100% Failure Rate - Part III

Back in 2009, I published my first blog proving 100% failure rate of the federal government. In it I highlighted such things as:

• Social Security
• The United States Post Office
• Amtrak
• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
• The War on Poverty
• The Stimulus Bill
• Cash for Clunkers

In 2010, I published 100% Failure Rate - Part II which highlighted the latest news about the insolvency of Social Security. 

Now, with almost six years of the Obama Administration under our belt, I thought it was time to update the federal governments absolutely heinous record of doing anything right. How about these?

• Veteran's Affairs
• Obamacare
• The Secret Service
• Fast and Furious
• The Ebola outbreak
• ISIS
• Benghazi
• The economy
• The national debt
• The IRS scandal
• Welfare
• The Obamacare website
• Enforcing our borders

Much, much more is outlined in my book, Pritical Thinking-The Lost Art of Critical Thinking and Common Sense in Politics and Public Policy.

State Sucession

Short of a Convention of the States that institutes real reform and real limitations on the federal government's power, secession is the only other recourse we, the people, have from the overreaching federal, now national, government.

The findings of this Reuters/Ipsos poll are not surprising. The growth of Washington's power and wealth is easy to see. It grows regardless of which party is in power. We sit breathlessly each June waiting to hear what 9 lawyers deem constitutional. We allow 20% of our economy to be turned over to the feds despite the fact that socialized medicine produces worse results than our current system. Our national debt is approaching $18 trillion. Bush was "irresponsible and unpatriotic" for taking it from $5 trillion to $9 trillion. Our education system is a disaster. The list of federal failures and corruption is as long as the list of federal agencies: Postal Service, Fannie Mae, Social Security,  Medicare, Medicaid, Freddie Mac, Amtrak, Veteran's Affairs, the IRS, Obamacare, etc.

BEFORE A STATE CAN SERIOUSLY CONSIDER SECESSION, IT MUST WEAN ITSELF FROM DEPENDENCE ON THE FUNDS IT RECEIVES FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and, of course, its citizens must wake up and demand change. Until then, we will get more of the same and worse.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/19/us-usa-secession-exclusive-idUSKBN0HE19U20140919

The Truth About Minimum Wage

As discussed in my book, Pritical Thinking-The Lost Art of Critical Thinking and Common Sense in Politics and Public Policy, if raising the minimum wage is such a great idea, why stop at $10 or $12 an hour? Why not push it to $20 or $50 an hour? How about $100 an hour?

The truth is minimum wage is . . . the MINIMUM! You start at a low wage, gain experience and skills thereby making yourself more valuable and, thus, warranting a higher wage.

The truth is raising the minimum wage hurts the very people that liberal advocates of the wage rate increase claim to be trying to help. Milton Friedman said it this way, "minimum wage laws are about as clear a case as one can find of a measure, the effects of which are precisely the opposite of those intended by men of goodwill who support it."

Below is a list of citations used in the Minimum Wage discussion in Pritical Thinking:

• CBO Report
• Consumers Pay for Minimum Wage Hike 
• Employment Policies Institute, Wage Growth Among Minimum Wage Earners 
• Minimum Wage Hike Will Hurt Jobs and Economy 
• What is Minimum Wage: Its History and Effects on the Economy 
• Who Earns the Minimum Wage? Suburban Teenagers, Not Single Parents 
• Income Inequality, Walter E. Williams
• Majority of Minimum Wage Earners Under 30 Years Old
• Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment Matrices 
• Bill Gates on Minimum Wage Harmful Effects 
• Politics and Minimum Wage

Washington Redskins and American Politics

What do the Washington Redskins have to do with American politics and public policy? 

Just like with gay marriage, Obamacare, minimum wage, national debt, welfare reform, social security reform, gun control, balanced budget amendment, abortion, gun control, illegal immigration, energy policy, and voter ID laws, the (silent) majority allows themselves to be drowned out by a loud and often obnoxious, vitriolic minority.

Read the ESPN.com story here. Learn more about the other topics here.