“It’s sad that the governments are chiefed by the double tongues.”
Ten Bears, the Indian Chief in Josey WalesWe live in the United States of America. We each have to choose a state. Why do we do so? Some people were born there and never left, others move for work, some commit a crime and can’t leave the state.
Well, don’t give up, there is still time. My point is that each state will treat you and your money differently. Some states have more sales taxes than others, while others tax income, and some don’t tax individuals as much but have property taxes that are higher etc. These different systems are all put together with a logical set of laws that are designed to provide services in exchange for these taxes. Clean streets, clean water, police protection, and programs to attract businesses and capital. I realize that some of these can be broken down into county of city jurisdictions, but let’s group them all together for the time being and call them non-federal because they all share an important characteristic: they can’t print money. The federal government prints the money so when a city or state goes bankrupt the services stop- and they stop fast. What people don’t’ realize is how precarious the states’ budgets are getting. Remember when we talked about how much money was given to the states during the Covid relief programs and states were then bragging about how they were running surpluses? California had a $100 billion surplus causing the French Laundry aficionado Governor Newson to say ‘no other state in American history has ever experienced a surplus as large as this.” Last month, Newson had to eat those words because the state is facing a $22.5 billion deficit according to Dan Walters at Cal Matters. What the hell happened? Remember all of those inflation checks mailed out to the tune of almost $12b? This is after they received $26 billion in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan and $15.3 billion in the cares act. There is a scene in the movie Hoosiers with Gene Hackman, which turned 40 years old this week by the way, when he takes over the basketball coaching duties of the team from the incumbent where the former coach says:
“Look Mister, There’s two types of dumb. The guy that gets naked, runs out in the snow, barks at the moon and the guy that does the same thing in my living room, the first one don’t matter, but the second you are kind of forced to deal with.” This is bailout money that they are giving away, federal debt money that they are giving money away. This is bailout money for states like California, Illinois, New York, and the worst offender right now financially New Jersey. We have called out the federal government for spending, but this is exactly what they are spending money on. They are paying states off. Bill Maher had a piece where one port-a-potty purchased and installed was going to cost $1.7 million, so someone bought a port-a-potty (for far less than half a mil) and was going to install it. The city said not so fast, now the cost would be $1.2M. Building permits, zoning, surveys etc and all these government regulations are not allowing this country to function as designed. Bill Maher about had a heart attack he was furious and he is a liberal. Bernadette Hogan and Nolan Hicks are reporting in the NY Post that “The projection released Thursday by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli far exceeds the city Office of Management and Budget prediction of a deficit growing to $6.5 billion over the next four years.” David Matthau write for New Jersey 101.5 that every man woman and child in New Jersey owes $59k each but points out adroitly, “future taxpayers are going to pay $58,700 in taxes and they’re not going to receive any government services or benefits for those taxes, that money has already been spent.” What? How is this possible? The answer is surprising. It is the fault of you and I and our new friend the word of the week: apathy.
Apathy- lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern
Apathy is falling asleep at the wheel, apathy is feigning ignorance, apathy is not taking responsibility for your own actions, but more importantly the actions of others. Today adults are going to little Jonny’s soccer game amongst 5 year old because god knows the world needs another Christiano Ronaldo meanwhile in a off grey room with bad lighting a government bureaucrat is taking away little Jonny’s future by saddling him with lifetime debt and oppression. At least little Jonny gets a participation trophy for playing, it should be inscribed- you still can’t play soccer, but at least you will have strong legs to do the manual labor this country will require of you to lift itself out of the debt dump that you father and grandfather saddled you with. We’re sorry. I hate to break it to you people but you are wasting your time and you have done you family and community a huge disservice by not paying attention to your governments federally and locally. They have spent you into lifelong servitude. What? Come on C Thomas? Why are you talking this way? I am not in servitude. My response is, I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to Jonny, and every Millennial out there that received advice from you to go and get a huge student loan debt with no plans to pay it back, or take out a credit card and not know how to use it, or can’t buy a house because the housing prices are a symptom of the easy money policy that you have voted yourselves for the last 40 years. You sure have enjoyed watching Yellowstone, going to Pilates, or the hundreds of ways that have absolved you of your responsibilities to leave the world better than you found it.
This apathy of which I speak requires participation. Why is it that our cities are falling down? Why is it that every child in Chicago’s Spry Community Links High School can’t read or do math at their grade level? Why is Spry one of 22 high schools in the Chicago area that doesn’t have a single child that can? Why is it in San Francisco that Cash App founder can get stabbed in the middle of the street and approach cars for help while bleeding out and they just drive off leaving him to die in the street, just steps from bright shiny real estate tower? Why is it that people are leaving California, New York, and Illinois in droves. Apathy amongst the people. We are in our phones, our shows, and our retweets, but no one wants to see or hear or address their community around them. Florida is gaining 1,000 people a week. I’m sure Florida has its own picadilloes but they are better than where they are coming from but to be honest, I don’t want to pay for them either. The next federal bailout is going to come in the way of states coming hat in hand and saying- our pensions are failing, our state is going under, and our people are going hungry. Look at the recent bailouts of the Silicon Valley Bank Signature Bank. Those depositors were largely in California and New York, but they were rich. Crypto stable coin holders, Venture Capitalists, and people with over $250k sitting in a checking account. What do you think is going to happen when California gets flooded out by the snowpack in the high Sierras? What is New York City going to do when more and more rich people relocate to Florida to avoid the high tax rates? The bailouts will have to probably be fiscal and federal which is going to be really hard to do with a red House of Representatives? So what happens? Crime goes up, some people that can afford to move away leaving the burden on even fewer people which causes them to move, but the whole thing was started by citizens not saying this is bullshit. That’s the politically correct term for what to tell a politician that campaigns on promises and never has repercussions for breaking them. Bullshit is what parents have done to their kids futures. Bullshit is what I have to call into the interwebs because I have a mighty platform of scores of people that can think about his and help be part of a solution in their neighborhood, their state, their city. If you want to do the best thing for your kid, skip his soccer game and go to a city council meeting, read up on your state’s finances and pension programs. Ask yourself this question- if the Feds don’t bail us out how much will my taxes go up to pay these costs? I say that to you because they will because the state can’t print money. That leaves declining services lie New Jersey, or tax hikes to pay for it or a fun third option, a federal bailout and inflation that takes off like Secretariat in a footrace against a field of mules, or more precisely asses. Us, we are the asses. We have allowed this to happen why we were distracted by barbecues and ball games by shit that don’t matter, but importantly how did the boomers make sure that shit ran downhill to such an extreme. They got to enjoy their life’s work, their kids, and their grandkids all while leaving a bag at the federal, state, and local level for the future to repay. If some kid left his soccer game, grabbed that bag of shit, lit it on fire and left in on their front step and rang the doorbell and ran away. That would be time better served than playing soccer because Jonny is quickly going to say- what the hell? I don’t want your participation trophy. This is your mess, you clean it up. Maybe they already have.
“Governments don’t live together, people live together. With governments you don’t always get a fair word or a fair fight.” Josey WalesSincerely Yours,
C Thomas Printer
This week’s financial tip
No more talk about savings. You should be well on your way to putting aside an emergency fund and diversifying. Today’s tip is do some homework. How well is your state’s pension funded? Just do a quick google search and then ask yourself, if it is funded what are you going to do when the government asks you the person without a pension to bail them out. Or maybe you have an expecting pension, what would you do if you got 40 cents on the dollar? Today we think, tomorrow we plan…
On this date in history
61 years ago to be exact Walter Kronkite took over the CBS evening News and developed the reputation as the most trusted man in America. Who would the equivalent be today?
Also born on this date
Wilbur Wright, one half of the brother combo that invented the airplane.
G Spot’s Poem
Good day my lovelies, let’s discuss the green jacket
Its only Friday but apparent loudmouth Rory can’t hack it.
Keep you mouth shut and more golf less talk
No one wants to hear from someone that can’t walk the walk
There was so much chatter between the LIV and the status quo
Or as I like to call it, the golfers and the golfers that call each other bro
They don’t realize it is the sport that we like
We don’t care about Freddy, or Tiger or even want to be like Mike
Sports used to be competitive and sportsmanship a given
Now everyone acts like they are Ari Gold played by Jeremy Piven
The Masters might be the last refuge where less is more
Let’s see what the weekend, leader Brooks Koepka, and the weather has in store.
Funding to California in the American Rescue Plan
States for having the worst finances in the US
Not a single student can do math at grade level in 53 Illinois schools