One Chart To Kill The Medicaid Lies For Good

I & I Editorial Board July 31, 2025

 

Can anyone guess what is wrong with the following headline?

• “Democrats use new tactic to highlight Trump’s gutting of Medicaid: billboards in the rural U.S.” That appeared in The Guardian newspaper over the weekend. 
• How about this one from NPR: “GOP governors stay silent amid plans to slash Medicaid spending in their states.” 
• Or this one from AP: “Rural hospitals brace for financial hits or even closure under Republicans’ $1 trillion Medicaid cut“
• Or this one from NBC News: “Another report suggests Medicaid cuts could lead to thousands of deaths.”

Or countless others like these published in the wake of President Donald Trump’s signing the One Big Beautiful Bill?

What’s wrong with them all? They are all based on one big, fat lie. There are no cuts to Medicaid......To Read More....

OBBBA’s Small Step to Federalism

July 5, 2025 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Late last year, when there was (unwarranted) optimism that DOGE could deliver big savings for taxpayers, I recommended that Elon Musk and his team promote fiscal federalism.

 

My argument was that it is wasteful and foolish to have Uncle Sam grab about $1.3 trillion from taxpayers at the state and local level and then (using a leaky bucket) send that money back to politicians at the state and local level.

Instead, just let the state and local politicians (and their voters) decide whether to collect and spend money on the various programs funded by federal grants.

The good news is that Trump’s Big Beautiful Budget. takes a modest step in that direction.

Here are some excerpts from a story in the New York Times by David Chen and Pooja Salhotra.

 

…state governments are bracing for impact as Washington shifts much of the burden for health care, food assistance and other programs onto them. …they will be expected to…decide how much they can do to keep their citizens insured and fed once they start losing federal assistance. … 

Mr. Trump’s law includes nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid by 2034, scaling back the program that pays for the health care of roughly 78 million adults and children. It also sharply curtails federal spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which provides monthly food assistance payments to about 42 million people. … 

For the 40 states that expanded Medicaid to lower-income workers under the Affordable Care Act, the fate of that extra coverage has loomed particularly large. …Among the states that could lose more than 7.5 percent of their total federal Medicaid funding are Arizona, New Hampshire, Nevada, Iowa, Vermont, Michigan and Oregon… In California, state officials said the law would most likely cause 3.4 million people to lose health insurance and at least 735,000 people to lose food benefits.

I have three incidental comments and one big response to the NYT story.

The three small comments are:

1. There are not “$1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid.” Instead, the legislation merely takes the long-overdue step of slowing the growth of Medicaid funding.
2. The Medicaid expansions from the so-called Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) basically bribed states to expand the program.
3. The OBBBA curtails the ability of state governments to use odious budget gimmicks to fleece federal taxpayers for more Medicaid funding.

My main response to the story deals with the part about states having to “decide how much they can do to keep their citizens insured and fed.”

Exactly. That’s what should be happening. We have a massive and unaffordable federal government that is squandering well above $1 trillion per year on programs that should be entirely the responsibility of state or local governments.

Indeed, my complaint with Trump’s budget bill is that it only takes a small step in the right direction.

The entire Medicaid program should be turned into a block grant that is gradually phased out. The same is true for food stamps and many other programs.

If states like California want to waste money on various programs, it should not be the responsibility of taxpayers in other states to pick up the tab.

P&D and The Week That Was

 Truth is the Sublime Convergence of History and Reality

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De Omnibus Dubitandum, (Everything is to be questioned!)

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This Link will take you to My Commentaries.

 

By Rich Kozlovich 

Well, the Big Beautiful Bill passed, and I've expressed my concerns and what I think the budget should be all about.  I didn't go far enough.  There's a lot of clabber from both sides, and believe it or not, both sides have valid arguments, both sides are lying, but the Democrats are so over the top with their usual emotional pontifications they win the Horsepucky of the Year Award, hands down.  

On Friday I posted this piece, Budgets, the National Debt, and We're Running Out of Time, and since I knew there was going to be a lot of commentaries about this budget I decided to add links to that article I deemed worth your time, from both sides.   But one regarding Medicare was particularly profound in my view because it highlights three important issues this bill on how to fix Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid before they collapse.  

It seems clear if Social Security isn't privatized it will take a huge tax increase to save it, Medicare will no longer be mostly free.  It also seems to me Medicare recipients who paid into the system, will soon have to start paying monthly premiums.  As for Medicaid, that's an anchor that's going to drag the nation down with politicians on both sides of the aisle virtue signally with self-righteous hand wringing and chest pounding.   At one point the Republican controlled Senate, with a 56/44 vote, actually refused to kick illegal aliens off Medicaid.  Three Republicans crossed over.  Are you shocked to know Susan Collins was one of them. 

• BELLY-UP—Medicare and Social Security Going Broke Ahead of Schedule - Final Word: Blind pundits only see rising taxes or cutting.  It’s not ‘time travel’; the clock is just running faster, but the frightening news is, America is fighting against the clock and losing. The long-feared insolvency of Medicare and Social Security just got a little closer....
• The 'Go-Broke Date' for Social Security Is Moved Up - Social Security and Medicare are heading toward financial trouble sooner than expected, according to new federal projections. The Treasury Department's latest reports show that Social Security's combined trust funds are now forecast to not contain enough money to pay full benefits in 2034—one year earlier than last year's estimate, Politico reports. Medicare's hospital insurance fund is set to be depleted in 2033, moving up its funding cliff by three years........

As more and more classified information is being found by Trump appointees, and it's shocking how much these agencies hid, and are still trying to hide.  People like "former FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and DNI James Clapper worked together to purposely corrupt the Trump-Russia investigation in 2016 before Trump entered office."

• Report: Obama Was In On It – His Fingerprints are ALL OVER John Brennan’s post 2016 Election Intel Community Assessment on Bogus Trump-Russia Framing Scandal

The FBI  blocked an investigation into the 2020 "Chinese mail-in voting scam to protect Chris Wray who likely lied to Congress".  The DOJ is pursuing that and before all of this is over, and if there's any justice in the world, Wray, Comey, Brennan, and Clapper should all be heading to prison. After all, "no one is above the law."    (More here) But it gets better.  Those who corruptly went after Donald Trump filing false criminal charges against him are going to be exposed, as Senator Grassley is promising to name names.   

The Trump administration is purging the EPA which is long....long... overdue,  a full scale audit "of the SBA 8(a) program found over $550 million in contracts were linked to bribery and fraud schemes." 

Let me tell you about Wilson Tindi, DEI and due process.  Tindi is an illegal alien from Kenya.  A convicted felon, and registered sex offender who the state of Minnesota knowingly hired as an auditor rising to the "highest rank available in the state career civil service".  

Did you ever wonder why the left is so hot due process for illegals?  Because it's forever.  This article outlines how this has been going on with this guy since 2005, his criminal activity and the "due process" procedures, all of which he lost, and he's still here.  That's what the left's due process is all about, straining the system to make in impossible to deport illegal aliens.  If a man with his criminal record can't be deported, it's impossible to deport anyone easily.  I might also add so much of this would be impossible if not for the corrupt federal judges who are part of this story.  

University of Pennsylvania has been forced to apologize for robbing female athletes of winning titles promoting and allowing a man who calls himself Lia Thomas to compete against women, and have now stripped Thomas of his improperly earned titles.  In my opinion, this may have also deprived these women of financial opportunities, so not only the university, but university officials and Thomas need to be sued personally.  

Let's talk about Russia for a minute. Here's a map of Ukraine that Russia has now conquered, after over three and a half years, .... that's it, and Putin tells Trump Russia will never stop trying to conquer Ukraine.  

  

His economy is crashing, their agricultural harvests are shrinking, and due to sanctions only 16 nations are buying Russian grain.  Since the price of oil is dropping, and for reasons I don't understand the value of the ruble is strong, so Russia's gas revenues fell dramatically.  Russia's small business community is facing declines in sales, with the expected loss of revenue making it difficult to get loans, resulting in cuts to expansion and hiring.  The decline in small businesses is a bigger part of the story than is appreciated.

You can tell when a tree is starting to die because it no longer produces leaves on the upper branches, and each year the number of bare branches increases. It feels like the leaves have fallen off the upper branches of the country. Unknown

Putin's lost hundreds of thousands of young Russian men and is incapable of fielding his army without tens of thousands of North Korean "volunteers". He can't manufacture the military hardware he needs, and now Iran may not be able to supply him the drones he's been using.  Another high ranking officer has been killed, and I have to say I've never read where so many high ranking officers have been killed in a war as this one.

As for the blatantly stupid argument about Putin attacked Ukraine because he was afraid of NATO, and not blatant aggression, then perhaps they can explain to me why "Russia continues to illegally occupy about 20% of Georgian territory?"

In Tony Judt's book Post war, a History of Europe since 1945, Part Two, Chapter IX he goes into great detail about the Hungarian revolution and Czech resistance and the Soviet use of force to make sure they all stayed under Soviet control.  Nothing's changed except the names.  It's not about depth of defense, it's about conquest and power, it really is that simple, it's always been that simple, and it will always be that simple when dealing with Russia.  And everyone needs to get that.

Trump needs to understand even his negotiating skills, which are impressive, aren't going to make a difference.  We're already seeing his remarkable negotiations between Congo and Rwanda starting to come apart with disputes over interpretation, economics, and the continued violence by "proxy" groups.  I'm not expecting to see this agreement to hold.  For the sake of all these people who've suffered mighty for 30 years, I hope I'm wrong.  

Europe is a mess, and I've a lot of stored articles dealing with that, so more will be coming soon.  My conclusion is, and has been for a long time, Europe as we know is is doomed.  They did it to themselves, and it's going to get a lot worse.

And finally, Elon Musk is still at it, looking for attention.  First of all, the only third party to be successful in America is the Republican party, and an attempt to be a Ross Perot spoiler for political clout by backstabbing former allies isn't going to play well.  Nothing is in his favor.  His character, his actions, or his goals.  While Ross Perot could be criticized, his goals were deemed honorable.  Not so with Musk.   This "new party" is going nowhere, and any clout he will have will be in his ability to contribute heavily to politicians of his choice, and that may even end up to be a nothing burger. 

I've been busy this week with 12 commentaries of my own and 19 by others, and the six permanent links.  Have a great weekend, and best wishes to all those of honest heart and good will. 

Let's start out with this Quote of the Day.

My Commentaries

1. Budgets, the National Debt, and We're Running Out of Time
2. The Left is Bereft of Heft
3. The XYZ Factors of Organizations
4. Now, Back to the House
5. Who Raises A Banner That Says: I Stand For Consensus!
6. Is Aphorism Another Name For Humor and Snarkiness?
7. Elon is Just Being Elon. So, Who Cares?
8. Trump, the Federal Judiciary, and The Government of the United States
9. Slinging Sammy Baugh
10. International Asteroid Day
11. Is Zohran Mamdani Really the Anointed One? Part II
12. Let Me Get This Straight

Commentaries

1. The EPA Grows A Pair And Takes A Stand On Glyphosate By Josh Bloom
2. When Did Michelle Obama Turn into a Harridan? By Susan Daniels
3. Treasury Must Protect American Companies By Paul Driessen
4. Burning trash for energy, people and planet  By Paul Driessen
5. Boston Muslim Illegal Alien Councilwoman Replaces July 4th Before Going to Prison By Daniel Greenfield
6. A Radical Company is Paying Supreme Court Justices Millions  By Daniel Greenfield
7. Who Really Bombed a Damascus Church? By Daniel Greenfield
8. Democrats Gone Wild By Robin Itzler
9. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Guards By Robin Itzler
10. Made in America: But check the label  By Robin Itzler
11. The 2030 Census and Making America Great Again By Robin Itzler
12. Revolutionary War Secrets And July 4th Trivia By Robin Itzler
13. Settler-Colonialist Zohran Mamdani Calls For "Seizing The Means Of Production" By Francis Menton
14. Since Upper-Income Taxpayers Finance the American Welfare State, Leftists Should Be Nice to Rich People, Part II By Dan Mitchell
15. Is the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” Worth Supporting? By Dan Mitchell
16. Ohio Joins the Flat Tax Club By Dan Mitchell
17. What’s the Most Important Election of 2025?
18. Another Contestant for Politician of the Year By Dan Mitchell
19. Feds Fail to Offset Wind Turbine Eagle Kill By Craig Rucker

Permanent Links

1. 45 Communist Goals to Destroy America as Listed in the 1963 Congressional Record
2. My Seven Rules of Geopolitics
3. The John Boyd Legion of Honor
5. Former White House Advisor: “Trump to Release $150 Trillion Endowment”

 No matter what anyone says, you can’t marginalize the truth!  You can suppress it, you can ignore it, you can avoid it, you can attempt to undermine it, you can attempt to subvert it, you can attempt to organize against it, you can even laugh at it, but if we have the courage and the fortitude to stand and confront the lies, irrespective of the personal costs, the truth will stand the test of time, because truth and time are on the same side.

Constant as the North Star

 

Now, Back to the House

By Rich Kozlovich

 

There was an article that described three Republican Senators as traitors who voted with the Democrats forcing the Vice President to break a 50/50 vote tie over Trump's Big Beautiful Bill.

I don't think traitor is appropriate for all three.  Tom Tillis, Susan Collins, and Ron Paul.  Ron Paul has been consistent in his position forever so that's not an act of treason.   Susan Collins and Tom Tellis fall in that category in my view.  Collins positions have been at best strange over the years, and Thom Tillis clearly has issues.  The only thing that's really surprises me is Murkowski didn't join them, which would have sent the bill crashing to the floor.

1. Senate Dems, RINO Susan Collins Reject BBB Amendment Cutting Medicaid for Illegal Aliens
2. BBB Update: 44 Democrats Vote to Allow Criminal Illegals on Medicaid

But here we are, and the bill passed.  Now it has to go back to the House, where all tax bills must originate.  So, what do we have in this complex, nearly 900-page bill involving taxes, energy, and healthcare?

There's a $5 trillion debt ceiling increase in the package, and the price tag will most likely cause the national debt to surge to another four trillion dollars, with an accounting gimmick to hide much of that red ink.

Medicaid will be increased. Government support for EVs and solar companies are set to be eliminated as tax credits phase out, and we're heading back to sanity on so-called "fossil fuels".  Alternative energy, net zero, and global warming schemes have wasted trillions of dollars, and that's going to be brought to a screeching halt.  Trump just boosted support for Republicans in coal producing states saying, "We're doing coal!"   It warms my heart in watching the the global warming movement collapsing, and I like to believe I played a small part in exposing their corruption.

The one size fits all rule preventing states from passing regulations regarding AI has been ditched.  That will not be an issue that will go away, and in fact, by the next budget it's my view it will be a major issue.  AI is still mostly an unknown factor, and research has shown there are dangerous implication with AI, including lying to protect itself.  All that needs to be challenged and fought over in the states in order to find our way, and not controlled by a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington. 

There will be increased funding for border control, and will make the tax cuts of 2017 permanent with the highest rate remaining at 37%.  Trump’s tax cuts spurred economic growth. Big Beautiful Bill will do it again. 

That was followed by a number of tax changes, some small, such as no taxes of tips and Social Security, but some very impactful for business. The bill will "reinstate credits for corporations for things like property depreciation, capital investments, new factory construction, interest expenses, and research and development costs" in an effort to stimulate growth.  

There will also be a tax credit of "$1,700 tax credit for individuals who contribute to nonprofit organizations that offer scholarships to elementary and secondary students, a move supporters describe as advancing “school choice,” akin to voucher programs" which the Democrats opposed entirely. 

Then there's the $40,000 SALT deduction, which is a bone of contention as that is in effect forcing small population states with sound economic practices to subsidize large population states with radical spending practices, like California and New York.  And the sale of public lands has been ditched, which I think is insane, along with the reasoning behind it, and work requirements non-disabled adults without dependents...but there are caveats in that also.  I see that as an unending bone of contention as there are too many caveats.  

Planned Parenthood, "which received $792 million in government grants and reimbursements"  will no longer get the American taxpayer to fund the murder of the innocent unborn, and gender transitions will not be covered in Medicaid.  Some funding for food stamps will be transferred to the states,

If you subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, I don't, here's their take on the BBB. Tax cuts and Medicaid spending reductions head to House, with the July 4 deadline reachable – 

Then there's this econ-babble from Real Clear Markets: Deficit Hawks Should Look In the Mirror.  That's why I have economists.  As for being a deficit hawk, I would fall into that category.  Would I have voted for this bill?  In my heart the answer would be a resounding no as I believe the national debt is toxic to the point of national suicide.  

However, in my mind I would recognize this Republican "controlled" Congress isn't a Republican controlled Congress and don't have all that much control over what's passed and what's not since the "loyal opposition" is in point of fact the "disloyal opposition" that votes in lock step fighting tooth and nail to disrupt any reductions in taxes and spending,  doing all it can to destroy the only thing standing between freedom and socialist tyranny in the world, the American Constitution.

So, in my mind I would have to rationalize voting for it in order to get what was worthwhile passed, and then prepare for the next budget battle, and embrace an incrementalist mentality.  The left believes in incrementalism, one step at a time to reach their goals,  and conservatives in the Congress are forced to implement that same strategy.  

But time is running out.  

The world's nations, including the U.S., have a debt load of almost 310 trillion dollars, and much of that cannot be repaid.  The consequences for that are soon to be felt, including Europe and China.  We're looking at a worldwide economic crisis that will be, at least in my opinion, massively destructive to much of the world's population, and the structure of many nations. 

Now... back to the House, and that's going to be another screaming match.  As for the Fourth of July deadline.... that's not a matter of law, it's a line in the sand drawn by the President, and it seems likely it's going to be crossed.     

Here's more give and take on the economy and this bill, especially this post by Ned Barnett - BBB: Congressional Democrats Turn On Blue-Collar Workers and Retirees

1. Powell confirms that the Fed would have cut by now were it not for tariffs
2. The Market Crash That Wasn’t Yet 
3. WSJ: Say, Remember the Great Stock Market Crash of 2025? Well 
4. For The First Time In Four Years, Americans Aren’t Paying More For Their July 4 Cookouts 
5. Income up 8 times inflation  

Medicaid: End It, Don’t Mend It

I & I Editorial Board May 19, 2025

As soon as Republicans mentioned cutting spending on Medicaid as part of their “reconciliation” bill, the usual suspects started rolling out their standard talking points. They’re cutting health care for the poor to pay for tax cuts for the rich! Millions will lose coverage! The disabled will suffer! Oh, the humanity!

Well, if the GOP is going to be accused of destroying Medicaid when all they are proposing is a minor haircut, why not go all out and scrap this hopelessly flawed, fraud-riddled, budget-busting disaster of a program and start over from scratch?............To Read More....

My Take: This is a problem throughout the system, as ‘Significant’ Welfare Fraud Uncovered During Covid-19 Aid Investigation - In a new investigation, a federal committee tasked with tracking COVID-19 assistance fraud found tens of thousands of dishonest or erroneous Paycheck Protection Program applications.........

RINO Alert: Missouri Senator Josh Hawley Wants Big Tax Increases on Working-Class Americans

May 13, 2025 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

 

Here are five grim – but incontestable – facts about America’s dicey fiscal future.

1. The federal government’s budget is very large today and is expected to get much larger in the future.
2. Entitlement programs are the primary reason why federal spending is an ever-growing burden.
3. Failure to control spending and reform entitlements eventually will mean a major fiscal crisis.
4. That fiscal crisis will lead to some benefit reductions, but the main response will be massive tax increases.
5. Since there are not enough rich people to finance big government, ordinary people will be plundered.

The last point deserves some elaboration, especially since my friends on the left claim that big government can be financed by soak-the-rich taxes.

The bottom line is that the math doesn’t work. There are not enough rich people.

 That’s apparent if you look at the numbers in Jessica Riedl’s chartbook.

But I think my 12th Theorem of Government is even more compelling.

Simply stated, politicians in other developed nations would have used class-warfare taxes is that was a realistic way to finance a big welfare state.

But that’s not the case, which is why every single European welfare state imposes huge tax burdens on lower-income and middle-class people.

Every. Single. One.

I’m providing this background because it will help to show why Senator Josh Hawley, a supposed Republican from Missouri, is being dishonest in his recent New York Times column about Medicaid.

He’s portraying himself as a defender of ordinary people, yet his head-in-the-sand approach to entitlements is a recipe for massive tax hikes on the people he claims to be defending.

Here are some excerpts from his embarrassing piece.

Will Republicans be a majority party of working people…? Mr. Trump has promised working-class tax cuts and protection for working-class social insurance, such as Medicaid. But now…the party’s Wall Street wing…is urging Congress…deep cuts to social insurance. …that argument is both morally wrong and politically suicidal. …Missouri…is one of 40 Medicaid expansion states…voters mandated that the state expand Medicaid…

Mr. Trump himself has been crystal clear on this point. Since taking office he has repeatedly rejected calls for Medicaid benefit cuts. …Republicans in Congress should pay attention. Our voters not only want us to protect the social insurance…they also want us to fight…for a better economy.

There are two primary responses to Hawley’s nonsensical column.

• First, Hawley trumpets “working-class tax cuts,” but all the European evidence shows these are the people who suffer the most when the time comes to finance the bigger welfare state than the Missouri Senator supports.
• Second, Hawley say Republican should fight “for a better economy,” but he conveniently fails to explain how that will happen when all the evidence shows that the European welfare state has led to much lower living standards.

Those two arguments are a slam-dunk case against Hawley’s big-government approach. However, there are five additional flaws that should be noted.

1. Medicaid is not social insurance. It is not a taxes-in, benefits-out program like Medicare or Social Security. It is a welfare program.
2. Since a heavy majority of recipients live off of government, it is not a program for “working people,” as Hawley monotonously asserts.
3. Missouri voters expanded Medicaid because Obamacare bribes states by having the federal government pay 90 percent of expenses.
4. Hawley is using the dishonest definition of a spending cut. The proposals that he’s upset about merely slow the growth of Medicaid.
5. Last but not least, Hawley asserts Medicaid reform is “politically suicidal” even though a bolder reform in the 1990s was very popular.

What’s sad is that I’m 99.99 percent confident that Hawley and his staff know he is being dishonest. Yet he has decided that personal ambition (he wants to run for president in the future) is more important than the nation’s future.

Let’s hope his more honest and more ethical colleagues ignore his desperate pandering for votes.

Let’s close by noting that a big benefit of having a medium-sized welfare state (rather than a European-style large-sized welfare state) is that working class voters in America pay very little tax.

Josh Hawley won’t admit it, but he wants those workers to be like their overtaxed and lower-paid European counterparts.

P.S. Hawley also sides with the left on other issues, such as price controls and stock buybacks.

P.P.S. While Hawley is dishonest, the good news (sort of) is that there are some decent folks on the left who openly admit a big welfare state means big taxes on ordinary people.

I even include them on my page of “honest leftists.” Maybe I should also have a page for “dishonest, make-believe conservatives.”

Is There Any Fraud In The Medicaid Program? Here's A Place To Start Looking

By Francis Menton April 11, 2025 @ Manhattan Contrarian 

Elon Musk, of the Department of Government Efficiency, has asserted that his goal is to cut some $1 trillion of “waste and fraud” from annual federal spending. Skeptics of the effort say that that’s just not possible, mainly because almost half of federal spending constitutes the “entitlements” — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and some smaller health insurance programs — and President Trump has pledged not to cut those. Add something close to $1 trillion for defense, and another close to $1 trillion for interest on the national debt, and the remainder (less than $2 trillion) doesn’t leave nearly enough room for a trillion of cuts.

But here’s the missing piece: What if there are large amounts of fraud in the entitlement programs? Trump hasn’t pledged not to go after that. Could the amounts of such fraud be significant in the context of the huge numbers at issue? I don’t fully know the answer to that question; but today I’ll look at one example involving very big numbers where obvious fraud is hiding in plain sight.

First, a look at the big picture numbers. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has on its website an overview of federal spending dated January 28, 2025, providing figures for fiscal year 2024 (which ended on September 30, 2024). The big categories:

• Federal spending for fiscal year 2024 was approximately $6.9 trillion.
• Health insurance entitlements (Medicare, Medicare, CHIP, and Obamacare subsidies totaled $1.7 trillion, or 24% of spending.
• Social Security totaled $1.5 trillion, or 21% of spending.
• Defense totaled $872 billion, or 15% of spending.
• Interest on the debt was about $892 million, or another 15% of spending.
• The remainder added up to $1.936 trillion.

And now, here’s a good place to start looking for fraud in the entitlements. In New York we have something called the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program. Bloomberg had a piece about it in July 2024, which is behind paywall, but Newsweek re-wrote the story here. The idea, supposedly, was that we could use Medicaid funds to pay relatives like spouses and children to take care of their infirm relatives, and thus save the costs of professional aides, let alone nursing homes. From Newsweek:

"Oftentimes, ideas that start with the best of intentions can be taken advantage of in the wrong hands," Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek. "With home health, some states like New York thought it would be a good idea to allow family members and friends to get paid for providing home health assistance to loved ones using Medicaid and Medicare dollars.

So what’s the problem?

[Beene]: “The problem is now you have individuals taking advantage of a pretty liberal, open-ended process for determining who qualifies."

It seems that the program to let family members become the home health aides got going in 2015.

In 2015, the eligibility rules changed, and the number of people getting care skyrocketed from 20,000 to 250,000.

And that was just the start. Here’s what Newsweek says were the relevant stats for the period 2019-2024:

[T]he money going to this program triple[d] across the span of the last five years, and home health jobs are [in 2024] considered to make up 12 percent of New York City's private sector jobs, Bloomberg reported.

The occasion for the Bloomberg and Newsweek pieces in 2024 was an interview given to Bloomberg by New York Governor Kathy Hochul in July of that year. In the interview, Hochul appeared to recognize that the home health care aide situation had gotten out of hand and needed to be reined in. From the Newsweek piece:

[Hochul said,] “The problem is now you have individuals taking advantage of a pretty liberal, open-ended process for determining who qualifies." Hochul told Bloomberg that the program was being abused so much that it now makes up the majority of New York City's job increases. . . . "I'm telling you right now, when you look on TikTok and you see ads of young people saying, 'Guess what, you can make $37 an hour by sitting home with your Grandma. You know, here's how you sign up,' it has become a racket," Hochul told Bloomberg.

So less than a year ago, Governor Hochul had recognized this as a “racket.” Surely then she did something to get it under control? Not at all. Instead, it appears that she has switched sides, and in ongoing budget negotiations this year is supporting a vast increase in Medicaid spending to continue funding this racket, among many other things. The New York Post had an editorial on April 6. Excerpt:

In a tale all too typical of Albany, Gov. Kathy Hochul a year or so ago was pushing to rein in out-of-control state Medicaid spending on home health aides, only to since switch sides with an eye on her re-election run next year. Now Medicaid outlays are set to soar at least 17% in the next budget, while the aide ranks are soaring and indeed are by far the single largest job category in all New York.

The Post collects some truly incredible statistics from a Report issued by the Empire Center think tank on April 3. The Empire Center Report is based on federal BLS data issued on April 2, although the data only go up to May 2024. From the Empire Center:

New York’s home health employment is continuing to soar, growing by 57,000 jobs or 10 percent from 2023 to 2024, according to newly released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state’s workforce of home health and personal care aides grew to an estimated 623,000 as of May 2024, according to BLS. . . .

From 20,000 in 2015 to 623,000 in 2024. Thanks, federal taxpayers, for picking up more than half of the tab. The Empire Center Report shows New York as by far the highest in the country in the number of these home health care aides per capita:

[New York has] 171 aides per 1,000 residents aged 65 or older, which was the highest rate in the U.S. – 153 percent higher than the national average and 24 percent ahead of the No. 2 state, California.

Over this period, the job category of home health aide has become far and away the largest job category in New York State. Here is a chart from the Empire Center Report, derived from BLS data, of the largest job categories in New York in 2024:

 

There are almost three times as many of these home health aides as all jobs in retail sales!

The Post attributes Governor Hochul’s switch of sides substantially to her buying the support of a health care union known as “Local 1199” (of the SEIU) in the run-up to her re-election campaign next year. Local 1199 hopes to unionize the home health aides to get hundreds of thousands of new dues-paying members, and then to engage in collusive wage negotiations where the bill will be paid substantially by the federal taxpayers.

I don’t know all the other examples of fraud in the entitlement programs. But if one this big and this obvious is just allowed to metastasize for years without any attempt at oversight, there are likely to be plenty of others.

Observations From the Back Row, With News and Views For March 28, 2025

By Rich Kozlovich Tags:

I've been reading how Disney's Snow White is such a Woke disaster, it will lose tens of million s of dollars, and this has been the pattern at Disney for a long time.  I ended my TV subscription a long time ago, and they destroyed the Star Wars franchise, again losing millions, and raised prices at their amusement parks to make up for that, and are now losing visitors. 

What boggles the mind is their continued crusade to push all this Woke stuff in spite of failure after failure, and now, it's my opinion, we’re going to see the public become much more open about why they hate all this stuff. Calling them by whatever negative epithet is of the moment is going to bounce off people because the alternative media has exposed the consequences of “Wokeness” and people are fast coming to the conclusion they just don’t care what these leftists think, what they do, or what they say.   

Culture is king, and we have to wonder if we're now seeing a cultural shift.  It's being claimed the Gen Z generation is one of the most conservative generations because they've suffered the consequences of Woke, and don't like it.  But I have reservations about all these young college educated people. 

When doing man on the street interviews, and in the last one I saw was students on the beach, and they're asked fundamental questions about history and government, they're stunningly ignorant.  They don't know who fought in the Revolutionary War, they don't know who the Vice President is, they don't know how many jurists sit on the Supreme court, and the list goes on and on..... embarrassingly on and on... and these are college students.  That should concern everyone.  

With Trump and Putin talking about some sort of solution to Ukraine, and future economic issues, guess who's the most concerned?  China!  

I used to shake my head and roll my eyes at all the rhetoric about how China and Russia were now big buddies, but they have history, and that history hasn't been pleasant, correspondingly they never trusted each other before and they don't now.  I used to wonder if these journalists ever read a history book, but this kind of clabber was coming from geopolitical specialists also, demonstrating preconceptualism is a mental disorder, a disorder Henry Kissinger suffered from. 

When the dust settles the Russians are gong to be in need of a major fix to their economy, and that can't come from China, but S. Korea and Japan deals may be on the table, which also would concern China since Japan has stated a desire to take on more defensive responsibilities in the region, with U.S. approval.  

But real economic benefits will have to come from America, and that whole potential scares Xi.  But make no mistake, Russia needs this war to end or their economic situation will become so bad they won't be able to catch up to either China or the U.S.  Putin has put forward a plan for Ukraine to put under UN management, with some interesting initiatives, and that won't happen either, but it shows his desperation, and the geopolitical world sees it for what it is. 

The other mostly unspoken truth about Russia is it's demographic pyramid, it's a mess.  Ten years go it was estimated by 2040 ethnic Russians will be a minority in their own nation, and statistically there are less men than women, and with the massive loses in this war it's even worse.  Russian history is replete with wars, starvation, and gulags, and serious cultural problems involving alcoholism, AIDS, and mental illness.  The foundational cultural paradigm in Russia is suffering, and how to overcome it.  That history will never go away, the rest is potentially fixable. 

One of the things that's emerged economically out of the Russo/Ukrainian War is how nations found alternative sources for their needs.  Once that happens, no one is willing to go back to "the olden days", as now these nations have a greater degree of autonomy, and they like it.

Ukraine is insisting European nations contribute boots on the ground to fight Russia, and on the front line.  That's not playing well as they've only offered peace keeping forces after the war is over, which is the usual double talk and virtual signaling by Europe's "leaders".  

News and Views For March 28, 2025

Democrats

‘The New York Times Created Castro’ - During an interview with Kengor on Wednesday’s edition of The Alex Marlow Show podcast, Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow highlighted Kengor’s PragerU video on Cuba’s communist dictator Fidel Castro..........“A couple of things jumped out at me in your PragerU video on Castro,” Marlow said. “The New York Times created Castro, I had never thought of it that way.”.........

Editor's Note:  For those interested, please view by Humberto Fontova file, where he outlines all of this and much, much more, including JFK's corruption in preserving Castro, the embrace of media stars and Hollywood celebrities.  All this has been known for years, and suppressed for years by the Pravda media, academia, and the Democrat party.  RK

Quote of the day - The quote of the day comes via EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin Congratulations to Mr. Zeldin on the quote of the day: “I have terminated the $2 BILLION Biden EPA grant to this Stacey Abrams-linked NGO. The DOJ/FBI are investigating and the money has been frozen. It is insane that the Biden Admin would give $2B to an organization that previously only received $100!”...........

Alex Marlow with PragerU’s Dr. Paul Kengor: Democrats ‘Gave Us Pol Pot’ - During an interview with Kengor on Wednesday’s edition of The Alex Marlow Show podcast, Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow highlighted Kengor’s PragerU video on Pol Pot, which Marlow said confirmed his understanding that “the Democrats basically gave us Pol Pot.”....“Democrat policies led to his rise and thus widespread death,” ......

Well, That's How You Know the Dems Knew Biden Was in Rough Shape -  It’s now an open secret: everyone knew that Joe Biden was cooked—even Democrats. We’ve seen Joe’s deterioration in real-time, whereas the liberal media and the president’s allies manufactured this lie that the former president’s mental and physical health was top-notch. That Potemkin village collapsed when Donald Trump bulldozed Biden in the June debate on CNN. Worse, Trump didn’t have to do much; Biden was slow, slurred, and stupid......... Once booted off the 2024 ticket, Joe and his cronies made sure they could do everything they could to hamstring Kamala Harris.............What a selfish clown. Did he wreck things for Kamala? No. She wasn’t an upgrade. Harris was younger but just as stupid and incapable of doing media hits without coming off as totally insane........

 

Major DEI Non-Profit Files For Bankruptcy After Bosses Allegedly Stole Millions in

 

Donor Funds - A major DEI non-profit has filed for bankruptcy after its bosses allegedly stole millions in donor funds. The National Diversity Council (NDC)l filed for bankruptcy earlier this month after its board members filed a lawsuit accusing founder R. Dennis Kennedy and other top employees of siphoning off millions in funds for their own benefit. The lawsuit states:.........

House Handily Defeats Anti-Israel Amendments From Rashida Tlaib- Thursday was a bad day for Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a particularly anti-Israel member of the Squad. The House passed the DETERRENT Act, also known as the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions Act, which was introduced by Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA). It did so without Tlaib without in favor, though, and without either of her two amendments included in the bill. ..............

Karen Bass' Destroyed Text Messages Have Miraculously Reappeared - Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is still reeling from the massive wildfires that engulfed the county in January. It’s likely going to be labeled the costliest natural disaster in American history, with damage estimates ranging from $164-250-plus billion. Ms. Bass was not in Los Angeles when the fires broke out on January 7. She wasn’t even in the United States. The mayor was partying in Ghana, celebrating the president’s inauguration, which hardly seems appropriate, especially since this trip was taxpayer-funded. Bass promised she’d never leave the country during her time in the mayor’s office............

NPR CEO's Testimony on Capitol Hill Yesterday Was a Disaster -This might be one of my favorite Congressional hearing exchanges of all time -- or at least within recent memory.  It features Republican Congressman Brandon Gill, a freshman from Texas, and the CEO of National Public Radio, Katherine Maher.  We'll get there, but before we proceed any further, please recall that this is the same Katherine Maher whose long virtual trail of woke, partisan, knee-jerk social media posts caused a stir after she was tapped to take the helm of taxpayer-funded NPR last year.  This clip has also made the rounds, in which she laments our society's "reverence for the truth" as a "distraction" and obstacle to making progress and "getting important things done."  In the hearing yesterday, she tried to claim these comments have been taken out of context, but her point seems fairly straightforward here, and it's certainly interesting coming from someone who leads a newsroom:...........

• The New York Times Defends Their PR Partners at NPR and PBS
• NPR CEO Falsely Claims She “Has No Editorial Role”
• Karoline Maher shoots herself, and NPR, in the foot 
  

Fired Biden Holdover Hampton Dellinger Takes Another Loss with Appeals Court’s Latest Order - A federal appeals court on Thursday responded to fired special counsel Hampton Dellinger’s request to dismiss his case as moot after he withdrew his litigation earlier this month.President Trump fired Hampton Dellinger, the Special Counsel for the Office of Special Counsel last month, however, the Biden holdover continued to fight Trump in court and was successful because the case was assigned to a corrupt Obama judge.  The appeals court previously granted a motion to stay Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s order reinstating the Biden holdover.  Following the ruling from the DC Circuit Court, Hampton Dellinger said he was ending his legal fight with Trump............

DOGE

DOGE Says 315,000 Credit Cards Have Been Canceled, Limited by Federal Agencies - The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said about 315,000 government credit cards have been canceled or limited by various federal agencies under a cost-savings program.  The Elon Musk-affiliated group wrote in a post on Tuesday that “up to [approximately] 315,000 credit cards” were canceled by a number of federal agencies, an increase from about 298,000 cancelations as of Sunday. DOGE said this was after a five-week “pilot program” was undertaken.  Credit card cancelations this week impacted agencies including the Departments of Homeland Security, Interior, Commerce, Treasury, State, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Education, Agriculture, and Labor.........

 

Fort Knox? Gold cams! - Let’s face it—we’ve all got the gold bug. When President Trump announced recently that he would conduct an audit of the Fort Knox gold reserve, it was all anyone could talk about.  A friend asked if I thought the gold was still there. I would like to think so. I would like to think military discipline didn’t completely erode under the Obama and Biden administrations. However, time, technology, and the cleverness of rats mitigate against it.  A gold bar weighs 27.5 pounds. How easy would it be to counterfeit a bar, skim-coat it with some gold, and then swap it out for the real thing on the shelf? That’s what some folks imagine has happened. Others think that the physical gold has been lent out, sold, and replaced with worthless currency or just 1s and 0s in some government account......

 

Europe

New report: Netherlands is now euthanizing minors -Medical murder comes for the disabled children. Again. I mean, we’ve been here before, but for some reason, a sizable enough portion of the population refuses to heed the words commonly attributed to Spanish thinker, George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” and so we traditionalists, “clinging to” (as Barack Obama might derogatorily say) life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, are left to scream into the void about how today it’s the retarded kids, tomorrow it’s us.

My Take -  Leftism believes in nothing except hate, greed, envy, lust, and the desire to hold power over their fellow man, and more than willing to use violence to tear down anything that stands in it’s way.   All that Hitler stood for and promoted is being embraced in Europe.  As a result, the flawed values of leftism has contaminated the thinking of Europe, and every aspect of European life. Europe is lost, and will really be what Bismarck called it, a geographical designation. And unless something dramatically changes, it will be conquered by Islam.  RK

The UK’s Immigration Nightmare If Keir Starmer continues to sink in the polls, and if the Conservatives return to power, Robert Jenrick will then become the Minister of State for Justice. Whatever happens, his voice and views on the suicidal immigration policy now in place in the UK must be heard and heeded. You can find out more about […]

UK: Illegal English Channel crossings soar to ‘record high’ despite repeated government promises to stop them - The UK government issued a statement in response to the boat crossings: We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.  The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to […]

UK Employee Fired for Calling Hamas Killers ‘Disgusting’ Robert likes to call the UK “shattered, staggering, dhimmi Britain.” I’ve always thought that an exaggeration, but the evidence keeps piling up that he is right. The latest horror story is about an employee of the Severn Trent Water Supply, Damon Joshua, a sewage worker who, on October 7, 2024, as part of a social […]

The EU’s New High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas’ Old Mistakes Things are looking up for Israel at the EU. The anti-Israel Josep Borrell is now gone. He has just now been replaced as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy by Kaja Kallas, the former president of Estonia known for her warm attitude toward Israel. However, despite her personal warmth, Ms. Kallas […]

Israel, the EU, and the Perils of a ‘Proportionate Response’ - The new EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, is repeating some of the errors and falsehoods of her predecessor, Josep Borrell: “New EU High Representative Kaja Kallas makes the same old mistakes,” Elder of Ziyon, March 25, 2025: True to form, Josep Borrell criticized and condemned Israel’s escalation in Lebanon […]

Government Incompetence

Report: Medicaid Misspent $4.3 Billion in Duplicate Payments-Taxpayers spent at least $4.3 billion over a three-year period covering the same Medicaid patients twice, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Medicaid paid health insurance companies for hundreds of thousands of patients who signed up for the program in two or more separate states. This happened when a patient moved to a............

Immigration

Visas for Terrorists, No Visas for Israelis - Opposing the deportation of campus terrorists isn’t about free speech. It’s about supporting terrorists. After the Trump administration moved to deport foreign campus terrorist supporters, including Momodou Taal, who had urged student protesters to take their cue from Hamas and tweeted “absolutely anyone the US calls an enemy is my friend”, there was outrage from the Left. […]

Chicago: Muslim cop vandalizes rabbi’s car, is not fired from the force or even disciplined If a Jewish cop had vandalized a Muslim cleric’s car, do you think the police would have been slow to fire him? Also, we would be inundated with propaganda about “Islamophobia.” But this gets little notice. EXCLUSIVE: Chicago Police Officer Mohammed Khan was caught kicking an elderly rabbi’s car.

Islam

India: Muslim gang kidnaps and tortures Hindu man for talking to a Muslim woman The Qur’an forbids Muslim women to marry “idolaters”: “Do not marry idolatresses until they believe, for indeed, a believing slave woman is better than an idolatress, even though she pleases you. And do not give your daughters in marriage to idolaters until they believe, for indeed, a believing slave is better than an idolater, even […]

Iran: Senior ayatollah tells US that Iranian people ‘will wipe you off the face of history and politics’ Meanwhile, in the U.S., prominent “influencers” tell us that Iran, which is working on developing nuclear weapons, is no threat to the U.S., and that only “the Jews” are insisting otherwise in order to advance the cause of a “Greater Israel” in the Middle East. The only people who could believe this are those who 

Hamas funded Columbia protesters, bragged to hostages about their ‘American operatives’ It was obvious from the beginning that the student protesters were tools of Hamas. Now it turns out that they were actually an arm of Hamas. This supports, of course, the idea that those among them who are not U.S. citizens should be deported. “Columbia activists worked with Hamas, captors told rescued hostage Shlomi Ziv,” […]

Mahmoud Khalil Hid His Work with UNRWA Mahmoud Khalil turns out to have been far more than the innocent student protester — not a leader, but just one among so many — whom he pretends to be. More on the latest news about Mahmoud Khalil can be found here: “US says Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil hid UNRWA work,” Reuters, March 24, 2025: The […]

Middle East

Iran and Turkey call on global community to ‘stop Israel’s crimes in region’ - Days ago, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, issued calls for protesters in the US and Europe to stop the Israeli military in Gaza. Turkey has joined Iran in accusing Israel of “crimes” in the region against the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria. These are specific areas where Hamas, Hizballah, and the Houthis have all […]

The IDF’s Latest Blow Against the Jihadists in Gaza The British journalist Brendan O’Neill reports on the IDF’s recent renewal of fighting in Gaza, where it has devastated what remained of Hamas’ leadership, and on how the Western media, instead of celebrating, has been denouncing Israel for this achievement. More on O’Neill’s furious reaction to that media coverage can be found here: “Why don’t […]

Hamas Won't Like What the Justice Department Just Did  - The Justice Department on Thursday announced that it has disrupted a scheme to finance terrorist group Hamas. The DOJ seized a little over $200,000 in cryptocurrency that was supposed to go toward funding Hamas,............U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. explained that the seizures “show that this office will search high and low for every cent of money going to fund Hamas” and said the terrorist group “is responsible for the deaths of many U.S. and Israeli nationals.”..........

Rockets to Roses: Israel’s bizarre trade cycle with Aza - In a striking twist of economic irony, “Israel” proper finds itself caught in a peculiar recycling cycle-of-trade with Aza (“Gaza” is the Arab name, but Aza is part of the Land of Israel).  Israel offers (and allows in) steel, food, gas, and free electricity to the Jew-haters in the client state of Aza, which in turn uses these resources to manufacture rockets.  Those rockets are then fired back at Israeli residents, where their fragments (if safe) are repurposed into… Judaica. Yes, really......Excuse me, I need to go duck.  Another economic boom incoming!......

 

Signalgate

 

A Reporter Asked AG Bondi About the Signal Story During an MS-13 Presser. He Didn't Expect This Answer. - Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel oversaw a successful law enforcement raid that captured one of the nation’s top leaders of the gang MS-13. This person, 24 years old, had been in the gang for ten years and quickly sharked his way to the top. Based on the documents recovered upon his arrest, he was one of the prominent leaders of this criminal operation. This individual was arrested by federal agents yesterday.........

What Are Dems Trying to Say Regarding the NSA's Secret Sex Chat Fiasco and This Signal Story?- This Signal story involving Pete Hegseth, Michael Waltz, and other top Trump officials has Democrats licking their chops over nothing. This story isn’t going anywhere, and no one is getting fired. So, scream into the void; we’re moving on. It was an unforced error as Waltz, or someone on his staff, accidentally added The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg into this chat on the encrypted messenger app. Goldberg alleges secret anti-Houthi war plans were divulged. They were not, but the media is going to peddle a lie because the chats were real—their contents are the subject of exaggeration....

 

The Liberal Media Is SIGNALing a lot of Bullcrap Right Now- Only liberal America could be more upset over an encrypted messenger app slip-up than a shambolic exit from Afghanistan that got Americans killed. Democrats think they smell blood in the water, as the media-manufactured fallout from the leaked Signal chat story continues to make the Left all giddy over nothing. .........

 

The Passing Signal Psychodrama - How does this blunder rank with prior diplomatic and military screw-ups?  When we finally learn the full melodrama of the so-called Signal 1-2 day “scandal” of inviting a leftwing, Trump-despising, Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg onto a supposedly secure conference list, involving most of the top Trump security officials, lots of questions need asking and answering.  Most importantly, who exactly had Goldberg’s private number, and ostensibly (in error [?]) could have possibly inserted it into the cleared list of participants in the discussions? Why Goldberg, rather than some random person of some 345 million Americans?...........

 

My Take - The above article was written by Victor Davis Hanson, and as usual he has great insights, and ..... great questions.... questions I've asked, and would love to see answers to them, especially on how this "journalist" got on that list in the first place.  It's been claimed this was a "mistake" by a staffer, and I have no doubt a staffer is responsible, but I questioned whether this was a "mistake" from the beginning.  One thing was clear to me from the beginning, and this was a nothing burger from a corrupt media, and Democrats with the integrity of scorpions.     RK

• Keep Dreaming! Mark Kelly: If Hegseth Doesn’t Resign, Trump Should Fire Him

Voter Rights  

 

Supreme Court Grapples With Louisiana Voting Rights Act Case - The Supreme Court on March 24 grappled with a much-litigated racial gerrymandering case from Louisiana involving two consolidated cases: Louisiana v. Callais and Robinson v. Callais. Gerrymandering refers to the manipulation of electoral district boundaries to benefit a particular party or constituency......

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Race-Tinged Louisiana Electoral Dispute - The Supreme Court decided on Nov. 4 to hear a racial gerrymandering case from Louisiana.  Gerrymandering is the manipulation of electoral district boundaries to favor a particular party or constituency. The case will not be heard in time for the Nov. 5 presidential and congressional elections...........

 

My Take - As you read this it becomes clear there's not one iota of racial discrimination on the part of the Louisiana legislature.  The racial discrimination is entirely from the Democrat party, race hustlers, and the federal judicial system.