Clowns have been on a rampage this year, with creepy clowns—sometimes armed—threatening victims not only throughout the U.S., but in other countries. According to a poll conducted by Chapman University, Americans are more afraid of clowns than they are of climate change.
Clowns? Don’t make me laugh. Even the “Killer Clowns from Outer Space” are sugar-and-spice-and-everything-nice compared with The Hillary and The Donald. This Halloween, trick-or-treaters have cast their votes in favor of both presidential candidates. They don’t need no stinkin’ clowns to scare people. They’re dressing as two of the scariest people in America.
What makes politicians so scary? Consider just a few examples:
Obamascare. Premiums are jumping an average of 25% for the benchmark plan on Healthcare.gov. But don’t worry about Americans losing their coverage. Most of the coverage is paid for by us taxpayers. Tell me again … why is it called the Affordable Care Act?
Obamascare II. Hillary Clinton, if elected president, will seek to expand the Affordable Care Act. With also-very-scary U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren there to push things along, socialized medicine will likely be inevitable, just as retiring baby boomers are beginning to add to the strain on the system. Socialism, here we come! Americas will no longer have to cross into Cuba for real health care.
Donald Trump would like to repeal of the Affordable Care Act, although we’re not sure what he’d put in its place. Could it be any worse?
We’re all going to be poor. The federal debt doubled under President Obama. It’s approaching $20 trillion, but it’s projected to grow even more rapidly in the future.
“If current laws governing taxes and spending did [sic] not change, the United States would [sic] face steadily increasing federal budget deficits and debt over the next 30 years,” according to the Congressional Budget Office. “Federal debt held by the public, which was equal to 39% of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of fiscal year 2008, has already risen to 75% of GDP … In CBO’s projections, that debt rises to 86% of GDP in 2026 and to 141% in 2046—exceeding the historical peak of 106% that occurred just after World War II. The prospect of such large debt poses substantial risks for the nation and presents policymakers with significant challenges.”
CBO notes that government spending is growing more quickly than its revenues (you don’t say!), especially spending for Social Security, major health care programs (including Medicare and Obamacare) and interest on government debt.
Interest on federal debt cost $432,649,652,901.12 for 2016 to date, compared with $402,435,356,075.49 for all of 2015. The higher interest on the debt rises, the quicker government spending grows, causing interest on the debt to rise even faster.
If interest on the debt is approaching a half trillion dollars a year with interest rates near zero, what happens when interest rates return to their normal levels?
The middle class is going to become extinct. Hillary has called for the top 1% to pay more in taxes, again with support from Bernie and Liz, but only in a socialist paradise could 1% of the population be expected to support the other 99%.
The top 1% of Americans already pay nearly half (45.7%) of the individual income taxes collected by the federal government, according to the Tax Policy Center. Taxpayers with AGI above $250,000 accounted for only 2.7% of all returns filed in 2014, but paid 51.6% of all individual income taxes, according to Pew Research. The Tax Foundation found that in 2013, the top 1% accounted for more income taxes paid than the bottom 90%.
But that’s not enough?
With nearly half of the country not paying any income taxes and the top earners paying more than their fair share, where will the money to support our bloated federal government come from? The middle class, of course. Taxes will likely go up to the point where the middle class no longer exists.
Meanwhile, as we’ve noted, the percentage of Americans receiving financial support through a federally-funded “means-tested program” is 35.4%, but when you add pensions, unemployment, Social Security and Medicare, the percentage of Americans who rely on the government for part or all of their subsistence is 49.5%.
In other words, half of the country is paying to support the other half. And, according to Hill, Bernie and Liz, it’s still not enough.
A nuclear Iran. Didn’t we just sign a treaty? You wouldn’t know it by Iran’s actions.
President Obama lifted sanctions against Iran and negotiated a deal that was violated by Iran before the ink dried.
Quoting the German domestic intelligence service, The Wall Street Journal reported, “The illegal proliferation-sensitive procurement activities [by Iran] in Germany registered by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution persisted in 2015 at what is, even by international standards, a quantitatively high level. This holds true in particular with regard to items which can be used in the field of nuclear technology.”
The report also notes “a further increase in the already considerable procurement efforts in connection with Iran’s ambitious missile technology program which could among other things potentially serve to deliver nuclear weapons. Against this backdrop it is safe to expect that Iran will continue its intensive procurement activities in Germany using clandestine methods to achieve its objectives.”
We haven’t even touched on the WikiLeaks dump of Hillary’s pay-for-play activities.
So clowns don’t frighten me. And neither does climate change.