It's The SPENDING, Stupid!!

Ticker makes the case very well.

You can fill in the blank for "Who's Stupid" after reading this.

First he quotes the news:

The Producer Price Index for final demand rose 1.1 percent in May, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Final demand prices advanced 1.1 percent in April and 0.7 percent in March. (See table A.) On an unadjusted basis, the index for final demand increased 6.5 percent for the 12 months ended in May, the largest 12-month rise since moving up 7.4 percent in November 2022....

Then he launches the artillery:

 

This is not Iran.

It is the monetary expansion from deficit spending which Trump did exactly nothing to curtail and is now presenting severe cost-push pressure into the supply chain across the board.

I pointed this out as a serious problem in January before the first shots were fired and it has only gotten worse since.

On the final demand (closest to the consumer) side removing foods and energy the escalation was 0.8% on the month which, on a 12 month rolling basis is just over 10%.  Again that's excluding food and energy.

What's far worse is unprocessed intermediate which again, less food and energy, is up 2.6% on the month and the 12 month total run rate is 22%!  The monthly increase annualized is 36% and processed goods less foods and energy were up 1.8% on the month which once again annualized comes to 23.9%....

It is true that Trump "did nothing" about the spending.  To be fair, neither did Biden.  It is ALSO true that Congress, led by spineless twits with pretty hair, spends money as though it were tossing confetti during a parade.  

Now comes the announcement that Social Security payments will decrease by 25% or so in about 6 years.  The combination of less money AND more costly EVERYTHING will take care of the "aging Boomers are a pain" problem, alright.  But those Costly Everythings are also going to affect everyone else.

It is the spending.  It always has been the spending.  It always will be the spending. And until we get the Beautiful Hair Twits off their TeeVee vanity shots and back down to earth, it will be a Great Depression-causing problem.

Additional takes on this are available here and here. 

A Touch of Cynicism About Trump

Below we mentioned that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) was correct when he stated that 'the US does not have the money' for Trump's (inane) proposal to send $2K to every taxpayer earning less than $100K.  The proposal was silly, and perhaps Trump tossed it out there to keep the MSM busy chasing the laser-pointer around the room--it's fun to watch them go crazy, after all.

Others are far more cynical about Trump.

 ...Trump’s closure of the border and continuing modest efforts to deport the tens of millions of illegal invaders is about the only real positive I’ve witnessed in his first year in office. The old “at least he’s not Kamala” mantra is wearing thin and does not explain his exasperatingly stupid decisions and bloviating pronouncements on a daily basis. Those who adhere to the principles of liberty, freedom, transparency, free speech, not policing the world, and fiscal responsibility are extremely disappointed, but not surprised by the results under Trump thus far. His absolute vitriolic hatred for Rand Paul, Thomas Massie, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who voted with him 90% of the time, tells me all I need to know about Trump’s moral compass and adherence to the Constitution.

Despite the initial publicity campaign (propaganda) for DOGE and the huge cuts to spending which Trump spewed on a daily basis, the national debt increases by $6.5 billion PER DAY, just as it did under the pants-shitting president before him. Future generations are incurring $3.3 billion PER DAY of interest on the now $39 trillion national debt. Trump’s tariff revenue is like pissing in an ocean of debt, as he acts like he is going to send us $2,000 checks with the money he just made us pay by imposing the tariffs. The big beautiful bill cut nothing. Ignoring future recessions and multiple looming wars, the CBO projects the debt to go up by another $23 trillion in the next ten years. I’ll take the over, if the entire Ponzi scheme doesn’t collapse beforehand....

 Well.........both Rand Paul and Tom Massie are doctrinaire Libertarians; they deserve to get slapped up once in a while.  Libertarianism is simply not MAGA; it is the creature that Hobbes would love, and that's not pretty--nor is it within the bounds of the American spirit.

That said, Trump has a lot to address in his (upcoming) budget proposal and the Republicans in Congress must stop being Barbie Doll posers about the criminal grifting going on in D.C.

If they don't do it, it will be done anyway, and they might not enjoy how. 

Tammy, Lying Again

Baldwin, a Lefty Do-Nothing Senator,  blatantly lies to Channel 58's Bayatpour about the shutdown.

 ...The Trump administration and GOP leaders have accused Democrats of holding up the budget in order to give taxpayer-funded healthcare to undocumented immigrants. However, such aid is explicitly illegal, and none of the Democrats' proposals during this cycle have offered to change that.

When pressed to evidence to back their claim, Grothman cited California Congresswoman Maxine Waters saying outside the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, "Democrats are demanding healthcare for everybody," when asked about support for undocumented migrants.

"It's a lie," Baldwin said. "And sometimes when the truth is inconvenient, we hear them tell these untruths."...

Once again:  Tammy is a liar.  (We considered the possibility that she's just stupid.)

The truth?  Exactly what Grothman said.

 ... The funding proposal put forward by the Democrats would result in nearly $200B in spending on illegal aliens and other non-citizens over the next decade.

The Democrats’ America Last proposal would repeal provisions in the Working Families Tax Cuts signed into law by President Trump that take on waste, fraud, and abuse and block illegals from receiving healthcare benefits.

 ...[It]… intentionally allows for Medicaid to go to those improperly granted asylum and parole during Joe Biden’s illegal alien invasion.

The Democrats’ proposal would also: Require Medicaid to pay more for emergency care provided to illegal aliens than Medicaid does for American patients who are disabled, elderly, or children....

Not just lies.  Damned lies. 

White House Crapola

A spade is a spade, Donald. 

Your "Big Beautiful Spend-a-Thon Bill" sucks.  As was the case during your last term, your spending proposal puts drunken sailors to shame.

One wonders if you are playing the same game as you did with your real-estate business:  borrowing so much that bankruptcy was the only option--then forcing the lenders to kiss your ass and eat s**t.

So happens the lenders here are US citizens who indirectly purchase US bonds through their retirement accounts.  Other lenders are foreign countries--Japan is the biggest--who will NOT be happy when you stiff them.

But who needs allies, right?

STOP THE SPENDING, STUPID!!  Moody's agrees.  And please--don't play us for suckers with your "blame the Fed" bullcrap.  It's the spending, stupid.

Bankruptcy & Fraud: the "Green Fuels" Biz

 The Wall Street Journal published an article on "groundbreaking/revolutionary green energy" failures.  Ace's Place has some lowlights.

The good news?  Some of their investment money came from US businesses--thus highlighting the Stupid Class who made those dumbass decisions.  They can and should be fired for Gross Dumbassery.

The bad news?  Much of the rest came from the US taxpayer.  Government figures guilty of Gross Dumbassery move on, spending more tax money on other failures; then they retire on taxpayer-paid pensions.  What a deal!

...A company backed by United Airlines that raised hundreds of millions of dollars to turn trash into jet fuel appears to have shut down. Another, backed by Airbus, JetBlue and GE Aerospace, that was working on using hydrogen to power planes went bust. Chevron, BP and Shell, meanwhile, are scaling back projects to make biofuels from cooking fats, oils, greases and plant material....

Meantime, Plug Power, LanzaJet, and Gevo, producers of "green hydrogen", cannot sell said "green" goo unless ...........YOU.............the taxpayer, provide a subsidy.

Throckmorton of AOSHQ summarizes:

...For those of us who champion actual free enterprise, these government-subsidized “clean energy” companies are an abomination. Their failure is necessary, not only to save us from the anti-carbon Net Zero agenda, but also to save free-market capitalism....

One thing that Throckmorton forgets:  his children and grand-children will be paying off those failures for eternity.  That's the real price of those failures, and it's not a "good".

The Mindless Mantra of "Tax Cuts"

 It's dispiriting to have to mention Jay Weber (AM's, 1130 WISN) nearly weekly.

But then, he comes up with a lot of mindless mantras.  Today, he told us 'Tax Cuts Good!!' in arguing that a Pubbie takeover of the Senate, House, and Exec Office could bring a renewal of the Paul Ryan/Trump tax cuts due to expire 2025.

(Since the first name above is "Paul Ryan" you know that these tax cuts didn't hurt any of his friends and donors, right?  And Trump--who knows?)

Anyhow, the "tax cuts" which did not waste a comma on "carried interest...."

What Actual Conservatives REALLY WANT is ...........

SPENDING CUTS!

 JUST CUT THE DAMNED SPENDING!!

Weber is a former teacher, which tells you about the quality of his 'thinking.' (see the headline of this entry.)

Mindless.  The now-$34TRILLION national debt exists because of spending, not a paucity of taxation.  Any 1st-grader can tell you that.

We've often stated that "IT'S THE SPENDING, STUPID!!!!"

But then, why should we care?  Our children and grandchildren will be the ones who cannot purchase any goods from overseas because no one wants the USD.  Our children and grandchildren will not be able to purchase homes due to the interest rates forced by limitless spending with really small tax offsets.  And they will be at risk of not being able to purchase food or fuel due to the inflation.

That's not Jay's problem, either, which accounts for the fact that he simply cannot think things through.

Jeffrey Tucker on SVB, Etc.

Tucker is a Libertarian-oriented kinda guy who essays a lot of common sense here.  Note well that he doesn't blame ESG or DEI or Biden.  It's a lot more complicated than that; only people who are Not Serious get into that mud-wrestle.

...The failure of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), $212 billion in assets until only recently, is a huge mess and a possible foreshadowing. Its fixed-rate bond holdings declined rapidly in market valuation due to changed market conditions. Its portfolio crashed further due to a depositor run. And it all happened in less than a few days.

It’s all an extension of Fed policy to curb inflation, reversing a 13-year zero-rate policy. This of course pushed up rates in the middle and right side of the yield curve, devaluing existing bond holdings locked into older rate patterns. Investors noticed and then depositors too. The high-flying institution that specialized in providing liquidity in industries that have lost their luster suddenly found itself very vulnerable.

In addition, the bank was exposed with a portfolio of collateralized mortgage obligations and mortgage-backed securities. But with rates rising, those are coming under stress too as high leverage in housing and real estate become untenable amidst falling valuations....

Jeffery does not say who caused the "deposit run."  But we know.  They're the same people who are pushing for a taxpayer-financed cushion for the banks.

 ...And where did SVB, and the entire banking industry, get the funds to bulk up their portfolios with such debt holdings? You guessed it: stimulus payments. Billions flooded in and it had to be parked somewhere making some return. At the time it seemed like a good deal, until Fed policy changed.

A house of cards comes to mind. But perhaps a better metaphor is a game of billiards in which every move introduces a cascade of new issues. Lockdowns prompted immense government spending which produced debt that was quickly monetized and eventually caused inflation, prompting the Fed to reverse course with the largest/fastest rate increases in history....

Yes.  You may like Trump, but 'stimulus payments' were Trump's (and a frightened-as-a-mouse-smelling-a-cat Congress showing its usual backbone.)

Tucker smells another rat:

...this entire mess traces first to lockdowns and second to Ben Bernanke’s preposterous policies as Fed Chair in 2008. He imagined that he would fix a financial crisis by abolishing a natural force like interest rates on bonds. Then he pulled a fancy trick of keeping his “quantitative easing” off the streets by having the Fed pay more for deposits than the same money could earn in markets....

Bernanke was the Dr. Fauci of 2008.  Just like in Fauci's case, there were winners and there were losers.  The losers in the Bernanke scam?

Look closely at a mirror.  

... Jerome Powell took over the Fed with the determination to put an end to the nonsense. He hoped for a soft landing. But then came the pandemic lockdowns. He was called upon to provide funding for the idiocy of a panicked Congress that spent many trillions as fast as possible, which only perpetuated lockdowns....

Jeffery is not an optimist.

 ...My concern here is that people will look at all these disasters in isolation. They are not isolated. They trace to the catastrophic decision in 2020 to lock down and fund those policies with money that did not exist until it was created.

That decision doomed the Fed’s plans to unravel its previous stupid policies and thus set us on the course toward calamity.

At this point, I’m sorry to report, no one is in a position to stop anything. Markets can be ferocious under these conditions. Markets are not all knowing but once they lose trust, there is no stopping the stampede of incredulity. There is no one at the Fed who can stop it and no wise managers at the top who can patch things up....

You mean Yellen and Buttplug, plus Dr. Jill and Kammy aren't up to the task?

Shocked.  Shocked, I say!!

Irish AND Stupid: Sen. Murphy (D-Conn)

Biden told a crowd that he 'may be Irish, but I'm not stupid.'

Well, here's an Irishman that IS stupid!

On Tuesday’s “CNN Newsroom,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) stated that the omnibus spending bill does have “some big emergency numbers” but “much of” those large emergency funds are going overseas and he doesn’t expect the bill to have “any extraordinary inflationary effect.”...

Because devaluing the dollar by flooding the globe with them is NOT inflationary.  It's generous, you see.  With other people's money, you see.

Irish AND stupid.

 

Look at PPP, not GDP

It's a side-note in a longer essay on the current world war (disguised as a regional conflict) but it's a side-note worth noting.

...I have pointed out for years that all discussions of the Russian economy in terms of nominal GDP are bogus. Nominal GDP is spending within the Russian economy converted through the RUB/USD exchange rate.

But that metric is irrelevant. It doesn’t say anything about what that spending buys the average Russian.

GDP is a stupid metric. It should be called GNS, Gross National Spending. It is a dumb way to measure the ‘output’ of a society. It’s at best a very gross approximation but it is, again, just aggregated spending.

This is the fundamental fallacy of Keynesian demand-side economics and all theories about which economies are expanding or contracting based on spending are literally bogus.

But we have all been trained to believe in GDP as some all-powerful measure of growth and power. It’s not anything of the sort. When you have the ability to print money at will to bid up the cost of the goods purchased with that money, how is that telling you anything about the health of the country, the people… or frankly anything at all?...Luongo quoted at Wauck's place.

He would prefer PPP (purchasing power parity) which is measured based on 'bang for the buck.'  Example:  the ruble.

...Kopylov explained that the strengthening of the ruble is due to the fact that it is now based purely on exports and imports, and its value is determined by its purchasing power parity (PPP). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated the Russian currency’s PPP at the end of 2021 at 29.127 rubles per one dollar. According to the Big Mac Index, that rate stood at 23.24 rubles to the dollar....

Whereas measured by GDP, the ruble is 66 to the dollar.

Hmmmm.

Scott Walker's "Shiny Object" Gambit

You may have heard that Scott Walker, the former Governor of Wisconsin, has endorsed a proposal to zero out the Wisconsin income tax in favor of a sales tax.

Sounds good, no?

Along comes an ex-Secretary of Revenue who says that the sales tax required might be as high as 11%.

Sounds bad, no?

Frankly, Walker is playing the "shiny object" game and you are falling for it.

We've said this for decades on this blog:  IT'S THE SPENDING, STUPID!!  And to the degree you are debating this 'tax'/'no tax' idea, you ARE stupid.

Wisconsin's State spending, particularly on the ever-increasing State payroll and on the giant sucking SE corner's schools, will always require MO TAXES  MO TAXES  MO TAXES.

So the trick is to distract you rubes by yapping about how they will collect MO TAXES MO TAXES MO TAXES.

And it works!

Hint:  2000 actual State spend:  $20Bn.   2020 actual State spend:  $60Bn

Elmbrook Budget Shortfall? Nope.

A long-serving member of the School Board in Elmbrook bemoans a $200+/student INCREASE in State funding.  It's not enough for him.....

Or--more likely--it's not enough for the extremely ambitious spend-happy Superintendent, Mark Hansen.

So how does local Pravda play this?  They mislead the reader, of course!

...The state budget will provide an additional $128 million for schools but no increase in the state-imposed limits on how much revenue districts may raise....

Wrong!!  Elmbrook, like any other District, can spend more money IF taxpayers agree in a referendum.  Getting taxpayers to cough up even more Hansen-bucks?  Not likely.

So what is Elmbrook actually getting?

...Allgaier [finance committee chairman] said the district was expecting an increase in state funding of about $200 per student. The district is projected to receive $202 per student in federal stimulus funding...

Allgaier complains that the Fed money must be used ONLY for pandemic expenses, so Hansen cannot spend it elsewhere.  They'll only have the additional State money to spend, poor things.

By the way, it's NOT a co-incidence that Robyn Vining is mentioned in the propaganda here.  She probably called her typist-"reporter" and told him to go find Allgaier.

Mr. Allgaier should call the Slinger district.  They're doing just fine with the State and Fed money.  As a conservative Republican, he should also know the Four Truest Words:  

IT'S THE SPENDING, STUPID!

'Correct' Narrative on "Antifa" Not Quite Correct, but Trump-Hate Is There!

The local rag wants you to learn all about "Antifa," so they asked a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to explain it all.

And that professor--surprise!!--made several misleading and/or downright dishonest comments. 

He begins by shaping the definition to fit a Narrative.

...Vysotsky said antifa is shorthand for anti-fascist, and its meaning is broad.

Fascism is a political philosophy that crystallized between World War I and World War II, Vysotsky said, particularly in Germany with Adolf Hitler and Italy with Benito Mussolini. In its simplest forms, it is a belief in the fundamental inequality between people, in a biological and social sense. ...

Not entirely correct.  The Urban Dictionary uses Mussolini's own definition, which describes State Totalitarianism.  Since Mussolini was a Fascist, he should know.

1."Everything in the state". The Government is supreme and the country is all-encompasing, and all within it must conform to the ruling body, often a dictator.
2."Nothing outside the state". The country must grow and the implied goal of any fascist nation is to rule the world, and have every human submit to the government.
3."Nothing against the state". Any type of questioning the government is not to be tolerated. If you do not see things our way, you are wrong. If you do not agree with the government, you cannot be allowed to live and taint the minds of the rest of the good citizens.

No racism there, is there?  Now, then.  Hitler's Socialists (Nazis) were racist and also found time to send a lot of Catholics to the gas chambers, too.  So Merriam's definition includes racist, as does that of Cambridge.  But Wiki's does not include "racism" as part of Fascism.

Like I said, not entirely correct.

But being semi-correct doesn't stop the Professor from using the Narrative's preferred language about Trump:

..."Every single comment Donald Trump has made about anti-fascism" is misleading or fundamentally incorrect, Vysotsky said. 

For example, Trump on May 31 tweeted: "The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization."...

Coming from a guy who is misleading, well, gee...  Trump named AN enemy--or a group of enemies--acting under the label "Antifa."  Rather than spending 20 minutes going through the subtleties, he used the term WHICH WAS and IS BEING USED as a self-descriptor by violent activists in Seattle and Portland.  Are they actually anarcho-communists?  Yes.  Are Communists actually anti-fascist?  Technically, no; communism is also Totalitarian.  Interesting to note that the Professor describes the inter-war antifascist movement as 'anarcho-communist,' eh? 

Trump could have used the term "anti-American," or brought up the concept of the National Interest--but as we mention below, that concept seems to be foreign to the Professor.

Let's move on.

..."While some anti-fascists engage in actions that are considered to be violent, the scale and scope of that violence does not meet the criteria of what constitutes terrorists' violence," he said. ...

They didn't burn down enough buildings in Minneapolis, eh, Professor?  How many blocks have to be burned down--and how many cops have to be assaulted--before that violence 'meets the criteria' which you think is sufficient?

Then he goes off the rails with his Trump-hatred.  When asked 'why Antifa is labeled a terrorist group'....

...Vysotsky said this actually has more to do with the ideological orientation of the people making the claim, than with those who identify as anti-fascist.

"They are seeking to discredit their political opponents, and they are unable to describe them on the merits of their beliefs and their claims, so they're trying to associate their political opponents with anti-social political activities,"  he said....

Huh? 

Is this guy telling us that the Democrat Party--Trump's "political opponents" are actually Antifa?  Or that the Democrats ENDORSE Antifa?  Or maybe the Professor doesn't understand the term "National Interest", which would excuse his moronic clam that 'it's all politics.' 

He continues down the path of Professorial Lunacy!!

..."You're placing anti-fascists who have not killed anyone in the United States, not kidnapped anyone in the United States, have not engaged in any actions of large scale intentional property destruction in the name of anti-fascism in the United States, on par with the organizations that have murdered people, kidnapped people, blown up entire buildings, held entire populations in fear."...

Yah, ya'know, none of the Antifa activists in the US carry business cards with the Antifa office address, phone, fax, email, and website, Professor--so you have NO F***ing idea who is, and who is not, "Antifa" here, do you?  Given that they are subversives, do you expect them to identify themselves as "Antifa" at trial?  Or acknowledge that their money came from Communist and other anti-American sources?

As to "large-scale" destruction---how about if they burn down the block you live on?  Would that be sufficient, or should they fire-bomb all of UW-M?  How about all of ZIP Code 53211?  Are we getting close to "large-scale," you twit? 

There are some ideas so stupid that only intellectuals hold them, Professor.  Thanks for proving the rule.

It's "Stupid", not "Democrat" Spending

Wisconsin's new governor wants to spend $700 million/year on schools in the next budget.

Republicans who control the legislature won't go there.

A Democrat, Erpenbach, remarks:

"If Tony's putting more money in public education, that’s something we all value," Erpenbach said. "I would hope that whatever he proposes on K-12 funding would make it through the budget and not be dismissed out of hand just because he's a Democrat."

No, John.  They oppose it because there is no educational benefit to spending that much.  In other words, that sort of spending is "STUPID," not "Democrat." 

(I grant that most often, it's synonymous.)

Trump Goes Lefty in Budget, Has Stupid Excuse

We all knew it would happen somewhere along the line, and the time is now.  Trump is reverting to (fiscal) form.  Remember, he's a real estate developer.

President Donald Trump is proposing a 10-year spending plan that never produces a balanced budget, and increases deficit spending by $7.2 trillion over the next decade....

The excuse for this is the one heard from any 7-year-old, and Limbaugh was given the job of looking like the 7-year-old in question; it was Limbaugh who floated the excuse yesterday. 

PDT's reasoning?  "Well, the debt cataclysm has not happened yet, and look how many years we've been adding debt, and it's just old fuddyduddies who think you should pay your debts, anyway."

This is the Fallacy of the Bigger Sucker.  Trump expects that there will always be a bigger sucker out there who will purchase US Treasury bonds--and that the bigger sucker(s) will have big money to make the purchases with.

Yup.  Except if the Big Money guy is an enemy of the US.  Not all wars involve soldiers and sailors.

What Tommy Thompson Taught Scott Walker

"BOND IT!!"  --T. Thompson, large-scale Spender

In the opinion of the estimable George Mitchell, Walker's "Bond It!!" program for highways is not the right thing to do.  Mitchell is part of the camp which believes that raising the gas tax, or registration fees, (or something 'raised') is the right course of action.

But way down in his essay is a telling snippet:

Some legislators say, in effect, “enough.” They believe the state either needs to live within its means or it needs new revenue.

George kinda-sorta disguises it, but he allows that LESS SPENDING ON ROADS might be a solution, too.

We agree with that. 

Owen is on the same page.

IT'S THE SPENDING, STUPID!!!

Clearly, the "leadership" in Wisconsin Pubbie circles has not yet absorbed the real meaning of Trump's victory.  Here (and we're looking at you, Scott Walker), it's still 'spend money, it's election season.'

Owen is right:  some stupidity costs political careers.

Boots and Sabers Has It.

We've said this before:  IT'S THE SPENDING, STUPID!!

Owen not only shows that Walker likes to spend a lot of money--but in addition, he's taking that money from Wisconsinites with less resources than they had in 2007.

(And no, Robin Vos, the answer is NOT "mo' taxes")

Ryan Rumors, Again? Here's Why NOT Ryan

Local CBS affiliate is running rumors that Ryan will take the Speaker job.

Let's look again at Ryan's fiscal record which includes the current spending:

..The problem with the debt ceiling fight is that by the time we get around to having it, it’s already too late. A popular talking point runs: “we’re just paying bills for things we’ve already bought.” As inane as it is, there’s some truth there. Congress operates by committing to spending increases that we don’t have enough money to pay for, trusting that by the time the bills come due, the threat of default will drive almost everyone to unthinkingly vote to lift the debt ceiling and borrow the money we need....

Yah.  Ryan negotiates over-spending and figures that:  a)  you're too damn stupid to notice it; and b)  you're too damn listless to scream about it.

Ryan may well get the job since Democrats will vote him into the office.  But that's NOT a good thing.

It's "The Stupid Party" for a Reason

Ace notices that the Stupids are displaying their colors.

...So the GOP says it's willing to shut down the government unless Obama agrees to spending cuts, which the public supports when you ask them but not when you ask them twice.

One of the few areas the public would like to cut spending is on... ObamaCare.

And yet that's the thing the GOP will definitely not shut the government down over.

AOSHQ also notes that (R) Congresscritters are cutting back on "town hall" events this August.

Prolly the heat., right?  But not from the kitchen, where the Ruling Class does NOT work.

It's the SPENDING, Stupid!!

More from the Department of Confirming Cynicism (see below, too!)

When the Wisconsin State Assembly passed a budget on Wednesday, they exempted the biannual plan from a provision in state law that requires its appropriations to be balanced by tax revenue and state agency income.

Why?  Simple.  The Legislature and Governor spend a lot of money.

...Because Republicans failed to reduce spending, and instead increased overall state spending, and because tax cuts lowered revenue projections, the budget does not balance at this time unless assumptions are made about the state’s economic growth....

More State employees, more spending, more bonding.

And someone is (reportedly) running for President as a "Conservative."

It's the Spending, Stupid!! Part 335,648

Rand Paul:

...The arguments against the automatic “cuts” in military spending were particularly dishonest. Hawks on both sides warned of doom and gloom if, as the plan called for, the defense budget would have returned to 2007 levels of spending! Does anybody really believe that our defense spending was woefully inadequate just five years ago? And since 2007 we have been told that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down. According to the Congressional Budget Office, over the next eight years military spending would increase 20 percent without the sequester and would increase 18 percent with the sequester. And this is what is called a dangerous reduction in defense spending?...

And that's only a small part of his speech.

HT:  Shedlock