Sobering Statistics From The Land Of Lincoln

Like semantics, details of personal hygiene, and references to Fox News, statistics can serve as attention scarecrow. Ever see click bait with a numerical theme? "You haven't seen Bureau Of Labor stats in thirty years? What they look like now will amaze you!"

Our national debt numbers are so grim that they result in collective numbness. Pile on unfunded federal entitlements, college debt that exceeds a trillion and one can understand why one would rather view current pics of the surviving members of The Manson Family. The economic forecast is so bleak as to  make one ask, "What could be worse?" 

Statistics usually come in 2 sizes: Bad and Worse. As bad as our national numbers might be, they are much worse in Illinois:

Unfunded state and local government retirement debt is more than $260 billion and rising. 

Unfunded pension liabilities for the nation’s highest-paid government workers (overtime starts at 37.5 hours) are $130 billion and are projected to increase for at least through the next decade. 

Nearly 25 percent of the state’s general funds go to retirees (many living in Texas and Florida). 

Vendors are owed $9.5 billion. 

Every five minutes the population — down 1.22 million in 16 years — declines as another person, and an average of $30,000 more in taxable income, flees the nation’s highest combined state and local taxes. 

Those leaving are earning $19,600 more than those moving in. 

The work force has shrunk by 97,000 this year. 

There has not been an honestly balanced budget — a constitutional requirement — since 2001. 

The latest tax increase, forced by the legislature to end a two-year budget impasse, will raise more than $4 billion, but another $1.7 billion deficit has already appeared.

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There has not been a balanced budget despite a constitutional mandate. A lesson for all of us, I think.

The stats come from an interesting article from "Los Angeles Daily News" website about the Illinois reformers battling The Blue Mafia.

One Of The Biggest Economic Stories Ever Goes Unreported By MSM

If you follow the MSM, you missed a big story. Well, Selena Zito and "New York Post picked it up. But everyone else missed it.

Glen Dale, W. Va. — Bad news travels fast. Good news, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to travel at all.

Last weekend in Beijing, as part of his 12-day trip to Asia, President Trump announced that the US and China had signed an $83.7 billion memorandum of understanding to create a number of petrochemical projects in West Virginia over the next 20 years.

If the agreement holds tight, it is an economic game changer for the state.

And yet, speaking to the locals here, you wouldn’t even know it had happened.

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The BBC and CNN covered the news in their business sections, while The New York Times picked up a short story by The Associated Press on the deal. The stories’ headlines were muted; their placement low-key.

“One would have suspected that the prospect of an investment this large — nearly three times the total annual budget for the department of energy — would have been front-page news,” said Paul Sracic, political-science professor at nearby Youngstown State University.

New York Post

The Monkey On My Back: I Watch RT's 10 + Hours Of Election Night Coverage

I struggle with living in the past. Should not be fettered by the hooks of yesterday.

Point taken, angel on shoulder but this is more alluring than that which we call entertainment. It is more enlightening than that which we call education.

This is more than nostalgia. So much more. It is all about bias, propaganda and ultimately failed propaganda. The changes in vocal tones and body language. The tears. The dark prophecies. The finger-pointing.They are all different and yet, they are all the same. An enduring art form.

To date I have watched in entirety, the 2016 coverage of the following networks:

1. PBS
2. ABC...very splashy and bright.
3. CBS
4. MSNBC
5. Fox News
6. CNN
7. The Young Turks
8. RT (Full disclosure. I still have a couple of hours to go.)

I have watched snippets of NBC's coverage but I have not watched it wall to wall.

Comments about RT's coverage: If this was radio, RT would be either an oldies station or a Doctor Demento-style salute to novelty acts. Ed Schulz is flanked by Jesse Ventura and they drag out Ron Paul and Ralph Nader. They bring on Lefties to parrot the same cliches they parrot on every other station. The hits keep coming all night long.

Anyone who thinks RT aided the Trump campaign should slam their skulls with a rubber mallet in hopes of elevating their IQ. They start out somewhat evenhanded but as the grapes sour, the leopards show their spots. With Ed Schulz at anchor, a pundit too radical for MSNBC, one can expect--and they receive--a hearty dose of extreme Leftism. It is also interesting to note that RT was not allowed inside Trump headquarters. They were forced to report from curbside.