The rapidly growing debt of the U.S. federal government has hit another milestone, topping more than $100,000 per person.
While the U.S. population and the U.S. national debt are large numbers that are difficult to calculate, the rough debt estimate and rough population estimate end up at about $100,000 of federal debt per person in the U.S.
The U.S. Census population clock estimates the U.S. population at nearly 336 million. Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department estimates the national debt is nearly $34 trillion.
“The national debt just exceeded $100,000 per citizen,” Rep. John James, R-Mich., wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “This should send a message to the White House that this reckless federal spending is at a breaking point.”
The U.S. Treasury confirmed in the middle of last month that in the first month of this fiscal year, the federal government had a deficit of $67 billion.
Concern about rising debt has grown along with the debt and recent international credit downgrades for the U.S.
The federal government received a credit downgrade from Fitch Ratings, one of the top international credit rating agencies in the world. The rating went from AAA to AA+.
Moody’s, one of the other top three credit rating groups, announced last week that it was lowering its evaluation of the U.S. credit from “stable” to “negative.”
The trust funds for Medicare, Social Security and highways are facing insolvency within a decade as the federal government borrows billions of dollars per day.
Despite these red flags, federal deficit spending, which has been elevated since the COVID-19 pandemic, Congressional spending shows little sign of slowing down. Deficits spiked during the pandemic, and while they have decreased from their COVID-era peaks, they still remain higher than before the pandemic.
Bankers’ hours are not short enough for some, including Alaska’s only member of the House of Representatives. Rep. Mary Peltola came out in favor of a bankers’ union, in support of workers in the Wells Fargo branch in Bethel Alaska who have voted to join a union.
The average Wells Fargo worker in America makes $85,000 a year, with a $7,000 bonus.
But for Peltola, who has worked to organize everyone from baristas to Barbie, organizing white collar workers is the next thing: “Worker power doesn’t stop where the road system ends. I’m excited to see workers standing together in my hometown of Bethel,” Peltola said on X/Twitter.
In the past year, she has called non-union workers “scabs.”
The demand driving the unionization of the Bethel Wells Fargo workers appears to be all about money in the pocket, not in the bank vault. A teller in Bethel makes between $32,000 and $41,000 a year, and a new account representative makes as much as $44,000 a year. Nationwide, banks are starting to close branches, as more people do banking online.
In 2023, Wells Fargo shut over 300 bank branches, more than double the number closed by Chase and Bank of America. If the bank decides to close the Bethel branch, Bethel is also served by First National Bank of Alaska.
Peltola is supported by Big Labor and embedded her campaign headquarters in Juneau inside the public employee union offices.
Alaska Republican congressional candidate Nick Begich has joined Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson in endorsing former President Donald Trump for president.
In a social media post, Begich on Monday said that Trump had been a pro-Alaska president, while Biden’s policy’s have hurt the state.
“Mary Peltola has endorsed Joe Biden for another failed term,” Begich said. “After reviewing Trump’s record on Alaska, it’s clear: Donald Trump has been the most pro-Alaska president in our lifetimes. Alaska’s economy has been rated dead last in the nation, and it’s because of Joe Biden’s record of standing against our state, against our people, and against the development of our resources. In this election, the choice is obvious. We stand with Trump and see generational prosperity or we continue down a road with Joe Biden that leads to generational poverty.”
The announcement comes just two days before the next Republican debate, which will be held in Tuscaloosa, Ala. on Wednesday evening. Trump will be holding a separate fundraiser during the debate; he has attended none of the three prior debates.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy endorsed Trump earlier this year, as has Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, among several current and former state executives.
Other big-name Republicans recently endorsing the former president are Sen. Lindsey Graham, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Sen. JD Vance. The Ohio Republican Party has also given Trump its endorsement. A total of 84 Republican representatives have endorsed Trump. A comprehensive list of endorsements can be found at Wikipedia.
Alaska’s Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, endorsed President Joe Biden in April.
Premera Blue Cross, one of the major health insurers in Alaska, has received termination notices from three Providence Alaska groups of doctors ending their relationship with the insurer at the end of the year:
– Providence Medical Group Alaska
– Providence Behavioral Medicine Group
– Providence Imaging Center
The Providence hospital is not part of the dispute, but the segments of service providers for primary care are essentially calling for a divorce, which could impact thousands of Alaskans. The details of the dispute are not clear, but the move is a signal that the doctors either want to be paid more or that Premera is trying to pay them less.
“We are working in good faith to reach a new agreement that provides quality care for our members and fairly compensates the health system before the contract end date of December 31, 2023,” the health insurer wrote to its customers.
The doctors have issued no statement, but by law the insurer had to notify individual policyholders.
“We understand the unprecedented economic climate, and we want to do our part to help,” Premera Blue Cross wrote in a memo. But it underscored the significant rate increases, and it pointed out that rates are untethered to improvements in quality or access to care, and “work against our objective of making healthcare work better. It’s important to note that 80 cents of every premium dollar that Premera receives must be spent on our members’ care as mandated by state law. That’s why our focus has been—and continues to be—quickly reaching a new contract that benefits these Providence Alaska groups and our members.”
The Premera memo continued, “We value the care our partners at Providence Alaska provide for our region. That’s why as we continue to work with them, we are committed to working long term on realistic, practical solutions that drive down costs. Our role is to be good stewards of your clients’ dollars; while also helping set them up for long-term financial success.”
The health insurer was contractually required to notify impacted members by Nov. 30, which it did, saying, “We will keep you informed as negotiations continue so you are aware of our progress. You can also check out our Healthsource blog for the latest information or contact your Premera representative.”
Earlier, a similar termination had been resolved with Providence health care providers in Eastern Washington and nearly the exact same memo was issued by Premier before that dispute was resolved. Premera and Providence Ambulatory Surgery Centers in eastern Washington came to an agreement on a contract, providing no disruption to Premera patients receiving care at Providence Ambulatory Surgery Centers in eastern Washington, as the contract is effective beginning Jan. 1, 2024.
The Anchorage Assembly will tackle several “only-in-Anchorage” topics at its regular Tuesday meeting, including asking the public to tax themselves to build fancy outdoor potties around the city, and the Assembly will vote on spending $500,000 to decorate the Central Solid Waste Transfer Station with art installations.
The Assembly will consider “1% for the arts” grants. One is a $300,000 award to artist John Coyne to create sculptures depicting the “progression of chaos to order,” with a large bronze raven overseeing the process, to be installed at the Solid Waste Central Transfer Station in midtown.
Another $200,000 will be voted on to be awarded to Artist Rachel Juzeler for a mixed-media artistic installation, also at the Solid Waste Central Transfer Station. The art will be comprised of hanging mobiles and mosaics depicting a variety of things, using single-use plastic bags as part of the exhibit, along with flying herring made from glass, jellyfish made from plastic, and birds made from plastic and feathers.
The waste transfer station is where commercial haulers bring their large loads and where people with garbage-loaded pickup trucks back up to unload into containers, which haul the waste to the dump. Very few members of the public actually go inside the transfer station itself. The old transfer station has been converted to homeless housing.
Continued hearings will be held onspending taxpayer dollars on outdoor potties:
The Anchorage Assembly, under its current liberal leadership, is obsessed with not allowing the public to have transparency into the local elections, which they oversee, due to their role in supervising the Anchorage Municipal Clerk’s office. The ordinance will make it harder for citizens to monitor the mail-in elections and to lodge complaints.
The Assembly will also consider spending $1.5 million for more homeless services, and $500,000 for operating the “Pallet Shelter Pilot Program.” Pallet shelters are tiny homes made of pallets. The money would be appropriated to Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel’s nonprofit, Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness. That item, added as an agenda addendum, is detailed at this link:
The Assembly will consider an award to Agnew::Beck, the former employer of Assemblywoman Anna Brawley for professional services for the Alcoholic Beverages Retail Sales Tax Outreach Program. That company started with a $50,000 award for 2022 and another $50,000 for 2023, but has since been awarded additional monies, not to exceed $78,200, and now not to exceed $80,400 for work that is supposed to be done by the end of the year. Information at this link.
Leading Republican presidential candidates will gather at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa on Dec. 6 for the fourth primary debate ahead of the Iowa Republican caucuses, which are Jan. 15, 2024.
While former president and leading Republican candidate Donald Trump is skipping the event, and has polling showing he is still at about 60% support from Republican voters, there are four candidates who have probably met the Republican National Committee’s qualifications.
Five candidates appeared at the last debate, but since then, South Carolina Sen.Tim Scott has dropped, leaving Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and possibly former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is still a wild card.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson are still in the race but did not make the cut for the third debate and are not being considered as possibilities for Wednesday’s event.
Christie claims he hit the donor threshold required by the GOP for the Dec. 6 debate, but it is not clear if polls that show he has more than 6% support from Republican voters are the polls that are going to meet the Republican National Committee’s criteria.
Trump has scheduled a fundraiser for the same timeframe; he has not attended any of the debates but has held rallies instead.
The debate, scheduled for two hours, airs at 8 p.m. Eastern time, 4 p.m. Alaska time, on the cable channel NewsNation, and will be moderated by former Fox News and NBC host Megyn Kelly, NewsNation anchor Elizabeth Vargas, and Washington Free Beacon Editor-in-Chief Eliana Johnson.
The president of the United Nations Cop28 climate change conference, who is also the top energy executive for the United Arab Emirates, says there is no science behind the idea that phasing out fossil fuels will limit global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius.
Trying to eliminate fossil fuels will “take us back to the caves,” said Sultan al Jaber, in an online interview with a “She Changes Climate” moderator that surfaced on Sunday in The Guardian newspaper.
Mary Robinson, a former U.N. special envoy for climate change, challenged al Jaber, saying, “We’re in an absolute crisis that is hurting women and children more than anyone… and it’s because we have not yet committed to phasing out fossil fuel. That is the one decision that Cop28 can take and in many ways, because you’re head of Adnoc, you could actually take it with more credibility.” Adnoc is the UAE’s state oil company.
Al Jaber responded, ‘I accepted to come to this meeting to have a sober and mature conversation. I’m not in any way signing up to any discussion that is alarmist. There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C. Please help me, show me the roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuel that will allow for sustainable socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves.”
The interview was said to have taken place Nov. 21, in advance of the Cop28 conference, during which the Biden Administration announced it will crack down on methane emissions in America.
However, former Vice President Al Gore, who is attending the conference, says phasing out fossil fuels would be “one of the most significant events in the history of humanity. and “a welcome surprise” is leaders at the conference call for a complete end to oil as a fuel.
“There is only one measure of success for Cop28: will it include a commitment to phase out fossil fuels or not,” he said. “If it does include such a commitment it will be a smashing success; if it does not it will be a failure,” Gore told The Guardian. He attacked Sultan al Jaber as the head of the climate conference and called Adnoc “one of the dirtiest companies, it’s one of the least responsible companies.”
Gore doubled down on al Jaber: “They made a mistake, let’s be honest, in angling to put a fossil fuel company CEO in charge of this Cop28. I mean it’s absurd. It’s totally ridiculous.”
“The 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels,” said António Guterres, U.N. secretary general. “Not reduce. Not abate. Phase out. With a clear time frame aligned with 1.5 degrees.”
Later, in damage-control response to The Guardian’s revelations about what he had said, al Jaber tried to walk back his own statements, but actually stuck to the science: “I respect the science in everything I do. I have repeatedly said that it is the science that has guided the principles or strategy as Cop28 president. We have always built everything, every step of the way, on the science, on the facts. I have said over and over that the phase-down and the phaseout of fossil fuels is inevitable.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre been accused for a second time of violating the Hatch Act, a federal law that restricts political activity by government officials while on duty or in official communications.
A federal watchdog group, Protect the Public’s Trust, filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel after Jean-Pierre’s repeated alleged infractions. Although the OSC initially determined that the accusations had merit, the press secretary will face no disciplinary action over her continued use of the term “MAGA” to describe Republicans, while she is on the clock as an official of the White House.
The controversy surrounding Jean-Pierre’s alleged violations began prior to the 2022 mid-term elections when she made statements during a press briefing that the Protect the Public Trust argued were in violation of the Hatch Act.
The Office of Special Counsel agreed with PPT’s allegation in June of 2023, concluding that the press secretary’s statements did breach the law against campaigning on official time. Instead of imposing disciplinary action, the agency chose to issue a warning.
Along with the warning, the federal agency issued guidance that explicitly prohibits the use of phrases like “MAGA” and other political slogans by federal officials during their official duties or communications.
Despite this, both Karine Jean-Pierre and Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates persisted in using the prohibited phrase in the days following the warning, something noted by Protect the Public Trust.
Bates has used the term “MAGAnomics” repeatedly, as late as last Monday, when he used “MAGAnomics” in the subject line and twice in a memo.
Protect the Public Trust filed a second complaint with the OSC, accusing both officials of blatant disregard for the Hatch Act and the OSC’s guidance. However, the OSC opted not to pursue disciplinary action for a second time.
In a letter dated late October, the OSC claimed that while Jean-Pierre and Bates’s actions were “contrary to our June 7 warning letter and advisory opinion,” they believed that White House officials were now “abiding by the warning letter and advisory opinion,” leading to the decision to close the matter without consequences.
The controversy surrounding Jean-Pierre’s alleged violations is one of several instances where the OSC has faced criticism for appearing to neglect its statutory duty to enforce the Hatch Act.
A coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general, led by Washington state’s Bob Ferguson and New York’s Letitia James, have filed a brief seeking to block an Idaho law that prohibits transgender students from using public school restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.
Idaho has a Republican trifecta, with the Republican Party controlling the office of governor and both chambers of the state Legislature
This summer, a lawsuit was filed in federal court on behalf of Boise High School’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance, and Rebecca Roe, a seventh-grade transgender high school senior who is using the moniker to protect her identity. The lawsuit sought to keep Idaho school officials from enforcing Senate Bill 1100, which also allows students to sue schools for $5,000 or more for each instance where they encounter a transgender student in a facility barred by law, according to a Thursday news release from Ferguson’s office.
Last month, federal Judge David Nye denied a request for a preliminary injunction against Idaho school officials to keep them from enforcing the law.
In response, the plaintiffs asked Nye to put his order on hold while they appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. At the same time, they asked the 9th Circuit to stay the order, which it did on Oct. 26.
“Allowing students to use bathrooms and changing rooms that correspond with their gender identity helps them feel accepted and does not pose a threat to anyone,” Ferguson said in the news release. “In Washington, where the rights of transgender students are protected, public schools report no instances of transgender students harassing others in bathrooms or locker rooms. In contrast, the evidence is overwhelming that prohibiting students from using facilities that correspond to their gender identity causes them very real physical, emotional and mental harm.”
Neighboring Washington is going in the opposite direction of Idaho in terms of transgender issues.
The state’s anti-discrimination law, known as the Washington Law Against Discrimination, explicitly prohibits discrimination because of “gender expression or identity,” including actual or perceived identity.
The Washington State Human Rights Commission, the state agency responsible for enforcing the WLAD, issued regulations in 2015 clarifying that the WLAD protects the right of transgender individuals to use restrooms and other gender-segregated facilities consistent with their gender identity.
In 2021, Washington’s Democratic-controlled Legislature passed a bill – later signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee – that requires insurers to cover gender-affirming surgeries that are prescribed by a person’s doctor and deemed medically necessary.
During this year’s session, lawmakers passed a bill that expands an existing law that allows organizations providing services to unsheltered youth to delay notifying a parent or guardian if there is a compelling reason – such as abuse or neglect – not to inform a parent or guardian. Inslee signed the bill into law.
The law adds gender-affirming treatment – therapy to, in rare cases, surgery – to the reasons youth can seek protected healthcare services.
According to a June 2022 study by the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute, there are more than 33,000 people ages 13 and older in Washington who identify as transgender. The Evergreen State has a total population of more than 7.7 million people.
Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, D.C. joined the brief.
