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Opinion

Francois Hollande

French television pool shows French President, Francois Hollande making an emergency broadcast Friday evening, Nov. 13, 2015.

Two months ago, I decided that the new President of the Philippines was the winner of the 2016 award for politician of the year. It takes a remarkable amount of chutzpah, after all, to freely admit to having mistresses (yes, more than one). But the icing on the cake is that he then bragged that none of them are on the public payroll. I imagine Filipino taxpayers are very grateful that he self-finances his extracurricular activity.

This is all quite noteworthy, but I may have jumped the gun when giving President Duterte this award.

That’s because we now have another politician who has gone above and beyond the call of duty. This politician, you will see, has displayed a stunning degree of arrogance and elitism, acting as if the normal rules of decorum and prudence don’t apply.

No, I’m not talking about Hillary Clinton getting a free pass for endangering national security. Though that would be a good guess.

Instead, our new contestant for politician of the year is Monsieur Francois Hollande.

And the reason he has vaulted into contention is this amusing story (though presumably very aggravating story for French taxpayers) about the elitist and wasteful habits of France’s socialist leader.

French President François Hollande’s hairdresser earns a gross salary of €9,895 a month, according to a report in French weekly Le Canard Enchaîné, to be published Wednesday. …Over the course of the president’s mandate, which ends next year, the hairdresser will have received a gross salary of more than €590,000. The hairdresser regularly follows Hollande during his travels, according to Le Canard.

I realize I may be a bit old fashioned, and maybe my reactions are influenced by my minimalist approach to hair care (shower, comb with fingers, done), but why does a male politician need an on-staff hairdresser?!?

Especially when he doesn’t have that much hair to begin with!

By the way, it’s not 100 percent clear that taxpayer money is financing Hollande’s hairdresser, though I suspect that’s almost certainly the case. The article mentions that the hairdresser signed the contract with Hollande’s top staffer, which certainly makes it sound as if the French President isn’t spending his own money.

Though maybe the Socialist Party or some other entity is paying the bills, so I will leave open the possibility that Hollande is merely guilty of being a vain clown instead of being a vain clown who wastes taxpayer money.

What makes this story particularly interesting is that Hollande a few years agopublicly cut back on some of the lavish perks he and his cabinet were enjoying. But I guess that was all for show.

Though I’d actually consider it a bargain if politicians spent all their time preening in front of the mirror.

That would leave them less time to tax our earnings.

Or regulate our behavior.

And discourage our productivity.

Or corrupt our nation.

And they’d have less time to reward their donors at our expense!

Or to reward themselves.

Or to be disingenuous hypocrites.

But no need to belabor the point. Maybe now it’s easy to understand why I prefer “do-nothing” politicians.

Heck, I’d be willing to double their pay if they promised to stay home.

Politician, French President François Hollande’s hairdresser earns

Economy

Import-Export-Prices-Cargo-Ship-Reuters

The latest import prices and export prices, including data and reports. (Photo: REUTERS)

The Labor Department said U.S. Import prices in June rose 0.2%, coming in far below the median economic forecast calling for a rise of 0.5%. Export prices rose by 0.8%, though they were expected to increase 0.4%.

In the 12 months through June, import prices fell 4.8 percent, the smallest drop since November 2014.

The latest government report comes after the U.S. trade deficit ballooned more than anticipated the prior month.

The Labor Department said U.S. Import prices

Polls

Trump Now Viewed More Honest, Trustworthy and Favorably Than Clinton

Trump-Clinton-NY

New York businessman Donald Trump, right, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, campaign for their party nomination on the trail. (Photos: AP/Getty)

Donald Trump has erased Hillary Clinton’s lead in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio, according to the latest [content_tooltip id=”38038″ title=”Quinnipiac University (Q-Poll)”]. The two are in a statistical dead heat in the three states in head-to-head match-ups, while his lead grows significantly when Libertarian Gov. Gary John and Green Party Jill Stein are added to the mix.

In Florida, Mr. Trump leads Mrs. Clinton 41% to 36%, with 7% supporting former New Mexico Gov. Johnson and 4% for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. In Ohio, Mr. Trump earned 37% to Mrs. Clinton’s 36%, with Gov. Johnson at 7% and Ms. Stein at 6%. In Pennsylvania, which would be a major electoral vote disaster for any Democratic candidate to lose, Mr. Trump leads by 6 points, 40% to 34%, with Gov. Johnson and Ms. Stein at 9% and 3%, respectively.

“Donald Trump enters the Republican Convention on a small roll in the three most important swing states in the country. He has wiped out Hillary Clinton’s lead in Florida; is on the upside of too-close to call races in Florida and Pennsylvania and is locked in a dead heat in Ohio,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Favorability Ratings

We’ve heard a lot of pontificating this election cycle over Mr. Trump’s historically high unfavorable numbers, but the Quinnipiac University Poll is the latest in a clear trend to show battleground state voters view Mrs. Clinton less favorable now. That’s true for all three states in the Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll.

4. Is your opinion of Donald Trump favorable, unfavorable or haven’t you heard enough about him? COMBINED WITH: (If Favorable/Unfavorable) Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?

                     FL     OH     PA
 
Strongly favorable   26%    22%    24%
Smwht favorable      12     12     14
Smwht unfavorable     7     10      7
Strongly unfavorable 47     49     50
Hvn't hrd enough      4      4      4
REFUSED/DK/NA         3      3      1

5. Is your opinion of Hillary Clinton favorable, unfavorable or haven’t you heard enough about her? COMBINED WITH: (If Favorable/Unfavorable) Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?

                     FL     OH     PA
 
Strongly favorable   19%    20%    17%
Smwht favorable      16     15     14
Smwht unfavorable     6      9     11
Strongly unfavorable 53     51     54
Hvn't hrd enough      4      3      3
REFUSED/DK/NA         2      3      2

In the Keystone State, voters Mrs. Clinton has a negative 31% to 65% favorability rating. Mr. Trump is unpopular, too, but by a negative 38% to 57%. In the Buckeye State, voters give Mrs. Clinton a negative 35% to 60% favorability rating, and Mr. Trump a negative 34% to 59% rating. In the Sunshine State, voters give Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump negative favorability ratings, 35% to 59% and 38% to 54%, respectively.

The Independents and Base

In Pennsylvania, Mr. Trump leads among Republicans 82% to 5%, while Mrs. Clinton among Democrats enjoys 82% to 9%. Independent Keystone State voters are divided with a slight edge for Mr. Trump, 39% to 36%. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a former rival who won only his own home state, is not backing his party’s nominee as of yet and it shows. Mr. Trump enjoys only a 77% to 6% spread among Republicans but a 43% to 31% spread among independent voters. Democrats back Mrs. Clinton 90% to 4%. In Florida, independent voters shift from 44 – 35 percent for Clinton last month to 43 – 30 percent for Trump today

Big Picture

Worth noting, this is the second poll in a week to show Mr. Trump with a widening 5-point lead in Florida, a complete flip from last month. A separate JMC Analytics Poll showed Mr. Trump leading Mrs. Clinton 47% to 42% with the third party candidates in the race.

“While there is no definite link between Clinton’s drop in Florida and the U.S. Justice Department decision not to prosecute her for her handling of e-mails, she has lost ground to Trump on questions which measure moral standards and honesty,” Mr. Brown added.

By YUGE margins, voters in each battleground state agree with the following statement: “The old way of doing things no longer works and we need radical change.” Further, battleground state voters also overwhelmingly agree with a major premise of Mr. Trump’s entire candidacy: “trade agreements with other countries have hurt them and their families’ financial situation.”

Polling from Monmouth University released this week show a far closer race than expected in Nevada and a small edge for Mr. Trump in Iowa.

“I’m becoming a broken record by repeating how early it is to read too much into polls,” said PPD’s senior political analyst Richard Baris. “However, Donald Trump is running way ahead of Mitt Romney and plays in states he never did. With these still register voter polls, Mrs. Clinton should be very concerned.”

Donald Trump has erased Hillary Clinton's lead

Opinion

Top: U.S. President Barack Obama attends a press conference following a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Warsaw, Poland, July 8, 2016. Bottom from left to right: Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael J. Smith, Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa were killed in Dallas. (Photo: AFP)

Top: U.S. President Barack Obama attends a press conference following a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Warsaw, Poland, July 8, 2016. Bottom from left to right: Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael J. Smith, Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa were killed in Dallas. (Photo: AFP)

Even in this age of runaway emotions, there are still some people who want to know the facts. Nowhere are facts more important, or more lacking, than in what has been aptly called “The War on Cops,” the title of a devastating new book by Heather Mac Donald.

Few, if any, of the most fashionable notions about the police, minorities and the criminal justice system can withstand an examination of hard facts. Yet those fashionable notions continue to dominate discussions in the media, in politics and in academia. But Ms. Mac Donald’s book of documented facts demolishes many fashionable notions.

Consider one of the big talking points of politicians and others who claim that the harsher penalties for people selling crack cocaine than for people selling powder cocaine show racism, since crack cocaine is more likely to be used by blacks.

The cold fact, however, is that black political and community leaders, back in the 1980s, spearheaded the drive for more severe legal penalties against those who sold crack cocaine. Black Congressman Charlie Rangel of Harlem was just one of those black leaders who urged these more severe penalties. So did the New York Times, the promoter of many crusades on the left.

Fast forward to the present, when both black leaders and the New York Times are blaming white racism for the more severe penalties for selling crack cocaine. If you want to see what they were saying back in the 1980s, check pages 154-159 of “The War on Cops.”

When the political winds change, politicians change. But that does not change the facts about what they said and did before.

As in her previous book, “Are Cops Racist?” Heather Mac Donald put hard facts front and center — and those facts devastate many a fashionable notion in the media, in politics and in academia.

One of the most popular arguments used in many different contexts is to show that blacks have been disproportionately represented among people stopped by police, arrested or imprisoned, as well as disproportionately represented among people turned down for mortgage loans or for other benefits.

Although many people regard these “disparate impact” statistics as evidence, or virtually proof, of racial discrimination, suppose that I should tell you that black basketball players are penalized by NBA referees out of all proportion to the 13 percent that blacks are in the American population.

“Wait a minute!” you might respond. “Blacks are more than just 13 percent of the players in the NBA.”

Black basketball players are several times more numerous than 13 percent of all NBA players. This is especially so among the star players, who are more likely to be on the floor, rather than sitting on the bench. And players on the floor most are the ones most likely to get penalized.

The difference between the percentage of blacks in the general population and the percentage of blacks in the particular activity being discussed is the key to the fraudulent use of “disparate impact” statistics in many other contexts.

Hillary Clinton, for example, decried a “disgrace of a criminal-justice system that incarcerates so many more African-Americans proportionately than whites.”

The most reliable crime statistics are statistics on murders, 52 percent of which were committed by blacks over the period from 1976 to 2005. If blacks are convicted of far more than 13 percent of all murders, does that mean that racism in the courts must be the reason?

On the benefits side, there was instant condemnation of mortgage lenders when statistics showed blacks being turned down for prime mortgage loans in 2000 at twice the rate that whites were turned down.

Seldom, if ever, did the media report that whites were turned down at nearly twice the rate that Asian Americans were turned down — or that Asian Americans’ average credit scores were higher than the average credit scores of whites, which were higher than the average credit scores of blacks.

Such facts would have spoiled the prevailing preconceptions. Many facts reported in “The War on Cops” spoil many notions that all too many people choose to believe. We need to stop this nonsense, before there is a race war that no one can win.

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Even in this age of runaway emotions,

Opinion

Top photo from left to right: Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael J. Smith, Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa were killed in Dallas. Bottom: Johnson's Facebook page showed him giving the "black power" salute. (Facebook)

Top photo from left to right: Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael J. Smith, Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa were killed in Dallas. Bottom: Johnson’s Facebook page showed him giving the “black power” salute. (Facebook)

Claims about racist cops from groups like Black Lives Matter lead more people to fear and hate the police.

That’s bad news for cops. It’s also bad for black people who live in crime-ridden neighborhoods, says Heather Mac Donald, author of “The War on Cops.”

She points out that activist policing is what people in those neighborhoods need and want, because they are much less safe if fearful cops (or cops who just want to avoid a hateful experience — like being screamed at and called racist) stay in the car instead of questioning the young men hanging out on the corner.

Yes, says Mac Donald, it’s true that police disproportionately stop blacks, but “violent crimes are disproportionately committed by blacks.”

That’s something you probably won’t hear at a Black Lives Matter rally.

But Black Lives protesters also have a point: Some cops are sadistic, racist bullies.

Not many are, but with765,000 police officers in America, if just 1 percent were racist, that would still leave 7,650 bullies with guns. For years, when officers said, “I had to use force; I had to shoot,” Americans usually believed them. Now videos show that, in many cases, officers lied.

In addition, DNA evidence reveals that cops and prosecutors have locked up lots of innocent people — disproportionately poor people and blacks.

So there are good reasons for blacks to be angry.

The “war on cops” narrative is overblown, too. “War” means killing. The attack on officers in Dallas was despicable, but, even including those five deaths, it is still safer to be a cop today than in years past. According to FBI records, 2015 was one of the safest years ever recorded.

Crime is down, too. The media mislead us by dwelling on increases in cities like Chicago, but overall, crime continues to drop.

There was much more violence in the 1920s and ’80s, when government stepped up its wars on liquor and drugs. That drove those businesses into the hands of criminals and increased confrontations with police. The number of police officers killed in 1930, the worst year of Prohibition, was nearly triple the number of police officers killed in 2014.

Prohibition is a bigger threat than Black Lives Matter.

Of course, it’s possible that crime will rise again. Few agree about why it dropped in the first place.

Maybe it’s the increase in video cameras and cellphones that allow people to see and report crime. Some even credit the smoking bans that put smokers on the street where they keep an eye on things. Or looser gun laws — criminals now don’t know whether a victim might be armed. And so on.

Heather Mac Donald says crime fell after computer-directed policing sent more cops to high-crime neighborhoods and officers started arresting people for “quality of life” crimes like public urination. Crime continued to fall because “tough on crime” laws put more criminals in jail and kept them there longer. Bad guys don’t commit new crimes if they’re in jail.

But how many people is it right to lock up? America now jails more than any other country. Almost 700 out of every 100,000 Americans are now in jail. In Germany, just 78 people out of 100,000 are. Are Americans so much more criminal?

“Yes,” says Mac Donald, and America should jail more people. “We have a crime problem, not a prison problem. Only 3 percent of all people who commit a violent victimization or property crime end up in prison. You have to work very hard to end up in prison.”

That may be true. But when 17 states cut imprisonment rates over the past decade, they experienced a decline in crime.

A big irony here is that despite the crime rate dropping — and indicators of racial accord such as intermarriage improving — more cops are being armed, armored and trained as if they are at war — with drugs and with protesters — and told they are victims of a “war on cops.”

We should mourn both people killed by criminals and those unnecessarily killed by cops. But beware of people who claim to have simple answers to America’s race problems and crime problems. And beware of the media, which make it seem like life is getting worse.

It isn’t.

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Claims about racist cops from groups like

Polls

Donald Trump enjoys a pork chop on a stick at the Iowa State Fair on Sunday August 16, 2015. Hillary Clinton, right, speaks on the evening of the Iowa Democratic caucus, Feb. 1, 2016. (Photos: AP)

Donald Trump enjoys a pork chop on a stick at the Iowa State Fair on Sunday August 16, 2015. Hillary Clinton, right, speaks on the evening of the Iowa Democratic caucus, Feb. 1, 2016. (Photos: AP)

Donald Trump holds a small 2-point lead over Hillary Clinton in the key Midwest battleground state of Iowa, with Hawkeye State voters viewing him more favorably. Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, leads 44% to 42% over the presumptive the Democratic Mrs. Clinton, according to the [content_tooltip id=”38870″ title=”Monmouth University”].

“It’s a toss-up right now, but Iowa could be the leading edge of a midwest push for Trump,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

Another 6% intend to vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson, which is marginally but disproportionately hurting Mr. Trump, and 1% say they will support Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Two percent (2%) say they will vote for another candidate and 6% are undecided. Worth noting, Mr. Trump is leading big (51% to 35%) with voters under 50 years-old, while Mrs. Clinton has the edge with voters 50 and over, 50% to 38%.

Getting back to former New Mexico Gov. Johnson’s impact on the race, 87% of self-identified Republicans support Mr. Trump, while 6% back Mrs. Clinton, 5% Gov. Johnson and 1% Ms. Stein or another candidate. Meanwhile, among Democrats, 86% support Mrs. Clinton while 8% choose Mr. Trump, giving the Republican more of his base than the Democrat. However, only 2% back Gov. Johnson and 1% support Stein or another candidate.

Mr. Trump leads with independents 39% to 35%, while 10% chose Gov. Johnson and 4% either Ms. Stein or another candidate. Mrs. Clinton has the lead among women voters by 54% to 33%, but Mr. Trump has a similar edge among men of 56% to 29%.

Meanwhile, in the race for the U.S. Senate in Iowa, incumbent Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley leads Democratic challenger Patty Judge by 10 points, 52% to 42%.

While the millions of dollars in ads attacking him over his decision not to hold hearings on Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee have hurt, his overall job approval rating makes defeating him a big challenge. Though more Iowa voters disapprove than approve of his decision not to hold Judiciary Committee hearings on Merrick Garland, he holds a 56% to 33% approval rating and has his base locked up.

Just over 9-in-10 Republicans (92%) back Sen. Grassley and over 8-in-10 Democrats (83%) support Ms. Judge. Independents go big for Sen. Grassley, 52% to 40%, and he leads among men by 66% to 30%. Ms. Judge has an advantage among women of 53% to 40%.

“Grassley’s overall job approval rating should be enough to give him the win unless Judge can make further inroads on the Garland issue,” said Murray.

The Monmouth University Poll was conducted by telephone from July 8 to 11, 2016 with 401 Iowa residents likely to vote in the November election. This sample has a margin of error of + 4.9 percent. The poll was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, NJ.

Donald Trump holds a small lead over

Politics

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, at Alumisource, a metals recycling facility in Monessen, Pa. (Photo: AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, at Alumisource, a metals recycling facility in Monessen, Pa. (Photo: AP)

Donald Trump scored a major victory after the platform committee included language calling for his wall on the U.S.-Mexican border in the draft Republican Party platform. “The Wall” was one of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s key proposals. He was also successful on another key issue of trade, another major policy issue during his candidacy.

In addition to proposal to put “the Wall” on the Mexico border, the draft Republican Party platform called for toning back new multinational trade deals and completely eliminates support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The proposed platform continued to include the party’s previous stance against same-sex marriage, as well as other socially conservative issues.

The committee completed drafting the plan on Tuesday in Cleveland, Ohio ahead of the Republican Convention next week, when the full 2,472 delegates will vote on the platform.

The “border wall” must cover “the entirety of the Southern Border and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.” The measure was proposed by Kris Kobach, the secretary of state from Kansas and Trump supporter.

“This is why we support building a wall along our southern border and protecting all ports of entry,” Kobach said. “The border wall must cover the entirety of the southern border and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.”

Donald Trump scored a major victory after

US

Marilyn-Mosby-Baltimore

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. (Photo: Tanjug/AP)

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby is facing growing calls for disbarment over her conduct during the prosecution of six police officers in the Freddie Gray case. With two officers acquitted and a third now on trial, some critics are calling for her to drop the charges against all of the officers from the Baltimore Police Department, to resign and worse.

That all began even before a law professor at George Washington University School of Law filed a disciplinary complaint seeking to disbar Ms. Mosby, a move numerous legal experts on both sides of the aisle agree is more than appropriate. In addition, five of the six police officers charged by Ms. Mosby have filed civil suits against her

The complaint, which was filed by Professor John F. Banzhaf, states Marilyn Mosby violated multiple provisions of the Maryland Lawyer’s Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC), to include withholding exculpatory evidence, making inappropriate statements in public (to poison the jury) and continuing to prosecute a case after it has been established there is insufficient evidence to support a conviction.

“In many situations somebody with legal knowledge to file a complaint — such as an attorney in private practice — would be relunctant to do so because they dont want to stir up controversy…. So, the only group that remains able to do something like this would be law professors. They have legal skill … and we are reasonably impartial,” Professor Banzahaf said to LawNewz.com. “I do not represent anyone in the case, I have no direct involvement and I’m not in Baltimore. That makes me about as impartial as you can get.”

Ms. Mosby’s office released a statement that said she and other prosecutors are barred by a gag order imposed by Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams from discussing the officers’ prosecution. Thus, they were withholding comment. The Attorney Grievance Commission does not comment on pending complaints.

However, if your tempted to dismiss the complaint as a fantastical long-shot, think again. Professor Banzahaf is known for bringing complaints against against overzealous prosecutors in high profile cases. He played a pivotal role in the disbarment and successful civil lawsuits against Mike Nifong, the prosecutor who continued to proceed in the Duke lacrosse case even when it became clear it was a race-baiting, manufactured incident.

In the complaint filed with the Maryland Bar Counsel, Professor Banzahaf  calls Mrs. Mosby “a runaway prosecutor” and claims she never even had probable cause to charge the six officers in the death of Freddie Gray. Further, he accuses Ms. Mosby of only filing those charges to stop the destructive rioting in Baltimore, something Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake infamously said she wanted to give them “space” to do.

“I heard your call for ‘No justice, no peace.’ Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man,” Mrs. Mosby said in May of 2015. Now, with more “not guilty” verdicts almost assuredly on their way (from the bench of a black judge), a repeat riot in an already economically depressed city is increasingly likely.

Indeed, Professor Banzhaf isn’t alone in the belief Marilyn Mosby’s comments and actions were a “misuse of her role” and a “perversion of her office.”

“She’ll try to say, ‘At least I tried. Isn’t that a good thing?’” said Roya Hanna, a former Baltimore prosecutor told the LA Times. “I think indicting people when you have no evidence to convict them shows a serious lack of judgment.”

Ralph Jaffe, an opinion write for the Baltimore Sun, was one of the first to join in on the growing chorus of reasonable voices condemning Marilyn Mosby. In Mosby deserves to be disbarred, he excoriated Mrs. Mosby for caving to mob rule, liberal agitation and confusing her job as a prosecutor with a race and grievance industry politician. Mr. Jaffe filed a complaint with the Attorney Grievance Commission back in May 2015, long before Professor Banzahaf filed his disbarment request with the Maryland Bar Counsel.

“The truth is that Ms. Mosby became confused, not knowing the difference between being a prosecutor and a politician. She forgot that, even though she was elected in a political arena, her responsibility as a prosecutor is to follow the law. Instead, she chose to pander to the street mob who demanded convictions of the six police officers without any due process,” he wrote. “Ms. Mosby decided to placate the liberal agitators who obviously lack knowledge about constitutional law. This decision reflected recklessness and lack of judicial responsibility on her part making it clear her ambition of becoming a new political rock star took precedence over the constitutional rights of the six police officers.”

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby is facing

Policy

national-debt-capitol-hill-budget

(Photo: PBS)

The Congressional Budget Office has just released the 2016 version of its Long-Term Budget Outlook. It’s filled with all sorts of interesting data if you’re a budget wonk (and a bit of sloppy analysis if you’re an economist). If you’re a normal person and don’t want to wade through 118 pages, you’ll be happy to know I’ve taken on that task. And I’ve grabbed the six most important images from the report.

First, and most important, we have a very important admission from CBO that the long-run issue of ever-rising red ink is completely the result of spending growing too fast. I’ve helpfully underlined that portion of Figure 1-2.

And if you want to know the underlying details, here’s Figure 1-4 from the report.

Once again, since I’m a thoughtful person, I’ve highlighted the most important portions. On the left side of Figure 1-4, you’ll see that the health entitlements are the main problem, growing so fast that they outpace even the rapid growth of income taxation. And on the right side, you’ll see confirmation that our fiscal challenge is the growing burden of federal spending, exacerbated by a rising tax burden.

And if you want more detail on health spending, Figure 3-3 confirms what every sensible person suspected, which is that Obamacare did not flatten the cost curve of health spending.

Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, and other government health entitlements are projected to consume ever-larger chunks of economic output.

Now let’s turn to the revenue side of the budget.

Figure 5-1 is important because it shows that the tax burden will automatically climb, even without any of the class-warfare tax hikes advocated by Hillary Clinton.

And what this also means is that more than 100 percent of our long-run fiscal challenge is caused by excessive government spending (and the Obama White House also has confessed this is true).

Let’s close with two additional charts.

We’ll start with Figure 8-1, which shows that things are getting worse rather than better. This year’s forecast shows a big jump in long-run red ink.

There are several reasons for this deterioration, including sub-par economic performance, failure to comply with spending caps, and adoption of new fiscal burdens.

The bottom line is that we’re becoming more like Greece at a faster pace.

Last but not least, here’s a chart that underscores why our healthcare system is such a mess.

Figure 3-1 shows that consumers directly finance only 11 percent of their health care, which is rather compelling evidence that we have a massive government-created third-party payer problem in that sector of our economy.

Yes, this is primarily a healthcare issue, especially if you look at the economic consequences, but it’s also a fiscal issue since nearly half of all health spending is by the government.

P.S. If these charts aren’t sufficiently depressing, just imagine what they will look like in four years.

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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has just

Elections

Bernie-Sanders-NH-Victory-Speech

Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders gives his victory speech in New Hampshire on Feb. 9, 2016. Photo: AP/J. David Ake)

Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, a former rival for the nomination, endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Tuesday. The announcement comes after the candidate repeatedly vowed to take the nomination fight all the way to the Democratic National Convention.

“Secretary Clinton has won the Democratic nominating process and I congratulate her for that,” Sen. Sanders said. “She will be the Democratic nominee for president and I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next President of the United States.”

People’s Pundit Daily learned last week that Sen. Sanders asked President Barack Obama during a meeting in June “how to land this plane,” meaning how to end his campaign without looking like a sellout to his supporters. The president expressed his doubt about Mrs. Clinton getting indicted for mishandling classified information–something Jane Sanders publicly stated was a factor–and promised the socialist senator he would have a say in the Democratic Party platform.

The result, which was adopted last weekend, was the most radical leftwing party platform ever adopted in the history of the party. But that’s not due largely to Sen. Sanders and doesn’t include the central issues he ran his campaign and championed. The platform includes the repeal of the Hyde Amendment that permits taxpayer-funded abortion up until the day the baby is born. But Sen. Sanders did get a $15 minimum wage promise in the platform, though he made no progress on free trade.

Over the months, the only measurable significant overlap between Sen. Sanders and Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has been driven by the issues of trade and Wall Street corruption. Those are the voters Democrats will have to ensure stay on the voting plantation. This is particularly dangerous in the Rust Belt states, including Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, a former

People's Pundit Daily
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