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California’s population is dropping, too…there’s been a net 700,000 loss since April, 2020.
California’s population dropped by 500,000 in two years as exodus continues (msn.com)
At one time, Detroit had 2.4 million people. Geographically speaking, it’s a fairly large city. They now have 632,461. There are over 100,000 unoccupied residences in Detroit proper.
I’m in the legal profession. We’re laying off like crazy, both attorneys and staff.
BTW, with respect to inflation, I just paid $211 for a bouquet of Valentine’s Day flowers. The same exact bouquet cost $124 last year.
A liberal / Progressive acquaintance of mine posted this on Facebook. And no, she didn’t intend it to be ironic. She’s a true believer…
Quick shout out to the Los Gatos homeless camp inhabitants who have recently incorporated a solar panel into their setup. Game changer, I’m sure.
I’ve heard of it. “McNamara’s Morons” was the unofficial tag line, as was “McNamara’s Folly” and “McNamara’s Misfits”, those who scored in the 10% to 30% range of the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery).
They died at triple the rate of other draftees. The Army got 71% of the draftees, Navy and Marines got 10% each, Air Force got 9%. To be fair, it wasn’t just those who scored lower on the aptitude tests, it also included those who were slightly overweight or slightly underweight, who had minor physical impairments or who didn’t speak English.
The idea behind the program was that it would help elevate these men after their service. Instead, compared with their similarly disadvantaged peers, they had higher rates of divorce, made less compensation on average, and were more likely to be unemployed.
Very sad all around.
OK, I’m going to be an a’hole. Why is the government subsidizing having children? I would ask a similar question about ALL tax credits and deductions.
I think the idea is that society should subsidize children given that they are our future. And the levels of society’s support mapped out in the average number of children in nuclear families, which have been declining for native citizens. My granddad had four kids, and his wife was furious she couldn’t have more. His father came from a family of 13 kids (Irish, natch), and 8 survived past age 5. My dad had three kids, I have two…and almost all of my friends have one or two kids. I have one friend with five children, none with three or four. Quite a few with zero kids.
On the other hand, we import millions of people who come here unasked from other countries, so we’re in no danger of running out of people…
I think that the conditions which lead to and encourage mental illness, squalor, homelessness, drug abuse and addiction, crime, poverty and related social ills are deeply rooted in American society.
We’re talking about what is proportionally a very small, albeit very visible part of America. HUD estimates around 600,000 homeless in America, homeless advocates claim about 1.5 million. So at most, we’re talking about 0.4% of America, the most unfortunate and least well off.
To give you an idea of the minimally acceptable level of social integration, the U. S. Army has essentially acknowledged that about 10% of the population are fundamentally unfit to do literally any job in the Army. And that’s 10%…the homeless, collectively, are about 1/20th that proportion.
Obviously we should support them to the extent that we can. But the level of support is finite, and I can’t help but wonder whether some of the people administering these programs are little better than the homeless themselves.
Sec of State Blinken postponed his trip. Why don’t we send tens of thousands of balloons over China? I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.
Biden approval now at 41%, disapproval at 54%. Numbers are particularly poor on the economy, quelle surprise.
Biden Job Approvals and The National Economy (americanresearchgroup.com)
Yuma is getting crushed. 5 million migrants have crossed the border since Biden was elected President.
Border city of Yuma is on the brink of collapse under ‘unprecedented’ migrant surge
Predictably, the Republicans can’t agree on what to do about it.
Early rift over immigration exposes House GOP’s tough path to consensus
Immigrant share of U. S. population is now 13.7%. The proportion has been climbing steadily ever since it was 4.7% in 1970.
Immigrant share of U.S. population nears historic high | Pew Research Center
Over 250,000 illegal immigrants stopped at the American southern border, although, I guess I don’t need to make that distinction, since the USA has more than 3x the number of immigrants than the country with the next most immigrants, Germany. And no one is trying to enter Russia or China, or for that matter, India or Brazil to round out the BRIC countries.
Illegal border crossings surge to highest of Biden’s term | AP News
Border crossings surged 7%, highest of the Biden administration. Illegal immigration from Peru, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Cuba and other South American countries have skyrocketed.
Total legal immigration is about 1/3rd the level of illegal immigration.
Good to hear from you, GR. And oh yeah. I’m 60. So I only want what the older folks had. I want what the first SocSec recipient received relative to her payments. Ida May Fuller was a legal secretary who paid in a total of $24.75 and during her lifetime collected $22,888.92 in benefits. That’s what I want. A 1,000x payout.
And happily, Social Security is still there for me, just like it was for my parents and grandpar..hee hee hah hah. Oh man, I can’t type that with a straight face. Because it’s not true, is it? I was born a little too late. I didn’t get to pay in at 1% (1937-1949), and 1.5% (1950-1953), and 2% (1954-1956), and so on. When I was a teen, FICA withholdings ranged from 4.95% to 5.08%. In college, went from 5.35% to 5.7%, where it stayed for a full three years, till it went to 6.06% in 1988 and then to its current 6.2% since 1990…the last 32 years. Basically, my full time career.
At least they treated me fairly by not moving the retirement age. Nope, can still get full benefits at 65. Did I say 65? I meant 67. My early benefits were put off two extra years as well. Yippee for my generation.
Did I mention that the SS trust funds will be exhausted in 2034, at which point, Social Security will pay about 3/4ths of scheduled benefits? So in sum:
- I paid in a lot more.
- I get to take payments a lot older.
- My payments will be a lot less in real terms.
What a great program! If I retire at 67 (now the full retirement age), I’ll save you the suspense…I wont get the 1,000x payout. I’ll probably not get a 1x payout. At least I should die young from the stress.
