Any state that has a loss of representation may want to challenge the 2020 Census before the Supreme Court.

The population of the USA fluctuated a lot in 2020 because of the scourge of COVID-19. If the numbers seem wrong, they probably are.

April 26, 2021
By Rick Pearson

Illinois’ population dropped (click here) by more than 18,000 people over the last decade and the state will see its U.S. House representation drop from 18 members to 17 next year, according to figures from the 2020 U.S. census released Monday.

The Census Bureau said Illinois’ 2020 resident population was 12,812,508, a decline of 0.14% from the 12,830,632 people reported as residents in the 2010 census. Illinois was was one of three states to lose population over the decade, census officials said.

It was the first-ever decade-over-decade drop in Illinois’ population count since it was admitted as the 21st state in the union in 1818, based on historic census data. It had a census population of 55,211 in 1820.

The state’s decline in congressional representation has been gradual over the past 80 years, but accelerated following the 1970 federal census, when the state had 24 House members....

As of today Illinois lost 190 persons per 100,000 to COVID-19. Add that to normal loss of life including natural deaths and the 2020 Census should line up. If not, then there is something wrong with the numbers. This is not rocket science.

The article below is from Brookings.

January 11, 2021
By William H. Frey

To the left COVID-19 deaths by state (click here) as of April 26, 2021

...Recently released Census Bureau (click here) population estimates show that from July 1, 2019 to July 1, 2020, the nation grew by just 0.35%. This is the lowest annual growth rate since at least 1900.

National population growth began to dip after 2000, especially after the Great Recession and, in recent years, due to new immigration restrictions. Yet the 2019-to-2020 rate is well below most growth rates over the past 102 years, and less than half the level observed as recently as 2000.

Part of this sharp decline can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought more deaths and further immigration restrictions. Still, the entire 2010s decade was one of fewer births, more deaths, and uneven immigration. Low natural increase levels (a result of the aging of the population) will likely continue regardless of federal policy, suggesting that only increased immigration can become a driver of U.S. growth....

No one should feel bad about Wall Street and taxation. The American people have a right to pay down the debt!

President Biden and his Cabinet are doing an incredible job in the White House considering what they faced on their first day, including, a past president that could not look him in the eye.

Trillions of assets were provided to Wall Street, investment banks and hedge funds since the global economic collapse of 2007-2008. The country has done the right thing for all those financial markets over the years, now it is time for them to do their share after the worst handling of a virus by a president.

April 23, 2021
By William Watts

Stocks finished with gains, (click here) but off session highs and with weekly losses for major benchmarks, bouncing a day after reports that President Joe Biden plans to nearly double the capital-gains tax rate for Americans earning more than $1 million a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.18% finished around 228 points higher, up 0.7%, near 34,043.82, according to preliminary figures, after rising more than 300 points at its session high. The S&P 500 SPX, 0.18% closed 1.1% higher near 4,180, after trading above its April 16 closing high at 4,185.47 during the session. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, 0.87% advanced around 198 points, or 1.4%, to close near 14,017. Stocks were lifted after IHS Markit purchasing managers index readings for the manufacturing and services sectors hit records and data showed home sales continued at a rapid pace. Investors also played down worries over a rise in the capital-gains tax rate, noting that past rises have been shown to have little correlation with equity returns. The benchmarks lost ground for the week, however, with the S&P 500 off 0.1%, the Dow down 0.5% and the Nasdaq off 0.3%.

Since the global economic collapse the financial markets and their investment banks, including, hedge funds are awash in USA Treasury money and Fed dollars. There is absolutely no reason to think they cannot sustain higher tax rates so they FINALLY pay taxes BACK to the USA Treasury.

This is where we were.

February 23, 2020

By Fred Imbert and Eustance Huang

Stocks fell sharply on Monday (click here) as the number of coronavirus cases outside China surged, stoking fears of a prolonged global economic slowdown from the virus spreading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1,031.61 points lower, or 3.56%, at 27,960.80. The S&P 500 slid 3.35% to 3,225.89 while the Nasdaq Composite closed 3.71% lower at 9,221.28....

That was AFTER the bad news from a president that didn't care about the people enough to PREVENT the virus from reaching the USA as President George W. Bush did.

...It was the Dow’s biggest point and percentage-point drop since February 2018. The Dow also gave up its gain for 2020 and is now down 2% for the year. The S&P 500 also had its worst day in two years and wiped out its year-to-date gain as well.

“The second-largest economy in the world is completely shut down. People aren’t totally pricing that in,” said Larry Benedict, CEO of The Opportunistic Trader, adding a 10% to 15% correction in stocks may be starting. He also said some parts of the market, particularly large-cap tech stocks, appear to be over-owned. “It seems like there’s much more to come.”...

This was pre-Biden announcement of increased taxes. I really don't want to hear how higher taxes are not in order considering the DECADE OF INDULGENCE OF THE FINANCIAL MARKETS BY THE USA AND THE FED!

Title to the article:

"Dow Jones Today, S&P 500 Set New Record..."

April 5, 2021

By Alan R. Elliot

Stocks jumped into April's first full trading week on Monday, (click here) boosted by a strong March payrolls report delivered during Friday's holiday. Airlines, casinos and semiconductors all drove early gains. Tesla led rallying electric-vehicle makers after topping first-quarter delivery targets. Boeing climbed in a buy range on the Dow Jones today.

The Dow industrials briefly plowed 300 points higher, up 0.8% to snatch a new record high.... 

...The S&P 500 rallied 0.9% on the stock market today, sending it to its own fresh record above 4,000....

...The Nasdaq Composite notched a 1.1% jump, giving it a bit more breathing room above its 50-day moving average....

April 23, 2021

By Matthew Fox

Money is quickly pouring into the stock market as the S&P 500 trades near record highs.

Bank of America said $602 billion had flowed into global stocks in the past five months, compared with $452 billion in 12 years.

A rotation out of bonds and into stocks could continue to favor stocks, the bank said.

...More cash (click here) has flowed into stocks in the past five months than in the past 12 years, Bank of America said in a note on Friday. It said $602 billion had flowed into global stocks in five months, compared with $452 billion over 12 years.

The trend reversal could lead to further upside, Bank of America said. In the past week alone, $14.6 billion flowed into stocks, according to the note....

Where did all that cash come from? The National Debt. I really don't want to hear how the Republicans oppose President Biden's policies, spending and bills to facilitate it.

It rose almost $7.8 trillion (click here) during his time in the White House — approaching World War II levels, relative to the size of the economy. This time around, it will be much harder to dig ourselves out.

I don't want to hear it. Trump saddled the USA with $7.8 TRILLION DOLLARS and what did he do to pay for it? Nothing. He LOWERED TAXES to increase the national debt even more.

January 14, 2021

By Allan Sloan and Cezary Podkul

One of President Donald Trump’s lesser-known (click here) but profoundly damaging legacies will be the explosive rise in the national debt that occurred on his watch.

The financial burden that he’s inflicted on our government will wreak havoc for decades, saddling our kids and grandkids with debt.

The national debt has risen by almost $7.8 trillion during Trump’s time in office. That’s nearly twice as much as what Americans owe on student loans, car loans, credit cards and every other type of debt other than mortgages, combined, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It amounts to about $23,500 in new federal debt for every person in the country.

The growth in the annual deficit under Trump ranks as the third-biggest increase, relative to the size of the economy, of any U.S. presidential administration, according to a calculation by Eugene Steuerle, co-founder of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. And unlike George W. Bush and Abraham Lincoln, who oversaw the larger relative increases in deficits, Trump did not launch two foreign conflicts or have to pay for a civil war....

The Russian soldiers are pulling out of Ukraine. That means a lot to NATO.

The winds of change are rolling across Russia as I write this. It may be that Russia is finally beginning to understand the ways of the communists and the violation of human rights and dignity imposed by the communists.

I might add, the withdrawal of Russia troops from Ukraine, INCLUIDNG CRIMEA, might actually bring about a regional peace everyone has been looking for since the Soviet Union collapsed.

Why is the USA STILL preparing for nuclear holocaust and random wars when the rest of the world is not interested? American jobs? Certainly, we can do better than that when it comes to instituting peace rather than another Cold War.

April 23, 2021
By Natalia Datskevych

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky (click here) can negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the settlement of the situation in Donbas only in a neutral country, but not in Russia, head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Donbas Leonid Kravchuk said.

"The president of Ukraine will never go to Moscow to negotiate on war in Donbas. If Putin comes up with the idea of talks on a global scale of relations between Ukraine and Russia, then it can only be a neutral country," Kravchuk said on Channel 4.

In his opinion, such a country "could be Finland or Switzerland."

As reported, on April 21, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russian, inviting him to meet anywhere in the Ukrainian Donbas, where the war is underway.

Mr. Snowball is a danger to the future of Americans.

The information (click here)  in these graphs are according to annual budget amounts. The graph to the left is the US military budget in the proportion of GDP. It has been nearly steady with about 10 percent.

Consider the fact that the USA defense budget is approximately 10 percent of the GDP. Now realize also that even though the budget is about 10 percent of GDP, it has increased in cost by enormous amounts. Which is the graph on the right derived from the same data as the GDP percentage.

March 18, 2021
By Fareed Zakaria

On the eve of his visit this week to Asia, (click here) Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin outlined his key concern. “China is our pacing threat,” he said. He explained that for the past 20 years, the United States had been focused on the Middle East while China had been modernizing its military. “We still maintain the edge,” he noted, “and we’re going to increase the edge going forward.” Welcome to the new age of bloated Pentagon budgets, all to be justified by the great Chinese threat.

What Austin calls America’s “edge” over China is more like a chasm. The United States has about 20 times the number of nuclear warheads as China. It has twice the tonnage of warships at sea, including 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers compared with China’s two carriers (which are much less advanced). Washington has more than 2,000 modern fighter jets compared with Beijing’s roughly 600, according to national security analyst Sebastien Roblin. And the United States deploys this power using a vast network of some 800 overseas bases. China has three. China spends around $250 billion on its military, a third as much as the United States. Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution notes that, “if China were in NATO, we would berate it for inadequate burden-sharing, since its military outlays fall well below NATO’s 2 percent minimum.”

At the height of its imperial might in the late 19th century, when it ruled a quarter of the world’s population, Britain adopted a “two-power standard” — its navy had to be larger than the next two put together. U.S. military spending remains larger than the defense budgets of the next 10 countries put together, most of which are Washington’s close allies. The United States’ intelligence budget alone — around $85 billion — is larger than Russia’s total defense spending....

I trust Fareed Zakaria because he has been bring important information for years to the American people. He likes to try to get it right and this is the Washington Post after all. 

On the other hand Jim Inhofe uses stunts and gimmicks to make arguments that so long as their are snowballs no one has to worry about the climate crisis. He is a bunch of hooey. 

Jim Inhoge's affection for the USA military budget is nothing but fear mongering to defame President Biden. Does anyone actually believe President Biden would do anything to compromise the USA's national security?

Well, President Biden came forward with the US military budget and Mr. Snowball is crying yet again for his own political purposes. Mr. Snowball also won't admit that the USA's GDP has fallen over the past year. I would fully expect the USA miltary budget to follow suit.

To make it perfectly clear that Mr. Snowball has no idea what the climate is doing or that the crisis is valid, the USA military has prioritized climate for nearly a decade and dare I say almost an entire generation. Perhaps Mr. Snowball needs to take a ride in a USA military jet fighter powered by alternative fuels. He might even come to understand that the mliitary is among the first to carry the burden for such issues as the climate crisis as part of it's perparedness.

Below is Mr. Snowball taking to the US Senate floor for more grandstanding about how China is more militarily advanced than the USA. Perhaps, Fahreed Zakaria is right about the problem with the USA military attempting to justify a swollen budget considering the country's GDP.

I first want to congratulate the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the winners were spectacular. Well done.

 

The national weather service better be watching for rotation because it is sleet and small hail, not snow.

The reported temperature is 54 F, but, the air is cooling very quickly. There is a mixing of cold and warmer air.