There is a constant discussion in the public arena about the “Elites.” While recently reading the thoughts of Thomas Sowell, I had a clear analysis session on what makes these people Elite. What qualifies someone as such, and why do we even refer to anyone in the American society as such?

Everything begins somewhere and the Elite began with a professor of sociology at Columbia University named C. Wright Mills. Professor Mills wrote a book, The Power Elite, which first defined the term which became shortened to the one-word definition for conversational convenience. The book describes the responsibilities of certain individuals in post-World War II America. He defines the relationships among the political, military, and economic elite suggesting that they share a common world view. He states power rests in the hands of the elites of American society.

The idea of Elites has evolved immensely since 1956 when Mills first defined the concept. So much so that if he were alive today, I doubt he would recognize his theory as defined within American society.

For example, the educational elite. In 1956,… Read More

The term “tell” is often used regarding poker playing or pulling a scam. It refers to a gesture, a look, a twitch someone has that indicates what they are thinking. For example, a person always scratches his forehead when he is bluffing in poker. I recently encountered a situation that was itself not significant. Yet it really “tells” you what the state of America is today.

Everyone knows that California has been a disaster regarding our water supply for a while. California lost allocation from the Colorado River and squandered water reservoir bond money for years. In addition, the sensible solution to the problem – desalination plants — has been denied by the elected officials, largely because of environmentalists. Then there is the agriculture industry that provides fruits and vegetables for the entire nation but uses a lot of water. Because of that most all Californians practice water savings procedures that many other Americans do not have to think about.

I signed up for an app called Nextdoor. You may be familiar with it. It allows people who live within a certain area near to one another to communicate concerns. These days a lot of it talks… Read More

The annual California AUTOMATIC gas tax increase occurs every July. Perhaps it’s a good thing. It’s a yearly reminder about our state’s sky-high, anti-people gas tax. Let’s review.

Perhaps you — like most Californians — think that you are not getting much road repair “bang” for your gas tax buck. You are absolutely correct.

According to this research by a “pro road” entity, California roads are the SECOND worst in the nation. Only Rhode Island is deemed to be worse.

45% of California’s roads are listed as “poor.” The national average is 20%. While the outfit’s definition of “poor roads” is probably somewhat exaggerated, the DIFFERENCE between states is a fair “bang for the buck” comparison. Go to this website below and click the “state road… Read More

You’re hoping that excessive housing costs don’t have an effect on consumers, aren’t you? After all, you may have supported a few of those costs and backed the local governments that charged them.

Like solar power. Who doesn’t like a renewable like solar? So, you may have looked the other way when the state imposed a system-installation mandate for all new single-family homes.

That is until you’ve entered the market for a home and you get the bill for a new one: More than $800,000. That is the median price for a home in California today. The amount will change tomorrow – and will be worse.

About $50,000 of the home price will pay for the solar panels and their installation – starting now all new homes built in the state must have them. You probably supported the solar initiative. Most people in California did.

The cost of solar comes on top of myriad local charges for approving new California housing. Those exactions are summarized in a March, 2020 study by UC Berkeley’s Terner Center of Housing Innovation and include:

• Land costs, which have doubled, even tripled over the first 16 years of the decade;… Read More

Last week, members of Congress applauded the acts of a significant journalistic operation for their “responsible” reporting of stolen information. President Biden was silent regarding an attack on his government’s taxing agency. All of this was done to advance a policy goal of the Left.

ProPublica is a nonprofit that states it is a “newsroom that aims to produce investigative journalism in the public interest.” As they stated, “ProPublica has obtained a vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data on the tax returns on thousands of the nation’s wealthiest people, covering more than 15 years.” This is a misleading statement as what they have is personal information on specifically identified American taxpayers. They stated they received this information from an anonymous source. They consider this a journalistic coup.

This is not the Pentagon Papers or even the information published by Wikileaks. There was great debate whether those releases of information were legitimate. There should be no debate whether this was legitimate. This is the individual tax information for many people. Our government, in the hands of the Internal Revenue Service, has… Read More

She’s baaaack. Once again term-limited Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett’s misleading ballot measure/power grab is back on the agenda for the Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting this coming Tuesday. Readers may recall that last July/August, right up against the deadline to place items on the November election, Bartlett introduced a cynical, self-service measure that would “blow up” term limits for all of the incumbents on the board, giving all of them the ability to run for three more four-year terms (currently Supervisors are limited to two four-year terms, then cannot run for a third term without retiring and being forced to come back – which has only happened once). Bartlett’s frantic effort last year was because the current term limits prevent her from running for re-election next year. She is forced to retire. At the time, despite support from one of her colleagues – Supervisor Chaffee, she was unable to garner support from Supervisors Do, Steel and Wagner. Her effort failed — and she had to face the reality of leaving the board after two full terms, like everyone else. She pretty quickly launched a campaign for… Read More

Government programs — especially giveaway programs — are notorious for poor management and lax oversight. There are few incentives for government “public servants” to ensure the legitimacy of need for recipients. Indeed, giving away more taxpayer money results in a bigger agency operational budget and higher pay for supervisors.

But with the coming of the pandemic, federal and state unemployment agencies have outdone themselves. Incompetence and massive theft have risen to breathtaking levels. The mindboggling bill for this widespread fraud will go to American taxpayers and to our progeny (via the soaring national debt and the accompanying inflation).

The history of unemployment benefits has always been anti-employment. It’s amazing how many people would magically find a job the very week that their unemployment benefits ran out. This has been going on for decades.

The lesson is obvious — if you pay people generous unemployment benefits, you’ll have more unemployment. Youliterallyget what you pay for.

Unemployment “eligibility” is established by state agencies. The feds… Read More

The phrase “Bread and Circuses” was coined by Juvenal, a Roman poet, as a means to describe the incompetence and self indulgence of the Roman Emperor, who used superficial “appeasement” of the people to generate public approval, rather than excellence in public service. The emperor would cover over his incompetence and authoritarian control of Rome by distracting people with “shows” and pay offs.

In California, these circuses are “shows” populated with cartoon characters and toys, like the minions from “Despicable Me” or Optimus Prime, the Transformers toy. In a press conference on Tuesday about the “reopening” of California, we were treated to this show, and the choice of characters was very “Freudian.” I am sure we lowly peasants are seen as minions, and the man running the press conference certainly sees himself as Optimus Prime. He gives us the circus, then he promises to give us tax rebates, the bread.

Our Arrogant Lazy Authoritarian in Charge (ALAIC), Gavin Newsom, claims to have “reopened” California. He refuses to lift the emergency he claimed required him… Read More