About a 12 miles outside Paris lies the former French Royal family’s stunning and tremendous Palace at Versailles. I don’t know if it’s the largest Royal Palace on earth, but I do know it has more than 17 acres of floor space under roof and is pimped out more than a Kardashian on the red carpet. If you like bling, then it is your kind of place. Mr. T: there is more gold here than you could possibly hang around your neck in 1000 lifetimes. Throughout it’s history it’s 700 rooms have housed Royals including King Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette. It’s Le Gran Trianon (a big, super luxury outbuilding for lack of a better term) housed Napoleon for part of his French Revolution. Queen Victoria was entertained lavishly here. The famed Hall of Mirrors saw President Woodrow Wilson sign the Treaty of Versailles ending WW1, and most recently if you notice, the Palace makes the most elegant backdrop for innumerable cosmetic, fashion and perfume commercials.
Early 1770 saw the arrival of young Austrian princess, Maria Antonia, who became known to history by her French name, Marie Antoinette. She must be one of the most often misquoted ladies throughout history. At the tender age of 14 her family betrothed her to wed the Sun King, Louis XVI. She spent her life there, basically as a price paid to “thank” the French. She spent opulent days living the best life available at the expense of oppressing her Kingdom. It really was not her fault, its the only life she ever knew. The incredibly burdensome tax system, which hasn’t changed much by today’s American standards, that supported the Royal lifestyle created so much uproar and resistance that the Royal Louis & Marie were captured by revolutionist. The countrymen were absolutely starving. During this time Queen Marie supposedly said of inexpensive sweets when told her Kingdom population was starving to death: “let them eat cake.” After being held prisoner in Paris for some a time, she was convicted of high treason. Eventually, it was off with her head by guillotine at Place de la Concorde.
The thing most of us will recall about Marie Antoinette is her famous saying: “Let them eat cake!” The problem is, many historians and the Versailles archivists agree Queen Marie never uttered these words, rather an aristocratic class woman in the Queen’s court said them.
The problem with the French Royals was a simple one. They lived isolated from the vast population and remained out of touch, as leaders (and I use that term loosely) with their people.
I truly believe we are modern witness to what I call the Marie Antoinette phenomenon in Washington, DC. Americans vote for and continue to support politicians who are completely out of touch with their respective constituencies.
On Blowing Herself Out of The Water
Personally, I am still reeling in shock after this week’s revelation that Senator Elizabeth Warren is not a Native American Indian. Despite the fact she was raised in a United Methodist home (please don’t hold this fact against an entire faith denomination) and that she could be a poster child for WASPs – White Anglo Saxon Protestants….wait…who was she kidding? I cannot even complete this paragraph.
Native American Indians have every right to be in an uproar. Not having the DNA, no tribal affiliation, and nothing but a wagging tongue, Warren sold them out for personal gain and for sound bite purposes.
President Trump: I think you should pay up the million dollars. Why don’t you donate it to something like the Wounded Warrior Fund in honor of Ms Warren’s heritage?
Senator Warren aside there remains in Washington another woman who decent human beings, tax payers and voters alike should declare abhorrent!
Budget & Tax Cuts…the Irrelevant Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi said of the current tax cuts: “crumbs” and that the tax cuts are designed to help the wealthiest Americans…the One Percent. It will not help the average American family she said. How dare a woman among the One Percent herself who has been on the government payroll since entering Congress in 1987 pretend to be in touch with “the middle class” she says she represents.
Published records estimate the Pelosi family net worth as high as $ 200 million dollars (depending on your source). The estimated $ 1000 to $ 4000 windfall associated with the tax cuts for an “average family” represents less than the interest on those assets in a single day. Clearly, that amount of money would not make any difference for Ms Pelosi. But for people who need a used car to drive to work, or need to purchase a new refrigerator, or want to splurge on a week’s vacation, or to buy medicine that they couldn’t otherwise afford…$ 1000+ is a tremendous consideration.
On a macroeconomic level, the multiplicative effect of collective spending of this money impacts the entire U.S. in exponentially positive ways. Nancy Pelosi: crack open a book. I suggest something by the title “Macroeconomics for Dummies.”
Pelosi & her party have vocally and definitively stated they WILL REPEAL the tax cuts. Media want us to believe it is not fiscally responsible to cut taxes to help working families while we have staggering deficits. I do not completely disagree, but to enter such debate requires basic knowledge of how the federal budget works. The current administration inherited national debt totaling almost $ 20 Trillion dollars. The deficit total grew by nearly 100% in the eight years prior to our current administration. The following is from http://www.thebalance.com:
When he (President Obama) left the White House, on January 20, 2017, national debt was $19.947 trillion. Obama added more than $9 trillion in debt. By comparison, George W. Bush added $4.9 trillion and Bill Clinton added $1.5 trillion. These figures make for appealing sound bites, often used on the campaign trail, but they can be quite misleading. During the (any) president’s first year in office, he doesn’t control the debt.
*note a tremendous portion of the federal budget services debt (interest payments). It grows by leaps and bounds when it is not paid and remains subject to both currency and interest rate fluctuations.
Out of fairness and acknowledgement, the budget for Obama’s first year was already set by George W. Bush. From his inauguration through September 30, 2008, Obama was working under his predecessor’s budget. The same is true for the current president during his first year. This reveals another truth: Trump’s budgeting process has had only 1 fiscal year to be in effect. Yet markets, business, and consumers have responded so positively to the pro business environment that it is as if the one year budget lag doesn’t exist.
There remain evident truths:
- More money in people’s pockets increases consumer confidence.
- Discretionary funds to spend will translate into GDP (Gross Domestic Product Growth) as people purchase goods (durable goods, especially) and services.
- Marginal decreases in taxes for all Americans, including the wealthiest Americans, eventually materialize as economic investment. Thus, jobs opportunities are created for all demographics in our economy. The more employment we have, the less crime we have (and less domestic abuse we realize).
- No redistribution of wealth system; i.e., the essential proposition of the Democratic Party, has ever prevailed indefinitely. Russia and Cuba make two great examples. Even China relies heavily on exporting it’s good to America.
Call this Wrap
Whether fair Queen Marie actually said “let them eat cake” may never be known. Modern Americans, however, know with 100% certainty that one of our congressional leaders, Ms Pelosi, absolutely called the marginal amount of our paychecks we get to keep and use: Crumbs. I may be in the minority here, but I believe most people who work for a living prefer to retain the ability and right to determine where we spend our earnings. I don’t want your party further regulating how much is taxed. We the people want our crumbs and the robust economy they are presently ushering in to us.
I’ll keep my crumbs; I’ll eat my cake; I’ll bet most of you will as well. For people who disagree, please, grab those check books and mail that extra money to our federal government. They’ll spend it, under Senator Warren’s and Congressman Pelosi’s watchful eyes, much more wisely than either you or I.
Interesting side note: Marie Antoinette’s jewelry, which remained with her family and heirs, is up for auction. You, too, can have a piece of history worn by the misquoted and misunderstood French Queen:
Big Blog Theory 
Great job! Agree with this blog totally. Sick of the left media and dems peddling their bullshit. I predict they are going to get what’s coming to them in the mid-term elections! Go vote republicans!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person