The feds have just released data on which states had income growth and which states had income declines in 2022. It’s almost sad to see right before our very eyes the economic decaying of three deep blue and once-America’s economic powerhouse states: California, Illinois, and New York. This is the endgame of progressive governance – everyone gets poorer – and those that can, get out of town.
The new growth states in America are Florida, Tennessee, Texas (all with no state income tax), and Utah.
2) IEA Admits Net Zero Costs A Fortune – And Hasn't Worked at All Yet
The International Energy Administration has put out a propaganda report called "Net Zero Roadmap" – full of half-truths on climate change. It estimates that the globe is spending $1.8 trillion this year on “clean energy,” and celebrates that we are right on pace to reach net zero emissions (NZE) in the decades ahead. It editorializes that “the case for NZE is stronger than ever.”
But as we’ve shown on these pages previously, the world has consumed more oil and gas in 2023 than in any other year in history. That’s some “progress.”
The IEA's own chart shows emissions rising steadily since 2010 in developing countries despite trillions spent. This is progress? The chart below shows that the IEA magically assumes that starting next year emissions will plunge.
This will supposedly happen if rich countries (as well as poor) spend $4.5 trillion a year.
How big a dent could $4.5 trillion make if it was used toward disease, hunger, poverty, illiteracy, and deprivation everywhere in the world? Instead, the world leaders say we need to cover the planet with windmills. And all of this to mitigate the rise in global temperatures by a fraction of a degree in 50 to 100 years.
3) Is This Congressman a Criminal, Moron, or Both?
Democratic Congressman Jamaal Bowman (a former middle school principal) pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon office building shortly after the McCarthy CR was introduced. This was also around the same time Democrats were circulating talking points saying they needed more time to read the bill.
Bowman was caught on surveillance video and later questioned by Capitol Police:
His excuse was: "I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door."
Which means he is either a stone-cold liar, or he doesn’t know what happens when you press a fire alarm.
Here is a picture of the exact alarm he pulled:
Doesn’t every school child know that you only press the fire alarm if there is a REAL fire?
4) Now the French Have State Subsidized Medical Care for Pets
One reason that France’s economy lags behind other advanced countries is its plethora of entitlements — from a 35-hour workweek to state pension costs that are double those of the U.S. Now its capital (Paris) is going even further and adding state-subsidized pet care to its social insurance burdens.
It was only a matter of time.
Jean-Philippe Gillet, a Communist member of the Paris City Council, says his plan “was passed by a unanimous vote, with both right and left in favor.” He promises it will not cost owners more than about $6 a month, compared to comprehensive private insurance at about $200 a month. Good luck with that, as governments who pay the soaring cost of medical care for two-legged creatures have sadly learned.
No one is sure if the city-sponsored insurance plan will cover rabbits, hamsters, parakeets, and more exotic pets. Animal rights activists are insisting that pet rats should be included.
“Rats must have their place in the plan,” said Nicolas Bonnet-Oulaldj, president of the Communist contingent in the Paris council. Health officials are appalled at the idea, noting that there are already 1.5 to 2 wild, disease-carrying rats for every person in Paris. What about mosquitoes and spiders?
By the way, in the U.S., the cost of veterinary services has grown much more slowly than for physician services for people. We wonder if pet coverage will lead to a similar surge in veterinarians’ bills.
5) Biden Is Finally Achieving Equality: Everyone Is Getting Poorer
The recent Census Bureau report on income and poverty in 2022 was godawful. The supplemental poverty rate rose in one year by nearly a record amount. The child poverty rate doubled. Almost every income group – old people, young people, males, females, and residents of every region of the country lost ground.
Meanwhile, median income household FELL by 2.2 percent. The average family is roughly $2,000 poorer than when Biden entered office following a more than $6,000 RISE in middle-class incomes under Trump.
But the left is celebrating that the gap between rich and poor narrowed. The so-called Gini Coefficient — a standard measure of the income gap — showed a slight reduction in inequality. The ratio of the total income to the top 10 percent of earners to the bottom 10% of earners fell by 10%. That’s because nearly every income group lost ground.
Instead of the JFK aspiration of a RISING tide lifting all boats, we now have a falling tide that is capsizing all boats, but the big yachts are underwater more than the row boats.
Biden’s failures are a useful reminder that putting equality over prosperity leads inevitability to equal misery.
