surveillance agencies. All you have to do is claim there’s a national security interest and you have carte blanche.
Now, consider the recent push to make white supremacist groups into domestic terrorists, even when their most violent action has been pounding beers while spouting racist rhetoric. All it takes is for one Leftist bureaucrat to consider using the PATRIOT Act against these groups and before you can say “David Duke is a doodyhead” anyone who could reasonably or unreasonably connected to these groups can be investigated.
But I’m sure the federal government wouldn’t prosecute people for relatively minor crimes because of who they support politically, right?
Damn. 0 for 2.
Anyway, the federal government’s track record on respecting our rights during times of societal outrage isn’t that good. Much like the President Brick Tamland Administration, it’s confusing, contradictory, and often muddled. I have no reason to suspect any law restricting TikTok would wind up any differently, but I have no doubt it would be abused in short order.
So, what’s the alternative. Being a big fan of the free market, you can guess where I think this TikTok situation should play out. But I would include a warning like on packs of cigarettes. Let’s try some of these on for size.
Warning: Use of TikTok is known to drop your IQ by at least 25%, and given the average fan, you can’t spare to lose any more.
Warning: The Surgeon General warns TikTok may lead to doing stupid shit for attention.
Warning: Really? You want to waste your time doing this shit?
Warning: TikTok is connected to the Chinese Communist Party, which means jack shit to you, but is really, really bad.
Warning: Have you considered going outside?
Warning: Even the best TikTok video is like taking a ball peen hammer directly to the brain pain.
Warning: There is nothing on TikTok that is worth your time.
Warning: TikTok is not recommended for the young, the old, the marginally intelligent, the pregnant, the rich, the poor, the middle class, or anyone, really.
I think you get the idea. Regardless, the free market is the best place for TikTok to succeed or fail on its own merits because letting the government make that call is a recipe for government overreach, and there are enough nozzleheads in government to make it an expensive and ineffective overreach. Remember, a good chunk of the people in favor of passing a law banning or restricting TikTok thought Obamacare was a good idea.
Now, imagine how fucking horrible TikTokcare will be.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
By the time you read this, Puddin’ Head Joe will have given his latest State of the Union Address where he will say we’re doing great under Bidenomics while calling out one of the biggest issues we face in America today.
Shrinkflation.
Not illegal immigration. Not the national debt ballooning to Rosie-O’Donnell-and-Michael-Moore-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet levels. Not fentanyl addiction, the price of goods and services, or our involvement in two wars. Getting less for the same price we paid for the same item previously.
At least Puddin’ Head Joe has his thumb firmly up his own ass or else he might be tempted to do something. In the meantime, we can talk about shrinkflation in terms even Puddin’ Head Joe can understand.
shrinkflation
What the Left thinks it means – when greedy companies charge the same price, but give consumers less
What it really means – when companies try to balance customer demand and production costs
I will warn you this is some economics talk, so if it’s not your bag, you may not want to continue. Unless you want to see me use the word “fuck” a lot. I bear no responsibility for any boredom or drowsiness you feel reading this week’s Lexicon.
With that out of the way, fuck.
When costs go up due to…oh I don’t know…a fucking idiot using our budget like the ATM at a strip club for compulsive people, companies have to figure out a way to continue doing business. Since most companies are run by people who have even a fleeting understanding of the laws of supply and demand, this sets into motion a series of decisions. Raise prices to compensate for the cost of doing business, offer less and try to keep prices lower, or do a combination of the two?
Shrinkflation is the combination of the two. Instead of charging the actual price of a good or service (which may negatively impact demand), companies will keep the price at the same level as before the cost hike, but they have to find a way to balance the cost with the price point. That usually means giving people less or taking a loss.
The other option on the shrinkflation table is to reduce the size of the packaging, thus reducing the amount you get. Granted, it’s usually a little bit here and there, but it can make all the difference if you get to the end of your package of Oreos and you’re missing one or two. And since we’re dealing with milk’s favorite cookie, that’s a sin against Man and Nature.
Now, for the people who don’t even have a Cliff’s Notes idea of the law of supply and demand (i.e. Leftists), the obvious solution is for the company to take a loss. After all, it’s just money and these companies make tons of it. The issue at hand for them is greed. In their hivemind, greed is immoral (except when it’s done to advance Leftist causes), so there is a moral obligation for companies to not make any more money than necessary.
Sound familiar? If not, let me give you a clue: it’s the entire fucking idea behind Puddin’ Head Joe’s push to deal with shrinkflation.
But wait, there’s more! Puddin’ Head Joe announced he was launching a task force to combat…“unfair and illegal pricing.” Yep, government has to get involved to help consumers. And I’m sure nothing could possibly go wrong with that. Look at the success of Obamacare!
On second thought, let’s not.
The thing is government can’t fight greed. Greed is a human trait, so combating it means fighting human nature. Of course, the government has been fighting wars on drugs and poverty for decades, so maybe the powers that be stupid think following the same script will work this time. It just needs time and money…no, wait, that’s Ukraine.
Regardless, it’s a fundamentally stupid idea that doesn’t attack the real issue. It’s not necessarily the greed of the companies that needs to be addressed, but the greed of the consumers. Whether you clip coupons like a rabbi performing brises on straight commission or look for sales and deals on items you want or need, we are all trying to get our dollars to stretch as much as we can. Especially these days when inflation is higher than Hunter Biden on any day ending in, well, “day.” That puts the producer and the buyer at an impasse, as the producer is trying to make as much money as possible without pricing themselves into oblivion.
But here’s the part the Left doesn’t understand: that’s a part of the law of supply and demand. It’s not like if a company makes one penny more than it “should” the buyer is fucked. It just means in that particular transaction, the producer (i.e. the one accepting all the risk) made a penny. Having some no-name, no-brain bureaucrat with a shiny new office and a meaningless title take that penny away isn’t going to fix the problem, but it may start a whole new problem: government taking more than just that one penny.
One of my immutable truths is “The sole purpose of any bureaucracy is to grow itself to the point it becomes irremovable.” If Puddin’ Head Joe’s task force can take away one penny of profit in the name of unfair business practices, what’s to stop it from taking another penny and another and another and so on using the same rationale? As long as there are people who believe businesses are fucking them over, there will always be a line outside the door of people willing to “stick it to The Man.”
But there comes a point where “sticking it to The Man” results in negative consequences. Just ask Walgreens and CVS, who have been plagued by continuous shoplifting in California and are pulling out of some areas only to get shamed by community leaders for trying to cut the company’s losses and closing stores in these areas. Of course, if these same community leaders gave two shits about the shoplifting and tried fixing that problem instead of bitching to Walgreens and CVS, maybe those locations wouldn’t be trying to get out in the first place.
Nahhhhh. That’s too simple. Has to be racism because…fuck you racists!
As consumers, we have to understand as prices go up for the things we buy and use, those same prices are going up to get us these things. The way Puddin’ Head Joe wants us to think ignores that reality and creates a straw man that would put Ray Bolger to shame. And, yes, if there is a company that charges the same price before Inflationpalooza but delivers only 1/100 of the product, that company should get the shit kicked out of them. But not through violence or government interference. In the place where it really matters, the free market.
And that’s where any shrinkflation should be addressed, to be honest. Money talks, bullshit walks, and Leftists balk, and it’s the best way to balance the needs and wants of all parties directly involved. And it will piss off people who don’t like the free market, so win-win!
Seriously, shrinkflation is only a problem for those who don’t get how free market capitalism works. Which means Puddin’ Head Joe is going to make it a problem, and we’re all going to feel the impact of his attempts to “fix” it.
Oh joy.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
With all of the chaos of world events and the holiday season, it’s easy to miss pretty important things, especially if the federal government gets involved. And especially if Puddin’ Head Joe is involved.
After not wanting to take on rising drug prices because we had other things to spend money on, like a war an ocean away where we don’t have a direct interest in either side winning (but only a complete moron would do tha…nevermind), Puddin’ Head Joe is finally addressing it. By trying to exert federal power to address it. More specifically, Puddin’ Head Joe’s clown car…I mean Administration has put together a plan to use something called “march-in rights.”
Well, that doesn’t sound ominous!
Needless to say, I have questions. And statements. Oh, and jokes!
march-in rights
What the Left thinks it means – a measure that will allow the government to control drug prices if federal funds were used to develop the drugs
What it really means – a way for the Left to screw up worse than they already do
The origin of march-in rights was the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980. The TL:DR version: this law set up conditions where some entities outside of the public sector could develop inventions they could patent and monetize while receiving federal funds. But there’s a catch, one Leftists have been pushing to use. Under certain circumstances, the government can “march in” and take over, making changes the outside entities may or may not agree with, but have to abide by because…they took federal funding.
Yep. Completely innocuous. Nothing unsavory could happen.
Hell, even someone from Harvard Medical School says there’s nothing to worry about because it’s just the federal government exercising its rights in an agreement. And since it came from Harvard, we know it’s…probably bullshit.
For those of a small government mindset like your humble correspondent, this is the ultimate nose in the tent situation. If you take federal funds to develop a product, that shouldn’t automatically give the government the authority to come in after the fact and screw shit up on a whim. Or as the Puddin’ Head Joe Administration puts it, “extreme, unjustified, and exploitative of a health or safety need.”
Once a government official who may be confused about the number of genders (spoiler alert: still 2) determines this threshold is met, the federal government can swoop in and allow third parties to make the products, in this case drugs, cheaper. On the surface, this doesn’t sound like a bad idea. We all like to save money, especially if we have multiple high-cost prescriptions. So, why do I get the feeling this isn’t going to wind up being as much of a benefit as we’re being told?
Let’s see…Obamacare, the PATRIOT Act, the EPA, the FDA, the USPS, Amtrak, student loans…
For the Leftists out there, these are all things the government has told us would help us, but wind up being really fucking expensive without much actual benefit. But as long as we print the money to keep them rolling, the Left don’t care!
To the Left, money means power, and the most powerful currency in the country is government money. It’s the carrot, the stick, and the whip. It can entice people to act a certain way, as well as to punish wrongthink. And once you take the federal government’s money, you are its bitch until you can find a way out from under its thumb. And, trust me, they won’t make it easy.
Even if the Puddin’ Head Joe Administration figured out how to get its head out of its ass and make march-in rights work with drug costs, there’s going to be a major shift in contract law, especially with federal contracts. If the government decides what you’ve worked on for years runs afoul of what it thinks the fruits of your labor are worth, march-in rights give them the authority to alter whatever agreement you had. And with the criteria as presented being so vague, it could be for any reason it wants, as long as the government can justify it. I don’t know about you, but that’s fucking scary to me.
And it gets worse! Since the government can print money, it doesn’t have to play by the same laws of economics the rest of us do. Government isn’t in the money-making business. If they experience a loss because one of their ideas go tits up, they’ll print more money to cover the loss. And since they’re the only game in town for a lot of things they do, they don’t have an incentive to keep costs low to attract customers. We need what they provide, so they set the prices and the service level and if you don’t like it, fuck you!
There is another aspect to march-in rights that concerns me greatly. If Puddin’ Head Joe is successful here and the courts don’t uphold any challenges to the application, this opens the door for other government-funded projects to be subject to the whims of bureaucrats. You know, like…oh, let me just pull something out of my ass quick…the Internet? A pretty good case could be made that the Internet as we know it came from the Department of Defense, thus it was funded by the government and anyone else who distributes it can expect a knocking at their chamber doors and told what to do going forward or else.
The Corleone family would have killed for this kind of power. Oh, wait…
The point is we can’t let the possibility of lower drug costs blind us to the reality. If you give the government an inch, they’ll take a few thousand miles and then tax you up the ass for it. March-in rights are the governmental equivalent of a Faustian deal: you’ll almost get what you want but not ever get it completely, and you will pay dearly for it.
Like eating Chipotle, only without botulism.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
Another week, another bunch of economic bullshit coming from the Puddin’ Head Joe Administration, and from the man himself. Seems Bidenomics isn’t working out the way Leftists thought, so they decided to take decisive action and…gaslight the fuck out of us!
Adding insult to injury came a tweet from Puddin’ Head Joe’s account suggesting any company not lowering prices to match lower inflation rates was guilty of price gouging. Although this squawking point hasn’t gotten spread around yet (with help from social media influencers who know less about economics than Puddin’ Head Joe), I figure I’d try to cut it off at the pass so you know just how full of shit these folks are.
price gouging
What the Left thinks it means – when greedy corporations charge more for goods and services than the market allows
What it really means – when Leftists don’t like you making more money than they think you deserve
Before we delve into the unintelligent muck of Leftist thinking on price gouging, let’s set a baseline. There are a lot of definitions and examples, but this one from EconomicsHelp.org makes the most sense to me:
Price gouging is a situation where business take advantage of an external crisis to charge excessive prices for basic necessities – selling the goods significantly above their usual price.
Granted, there are a lot of subjective terms at work here, but you get the idea. It’s not a controversial position to say price gouging is bad, mkay?, but the way the term gets applied is getting more ridiculous than the social media posts of those trying to tell us Bidenomics is working. But at the very least, Puddin’ Head Joe admitted Bidenomics is a crisis, albeit unwittingly…which is pretty much how he does anything these days.
One of the Left’s favorite targets for accusations of price gouging is Big Oil. During the height of lockdowns, Leftists said oil companies making record profits was proof of price gouging. Of course, there’s a tiny problem with this: namely, the lack of any fucking proof in their statements of proof. A much larger problem, though, is the lack of any knowledge of how economics works.
There’s this little thing the kids like to call supply and demand which is constantly in play regardless of circumstances. In times of scarcity of either side of this equation, prices are going to go up, which means the more people buy, the more money companies make. So, even though the aforementioned oil companies made record profits, it’s more due to the law of supply and demand than it is breaking price gouging laws. Then again, if Leftists knew one-tenth of a fuck about economics, they wouldn’t be Leftists. Or they’d be really rich Leftists.
Unfortunately, most people know less about economics than Leftists do, so they buy into the “Big Corporations Bad!” mindset more easily than getting a crackhead to accept free crack. (By the way, how ya doin’, Hunter?) The Left may not know much about how to make an economy work, but they know how to play on the emotions of the public to get them to grab the torches and pitchforks whenever the Left says gas prices are too high. Of course, if state and federal governments would drop the gas tax, prices would be more affordable, but we can’t have nice things.
Put another way, Puddin’ Head Joe is counting on the public to be dumber than he is and blame high prices on the faceless corporate overlords. And there’s a good chance he’ll be right.
Or will he? Public opinion of Bidenomics sank faster than my interest in listening to “Last Christmas” by Wham this year. Or any year, for that matter. Voters have soured on how Puddin’ Head Joe has handled the economy, which is already getting Leftists scared at the possibility of President Trump 2.0 and offering up conflicting advice from continuing to run on Bidenomics to trying to rebrand it to make people aware of what it’s actually done. And a part of that strategy seems to be to blame others for the shit they caused.
Now, in the interest of fairness, the government can’t control inflation, which is the real bugaboo right now with the economy. However, it can affect it through various means, such as legislation, regulations, and, of course, fucking things up and blaming others for it. Of course, the smart thing for the government to do at a time of inflation is, well, not to do the shit that’s causing inflation to go up. But, this is the federal government we’re talking about here, so the smart thing isn’t on their agenda.
And speaking of agendas, claiming businesses are engaging in price gouging is part of the Leftist agenda. Leftists believe there is a finite amount of money (while they spend it like there isn’t), and that translates to power. If Leftists can’t cuck you into giving away your money to the government (see Bill Gates), they will use any force they can to control the money going into a company (see Elon Musk and the Social Media Platform Formerly Known as Twitter). And here’s the twist: no matter how much money you give to the government or to Leftists, it’s never enough. You’ve just made yourself into an eternal sucker that the Left will always go to for money. It’s like being the parent of an entitled college student, but with less laundry.
This is where the accusations of price gouging come into play. By accusing businesses of being too greedy, it not only shifts the blame away from those who are actually responsible for it, but it puts pressure on the businesses to respond. And when someone with the governmental force of Puddin’ Head Joe tells you to lower prices, you’re expected to listen. Damn overhead costs and being able to recoup some of the costs of doing business! You either follow along with the plan or you get called out for being a greedy meanie-head!
This is why some people aren’t made for the private sector. Or the public sector for that matter.
Leftists are notoriously bad at economics, so it’s no wonder they resort to emotional manipulation tactics to get people to get angry at companies for trying to make a living in a shitty economy. Although there are cases when companies do jack up prices beyond what they realistically could, not every company is doing it. It’s like calling someone a racist; it’s a serious enough charge with implications on multiple levels, so it shouldn’t be thrown around like beads during Mardi Gras. If Puddin’ Head Joe has any evidence, I’m willing to look it over and determine if it’s actual price gouging or a lame-ass excuse for fucking up the economy.
Something tells me it’s going to be the latter.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
Presidents often get legislation or policies named after them. Ronald Reagan had Reaganomics. Barack Obama had Obamacare. Donald Trump had lots of bullshit indictments.
And our pal Puddin’ Head Joe has Bidenomics.
While Leftists are bending over backwards to make Bidenomics look successful, even to the point of saying Puddin’ Head Joe doesn’t want to take credit for the success and telling people things are better than they seem. And in between suggesting the average American isn’t smart enough to realize how great things are right now.
Well, put on your hip waders, kids, because this shit is gonna get deep.
Bidenomics
What the Left thinks it means – Joe Biden’s successful economic plan that is bringing us out of the dark economic times following COVID-19
What it really means – trillioning down on a failed economic model that only works in theory
There once was an economist named John Maynard Keynes. And unlike the man from Nantucket from the dirty limerick, Keynes is entertaining for a completely different reason: his economic theories. Normally, this shit would be as boring as a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread, but in his time he advanced the radical notion that the government had the ability to create wealth and stability by spending money. This idea, called Keynesian economics, has been lauded by Leftists as valid. There’s just one problem.
It doesn’t work. Ever.
The major flaw in Keynesian economics is it overvalues the power of the government to fix economic problems while undervaluing the power of the government to cause economic problems. When government spends money to create jobs, it’s always our tax dollars at stake, and we don’t have the power to fire them when they fuck up like Hunter Biden’s Narcotics Anonymous sponsor. Throw in the sometimes confusing and no-competence-needed approach to government contracts, and you have the recipe for work not getting done well, thus wasting our money.
Can you say The Big Dig, boys and girls? I knew you could.
As far as the government controlling/stabilizing the economy through spending, they can’t even follow the laws they pass, let alone the laws of economics. At best, the government can move the needle in one direction or another by taking certain actions, like cutting taxes or spending money on a government grant to research why modern pop music sucks. The real power of any economy lies with the consumers. Just ask Bud Light.
When a private entity spends a dollar, it’s done in the expectation it will stimulate growth. When government spends a dollar, it’s done in the expectation it will stimulate growth…of the government itself. In other words, a private dollar spends differently than a government dollar because of the purpose of the expenditure. Keynes didn’t see the distinction, which has caused many a Leftist to follow suit.
Unfortunately for us, Puddin’ Head Joe seems to be a Keynes groupie, considering much of Bidenomics is right out of the Keynesian playbook. Then again, he was caught plagiarizing, so it may not be that surprising after all.
What is surprising, however, is how the Left is trying to portray Bidenomics as a raging success. They tout lower unemployment and decreased inflation as proof, and it’s hard to argue with the numbers.
That’s why I’m going to do it.
The same Puddin’ Head Joe administration that is taking credit for slashing inflation saw it hitting a 40 year high of 9.1% waaaaaaaaaay back in July…of 2022. As far as unemployment, Leftists tell us it’s at a historic low. But no one on the Left is digging into why it’s so low, mainly because it may be more due to job recovery than job creation. Nor are they willing to admit Donald Trump did it before Puddin’ Head Joe took the oath of office.
This leads to several questions, none of which the Left is prepared to answer. Let’s start off with the obvious: how in the Wide World of Fuck did Puddin’ Head Joe become President? More to the point, though, is why don’t people believe the economy is getting better. Well, aside from having to take out a third mortgage and work 14 jobs a week just to buy a day’s worth of groceries, I don’t see where they are getting the idea the economy is a dumpster fire the size of two sumo wrestlers or one Lizzo.
Seriously, though, I do see why. For all of the economic successes we’re allegedly having, it’s not translating to success at home. And, no, it’s not because Bidenomics has been rolled out worse than the Obamacare website. It’s because, like the Obamacare website, it’s being run by people with no business running it.
Look at who Puddin’ Head Joe put in charge of his economic policy. I don’t know them personally, but judging by their backgrounds and the results going on in real time, I wouldn’t trust them to run a 5k, let alone an economy. Why not go all in and appoint Paul “The Internet’s Impact On the Economy Will Be No Greater Than the Fax Machine’s” Krugman to run the economy. At least we know he will be wrong from the jump instead of having to wait for more proof. And if we do the exact opposite of what Krugman says, we’re guaranteed to be successful.
If you take a look at the people behind Bidenomics, though, you should notice not a lot of them have actual work experience outside of government and think tanks. They don’t seem to know what Joe Six Pack and his family deal with on a regular basis, which taints their thought processes. Well, that, and being part of the Leftist Hivemind. That disconnect between the policy makers and the policy victims drives a lot of the feelings that the Left doesn’t understand what’s going on outside of the Beltway Bubble.
So, instead of trying to close that information gap, the Left simply tells us to shut up and look at the numbers. Oh, and vote for Puddin’ Head Joe in 2024 to keep the good times rollin’! Of course, that’s assuming you can afford to pay for gas to get you to the polling place in 2024 without having to betroth your daughters to a Washington bureaucrat in exchange for dowries.
Or your sons because DC swings all ways, baby!
I do have to agree with Puddin’ Head Joe on one aspect of his economic philosophy. He once said, “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” And he’s exactly right. Based on recent spending requests, Puddin’ Head Joe’s values apparently involve Ukraine, but not so much America. So, sleep well knowing our President is working hard…for another country.
On the bright side, Puddin’ Head Joe proves Keynesian economics is bullshit, so yay, I guess?
Bidenomics is a Jar Jar Binks level stupid idea based on ideas that have been tried by previous economic illiterates and failed every time. It’s cold comfort when your monthly expenditures look like a telephone number, but like a kidney stone, this too shall pass. And it will be just as fucking painful until it does.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
There’s a little word starting with the letter D that has Leftists up in arms more than usual. No, it’s not “domestic terrorism” or “DeSantis” or even “D-Student President.” The word is “default” and Leftists are sounding the alarm that unless those evil mean ole Republicans approve a bunch of spending (which is totally related to running the country and isn’t related to a bunch of partisan bullshit designed to help Leftists buy… I mean earn votes). And those evil mean dagnasty Republicans want to…horror of horrors…spend less! Those monsters!
While talks between President Puddin’ Head Joe and House Speaker Kevin “Not Charlie” McCarthy have broken down more often than the car I bought from a sleazy used car salesman (i.e. a used car salesman), it seems more and more people on the Left are afraid we aren’t going to pay our bills and Grandma Gertrude will lose her Social Security, Medicare, and all means to survive. It’s going to be worse than January 6th!
Yeah, not so much. Let’s dive in
default
What the Left thinks it means – what will happen right now unless House Republicans agree to keeping proposed expenditures at higher rates
What it really means – a condition that hasn’t happened yet, but will become a reality in the near future
First off, a bit of insider baseball. Congressional budgeting isn’t the same thing as personal budgeting because the government can always print more money. If you or I did that, we’d be thrown in jail.
Come to think of it, that would be an ideal solution to the problems I have with Congress…
Anyway, because of this federal ability to print money, you’re more likely to find a happy Bud Light drinker than the government is to default on our debts. There are risks tied to this, namely the US Dollar becoming more worthless than Kanye West’s 2024 Presidential campaign coffers, but our elected officials aren’t stupid enough to let that happen, right?
Considering there is a sitting Representative who expressed fear that Guam would capsize if there were too many people, I’m not betting the farm on that.
But what I am betting the farm on is a lot of histrionics from people who don’t know the first thing about how economics works, even those who boast of having economics degrees but couldn’t make change.
Or toast, for that matter.
At the heart of this current kurfluffle is the Left’s insistence we raise the debt ceiling to ensure expenditures get paid. Put another way, Leftists are “just trying to pay America’s bills.”
One tiny problem (well, more than one, but we’ll get into that a bit later). The spending being done now is for the next fiscal year, which doesn’t start until…October 1, 2023. The shit we’re dealing with now is from the fiscal year that began October 1, 2022, when Democrats controlled the House and, thus, controlled spending.
Waitaminute…wouldn’t that give Leftists a vested interest in raising the debt ceiling (which is like getting a credit line increase on the federal Visa card)? Why…yes, yes it would!
It also gives them a manmade…womanmade…wymynmade…transmade…whatever made line 0f attack against House Republicans. After all, they’re standing in the way of paying America’s bills, right?
Not so much. The House passed a debt bill waaaaaaaay back on April 26th, a bill that Senate Majority Leader Chuck “Not Amy” Schumer called “dead on arrival” and President Puddin’ Head Joe said he would veto the House bill if it passed the Senate. Compare this to his comments from a few weeks ago (and a few days after he made the veto comment) trying to spin the situation to his advantage.
Hmmm…kinda makes you wonder who’s really forcing the default issue, doesn’t it?
But it’s not like the Left doesn’t have solutions. Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus sent Puddin’ Head Joe a letter suggesting he invoke the 14th Amendment as a means to resolve the debt ceiling issue and avoid default. Although this may seem like a stretch that would make Reed Richards look like a block of stone, Section 4 gives at least somewhat of a framework.
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Now, I didn’t say the Left had good solutions.
The Left’s argument relies on the “validity of the public debt…shall not be questioned” part. Thanks to our good friends at Merrium Webster, we have two definitions of “validity” that maybe kinda sorta works.
the quality or state of being valid: such as
a: the state of being acceptable according to the law
b: the quality of being well-grounded, sound, or correct
Now, I’m giving the Left more credit than usual for deep thinking, but just because they put a little more thought into it than how they want their steaks cooked doesn’t mean they’re on the right track. Even with the most liberal (see what I did there) interpretation of the definitions, you’re still left with the “so what” question. How does this apply to the debt ceiling?
According to Al Jazeera (because I love to be an equal opportunity mocker of bad ideas), invoking the 14th would eliminate the debt limit and allow the nation’s bills to be paid. Now, this may solve the short term issues, but astute readers and students of history know how this is likely to end.
Spoiler Alert for you Leftists out there: it doesn’t end well for anyone, especially you.
Even though the Left is almost completely wrong here, they have inadvertently stumbled into a real issue: we aren’t taking federal spending seriously. I would say the government spends money like drunken sailors, but that would be insulting inebriated members of the Navy and I won’t stand for that. I don’t have any reason to believe we’d ever go into default, but only because of the power the federal government has to create money out of thin air. And we’re not talking about bills that have anything backing it, mind you. Right now the only thing backing the US Dollar is…our word.
Any Native American readers want to chime in on how much the government’s word is worth?
More to the point, our government’s spending makes the possibility of an actual default more and more likely unless we get a handle on it. As anyone who has had to take our a second mortgage to buy eggs this week can attest, inflation is a real issue affecting us all on some level. The more money we print, the less value it has. Before you know it, we’re post-WWI Germany without the pointy helmets.
And the thing is we keep running into this game of economic chicken every fucking year. The party in power of Congress and the party out of power always jockey for position in the weeks and months before the government can’t pay its bills and chaos ensues (according to the Left). Then, we might have to…shut down the government until a deal can be reached! Then, people might realized just how big, cumbersome, and mostly useless government actually is, and that’s going to hurt Leftists!
Wait. I’m not sure there’s a downside here. Oh, wait, I see one: this brinkmanship is tired, as well as tiring. But we will keep seeing it as long as both major parties prefer it to fiscal responsibility. Democrats and Republicans don’t want to think about what happens when the interest payment on the national debt exceeds our ability to pay since they’re too busy trying to figure out how to blame it on each other.
I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating (for no other reason than to pad out this piece a bit more). America has a spending problem. We are a shopaholic with the world’s most elite credit card, and we keep upping the credit limit because our elected officials are more than willing to sign off on it. And as long as the dipshits in Washington DC fail to grasp even basic accounting practices (i.e. being too far in the red is a bad thing), we’re going to keep playing chicken with the can being kicked down the road so a new group of dipshits can play.
Well, there’s a line from the movie “War Games” that applies here: “The only winning move is not to play.” Granted, we’re not dealing with Global Thermonuclear War or even chess, but we are hurtling towards a different point of no return, one where default is all but guaranteed. Cutting proposed spending while still increasing spending doesn’t help. Our national debt is in the trillions of dollars, and nobody on either side really wants to do the one thing that will help.
STOP FUCKING SPENDING!
While Republicans don’t seem to have any answers, at least they’re not really dumb ideas, which is what the Left has to offer right now. So, expect more chicken in DC and less in your refrigerator.
Speaking of which, could you help me out? I need to buy some chicken and I’m short by, oh, a few thousand dollars. Thanks in advance!
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
Granted, I’m a week late on this, but under the circumstances (namely me deciding to write about something else), I hope you’ll forgive me. And if not, well…I’ll pout.
Anyway, California is usually at the forefront of a lot of things, namely really bad ideas. Recently, San Francisco proposed a lump sum payment of $5 million to eligible blacks for reparations, among other proposals. Additionally, the state’s Reparation Task Force submitted a report to the California Legislature that Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to implement if the legislature doesn’t act.
As a result, I am stating for the record I now self-identify as a black resident of San Francisco. Please respect my privacy during my transition.
Seriously, reparations is a controversial subject to say the least, which means it’s perfect for your favorite blogger who writes a weekly series by this specific title to cover. Take that, “Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week” written by Jerry Funklemeyer!
reparations
What the Left thinks it means – monetary compensation given to blacks due to America’s slave history
What it really means – another way for white Leftists to blow through more of our money so they can feel good about themselves
The Civil War/War Between the States/War of Northern Aggression/The War the Movie “Glory” Was Based On was one of the most difficult and bloody times of our nation’s relatively young history. From 1861 to 1865, this country was more fractured than Jackie Chan’s body after doing his own stunts. But once the Union prevailed, the question was what to do next. Back then, they didn’t have Leftists to provide their sage advice about misogyny and trans rights in the former Confederacy, so it came down to a meeting between William T. Sherman and black ministers to create an attempt at reparations: 40 acres. (Mule, sold separately.)
And that attempt got scuttled by President Andrew Johnson, leaving the matter unresolved until recently.
There have been calls for reparations in recent history, but the idea really took off in 2020 thanks to the Democratic Primaries where there were…four black candidates out of 27. Five if you count Elizabeth Warren. And of those black candidates, none got the nomination, and only one (Kamala Harris) got to the White House as Puddin’ Head Joe’s Vice-President. Not too shabby for someone who I almost tied in the Iowa Caucuses and I didn’t even run.
Out of that and the shootings of blacks that occurred in 2019-2020, the idea of reparations gained new steam, which prompted California to create the aforementioned Reparations Task Force.
So, now that we’re back in the present, let’s start shitting on the reparations idea, shall we?
As a concept, reparations aren’t that hard to understand. We wronged an entire race of people by enslaving them and treating them worse than Ike treated Tina, so we want to try to balance the scales somehow. Admirable goal, but the logistical equivalent of an M.C. Escher drawing.
The biggest hurdle to the idea of reparations is the fact none of the people who are demanding it today were ever slaves. And it’s not like we can fire up the TARDIS, go back to 1865, drop off $5 million, and tell the slaves to invest heavily in Apple in 100+ years. Although time can be a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff, it’s still bound by fixed events that can be tracked. And with the passage of time comes the birth of generation after generation that are removed from slavery altogether, save by bloodline.
But does bloodline alone create a solid enough link to award $5 million? That creates another speed bump to payday: what about those who either didn’t own slaves or fought for the Union in the Civil War? If bloodline is enough to give away money, it should also be good enough to exempt people from being forced to contribute to this monetary transfer. I have two relatives who fought for the Union (who, by the way, fought at least in part to end slavery). Yet, I get the feeling I would be expected to open my wallet and give generously to the Give Non-Slaves $5 Million Because Fuck You That’s Why Foundation.
And don’t get me started on their telethons!
Then, there’s the question of mixed-race children. Back in the day, white slaveowners knocked boots with slaves, which resulted in the genes of both races coming together to form a new life. Would the families of such a sexual union have to pay up or receive reparations? Or maybe they would just get $2.5 million? Or would the white half have to pay the black half $5 million?
Regardless, the fact we can even ask some of these questions without the pro-reparations side coming up with answers is not a good sign. But wait, there’s more!
Dropping $5 million into anyone’s lap is going to be significant, and it opens up any number of opportunities. And if it’s bundled in hundred dollar bills, it’s going to make the males in the audience sing tenor for a few years. For most people, though, it’s life-changing money, but only if it’s used intelligently. This is where human nature comes into play. If we get any amount of money from $2 on a scratch-off ticket to millions of dollars, our first instinct is to spend it. If this sum comes with few strings attached, though, we can get pretty reckless with it because in our minds it’s “free money.”
But just as any breadwinner today can tell you, money can run out fast if you’re not careful. Or if you vote for Puddin’ Head Joe, which is pretty much the same thing as not being careful.
When we don’t know or care how we get the money, we have less of an incentive to be smart with it. And, no, this isn’t a racial thing, but rather a human thing. Economists have studied this phenomenon for decades and it always ends the same way: the further we are away from earning money, the easier it gets to spend. Hence, the reason so many big lottery winners end up blowing their winnings and winding up right back where they started.
Guess what I think will happen to the reparations money if it gets approved.
And it’s not like there isn’t precedent with this. Remember Hurricane Katrina (which, oddly or appropriately enough, was the last time Kanye West was relevant)? Well, some inventive (and ultimately dishonest) people found a way to turn tragedy into a windfall to the tune of an estimated $2 billion. Between recipients of the aid spending the money on non-essential items, including vacations and porn, and others getting relief funds for people who didn’t exist, Katrina proved to be a disaster of a natural disaster response.
But the Katrina failure was more federal, right? Nothing like that could happen on the state level, right? Wellllll…not really. Our good friends on the Left Coast racked up an estimated $20 billion in fraud related to the pandemic. Leftists bad with money? Why that’s…pretty normal, really.
Now, why would I bring up Katrina and COVID in a discussion about reparations? To underscore a point that will taint the idea: governments, especially large ones, don’t keep good tabs on who is getting the money. It’s more of a rubber-stamp process. Granted, the reparations initiative in San Francisco comes with some conditions, but I’m not sure the state government that racked up ten times the Katrina fraud is capable of making sure the conditions are met.
But then again, it’s not meant to be effective or efficient except in one area: easing the guilt white Leftists feel over slavery. And they’re willing to spend as much of your money as possible to make sure they feel better no matter how long it takes! When you consider the amount of guilt a Leftist could prevent brownouts in California if it could be converted into electricity, let’s just say you might as well give the government access to your bank accounts. I mean, if China doesn’t already have it, thanks to TikTok.
It’s at this point I need to remind the white Leftists…none of you fuckknuckles were alive during slavery. You can feel bad about what happened generations ago, but to make it a central part of your life is a bit extreme and at this point silly. Kinda like the Young Turks, but less comedic. You cannot change the past, nor can you expect any amount of money to ever make it right because there will always be people willing to prey on your guilt to get more money out of you. As long as the greedy and dishonest among us see Leftist largess as free money, the spigot will never turn completely off and there will be fraud aplenty.
The thing is the Left has made it amazingly easy to game the system, thanks to the rhetoric they’ve already presented as true. And eagle-eyed readers already know how. Remember, the Left maintains how you self-identify is as real as how you are. Rachel Dolezal and Shawn King both identify as black in spite of being whiter than a medical isolation room run by Mormon IBM executives. Yet, they were/are considered to be authentic voices on the black experience in America.
Well, shit. If they can do it, so can I. And I can think of 5 million reasons to do it!
And California can’t say shit about it. Well, they can, but they’ll look like hypocritical assholes doing it. So, win-win!
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
To all of you from all of, well, me, I hope you have a Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kickin’ Kwanza, Fabulous Festivus, Cool Yule, a Spectacular Solstice, or for those who don’t celebrate anything this time of year, happy Sunday.
And for a number of people who just so happen not to be us, Congress gave them a very generous holiday bonus to the tune of, oh, $1.7 trillion. It was part of an omnibus spending bill whisking its way to President Joe Biden’s desk as of this writing, where there is no doubt he will sign it. Where the doubt lies is whether he’ll sign it in pen or purple crayon.
Another issue not in doubt is your favorite blogger is going to cover it this week. And I will, too!
omnibus spending bill
What the Left thinks it means – a necessary spending bill that helps America and Americans
What it really means – a bill so full of pork Jews and Muslims can’t partake of it for religious reasons
In my lifetime, Congress has always been the home of big spenders, as the National Debt Clock continues to show. More on that later, but I wanted to give you an idea of the numbers we’re dealing with here before giving more details. Plus, it will give you a chance to get a stiff drink or fifty to steel your nerves.
First, let’s dig into the details. Thanks to Senator Rand Paul and Congressman Chip Roy, we have an idea of just what Leftists were telling us were vital expenditures necessary to keep the government from shutting down. Here are a few examples.
– $4.5 billion in COVID Economic Injury Disaster Grants to people who weren’t eligible to get them in the first place
– $1.7 billion for upkeep of federal office buildings not currently in use
– $140 million in COVID funds used to build a spa
– $31.5 million in COVID funds to buy luxury cars
– $3 million on watching ‘roided-up hamsters fight
– $2.1 million to encourage Ethiopians to wear shoes
– $1.1 million to teach mice to binge drink (could have just sent them to college)
– $69 million in overpayments to government contractors for a terminated contract
– $77 million in mismanaged and untracked fuel purchases by the State Department
And so on and so on.
Granted, you could make an argument for some of the spending ($3 million to build a Gandhi museum, almost $500 million to redevelop our hard cider industry, $200,000 for radio spots telling drivers to stop at railroad crossings), but most of it is USDA Certified Lean Bullshit. Out of all the bad financial decisions that makes Arthur Andersen look like Warren Buffett, possibly the worst was almost $120,000 going towards…and I wish I was making this up…a grant to research whether Thanos could actually snap his fingers while wearing the Infinity Gauntlet.
The short answer? No. My answer? No, because Thanos is a fucking fictional character.
Where is that stiff drink?
Okay, I’m ready to continue.
Remember when Ukrainian President and Vogue photo subject Volodymyr Zelensky recently told Puddin’ Head Joe he would need more money? Well, surprise surprise surprise, the omnibus spending bill has nearly $45 billion in aid earmarked for Ukraine. And that’s on top of the $68 billion we’ve already given them in 2022. For the math challenged out there, that will be in the neighborhood of $113 billion.
Of course Leftists and some self-described “real conservatives” tell us this money is essential and if we don’t agree, we’re anti-Ukraine and, thus, anti-American. In fact, to them it’s a no-brainer. After all, if we fund the Ukrainians well enough, they’ll beat the Russians and hinder their ability to influence the world
No. That’s really what they believe.
And if it hadn’t been for 18 Senate Republicans voting with Senate Democrats and two Independents in favor of the omnibus bill, we might not be having this conversation. As of this writing, only one of these 14 asshats, Mitt Romney of Utah, has even attempted to explain his reasoning.
Put simply, the Senate Republican support was a no-brainer because no brains went into their votes.
Bartender, hit me!
Now, for the fun part. All of this spending is being done without being in a budget. Since 1996, the federal government has been spending money through Continuing Resolutions (basically, an IOU Congress writes to itself promising to spend more money without any rhyme or reason) or…drum roll please…omnibus spending bills. The reason is simple: no budget means no budget limits. I’ve seen inebriated sailors with more restraint than Congress.
Speaking of inebriation…bartender!
Let me lay my cards on the table here. I’m not a fan of omnibus spending bills, not just the ones Puddin’ Head Joe will sign. Congress has a spending problem, and omnibus spending bills are blank checks backed up with the promise of professional liars that they’ll pay it back with interest.
By the way, $475 billion of the omnibus bill is for interest on the national debt.
Yeah, we’re never going to see a balanced budget anytime soon, not when it’s so easy to pass spending bills that have no fiscal strings attached.
Even if you’re in favor of the bill, you’re going to have a hard time convincing me spending any money on Thanos research, luxury cars, or building a spa advances anything in the national interest. Personal interests, sure, but national? Give me a fucking break!
Speaking of which, I’d better take a break from drinking long enough to wrap this up.
The very fact supporters of the omnibus spending bill have to rely on faux patriotism, a backdrop of Ukraine fighting for freedom, and the idea the government has to stay open or things won’t get done should give us pause to drink…I mean think. As Americans struggle to make ends meet due to inflation being higher than Tommy Chong on Willie Nelson’s tour bus, our elected officials continue to make matters worse by making our money more worthless than an abstinence talk by Bill Clinton.
The sad thing is there’s nothing we can do about it. Aside from a wholesale house (and Senate) cleaning and starting over, we’re stuck paying for someone else getting a luxury car, thanks to Daddy Government. The sad truth is there are so many Democrats and Republicans, both elected and governed, who have no problem with the current state of affairs. After all, they’re not going to pay the tab; we are.
And with that, I bring this Lexicon entry to a close. Which is good timing because I’m about to passdkjladkahdfadjf;dajkl;
[Editor’s Note: We found Thomas slumped over his laptop after getting blackout drunk writing this piece. We cleaned up his entry and his computer as well as we could. We are giving him coffee intravenously in the hopes he’ll be awake in time for next week’s Lexicon.]
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
By the time you read this, it will be close to or the end of October, which means two things. One, the Detroit Lions are mathematically eliminated from the post season, and two, it’s almost the end of Election Season. And of the two, the latter is clearly more painful.
It’s also the start of what the Left hopes to be a major turning point in what is looking to be a political assbeating of Biblical proportions. They’re hoping to energize women voters using one of the major wedge issues of my lifetime, abortion. After the US Supreme Court did the unthinkable and made abortion a state issue, Leftists created the term Roevember.
And, thus, the month of my birth gets ruined, but for a completely different reason.
Roevember
What the Left thinks it means – a rallying cry for women to vote out Republicans to protect their reproductive rights
What it really means – a neat catchphrase for an issue that isn’t that important right now
It’s conventional political wisdom that the party that controls the Presidency loses Congressional seats during the midterms, and you can count on the one hand of the world’s worst butcher the number of times it hasn’t happened in recent history. That means, if conventional wisdom holds true this year, Democrats stand to lose at least some of their elections. That gives them a vested interest in keeping their base energized. And what better way to do that than to hype up the potential of losing abortion rights unless Democrats get elected/reelected?
I mean, aside from coming up with an actual platform.
Under normal conditions, this tactic might work. After all, a Gallup poll from earlier this year shows a majority of American adults consider themselves to be pro choice, with 61% of women identifying as such. Granted, I’m not a doctor, so I might be assuming the respondents’ genders, but I’m going to go with it for the purposes of this sketch.
Unfortunately for Democrats, these midterms aren’t normal, and I’m not just talking about the freaks Democrats have running in certain races. (And I apologize to all the freaks out there for comparing them to Democrats.) When it comes to issues Americans think are important, abortion is waaaaaaaaaay down the list. Why it’s almost as if people are more concerned with the ec0nomy than killing babies! The absolute nerve!
This begs the question of why Leftists would continue to push abortion rights as an issue when the more pressing issue is the flaming dumpster fire that is our economy. I’m glad you asked! I have an idea about why that is. It may not be original, so if someone else thought of this first, I’m sure someone will let me know in the comments.
Politics today revolved heavily around what each side of the aisle considers to be what’s wrong with the world. When the economy is flush, the Right turn inward to find inspiration for what changes they want to make and then try to turn that inner vision into outer action. When the economy sucks more than a million Dysons at the center of a black hole, the Right’s introspection doesn’t extend outside of their homes very often, except to commiserate with others in the same boat.
The Left, on the other hand, don’t diversify their opinions on what’s wrong with the world. The issues they felt were super-ultra-important in 1992 aren’t too different than they are in 2022. Even the various “new” issues they’ve raised are offshoots of issues they’ve been railing on for decades, just with a new coat of paint. And no matter what, good economy or bad, these issues will always be at the core of the Left’s campaigns.
Which means they are woefully out of touch with the electorate this year.
One of the Left’s big assumptions is the 167.5 million women in the United States will be coming out to vote in Roevember. Although we don’t have any official numbers for the 2022 midterms (because they haven’t happened yet), it’s normal for voter turnout to be lower for midterm elections as opposed to Presidential elections. Let’s assume the numbers FairVote provides in the aforementioned link are accurate and voter turnout is 40%. That means only 67 million women will be voting, and of those 40.87 million of them consider themselves to be pro choice. Not an insignificant number, but a lot lower than the 167.5 million the Left predict will take part in Roevember. And that assumes all of those 40.87 million are a) eligible to vote, and b) inspired to vote for Democrats. A lot of assumptions being made on an issue only 4% of Americans surveyed think is important.
I promise the rest of this piece won’t be so numbers-heavy.
Although Leftists are great with catchy slogans, they’re piss-poor with timing. With the economy and inflation running rampant like Godzilla in a Japanese fishing village, they’ve chosen to make “let’s kill babies in the womb” their rallying cry. Then again, if my party was responsible for the Godzilla-esque trampling of the economy, I might want to try to divert attention to something else, too.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say most of the people reading this aren’t going to fall for the repackaging job the Left is doing with Roevember, but just know there are plenty outside of this group that will. If nothing else, just run down the numbers with them and let them know their passion for voting because of Roevember would be better suited for something far more productive.
Booing the Detroit Lions.