Showing posts with label Economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Economy. Show all posts

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Which GOP candidate has the courage to begin stripping away the Democrat welfare state that is bankrupting this country?

When the media questions a GOP candidate -- from Eric Cantor to Paul Ryan -- their perspective is always the same. Why are Republicans unwilling to compromise with their altruisitic Democrat partners? Why won't they work with President Obama?

The framing of these questions is, of course, patently bogus. When Democrats had control of Congress from 2006 to 2010, and after Obama's election in 2008, where were the great compromises that the media loves to harp about?

• Did they compromise on Obamacare? Or did they ram it through on midnight of Christmas Eve with bribes, backroom deals, and thousands of hidden pages of legislation?

• Did they compromise on Global Warming? Or did the president command the EPA to issue CO2 regulations when even a Democrat-controlled Congress couldn't pass cap-and-trade legislation?

• Did they compromise on the Stimulus package, ramming through trillions in deficit spending that has utterly failed to rescue anything except for the public sector unions' campaign coffers?

• Did they compromise on their outrageous financial reform legislation ("Dodd-Frank") that is spreading misery and layoffs throughout the country?

Actually, I don't recall a single Democrat compromise on any of these outrageous measures. Not a one.

So when we choose a candidate, are we going to have another RINO mush who will "go along to get along"? Who will permit the Democrats' social welfare state to continue expanding, albeit at a slightly slower pace? Who will not try to move the rudder on this country before it sails over the fiscal abyss?

Or will we have a man with courage? Who will shoot straight with the American people? Who would issue a true declaration of political war with the Marxist Utopians that have overthrown the real Democrat Party?

A man who would give a speech like this, paraphrasing Truman?

Two years ago an American juggernaut dropped a bomb on Democrats in Congress and destroyed their usefulness to the Marxist Left. That bomb had the power to swing 63 House seats and 680 state legislative seats and left in its wake what the National Journal called "devastation".

The Democrats began this war in 2007 when they promised to run the "most ethical Congress ever" with "no new deficit spending." Instead they permitted and encouraged rampant criminality and an all-time record of nearly $6 trillion in new deficit spending.

But the end of their reign of fiscal terror is near. The electorate dropped the political equivalent of an atomic bomb on the Democrats again last month. The force which gave birth to this country -- an insatiable desire for freedom -- has been loosed against those who brought fiscal ruin to the nation.

The greatest marvel is not the size of the Democrats' defeat, nor its cost, but the achievement of the people -- a true, grass-roots effort to repudiate Marxism, Statism, Utopianism, whatever their un-American strategies are called -- into a workable plan. People of all races, religions, economic backgrounds and interests worked to advance freedom. It is doubtful if another such combination could have been assembled anywhere in the world. What has been done is among the greatest achievements of a people fighting incipient tyranny in history. It was done under pressure and without failure.

We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every destructive endeavor the Democrat Statists have created. We shall destroy their agencies, their bureaucracies, their unconstitutional czars, their ideologues who have burrowed into regulatory bodies unknown to most Americans. Let there be no mistake: we shall completely destroy the Democrats' political power-base: the bloated federal bureaucracy that has grown, unchecked, for one reason and one reason alone, which is to fund Democrat campaigns.

It was to spare the Democrats from utter destruction that I issue this ultimatum.

If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of political ruin, the likes of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this 2012 offensive will follow subsequent forces in such number that and power as they have not yet seen and with the political skills of which they are already well aware.

The power of the people will continue to grow as more citizens educate themselves regarding the unholy alliance of Democrats and the fourth branch of government -- the public sector unions. Both align themselves against the citizen, against the taxpayer, and threaten the destruction of our country, our currency and our way of life.

We pledge to politically eradicate the Marxist left that inhabits the body of the Democrat Party like some sort of horror film zombie.

And in 2014, 2016, 2018 and in every subsequent election, we will return this great Republic to the Constitutional basis that our Framers intended. Our contract with America is this: it is the Constitution.

No political quarter asked, and none given.

This is a war for the country's future. We can have a failed Marxist welfare state of the sort melting down in Europe. Or we can begin to right the ship by returning to the principles of Constitutional government, the wisdom of which becomes more and more obvious by the day.

I believe Rick Santorum is the only candidate who would issue this kind of ultimatum to the Democrat-media complex. Time grows short to save this republic. I urge you to offer him your support.


Friday, January 20, 2012

Illinois suffers yet another downgrade thanks to mysterious unicorn deaths and Democrat stupidity, but mostly Democrat stupidity

You say that raising taxes makes fiscal problems worse? Gee, that's only happened -- oh -- about 57,000 consecutive times in American history, but we wouldn't expect Democrats to learn anything from facts, logic and reason, would we?

I don’t blame Democrats for wanting to seduce Republicans into a tax-increase trap. Indeed, I completely understand why some Democrats said their top political goal was getting the GOP to surrender the no-tax-hike position.

I’m mystified, though, why some Republicans are willing to walk into such a trap. If you were playing chess against someone, and that person kept pleading with you to make a certain move, wouldn’t you be a tad bit suspicious that your opponent really wasn’t trying to help you win?

...European nations, for instance, have been raising taxes for decades, almost always saying the higher taxes were necessary to balance budgets and control red ink. Yet that obviously hasn’t worked. Europe’s now in the middle of a fiscal crisis... So why do some people think we should mimic the French and the Greeks?

But we don’t need to look overseas for examples. Look at what’s happened in Illinois, where politicians recently imposed a giant tax hike:

Run up spending and debt, raise taxes in the naming of balancing the budget, but then watch as deficits rise and your credit-rating falls anyway. That’s been the sad pattern in Europe, and now it’s hitting that mecca of tax-and-spend government known as Illinois.

…Moody’s downgraded Illinois state debt to A2 from A1, the lowest among the 50 states. That’s worse even than California.

…This wasn’t supposed to happen. Only a year ago, Governor Pat Quinn and his fellow Democrats raised individual income taxes by 67% and the corporate tax rate by 46%. They did it to raise $7 billion in revenue, as the Governor put it, to “get Illinois back on fiscal sound footing” and improve the state’s credit rating. So much for that.

…And—no surprise—in part because the tax increases have caused companies to leave Illinois, the state budget office confesses that as of this month the state still has $6.8 billion in unpaid bills and unaddressed obligations.

In other words, higher taxes led to fiscal deterioration in Illinois, just as tax increases in Europe have been followed by bad outcomes.

Whenever any politician argues in favor of a higher tax burden, just keep these two points in mind:

1. Higher taxes encourage more government spending.

2. Higher taxes don’t raise as much money as politicians claim.


And higher taxes simply indicate tacit acceptance of government irresponsibility.

Which is why the dial must be turned back on all levels of income. Preferably that's accomplished through the Fair Tax or a flat tax.

Pity the poor taxpayers of Illinois. They have been enslaved by the unholy alliance of Democrats and union bosses. And it's probably too late to save them, unless the citizens are willing to organize and rise up to salvage their freedom.

Thank goodness we don't have Democrat hacks from Illinois running the whole damn country.


Update: Tax Hike Doesn't Prevent Moody's From Downgrading Connecticut

Obama-supported Occupy Movement's Official Advertising Material Threatens Violence, Rioting, and Destruction of Private Property

Marathon Pundit alerts us to the Occupy movement's universal symbols of tolerance: an anarchist wielding a pipe-wrench and a crowbar:

Those peaceful chaps with Occupy Eugene in Oregon are distributing a protest flyer portraying a ninja--masked of course--carrying a heavy wrench and a crowbar. Presumably these objects are weapons. And they can be deadly weapons.

Names of prominent banks are listed on the flyer. Occupy Eugene is calling for Monday to be a "Day of Direct Action."

But they're just like the Tea Party.

Except, that is, for the arson, murders, drug-dealing, rapes, suicides, overdoses, vandalism, burglaries, and assaults.


Thursday, January 19, 2012

"But we don't have enough regulations!"

The state of Florida Human Resources Department needs to find the person who invented this ingenious regulation (via Marfdrat):

I had to read it a few times and then contact the officials who required it to discover that the only point of the sign is: it's illegal to not have it. Is this some bureaucrat's idea of a practical joke?

The Florida Department of Revenue lists the law on its website. We called them and asked if there was a reason for the law.

Spokeswoman Renee Watters responded: “A vending machine operator that does not place the notice on the machine presumably is not in compliance with the other requirements such as registration and payment of the tax.”

So there is a reason, after all: If a businessman fails to notice the regulation – it’s conveniently located in Rule 12A-1.044(4)(b) of the Florida Administrative Code, by the way – it’s a tip-off to the authorities that he might have failed to follow some of their other confusing regulations.

But even if he is in compliance with registration and taxes, lack of the notice could still land him a $250 fine.

So, if any of you Floridians happen to see a machine without that required special notice, use the number on the notice to report it… Oh wait.

And progressives rail about "evil corporations"?

How about the out-of-control bureaucracies that churn out 80,000 pages of regulations a year?


WaPo: Obama's Keystone pipeline decision "an act of insanity"

Dan from NY:

It’s not everyday that we hear such shrill criticism emanating from a mainstream columnist writing for a liberal mainstream news outlet.

# # #

Washington Post, January 19 2012, By Robert J. Samuelson

Rejecting the Keystone pipeline is an act of insanity


President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is an act of national insanity. It isn’t often that a president makes a decision that has no redeeming virtues and — beyond the symbolism — won’t even advance the goals of the groups that demanded it. All it tells us is that Obama is so obsessed with his reelection that, through some sort of political calculus, he believes that placating his environmental supporters will improve his chances.

Aside from the political and public relations victory, environmentalists won’t get much. Stopping the pipeline won’t halt the development of tar sands, to which the Canadian government is committed; therefore, there will be little effect on global-warming emissions. Indeed, Obama’s decision might add to them. If Canada builds a pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific for export to Asia, moving all that oil across the ocean by tanker will create extra emissions. There will also be the risk of added spills.

Now consider how Obama’s decision hurts the United States. For starters, it insults and antagonizes a strong ally; getting future Canadian cooperation on other issues will be harder. Next, it threatens a large source of relatively secure oil that, combined with new discoveries in the United States, could reduce (though not eliminate) our dependence on insecure foreign oil.

Finally, Obama’s decision forgoes all the project’s jobs. There’s some dispute over the magnitude. Project sponsor TransCanada claims 20,000, split between construction (13,000) and manufacturing (7,000) of everything from pumps to control equipment. Apparently, this refers to “job years,” meaning one job for one year. If so, the actual number of jobs would be about half that spread over two years. Whatever the figure, it’s in the thousands and thus important in a country hungering for work. And Keystone XL is precisely the sort of infrastructure project that Obama claims to favor.

The big winners are the Chinese. They must be celebrating their good fortune and wondering how the crazy Americans could repudiate such a huge supply of nearby energy. There’s no guarantee that tar-sands oil will go to China; pipelines to the Pacific would have to be built. But it creates the possibility when the oil’s natural market is the United States...

This decision illustrates just how radicalized the Obama administration truly is.

As they say on the real blogs, read the whole thing.


Which is the proper name: Barack Hussein Foodstamp or Barack Foodstamp Obama?

Because only one man in history can properly be called "The Foodstamp President" and this chart illustrates why.

And you would think Obama would be proud of that title: after all, he reveled in the media's coverage of his "Stimulus" package in 2009. Remember when CBS Evening News ran featured segments like "Stimulus Boost For Food Stamp Recipients?"

And now he wants to run away from his great achievements?


Update: "State Gets $5 Million Bonus For Food Stamp Sign Up"


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Infographic: a unique view into the brief history of personal computing

A unique view into the history of computing:

Notice that the scale of the Y-axis is logarithmic.

Things move pretty damn quick in industries where government gets the hell out of the way and lets entrepreneurs do what they do best.

Shhh... no one tell the Democrats.


Via Eponymous Pickle.

I love the smell of red-on-red warfare in the morning: unions vow war with Obama over Keystone XL

In the battle between the flat-earth, no-growth, environmental Marxists and the labor unions for control of President Subprime McDowngrade, it would appear that the ecotards just won a major victory (oh, and "ecotards" is the term they prefer, I hear).

After months of playing political ping-pong with 20,000 potential (mostly union) jobs, the Obama administration decided on Wednesday to kill the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried crude oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries...

For more than three years, the State Department has conducted its “transparent, thorough, and rigorous review.” However, apparently, the Obama Administration believed that three years wasn’t enough to be transparent, thorough, or rigorous enough...

...As a result of the Obama’s job-destroying decision, Laborers’ union president, Terry O’Sullivan issued a blistering statement:

The score is Job-Killers, two; American workers, zero. We are completely and totally disappointed. This is politics at its worst. Once again the President has sided with environmentalists instead of blue collar construction workers – even though environmental concerns were more than adequately addressed. Blue collar construction workers across the U.S. will not forget this.

The project would create thousands of good jobs at a time when unemployment in the construction industry is 16 percent with 1.3 million men and women jobless.

Environmental groups have used the Keystone XL as a disingenuous proxy for arguments about global warming. The pipeline would carry up to 900,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada’s Tar Sands to the U.S., reducing reliance on oil from hostile nations. While environmental groups decry Tar Sands development, the Canadian government and Trans-Canada, the company developing the Tar Sands, have made clear the oil will be developed – and possibly sold to China – regardless of whether Keystone XL is built...

Hey, O'Sullivan: did Obama at least buy you flowers beforehand?

Dick Trumka and Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. could not be reached for comment at press time. I just wanted to know whether they would miss the roughly 100,000 jobs (direct and indirect) that would have been created by the Keystone. I guess not, since they're sitting in their multi-million dollar homes, insulated from the concerns of their hapless members.


Hilarious graph: what Californians got for their $27 billion

Man, those teachers' unions are working out great in Cali, aren't they?

"Would an Extra $27 Billion Improve CA Public School Performance?" ...an op-ed in today’s Orange County Register [explains] that’s not a theoretical question. After adjusting for inflation and enrollment growth, CA spent $27 billion more on K-12 public schooling in 2010 than it did when Jerry Brown was first elected governor back in 1974. SAT scores fell over that period (see chart below).

...And if a $27 billion spending boost was associated with a decline in SAT scores, why would anyone expect Governor Brown’s proposal to raise another $7 billion in education taxes to do any good?

Say, I've got an idea for you hardworking California taxpayers: keep electing Democrats to office who are completely beholden to public sector unions and whose allegiance lies with illegal immigrants. That way, you'll keep paying more and more money for fewer and fewer services. At least until the state melts down in a cauldron of civil unrest.

That's the Democrat way.


Hat tip: BadBlue.

Apparently, there is such a thing as a free lunch.

So all of those years my Dad spent drilling into my head the acronym TANSTAAFL ("There ain't no such thing as a free lunch") were -- it would seem -- a complete waste of time.

That is, if you're a Democrat intent on addicting children (and their parents) on governmental dependency; the theory being that all will turn out to be reliable Democrat voters.

From the data provided by the Ohio Department of Education, I created a chart showing the number of students and free lunches provided in the period 2002 through 2011.

While the number of school children in Ohio is trending down (the 2005 figure from the Ohio Department of Education seems to be a mistake), while the number of students receiving a free lunch is trending up at a much faster pace.

What do should we make of this chart?
• poverty has greatly increased in Ohio
• the Great Recession is responsible for the increase
• government has created another program that fosters dependency

The simple fact is, that there is no way that this many families cannot provide lunches for their own children. Instead, in a great many of these cases... government is simply allowing parents to shirk their responsibilities to their own children, and in essence, place that burden on other taxpayers.

...A decline of individualism is upon us and is being replaced with, almost a Plato like system where the children are raised by the community rather than the parent.

Aristotle, in Politics, wrote of the consequences of the communal state:

"That which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it. Every one thinks chiefly of his own, hardly at all of the common interest; and only when he himself is concerned as an individual."

The Democrat Party is following the Utopian template of Plato, Thomas More, Hobbes and Karl Marx; each believed that a few altruistic masterminds in government could orchestrate society into an ideal community.

And each of their models, of course, descended into despotism, tyranny and mass murder as a few not-so-altruistic masterminds used the levers of governmental power to pursue their own corrupt ends.

So too will the Democrats' plans fail -- as they have throughout all of human history.

And only the Constitution and an engaged citizenry, you and I, stand between the Democrat masterminds who seek to destroy this society and replace it with a Utopian nirvana that they can't even define.

Only the Constitution -- the greatest bulwark of liberty ever created, designed explicitly by our founders to protect the individual from the corrupting powers of centralized government -- only the Constitution, you, and I stand in their way.

And 2012 may be our last chance to save this republic from their destructive, Utopian dreams. And I don't care if Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum or Rick Perry is the GOP candidate. I would vote for a banana peel over Barack Obama, because a banana peel would do significantly less damage to this society than the Utopian mastermind who won't even reveal his college transcripts.


Monday, January 16, 2012

Good news: EPA creates bureaucratic nightmare to prevent farmers from using... pesticides

And what could possibly go wrong with a de facto ban on pesticides? Farm Futures explains:

The U.S. Senate and the Senate Agriculture Committee failed to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing a regulation which will require a Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit when applying pesticides.

...any person discharging pesticides and leaving a residue, waste or surplusage through a point source and into a water of the United States will be required to obtain a NPDES permit before application. This case still poses a legal risk for tillage agriculture...

• mosquito and other flying insect pest control;
• weed and algae pest control on the water and the water's edge;
• animal pest control...;
• forest canopy pest control where pesticides will necessarily have to be applied over and deposited into water.

The general permit issued by EPA will start being enforced at the end of February, 2012... As producers, you need to be extremely vigilant as to what your state environmental agency may be doing with regard to requiring NPDES permits for spraying of pesticides.

In other words, if a farm has any water on its property, it could be required to submit a "pesticide discharge management plan". This fun package of regulatory overreach includes:

• a Pesticide Discharge Management Team;
• Problem Identification;
• Pest Management Options Evaluation;
• Response Procedures;
• Spill Response Procedures;
• Adverse Incident Procedures;
• and Documentation to Support Compliance with Other Federal Laws.

As the understated Farm Futures observes, "it is unlikely most agricultural operations could support this bureaucratic framework."

[The framework] does not provide any protection or preemption if a producer is sued by a citizen who claims the spraying of a crop leads to the discharge of the pesticide or herbicide into the air and is discharged or deposited into a water of the state.

...Before spring planting begins, you should have your local farm organization check with the state environmental agency to determine its position on pesticide application and any potential legal liability that might develop as a result of spraying practices... It still poses a risk to farmers and applicators.

I guess we really didn't need reliable food production after all.

And what's the real motivation behind this regulatory nightmare? To make farming so difficult, so onerous, so bureaucratic, that small farms will simply give up and sell out to huge corporations; you know, the kind that have an incestuous relationship with Congress. With the state. It's Crony Capitalism 101, folks (refer to tenets #1 and #7 in Compare and Contrast: Karl Marx' 10 Point Program of Communism and the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Agenda).


The Euro? 404 Error, Not Found

I happened to get a quote on the Greek 1-year bond earlier today and found that its yield had hit an apt figure:

The 1-year yields roughly 404 percent, which is apropos because 404 is the universal web status code for "not found".

And that's what the head of Unicredit Securities said today regarding the future of the Euro. Here are the soundbites, so you don't have to slog through the whole article (all bullet points are verbatim quotes):

• Europe's common currency is virtually dead...
• The Euro's doomed...
• ...when Athens is declared bankrupt, a "10 magnitude" earthquake will shake Europe...
• ...Holders of Greek government bonds will have to write off their entire investment, the southern European nation will stop paying salaries and pensions and automated teller machines in the country will empty 'within minutes'...

Bloomberg also relays an assessment that "the panic escalating this way may sweep across Europe in a self-fulfilling fashion, leading to the breakup of the euro area."

In other words, the exact same spending plans of the Democrat Party -- led by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, who have put America in hock so deeply that it simply cannot be bailed out -- are the same plans that are poised to destroy the European financial system.

If we have a prayer of saving this country, if it's not already too late, I urge you to eradicate the Democrat Party at the ballot box in 2012. Obliterate it, at every level of government. It's the only way to be sure.


Sunday, January 15, 2012

"Ballot access" group Americans Elect: a thinly-disguised, Axelrod-ian attempt to have Jon Huntsman run third party?

Depending upon whom you believe, a group called Americans Elect is a nefarious effort to split either the Democrat or the Republican electorate.

Americans Elect, a privately financed group attempting to run a major third-party candidate for the White House, won a spot on California's 2012 ballot Monday, a milestone in its quest to give voters an alternative to President Obama and his Republican challenger.

California is the 12th state to award Americans Elect a ballot line in the 2012 presidential race. The group hopes its ticket will appear on the ballot in all 50 states. To earn its place on the California ballot, Americans Elect submitted the signatures of more than 1 million registered voters...

...So far, the only well-known figure to express interest in the Americans Elect ballot line is former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, whose run for the Republican presidential nomination has sputtered. Party organizers are hoping a more viable — and preferably wealthy — candidate will emerge, such as New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

The group has raised a tremendous amount of money -- reportedly, $30 million -- in short order, which begs the question: who is behind Americans Elect?

Americans Elect's chairman is Peter Ackerman, who was right-hand man to junk-bond trader Michael Milken at Drexel Burnham Lambert in the 1980s. That could leave the impression of Wall Street backing at a time when the finance industry is unpopular.

Despite Americans Elect's assertions that the group is not a front for leftists bent on splitting the GOP vote, a commenter at National Journal describes it as a stealth effort to have Jon Huntsman run as an independent.

Peter Ackerman who put in the original seed money (5 million) is also the founder of Rockport Capital and they make investments in green energy. They invested in Solyndra and Evergreen which both went bankrupt after receiving Obama stimulus money.

If they choose Huntsman it will be clear that they were invented to take votes away from the Republicans NOT the Democrats. Huntsman worked for Obama and then out of nowhere decided to run for the presidency.

Its as wrong as you say it is to mess with the elctorate dishonestly no matter who it hurts. But liberals always believe the ends justify the means. Huntsman is Obama's trojan horse.

Is any of this information credible? Turns out it is.

Solyndra Came Close to Landing Navy Deal: "A major investor in Solyndra LLC was instrumental in helping the troubled solar-power firm compete for a potentially lucrative U.S. Navy deal... Solyndra was promoted to the Navy by RockPort Capital, one of the firm's largest investors and board members, which has a seat on a Pentagon panel that helps the government find emerging technologies..."

• "Peter Ackerman is the managing director of Rockport Capital Inc.."

No less a source than the official public relations journal of the Democrat National Committee, which is sometimes referred to by its trade name Politico, revealed in December that Jon Huntsman truly is the preferred third-party candidate of the Left.

Former New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman, who is leading a group to draft a third-party presidential candidate, is encouraging Jon Huntsman to make an independent bid for the White House...

Earlier this week, the Boston Globe reported that Huntsman wouldn’t rule out the possibility of an independent bid. The Utah Republican said he doesn’t “think” he would do so, but refused to take the idea off the table.

If Jon Huntsman turns out to be Obama's trojan horse candidate, explicitly running to drain votes from the Republican candidate, he will have served as an accomplice to the most malevolent administration in American history.

Should Jon Huntsman run third-party and hand Barack Obama a victory, he will go down in history as the modern Benedict Arnold. The names of Peter Ackerman and Christine Todd Whitman, likewise, will be forever etched in the annals of history as those who helped destroy America.

Because that's what four more years of Barack Obama means: the death of America itself.


Hat tip: Vicki.

Litany of Failure

How many failures will it take before a huge majority of Americans discover what the Soviets, the East Germans, the Cubans, the North Koreans and all others who lived in centrally planned economies found out? That is: that authoritarian, centralized, massive government planning can't work, won't work and hasn't ever worked in all of human history.

2009-02-18 Realtor: President Obama announces 'Making Home Affordable', helping up to 9M avoid foreclosure
2009-02-19 CNN: Experts say Obama's $75 billion foreclosure fix will work
2009-03-06 NLIHC: President Obama Announces Details of Homeownership Protection Plan
2009-03-19 PRLog: President Obama Annonces Program to Help Students Find Summer Internships
2009-04-09 EDTA: President Obama Announces Faster Purchase of 17,600 American Vehicles for Government
2009-05-27 CleanCar: President announces new $467MM alternative energy programs: solar and geothermal
2009-06-30 Philanthropy: President Obama announces $50MM fund to expand innovative social projects
2009-08-05 DOE: President Obama Announces $2.4 Billion in Grants to Accelerate Battery, E.V. Development
2009-10-21 White House: President Obama Announces New Small Business Lending Initiatives
2009-10-21 Bank: President Obama Announces Additional TARP Capital for Community Banks
2009-11-23 Boston: President announces $260MM program highlighting science education

2010-01-06 White House: President Obama Expands “Educate to Innovate” Campaign With $250 Million
2010-01-08 CNN: Obama unveils $2.3 billion for clean energy jobs
2010-01-11 Green: President Obama Unveils New, $2.3B Renewable Energy Funding Program
2010-01-15 HUD: Administration announces $2B in Neighborhood Stabilization Program Grants
2010-01-28 CNN: Obama announces $8 billion investment in high-speed train system
2010-02-19 LVSun: Obama to announce new $1.5B foreclosure rescue program in Las Vegas
2010-03-01 White House: President Obama Commits $3.5 Billion to Reduce Dropout Rate
2010-03-26 Sun-Times: Administration announces enhancements to MHA program to prevent foreclosures
2010-09-16 White House: President Obama to Announce Expansion of $4B 'Educate to Innovate' Campaign
2010-09-26 CBS: President Obama Announces New $50B Jobs Program
2010-09-27 HHS: HHS announces $68M in new grants to help people explore health, long-term care options
2010-10-04 Training: President Obama Announces Launch of Job Training Partnerships
2010-10-15 Florida: Federal government allocates funding to help pay mortgages of homeowners

2011-02-08 White House: White House announces six-year, $53B plan to build national high-speed rail network
2011-02-10 USDA: President Obama Announces Plan for Community-Based Conservation
2011-06-08 NIST: President Obama program will prepare 500,000 Workers for Cutting-Edge Manufacturing Jobs
2011-07-29 NHTSA: President Obama Announces Historic 54.5 mpg Fuel Efficiency Standard
2011-08-09 NLink: President Obama announces $75B Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan (HASP)
2011-08-15 CPost: Obama Visits Navy Yard to Announce Jobs Program for Veterans
2011-08-17 DOE: President Obama Announces $510MM Initiative to Spur Biofuels Industry
2011-09-16 White House: President signs America Invents Act: turns ideas into jobs
2011-09-26 DOL: Obama administration awards nearly $500MM for job training and workforce development
2011-10-24 ABC News: President Obama Announces New Program to Help Struggling Homeowners
2011-10-26 White House: President Obama Announces Steps to Lower Monthly Student Loan Payments
2011-11-10 Head Start: New Regulations Increase Accountability and Boost Quality in Head Start
2011-11-14 Natl. Journal: White House Announces $1 Billion in Health Care Grants to Create Jobs
2011-12-07 DOE: President Obama Announces Nearly $4 Billion in Building Energy Upgrades
2011-12-08 White House: We Can’t Wait: Obama Announces $2B to Support Job-Creating Startups
2011-12-16 ED.gov: We Can't Wait: Nine States Awarded $500MM Race to the Top Grants
2011-12-16 NFWF: Obama Administration Announces New Conservation Jobs Program For Youth
2011-12-18 Bills.com: President Obama announces changes to Home Affordable Refinance Program

2012-01-05 Democrats: President Obama announced the new Summer Jobs+ program; will provide nearly 180,000 employment opportunities

And it's interesting to count how many of these failed, duplicative exercises in central planning were designed to direct taxpayer funds into the coffers of the president's union boss supporters, which -- in turn -- will be deposited directly back into his 2012 reelection campaign accounts.


Thursday, January 12, 2012

Fun Coincidence: Obama's State of the Union Speech Will Mark 1,000 Days Without Democrats Passing a Budget

For three years -- including two years with super-majority control of both houses of Congress -- Democrats have avoided passing a budget. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives passed the Paul Ryan budget within weeks of the GOP taking control in 2011.

President Obama is sure to try to blame Republicans in both chambers for his administration’s failed economic policies. However, on the 1,000th day without a Democrat budget, the President will be forced to explain how anyone else is to blame; it is his party’s Senate leaders who have ignored their basic Congressional responsibility for almost three years...

A short look back on the fiscal recklessness of the last few years shows that if President Obama is upset about budget hostilities in Washington, he has no one to blame but himself. If he is serious about fixing the ailing economy, the President should demand Senate Democrats get back to work:

• 0: Number of Senate votes taken on the massive Democrat spending package crafted last year in place of an actual budget.
• 0: Number of votes the President’s FY 2012 budget received in the Senate.
• 0: Senate Budget Committee budget mark-ups scheduled last year.
• 3: Number of years the deficit has topped $1 Trillion.
• 3: Number of years total government spending has exceeded $3 Trillion.
• 34: number of months unemployment has been above 8 percent, the jobless rate the “stimulus” was supposed to prevent.
• 1.4 million: number of jobs killed by President Obama
• $16.4 Trillion: amount of debt held by the nation after three years of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid spending binge.

When President Obama blames a "do nothing" Congress, perhaps he should lean over and wink at Harry Reid, who has intentionally avoided passage of a budget for three consecutive years, an act of fiscal irresponsibility without parallel in modern American history.


Good News: Federal Highway Funds Used to Buy Bus Stop Shelters for a Mere $106,000 each

Well, golly gee, Granny Botox, these lovely covered benches certainly appear to be bargains at twice the price!

Should a simple bus shelter -- basically a few benches covered by a roof -- cost as much to build as a three-bedroom house?

That's a question that is provoking outrage and official embarrassment in the southern Oregon city of Grants Pass, which this week signed off on a project to build five bus shelters at an estimated cost of $106,000 apiece.

To some, the price tag is particularly galling given the increasingly fierce competition for dwindling federal highway dollars, which are paying for the project.

"The price is obviously high," said Grants Pass Mayor Mike Murphy, clearly chagrined at the negative publicity his city is getting. "It makes everyone want to hold their nose and gag a little bit here."

But he said the city has little control over the construction cost, which is dictated by a combination of federal and state spending rules. So what was supposed to be a symbol of civic progress instead has turned into an object lesson in the way government makes itself look bad.

"The feeling in the community is this is an outrageous use of federal money and so we should turn it down," Murphy said. All that would do, he said, is send the dollars elsewhere and deprive the city -- population 33,225 -- and its small, four-route bus system of some attractive shelters.

But there's nothing to cut from the federal budget!

And what would the children do, if we cut even a single dollar? What of the children? And the clowns?


Hat tip: Laughing Conservative.

Barack the Magician's Latest Trick: Made One Million Workers Disappear

Investors Business Daily calls it, simply, "Unprecedented."

Initial jobless claims unexpectedly jumped by 24,000 last week to 399,000 as more workers lost their jobs, the Labor Department said Thursday. At the same time, the economy continues to lose workers.

In the 30 months since the recession officially ended, nearly 1 million people have dropped out of the labor force — they aren't working, and they aren't looking — according to data from Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the past two months, the labor force shrank by 170,000.

This is virtually unprecedented in past economic recoveries, at least since the BLS has kept detailed records. In the past nine recoveries, the labor force had climbed an average 3.5 million by this point, according to an IBD analysis of the BLS data.

...According to the BLS, the "labor force participation rate" — the ratio of the number of people either working or looking for work compared with the entire working-age population — is now 64%, down from 65.7% when the recession ended in June 2009. That's the lowest level since women began entering the workforce in far greater numbers several decades ago.

If you adjust for this drop, the unemployment rate would be close to 11%, instead of the official 8.5%.

At this rate, the completely politicized Bureau of Labor Statistics should just remove a few more million workers from the labor force, so they can get the unemployment rate down to, say, 4.8%. Like it was during those nightmarish Bush years.


Related: Obama Labor Politburo Now Publishing Patently Bogus Unemployment Propaganda.

Man of the people: Obama unveils high-priced, designer campaign fashions

Nothing appeals to the middle class during a brutal recession like overpriced, haute couture Obama logo gear.

Forget those pedestrian campaign t-shirts, buttons and bumper stickers. The Obama Campaign has officially gone upscale and chic in an effort to help re-elect the president in 2012.

Their new “Runway to Win” line of designer campaign swag is now for sale in the campaign’s online store, featuring colorful $85 tote bags by big name designers Vera Wang and Diane Von Furstenberg and a $75 version by fashion favorite Tory Burch.

Looking for a t-shirt? Stars Marc Jacobs, Beyonce, Sean Combs and Jason Wu — who designed Michelle Obama’s inaugural gown — have each contributed a design...

...The priciest of the 13 items listed online is a $95 for a Thakoon-designed silk scarf... Standard campaign t-shirts, it should be noted, cost $30, while a simple canvass tote costs $50 in the same online store...

...The money raised from the sale of campaign-themed apparel and accessory benefits the Obama Victory Fund...

The full list of participating designers: Tory Burch, Marc Jacobs, Beyonce & Tina Knowles, Derek Lam, Jack McCollough & Lazaro Hernandez, Tracy Reese, Narcisco Rodriguez, Rachel Roy, Thakoon Panichgul, Grace Tsao-Wu & Laura Kofoid, Diane Von Furstenberg, Marcus Wainwright & David Neville, Jason Wu, Altuzarra, Richard Blanch, Eddie Borgo, Georgina Chapman & Keren Craig, Sean Combs, Prabal Gurung, Monique Pean, Russell Simmons and Vera Wang.

That's the full list of designers that you should boycott (along with any company that sells their crap), since they obviously support the destruction of this republic.


Hat tip: @AmandaCarpenter.

Helpful Flowchart: Should I Vote for Barack Obama?

The Looking Spoon:

I also have a simpler flowchart that I use with drones Democrats. It's really just a "Yes/No" deal:

Q: Do you favor the current course of fiscal irresponsibility, which will bankrupt America and needlessly sentence future generations to poverty and misery?

If you answered "Yes", please vote for Barack Obama. If you answered "No", please support Rick Santorum for President.


Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Operation Grand Slam Nears Completion in Europe: Complete, Total Meltdown of Financial System

Mike Shedlock -- who has a damn good track record on macroeconomics over the past several years -- uses the following headline, which actually understates the problem.

Europe’s $39 Trillion Pension Time Bomb Explodes in 2012...


Even before the euro crisis, people were worried about Europe’s pension bomb.

State-funded pension obligations in 19 of the European Union nations were about five times higher than their combined gross debt, according to a study commissioned by the European Central Bank. The countries in the report compiled by the Research Center for Generational Contracts at Freiburg University in 2009 had almost 30 trillion euros ($39.3 trillion) of projected obligations to their existing populations.

...Stable or falling birthrates, plus rising life expectancies, are adding to pressures, with the proportion of economic output devoted to spending on retirement benefits projected to rise by a quarter to 14 percent by 2060, according to the ECB report.

Europe has the highest proportion of people aged over 60 of any region in the world, and that is forecast to rise to almost 35 percent by 2050 from 22 percent in 2009, according to a report from the United Nations. That compares with a global estimate of 22 percent by 2050, up from 11 percent in 2009.

...In so-called developed countries, the average lifespan will reach almost 83 by 2050, up from about 75 in 2009, the UN said.

...State pension obligations in France and Germany are three times the size of their economies, according to data compiled by Mercer.

Shedlock concludes: "The punchline to this economic disaster came in the middle of the article: 'Pension managers and governments are relying on economic growth to safeguard the promises they make.'"

Suffice it to say that Europe will be lucky to average any growth -- even one percent -- over the next five years given its imminent set of cascading defaults.

And, not to belabor the point, but this should serve as yet another alarm klaxon for any American concerned with the future of this Republic. That, of course, leaves out liberals, progressives and the rest of the Democrat Party, which appears bent on national suicide.


Image: Business Insider.