Quick Update, Two Data Points

One Foot in the Gravy

Data Point:

In September, the Cost of Living Allowance for Federal Payments will be set. This applies to Social Security, Railroad Retirement, and similar entitlement payments. It appears that this will be in the range of nine percent. This will affact about $1.3 trillion in social security benefits and about $200 billion in other federal retirement benefits. Total cost about $135B.

Data Point:

Almost all savings have lost value over the past year. Investments have been particularly hard-hit, with the equities markets declining about 12%. People need money to pay bills and have been steadily selling stocks at a loss. My ex rectum extractus estimate is that people will take about $3 trillion in added deductions in 2023. This carries a cost of about $900B because it affects the highest-margin taxpayers the most.

Conclusions:

“Soak the Rich” has finally caught up to President Biden. The tipping point was losing our sole international settlements status, with about a third of the global economy now going elsewhere with no need to use US services. We need another $1 trillion plus to keep the lights on. Student aid forgiveness, build back broker and any other plans reeking of industrial-state stupidity cannot be done.

The problem will not be white supremacists, it will be voter supremacists of all types. If we escape this without a violent civil war, we must thank the Force, Karma, God or whomever else we find appropriate. There’s not enough wokesplaining in the world that can hide this.

I suggest we begin preparing requests for foreign aid to Burundi and Somalia.