Here’s acrucialmisconception by the public. It’s a misunderstanding that leads to calls for government mandates such as a $15 minimum wage — with the cost supposedly paid out of “greedy business” profits.

A poll asked:“Just a rough guess, what percent profit on each dollar of sales do you think the average company makes after taxes?”

The average response –36%. That’s aboutFIVE TIMES the actual figure. Other polls give similar results.

The latest average profit margin of 212 industries was 7.5%. The median profit margin was 6.5%.

To state the obvious: Given that labor costs constitute 30% or more of the sales dollar for most industries, the cost of a $15 minimum wage will HAVE to be paid by the customers.

BTW, the latest (2018) profit margin for hated Walmart? 2.25% (LOWER than the 3.1% in the 2015 chart below). That’s BEFORE Walmart paid 37.4% of their profits in federal and state corporate income taxes, leaving Walmart with an after tax profit margin of 1.4%! See details at the bottom… Read More

You may be sick of the topic already, but it is not going away. I thought I would give you some random thoughts on what we have seen as of now to let you better understand the process.

I believe that the people testifying are earnest and committed to our country. It is also clear that for the most part these people are very supportive of a free Ukraine that is separate from Russia or Russian influence. We pretty much all support that.

On the other hand, some have an idea that they should be dictating our government’s foreign policy and they think our current President is a rube when it comes to these matters. You can believe that or not, but he is the President and he makes the policy and the witnesses work for him and should not work against him.

Then there are facts that are just swept under the rug by the Press and Democrats because they do not fill their narrative. They do it by simply avoiding topics. The Press never asks Democrats about their newfound support for Ukrainian military funding. No one is ever asked where were you five years ago when Ukraine was invaded, and Obama did little to support them.

Last week, someone was given a shot to… Read More

Once again the SAN DIEGO U-T newspaper reporters failed to look skeptically at false government projections. In this case, the city of San Diego grandly released their “Fiscal Year 2021-2025 Five Year Financial Outlook.” While the report admits that, as it stands, there are annual budget shortfalls, it foresees this shortfall declining each year until 2025, when the city bureaucrats project asurplus— with no tax increases. Absolute poppycock. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/san-diego/story/2019-11-12/san-diego-budget-facing-steep-deficits-as-expenses-continue-to-rise

ADDENDUM: At the bottom of this article is a U-T editor’s welcome if lame response to this critique. And my response to his response. Fun read.

Granted, the city report is full of… Read More

I have written a lot about the Jews lately. I promise after this column I will take a respite for a while on the subject. Recently I was on a panel at a major university, the subject of which was The Impact of Donald Trump’s Presidency on American Jewry. There are lessons here for us all.

Since the panel was about how President Trump has impacted American Jewry, I thought I would focus on two concepts that are universal to Jews — Israel and anti-Semitism. If you are focused on the preservation of the Jewish people, then certainly you want to mitigate anti-Semitism. You likewise want to maintain a strong Jewish homeland that was established just seventy years ago after an approximate 2000-year interval of being absent. I laid out the case that President Trump has been an excellent President on both fronts.

The response from the representative of the Left was to not acknowledge that, nor even provide a begrudging nod to that, but to declare in her opening statement that Trump is an “existential threat” to the Jewish people and to our country. How someone can be judged as an “existential threat” to the Jews when he is taking unprecedented steps to… Read More

The world now knows that the Democrat’s star-witness, Ambassador Bill Taylor, is going to testify before Congress publicly this Wed., Nov. 13th in an attempt to impeach the President of the United States.

What most people don’t know is the role that our own Riverside Congressman played in coordinating with Ambassador Taylor.

Less than 90 days ago according to public documents, Riverside County Democrat Mark Takano joined with the leader of the impeachment process Adam Schiff in sending staff to the Ukraine. On August 26, 2019 documents show the group met with Trump accuser Ambassador Bill Taylor. One week after the meeting, Taylor sends a text to the President’s EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland falsely claiming a quid-pro-quo.

The trip to the Ukraine for Adam Schiff’s Intelligence Committee staffer, Takano’s Deputy Chief of Staff and eight other Congressional staffers, was paid for by an organization called “The Atlantic Council” which has ties to the Clinton Foundation and Crowdstrike, the cyber security firm that the DNC hired to investigate the alleged hack of emails from the… Read More

There are many ways to get to know presidential candidates. Their personalities, their families, their policies or their plans (we know for certain Elizabeth Warren has plenty of those). How they will govern is something harder to determine with a truckload of candidates. But based on Ms. Warren’s history, we can get a sense of how she would operate if elected President.

In a detailed and sourced analysis of Ms. Warren’s history by Peter Suderman at Reason https://reason.com/2019/09/10/elizabeth-warrens-plans-dont-add-up/ , understanding her mentality is made very clear.

Warren’s manner was illuminated in her first major foray into publication. This goes back to 1989 when she co-authored what has been characterized as a “pioneering study on consumer bankruptcy.” The only problem was the authors used flawed data to determine their conclusions. When called on it by a well-regarded expert who had provided funding for the study, Warren obfuscated and refused peer review. One could surmise she concluded that the ends justified the means.

The willingness of Warren to disregard peer commentary on her work was replicated again and again. Warren… Read More

Six-figure California “public servant” pensions are becoming the new norm in the Golden State. The number of CA state and local public employees now receiving such retirement income is now 80,000 and rising.

The rate of GROWTH of such pensions is breathtaking.Since 2013, the number of $100,000+ CA pensions has grown 85%, with similar growth projected in future years.

This growing group constitutes our own government-mandated aristocratic class of people. We are their humble serfs. Enjoy your status.

https://blog.transparentcalifornia.com/2019/11/05/nearly-80000-california-retirees-are-receiving-100000-or-more-in-pension-pay-new-data-show/?

… Read More

There are two stories out of California that define why the state is in a slide and needs to refresh before more residents say Hasta La Vista.

The first story is of an immature Congresswoman who cannot accept responsibility for her own actions; which, in itself, is a sign of immaturity. While she is pointing fingers at everyone but herself, members of the press enable her by ignoring the real reason she resigned.

The Congresswoman said, “I’m leaving, but we have men who have been credibly accused of intentional acts of sexual violence and remain in board rooms, on the Supreme Court, in this very body and — worst of all — in the Oval Office.” And your point is? And the relevance of this statement is? The only thing I can think of is that you are a child and everyone else is responsible except for you.

Let’s start with the obvious. How stupid can you be to have anyone, ANYONE, take nude photos of you? Didn’t we judge Anthony Weiner an idiot for sending pictures of his genitals? We tell our children not to write outrageous things on Facebook as their postings might be seen by college administrators or potential employers. Yet we… Read More