Rapid City finally takes blogger's advice

Back in 2016 this blogger urged Rapid City to help unhoused people apply for Medicaid and give folks without places to live $1000 vouchers so they can flee South Dakota and its brutal winters.

2020 presidential candidate, Andrew Yang wanted to implement a universal basic income of $12,000 a year and guaranteed income (GI) demonstration projects are underway in several states including in New Mexico. That same year Republican former mayor Steve Allender said it costs Rapid City some $15 million every year to address homelessness. Even Palestinian refugee and Muslim Hani Shafai wants to house Rapid City's perpetual homeless population.

Harley owners, some of whom have ties to clubs with nefarious pasts and many of them pre-1970s graduates of Spearditch High School, cruise the streets in summer and then recuse themselves from the horrible Lawrence County winters for warmer white compounds in Scottsdale, Marana, Sedona or Mesa. Often, there are elderly parents in one of the ubiquitous long-term care facilities and cemeteries. These obese Republican slackers taking advantage of the dynasty trust industry are now fleeing the frozen tundra in their RVs ahead of another six-month winter and strings of below-zero days.

Denver and Albuquerque are converting empty office buildings to apartments. Las Cruces will be in the mid-60s and low 70s all week, El Paso and Tucson will be, too and Phoenix will be in the mid-70s.

Click on the image for a better look.

Noem in line to warp civil service, BLM

The Government Accountability Office documented more than 350 incidents of threats and assaults against federal land management employees during the Obama years but spurred by Donald Trump there have been many more culminating in an attack on the US Capitol. Not just the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and at least 15 other federal agencies also suffered hits to morale while in the clutches of the Trump Organization. 

A survey conducted by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) showed that during the Trump years the BLM was plagued by staff shortages, high turnover and partisan rancor. Civil service is on the ballot again as those of us who love the Earth fret the possibility that the unitary executive will not be a Democrat. Yes, Interior, the US Environmental Protection Agency and US Fish and Wildlife Service are within the Executive Branch and as Commander in Chief the president could simply order elements of the administrative state to stand down. 

South Dakota's Earth hating, compliant, infidelitous, jaded or all the above governor has been fingered for a having a fling with Trump henchman, Corey Lewandowski so she has hoed her way to the queue for a post within the Cabinet. To cover up her past criticisms of Trump she even deleted her old twitter feed so the Bureau of Land Management is probably in her sights.

That means the Interior Department — a vast agency that oversees public lands, the national parks, Western water conservation and endangered species protections — is sure to witness drastic policy shifts if Trump reclaims the White House in January. Arguably, the most significant Interior workforce change during the Trump years was the relocation of the Bureau of Land Management’s national headquarters to Grand Junction, Colorado. The Trump administration’s Fish and Wildlife Service moved to rewrite the ESA regulations that determine how critical habitat is defined and whether costs are tallied as part of a threatened or endangered listing decision. [Trump 2.0 would bring whiplash to Interior Department]

In a related story, a new study has revealed that heavy metals in the wildfire retardants that the Forest Service and other agencies use leach into waterways. One third of the Earth's tree species are at risk to extinction according to the United Nations.

Also, Mormons are splitting with Trump over his deportation rants.

Midwestern Trump states, ag groups still pessimistic: Goss

Especially without a farm bill economists like Creighton University's Ernie Goss and ag groups like the National Corn Growers Association are sounding the alarm about the Trump tariffs.

Goss and the Business Conditions Index track the economies of nine midwestern states. Those Trump states have lost some 3700 jobs in the last five months including South Dakota where unemployment is ticking up while losing more manufacturing opportunities. Supply managers remain pessimistic with some 41% signaling a recession and a significant drop off in the next six months. 

WalletHub sez 54% of Americans say the Federal Reserve's September rate cut saved them money but South Dakota has dropped to 49th in financial literacy and 50th in financial knowledge and education despite the state's Republican governor's pathological Pollyannaism. The state is the 43rd best economy in the US, 51st in percentage of businesses owned by women and 50th in innovation potential. Because of talent flight and brain drain in 2023 South Dakota was among the least innovative states, ranked 50th in venture capital spending per capita, 47th in R&D spending and 51st in share of tech companies. South Dakota is 24th of states where workers are fleeing their jobs, 35th in women's health and safety and 47th in road and bridge infrastructure. 

According to the most recent findings from WalletHub 75% of Americans expect a recession if Trump is elected.  60% of Americans think the economy is improving and 68% are concerned that cutting interest rates will make inflation worse.

October's wholesale price gauge also continued to fall to 56.5 from 56.6 in September, indicating cooling inflationary pressures. However, Goss says supply managers remain pessimistic regarding the economic outlook, with roughly 41% expecting a recession--citing supply chain disruptions as the top concern. [Goss: October BCI numbers a mixed bag]

Review the WalletHub release linked here.