The White House is aggressively pushing the idea that, contrary to widespread belief, President Barack Obama is tightfisted with taxpayer dollars. To back it up, the administration cites a media report that claims federal spending is rising at the slowest pace since the Eisenhower years.
"Federal spending since I took office has risen at the slowest pace of any president in almost 60 years," Obama said at a campaign rally Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa.
The problem with that rosy claim is that the Wall Street bailout is part of the calculation. The bailout ballooned the 2009 budget just before Obama took office, making Obama's 2010 results look smaller in comparison. And as almost $150 billion of the bailout was paid back during Obama's watch, the analysis counted them as government spending cuts.
It also assumes Obama had less of a role setting the budget for 2009 than he really did.
Obama rests his claim on an analysis by MarketWatch, a financial information and news service owned by Dow Jones & Co. The analysis simply looks at the year-to-year topline spending number for the government but doesn't account for distortions baked into the figures by the Wall Street bailout and government takeover of the mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The MarketWatch study finds spending growth of only 1.4 percent over 2010-2013, or annual increases averaging 0.4 percent over that period. Those are stunningly low figures considering that Obama rammed through Congress an $831 billion stimulus measure in early 2009 and presided over significant increases in annual spending by domestic agencies at the same time the cost of benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare and the Medicaid were ticking steadily higher.
A fairer calculation would give Obama much of the responsibility for an almost 10 percent budget boost in 2009, then a 13 percent increase over 2010-2013, or average annual growth of spending of just more than 3 percent over that period.
CONTINUED: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Obama-Spending-Fact-Check/2012/05/26/id/440358?s=al&promo_code=F07C-1#ixzz1w1c2n6qq
Showing posts with label bailouts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bailouts. Show all posts
Monday, May 28, 2012
Friday, October 7, 2011
Lesson Learned: Big is Bad, Very Bad!
The neo-reality of this 22nd century is that big is bad, very bad. Big government, big banks, big bailouts, big leverage, big liabilities and big debt are all very, very bad.
The world has been on a big binge and it is time to pay the proverbial piper.
Europe decided that bigger is better and created the European Union and a new currency, the Euro. What Europeans failed to recognize is that most of the member nation governments were big government socialists. These governments would continue to grow, their programs to help the needy would expand (primarily via the redefinition of needy) and everything would be just fine or so everyone thought until now. Socialism dislikes private property ownership. Central governments took more and more land and property in the form of taxes to expand government.
When these governments ran out of people to tax they began to borrow, and borrow they did in a big way.
The United States is on the same path as Europe. Taxing and borrowing became reelection strategies for both political parties. When the people rejected more taxes, borrowing became the new narcotic or the political class. Borrowing leads to hedging, which leads to leveraging, which leads to the inevitable - bankruptcy. Sovereign nations in Europe are facing bankruptcy.
So where is the money coming from?
From banks of course. Banks were and are still looking to lend to governments and by doing so have leveraged themselves into oblivion. According to Greg Hunter, former investigative reporter for ABC and creator of USAWatchDog.com, "I keep hammering away at the fact the Fed doled out $16 trillion in the wake of the credit crisis of 2008. This is an enormous sum that is greater than the all goods and services produced in the U.S. in a single year. Domestic banks and companies got the money, right along with foreign banks and companies. In effect, the Federal Reserve bailed out the world financial system. Now, we are right back to square one facing another financial meltdown with European banks and sovereign debt. If the Fed spent $16 trillion, why in the heck is this problem not fixed and why isn’t the world economy taking off like a rocket?" [My emphasis]
The simple answer is it wasn't enough money.
CONTINUE READING: http://www.teapartynation.com/profiles/blog/show?id=3355873%3ABlogPost%3A1538017&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_post
The world has been on a big binge and it is time to pay the proverbial piper.
Europe decided that bigger is better and created the European Union and a new currency, the Euro. What Europeans failed to recognize is that most of the member nation governments were big government socialists. These governments would continue to grow, their programs to help the needy would expand (primarily via the redefinition of needy) and everything would be just fine or so everyone thought until now. Socialism dislikes private property ownership. Central governments took more and more land and property in the form of taxes to expand government.
When these governments ran out of people to tax they began to borrow, and borrow they did in a big way.
The United States is on the same path as Europe. Taxing and borrowing became reelection strategies for both political parties. When the people rejected more taxes, borrowing became the new narcotic or the political class. Borrowing leads to hedging, which leads to leveraging, which leads to the inevitable - bankruptcy. Sovereign nations in Europe are facing bankruptcy.
So where is the money coming from?
From banks of course. Banks were and are still looking to lend to governments and by doing so have leveraged themselves into oblivion. According to Greg Hunter, former investigative reporter for ABC and creator of USAWatchDog.com, "I keep hammering away at the fact the Fed doled out $16 trillion in the wake of the credit crisis of 2008. This is an enormous sum that is greater than the all goods and services produced in the U.S. in a single year. Domestic banks and companies got the money, right along with foreign banks and companies. In effect, the Federal Reserve bailed out the world financial system. Now, we are right back to square one facing another financial meltdown with European banks and sovereign debt. If the Fed spent $16 trillion, why in the heck is this problem not fixed and why isn’t the world economy taking off like a rocket?" [My emphasis]
The simple answer is it wasn't enough money.
CONTINUE READING: http://www.teapartynation.com/profiles/blog/show?id=3355873%3ABlogPost%3A1538017&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_post
Thursday, April 28, 2011
An important call to action!
From and Eastern North Carolina Patriot--
This alert is going to be a judgment call on your part. You can choose to act or leave it alone, that is for you to decide. I do think the time has come for us to tell our representatives what we want and expect them to do and not just leave these direly important issues for them to get around to of their on volition.
It appears to me that our elected representatives have once again failed us on the continuing resolution they passed for the 2011 budget. The republicans don’t seem to have the backbone to stand-up to the democrats and fight it out for us. We hear the same old song and dance about being afraid to shut down the government because they will be blamed. That they are trying to stay above the fray and reach across the aisle to show they are nice guys and trying to work with the democrats and be liked. The democrats showed no similar tendencies when they were in control and rammed as much of their liberal, socialist, progressive agenda down our throats as they could. They locked the republicans out of meetings, made numerous backroom deals and did not allow them (and by extension us) to actively participate in the legislative process to accomplish their goals. They told you they won and get over it; in fact you can come along just sit in the back of the bus!
News flash for republicans; the democrats don’t like you and never will. They will only use you for their own ends. They are playing you for fools and you represent us (we the people) and we are not fools. They passed laws they did not even read! Do you forget how weak you looked…..we don’t.
It is widely acknowledged that in the past November elections that the Tea Party was a major influence in the outcome that put the republicans back in power. We the people voted you in and we will just as easily vote you out and replace you with representatives who really believe in upholding our constitution. You need to understand that the Tea Party is not about republicans. You do not have a lock on our votes. You can not marginalize or co-op our vote. If republicans and democrats want to continue the reckless and irresponsible spend and taxing spree we will replace you…..end of story. Under our constitution you work for us and you need to represent us or we will find good honest people who will.
Your voting records are being watched and recorded for reference in the next election. In the past we the people have voted their representatives in and then left you to do the job of representing us…..not any more! Washington insiders (elected officials and bureaucrats) have awoken the proverbial sleeping giant. You blew it and we are taking our beloved republic back. Try to minimize us or dismiss us at your own peril. We don’t want appeasement or watered down legislation for the sake of reaching across the isle.
Let me make this abundantly clear…..THE TIME TO FIGHT IS NOW!!!.....YOU ALREADY HAVE THE POWER!!! In our Constitution (written by much smarter men than anyone in DC today) Article 1 Section 7 states “All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.”
This means that you can stop everything the President and Senate are trying to do because you hold the purse strings NOW. We want action NOW, not in 10 years time with the potential 2 new presidents and 5 turnovers in the make up of the House of Representatives will present and change if they want to. A perfect case in point is the border fence along our countries southern border. This legislation was voted on and signed into law. The money was appropriated for it yet it was defunded and stopped by a subsequent house make-up vote while illegal's and terrorists flood over our border. This is something the American people wanted yet the elitists in DC basically told us to shut up and leave it to them to decide because we are too stupid to understand and they know better than we do what needs to be done.
We do not want the debt ceiling raised! Learn to live within your means and stop spending money you don’t have. We have to do this as responsible citizens and so do you as stewards of our tax dollars. We do not want any new taxes, we are taxed enough already! All of your tax hikes have still resulted in our country being piled under a mountain of debt that will be left to our children and grandchildren to pay for. Talk about taxation without representation! We want a balanced budget in 2012 not in 10 years. Stop all foreign aid now!
We are borrowing money to give to other countries, most of whom don’t like us (except our money) anyway. I ask you how stupid is that?
Actually I’ll tell you just to make sure you get the right answer…..very stupid.
America was and is based on Jewish-Christian principles regardless of what our supposed scholarly constitutional law president says (you know the one who was tired because he had been to 57 states
campaigning). America has been the most generous country the world has ever know in terms of monetary aid, spilt blood and sacrificed lives for the cause of freedom around the world. We have nothing to
apologize for, but in fact should be commended for our actions. But we don’t even ask for that because it has been something that we freely give to the world from our hearts, for the hope that all people can live free without tyranny.
We need to get our own financial house in order first since we now find ourselves in such disarray and then we can help others once again. Let the oil rich Arabs or the Chinese pay the way for the world for awhile as we restore our own financial stability. Of course if we (the American people) want to donate out of our own financial resources to help that is fine. Just don’t use our tax money abroad when we need it here now.
We do not expect you to be weak-kneed with getting our country back on track. Defund all the presidents’ czars and special interest programs he has created NOW. You have the power of the constitution behind you NOW. Let the president and the senate cause the government to shut down. We the people are not stupid and know it will be their fault regardless of how they or the lame stream media will try and spin it. The fact will still remain that it will be their fault.
Defend yourselves and by extension we the people by pointing out that it is their fault at press conferences and town hall meetings. Keep hammering these points home to the American people every chance you get. As Winston Churchill said; “Never give up, never, never, never give up.”
Do not touch social security at all!!! Why is it that big corporations, banks, insurance companies, mortgage companies and unions can get bailed out with trillions of our tax dollars (which we had to borrow) through stimulus bills, TARP programs etc, yet the first thing you bring up when you say we have to sacrifice and tighten our belts is social security? You used our tax dollars to bail them out, but you can not bail out (in reality pay back) the social security system you have plundered since its inception that was for the American people’s sake?
The fact is that both parties have been raiding the money in the social security program since its inception and replaced it with worthless IOU’s for various “feel good” social programs that the Constitution does not give them the authority to do and the founding fathers never intended. This money was supposed to have been invested where it would compound and earn interest so as to be there when we retired. Both parties have been stealing our money over the years which we had to pay out of each paycheck. Now the day of reckoning is upon us and you can not pay back the IOU’s, and you think we have to bear the burden for you stealing and ineptitude? Do you really wonder why the polls show such a low public approval rating for your job performance? If the money was just a free handout from the government I could see it, but it is not, it is our money you were supposed to invest for us but instead you have been misappropriating it for years.
I will be eagerly waiting for your answers and explanations for the above questions. And please don’t send me some form response thanking me for my input. I want your responses to the above points. Last Novembers elections will be nothing compared to the house cleaning that will take place in 2012.
ACTION: Send this letter to you elected representatives (house and senate). Feel free to copy and paste, add or delete parts or write your own letter, whatever is easier for you. Congress is still on Easter Break so this needs to be sent on April 29th and might I suggest everyday there after until they vote on the debt ceiling issue and the budget for 2012. We have to flood them so that they are inconvenienced and know that we are serious.
Bear
This alert is going to be a judgment call on your part. You can choose to act or leave it alone, that is for you to decide. I do think the time has come for us to tell our representatives what we want and expect them to do and not just leave these direly important issues for them to get around to of their on volition.
It appears to me that our elected representatives have once again failed us on the continuing resolution they passed for the 2011 budget. The republicans don’t seem to have the backbone to stand-up to the democrats and fight it out for us. We hear the same old song and dance about being afraid to shut down the government because they will be blamed. That they are trying to stay above the fray and reach across the aisle to show they are nice guys and trying to work with the democrats and be liked. The democrats showed no similar tendencies when they were in control and rammed as much of their liberal, socialist, progressive agenda down our throats as they could. They locked the republicans out of meetings, made numerous backroom deals and did not allow them (and by extension us) to actively participate in the legislative process to accomplish their goals. They told you they won and get over it; in fact you can come along just sit in the back of the bus!
News flash for republicans; the democrats don’t like you and never will. They will only use you for their own ends. They are playing you for fools and you represent us (we the people) and we are not fools. They passed laws they did not even read! Do you forget how weak you looked…..we don’t.
It is widely acknowledged that in the past November elections that the Tea Party was a major influence in the outcome that put the republicans back in power. We the people voted you in and we will just as easily vote you out and replace you with representatives who really believe in upholding our constitution. You need to understand that the Tea Party is not about republicans. You do not have a lock on our votes. You can not marginalize or co-op our vote. If republicans and democrats want to continue the reckless and irresponsible spend and taxing spree we will replace you…..end of story. Under our constitution you work for us and you need to represent us or we will find good honest people who will.
Your voting records are being watched and recorded for reference in the next election. In the past we the people have voted their representatives in and then left you to do the job of representing us…..not any more! Washington insiders (elected officials and bureaucrats) have awoken the proverbial sleeping giant. You blew it and we are taking our beloved republic back. Try to minimize us or dismiss us at your own peril. We don’t want appeasement or watered down legislation for the sake of reaching across the isle.
Let me make this abundantly clear…..THE TIME TO FIGHT IS NOW!!!.....YOU ALREADY HAVE THE POWER!!! In our Constitution (written by much smarter men than anyone in DC today) Article 1 Section 7 states “All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.”
This means that you can stop everything the President and Senate are trying to do because you hold the purse strings NOW. We want action NOW, not in 10 years time with the potential 2 new presidents and 5 turnovers in the make up of the House of Representatives will present and change if they want to. A perfect case in point is the border fence along our countries southern border. This legislation was voted on and signed into law. The money was appropriated for it yet it was defunded and stopped by a subsequent house make-up vote while illegal's and terrorists flood over our border. This is something the American people wanted yet the elitists in DC basically told us to shut up and leave it to them to decide because we are too stupid to understand and they know better than we do what needs to be done.
We do not want the debt ceiling raised! Learn to live within your means and stop spending money you don’t have. We have to do this as responsible citizens and so do you as stewards of our tax dollars. We do not want any new taxes, we are taxed enough already! All of your tax hikes have still resulted in our country being piled under a mountain of debt that will be left to our children and grandchildren to pay for. Talk about taxation without representation! We want a balanced budget in 2012 not in 10 years. Stop all foreign aid now!
We are borrowing money to give to other countries, most of whom don’t like us (except our money) anyway. I ask you how stupid is that?
Actually I’ll tell you just to make sure you get the right answer…..very stupid.
America was and is based on Jewish-Christian principles regardless of what our supposed scholarly constitutional law president says (you know the one who was tired because he had been to 57 states
campaigning). America has been the most generous country the world has ever know in terms of monetary aid, spilt blood and sacrificed lives for the cause of freedom around the world. We have nothing to
apologize for, but in fact should be commended for our actions. But we don’t even ask for that because it has been something that we freely give to the world from our hearts, for the hope that all people can live free without tyranny.
We need to get our own financial house in order first since we now find ourselves in such disarray and then we can help others once again. Let the oil rich Arabs or the Chinese pay the way for the world for awhile as we restore our own financial stability. Of course if we (the American people) want to donate out of our own financial resources to help that is fine. Just don’t use our tax money abroad when we need it here now.
We do not expect you to be weak-kneed with getting our country back on track. Defund all the presidents’ czars and special interest programs he has created NOW. You have the power of the constitution behind you NOW. Let the president and the senate cause the government to shut down. We the people are not stupid and know it will be their fault regardless of how they or the lame stream media will try and spin it. The fact will still remain that it will be their fault.
Defend yourselves and by extension we the people by pointing out that it is their fault at press conferences and town hall meetings. Keep hammering these points home to the American people every chance you get. As Winston Churchill said; “Never give up, never, never, never give up.”
Do not touch social security at all!!! Why is it that big corporations, banks, insurance companies, mortgage companies and unions can get bailed out with trillions of our tax dollars (which we had to borrow) through stimulus bills, TARP programs etc, yet the first thing you bring up when you say we have to sacrifice and tighten our belts is social security? You used our tax dollars to bail them out, but you can not bail out (in reality pay back) the social security system you have plundered since its inception that was for the American people’s sake?
The fact is that both parties have been raiding the money in the social security program since its inception and replaced it with worthless IOU’s for various “feel good” social programs that the Constitution does not give them the authority to do and the founding fathers never intended. This money was supposed to have been invested where it would compound and earn interest so as to be there when we retired. Both parties have been stealing our money over the years which we had to pay out of each paycheck. Now the day of reckoning is upon us and you can not pay back the IOU’s, and you think we have to bear the burden for you stealing and ineptitude? Do you really wonder why the polls show such a low public approval rating for your job performance? If the money was just a free handout from the government I could see it, but it is not, it is our money you were supposed to invest for us but instead you have been misappropriating it for years.
I will be eagerly waiting for your answers and explanations for the above questions. And please don’t send me some form response thanking me for my input. I want your responses to the above points. Last Novembers elections will be nothing compared to the house cleaning that will take place in 2012.
ACTION: Send this letter to you elected representatives (house and senate). Feel free to copy and paste, add or delete parts or write your own letter, whatever is easier for you. Congress is still on Easter Break so this needs to be sent on April 29th and might I suggest everyday there after until they vote on the debt ceiling issue and the budget for 2012. We have to flood them so that they are inconvenienced and know that we are serious.
Bear
Friday, January 21, 2011
National Right to Work Act
A Letter from Representative Rand Paul (R), KY
Dear Concerned American,
They snickered when I said I came to the U.S. Senate to change Congress.
But their laughter stopped when I sponsored the National Right to Work Act to free U.S. workers from forced unionization and break Big Labor's multi-billion dollar political machine forever.
President Barack Obama and Big Labor allies in the Senate are now feverishly scheming to bury the National Right to Work Act without a vote.
So I have a question for you. Will you be my sledgehammer?
Your signature on the petition to your Congressman and Senators is what is needed to bust through the opposition and force a vote on the National Right to Work Act. This is an opportunity you and I cannot afford to miss.
As you know, the right to decide freely whether or not to join a union was taken away from American workers by Congress almost 75 years ago.
A result of back-room deals between union bosses and their tax-and-spend Congressional puppets, compulsory unionism provisions in federal law currently empower union officials to:
And here's the thing -- the National Right to Work Act is wildly popular with American voters. In fact, for years polls have shown nearly 80% of Americans think it should be against the law to force workers to pay money to union bosses just to get or keep a job.
All you and I have to do is force an up-or-down roll call vote on the National Right to Work Act ... And the American people will do the rest.
Many Democrats and more than a few Republicans elected with Big Labor's over $1 billion in forced-dues political cash cower in fear of casting a vote against the National Right to Work Act.
What will they do when forced to vote? It's a win-win situation -- either they pass the National Right to Work Act and free American workers or they pay in 2012. It will be a marathon battle.
But I will not flinch in the face of opposition and insider attacks. I believe, with your help, this is a fight we will win. And I know it's a fight worth fighting.
You see, the union bosses fear a vote on the National Right to Work Act more than just about anything else. They know it's a losing proposition for them whether the bill passes or not.
The fact is for decades union officials have schemed to seize billions of dollars from their "members" and then used it to elect their candidates to protect these privileges.
This is how Washington -- from Jimmy Carter to Ted Kennedy to Bill Clinton to Nancy Pelosi to Barack Obama -- got to be what it is today.
The National Right to Work Act will turn this entrenched, corrupt Washington order on its head.
Every year Big Labor siphons over $8 BILLION from workers' paychecks; mostly from workers who, if they refused to pay, would be fired from their jobs.
Union bosses take this eye-popping heap of dough to feed a lifestyle of limousines, penthouses and raw political power.
And, my friend, Big Labor's political corruption costs all of us:
The National Right to Work Committee isn't some Johnny-come-lately organization. They've been on the front lines opposing Big Labor for over fifty years.
The National Right to Work Committee is spearheading the effort to rally the American people, just as I am leading the fight here in the Senate.
Without your support for the National Right to Work Committee, we have little chance against Big Labor's money and power in Congress.
That's why I ask you to submit your signed petition, along with the most generous contribution you can afford to the National Right to Work Committee.
In order to pass the National Right to Work Act, the National Right to Work Committee has drawn up an aggressive plan of action:
Every dollar the National Right to Work Committee receives comes from Americans like you -- working folks, shopkeepers, business owners, retirees, farmers, engineers, delivery drivers, homemakers, grandmothers and grandfathers. Not one penny of their funding comes from government.
ABOVE ALL, SIGN THE PETITION! Please do not delay signing the petition or think someone else will carry the load. I count on your support.
Sincerely,
Rand Paul, M.D., U.S. Senator
PS.Tea Party revolts and the election of real outsiders ready to shake up Congress means you and I have an historic opportunity to break the cycle of tax-and-spend, political corruption and out of control budgets caused by Big Labor's compulsory union power.
http://righttoworkcommittee.org/rprtwa_petition.aspx?pid=th1
Dear Concerned American,
They snickered when I said I came to the U.S. Senate to change Congress.
But their laughter stopped when I sponsored the National Right to Work Act to free U.S. workers from forced unionization and break Big Labor's multi-billion dollar political machine forever.
President Barack Obama and Big Labor allies in the Senate are now feverishly scheming to bury the National Right to Work Act without a vote.
So I have a question for you. Will you be my sledgehammer?
Your signature on the petition to your Congressman and Senators is what is needed to bust through the opposition and force a vote on the National Right to Work Act. This is an opportunity you and I cannot afford to miss.
As you know, the right to decide freely whether or not to join a union was taken away from American workers by Congress almost 75 years ago.
A result of back-room deals between union bosses and their tax-and-spend Congressional puppets, compulsory unionism provisions in federal law currently empower union officials to:
- Force nearly 11 million Americans to pay tribute to a union boss to get or keep a job ...
- Brazenly loot union treasuries to fund the election of their hand-picked political puppet candidates like Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid ...
- Terrorize workers and communities with violent strikes -- where they get away with beatings, arson -- even murder.
And here's the thing -- the National Right to Work Act is wildly popular with American voters. In fact, for years polls have shown nearly 80% of Americans think it should be against the law to force workers to pay money to union bosses just to get or keep a job.
All you and I have to do is force an up-or-down roll call vote on the National Right to Work Act ... And the American people will do the rest.
Many Democrats and more than a few Republicans elected with Big Labor's over $1 billion in forced-dues political cash cower in fear of casting a vote against the National Right to Work Act.
What will they do when forced to vote? It's a win-win situation -- either they pass the National Right to Work Act and free American workers or they pay in 2012. It will be a marathon battle.
But I will not flinch in the face of opposition and insider attacks. I believe, with your help, this is a fight we will win. And I know it's a fight worth fighting.
You see, the union bosses fear a vote on the National Right to Work Act more than just about anything else. They know it's a losing proposition for them whether the bill passes or not.
The fact is for decades union officials have schemed to seize billions of dollars from their "members" and then used it to elect their candidates to protect these privileges.
This is how Washington -- from Jimmy Carter to Ted Kennedy to Bill Clinton to Nancy Pelosi to Barack Obama -- got to be what it is today.
The National Right to Work Act will turn this entrenched, corrupt Washington order on its head.
Every year Big Labor siphons over $8 BILLION from workers' paychecks; mostly from workers who, if they refused to pay, would be fired from their jobs.
Union bosses take this eye-popping heap of dough to feed a lifestyle of limousines, penthouses and raw political power.
And, my friend, Big Labor's political corruption costs all of us:
- Hundreds of billions of dollars in bailouts and bloated government spending suck the life out of our economy, rewarding failed businesses like GM and letting union-boss featherbedding and rigged contracts rocket the cost of schools, hospitals and roads through the roof.
- Millions more good-paying jobs destroyed or driven overseas as union czars cripple America's bedrock industries with wasteful work rules, hate-the-boss propaganda and violent strikes.
- You and all Americans robbed of your wealth as the economy stays in recession and the price of cars, gasoline and groceries climbs upwards.
- Small businesses strangled with red tape and bureaucracy designed by greedy union flunkies to kill companies too small for so-called union “organizing.”
The National Right to Work Committee isn't some Johnny-come-lately organization. They've been on the front lines opposing Big Labor for over fifty years.
The National Right to Work Committee is spearheading the effort to rally the American people, just as I am leading the fight here in the Senate.
Without your support for the National Right to Work Committee, we have little chance against Big Labor's money and power in Congress.
That's why I ask you to submit your signed petition, along with the most generous contribution you can afford to the National Right to Work Committee.
In order to pass the National Right to Work Act, the National Right to Work Committee has drawn up an aggressive plan of action:
- Mobilize up to 14 million Americans to stand up for freedom by signing petitions like the one I link to in this email. Only when politicians feel the heat of the people, will they see the light of truth. That's what I meant when I asked you to be my sledgehammer.
- Place full-page newspaper ads and launch intense internet campaigns coast to coast, reminding the American people what Big Labor's power costs all of us in out-of-control government spending, sky-high taxes, a seemingly endless recession, lost jobs and rising prices.
- Inform favorable columnists, talk show hosts and editorial writers nationwide to help mobilize public opinion.
- Run TV and radio ads targeting, if funding permits, wavering Congressmen and Senators in the days leading up to key committee and floor votes.
Every dollar the National Right to Work Committee receives comes from Americans like you -- working folks, shopkeepers, business owners, retirees, farmers, engineers, delivery drivers, homemakers, grandmothers and grandfathers. Not one penny of their funding comes from government.
ABOVE ALL, SIGN THE PETITION! Please do not delay signing the petition or think someone else will carry the load. I count on your support.
Sincerely,
Rand Paul, M.D., U.S. Senator
PS.Tea Party revolts and the election of real outsiders ready to shake up Congress means you and I have an historic opportunity to break the cycle of tax-and-spend, political corruption and out of control budgets caused by Big Labor's compulsory union power.
http://righttoworkcommittee.org/rprtwa_petition.aspx?pid=th1
Friday, January 7, 2011
THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION
Morning Bell: Americans Are Fleeing Obama’s Crony Capitalist Economy
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/01/07/morning-bell-americans-are-fleeing-obamas-crony-capitalist-economy/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
Today the Bureau of Labor and Statistics released its monthly jobs report showing that the U.S. economy added only 103,000 jobs this December. With the unemployment rate now at 9.4%, this marks the 20th month in a row that the unemployment has been over 9 percent, a post–World War II record. You are going to hear a lot of noise from the White House about how this drop from a 9.8% unemployment rate to 9.4% means the economy is in a strong recovery. This is false. The reality is that the only reason the unemployment rate dropped is because the U.S. labor force decreased by 434,000. More importantly 260,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force entirely. This means that the Obama economy is now driving Americans out of the labor force faster than it is bringing them.
This Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs tweeted out: “General Motors Co.’s sales were up 21 percent in 2010 for its four core brands.” Which is some interesting spin. As The Truth About Cars points out, GM’s retail market share for all of their brands actually fell a full 1.8 percent in 2010. So why is the President’s closest communication aide doing PR for what is, supposedly, a privately owned car company?
Yes, the Obama Administration did sell off a majority stake of their ownership of GM this November (at a $10 billion loss to taxpayers), but that still leaves them owning about a 37 percent share in the company. In other words, our government is still part owner of a supposedly private car company. And that is not the only continuing link between bailed-out GM and the Obama Administration. The Obama czar who oversaw the GM bailout, Ron Bloom, was just named the new czar for all of manufacturing policy at the White House’s National Economic Council (NEC). So we can expect to see continued favoritism for GM and its bailed-out brothers from the entire Obama Administration.
The manufacturing industry is not the only sector of the economy where the Administration has installed a bailout revolving door. Over just the last two months, the Obama White House has sent budget director Peter Orszag to Citibank ($306 billion bailout), taken in Gene Sperling as NEC director from Goldman Sachs (beneficiary of the $173 billion AIG bailout), and added former Fannie Mae ($135 billion bailout so far) lobbyist and JPMorgan ($12 billion bailout) executive Bill Daley as President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff. There is a phrase for an economy that is so dependent on close relationships between business people and government officials: crony capitalism. And it is strangling our economic recovery.
There is a better way. Instead of relying on bailouts, subsidies, tax loopholes, and regulations to pick and choose which politically connected firms succeed or fail, government should unleash entrepreneurs to create jobs through true free enterprise policies. Specifically, Congress should:
•Rescind unspent stimulus funds;
•Reform regulations—specifically repealing Section 404 of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act—to reduce unnecessary business costs;
•Remove barriers to domestic energy production;
•Suspend the job-killing Davis–Bacon Act and prohibit Project Labor Agreement requirements on federally funded construction projects;
•Conclude the pending free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama, as well as the recently announced agreement with South Korea; and
•Reduce taxes on foreign earnings to encourage companies to repatriate the profits to America.
According to James Sherk, Karen Campbell, and John Ligon of the Center for Data Analysis, adopting these measures increase real gross domestic product by an average of $56 billion a year between 2011 and 2020, reduce the national debt by $305 billion by 2020, and increase job growth by 305,000 a year between 2011 and 2020.
This past June, marking the first anniversary of the Obama Administration’s destruction of our nation’s bankruptcy code, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R) warned: “The nation is not safe from crony capitalism. In the past year we’ve experienced the nationalization of the student loan industry and the passage of national health-care and financial-services regulation, each of which is rife with new opportunities for government favoritism and preferential handouts to favored corporations like Chrysler.” Our economy will never reach its full potential as long as the best way to succeed in business is to succeed in Washington.
© 2011, The Heritage Foundation
Conservative policy research since 1973
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/01/07/morning-bell-americans-are-fleeing-obamas-crony-capitalist-economy/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
Today the Bureau of Labor and Statistics released its monthly jobs report showing that the U.S. economy added only 103,000 jobs this December. With the unemployment rate now at 9.4%, this marks the 20th month in a row that the unemployment has been over 9 percent, a post–World War II record. You are going to hear a lot of noise from the White House about how this drop from a 9.8% unemployment rate to 9.4% means the economy is in a strong recovery. This is false. The reality is that the only reason the unemployment rate dropped is because the U.S. labor force decreased by 434,000. More importantly 260,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force entirely. This means that the Obama economy is now driving Americans out of the labor force faster than it is bringing them.
This Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs tweeted out: “General Motors Co.’s sales were up 21 percent in 2010 for its four core brands.” Which is some interesting spin. As The Truth About Cars points out, GM’s retail market share for all of their brands actually fell a full 1.8 percent in 2010. So why is the President’s closest communication aide doing PR for what is, supposedly, a privately owned car company?
Yes, the Obama Administration did sell off a majority stake of their ownership of GM this November (at a $10 billion loss to taxpayers), but that still leaves them owning about a 37 percent share in the company. In other words, our government is still part owner of a supposedly private car company. And that is not the only continuing link between bailed-out GM and the Obama Administration. The Obama czar who oversaw the GM bailout, Ron Bloom, was just named the new czar for all of manufacturing policy at the White House’s National Economic Council (NEC). So we can expect to see continued favoritism for GM and its bailed-out brothers from the entire Obama Administration.
The manufacturing industry is not the only sector of the economy where the Administration has installed a bailout revolving door. Over just the last two months, the Obama White House has sent budget director Peter Orszag to Citibank ($306 billion bailout), taken in Gene Sperling as NEC director from Goldman Sachs (beneficiary of the $173 billion AIG bailout), and added former Fannie Mae ($135 billion bailout so far) lobbyist and JPMorgan ($12 billion bailout) executive Bill Daley as President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff. There is a phrase for an economy that is so dependent on close relationships between business people and government officials: crony capitalism. And it is strangling our economic recovery.
There is a better way. Instead of relying on bailouts, subsidies, tax loopholes, and regulations to pick and choose which politically connected firms succeed or fail, government should unleash entrepreneurs to create jobs through true free enterprise policies. Specifically, Congress should:
•Rescind unspent stimulus funds;
•Reform regulations—specifically repealing Section 404 of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act—to reduce unnecessary business costs;
•Remove barriers to domestic energy production;
•Suspend the job-killing Davis–Bacon Act and prohibit Project Labor Agreement requirements on federally funded construction projects;
•Conclude the pending free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama, as well as the recently announced agreement with South Korea; and
•Reduce taxes on foreign earnings to encourage companies to repatriate the profits to America.
According to James Sherk, Karen Campbell, and John Ligon of the Center for Data Analysis, adopting these measures increase real gross domestic product by an average of $56 billion a year between 2011 and 2020, reduce the national debt by $305 billion by 2020, and increase job growth by 305,000 a year between 2011 and 2020.
This past June, marking the first anniversary of the Obama Administration’s destruction of our nation’s bankruptcy code, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R) warned: “The nation is not safe from crony capitalism. In the past year we’ve experienced the nationalization of the student loan industry and the passage of national health-care and financial-services regulation, each of which is rife with new opportunities for government favoritism and preferential handouts to favored corporations like Chrysler.” Our economy will never reach its full potential as long as the best way to succeed in business is to succeed in Washington.
© 2011, The Heritage Foundation
Conservative policy research since 1973
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Investigate This! By Ann Coulter
The Republicans are back in charge in the House of Representatives this week, and not a moment too soon!
Forget "stimulus" bills and "shovel-ready" bailouts (for public school teachers, who need shovels for what they're teaching), the current financial crisis, which is the second Great Depression, was created slowly and methodically by Democrat hacks running Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the past 18 years.
As even Obama's treasury secretary admitted in congressional hearings, "Fannie and Freddie were a core part of what went wrong in our system." And if it's something Tim Geithner noticed, it's probably something that's fairly obvious.
Goo-goo liberals with federal titles pressured banks into making absurd loans to high-risk borrowers -- demanding, for example, that the banks accept unemployment benefits as collateral. Then Fannie repackaged the bad loans as "prime mortgages" and sold them to banks, thus poisoning the entire financial market with hidden bad loans.
Believe it or not, the loans went belly up, banks went under, and the Democrats used taxpayer money to bail out their friends on Wall Street.
So far, Fannie and Freddie's default on loans that should never have been made has cost the taxpayer tens of billions of dollars. Some estimates say the final cost to the taxpayer will be more than $1 trillion. To put that number in perspective, for a trillion dollars, President Obama could pass another stupid, useless stimulus package that doesn't create a single real job.
Obama's own Federal Housing Finance Agency reported recently that by 2014, Freddie and Fannie will cost taxpayers between $221 billion to $363 billion.
Over and over again, Republicans tried to rein in the politically correct policies being foisted on mortgage lenders by Fannie Mae, only to be met by a Praetorian Guard of Democrats howling that Republicans hated the poor.
In 2003, Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee wrote a bill to tighten the lending regulation of Fannie and Freddie. Every single Democrat on the committee voted against it.
In the House, Barney Frank angrily proclaimed that Fannie Mae was "just fine."
Rep. William Clay, D-Mo., accused Republicans of going on a "witch hunt" against Fannie Mae and attempting a "political lynching of Franklin Raines" (which, in a game of "bad metaphor Scrabble" would have been a double word score).
Fannie was pressuring banks to write mortgages with no money down and no proof of income. What could go wrong?
In 2004, Bush's White House Chief Economist Gregory Mankiw warned that Fannie was creating "systemic risk for our financial system." In response, Barney Frank went to a champagne brunch with his partner "just because."
Democrats saw nothing of concern in the Fannie debacle. Bad mortgages don't contain sodium, do they? They don't engage in "hate speech." And they don't emit carbon dioxide. There was nothing to catch a Democrat's eye.
In 2005, when the housing bubble burst, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced a bill allowing Fannie Mae to buy up even more schlock mortgages, apparently reasoning that if owning some toxic mortgages is bad, owning lots of them must be better!
He accused Republican opponents of his suicidal bill of being against affordable housing. (And that is a specific example of how liberals love the poor so much, they promoted policies to create millions more of them.)
As late as 2008, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who had received more than $133,000 in political contributions from Fannie Mae, called Fannie "fundamentally strong" and "in good shape" -- which is the kind of thing the Politburo used to say about Yuri Andropov right after he died.
(Amazingly, Dodd was only the second most embarrassing Democrat to run for president in 2008, but only because John Edwards was also running that year.)
As the titanic losses were racking up, Fannie Mae's operators, Franklin Raines and Jamie Gorelick, disguised the catastrophe by orchestrating a $5 billion accounting fraud -- all the while continuing to pressure banks to make absurd, politically correct loans and denouncing Republicans as enemies of the poor.
In Gorelick's defense, at least when she was wrecking the economy, she wasn't able to wreck national security by building any more walls between the FBI and the CIA.
Have you ever noticed that whenever there's a major calamity in this country, the name "Jamie Gorelick" always pops up? I think I'll pull some articles about the Great Chicago Fire from Nexis to see if there was a "Gorelick" living on Catherine O'Leary's block.
As Peter Schweizer points out in his magnificent book "Architects of Ruin," which everyone should read, Enron's accounting fraud was a paltry $567 million -- and it didn't bring down the entire financial system. Those involved in the Enron manipulations went to prison. Raines and Gorelick not only didn't go to jail, they walked away with multimillion-dollar payouts, courtesy of the taxpayer.
(Here's more fascinating Jamie Gorelick trivia: That giant wall she built between the FBI and the CIA, making 9/11 possible? It was financed with a risky loan from Fannie Mae.)
Under the Democrats' 2010 "Financial Reform" bill (written by Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and Goldman Sachs), Raines keeps his $90 million, Jamie Gorelick keeps her $26.4 million, and Goldman keeps its $12 billion from the AIG bailout.
Let's get it back. Twelve billion, one hundred and sixteen point four million dollars might not sound like a lot to you, but it starts to add up.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=41005
Forget "stimulus" bills and "shovel-ready" bailouts (for public school teachers, who need shovels for what they're teaching), the current financial crisis, which is the second Great Depression, was created slowly and methodically by Democrat hacks running Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the past 18 years.
As even Obama's treasury secretary admitted in congressional hearings, "Fannie and Freddie were a core part of what went wrong in our system." And if it's something Tim Geithner noticed, it's probably something that's fairly obvious.
Goo-goo liberals with federal titles pressured banks into making absurd loans to high-risk borrowers -- demanding, for example, that the banks accept unemployment benefits as collateral. Then Fannie repackaged the bad loans as "prime mortgages" and sold them to banks, thus poisoning the entire financial market with hidden bad loans.
Believe it or not, the loans went belly up, banks went under, and the Democrats used taxpayer money to bail out their friends on Wall Street.
So far, Fannie and Freddie's default on loans that should never have been made has cost the taxpayer tens of billions of dollars. Some estimates say the final cost to the taxpayer will be more than $1 trillion. To put that number in perspective, for a trillion dollars, President Obama could pass another stupid, useless stimulus package that doesn't create a single real job.
Obama's own Federal Housing Finance Agency reported recently that by 2014, Freddie and Fannie will cost taxpayers between $221 billion to $363 billion.
Over and over again, Republicans tried to rein in the politically correct policies being foisted on mortgage lenders by Fannie Mae, only to be met by a Praetorian Guard of Democrats howling that Republicans hated the poor.
In 2003, Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee wrote a bill to tighten the lending regulation of Fannie and Freddie. Every single Democrat on the committee voted against it.
In the House, Barney Frank angrily proclaimed that Fannie Mae was "just fine."
Rep. William Clay, D-Mo., accused Republicans of going on a "witch hunt" against Fannie Mae and attempting a "political lynching of Franklin Raines" (which, in a game of "bad metaphor Scrabble" would have been a double word score).
Fannie was pressuring banks to write mortgages with no money down and no proof of income. What could go wrong?
In 2004, Bush's White House Chief Economist Gregory Mankiw warned that Fannie was creating "systemic risk for our financial system." In response, Barney Frank went to a champagne brunch with his partner "just because."
Democrats saw nothing of concern in the Fannie debacle. Bad mortgages don't contain sodium, do they? They don't engage in "hate speech." And they don't emit carbon dioxide. There was nothing to catch a Democrat's eye.
In 2005, when the housing bubble burst, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced a bill allowing Fannie Mae to buy up even more schlock mortgages, apparently reasoning that if owning some toxic mortgages is bad, owning lots of them must be better!
He accused Republican opponents of his suicidal bill of being against affordable housing. (And that is a specific example of how liberals love the poor so much, they promoted policies to create millions more of them.)
As late as 2008, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who had received more than $133,000 in political contributions from Fannie Mae, called Fannie "fundamentally strong" and "in good shape" -- which is the kind of thing the Politburo used to say about Yuri Andropov right after he died.
(Amazingly, Dodd was only the second most embarrassing Democrat to run for president in 2008, but only because John Edwards was also running that year.)
As the titanic losses were racking up, Fannie Mae's operators, Franklin Raines and Jamie Gorelick, disguised the catastrophe by orchestrating a $5 billion accounting fraud -- all the while continuing to pressure banks to make absurd, politically correct loans and denouncing Republicans as enemies of the poor.
In Gorelick's defense, at least when she was wrecking the economy, she wasn't able to wreck national security by building any more walls between the FBI and the CIA.
Have you ever noticed that whenever there's a major calamity in this country, the name "Jamie Gorelick" always pops up? I think I'll pull some articles about the Great Chicago Fire from Nexis to see if there was a "Gorelick" living on Catherine O'Leary's block.
As Peter Schweizer points out in his magnificent book "Architects of Ruin," which everyone should read, Enron's accounting fraud was a paltry $567 million -- and it didn't bring down the entire financial system. Those involved in the Enron manipulations went to prison. Raines and Gorelick not only didn't go to jail, they walked away with multimillion-dollar payouts, courtesy of the taxpayer.
(Here's more fascinating Jamie Gorelick trivia: That giant wall she built between the FBI and the CIA, making 9/11 possible? It was financed with a risky loan from Fannie Mae.)
Under the Democrats' 2010 "Financial Reform" bill (written by Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and Goldman Sachs), Raines keeps his $90 million, Jamie Gorelick keeps her $26.4 million, and Goldman keeps its $12 billion from the AIG bailout.
Let's get it back. Twelve billion, one hundred and sixteen point four million dollars might not sound like a lot to you, but it starts to add up.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=41005
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Five Things We Should Worry about in 2011
Big Government
Five Things We Should Worry about in 2011
By Dan Mitchell On January 3, 2011
The mid-term elections were a rejection of President Obama’s big-government agenda, but those results don’t necessarily mean better policy. We should not forget, after all, that Democrats rammed through Obamacare even after losing the special election to replace Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts (much to my dismay, my prediction from last January was correct.
Similarly, GOP control of the House of Representatives does not automatically mean less government and more freedom. Heck, it doesn’t even guarantee that things won’t continue to move in the wrong direction. Here are five possible bad policies for 2011, most of which the Obama White House can implement by using executive power.
1. A back-door bailout of the states from the Federal Reserve – The new GOP Congress presumably wouldn’t be foolish enough to bail out profligate states such as California and Illinois, but that does not mean the battle is won. Ben Bernanke already has demonstrated that he is willing to curry favor with the White House by debasing the value of the dollar, so what’s to stop him from engineering a back-door bailout by having the Federal Reserve buy state bonds? The European Central Bank already is using this tactic to bail out Europe’s welfare states, so a precedent already exists for this type of misguided policy. To make matters worse, there’s nothing Congress can do – barring legislation that Obama presumably would veto – to stop the Fed from this awful policy.
2. A front-door bailout of Europe by the United States – Welfare states in Europe are teetering on the edge of insolvency. Decades of big government have crippled economic growth and generated mountains of debt. Ireland and Greece already have been bailed out, and Portugal and Spain are probably next on the list, to be followed by countries such as Italy and Belgium. So why should American taxpayers worry about European bailouts? The unfortunate answer is that American taxpayers will pick up a big chunk of the tab if the International Monetary Fund is involved. Indeed, this horse already has escaped the barn. The United States provides the largest amount of subsidies to the International Monetary Fund, and the IMF took part in the bailouts of Greece and Ireland. The Senate did vote against having American taxpayers take part in the bailout of Greece, but that turned out to be a symbolic exercise. Sadly, that’s probably what we can expect if and when there are bailouts of the bigger European welfare states.
3. Republicans getting duped by Obama and supporting a VAT – The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Obama Administration is contemplating a reduction in the corporate income tax. This sounds like a great idea, particularly since America’s punitive corporate tax rate is undermining competitiveness and hindering job creation. But what happens if Obama demands that Congress approve a value-added tax to “pay for” the lower corporate tax rate? This would be a terrible deal, sort of like a football team trading a great young quarterback for a 35-year old lineman. The VAT would give statists a money machine that they need to turn the United States into a French-style welfare state. This type of national sales tax would only be acceptable if the personal and corporate income taxes were abolished – and the Constitution was amended to make sure the federal government never again could tax what we earn and produce. But that’s not the deal Obama would offer. My fingers are crossed that Obama doesn’t offer to swap a lower corporate income tax for a VAT, particularly since we already know that some Republicans are susceptible to the VAT.
4. Regulatory imposition of global warming policy – This actually is an issue we needed to start worrying about before this year. The Obama Administration already is in the process of trying to use regulatory edicts to impose Kyoto-style restrictions on energy use, and 2011 may be a pivotal year for this issue. This issue is troubling because of the potential impact on economic growth, but it also represents an assault on the rule of law since the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency are engaging in regulatory overreach because they did not have enough support to get so-called climate change legislation through Congress. The new GOP majority presumably will try to use the “power of the purse” to limit the EPA’s power grab, and the outcome of that fight could have dramatic implications for job creation and competitiveness.
5. U.N. control of the Internet – The Federal Communications Commission just engaged in an unprecedented power grab as part of its “Net Neutrality” initiative, so we already have bad news for both Internet consumers and America’s telecommunications industry. But it may get worse. The bureaucrats at the United Nations, conspiring with autocratic governments, have created an Internet Governance Forum in hopes of grabbing power over the online world. This has caused considerable angst, leading Vint Cerf, one of inventors of the Internet (sorry, Al Gore) to warn: “We don’t believe governments should be allowed to grant themselves a monopoly on Internet governance. The current bottoms-up, open approach works — protecting users from vested interests and enabling rapid innovation. Let’s fight to keep it that way.” International bureaucracies are very skilled at incrementally increasing their authority, so this won’t be a one-year fight. Stopping this power grab will require persistent oversight and a willingness to reject compromises that inevitably give bureaucracies more power and simply set the stage for further demands.
Copyright © 2009 Big Government. All rights reserved.
Five Things We Should Worry about in 2011
By Dan Mitchell On January 3, 2011
The mid-term elections were a rejection of President Obama’s big-government agenda, but those results don’t necessarily mean better policy. We should not forget, after all, that Democrats rammed through Obamacare even after losing the special election to replace Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts (much to my dismay, my prediction from last January was correct.
Similarly, GOP control of the House of Representatives does not automatically mean less government and more freedom. Heck, it doesn’t even guarantee that things won’t continue to move in the wrong direction. Here are five possible bad policies for 2011, most of which the Obama White House can implement by using executive power.
1. A back-door bailout of the states from the Federal Reserve – The new GOP Congress presumably wouldn’t be foolish enough to bail out profligate states such as California and Illinois, but that does not mean the battle is won. Ben Bernanke already has demonstrated that he is willing to curry favor with the White House by debasing the value of the dollar, so what’s to stop him from engineering a back-door bailout by having the Federal Reserve buy state bonds? The European Central Bank already is using this tactic to bail out Europe’s welfare states, so a precedent already exists for this type of misguided policy. To make matters worse, there’s nothing Congress can do – barring legislation that Obama presumably would veto – to stop the Fed from this awful policy.
2. A front-door bailout of Europe by the United States – Welfare states in Europe are teetering on the edge of insolvency. Decades of big government have crippled economic growth and generated mountains of debt. Ireland and Greece already have been bailed out, and Portugal and Spain are probably next on the list, to be followed by countries such as Italy and Belgium. So why should American taxpayers worry about European bailouts? The unfortunate answer is that American taxpayers will pick up a big chunk of the tab if the International Monetary Fund is involved. Indeed, this horse already has escaped the barn. The United States provides the largest amount of subsidies to the International Monetary Fund, and the IMF took part in the bailouts of Greece and Ireland. The Senate did vote against having American taxpayers take part in the bailout of Greece, but that turned out to be a symbolic exercise. Sadly, that’s probably what we can expect if and when there are bailouts of the bigger European welfare states.
3. Republicans getting duped by Obama and supporting a VAT – The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Obama Administration is contemplating a reduction in the corporate income tax. This sounds like a great idea, particularly since America’s punitive corporate tax rate is undermining competitiveness and hindering job creation. But what happens if Obama demands that Congress approve a value-added tax to “pay for” the lower corporate tax rate? This would be a terrible deal, sort of like a football team trading a great young quarterback for a 35-year old lineman. The VAT would give statists a money machine that they need to turn the United States into a French-style welfare state. This type of national sales tax would only be acceptable if the personal and corporate income taxes were abolished – and the Constitution was amended to make sure the federal government never again could tax what we earn and produce. But that’s not the deal Obama would offer. My fingers are crossed that Obama doesn’t offer to swap a lower corporate income tax for a VAT, particularly since we already know that some Republicans are susceptible to the VAT.
4. Regulatory imposition of global warming policy – This actually is an issue we needed to start worrying about before this year. The Obama Administration already is in the process of trying to use regulatory edicts to impose Kyoto-style restrictions on energy use, and 2011 may be a pivotal year for this issue. This issue is troubling because of the potential impact on economic growth, but it also represents an assault on the rule of law since the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency are engaging in regulatory overreach because they did not have enough support to get so-called climate change legislation through Congress. The new GOP majority presumably will try to use the “power of the purse” to limit the EPA’s power grab, and the outcome of that fight could have dramatic implications for job creation and competitiveness.
5. U.N. control of the Internet – The Federal Communications Commission just engaged in an unprecedented power grab as part of its “Net Neutrality” initiative, so we already have bad news for both Internet consumers and America’s telecommunications industry. But it may get worse. The bureaucrats at the United Nations, conspiring with autocratic governments, have created an Internet Governance Forum in hopes of grabbing power over the online world. This has caused considerable angst, leading Vint Cerf, one of inventors of the Internet (sorry, Al Gore) to warn: “We don’t believe governments should be allowed to grant themselves a monopoly on Internet governance. The current bottoms-up, open approach works — protecting users from vested interests and enabling rapid innovation. Let’s fight to keep it that way.” International bureaucracies are very skilled at incrementally increasing their authority, so this won’t be a one-year fight. Stopping this power grab will require persistent oversight and a willingness to reject compromises that inevitably give bureaucracies more power and simply set the stage for further demands.
Copyright © 2009 Big Government. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Chuck Norris
8 Steps To Rebuild America's Economy (Part 3)
The White House's wish almost came true last week. It was hoping most of us and even the mainstream media would miss the release of the Congressional Budget Office's preliminary report on the 2010 federal fiscal year. And most did.
The Wall Street Journal, however, exposed why the White House was being so secretive about its results: The CBO concluded that federal government spending has skyrocketed 21.4 percent in just the past two years since President Barack Obama took office!
The White House's actions remind me of President Ronald Reagan's words: "We could say they spend money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors. It would be unfair because the sailors are spending their own money."
It's no new revelation that Washington has lost its way from our Founders' vision and fiscal frugality. But in the past two years, it has become a financial runaway train. And it is only we the people who can save it from completely derailing our country and all of us on board.
Last week, I discussed the first five steps to regain control of Washington's insane spending and rebuild America's economy. Though I encourage readers who didn't read it to do so to get the details, I will summarize the first five points before I move on to the last three.
First, Washington should immediately stop any thought, form or legislation that would lead to more federal borrowing or bailouts -- no exceptions.
Second, Washington should downsize the federal government by enacting tough spending caps and making across-the-board mandatory 10 percent cuts -- no exceptions.
Third, Washington should immediately revise the 2011 federal budget to align with those priority reductions and eliminate absolutely all earmarks -- no exceptions.
Fourth, Washington should engage in only non-debt-building actions and legislation that would immediately encourage Main Street and augment entrepreneurial incentives, including a commitment to never increase taxes for anyone for any reason but cut more taxes, which would provide immediate relief and increase revenues for everyone.
Fifth, Washington should discuss ways to encourage and equip interstate commerce and more collaboration among neighboring states, counties and communities -- to brainstorm their own solutions to increase revenue and productivity in their own regions.
Sixth, we the people should hold Washington representatives accountable to our Founders' fiscal prudence and federal frugalities, both by our vote and their passing and living under a constitutional amendment for a balanced federal budget, which would require them to live within their means. A balanced budget amendment also would cut up big daddy's credit card in Washington with its unlimited credit limit.
Seventh, because we the people need to ensure our future economic stability and growth, we should seek to elect (or re-elect) only fiscally sound representatives who show proof of fiscal discipline, demonstrate a pay-as-you-go lifestyle and leadership, refuse under all circumstances to increase our national deficit and debts, disdain special interests, commit to live under a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget, understand how to grow jobs and the economy, and are willing to make the most difficult economic decisions.
We need to elect only leaders who would slash government spending and refuse to pay for programs that we cannot afford. We all must fight (once and for all) to elect fiscally prudent politicians like our Founders, those like Thomas Jefferson, who brought down the national deficit even though he made the Louisiana Purchase and engaged the U.S. in a war with Tripoli.
Jefferson's warning about government debt and taxes is more apropos now than ever before: "To preserve (the) independence (of the people), we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses, and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes, have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account, but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers."
This brings me to my eighth critical step in reining in and controlling the federal government's spending and rebuilding America's economy. We must return to a pay-as-you-go government and nation. It's our last resort for an out-of-control economy and government. As Jefferson once said, "the maxim of buying nothing but what we had money in our pockets to pay for (is) a maxim which, of all others, lays the broadest foundation for happiness."
Friends, it's not too late, but the window is closing fast. We likely have one more chance to drop our partisan divides and elect only those who would be strict constitutionalists and preservers of our Founders' vision, principles and fiscal prudence, before the American economy and government collapse.
It is the last hour before the election, and we patriots need to reawaken our friends and neighbors to vote, as I called on Americans to do in my recent comical production "Trigger The Vote."
For a voter guide detailing where candidates in your state stand on issues and the pros and cons of key propositions, go to http://www.christianvoterguide.com./
Most of all, we patriots need to fight with all our might to ensure the election on Nov. 2 of those across this land who firmly believe, as Reagan did, that "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
(I also encourage everyone to check out the trailers to two new patriotic films playing near you, "I Want Your Money" and "Battle for America.")
http://townhall.com/columnists/ChuckNorris/2010/10/19/8_steps_to_rebuild_americas_economy_part_3/page/2
The White House's wish almost came true last week. It was hoping most of us and even the mainstream media would miss the release of the Congressional Budget Office's preliminary report on the 2010 federal fiscal year. And most did.
The Wall Street Journal, however, exposed why the White House was being so secretive about its results: The CBO concluded that federal government spending has skyrocketed 21.4 percent in just the past two years since President Barack Obama took office!
The White House's actions remind me of President Ronald Reagan's words: "We could say they spend money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors. It would be unfair because the sailors are spending their own money."
It's no new revelation that Washington has lost its way from our Founders' vision and fiscal frugality. But in the past two years, it has become a financial runaway train. And it is only we the people who can save it from completely derailing our country and all of us on board.
Last week, I discussed the first five steps to regain control of Washington's insane spending and rebuild America's economy. Though I encourage readers who didn't read it to do so to get the details, I will summarize the first five points before I move on to the last three.
First, Washington should immediately stop any thought, form or legislation that would lead to more federal borrowing or bailouts -- no exceptions.
Second, Washington should downsize the federal government by enacting tough spending caps and making across-the-board mandatory 10 percent cuts -- no exceptions.
Third, Washington should immediately revise the 2011 federal budget to align with those priority reductions and eliminate absolutely all earmarks -- no exceptions.
Fourth, Washington should engage in only non-debt-building actions and legislation that would immediately encourage Main Street and augment entrepreneurial incentives, including a commitment to never increase taxes for anyone for any reason but cut more taxes, which would provide immediate relief and increase revenues for everyone.
Fifth, Washington should discuss ways to encourage and equip interstate commerce and more collaboration among neighboring states, counties and communities -- to brainstorm their own solutions to increase revenue and productivity in their own regions.
Sixth, we the people should hold Washington representatives accountable to our Founders' fiscal prudence and federal frugalities, both by our vote and their passing and living under a constitutional amendment for a balanced federal budget, which would require them to live within their means. A balanced budget amendment also would cut up big daddy's credit card in Washington with its unlimited credit limit.
Seventh, because we the people need to ensure our future economic stability and growth, we should seek to elect (or re-elect) only fiscally sound representatives who show proof of fiscal discipline, demonstrate a pay-as-you-go lifestyle and leadership, refuse under all circumstances to increase our national deficit and debts, disdain special interests, commit to live under a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget, understand how to grow jobs and the economy, and are willing to make the most difficult economic decisions.
We need to elect only leaders who would slash government spending and refuse to pay for programs that we cannot afford. We all must fight (once and for all) to elect fiscally prudent politicians like our Founders, those like Thomas Jefferson, who brought down the national deficit even though he made the Louisiana Purchase and engaged the U.S. in a war with Tripoli.
Jefferson's warning about government debt and taxes is more apropos now than ever before: "To preserve (the) independence (of the people), we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses, and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes, have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account, but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers."
This brings me to my eighth critical step in reining in and controlling the federal government's spending and rebuilding America's economy. We must return to a pay-as-you-go government and nation. It's our last resort for an out-of-control economy and government. As Jefferson once said, "the maxim of buying nothing but what we had money in our pockets to pay for (is) a maxim which, of all others, lays the broadest foundation for happiness."
Friends, it's not too late, but the window is closing fast. We likely have one more chance to drop our partisan divides and elect only those who would be strict constitutionalists and preservers of our Founders' vision, principles and fiscal prudence, before the American economy and government collapse.
It is the last hour before the election, and we patriots need to reawaken our friends and neighbors to vote, as I called on Americans to do in my recent comical production "Trigger The Vote."
For a voter guide detailing where candidates in your state stand on issues and the pros and cons of key propositions, go to http://www.christianvoterguide.com./
Most of all, we patriots need to fight with all our might to ensure the election on Nov. 2 of those across this land who firmly believe, as Reagan did, that "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
(I also encourage everyone to check out the trailers to two new patriotic films playing near you, "I Want Your Money" and "Battle for America.")
http://townhall.com/columnists/ChuckNorris/2010/10/19/8_steps_to_rebuild_americas_economy_part_3/page/2
Friday, September 24, 2010
Bailed Out Union Auto Workers Busted Boozing, Smoking Weed [HQ]
Bailed Out Union Auto Workers Busted Boozing, Smoking Weed
September 23, 2010 at 10:22 am - Fox Detroit
Dateline: Detroit
A Chrysler factory in Detroit received a $6 billion bailout from Obama, so a local Fox reporter began showing up to chronicle what the workers were doing.
Sam Samford
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=156599957703125
September 23, 2010 at 10:22 am - Fox Detroit
Dateline: Detroit
A Chrysler factory in Detroit received a $6 billion bailout from Obama, so a local Fox reporter began showing up to chronicle what the workers were doing.
Sam Samford
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=156599957703125
Friday, September 3, 2010
CAROLINA JOURNAL
Carolina Journal Exclusive
Friday Interview: The Valuable Role of Subsidiarity
By CJ Staff
RALEIGH — In the wake of federal stimulus packages, bailouts, and massive overhauls of the nation’s health care and financial sectors, the concept of “limited government” might appear out of date. Still, the American system of government is designed to adhere to constitutionally defined limits. Key to the success of that system is a concept known as subsidiarity. Christopher Wolfe, co-director of the Thomas International Center and professor emeritus of political science at Marquette University, recently discussed subsidiarity with the John Locke Foundation’s Shaftesbury Society. He also spoke with Mitch Kokai for Carolina Journal Radio.
http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=6792
Friday Interview: The Valuable Role of Subsidiarity
By CJ Staff
RALEIGH — In the wake of federal stimulus packages, bailouts, and massive overhauls of the nation’s health care and financial sectors, the concept of “limited government” might appear out of date. Still, the American system of government is designed to adhere to constitutionally defined limits. Key to the success of that system is a concept known as subsidiarity. Christopher Wolfe, co-director of the Thomas International Center and professor emeritus of political science at Marquette University, recently discussed subsidiarity with the John Locke Foundation’s Shaftesbury Society. He also spoke with Mitch Kokai for Carolina Journal Radio.
http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=6792
Monday, July 19, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Obama: We need to save the same jobs again with $50B more in state bailouts (It never ends)
Posted on Sunday, June 13, 2010 8:13:31 PM by SeekAndFind
The state and local grants in Porkulus acted as a federal bailout package for state bureaucrats, who otherwise may have lost their jobs as state and local governments cut spending in order to balance budgets. The White House sold this as rescues of teachers and first responders, but as a series of local newspapers reported, those jobs were never in jeopardy. The money that got added to those budget items got transferred elsewhere to save less politically sensitive bureaucrats elsewhere, while the Obama administration claimed to have saved millions of jobs through these bailout transfers.
Of course, that only works for a single budget year, and the same structural cost issues that existed over the last year continue today, thanks to the federal bailout. What’s the Obama administration answer for that? Another bailout:
President Obama urged reluctant lawmakers Saturday to quickly approve nearly $50 billion in emergency aid to state and local governments, saying the money is needed to avoid “massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters” and to support the still-fragile economic recovery.
In a letter to congressional leaders, Obama defended last year’s huge economic stimulus package, saying it helped break the economy’s free fall, but argued that more spending is urgent and unavoidable. “We must take these emergency measures,” he wrote in an appeal aimed primarily at members of his own party. …
With the letter, however, Obama makes a direct and unequivocal case for additional “targeted investments,” including state aid and several less-expensive initiatives aimed at assisting small businesses. He specifically calls for passage of the measure that is before the Senate, which would extend unemployment benefits and offer states additional aid, increasing deficits by nearly $80 billion over the next decade.
Obama asks lawmakers to be patient on the deficit, noting that a special commission is at work on a comprehensive deficit-reduction plan.
That’s a laugh. Obama wants people to believe he’s serious about deficit reform, and so he’s proposing making the deficit worse until someone forces him to stop spending. It’s the action of an addict. I can stop spending any time I want. I just don’t want to do it right now.
Besides, the jobs targeted by these bloc-grant bailouts are the exact same ones claimed by the White House last year. When do people in Minnesota get to stop bailing out California bureaucrats?
http://conservativecamp.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=397273&catid=88&Itemid=56
The state and local grants in Porkulus acted as a federal bailout package for state bureaucrats, who otherwise may have lost their jobs as state and local governments cut spending in order to balance budgets. The White House sold this as rescues of teachers and first responders, but as a series of local newspapers reported, those jobs were never in jeopardy. The money that got added to those budget items got transferred elsewhere to save less politically sensitive bureaucrats elsewhere, while the Obama administration claimed to have saved millions of jobs through these bailout transfers.
Of course, that only works for a single budget year, and the same structural cost issues that existed over the last year continue today, thanks to the federal bailout. What’s the Obama administration answer for that? Another bailout:
President Obama urged reluctant lawmakers Saturday to quickly approve nearly $50 billion in emergency aid to state and local governments, saying the money is needed to avoid “massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters” and to support the still-fragile economic recovery.
In a letter to congressional leaders, Obama defended last year’s huge economic stimulus package, saying it helped break the economy’s free fall, but argued that more spending is urgent and unavoidable. “We must take these emergency measures,” he wrote in an appeal aimed primarily at members of his own party. …
With the letter, however, Obama makes a direct and unequivocal case for additional “targeted investments,” including state aid and several less-expensive initiatives aimed at assisting small businesses. He specifically calls for passage of the measure that is before the Senate, which would extend unemployment benefits and offer states additional aid, increasing deficits by nearly $80 billion over the next decade.
Obama asks lawmakers to be patient on the deficit, noting that a special commission is at work on a comprehensive deficit-reduction plan.
That’s a laugh. Obama wants people to believe he’s serious about deficit reform, and so he’s proposing making the deficit worse until someone forces him to stop spending. It’s the action of an addict. I can stop spending any time I want. I just don’t want to do it right now.
Besides, the jobs targeted by these bloc-grant bailouts are the exact same ones claimed by the White House last year. When do people in Minnesota get to stop bailing out California bureaucrats?
http://conservativecamp.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=397273&catid=88&Itemid=56
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