In his pre-recorded and edited video aired on Super Bowl Sunday, President Biden expressed how it chaps his hide that companies are shrinking products while either keeping prices the same or jacking them up. He was blaming the companies when the real culprit is Biden economic policies which have led to inflation.
When government prints more money, the dollar becomes worth less. And if you remember, Biden continued printing money and doling it out like there was no tomorrow as if Santa had no limitations. He continues to overspend. In fact, the national debt when he took office on Jan. 1, 2021 was $27.75 trillion and now it’s at $34.4 trillion.
Trump was no better. In his four years, our national debt rose by $8.4 trillion. The rate of overspending occurred during the term of Franklin Roosevelt, when all of his social programs and the war effort meant the debt percentage during his 12 years increased 791.8 percent.
So remember, inflation is typically caused by government.
Consider that Biden’s energy policies – including the push for green energy – have led to an increase in fuel prices through closed refineries and less drilling at home. Higher fuel costs mean higher everything, including the broccoli and beef transported to processors and then to markets.
In California, wages inflated by Democrat lawmakers are jacking up the cost of fast food to the point that Wendy’s is now considering changing prices of food depending on the time served, naturally with prices higher at lunch time or at dinner. It’s called dynamic pricing, the same way that motels charge more for rooms on weekends or during major festivals in a town.
Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner had to do some backtracking after he announced the company would invest $20 million for new digital menu boards to give each restaurant the option to quickly change pricing or to upsell other items on the menu. Mustard hit the fan from customers so the Ohio-based restaurant announced it will not use the pricing strategy to charge more when the restaurants are busier.
“We have no plans to do that (raise prices when busy) and would not raise prices when our customers are visiting us most. Any features we may test in the future would be designed to benefit our customers and restaurant crew members,” reads a portion of the blog post.
The whole negative publicity was not even necessary since it appears fast-food will continue to raise prices with or without a digital menu board. It’s already gotten prohibitively expensive for most people.
Minimum-wage for major fast-food workers will jump to $20 an hour on April 1. Look for price hikes and loss of business. It’s too bad that voters can’t see how harmful it is to elect Gavin Newsom types to office.
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There is another recall movement underway to remove Newsom from office but all it will do is draw attention to his failed policies. There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell this one will be successful given how sadly Democrat voters outnumber Republican voters two to one.
If you remember, we voted in 2021 on whether or not to recall Newsom and if he should be replaced by Larry Elder. I voted to recall Newsom, who in my opinion is as sleazy and corrupt as a politician can be. The recall effort failed, garnering only 38.12 percent to the 61.88 percent of the voters who saved his political hide.
Newsom was then re-elected in 2022 over Republican Brian Dahle in a 59.2 percent to 40.8 percent outcome. Clearly Newsom is not popular with about four out of 10 Californians and he’s not popular in Stanislaus County which did vote to recall Newsom along with about 34 other counties. Stanislaus County also backed Dahle over Newsom in a 57.77 percent to 42.23 percent outcome. In a sign of Newsom’s eroding popularity, Dahle was able to flip five counties that Newsom carried in 2018, namely Lake, Merced, Orange, San Bernardino and San Joaquin.
Elder has said he will not run if enough signatures are collected to put the new recall on the ballot. But Elder commented that there is a value to promote a recall only to shine a light on Newsom’s failed policies for California as he licks his chops for a presidential run – whether it be elbowing Harris off the ticket, grabbing the 2024 nomination if the Democrats dump Biden or running in 2028.
Elder aptly points out how Newsom has failed:
• Homelessness increases despite spending billions;
• Crime, particularly theft, is rampant thanks to soft-on-crime district attorneys and cashless bail;
• Folks are leaving the state because the cost of living is forcing them to (about a million in the last three years;
• The average price of a home is twice the national average (because policies make it too expensive to build more homes);
• Our schools are near the bottom in performance;
• The poverty rate is high;
• The state blew a $100 billion surplus and is currently facing a $73 billion;
• He continues wages war on oil and gas companies;
• He has invited illegal immigrants by offering to give them free Medi-Cal coverage paid for you and me, of course.
Despite all of this failure, Californians have not elected a Republican to state office in about two decades.
The spin placed on the latest recall effort by Democrats is predictably laughable. Newsom spokesperson Nathan Click said Newsom is being targeted “because he is out there defending democracy and fighting for the reelection of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. He’s not going to be distracted from that fight. Democracy’s on the ballot, and he’s going to keep fighting.”
Note that Click said “democracy’s on the ballot.” Is that why the Democrat activist judges and state officials were trying to prevent voters from voting to replace Biden with Trump by taking him off the ballots in Colorado, Maine and Illinois? This was the most blatant form of election interference in American history that was slapped down Monday by a very wise U.S. Supreme Court.
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California has always been perceived as a little haughty among the other states, probably because of the arrogant culture. But this will cut us down to size.
California has been deemed as ninth least intelligent among the 50 states.
That is based on the research by free online education platform Guru99.com which analyzed six different metrics: average IQ, graduation rates, percentage of the population with low literacy rates, average SAT scores, percentage of the states that don’t have a high school diploma or GED and GDP per capita. These were then given a score out of 10 and combined to give a total score of 60.
New Hampshire is judged to be most intelligent state in America with data that shows that on average the state has the highest IQs across the country with 103.2. The state also has the smallest percentage of the population with low literacy skills with 11.5 percent. New Hampshire also has one of the highest GDP per capita with $74,663 and an index score of 56.82.
Minnesota is #2, Wyoming is at #3, Vermont at #4, and Montana at #5.
According to the study, New Mexico is the least intelligent state in America. The state has the lowest average IQ (95) and the highest percentage of the population that has low levels of literacy (29.1%).
Texas also ranks as one of the least intelligent states. Texas has one of the lowest graduation rates with 85.39%. The state also has one of the highest percent of the population that doesn’t have a high school diploma or GED (14.6%).
Mississippi is in the bottom three for the least smart states in America. The average IQ is only just above New Mexico at 95.8. Mississippi much like the two states above also has a high percentage of the population with low literacy (28%).
West Virginia is fourth on this list. This state has the lowest average SAT scores with 938. Graduation rates are also lower than the national average with only 88.82% of students graduating. 11% of the population also doesn’t have a high school diploma or GED.
Research shows that Louisiana is the fifth least intelligent state with an average IQ of 95.2 this is the second lowest behind New Mexico. Louisiana also has a high percentage of the population with low literacy (27.1%) and a lower-than-average graduation rate (86.68%).
This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com
