1) California May Adopt Nation's First Wealth-Confiscation Tax

Where else would a crazy idea like this come from?

The unions supporting the 2026 ballot initiative say their billionaires tax would help prop up the state's "collapsing health care and education systems." California is already the highest tax state, but faced a $12 billion deficit at the start of the year.

Emmanuel Saez, an economics professor at UC Berkeley and the brainchild of the proposal (he has supported a 70% federal income tax rate), says that there would be no way for the rich to get around paying the tax because it would be retroactive to 2025.  Retroactive taxes are usually ruled unconstitutional "takings of property," but Lord knows what the courts in California would decide.

But billionaires generally aren't stupid, so how many would stick around for the next round of wealth taxes?  

California and New York are in a race to see which state can raise taxes the most, so it is no surprise that these two states have lost close to million residents over the past decade.

2) How Do You Like “Free” Health Care Now?

Does anyone remember this old saw from political humorist P.J. O’Rourke: "if you think health care is expensive now, wait until it's free.”

Unfortunately, it’s no joke. It’s precisely what has happened with our health care system. For tens of millions of Americans today - thanks to Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid and other federal subsidy programs.  The more of the tab the government pays, the higher the costs.

This chart from Brian Blase at the Paragon Health Institute shows that the supersized COVID-era subsidies fueled a big run-up in premiums as taxpayers went from covering about 77% of all premiums to about 87%. That means health care is essentially free today for many Obamacare enrollees.

We are moving perilously close to a single-payer government-run free health care system for the majority of Americans, and no wonder the costs are exploding. This is EXACTLY what the Left wanted all along.

3) Bill Gates Gets Mugged By Reality

Earlier this year, Bill Gates' foundation, the nation's largest charitable foundation with an endowment of $77 billion, announced it was no longer contributing money to Arabella Advisors, a $1 billion a year left-wing "dark money" network that funnels money to progressive causes.

Now, Gates is urging a move away from what he called a "doomsday outlook" on climate change, as he revealed in this post:

Some on the right have been cynical about Gates’s mea culpa. We're not. We applaud Bill Gates for having the guts to admit he was wrong and duped by the doomsayers. The good news is that now he hopefully will put his billions of dollars of wealth to good use by advancing human welfare and prosperity, rather than retarding it.

4) Liberal Elitists Are on Jupiter; Voters Are on Mars

Regular HOTLINE readers know that nearly two years ago in our widely-cited report “Them Vs. U.S.,” we showed how out of touch liberal elites had become with regular Americans.

Now, a left-leaning non-profit group called Welcome, has issued a new report that reinforces our findings and shows how Democrats lost the 2024 election.

It concludes:  "Democrats have badly weakened their party with left-leaning ideas and rhetoric, growing only with self-described 'white liberals' while losing ground with other voters."

The group's polling found that 70% of voters said the party was "out of touch."

The Left now emphasize issues like "protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans," and "fighting climate change" while not caring about the economy or "securing the border" or "lowering the rate of crime."

Greg Schultz, a centrist who managed Joe Biden's 2020 primary race was a contributor to the report. He says, "I thought Biden had proven in the 2020 primary that the base of the Democratic Party is a 58-year old woman without a college degree. But when you hear people in DC say 'the base,' they mean white intellectuals that live in a few coastal cities."

Their own polling confirms that assessment. Voters have come to believe - correctly - that the Leftist elitist policy priorities are way out of touch with their own, as this fascinating chart below shows.

5) London's Mayor Has Helped "Crush The Economic Life and Energy Out Of The City"  

New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis, aren’t the only big cities being ruined by “progressive” mayors. London is going down the tubes too.

Here is how British columnist Michael Lynn, writing in the Washington Post, explains the economic impact that London's Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan has had on his city:

As New York prepares to elect a left-wing mayor, perhaps voters there should reflect on London's lessons -- because their city could easily be going the same way.

The depreciation of the British capital's once powerhouse economy is becoming more obvious every day.

The City of London used to be the key financial hub for all of Europe; this year it dropped out of the list of top 20 initial public offering markets in the world, overtaken by Mexico and Oman. Major British companies have shifted their listings to New York, while some newer ones don't even bother considering London…

Likewise, the glitzy skyscrapers that had started to line the Thames are no longer getting built, with projects such as the planned "Tulip" skyscraper blocked. Indeed, hardly anything gets built anymore, with new housing starts down 38 percent year on year...

The Labour Party's Sadiq Khan is now in his third term as mayor, and has partnered with the Labour government in power nationally to crush the economic life and energy out of the city. Under Khan and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, new ideas get blocked and wealth creation is demonized.

6) A Budding NBA Star!

Interested in booking us for a media appearance? Send an email with the link below.

Know anyone else who would appreciate the Hotline? Please direct them to subscribe at: https://committeetounleashprosperity.com/hotline/
 

Have an idea for an item that should be in our newsletter? Send us any charts, statistics, heroes/villains, or humor that you’d like to see featured!