The definition of a grifter is a con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan. It is also said if there’s one type of person you don’t want to trust, it’s a grifter: someone who cheats others out of money. Grifters are also known as chiselers, defrauders, gougers, scammers, swindlers, and flim-flam men. A recent study showing how many college graduates work long-term in a job warranting a college degree leads me to conclude America’s grifters are those people who run our colleges. One doesn’t go to college simply to improve one’s path to earn a living. I am one who has consistently applauded my education — especially the first two years — for expanding my mind. I took such courses as philosophy, cultural anthropology, and speech. They taught me to think and analyze life from different perspectives. I also always had direction to graduate with an accounting degree and become a CPA. My first two years cost ten dollars per college unit, and I graduated debt-free while paying my own way. It seems clear that accumulating debt in the tens of thousands would… Read More

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) settled a series of lawsuits that is being trumpeted as “a radical change” in commissions paid to real estate agents for the purchase and/or sale of a home. There is so much misinformation being spread on this issue it boggles the mind. Let’s clear up some things. First, the misconceptions. The seller of the house is paying the buyer’s broker. Yes, the commission comes out of the sale proceeds of the house. But who is paying for the house? The buyer. When you go to a shoe store does the store pay the person who delivers the shoes to the store? Technically, yes; but the buyer ends up picking up that cost as part of the purchase price of the shoes. The buyer always pays. When the buyer does not use the current system and engages a separate buyer’s broker they will have that much more to come up with at closing. An additional $10,000 or more out of pocket will make the deal that much more difficult to close. Next, there is no fixed commission at 6%. Agents certainly try to get that rate, but it is always negotiable and can vary dramatically, particularly with increased home prices. Most agents… Read More

Those who know me, and regular readers should after all these years, know that I have an indelible spirit when it comes to my love and belief in America. While people from both sides of the political spectrum bemoan the downfall of our way of life or “our Democracy,” I laugh and shrug it off. I tell them “This is America, the greatest country ever invented. We will adjust and we will endure.” Recently I even flinched. It is easy to question where we are heading with many of our society’s developments. The significant disregard for property rights is evidenced by the explosion of brazen theft attacks on our retailers. Likewise, the explosion of squatters believing they can occupy someone’s home without their consent. The worst part of this is the near-total emasculation of our policing authority with the demonstrative endorsement of many elected officials supposedly in the position to stop such acts. There are people living on our streets in mass numbers. Our elected officials tell us they are working on the problem – the one they don’t understand. The one they think is a housing problem and not a drug and/or mental illness problem. The… Read More

Of course, they are not really “illegals” as they should properly be referred to as “undocumented immigrants,” “unauthorized immigrants,” “non-citizens,” “without status,” and/or “unlawfully present.” As the Left stumbles over the correct characterization of people who have entered this country with no compliance to our national laws and remain here despite their continuing non-compliance, the Left is now telling us they are actually enhancing our economy. Our national press and elected leaders have finally woken up to the fact that Democrats have been conflating “illegal” immigrants with “legal” immigrants and combining them in one big punch bowl. This has been something the Left has been touting for years (and has been pointed out in this column for years) to validate the illegals and taint their political opponents as “anti-immigrant.” We are now being told that the Illegals are actually a huge benefit to the economy. The timing for this claim is odd, to say the least. Mayors across the country (nearly all Democrats) have been pounding President Biden to provide funds from that money tree just outside the Oval Office… Read More

The Ultimate Destruction of Private Property Many changes have occurred in American society over the past few decades, largely due to a surge of Socialism supporters. Most of them call themselves “Progressives.” The honest ones announce they are members of the Democrat Socialists of America. One of the primary tenets of Socialism is aimed to substitute private property for social ownership of public property. The most significant act of this private property destruction is spreading through our country, namely squatters. Many changes have occurred to the enforcement of our laws. We have seen flash mobs enter stores, taking large amounts of inventory and leaving with no interference attempted. We have seen people saunter into a drug store, take a few things, and walk out unimpeded. The level of disrespect for private property has risen to where a person will go to an inherited home from their recently deceased relatives and find an unauthorized stranger living there. When they go to change the locks, they will be taken away by police for attempting an unlawful eviction. The squatter remains in their house. How did we come to this? “Squatting” is… Read More

In a recent column I defined how the federal government could easily make cuts to national expenditures, but instead just ignore the idea and forge forward. At least our national leaders can legally print money and incur debt. Local and state governments are mandated to have balanced budgets. In the great state of California, however, they are redefining how they fix their budget messes.

The root cause of the problem today is the “high” governmental entities experienced because of the Biden money tree handing out billions of borrowed dollars to these governments due to Covid. Instead of treating the funds as temporary fixes, elected officials continued their spending sprees and, in some cases, stepped on the gas and spent more. I recently woke up to this headline from the LA Times (formerly a newspaper) – “L.A. looks to cut 2,000 vacant jobs due to budget woes.” Mayor Karen Bass and her team of mathematical magicians have figured out how to solve their budget problems. They are cutting jobs that don’t really exist except in the minds of bureaucrats who run various different departments. No one is actually losing a job except for… Read More

California is the nation’s epicenter for the homeless problem. But ask yourself this question: IF todayyoufound yourself without both shelter and the funds to rent a place, what state would you most prefer to be in to “live under a bridge”? More specifically, what CITY would you rather be in?

Answer: California — and specifically San Diego, my town. Best homeless weather in the nation.

Solutions to this growing problem are not easy, as California politicians (and their voters) vigorously support an intentional policy to keep CA housing high priced and scarce — high priced BECAUSE it is scarce, and expensive to build. So, what CAN be done to help these unfortunate people?

Let’s start by recognizing that there are two broad, sometimes overlapping categories of homeless people:

1. The “helpless” — the mentally ill, the druggies, the drunks, and the bums (these are usually overlapping categories) — those who have pretty much given up on — or are incapable of — improving themselves. In their present condition, they are largely… Read More

You may have heard the Governor of California (you know the one who wants to be President of the United States) got into a little quarrel with a cashier at a Target store. Newsom spotted someone leaving the store without paying for an item. By his own account he asked the clerk why no one was doing anything. The clerk not knowing it was Newsom responded, “The governor had lowered the threshold” for charging a theft, and, as a result, “there’s no accountability.” Newsom argued with the employee that he was not at fault for raising the minimum for a felony arrest to $950. He is surely responsible for other laws, especially two in particular that have just become helpful to criminals. In 2020, Newsom signed into law the California Racial Justice Act. From the law, “The express purpose of the Racial Justice Act is ‘to eliminate racial bias from California’s criminal justice system because racism in any form or amount, at any stage of a criminal trial, is intolerable [and] inimical to a fair criminal justice system.’” One might think that a law like this was overkill in a state like California. It certainly was a reaction to the 2020 George Floyd… Read More