As we look for silver linings in the midterm elections, let's not overlook the big victories of Republican governors – who cut taxes, rejected lockdowns, and promoted education freedom.
Fox News just published an analysis of the gubernatorial elections and it cited a rating system by ALEC called Rich States Poor States by CTUP cofounders Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore. Here’s what Fox found:
A swing state no more, and new talk of 2024.
All the country's top conservative governors were easily reelected in midterm elections that overall did not go as well as Republicans hoped.
Governors Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Ron DeSantis of Florida, Jared Polis of Colorado, Brad Little of Idaho, Bill Lee of Tennessee, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Brian Kemp of Georgia, and Greg Abbott of Texas were all ranked in the top 10 of conservative governors in a Laffer-ALEC analysis last year and coasted to reelection on Tuesday.
Ten governors earned a five-star ranking in the Laffer-Moore report, with eight facing reelection on Tuesday. That list included South Dakota's Noem, who came in ranked number one. The Republican governor was easily reelected Tuesday, winning by 26.8 percentage points.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
The report also found that governors who kept their economies and schools open during Covid were rewarded with massive victories.
2) Interest On The Debt Will Soon Consume 21 Cents Of Every Dollar Of Tax Payments
The debt is soaring in no small part because the Fed has raised interest rates on government bonds four times to counter runaway federal spending, which has caused borrowing costs to rise further which has in turn made the government debt larger.
Meanwhile, Interest rates are rising because the debt is soaring so there are more government bonds issued to pay for the debt already incurred.
This is the textbook definition of a death spiral.
So here are a few of the numbers. The ten-year rise in the debt is expected to cause interest payments on the debt to gobble up $8 trillion of the nation’s resources by 2032. That is, we will spend $8 trillion not for roads, bridges, military operations, social security checks, or schools, but to pay the cost of past borrowing. Almost half of the increase in the debt is due to Biden’s spending blitz over the past 22 months.
3) Why Inflation Didn't Sink Democrats In The Midterms
Many pundits are still trying to square the circle of how inflation could be such a key issue right now and yet it apparently changed so few minds in the midterms. Here’s one explanation that we don’t see anyone else considering: inflation affects different voter groups quite differently.
Retirees on fixed incomes have lost almost 14% in real annual income since Biden took office. Retirees also disproportionately vote Republican. Conversely, young college grads are the only demographic whose real incomes have actually increased under Biden, and they disproportionately vote Democrat. Many of those youngsters also live with Mom and Dad, who still provide their adult children with health insurance. So, on top of seeing nominal wages rise faster than inflation, this key Democratic voting bloc has also been somewhat immune from three of the key drivers of inflation: food, housing, and health insurance price increase.
Finally, those living on government paychecks or government benefits are almost all given the automatic cost of living adjustments – because the feds have a credit card with no limits.
Democrat voters are protected from inflation. Republican voters tend to pay the price.
4) Senate Votes 62-36 To End COVID National Emergency
Kudos to Senator Roger Marshall for forcing the issue onto the Senate floor and to every Senate Republican along with 13 Democrats who voted to put an end to the absurd notion that COVID is still an emergency.
When even Chuck Schumer says the COVID emergency is over, we’re finally making some progress. Of course, there is no indication Nancy Pelosi will allow a House vote, but this vote demonstrates enough bipartisan support to put a bill on the president's desk next year when Republicans control the House.
Joe Biden says he would veto it, saying the bill would end the national emergency "abruptly and prematurely."
He needs an “emergency” to fund things like student loan forgiveness.
5) Herschel Walker Flattens The GOP Fundraising Scam Artists
Herschel Walker may be new to politics, but as a star running back, he knows a head fake when he sees one.
Walker says some outside groups are doing just that by sending out desperate fundraising emails begging his fans to send money for Walker’s December 6 runoff against Senator Raphael Warnock.
Except the scam artists are keeping up to 90 percent of the money they raise.
“This is the last fight of 2022, and every dollar will help,” Walker campaign manager Scott Paradise says. “The companies and consultants raising money off this need to cut it out.”
Save America PAC has sent out millions of fundraising e-mails on behalf of Walker, but in the very fine micro print, they said 90 percent of all money sent would go to the Trump PAC.
After Walker complained, the Trump consultants changed the allocation to a 50:50 split. Even that is pathetic. Donors should be very careful about the PACs they donate to.
