The Corruption of the Highway Trust Fund

___The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, in addition to beginning construction of the Interstate Highway System, established the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). The Fund was the result of a compromise between outside groups and congressional leaders: in exchange for maintaining a gasoline tax, user fees extracted from motorists, including gasoline taxes (then 3 cents per gallon), would be placed into a new treasury account: the Highway Trust Fund, to be modeled on the Social Security Trust Fund.

___The original law intended for the HTF to last only 13 years, but the fund has been consistently reauthorized. The 1983 Surface Transportation Act created a second account within the HTF: the Mass Transit Account. The Act also raised the gasoline tax to nine cents per gallon, with one cent going to the new transit account. The gas tax was last raised in 1993, to 18.4 cents per gallon.

___Diesel fuel is also taxed, at a rate of 24.4 cents per gallon.

General Fund Bailouts:

___According to the CBO, from 2008 to 2014:

___Outlays from the Highway Trust Fund have exceeded revenues by more than $52 billion, and outlays will exceed revenues by an estimated $167 billion over the 2015–2024 period if obligations from the fund continue at the 2014 rate.

___Since 2008, more than $54 billion has been transferred from other sources to the HTF. Most of this revenue comes from the General Fund. The May 2015 deadline is partly derived from the fact that, around this time period, the HTF will run out of money, and another transfer from the general fund will be required to keep the HTF solvent.

Diversions:

___According to the Heritage Foundation, between 25 and 30 percent of all gasoline tax revenue is diverted from general purpose highway funding to fund transit programs, even though transit only claims around 1.3% of surface transportation mileage. Another diversion specified by the current highway bill includes the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP). In FY 2014, $819.9 million is designated for eligible TAP activities, which include sidewalks, nature paths, community preservation and landscaping. Other significant line items include ferry boats, federal lands transportation and access, university research and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program.

___Our "crumbling infrastructure" is by design!

Strip Immigrant Felons of Citizenship

___The fourteenth Amendment grants citizenship if 1) born in U.S. and 2) subject to U.S. laws. If an immigrant commits a felony or 3 misdemeanors, then they have failed the second criteria and should be stripped of any citizenship rights already granted.

___The politicians need immigrants - legal or illegal - because the population demographics of the United States does not support Social Security and Medicare without a young Hispanic population.

Out-of-Wedlock Births as a Measure of Immorality

40.7 percent of all 2012 births were out-of-wedlock, which is appalling, and there are vast differences among racial and ethnic groups. Among non-Hispanic blacks, the figure is highest, at 72.2 percent; for American Indians/Alaska Natives, it’s 66.9 percent; 53.5 percent for Hispanics; 29.4 percent for non-Hispanic whites; and a mere 17.1 percent for Asians/Pacific Islanders.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/360990/latest-statistics-out-wedlock-births-roger-clegg

Federal Deficits: Why the 1920s Were Roaring!

The best Web site for the Federal deficit is:

http://home.adelphi.edu/sbloch/deficits.html

Compare and contrast the Coolidge and Obama administrations. Coolidge minimized government interference with business. Obama tries to control every aspect. Bill Clinton gets credit for the growth in the 1990s. Compare 1993-1994 with the years after the Republicans took over in 1995. Clinton vetoed welfare reform twice before signing it the third time - then he took credit for the budget surpluses!

6.5 Million over 112 Active on Social Security

___Lou Dobbs disclosed that 6.5 Million people over 112 are currently active on Social Security. This could mean that the Federal government is intentionally committing fraud by paying Social Security benefits to dead recipients who have had their Social Security Account Numbers "recycled."

___More likely the federal government is illegally assigning SSANs to illegal aliens allowing them to compete with American citizens for jobs and gain access to benefits meant for American citizens!

Birthright Citizenship v. Constiutional Citizenship

___The 14th Amendment is probably the most abused. It was enacted in 1868 to put the "rebellious southern states" in their place. On the basis of the Amendment citizenship is granted to anyone born in America (birthright citizenship). There is no written test or oath of exclusive allegiance to the United States of America and no other nation as with those who immigrate legally.

___The abuse is encountered when the phrase "and subject to the laws thereof" is ignored. If a person who is a "birthright citizen" commits a crime, then they should be stripped of any citizenship rights and immediately deported!

Is The American Voter Stupid?

___Professor Gruber is probably right. The American voter is stupid. I would probably say “ignorant” or “uninformed” because I would not want to damage the self esteem of anyone!

___Someone said that we should study history so that we would not repeat the errors of the past. Yet we fall for the class warfare and gender warfare and race warfare rhetoric again and again. The 16th amendment allowed the creation of an income tax. It was argued that only those with the top 5% of incomes would actually pay the tax and that the top rate would only be 7%. It is argued that women make only nn% of the salary of men. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 required that there be equal pay for equal jobs if skills and experience of the employees were also equal. It is argued that black people must be given an advantage in hiring and promotion because of abuses against ancestors in the past. We celebrate a national holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr. He said that he had a dream that all people would be treated equally regardless of the color of their skin. He stressed the content of their character instead. The race activists like Jackson, Sharpton and even AG Holder undercut his teaching and leadership.

___We have a mulatto President who claims to be black. Speaker John Boehner has darker skin. We do not know much about Barry, because his records are sealed. His Attorney General controls access to all legal records of the President. We do know that he was a practicing Muslim from age 6 to 10 while attending school in Indonesia. We do know that he was a “Jeremiah Wright” christian for at least 20 years.

___The President likes to do things behind close doors like PPACA and the U.S.-Iran nuclear treaty. In both cases we are told to wait for the finished product before commenting. The Prime Minister of Israel is not included even though Iran has openly threatened to annihilate his country. Netanyahu reminds us that Iran is a “security” problem for America and a “survival” problem for Israel.