The Chief – Page 19 – Really Right

The Recycling Myth Debunked

By: Chief

This blog and commentary is the result of current events over the last year exposing CalRecycle as a farce and nothing more than a government mandated “feel good” program. This mostly came to a head with the shut down and bankruptcy of RePlanet, a large recycling conglomerate, on Tuesday of this week.

Citing the increased costs of processing recycled items, RePlanet, California’s largest operator of recycling redemption centers has closed, leaving 750 employees out of jobs.

The Ontario, California-based company has closed all 284 of its centers, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

Company President David Lawrence told the newspaper the decision to close was due to increased business costs and falling prices of recycled aluminum and polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, plastic.
California’s largest recycling redemption center operator RePlanet closes

Recycling was essentially mandated in California in 1989 and on its surface it actually was a good idea. The premise was that we should try to divert as much waste as possible from our landfills. The program introduced recycling and green waste composting programs to help toward a goal of diverting 50% of all waste over a period of 30 years. In Sacramento County, we had just a garbage cart, then we got a green waste cart for all yard waste, and got 3 small bins for recycling. We had to separate the recycling into a separate bin for paper, glass, and plastics and aluminum. As a result, instead of 1 truck picking up said waste now a 2nd truck was required since the yard waste and recycling is collected on alternate weeks. In some parts of California such as the Bay Area, recycling is picked-up on a weekly basis.

As with any government program, an entire new department was created “The California Integrated Waste Management Board” to oversee this program as well as the California Redemption Value Program (CRV). This CRV is what you pay to the State of California on most plastic, glass, and aluminum products when they are bought at the grocery or liquor store. Prior to this, glass recycling was done at a local level by the private sector. Buy a Coke or Pepsi product at the grocery store and return the bottle and you got a nickel from the store. Government was not involved or mandating this program, it was purely a function of the private sector. Now, what the store collects is remitted to the State. I will now discuss the demise and issues with this system.

First the city and county administered programs: I cannot blame them entirely since when the state mandates it, you either do it or face a daily fine until you comply. After a few years, the 3 separate bin system with replaced with an additional cart, for mixed recycling. This was due largely to more material being eligible to be recycled, but I have a feeling worker comp payouts mounted due to a person having to physically lift and dump these bins into a contraption that loaded into the truck.

I am in favor of collecting more recycling and diverting it from the landfill, but this was a case that backfired. There was never a system or check in place in regard to contamination….this is how the program was destroyed. You see the bin is collected, and the contents of the truck are compacted and smashed repeatedly until the truck unloads at a sorting facility. There workers manually separate, combine and package the recyclables to be sold to China or another broker who does the physical recycling. Up until a couple of years ago, China took everything and asked no questions. Recently, they have tightened up their contamination standards and as a result quite a bit of “recyclable product” has been diverted to the landfill. Please note that China’s change of heart on taking our trash to be recycled predates any controversy related to President Trump’s trade policies.

Yep, we aint recycling the contents of your recycle bin, just burying it in the ground like everything else…but hey…you still get to feel good about saving the environment and the planet (at least until you read this blog).

Let’s take look at how lucrative this program has been to Sac City residents….according to their website “recycling sales” or product sold to China/broker etc. totals .79% of the revenue….OUCH!

City of Sacramento recycling revenue proposal

The reserves have been depleted to a point the City will be increasing residents monthly trash bills by $12 a month over the next 5 years. Think about that one! Also the City has to start collecting “food waste” by 2021, so an additional cart, added fees, and a new rodent problem anyone? The program is literally bankrupting a local municipality.

Now let’s take a look at the downfall of RePlanet. RePlanet is or was a recycling outfit known for their small container sized booths usually located in shopping center parking lots that collected cans and sometimes plastics for recycling and paid you for the product.

On Tuesday, RePlanet closed all of its 284 locations and laid off all 750 employees citing an uncompetitive environment to do business. Digging deeper, the dirty little secret of how this business failed should not surprise anyone, as 40% of all recycling locations have closed in the past 5 years. It was a scam. Did you ever notice that at the register you were charged $.05 or $.10 “deposit” on the product, that is per item, but if you then took the container to a recycler, you were paid a rate “per pound” meaning you collected far less than your deposit. So if you didn’t actually recycle the material yourself, say you put it in your bin, the state kept the money and subsidized these operations taking place all over the state. The state payments did not keep up with inflation/regulation and as a result, these recycling centers have disappeared.

As someone who recycled religiously, I can say firsthand that it started making very little sense to do so a few years ago. The payments became less and less to the point where you questioned even making the trip. Honestly, if you think about it, look at it this way; RePlanet–like any other non-government entity–is in business to make money. They have to rent the space for their booth (this isn’t cheap, and can run about $1000 a month by the way), pay the employee minimum wage (this company had Bay Area locations paying higher than Sac County wages), benefits, workers comp, and had to pay customers for the product. The numbers did not add up at all. Couple that with smugglers bringing product in from over state lines (NV and AZ don’t have a recycling program) so they use ours to their advantage and you have a basically bankrupt CalRecycle program. RePlanet’s demise is a very big hit to a portion of the population that recycles for the cash as a means to make ends meet, and believe me there are quite a few. In years past, you might remember homeless folks scavenging your recycle bin the night before pickup but they haven’t been doing that lately, now you know why.

So here we are, stuck in a nasty catch 22; on one hand, we have a state department of recycling mandating that we divert 50% of our waste (that number is going higher by the way) and on the other hand, we have China is no longer accepting our recyclables. State officials are presiding over a bankrupted system as far as redemptions go, but they are still happily collecting the CRV taxes.

I spoke to a member of my church who was heavily involved in creating the program for the state and he was very contrite with me saying the program had good intentions but has badly missed the mark…he even spoke of regret setting this system up. He said the idea of household recycling was great, except people intentionally contaminated their bin, leading to the load being trashed as opposed to re-used. You encourage people to bag their own recyclables and take to a recycler, but when you are paid only a pittance, what is the point? He also shared that before he retired, for 10 years in a row, more pounds of aluminum cans were recycled through one of these “redemption centers” than were actually sold in California! Try that one on! Especially when he said participation among residents could not have been higher than 20%. In addition, the cost to recycle items in this state far outweighs keeping them out of the landfill…his words not mine.

Final Thoughts: It should surprise no one this is ending badly; whenever the government gets involved, the outcome is less than ideal. A new department was created, hundreds or thousands were hired, and here we are trying to pick up the pieces and do an autopsy on the recycling program while the CRV program is charging full speed ahead on autopilot. It started as a great idea and it remains a good idea, which may upset some readers of this blog, but keeping things out of our landfill where they can leach into our water supply is paramount to our existence. The problem is when the program is taken advantage of by scammers or intentionally contaminated by people not caring. As a result everyone is losing, we pay more for garbage service, can no longer reap a benefit of recycling, and now have reusable bags and containers foisted upon us constantly.

I think the answer is something of a hybrid, I think the recycling system for residents should be optional… but you pay a higher price if you opt out. This stops people who don’t care or intentionally are contaminating. Opting in, gives the local hauler or municipality the right to inspect your container to make sure it isn’t contaminated…you’re getting a substantial discount so you give up privacy, sorry. The centers that collect products should be more readily available and maybe this is a collaboration of business and government where a detailed business plan and rate of return can be achieved. Ok maybe not the greatest answer to a problem, but once again a crisis has come out of something we thought was an easily solvable “green” answer.

The Chief

Editor’s Comments:

I think the State of California needing to ship our waste to another country to run a sustainable recycling program is proof that this recycling scheme was poorly thought out. By the way, California is not the only State shipping waste to other countries. To lift a phrase, what happens in California should stay in California. We should recycle our own waste. While I prefer a private sector solution, this might be something the Prison Industry Authority (PIA) might want to get involved in. How about some welfare to work program opportunities? Folks, as rare as it is for me to say it, this kind of problem is one where Elon Musk might actually be the go to guy. Elon likes to dream stuff up and use taxpayer money to make it happen; plus, he likes a challenge.

What the F**K PG&E?

By Chief

As I made my way back to my dwelling after a day of work, I found a letter from Pacific Gas & Electric, which allegedly supplies gas to my house. I figured it was a bill and I could use some comic relief as my bill usually runs about $4.25 a month…and due to a climate credit…I have had a credit balance going for about 8 months now! However, this was no such bill. It was essentially a dear homeowner letter informing me of their intent to do construction on my property! Wait…What…the…. actual…F**K!

The backstory here is I live in a cul-de-sac house and a neighbor and I have essentially a shared driveway spanning both our front yards. So, as a result, the gas meter is exposed to a driveway and they are concerned about damage to it from my or his vehicles. So, they will be installing a protective barrier…maybe they ran my DMV driving record…or my neighbors? The meter is attached to the house, and for both of us, if we were to hit the meter, we would likely do severe damage to our home before we got anywhere close to hitting said meter. I tried to question the necessity of the work and was rebuffed… When you buy a house, buried in all that paperwork is a form saying utilities can do whatever the hell they damn well please and you can’t object…so there is that.

My question is, why wouldn’t you have your authorized contractor send this out?

Lest I remind you of your sterling safety record in San Bruno…or the Paradise fire sparked by your faulty equipment in Concow? Or the various other fires in the state? Yet this is your priority…protecting my gas meter from a vehicle? Maybe I should install a barrier around my house to protect me from you! Seriously, your safety record basically makes you about as qualified as Geoffrey the Giraffe of Toys R Us fame to work on my house!

Oh, by the way, haven’t seen any of your bogus commercials claiming you are committed to safety and have removed 150,000 trees over the past few years…is it because you’re bankrupt? Does that tree figure include all the trees your equipment killed when it “malfunctioned?” I also heard a confirmed conversation between your executive and CAL-FIRE and an effort to mislead their investigators as to the fire’s origin…too bad it didn’t work. CALFIRE is about as morally bankrupt as you guys and yet you couldn’t come to an agreement…SAD!

Cal Fire visited by Governors Newsom & Schwarzenegger 08/02/2019

Then you tried to buy off the legislature here and you kind of did by creating a pool for all utilities to pay into as a fund for future fire risk…I’m not sure how you can sleep at night knowing you’re trying to weasel your way out of paying for damage you caused! Your stonewalling has already caused Merced Mutual to go out of business and has inspired discussions of other small insurers to leave the state! It’s so bad, all the major insurers have joined forces creating an Ad-hoc committee to sue you and get our money back from your fire damage…see we all know that turnip doesn’t have much blood left in it…so let’s all pounce at once!

Having dispensed with Elizabeth Warren’s Indian blood, the blood suckers have set their sights on PG&E’s carcass

Yet you choose to focus your safety efforts on putting a barrier around my meter, so I don’t hit it with my car…. that’s rich. Yes, I should be priority number one, all while you file for bankruptcy to avoid paying a bill that was solely caused by your negligence. Guess I’m moving back to a Teepee.

The Reason Two Police Officers Died

By The Chief

Natalie Corona and Tara O’Sullivan did not deserve to die, and while Adel Ramos was arrested for the murder of one of these officers, he isn’t solely responsible for their deaths.

Sadly the accomplices will never be arrested. Those who aided and abetted Ramos are as follows: Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Marcos Breton, and any Black Lives Matter (BLM) sympathizer. Sharpton and Jackson are nothing more than race baiters, they are the worst type of humans.

Just Us Brothers Jesse & Al seeking whom they may devour… next.

They made Treyvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Stephon Clarke out to be martyrs when quite frankly each of them got what they deserved. Like William blogged before, if a badge tells you to do something you comply; if the badge was out of order, there are lawyers for that. Sharpton and Jackson like to stir up the hornet’s nest with false narratives, and voila now we have major animosity toward the police by any black or Hispanic person. Sharpton and Jackson have had blood on their hands for years, they create a false narrative, and their followers eat it up. This false narrative becomes truth and you have dire consequences.

The BLM sympathizers are the absolute worst and as a result make all of us less safe. There was disturbing evidence in the body camera video O’Sullivan’s partner was wearing. Repeatedly you can hear neighbors telling the police “they have guns too” they created an environment where it took police 45 minutes just to get to O’Sullivan, requiring an armored SWAT vehicle just to maneuver the situation. In addition, in most majority minority areas residents don’t cooperate with police, or even hinder the process…hint, the police are there to put the bad guys in line. The news media in general are pretty horrible, they also fan the flames of the false a narrative adding their own spin… this serves as a brainwashing.

Commenting on the photo above, the UC Davis student government called it “racist.”

In a Facebook post on Friday, The Associated Students, University of California, Davis, (ASUCD) Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission declared that the true meaning behind the photo was “racist,” and that the mere sight of law enforcement officers can be “triggering to many Black and Brown people.”
Story Behind The Photo Of Officer Natalie Corona Which Students Deemed Racist

Dash camera showing last moment of Officer Corona’s life

Marcos Breton is just an uptight gentile. He writes for the Sacramento Bee, a joke of a paper that hasn’t been worth a darn in years. Breton whose other job was servicing Mayor Kevin Johnson puts his hate for police in black and white for anyone to read, thus building on the false narrative. He is no journalist. He is a sh*t stirrer who is no better than Jackson or Sharpton. He is a committed leftist who is anti-police, pro immigrant, and very anti our justice system. Breton is given a very broad platform, and if challenged he can hide behind his views being “commentary, opinion, argument.” Armed with an excuse, or an out, Breton is able to spew his vile filth daily and never face repercussions.

Cop killer Kevin Limbaugh–blames the voices in his head

Finally on this list are the local Mayor Darrel Steinberg and Governor Gavin Newsome. Steinberg, like any politician, is adept and skilled at proving he is firmly on both sides, and capable of straddling the line between both sides of the narrative as well. He tried to be pro cop, then he pushed for a review of use of force and other tactics, and then essentially threw his arms up and retreated. Newsom is very involved with a police use of force bill that would stiffen penalties for use of deadly force essentially causing a bureaucratic process to kill a bad guy. The net effect of this bill will be for cops to hesitate to defend themselves thus resulting in more loss of police lives. He also placed a permanent moratorium on the death penalty, even for those who kill law enforcement.

In summary we had two very unfortunate situations, both absolutely avoidable. Our problem is too many people view cable news/papers/radio/internet/political figures as Gospel as opposed to getting to the truth of the matter. We lack the ability to think for ourselves so we allow others to do it for us, we don’t like the opposing view (or in some cases like these, we could care less about it). Sharpton and Jackson claim it’s the police who are killing innocent minorities everyday. BLM takes this and runs with it. Terence Mercadel, Jared Robinet, Darren Wilson, to name a few are no longer viewed as police they are viewed as vigilantes, applying justice as they see fit. This narrative has transferred to everyone who wears a badge, especially those working in rough parts of town like O’Sullivan. The situation was made worse because the residents were of no help to the officers either. Remember, it took 45 minutes to get to O’Sullivan after she was shot.

Armored vehicle at site of O’Sullivan shooting

Natalie Corona was gunned down in similar fashion. Most disgusting was Luis Bracamontes, who killed two Placer County Sherriff deputies. He made a mockery of the court, laughing and taunting the families of the deceased…he was sentenced to death, but that will never be carried out. He is viewed as a martyr to his community just like Ramos, who will likely get the death penalty too. Sadly, due to the actions of Steinberg and Newsom, these killings will never be carried out. Ironically, the very police who he was hunting down are now assigned to keep him safe in jail for the remainder of his life….think about that for a minute! While Newsom, Steinberg, Jackson, Sharpton, and Breton did not directly kill any police, they for certain aided and abetted…they are the worst type of human beings, using their platform of public trust to propagate a false narrative.

The Chief

Stop Enabling the Millennial’s BS

By “The Chief”

Not a day goes by where I (a millennial mind you) hear older generations crapping all over mine. You know the criticisms, they are dumb, addicted to their phones, aren’t motivated, what do they do all day? etc. etc. etc. While in most cases these denunciations are correct, you were the enabler!

This started back during school for us, when you as parents would make excuse after excuse for our misbehavior, poor productivity, or general laziness. “He is a good kid”, “She has a learning disability”, “His homework is at home we left too quickly”, etc. Sure on occasion you may have spanked us, grounded us, sent us to bed without dinner; however, these were also enabling tactics, as the following day you acted as if nothing happened. You made us play basketball, football, soccer, baseball, band, you name it, we gorged on activities year round, your enabled us by burning us out. By burning us out, we couldn’t compete on a sports team in high school, so we came right home after school, sometimes 3 hours before a parent would return from work. We never did our chores, but that’s ok because you said “homework” was more important but we usually had none so we played on the video game system you bought for us or dabbled in drugs.

We spent our homework hours with Master Chief

You caught us, but you remembered your own drug use, so you let it pass, rationalizing that “it’s a fad.” You caught us cutting class, cheating, etc. yet you still let us hang out with our friends, because we needed a social life. You let your daughter dress however she wanted, leaving little to the imagination, now you’re upset she has self-esteem issues. However due to your absenteeism, she has downloaded Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and any other app, only to see other girls half-dressed looking better than her and as a result she wants plastic surgery. Mental health anyone? As a result, we no longer talk to people like adults, we now exist only in cyberspace as an anonymous internet bully. We talk to people the same way, we tell our parent to f*** off, shut up, etc. Our own parents, those who brought us into the world…. However, you never punished us. Again, indicting your generation. We speak through emojis, texts, and emails, we have “friends” not friends.

We fell in love with TV, specifically “reality TV.” This molded our thoughts and started a sympathetic mentality. We binged on “My 600lb Life”, “Teenage and Pregnant” and “John and Kate plus 8.” As adults, you should have told us this is no way to live our lives.

Instead these people have become sympathetic figures with us wanting social justice for them. This combined with teachers who run their classroom like a courtroom, not allowing a difference of opinion, have now made two generations sympathetic and now have deeply ingrained beliefs of equality. It is no longer what you believe or think, it’s how you feel. Poor Caitlyn Jenner should use any bathroom she wants. Colin Kaepernick should be allowed to kneel during the National Anthem because that is him expressing himself. The “Octomom” is a single mother who should get all the care she needs.

Colin Kaepernick of the SF 49ers kneels during the anthem

We have been ingrained to ignore the plight of the working person, forcing them to subsidize the life of people who make horrendous life choices.

Your lack of parenting caused us to identify with a group as opposed to listening to you. We have a tribal mentality as opposed to a family or faith based mentality. We rely on the opinions of friends and close associates as opposed to thinking for ourselves or real life experiences from you. As a result, our friends and teachers have molded our thoughts, all while you looked the other way. You may try to retort, but we saw it on TV, and everyone is watching/talking about the show.

Your generation didn’t stop there, you expected us to attend college whether we were prepared or not under the guise that “no degree means no good job.” Our teachers agreed, clearly this ideal worked for them. It was almost as if the college imperative was a form of collusion amongst your generation. Our professors got in on it as well saying a salary offer of 70k a year or less is a slap in the face with a degree from our institution. We drank deep and long on this Kool-Aide offered to us. So we went to college, signing on to significant student loan debt, all the while majoring in; political science, the humanities, communication, or sports management….all worthless degrees in the real world. On freshman move in day at the dorms, you even bought booze for us, your offspring. You wanted to be the cool parent and what better way for us to meet people. Sadly, lesson learned. You taught us the rules didn’t apply. Even worse, the go-go days of easy credit and a fake economy were booming so you bought a boat, way bigger house, two big vehicles, put a pool in…everything was great, if you got it flaunt it, forget keeping up with any Jones’s you were the Jones’s.

Then things stopped, it got very ugly….your boat? Sold it to try to cover house payments. You or your spouse or both of you lost your jobs. The cars were repossessed and the house foreclosed on. Rather than blame your own splurging, you blamed the banks, or President Bush or Clinton, depending on your party of choice, they ruined everything. Those job offers we were promised? The guaranteed salaries? Nowhere to be found. Instead, we graduated with a mountain of debt and moved right back home, albeit a likely smaller version of it. You made excuses about the economy being bad and rather than implore us to get jobs, you paid our bills and looked the other way. We tried pushing the “reset button” yet this is not a video game, it didn’t work. That 70k a year? You parents aren’t clearing that anymore, if you ever really did. Oh and we just fell off our parents insurance, because Republicans. You kept paying our bills and the excuses continued. Now you want us to be independent. We balked because we enjoy you paying for everything while we live our lives like any MTV star or Kardashian did. You then realized retirement was on hold due to you still paying your adult child’s bills. It’s ok though, you moved us out of the house, but you would still cover the rent for a year; which has turned into 3 years. You also pay all utilities because we says it isn’t fair that we pay. I have customers who continue to pay expenses for their child who is now married: car, rent, phone, cable, and insurance payments.

Worse yet, the ones who are somewhat independent go right back to your old bag of tricks when they don’t get their way. “I never got a bill!” “Yeah, I did pay it!” “No you’re wrong.” Fear not, dad and mom were there to bail you out again, so it continues. Then Christmas came (or your inspired word for “the Holidays”) and you spent the time with us sad that no son-in-law (or daughter-in-law) and grandkids were present. Again you went into helicopter mode. You made a million excuses and tried to convince us to get a partner. Our response, “I am looking.” You retort that we weren’t looking hard enough so you found one for us. Predictably, it didn’t work out and you blamed us. Still barely employed, you tried to get us to find some motivation…sorry. We rebelled against you. You told us this was a land of milk and honey, it wasn’t. We abandoned any values or ethics you thought you taught us…they, like the good paying jobs, are gone forever. You tried to instill discipline, but you failed. We haven’t heard the word “NO” before and, you unprepared, did not realize that like you, we mastered the art of excuse making and rhetoric. The student has become the master. You told us the government would handle our retirement but that prospect looks very bleak. You told us hard work pays off, that didn’t translate into a job. You showed us how to live a lie; however, that lifestyle isn’t available anymore. You filed bankruptcy and got a clean slate. We can file, but our student loans aren’t dischargeable (yet). Everything we were told ended up being untrue, so we now have a jaded view of just about anything, and now we are stuck.

You couldn’t understand why we voted for Obama in masse, or why we flock to Sanders, Warren or Booker, yet strayed far from Hillary. Truth is Obama represented a hope, everything you told us about, then he failed us, and he, just like you, fired up the excuses. We rebelled on Trump because he reminds us of the current you; someone angry with results and determined for to force a change. Harris, Warren and Sanders represent the values we want, no corporations, no debt, and no hard work, and the ultimate benefit, payback to your generation for the lies you told us.

For those of us who are married and with kids, you are likely still providing a roof over our heads and in most cases paying for everything else. You can’t understand why we don’t vaccinate our kids, but we point to obscure internet articles stating vaccinations cause autism, ignoring the grave history of measles, polio, and tetanus. But still you defend our position even though it is wholly without merit.

Concluding thoughts: While your descriptions and stereotypes are correct, fault lies with you. Harken back to the days of our youth when everyone was getting a trophy in their sports league, even though keeping score was looked upon unfavorably. Everyone was a winner, and even if we lacked the talent or ability, we were told how great and inspiring we were!

The seed was planted and later when we tried out for a high school team and inexplicitly got cut, devastation ensued. Remember when we got our first job and when told by a supervisor we made a mistake, again devastation, why is that? Because we were told our entire life how great of a job we did, and the word “no” never computed. So what if we were 20 minutes late…again. We are finding out the “real world” isn’t a TV show run on MTV when we were younger. Actions have consequences, things your parents shielded us from. You allowed us to hang out with like-minded friends, we got tattoos, we dyed our hair, we got piercings, etc. you said we were out of line but again no consequences. Remember when you went out for date night downtown, and you, act surprised that you had a waitress with pink hair, a bartender with many tattoos, and a nary a “normal looking” person to be found. Guess they has parents like you too.

The Chief tells his story next

Introducing CALSavers Your State Run Retirement Plan

The Chief explores another socialist step in the cradle-to-grave care provided by the almighty state of California.

In case you missed it, a new retirement program goes live in California starting July 1st. This plan was put in place because the state wants businesses who don’t offer a retirement plan to be forced to offer them. It’s very easy to enroll, actually you are automatically enrolled, unless you opt out. Starting next year, any business with over 100 employees is required to enroll, the following year, the employee number drops to 50, then by 2022, the employee threshold drops to 5.

Details on the actual program are tough to glean, so I called the Employment Development Department (EDD) and they could not answer my questions. Seriously if you want bruises on your brain by all means call them. The State Treasurer’s Office (STO) did provide some color, but not any direct answers. In fairness I totally threw him off his game, after he called me back and said a long spiel which sounded like Latin or some other generally accepted language in California. When he came up for a breath, I told him, “Sir, this is an Arby’s.” He was shaken. I continued to dig for answers, to which this guy either 1) didn’t know or 2) would get back to me about.

From what I could find out online, it looks like if you do nothing that you “opt in” resulting in 5% of your paycheck being remitted to the State and deposited in this retirement plan. The 5% increases by 1% each year until you reach 8%. Anyone can “opt out” or “opt back in” anytime. Such fluid policies seem like a strange hybrid model and an HR nightmare for a small business. If you opt in and don’t put an income level in the program it defaults to 30k a year, so if you make less than that you will be “feeling the Bern” on your paycheck. Something tells me that the paperwork won’t get corrected quickly nor will they “refund” the overage. Account changes are made with the state via internet or snail mail not your HR person so how does this state program communicate with employer to coordinate withholding amounts remain correct?

The account is an after-tax investment i.e. Roth IRA. It appears you have the choice of a mutual fund or a money market fund to deposit your money into. Investing in a money market fund makes little to no sense as they only provide about 1% interest a year. Fees run about 1% a year as well effectively destroying and rate of return on that account. The whole thing reeks of being a Ponzi scheme……

Well, actually it is.

The program was started with a loan (interest to be paid back) from both the SEIU and the CTA, two of the most powerful unions in California.

Two large public employee unions, the California Teachers and the SEIU, each contributed $100,000. Public employee unions played a major role in a national drive to create state-run savings plans for the private sector.

Public unions think improving private-sector retirement can help counter pressure to cut government pensions or, following the corporate trend, switch to 401(k)-style individual investment plans that create no long-term debt for employers.

The nine-member CalSavers board has looked at a public union-backed “pooled IRA” that could gradually, by diverting some of the investment yield in good years, build a reserve large enough to replace some of the losses in a bad year.
State-run retirement savings plan ready to launch

So, the “savers” will have to pay a fee to participate and must be enrolled automatically, or employers will be fined $750 per employee. So now an employer must complete all applicable forms for a new hire, and have them complete this paperwork? This is unfair. No wonder businesses are fleeing the state. Think of the food service industry or a minimum wage jobs where they turnover employees constantly. Another curve ball here, what if the employee doesn’t have a bank account and receives a paper check? What if the employee gets terminated and you fail to let “CalSavers” know? Do the deductions continue? Those fees are ridiculous and are literally just redistributing wealth to current retirees. For example, Vanguard offers accounts for literally a fraction of the fees. The “redistribution” I speak of is just a new way to keep current pension retirees happy. Keep this in mind, older folks (social security/pension recipient) vote in very large numbers, and it would spell the end for many a political career should said pension check bounce. Make no mistake about it, the SEIU and CTA could care less about any non-union member, they want their own taken care of first, and everyone else is a sucker and they are out of luck.

How would this plan even be enforced? The Treasurer’s Office representative said the state has a data base on all eligible business…. where? Even the Secretary of State’s Office can’t possibly have every business on record! Even if they did, how can they screen based on how many employees you have? Is their info really up to the minute? How can that be verified? This would be a nightmare to enforce!

Which parlays into my next point, the real point of this program is to create a brand-new layer of government workers, and a separate group of folks 100% dependent on government. While this may just be a pilot program initially, it will eventually expand to include 7.5 million workers in California… Why is what you may ask?

Low income citizens will opt out of said program (think about it $13 an hour with 8% of pretax paycheck deducted) doesn’t leave much room for food each month. Actually, it amounts to a salary cut…with rising fuel, food and housing costs retirement won’t be an option.

As a result, they will want to lure people like me into this scheme. If you earn around 80k that’s $6,400 a year that goes under state run control each year. By opting out and staying at Vanguard they lose out on that “revenue.” Trust us folks, there is a plan for this, and eventually I will be forced into the account or assessed a penalty for opting out.

As I consider this, I can think of many other questions. What if you leave the state while still working age? Can you roll it into another private account? Or is it heavily penalized and forced to remain in CA? I feel this will become a defined benefit scheme similar to current pension funds used by our state workers, where they are “funded” until they aren’t anymore and the last ones in are wiped out. What makes me skeptical is that the program was known as “Secure Choice retirement investing” prior to a name change. Is it just me or is using the word “secure” in regards to retirement plans just inviting a major lawsuit?

In addition, how does shareholder voting work? Obviously, these funds are going to hold a bunch of companies (more on this in a minute) and as a shareholder you have a right to vote but I don’t see this being allowed. Is Big Brother casting shareholder votes on my behalf so they can steer the market in a way more in line with their political ideology? What companies are being invested in? Something tells me Phillip Morris, Raytheon, Pepsico and other “sin/bad for you companies” will be passed over. Want to take bets Tesla, and other “green” startups will be preferred? Politics over investment return is part of the governing documents of this scheme.

ESG/Socially Responsible Investments: Responsible social, environmental, and governance investing is an issue important to some Participants, and an Investment Option reflecting that belief should be offered.
INVESTMENT POLICY STATEMENT Appendix I

I noticed a bond fund is available, I assume any state with policies/laws we don’t agree with here in CA will be passed over in favor of CA junk bonds! This is just a new way to put a hand on the scale to get a desired outcome, no question it bothers some in this state Tesla is literally going up in smoke. Or is this a way to load up on company stock and push for policy changes? If this program goes the way of MYRA at the federal level what happens to the government workers? I have a feeling they won’t be laid off just folded into an existing bureaucracy.

Worst of all workers will be screwed. You will find yourself laid off and working the same job as an independent contractor or a “temporary staffing worker.” All in the name of your employer avoiding this new program.

You have been warned…..

“The Chief”

Aaron Hernandez Disciple Arrested for Murder

Photo above Heyzel Obando with husband Tony Joiner
Folks The Chief has no reservations about calling you out when you harm your squaw. Sadly today is such a day.

Happy Sunday, I guess. I was greeted with a reader email saying the University of Florida was back in the news, as former Safety (didn’t keep her safe) Tony Joiner was arrested for the murder of his wife today.

Joiner played at Florida from 2004-2007. He was captain of the team that featured Aaron Hernandez. Joiner, I guess you could call him alumni, is charged with the death of his wife; who died…guess this, in 2016! In addition, it wasn’t until 2 months after her death the police ruled it a homicide…I guess some things take longer in Florida since they cancelled CSI Miami. Then again, this state tried to cry voter fraud regarding “hanging chads” and other shenanigans. He murdered her on Valentine’s Day; a day most couples are looking to celebrate as one, not looking to be killed by someone.

Joiner, who won a national championship at Florida and was a distinguished member, made a fatal mistake! When you’re a disciple of now deceased (thank god) piece of human excrement Aaron Hernandez, you need to clean the scene of the crime! Have a fall guy! Did you learn nothing at Florida?

Joiner was a standout safety for the Gators from 2004-07 under former head coach Urban Meyer. He served as a team captain during his senior season.

Joiner is the second player from the 2007 Gators team to be charged with murder, following Aaron Hernandez’s conviction.
Former Florida Gators football star Tony Joiner charged with murdering wife

I understand you likely never found the inside of a classroom there but still, be a good disciple! Maybe you missed a chapter in the book, but now you’re caught. When reached for comment, Joiner said “dindu nuffin” so I guess let’s release him. I hear nothing from Black Lives Matter on this…so I guess his wife (who is black by the way) didn’t matter either? You are literal scum Joiner; your mug shot proves it. Don’t drop the soap, you worthless scum! Real men don’t kill women.

However, congrats on finding a new daddy in jail, trust me it’ll happen. I hope you like jailhouse oatmeal, and if you’re, lucky you can get some food from the commissary. Depending on the jail you may even have an ocean view. No word yet on whether you are kicked out of Aaron Hernandez church, but I guarantee Urban “Oscar” Meyer your former coach is disappointed you didn’t learn what he taught you.

Urban Meyer can roast in Hell too….

The Chief

San Francisco Explores Buying PG&E’s Assets

Did we do it again or did we do it again! We said in this very space on a couple occasions that San Francisco could be a buyer of Pacific Bankrupt Gas & Electric’s assets, well the city has hired a prominent investment banker from Jefferies LLC to assist in exploring buying the assets. When you hired a firm like Jefferies you are very serious. The fee’s charged by this prestigious firm are so high a credit card company would be jealous.

Jefferies LLC consultant team tackling options on buying PG&E assets

While nothing is final, I would say the assets the City wants are as good as sold since PG&E needs cash to pay off its fire liabilities in both the Bay Area and “Paradise”.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission said on Tuesday it has hired an adviser to explore the potential acquisition of PG&E Corp’s distribution assets, sending shares of the power company up 2.6% at $18.37.

San Francisco has hired Jefferies LLC as buy-side financial adviser, the utilities commission’s Press Secretary Will Reisman told Reuters in an e-mail statement.
San Francisco city hires adviser to explore potential acquisition of PG&E assets

In some ways this makes sense. The City can keep the rates cheap as it won’t have to subsidize rural areas. The lines are almost entirely underground so fire liability is essentially nil. The City desires to be greenhouse gas free in the near future, so I guess it reduces fossil fuel reliance.

Bloggers note: What fossil fuel plants are left here? However the burning question is how will they generate power? In a post Enron era would you really want to rely on an out of area producer? A jilted PG&E who you bought the assets on the cheap from? Sun? Water? Wind? Waves? Biomass?

Green energy production, the future of San Francisco

I guess being able to sell the masses on lower rates and “transparency” makes sense in some ways but I don’t see the end game here. Additionally as discussed here, the infrastructure is very old, outdated and more saliently what exactly does the City think its purchasing? Wires and pipes underground are very easy to maintain, you just ignore them until there is an issue, but how old are these pipes and wires and are we sure we know where they are buried? What if the “big one” finally happens? Is this really the liability I would want to take on as a city? Well I suppose if you want lower rates.

I guess Rahm Emanuel was onto something when he said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste”, but I just don’t see this penciling out.

In a way I feel bad for the ratepayers in San Francisco. While SMUD may not be perfect, I wouldn’t want any PG&E assets within a 90 mile radius of my house.

“The Chief”

Under Armour Inc. Switches to Inflation Based Pricing

By “The Chief”

William and I have been surprised lately by the statistics showing “jobs growth,” most of which coming from low skilled positions by the way, however an advertisement caught my eye in my inbox yesterday. I shop, like many other Americans online; usually getting free shipping and most of the time paying no sales tax. Under Armour basically spams my inbox daily; however, this one was a doozy and the guy who sent it out probably should be re-assigned. Here at reallyright.com we don’t have a practice of call for people to be fired (unless they work at ESPN or for taxpayers). Take a close look at the email…it says additional 30% off! Yet the prices of said items have actually been marked up by 30%. Not a great look if you are a major, publicly traded company, especially one with a ton of people who consume your products.

Under Armour plus 30 percent sale
Hurry 05/22/2019 Only

This is really a rough look, which makes me wonder if they decided to switch to an inflation model where the price changes as inflation rates are dictated? Or is this a new Venezuela based system that since the value of the currency is so low the price must keep going up? Either way rough look, nonetheless. What’s even more disturbing? The original email went out at 9:58 am and the retraction didn’t go out until 6:15 pm. Who was minding the store? I find it hard to believe no one caught this…this is a pretty large error? The retraction gets sent at the end of the day? I wonder what sales were like? The types of things in this society that go unnoticed blows my mind.

As an additional nugget a “pride email” showing off their newest “pride offerings” went out as well, and there were no errors in that, so I guess we see where they stand on “the issues.”

This is an issue that has been building for a while now, I will detail it in a future blog, but the “job growth” is happening at the high end, or the very low end. The 90-day types will cheer the job reports, but mass layoffs have started, and it is not pretty. These are low skilled workers assigned to social media/email accounts trusted with sending the info out. They are monitored by aloof absentee middle managers who spend most of their time applying for their next job, so retractions don’t go out till later. Anyone want to take bets; if the “pride email” was screwed up, a couple of people would be paying with their jobs?

“The Chief”

SAT Changes Should Surprise No One

In a shock to no one with an IQ north of a potted plant and no genetic relation to a Park Brother, the College Board is adding a new “adversity score” to students who take the SAT. This adversity score will add and likely subtract from a student’s score based on several things: neighborhood they live in, school they attend, number of parents/siblings in household, household income, marital status of parents, and if the applicant has a child among other things. This has finally gone way too far and there will be major pushback from several different ethnic groups. While the “adversity score” doesn’t mention skin color, I’m sure it’s included somewhere. This whole thing is a tragedy, and a direct attack on college access based on hard work, I’ll continue later.

Truth is this has been in the works since “no child left behind” or as I call it “no child turned down until you cannot afford tuition” was written by Sen Kennedy and signed by George W Bush.

George W Bush signing No Child Left Behind

While that law has been a disaster, this amendment has been in the works for a while. The backlash will be interesting on this one. As you may recall, we had SB 1 here in California and the Asian community caused such uproar it was instantly squashed. This is about equal results folks, it has nothing to do with equal access or any other line of BS put out by the elite. This is an affirmative action plain and simple, and forcing college compliance with mandatory minimum quotas of people from all socio-economic status. Instead of SAT score, academic achievement, extra-curricular involvement you will be scored as well on “adversity?” How exactly does that work? So if you live in a bad zip code, attend a bad school, come from a broken home and have a single parent who doesn’t work, that makes up for the lower test scores/grades? If you attend a private school, live in a nice neighborhood, have 2 parents who work, your score will be reduced because you’re privileged? According to what metric? What about the gender/sex of the parents? I would assume if your parents are a same sex couple you get a higher score since there’s “adversity?” I would assume if the student or a parent is transgendered it would be like hitting the jackpot since they seem to be getting all the sympathy in America now?

Here at Really Right we see this as an attempt by the powers that be to put their hand (not just their finger) on the scales to get the outcome they desire. The dirty little secret is they do not like the fact that Asian students dominate all the supposed “elite schools” in America and want to change all that. Have a student who is very talented academically and you hire a tutor and put them in advance placement classes? You will be knocked down a peg or two as a result. Now we won’t be accepting the most qualified, we will be trying to have a completely gentrified campus with no one socio-economic status dominating the student body. Lawsuits will start flying and we will rue the day this became a qualifier to gain acceptance.

Martin Luther King told everyone no one should be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…..too bad, those times are long gone. I have a hard time believing he is agreeing with this type of scoring model.

However this should surprise no one, all politicians preach inclusion and equality so as a result we have new rules like these. By the way if you go to DC and see the MLK Jr Memorial look for that quote, but don’t take too much time since you will not find it on the statue. (Hat Tip to William on this one)

I for one would like to see this applied to the football and basketball teams at colleges, boy how funny would that be, imagine the outrage in certain communities that their children cannot apply since there is a “adversity score” added to short/un-athletic people. Oh by the way the guy who helped birth Common Core David Coleman, is the same guy who is behind this.

So basically what we have here is legalized reverse racism with a voodoo scoring model that no one will have any clue how it’s calculated.

I for one, went to private school my whole life, attending prestigious Jesuit High and was a player on the only football team to go undefeated in school history, ask for a look at my football championship ring, I’ll show it to you! I would be given negative marks, I’m also white, and have 2 working parents and live in a nice part of South Sacramento County.

Now let me add an “adversity” to my score. If instead I had attended Pleasant Grove High School, while it is considered one of the best, my school district, since it has a very high level of people on free or reduced lunch program, I would get added adversity to my SAT score! By the way as William can likely attest getting on this program is not very hard.

The overall point we try to strive for here at reallyright.com is to present facts and have you decide. We both believe students get out of school what effort they put in. Why should one be punished for getting a tutor to help, or taking AP classes? Or the color of their skin? Or if their parents are married/or any other factor? I thought this was America? The republic is at a tipping point. Once again we see the elites switching equality of opportunity for equality of outcome and hoping no one notices. I’m not sure if the emperor ever had any clothes on but thinking he can pull this off with a straight face is stretching credulity.

“The Chief”

Editor’s note: Thankfully there is an alternative to the SAT called ACT. If students quit taking SAT as a result of adversity scores, this social experiment will go away quietly. Liberals claim they are all in on socialism but the truth is that they will follow the money.

PG&E Introduces the “Rolling Blackout”

Special Report from The Chief

In case you missed it, PG&E is bankrupt; however, they are allowed to continue to operate while the state regulator figures out whether to let them re-organize or partout the company. PG&E has been wallowing for about a year now, trying to convince legislators to overturn the “inverse condemnation” law that forces them to repay any damage done by their equipment in the event of a wildfire. This has gone nowhere and predictably the utility has responded by saying they are going to implement “rolling blackouts.” The policy, as explained by the utility, is that PG&E will attempt to reach out to affected customers within a day or two of the scheduled blackout. Such blackouts are contemplated when high winds are in the forecast. They will send out a warning, and then cutoff all power to the area. The company goes on to add, the power will be restored when danger of their equipment causing wildfire is no longer imminent. The spokesperson added that some customers could be without power for days.

Under intense scrutiny from regulators and an unsympathetic federal judge, the utility Wednesday rolled out a fire-safety plan for 2019 that calls for shutting power to vast chunks of its territory when winds kick up and other fire perils abound. It’s designed to curtail the type of deadly wildfires that drove PG&E into Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month.

…PG&E is still evaluating the criteria it uses for blackouts, which are based on heat, lack of humidity, high winds and other factors.

In any event, he said the company is committed to a system that, when blackouts are imposed, will spread the impacts to much wider areas than before.

Link: California wildfires: Get ready for bigger, broader PG&E blackouts this summer

On one hand I understand why the company is doing this. If the windstorm knocks over the power lines causing a fire to spark, they are on the hook for all damages. Easiest way to prevent said liability? Cut the power! If you happen to live in an area where a wildfire could start if their equipment is knocked over? Too bad, so sad. Have solar on your roof? Thanks for your service….but your power is still being cut. If you’re thinking about buying a Tesla emergency battery generator…in addition to reading some of Williams articles, just understand that battery could either catch fire….or not last long enough to generate power for your dwelling. In addition, if you live in a rural area, you are automatically a low priority for having your utility service restored. So if you live in the sticks, or a tee pee like me, you could be without for several days. The battery power generator you are buying will only work for a few hours at most, keep in mind most houses in rural areas tend to be much bigger than a standard tract home in the city or suburbs.

Who Decides

The scariest part of this is that you are at the mercy of a very corrupt and morally bankrupt PG&E. It’s frightening that their “meteorologists” (no doubt overseen by a team of lawyers) will determine when the power should be cut and restored. It’s alarming to be at the mercy of the only utility on the planet whose carbon foot could be seen last summer with the naked eye from the International Space Station.

In California where the utility pays for all damage caused by their equipment, you can rest assured your power isn’t being restored until everyone is certain the storm has more than passed. Even more worrisome are the practical ramifications of this policy. While hospitals and maybe assisted living centers will have a backup generator, it will not power the facility very long. The entire community, city, or region will be without power meaning no street lights, gasoline or other fuel sales, restaurants, stores, everything will be down.

Summary

Thanks to Pacific Gas and Electric, this summer you can relive the glory days of Governor Gray Davis and simultaneously live like the folks in Venezuela. From now on, in the PG&E service area, electrical service is a privilege not a right. What’s the old saying, “Forewarned is forearmed”? Unlike the Gray Davis era, in the enlightened age of Gavin Newsom, they’ll let you know when it’s convenient to provide electrical power. But remember, you only get billed for what you actually use.

As an added bonus, PG&E could now consider letting their union workers have holidays like the Fourth of July and Labor Day off. This will save them having to pay double and triple time to their union employees working on legal holidays and it won’t inconvenience many customers because most folks are eating out of their ice chests and picnic baskets during these holidays.

There is Hope

Despite these ominous threats, fear not fellow Californians. Our leader of the republic, Gavin Newsome, has committed $75 million to the cause. No word on what that money will be spent on. We wait patiently to hear more about the other added millions later in this process. Newsome added he is “scared.” Well rest assured sir, your house in Fair Oaks is in SMUD’s service area, and chances of a wildfire causing your power to be cut are NILL. In addition if your power were to go out, I’m sure you won’t have to wait in line like the rest of the unwashed masses, his majesty will have power turned on far before any of us.

Stripping PG&E’s Carcass

In related news: The City of San Francisco has begun discussions to look into buying the local SF portion of PG&E during the bankruptcy process.

As PG&E (PCG) continues to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the city of San Francisco is reportedly considering offering a deal to the utility for some of its power assets.

The multimillion-dollar deal is expected to happen within the next few months as Mayor London Breed told PG&E back in March that a formal bid would come if it proves feasible for the city, Bloomberg reported.

San Francisco is looking to purchase PG&E’s electric distribution system in the city, which it estimates “in the range of a few billion dollars,” according to Monday’s report from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

Link: Why Would The City Of San Francisco Purchase PG&E’s Power Assets?

I’m unsure of what they are thinking because the city would be liable for any equipment damage causing a resulting fire. In addition, does anyone know what infrastructure is even located under the city’s streets? Also, where do they plan on getting the power needed for their city? As William pointed out, there is precious nothing as far as electricity generating assets around the City, please don’t think Hetch Hetchy is capable. Maybe using the methane from their own citizens “deposits” found all over the town’s sidewalks? I know liberals want to send us to a Dark Age with all the green new deals; however, it seems like PG&E wants to do one better and send us to the Stone Age; less the ability to wield fire.

You have been warned.

The Chief