The Democrat's War on Inequality Should Start Within the Democratic Party

The Democrats, led by President Obama, are resorting to base class warfare, undertaking an attack on inequality. Governor Mitt Romney was destroyed in 2012 because he could not rebut the presumption that he was out of touch with the American people. He spoke like an MBA plutocrat (“binders of women,” etc.) The Democrats have us believe that Republicans represent the rich and the elite. They care nothing about the rest of us. They are for the oil companies, insurance companies, fat cat bankers, and gun manufacturers. The Democrats represent the people. They fight against inequality. That's what they tell us. According to President Obama and the Democratic acolytes, inequality is the biggest problem facing America. They orate against the growing economic gap in which the rich are getting richer. The proposed solutions are a higher minimum wage and extended unemployment. 12 of the richest 20 Americans support the Democratic Party in national and state races, often with tens of millions of dollars. More rich Democrats finance Democratic causes than their “reviled” Koch Brothers support conservative causes. The Democratic rich have gotten richer under President Obama. Here are the plutocrats that financially back the “populist” Democrats: Bill Gates Warren Buffett George Soros Larry Ellison Penny Pritzker Tom Steyer Jon Stryker Patricia Stryker Haim Saban Irwin Jacobs Ron Burkle Elon Musk Jaime Dimon Jeffrey Brotman These are our Democratic leaders, our professed “populists.” Judge them not by what they say, but who they are. President Obama, as part of his political attack on inequality, expresses great empathy for the less fortunate in our society. He does while vacation in Hawaii for 17days (including travel) over Christmas and playing golf 9 of the 15 days on Oahu.He has played 135 rounds of golf through August 2013 to show solidarity with the less fortunate. He loves going to Hawaii and Martha's Vineyard as well as spending 204 days traveling to 41 countries. Michelle Obama has great empathy for the less fortunate and is a strong supporter of healthy food for Americans. Michelle though is known to have a penchant for lobster, often at taxpayer's expense. Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia – That says it all. He’s worth about $83.08 million. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia has a higher worth of $88.5 million. Senator Blumenthal of Connecticut trails at $79.11 million. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada was poor when he came to Washington, but after a few sweetheart real estate transactions, became a multi-millionaire. Senator Diane Feinstein of California, worth over $40 million herself, is married to Richard C. Blum, an investment banker who may be worth up to $1 Billion. Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who is known to be ethically charged, is worth about $15.5 million. Politics has been good to her. Al Franken, the tax-dodging, ex-comedian, Minnesota Senator, is worth millions. Elizabeth Warren, perhaps the most liberal, populist Senator, or at least publicly, is worth $3.9 million. She did not accumulate her worth as a law professor. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi rings in about $100 million. Congressman Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts comes in at $15.2 million. He’s a piker compared to Congressman John Delaney of Maryland at $68.4 million and Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado with $60.2 million. Susan DelBene was elected to Congress from Washington in 2012. Her personal wealth of $54 million played a large role in her winning the primary and general elections. Congresswoman Chellie Pangree of Maine saw her worth jump from $750,000 in 2010 to $85.8 million in 2011 when she married a hedge fund manager. She’s for the people. Secretary of State, and former Senator, John Kerry married money twice. He was the richest Senator until he joined President Obama’s Cabinet. The median worth for the Democrats in Congress is $1.04 million, slightly higher than the even $1 million for the Republicans. They have made it in America, often having entering politics. But they represent the people. Or do they?

Immigrants: The True Entrepreneurs in New York City

I Love New York. I first sat foot in Manhattan in May 1971. We were most recently in New York from January 1-5 this year for a conference. It’s been a long three years since we were last in the Big Apple. I remember what it is about New York: the skyscrapers, the museums and historic sites, the crowded subways, the babel of tongues, but most of all the drive and energy of the New Yorkers as the teeming masses race the Sidewalks of New York. They say “if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. “ Every successive class of immigrants has made it in New York. The City, starting with the Dutch, brings out the entrepreneurial spirit in the newcomers. They make it in New York. New York is continuously recharged by new waves of immigrants. The Irish were the first wave after Independence. They made it in New York. They embedded themselves in the commercial, educational, and political systems in the city and state. They came to dominate the police and fire departments. Then they all came: the Italians, Greeks, the Jews, Chinese and then other Asians and Pacific Islanders, African Americans, Puerto Ricans, East Europeans, and most recently the Dominicans. They come from Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Waves of new immigrants replace the earlier immigrants who have moved up the East Side, to the suburbs, or the rest of America from the Lower East Side, the historic melting pot of America. They often come with the shirts on their backs and dreams for a better life in America, They achieve. They all come “Looking for America.” Lady Liberty greets them and says “Prove yourselves.” And they do. Some entrepreneurs, such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, the Rockefellers, and the Guggenheims made it elsewhere and moved to New York. Fortunes were made by real estate entrepreneurs, such as Donald Trump, Larry Silverstein, Steve Ross, Harry Helmsley, Harry Macklowe, and Mortimer Zuckerman. Family fortunes include the LeFraks, Dursts, Tisch’s, Tishman’s. and Vanderbilts. The real entrepreneurs though are the immigrants and their sons and daughters. The small entrepreneurs, often immigrants, are everywhere in New York City. Over 200,000 small businesses exist in New York City. Immigrants own 40,000 of them. The Jewish peddlers of a century ago have been replaced by the pretzel/food carts and newsstands of today. They open bars, restaurants, snack bars, pubs, taverns, bistros, and dives. They run storefront grocery stores and bodegas as well as neighborhood discounters. The cabbies and limo drivers hustle for fares. Messenger services dart through the city with their deliveries. The barkers and hawkers are reaching out to you. Street vendors sell souvenirs and trinkets, apparel, and books. New Yorkers also sell fake watches out of jackets. The psychic readers and fortunetellers foretell the future. The repair shops, auto mechanics, clothiers and tailors fix the present. The franchisees feed us. Thee street artists and musicians entertain us. The arts, music, and theatre, the sciences flow from the immigrants. City College shows the way. The doormen, bellhops, valets, janitors, maintenance workers, and maids are earning for themselves while pushing their children up the ladder. Their sons and daughters become educators, investors, politicians, broadcasters, accountants, lawyers, judges and doctors. The American Mafia sprang out of the Lower East Side. New Yorkers pull out cross county skies when it snows. That is New York.

The War on Poverty is a Failure, But it Spends On

President Johnson in his State of the Union Address on January 8, 1963 declared an “unconditional war on poverty.” The richest nation on earth should be able to lift its poor out of poverty. He intended for the government to create the opportunity for Americans in his Great Society to rise out of poverty. President Johnson, who rose from poverty, overwhelming Democratic majorities in Congress, and an optimistic American public signed up for the war. The War on Poverty is 50 years old. Where are the celebrations? The parades? The speeches? the deification of President Johnson? Where are the success stories? Where is President Obama touting the success of the War on Poverty? President Reagan claimed poverty won the war, but the spending continued. Individuals have risen from poverty, as they have throughout American history, but the War on Poverty, like its overlapping War on Drugs, has been a failure, but we fight on. We spend almost a trillion a year on the War on Poverty - more than the Defense Budget. The states are now partially abandoning the War on Drugs, at least with marijuana, refocusing on the deadly drugs. We continue to finance the War on Poverty though. We know that the War on Poverty failed because President Obama, New York Mayor de Blasio, Democrats everywhere, and the mainstream media are unleashing a War on Inequality. From their perspective the rich are getting richer and the poor and middle class poorer. The amazing thing about Democrats is that they cannot admit one of their spending programs failed. Therefore, they rename it and double down. How can it be that inequality is growing after the federal government has spent $20.7 trillion on the War on Poverty? The War on Poverty is financed by the government’s national debt of $17.3 trillion The War on Poverty may not have ended poverty, but it has created a safety net for the fairly steady 15% of the American population living below the poverty line. Many of America’s poor have cars, HD TV’s, cable or satellite TV, the internet, “Obama phones,” food stamps, and often government assisted living. The programs continue because it allows Congress to spend money. Only a political fool would seek to end popular programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. The War on Poverty was doomed from the start for several reasons. First is the naive belief that government can create jobs. The government can facilitate private investment, but can finance it only by taxing other private sector endeavors, activities and individuals, borrowing from private interests, or inflating money. The jobs created by the War on Poverty are in the federal, state, and local bureaucracies. The second reason for the failure is that most of the programs were not job creating, but simply redistributionist schemes, of which the latest is ObamaCare, which drain money from private consumers to benefit the government’s chosen ones. The War on Poverty is based on transfer payments. A related reason is that the government is inefficient in transferring wealth. The fourth reason is that the government is not good at picking winners and users. The fifth reason is the breakdown of traditional families, often caused by the federal programs. Too many children are raised by single, low income mothers. 41% of the current births in America are by unwed mothers. 4 our of ten African American children and 3 out of ten Hispanic babies live in poverty. The unemployment rate for African American teenagers is rising. The South Bronx, Harlem, Bedford Stuyvesant, South Central LA, ghettos and barrios throughout America remain economically distressed. The District of Columbia is an economic disgrace as the nation’s capitol. Detroit is an American tragedy. A government, which cannot defeat poverty in its capitol, is not going to succeed elsewhere in the country.

Compounded Stupidity by the United States With Indian Diplomat Devyani Khobragade

American stupidity With Devyani Khobragade continues with the State Department expelling her from The United States The United States Justice Department through U.S. Attorney for New York, Preet Bharara, continues to act stupidly and exhibit prosecutorial abuse of power directed towards India diplomat Devyani Khobragade. As I discussed in my December 21 blog, she was arrested on December 12 outside her children’s school by State Department security officers and then turned her over to the United States Marshalls, who pursuant to standard procedures, stripped searched her. The Consular Official was accused of visa fraud and underpaying her maid. The normal procedure would have been to quietly request the Indian government to withdraw her from the United States. Instead, the diplomat was arrested like a common criminal. The logical explanation for this treatment is that the United States wished to make an example of her because of widespread abuses of foreign workers by their diplomats. The United States apparently did not provide advance warning to the India Embassy or Devlani, or her attorney of the pending arrest. The United States flew the maid’s husband and children out of India to the United States two days before Devyani’s arrest. The visas issued to the maid’s family were those used for victims of human trafficking, further arousing and insulting India. India exploded over the mistreatment of their diplomat, an advocate for women’s rights. As a sign of improved equality in India, the Indian people strongly supported Devyani of Dalit descent, previously known as “untouchables.” Those who live in glass houses should not cast stones. Syed Akbaruddin of India’s Ministry of External Affairs stated: “Reciprocity is the basis on which diplomats work all over the world.” India is reciprocating, indeed escalating on more than the normal tit for tat response. The India government quickly investigated the conduct, or misconduct, of American embassy and consular officials in India. India immediately imposed restrictions on the U.S. diplomats. U.S. diplomats are now subject to airport frisking. It issued new restrictions a few days ago. The United States Embassy had an exclusive club selectively open to expatriates, the American Community Support Club (The American Embassy Club). India ordered it closed to all non-Embassy personnel. The Club offers open-air swimming pools, a bowling ally, tennis courts, gym, video club, and a beauty parlor. Its menu offers steaks. It sells duty-free liquor and other goods to the members, but no more. India also suspended diplomatic immunity for traffic violations by United States diplomats. India is investigating the American Embassy School, also on the Embassy grounds, for visa and pay violations. The legal question arose whether as a consular official Devyani possessed full diplomatic immunity or more limited immunity. India claimed she had full immunity. India transferred her from the New York consulate to the India’s permanent mission to the United Nations, which would provide her full diplomatic immunity. The State Department would have to approve her appointment, normally a perfunctory decision. India has requested a formal apology by the United States and the dropping of all charges against Devyani. Secretary of State John Kerry tried to smooth the waters, but Preet Bharara, the U. S. Prosecutor, went public, instead of being quiet. He vowed to “uphold the rule of law, protect victims, and hold accountable anyone who breaks the law – no matter what their social status and no matter how powerful, rich, or connected they are.” The ambitious prosecutor has forgotten prosecutorial discretion in his zeal for fame. U.S. law has a deadline of January 13 for the government to indict Devyani or drop the charges. Her attorney requested a continuance, a normal legal procedure. Most sides in litigation, criminal or civil, grant continuances to the other party, particularly in the early stages, as a matter of professional courtesy. Not Bharara, an Indian expatriate. He opposed the continuance. The matter was resolved earlier today, but in a further affront to Devlani and India. Bharara obtained a grand jury indictment on two felony counts against Devlani. The State Department recognized her diplomatic immunity with Bharara teling the court no arraignment would be necessary. The State Department requested the Indian government to lift her immunity. It properly refused. The State Department in response ordered her to leave the United States, in essence declaring her persona non grata in the United States. She has left the United States, leaving her husband and children behind. Her husband is an American citizen and a philosophy professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Her children are also American citizens. Devlani is subject to arrest if she attempts to reenter the United States with the outstanding indictment pending against her. The normal diplomatic response to the expulsion of a diplomat is for the other country, India, to expel a diplomat, an American. Reciprocity, or what goes around, comes around. The critical relationship between India and the United States should not be jeopardized because the Justice Department, a United States Attorney, and the State Department are acting stupidly, but they are. Let me understand our foreign policy in Southeast Asia. We don't trust Pakistan, Afghanistan is thumbing its nose at us, and we've gone out of the way to inflame India.

Happy Days Are Here Again in New York City

Happy Days Are Here Again in New York City Happy Days Are Here Again – The theme of FDR and the Democrats in 1932 Happy Days Are Here Again in New York City. The Progressives are back in charge of the Big Apple, after a 20 year drought. They suffered through 8 years of Rudy Giuliani and 12 years of Michael Bloomberg. Bill de Blasio was inaugurated one week ago on January 1 as Mayor of New York City, twice. He was sworn in at home at 12:01AM and then 12 hours later at City Hall by President Clinton on the FDR Bible. Happy Days Are Here Again. Bill de Blasio is a True Progressive. He is of the people. Indeed, he took the subway to City Hall. He rode the subway from his $1.1 million house in Park Slope, Brooklyn, near the $1.2 million rental house he owns. Yes, Bill de Blasio is of the people. Bill Loves New York, but his daughter attends Santa Clara University in California. He campaigned on A Tale of Two Cities – the 1% versus the normal people or the Occupy Wall Street Movement. His inauguration speech stressed his campaign rhetoric was not mere rhetoric, but the governing tenets of his administration: “When I said we would take dead aim at The Tale of Two Cities, I meant it. And we will do it.” His wife works for CitiBank. He reiterated his goal: “We are called to put an end to economic and social inequalities that threaten to unravel the city we love.” He’s opposed to charter schools. Sitting in the VIP Section of the grandstand was Michael Mulgrew, the head of the teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers. Happy Days Are Here Again for the union teachers, but not the parents, especially the inner city parents, who strive to win the “lottery” of getting their children into the charter schools. Other VIP dignitaries were the head of the local SEIU union, the Service Workers Union, the Central Labor Council, and the Communications Workers of America. Happy Days Are Here Again for the 200,000 public sector workers on New York City. Many of their contracts are up for renewal this year. Happy Days Are Here Again for the union workers, but not the taxpayers. He is asking the wealthy of New York City to “pay a little more,” that is to raise their taxes by an additional 1%. Why? To support universal pre-kindergarten and after school programs. In other words, to increase the public employee rolls for a program, which has not been shown to provide any long-term educational benefits. He supports a substantial increase in the minimum wage, that is, a living wage eventhough it may cost a large number of jobs for the low-income workers. He wants to expand paid sick leave, at least for the public employees, while saying nothing about the looming pension and healthcare costs that are destroying public budgets nationally. The retiree pension and healthcare costs already consume about a third of the City’s budget. Happy Days Are Here Again, but not for long. He’s opposed to the effective Stop and Frisk policy of the preceding administrations, seemingly forgetting that a breakdown in law and order in New York City convinced New Yorkers, Democratic New Yorkers, to elect Republican Rudy Giuliani Mayor 20 years ago. He’s opposed to the tourist attraction Central Park horse carriages. He say’s it’s inhumane. His real estate developer supporters covet the prime land under the horse stables for condos. Happy Days Are Here Again for back room deals in New York City. The new Tammany Hall calls itself “Progressive.” He wants to mandate big developers build affordable housing in New York City. Where? He wants to stop hospital closings in the City? Happy Days Are Here Again with ObamaCare. His policies are those of Mayors Lindsay, Beame, and Dinkins. He reminds me of President Hollande of France. There is nothing progressive in returning to the failed policies of the past. New York City will always be a Tale of Two Cities as long as it is constantly repopulated with immigrants seeking the American Dream with little in their pockets but drive in their hearts.

Happy New Year: Watch the Dropping ....

Happy New Year: Watch the Ball Drop in Times Square Parades, fireworks, bowl games, drunk drivers ring in the new year, but the ball drop in New York’s Times square has become a national heritage. It has engendered scores of competitors. Anyone can copycat a dropping ball, so let’s look at other New Year’s droppings, many of which are replicas of living creatures: Acorn in Raleigh, North Carolina Red aoole in Manhattan, Kansas Beach ball in Ocean City, Maryland Beaver in Beavertown, Pennsylvania Stick of bologna in Lebanon, Pennsylvania Buzzards in Perry, Georgia Cannonball in Cornwall, Pennsylvania Carp in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin Cheery in Traverse Coty, Michigan Cheese wedge for the cheeseheads in Plymouth, Wisconsin Chicken in Delta, Ohio Counch shells and drag queens in high heels in Key West, Florida Cow in Blair, Pennsylvania 6’ cowboy boot in Prescott, Arizona Crayola in Easton, Pennsylvania Disco ball in Baltimore, Maryland Do-nuts in Hagerstown, Maryland Giant Peach in Atlanta Duck decoy in Havre de Grace, Maryland Gibson Guitar in Niagara Falls Electronic Moon Pie in Mobile, Alabama Flea in Eastover, North Carolina Flying pig in Cincinnati, Ohio Hershey Kiss in Hershey, Pennsylvania Hog in Fayetteville, Arkansas Little red apple in Cornelia, Georgia Marshmallow peep drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Muskrat in Princess Anne, Maryland Olive in Bartlesville, Oklahoma Orange in Miami Pelican in Pensacola, Florida Pickle at the Mount Olive Pickle Plant in Mt. Olive, North Carolina Pickle in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania Pinecone in Flagstaff, Arizona Pineapple in Sarasota, Florida Possum drop in Brasstown, North Carolina $10,000 potato in Boise, Idaho Sardine in Eastport, Maine Sausage in Elmore, Ohio Sprint car in Port Royal, Pennsylvania Strawberry in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Watermelon ball in Vincennes, Indiana Walleye fish in Port Clinton, Ohio Wrench in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania An orange in Orange County, California. I’ve lived in the O.C. for almost 17 years and never knew it. Which would you rather watch at 12:01AM: one of these celebrations or drunks falling down? Drive safely

Mexico's PEMEX Revolution

A revolution is unfolding south of the border before our eyes, and we don't see it. The drug cartels killings command the media's attention, but Mexico is undergoing a peaceful revolution. It is opening up its energy industries to foreign investment. Mexico had three revolutions in the Twentieth Century, one violent, one economic, and one political. The first was the Mexican Revolution from about 1910 to 1920. Names like Pancho Villa and Zapata become famous to Americans. Political power at the end of the revolution was consolidated in the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which governed Mexico for 71 years. The second revolution occurred in 1938 when the government nationalized the petroleum industry into Petroleos Mexicanos, commonly known as PEMEX. The PEMEX monopoly was enshrined in the Mexican Constitution. The political revolution was in 2000, when Vicente Fox of the National Action Party (PAN) was elected president. PRI survived as a political party at the legislative and state level, and regained its Presidency in 2012, but Mexico is a more Democratic country now. The purpose of PEMEX evolved over the decades to be the financier of the Mexican government, contributing 40% of the nation’s public spending, as well as becoming over-staffed with excess employees. 60% of its $80.6 billion in revenues are paid out in royalties and taxes. It practices patronage on a large scale with corruption being widely believed. PEMEX is currently the 9th largest oil producer in the world, but its inefficiency and monopolistic practices are catching up to it and the country. Its production has fallen 25% since 2004. Mexico has to import natural gas from Texas to supply its businesses and consumers. The petroleum reserves recoverable by PEMEX are also shrinking because the government monopoly lacks the capital, expertise, equipment and resources to develop the offshore, deepwater Gulf resources and the shale oil reserves. The declining PEMEX is threatening the financial stability of the Mexican government. It needs more production and revenue from the country’s natural resources, especially oil, but PEMEX was threatening to go the way of Venezuela’s nationalized oil industry. The revolutionary response of PRI and PAN at the end of 2013 was to open up oil production to foreign companies. They will be able to retain some of the oil they produce. An estimated 128.7 billion barrels are recoverable with foreign investment. Current production is down to 2.5 million barrels/day. Estimates are that production could rise to 4 million barrels/day by 2025. If Mexico can substantially ramp up production, then North America (Canada, Mexico, and the United States) will become the largest oil producing region in the world. The Mexican left is apoplectic. PEMEX is part of Mexico’s national DNA. The leftist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) is mounting for 2015 Mexico’s first national referendum to reverse the action while crying out “Treason.” It tried, but failed, though to organize large public demonstrations against the revolutionary act. The future of Mexico, a revolutionary future, is at issue.