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Time to Punish Incompetent, Arrogant Politicians

One of the most infuriating traits of government officials, both those appointed and those elected, is the absolute refusal to admit making a mistake, or owning up to wrongdoing.

Sometimes, it is illustrative to see this on a purely local level, rather than on a nationwide scale. Nowhere is this more clear than in the traffic patterns of New York City, and especially in the Throggs Neck community, a quiet semi-suburban area.

For over half decade, local community groups continuously warned city officials that the new shopping centers and other developments being planned would produce a dramatic increase in traffic.

Those warnings were ignored.  Indeed, even without the input of community boards, local associations, and individual citizens, which were numerous, those charged with overseeing transportation and planning should have made plans to address the matter.  Local groups were diligent in discussing the matter, and bringing it to the attention of appropriate officials.  But the City’s bureaucrats were apparently asleep for at least five years.

Certainly, the areas’ local officials—all Democrats, in one of the most Democrat-heavy states in America, and in a city totally dominated by the Democrat Party– had the clout and power to address the challenge.  The local representative to the city government actually served as chair of the City Council’s Transportation Committee. The region’s state senator was one of the most powerful men in the state capital. The local Congressman serves as chair of the House Democrat Caucus.

Local residents have been burdened by the enormous increase in local traffic. On certain hours, local roads in what was once a quiet, semi-suburban neighborhood, the congestion is similar to that seen in the main business district of Manhattan.

When finally called to explain their negligence before community organizations, the City’s asleep-at-the switch personnel responded in an arrogant and dismissive manner.

The situation is actually far worse than negligence or incompetence.  In what has all the earmarks of a revenge hit for the criticism belatedly levied at them, the City’s bureaucrats emplaced a new traffic pattern on an important local roadway that is manifestly dangerous.  Once again, when the plan was presented to the community, the deadly traffic pattern was widely condemned.  The bureaucrats and the elected officials, however, ignored the very citizens who pay their salaries, and went ahead with their viciously incompetent plan.

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The bicycle lane mania is an excellent example of the arrogant attitude city leaders in many states have towards commuters.  At a time when traffic is over-congested and public transportation is clearly inadequate, these lanes exacerbate an already bad situation.

Incompetence in traffic planning is nothing new to New York City. One reason that the metropolis’ streets are so clogged is the lack of freight-carrying rail lines, a problem the local transportation commission, the Port Authority, was long-ago formed to address.  In the nearly one hundred years since its inception, nothing viable to address the freight issue has been done.  NYC still has less freight rail access than it did in the past. One major freight line has actually been turned into a public park.

Similarly, expanding the city’s public transportation system has been largely overlooked.

Rather than solve problems, city and state officials seem to concentrate only on penalizing those desperately trying to navigate the region. Rather than respond to the need for expanded public transportation access from the boroughs to Manhattan, much discussion centers on levying new or higher tolls.

On that note, beware of the new “stopless” toll technology now being emplaced in many parts of the United States.  It won’t be long before that concept is used to place new and higher tolls everywhere. Commuters see congestion as a problem to be solved; politicians, elected and appointed, see congestion as a way to wrench ever-increasing tolls from them.

Negligent bureaucrats and arrogant elected officials frequently claim the infrastructure problems are too expensive or difficult to resolve.  Nonsense. There are numerous cost-effective approaches. However, the funds that should have financed them, and used to repair America’s decaying bridges and roads, were diverted by the Obama Administration to political allies who, in many cases, simply took the money and accomplished nothing, Solyndra being a prime example.

While addressing actual infrastructure and traffic problems is the heart of the matter, exposing and punishing the negligence and arrogance of the nation’s elected leaders, particularly those from the prior White House Administration, is a necessary first step. The over $800 billion that was spent by President Obama, which produced no appreciable gain for the American people, constitutes the greatest case of governmental malfeasance in history. The nation’s taxpayers deserve restitution–and justice.

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Avoiding Past Infrastructure Mistakes

President Trump’s extensive infrastructure package, totaling $1 trillion, much of which would be financed by the private sector, has been featured this month by the White House. There will be substantial debates about how much to actually spend, and which projects to endorse.

Business Insider notes that a repair backlog of about $90 billion exists on mass transit facilities, a figure expected to grow substantially. Population growth will exacerbate the problem.

A significant look should be taken at how Obama failed at this crucial task, to avoid a repeat of his costly errors.

The prior Administration spent an incredible $825 billion on a stimulus program that failed to address vital national needs. Middle class jobs deteriorated,  (Obamacare was significantly to blame) the national debt doubled, more businesses failed than opened, national security worsened, and America’s infrastructure continued to crumble. Astonishingly, Obama declared that he had difficulty finding “shovel ready jobs”—despite the findings of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) that the nation’s roads, bridges, tunnels and airports rate only a D+. The 2017 ASCE analysis, which is quite similar to its prior studies, notes that over 55,000 bridges are structurally deficient. ASCE estimates that transportation problems cost each household $3,100 in lost income.

Much of Obama’s stimulus funding went to failed “green” organizations such as Solyndra, and politically-friendly sources, rather than infrastructure needs.

But it’s not just federal mistakes that need to be avoided. Cities and states continue to finance efforts that not only divert funds from worthwhile projects, but actually make transportation issues worse.

A salient example is the development of bike lanes on roads.  This program, which has widespread popularity, slows down vehicular traffic, is used by only the smallest fraction of commuters, poses a danger both to bikers and motorists (bikers, exempt from vehicular licensing and insurance requirements, frequently ignore traffic rules) and does almost nothing for the environment.

Some rapid-rail projects that fail to take into account expense factors have cost taxpayers extraordinary sums while accomplishing little. Robert Samuelson, writing in the Washington Post, notes:
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“Somehow, it’s become fashionable to think that high-speed trains connecting major cities will help ‘save the planet.’ They won’t. They’re a perfect example of wasteful spending masquerading as a respectable social cause. They would further burden already overburdened governments and drain dollars from worthier programs…” A Congressional Research Service report found that these types of efforts face many challenges, and urged Congress to consider whether they are worthwhile investments.

Many riders note that use of intercity rail lines are prohibitively expensive.

In contrast, there has been inadequate attention paid to the restoration of neglected freight lines, which if restored, could dramatically reduce road congestion and the resulting air pollution. Some urban areas, such as New York City, have less rail freight access than existed in the early 20th Century. Abandoned freight lines have, in some cases, been turned into public parks.

In addition to transportation, the Trump proposal includes the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline and similar projects, which are expected to be a safer alternative than trucking energy supplies, as well as reducing congestion on major roads.

To insure that the necessary work is not delayed by the traditional bureaucratic delays, the President issued an executive order expediting the environmental review process.  There is speculation that a key incentive for that move was the necessity of rapidly protecting the nation’s electrical grid, endangered by a potential electromagnetic pulse assault either from a nuclear blast or a solar incident, similar to that which last occurred in the 1850’s and which astronomers believe is now overdue. This exceptionally urgent task was not addressed during the Obama Administration.

A potential drawback to the White House plan was recently noted by Ted Mann in a Wall Street Journal article. “President Donald Trump’s plan to tap the private sector to rebuild $1 trillion worth of roads, bridges and rails has encountered an early problem: geography.” While development projects in densely populated areas may prove attractive to private sector financing because they could provide a timely return on investment, those in rural areas may not offer the same inducement.  Some of those expressing doubts on the ability of securing private financing of rural area projects are Trump’s fellow Republican elected officials, including Kansas Senator Jerry Moran.

The doubling of the national debt during the Obama Administration, with no appreciable addressing of national needs, sharply hinders Washington’s ability to meet the growing and crucial infrastructure needs facing the U.S.

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U.S. Economy stagnates in debt and regulation

It’s already known that America’s 2016 national debt has surpassed the $19 trillion mark under President Obama, a dramatic increase from the debt accumulated over 233 years which at stood $10.6 trillion when he took office.

The hike has been startling, but even more so when one considers that nothing of significance or lasting value has been added to the U.S. with all that expenditure. Other periods of heavy spending resulted in clearly visible results.  During the 1940’s, extensive outlays produced a victory in the Second World War.  The 1950’s saw the development of the U.S. highway system. President Reagan’s arms buildup in the 1980’s ended the first Cold War.

Even in comparison with the anemic growth that has become common since Mr. Obama assumed office, the state and outlook of the economy as 2016 moves into February is worrisome. The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics release on Jobs indicates that job growth, in particular, remains disappointing.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis  notes that real gross domestic product — the value of the goods and services produced by the nation’s economy less the value of the goods and services used up in production, adjusted for price changes – barely edged up at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, a reduction from the very weak third quarter increase of 2%.

CNS News reports that the huge jump in the national debt represents a liability of $70,612.91 for every U.S. household

The first evidence of an extremely expensive and utterly failed economic policy came from the $830 billion dollar “stimulus,” passed early in the Obama Administration’s reign, which tripled the yearly annual deficit.

The Wall Street Journal summarized it this way: “The federal government poured billions into the government and education sectors, where unemployment was low, but spent only about 10% on promised infrastructure, though the unemployment rate in construction was running in double digits. And some of the individual projects funded by the law were truly appalling. $783,000 was spent on a study of why young people consume malt liquor and marijuana. $92,000 went to the Army Corps of Engineers for costumes for mascots like Bobber the Water Safety Dog. $219,000 funded a study of college ‘hookups.’

“In aggregate, the spending helped drive federal outlays from less than $3 trillion in 2008 to $3.5 trillion in 2009, where federal spending has roughly remained ever since.
The legacy is a slow-growth economy: Growth over the last 18 quarters has averaged just 2.4% — pretty shoddy compared to better than 4% growth during the Reagan recovery in the 1980s and almost 4% in the 1990s recovery.

“The failure of the stimulus was a failure of the neo-Keynesian belief that economies can be jolted into action by a wave of government spending. In fact, people are smart enough to realize that every dollar poured into the economy via government spending must eventually be taken out of the productive economy in the form of taxes.”

In addition to skyrocketing debt with no substantive return, the nature of the once robust American economy seems to have been altered. The Heritage Foundation notes that “America’s Economic Freedom Has Rapidly Declined Under Obama, largely due to rapidly rising government spending, subsidies, and bailouts.”

Heritage’s annual 2016 Index of Economic Freedom reveals that “America’s economic freedom has tumbled. With losses of economic freedom in eight of the past nine years, the U.S. has tied its worst score ever, wiping out a decade of progress. The U.S. has fallen from the 6th freest economy in the world, when President Barack Obama took office, to 11th place in 2016.” In addition to the enormous new debt, the huge impact of new regulations and healthcare takeover are cited as reasons.

Heritage worries that “This is not something to take lightly. Economic freedom is the foundation of U.S. economic strength, and economic strength is the foundation of America’s high living standards, military power, and status as a world leader. The perils of losing economic freedom are not fictional. It is painfully clear that our economy has been performing far below its potential, with individuals, families, and entrepreneurs being squeezed by the proliferation of big-government bureaucracy and regulations…Self-inflicted wounds include:

  • The S. has the highest corporate tax ratein the developed world. This has driven new jobs to other, more competitive nations and has meant fewer jobs and lower wages for Americans.
  • The overall annual costof meeting regulatory requirements has increased by over $80 billion since 2009, with more than 180 new regulations in place. In terms of ease of starting a new business, analyzed by a recently published World Bank report, the U.S. is ranked shockingly low at 49th, trailing countries such as Canada, Georgia, Ireland, Lithuania, and Malaysia. No wonder the labor force participation rate has remained at near record lows after more than five years of steady decline.

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In the past, major global recessions were healed by the dynamic strength of the U.S. economy. However, eight years after the “Great Recession,” America’s failure to unleash the potential of its free market has not provided that boost.  The World Bank notes that “Global growth disappointed again in 2015, slowing to 2.4%. “

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Press aids Presidential Cover-ups

A key military intelligence figure’s testimony before the Congressional Oversight Committee opens up an extraordinarily sensitive and vitally important question: why hasn’t the White House paid the price for a very major scandal that would have ended any other presidency?

Retired USAF Brigadier General Robert Lovell made two overarching points in his appearance before Congress:

First, he noted it was clearly evident while the attack was progressing  that the assault on the U.S. facility in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador  J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans  was not a reaction to a video. This fact was already known by the White House when the President intentionally misled the nation the morning after the incident in his statement from the White House grounds.  It was also known some time later when both he and Secretary Clinton spoke later at the ceremony when the bodies of the fallen were returned to American soil and the video was again blamed by the Administration for the attack.  And it was known much later when the President addressed the world at the United Nations and again blamed the video.

Independent international sources also disputed the White House claim.  Both the Arab news source al Jazeera and the president of Libya, Mohammed Magarief  said the video was not responsible and was virtually unknown. Magarief described the attack as a “preplanned act of terrorism.”

Second, General Lovell disputed the White House contention that there was no possibility of military action rescuing the Ambassador and others. “We should have tried,” he testified.  Indeed, a glance at a map outlining the presence of American forces in the region indicates that there were several options that could have been deployed in such an attempt.
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The fact that this White House cover-up occurred during, and likely changed the course of, the 2012 presidential elections renders it even more significant.

Several other incidents during the Obama presidency also would have been sufficient to rock prior administrations to their core.  The use of the IRS to attack political opponents, the tapping of reporters phones, the failure to investigate clear-cut cases of voter intimidation, the transfer of weapons to Mexican drug cartels, the misuse of $700 billion in “stimulus” funds, the awarding of a no-bid contract for the Health Care website to a politically-connected contractor who then botched the job, all are misdeeds that are far more serious than the Watergate scandal  that ended the presidency of Richard Nixon.

These are not ideological issues, about which one can say they were done to achieve a particular goal for the good of the nation, if one shares the president’s beliefs. They are, for the most part, venal acts performed for the sole purpose of either enhancing or retaining the power of the incumbent, or preventing embarrassment that could detrimentally affect the re-election chance of his political party.

The overwhelming support of much of the main stream media for Mr. Obama in both of his campaigns has neutered far too great a percentage of the nation’s journalists to allow them to perform their key roles in informing the American electorate.  It is a fundamental breakdown of a key element of our nations’ democracy.

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Economic Crisis Unreported

The U.S. economy is in a state of crisis, but you would hardly know it from listening to the major media. The facts, recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, are damning:

America’s real gross domestic product  marginally ticked upwards during 2014’s first quarter at 0.1%, a figure that is only technically not indicative of a recession.

In a clear symptom of a failing economy, exports are down, as is nonresidential fixed investment.  But federal spending—(except for the crucial area of defense, at time when Russian, Chinese, Iranian, North Korean, and Islamic extremists threats are growing exponentially)—has increased, perhaps the only reason the numbers don’t reflect an actual recession in the civilian economy.

At the same time, inflation increased at an annualized rate of 5.6%, and that excludes the price hikes in the most inflationary areas of late, food and energy.In a clear indication of the descending strength of the U.S. economy, real exports of goods and services decreased 7.6 percent in the first quarter.
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While Americans struggled, federal government consumption expenditures and gross investment increased 0.7 percent. But as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea drastically expand their militaries and engage in threatening behavior, that extra government spending didn’t include defense, which, in these times of crisis, dropped 2.4%, while nondefense spending was hiked an unsustainable 5.9%.

Making life more difficult, Personal current taxes increased $18.9 billion in the first quarter. Personal saving — disposable personal income less personal outlays –dropped 28.7 billion from the prior quarter. The personal saving rate — personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income – dropped .2%

Combined with the nation’s ongoing unemployment crisis, the drastic increase in the national debt, the expenditure of over $700 billion dollars by the White House in a stimulus program that accomplished nothing, the mismanagement of the American economy is clear and drastic.