Tag: taxes

Biden Era Was the Ultimate Application — and Utterly Predictable Failure — of the Cloward-Piven Strategy

There was a time in the mid-1960s when two left-wing Columbia University professors — Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven — enjoyed a brief run of media celebrity by espousing a strategy for Democrats they believed could force the creation of an American welfare state based on a guaranteed annual income.

In a widely read article in the era’s liberal flagship publication, Nation Magazine, the professors laid out their strategy as applied to the welfare state to illustrate the road to achieving all of the American left’s ultimate economic, political and social goals:

“Widespread campaigns to register the eligible poor for welfare aid, and to help existing recipients obtain their full benefits, would produce bureaucratic disruption in welfare agencies and fiscal disruption in local and state governments. 

“These disruptions would generate severe political strains, and deepen existing divisions among elements in the big-city Democratic coalition: the remaining white middle class, the white working-class ethnic groups and the growing minority poor.

“To avoid a further weakening of that historic coalition, a national Democratic administration would be con-strained to advance a federal solution to poverty that would override local welfare failures, local class and racial conflicts and local revenue dilemmas.

“By the internal disruption of local bureaucratic practices, by the furor over public welfare poverty, and by the collapse of current financing arrangements, powerful forces can be generated for major economic reforms at the national level.” 

Put simply, Cloward-Piven said the way to force radical socialist reform of capitalistic America was to overwhelm the existing system by introducing so many participants that it collapses, thus creating political chaos, which Democrats then promise to end by enacting comprehensive and fundamental systemic changes. 

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The Case For Tariffs – How Tariffs Can Help Bring Back The Golden Age Of American Economy

About once a decade, the question of Protective Tariffs finds its way into the national debate. Whether a political candidate dares to raise the issue or a clever collection of activists and analysts work together to inject it into the national discussion, the reaction is always the same from the halls of entrenched power – hysteria and panic over the mere discussion of tariffs. 

Both the establishment Right and the establishment Left in the United States argue that tariffs represent an end to industry and trade, that they deny opportunity to the third world, will only raise prices for American consumers, and that they are the first shot in a tragic trade war. In the halls of corporations and academia, everyone seems to agree – tariffs are bad for the economy and the country as a whole. Predictably, corporate property in Congress parrot the same line and it appears that opposing tariffs is one of the few areas where Democrats and Republicans can agree.

Thus, when anti-tariff politicians, CEOs, and academics speak, their warnings that tariffs represent an end to their globalist vision where international corporations continue to abandon Western workers with their pesky wages, rights, and protections while exploiting third world workers for lower wages, easy replacement, and lack of concern for basic human needs are thinly veiled. This latter, more honest, concern is, in fact, correct. tariffs do threaten globalism and corporate exploitation of workers and societies. Particularly older working class citizens remember the days of American Tariffs and the undeniably better economic distribution of wealth and opportunity they afforded. Younger (middle aged) Americans remember at least the removal of those Tariffs and the “giant sucking sound” of American jobs leaving for Mexico, South and Central America, Asia, and China that decimated their communities and the American economy before their eyes. Indeed, it seems that the working class inherently understand the benefit of Tariffs and Protectionism, at least when they are properly explained. This is why such a massive and sustained media, academic, and governmental propaganda campaign has been invoked to convince them otherwise and why, whenever Tariffs are mentioned in the public discourse, they are immediately attacked as fringe, crazy, xenophobic, racist, populist, and dangerous. 

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HHS – a Billy Club Enforcing Allegiance to the Israel Government

Supporters of liberty had much reason for hope due to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. becoming secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This man’s tenacity and eloquence in challenging the coronavirus crackdowns suggested great potential accomplishments for both liberty and health at HHS with him in the lead.

Indeed, there are early signs that HHS under Kennedy’s oversight is seeking to roll back the dangerous to health and liberty extreme vaccine pushing mission the department has pursued in recent decades. But, there is also reason to worry — including news earlier this month of the HHS fast-tracking an experimental bird flu shot — that this roll back will turn out to be quite limited.

One thing surprising people is that Kennedy’s HHS is acting like a police baton to whack American institutions and individuals into submission to the demand that they show allegiance to the Israel government. First, HHS became one of three parts of the US government leading an effort to punish colleges if they fail to stomp out “antisemitism” — defined bizarrely to include criticism of the Israel government — communicated by leadership, employees, or students. Kennedy, in the announcement of this endeavor, even made the extraordinary claim that such targeted free speech, press, and assembly is a manifestation of illness. This is the same sort of “medicalization” of ideas and communication that the Soviet Union employed to suppress dissent.

Then, this week, came news that HHS subsidiary the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has, effective immediately, barred any entity that boycotts Israel from continuing to spend, or receiving any new, NIH grants. Given the importance of NIH grants in medical research, this new demand threatens to shut down much research and upend the lives of many people employed in research projects. All this is done based on a criterion that has nothing to do with the task-relevant qualifications of the grant seekers or the quality of their work. Out with merit. In with kissing up. That does not seem conducive to achieving Kennedy’s often repeated goal to Make America Healthy Again. It also seems a big divergence from the protecting liberty objective many Kennedy supporters hoped he would pursue.

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USDA Imposes New Verification Rules on Food Stamps to Tackle Exploitation by Illegals

The Trump administration is taking a hardline stance against illegal immigrants exploiting food stamps, issuing strict new guidance to state agencies to ramp up identity and immigration verification.

On Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Acting Deputy Under Secretary John Walk directed states running the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to tighten the screws on fraud.

The Department of Agriculture’s new rules demand states use more reliable documents to confirm identity, crack down on fake Social Security numbers, and fully utilize the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system—provided free by DHS. States are also urged to adopt stricter identification processes and conduct more in-person interviews.

A memo from Acting Deputy Under Secretary Walk noted, “By law, only United States citizens and certain lawfully present aliens may receive SNAP benefits. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-193) established that “aliens within the Nation’s borders not depend on public resources to meet their needs.” SNAP is not and has never been available to illegal aliens.”

“To ensure that tax dollars do not fund SNAP benefits to illegal aliens or other ineligible aliens, State agencies should carefully examine their identity and immigration status verification practices and make necessary enhancements.”

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Zelensky demands ‘at least’ Israel-style support from US

Kiev expects Washington to provide long-term security assistance modeled on the US relationship with Israel, Vladimir Zelensky has said, after Ukraine’s European backers reportedly rejected several points of US President Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan.

Washington presented its draft deal to end the hostilities between Kiev and Moscow during talks in Paris last week. At a follow-up meeting in London on Wednesday – which was downgraded at the last minute after Zelensky publicly rejected key US suggestions – Ukrainian officials and their NATO European counterparts reportedly put forward a counterproposal.

Speaking to journalists on Friday, Zelensky insisted that any future peace deal with Moscow must be backed by sustained US military, financial, and political support.

“Discussions in London have focused on security guarantees from the United States. We hope them to be at least as robust as those provided to Israel. Additionally, we anticipate support from our European partners and are actively developing the infrastructure necessary for these guarantees,” Zelensky said.

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Starmer to rent out homes to migrants: Government now pleads with landlords to host asylum seekers, with five-year guaranteed rent deal offered – as small boats crossing Channel swamp Britain

The Government are appealing to landlords to host asylum seekers, with private contractors working on their behalf, offering five-year guaranteed rent deals. 

Private contractor Serco – one of three working for the Home Office –  are offering five-year guaranteed rent deals to landlords, with the taxpayer footing the bill. 

Their website states the company is responsible for housing over 30,000 asylum seekers, with an ‘ever growing portfolio’ of over 7,000 homes. 

The firm organised an event at a four-star hotel in the Malvern Hills next month, as part of their drive to house more asylum seekers, according to The Telegraph. 

Serco is said to be ‘looking for’ landlords, investors and agents, with properties in the North West, the Midlands and the east of England to lease for more than five years.

The deal also reportedly includes promises of rent paid ‘on time every month with no arrears’, free property management, full repair and maintenance, as well utilities council tax bills paid by Serco.

Its promotional material claims to prospective clients that the offer is ‘an attractive and competitive proposition within the industry’.

It comes as the number of Channel migrants in small boats surpassed 9,500 this year so far – a third up from the previous all-time high.

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California’s Broke Medicaid Program Has Been Spending on … Homeless Housing

Medi-Cal, the State of California’s version of Medicaid, has been spending on extraneous programs such as housing while running up a deficit so extreme that the state has had to borrow over $6 billion to save it.

As Breitbart News reported last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration had to seek $6 billion in loans to keep the program from collapsing, partly due to the cost of covering illegal aliens, which he did last year.

Now, CalMatters.org reveals that the federal government is cracking down on Medi-Cal and other Medicaid providers that have been using money to support “rent assistance” and “medically tailored meals”:

In 2022, California made sweeping changes to its Medi-Cal program that reimagined what health care could look like for some of the state’s poorest and sickest residents by covering services from housing to healthy food. But the future of that program, known as CalAIM, could be at risk under the Trump administration.

…

The moves align with a narrower vision of Medicaid espoused by newly confirmed Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services head Dr. Mehmet Oz, who said during his swearing-in ceremony that Medicaid spending was crowding out spending on education and other services in states with the federal government “paying most of the bill.”

“This one really bothers me. There are states who are using Medicaid — Medicaid dollars for people who are vulnerable — for services that are not medical,” Oz said.

President Joe Biden allowed California and other states to “experiment” with Medicaid funding — and California spent itself into near-insolvency. The Trump administration is cracking down, insisting that Medicaid spending be restricted to medical expenses — not items like housing for indigent patients.

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F-47 6th Generation Fighter Future Force Size Questions Emerge

The U.S. Air Force is firmly of the view that its new F-47 6th generation stealth fighters are key to “how we win” in future fights, according to the service’s top general in charge of force structure planning. Though the Air Force previously said it would buy 200 of the next-generation combat jets, how many of the aircraft the service now plans to acquire is an open question as its vision of the core air superiority mission set continues to evolve.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel talked about the F-47 and how it factors into his service’s current work on a new over-arching force design during a virtual talk that the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) hosted today. Kunkel is currently the director of Force Design, Integration, and Wargaming within the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Air Force Futures at the Pentagon.

Kunkel described the announcement in March that Boeing’s F-47 had won the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) combat jet competition as “a fantastic day for the Air Force” that has “assured air superiority for generations to come.” The Air Force had put the NGAD combat jet program on hold for a deep review last year, which ultimately concluded that the service needed to acquire the aircraft to be best positioned to achieve air superiority in future high-end fights.

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4 Admissions Of Social Security Fraud In April Alone Show Waste And Abuse Are Real

When Elon Musk announced in February that there were 10 million Social Security numbers belonging to holders apparently aged 120 years and older, instead of acknowledging the great potential for fraudulent activity, the corporate media downplayed the concerns. They insisted that Social Security fraud is “not very common” and maligned the Trump administration’s efforts to purge the federal government of waste and abuse.

However, multiple instances of Social Security fraud confirmed in April alone are a reminder that the system has enabled abuse for years.

In late March, DOGE announced that, following a “major cleanup” of records, 9.9 million number holders listed with ages 120 years and older “have now been marked deceased.” (While people do live past 100, the oldest person who ever lived in modern times was Jeanne Louise Calment, of France, who died in 1997 at 122 years old.)

Corporate media and so-called experts have claimed that the listed ages of these centenarian number holders may be the result of “coding quirks” in the system and that efforts to mark these number holders as deceased could lead to more errors. But this does not change the fact that unused Social Security numbers marked as live are ripe for fraud.

What can you do with a spare Social Security number? You could register to vote again or sign up for social welfare, like housing, health insurance, cash assistance, and SNAP. Noncitizens can get a job, and of course, collect Social Security retirement or disability benefits.

Last month, a White House fact sheet, citing an inspector general report from 2024, noted how “The Social Security Administration made an estimated $72 billion in improper payments between 2015 and 2022.”

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The Rich Control Their Kids’ Education — The Middle Class And Poor Deserve That Choice, Too

As the school choice movement notches major wins and the Department of Education begins winding down, there is no doubt that the government’s future role in education will be very different than the role it has played in the past.

With this sea change comes new questions about what the education system ought to look like when the federal top-down model finally ends. An emerging group of advocates believes the government should not be involved in schools at all.

The ultra-libertarian position contends that no tax dollars should be used for schooling and all schools should be private schools. Every child’s academic pathway would be up to his parents to design and fund.

While this might sound great to some, the fact remains that many families lack the ability to pay for their children’s education. They would still lack that ability even if tax rates were cut to account for privatizing education, since those at the bottom of the income scale pay no federal income tax. Millions of children would be unable to access a quality education because their parents cannot afford it.

If that outcome sounds familiar, it may be because it’s so close to our current government schooling system: Children whose families have the means can receive a great education, but those from low-income families are stuck with a school experience so terrible it can hardly be called an education at all. Only 17 percent of public school eighth graders from low-income families are proficient readers, according to the latest Nation’s Report Card.  

These devastating results are not the result of a lack of funding. To the contrary, the U.S. public schools spend $17,227 to educate one student for one year. That’s more than nearly any other country. Still, our test scores continue to fall in the international rankings. Our Nation’s Report Card scores, revealing rampant illiteracy and innumeracy, are a national embarrassment.

In an ideal educational system, parents would have control over the tax dollars allocated for each child’s schooling. The money would follow the child to wherever he or she learns best, whether that is a public school, a private school, or even the family’s kitchen table.

Right now, homeschool families pay for education twice: First, with their tax dollars, which are sent to schools their children never set foot in. Second, with the sacrifice of one parent’s income, plus the cost of materials, including curricula, textbooks, and other supplies.  

Private school families pay twice, too: First, again, with their tax dollars, and secondly with tuition. Access to a good public school costs a great deal, too: A family that buys a house near a top-rated public elementary school will pay 78.6 percent more than if they bought a typical house in the surrounding area, according to Realtor.com.

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