As of last week, the president had played 102 rounds of golf since taking office. According to White House reporter Keith Koffler, each golf outing takes about five hours. Using arithmetic -- something apparently unfamiliar to Democrats, given their staunch refusal to pass a federal budget -- Obama has spent about 510 hours golfing.
This compares to a total of "412 hours ... in economic meetings or briefings of any kind", according to a time study published by The Government Accountability Insititute (PDF).
Even discounting his callous disregard for the Constitution, this president has no respect for the American people. He has no work ethic and no interest in the economy.
And please note: I'm not even counting the innumerable fundraisers and pickup basketball games, which also do absolutely nothing for Americans suffering in this, the Obama Depression.
Hat tip: Gateway Pundit and Right Scoop: 'I will not rest'.
Showing posts with label Economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Economy. Show all posts
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Perfect: one of Obama's unconstitutional recess appointments to labor board has ties to organized crime
The good news? At least the illegal appointee never chopped off the pinkies of debtors with a rusty axe (to my knowledge):
Sounds to me like Griffin is the Obama administration in microcosm.
Hat tip: BadBlue.com.
Richard Griffin, whom President Obama illegally appointed to the National Labor Relations Board, never had to answer a single question from U.S. senators – or even file the standard paperwork for nominees – prior to assuming his post in January.
Because of Obama’s unconstitutional non-recess appointment, Griffin’s connections to numerous International Union of Operating Engineers locals with extensive criminal rap sheets were never explored. In January, Scribe documented how Griffin blocked efforts to reform corrupt chapters of the IUOE as its general counsel.
Now, seven months after the non-recess appointment, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is looking for answers to those questions. In a letter to Griffin sent on Wednesday, Hatch asks for information about his relationship with the numerous IUOE workers who have either been tied to mob activity or were convicted of crimes during Griffin’s tenure at the union.
While Griffin did not personally represent any of those criminals, he did, as we noted in January, advance policies that made it more difficult for rank-and-file union members to challenge corrupt leaders in local elections. Those policies “make it difficult for a lot of guys to speak up,” explained Mike Quigley, who failed to unseat a boss of IUOE Local 150 who three years later was indicted for violations of federal labor law.
Sounds to me like Griffin is the Obama administration in microcosm.
Hat tip: BadBlue.com.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Skin in the game: top 20 percent of wage-earners paid about 95 percent of all income taxes
Fairness:
Joe Biden calls this having "skin in the game".
Skin in the game? Yes, I agree with that. What about the bottom 60 percent putting some skin in the game?
No one gets played for a sucker? Yes, I agree with that. How about taxpayers recoup the billions Obama sent to his campaign bundlers for their phony "green companies"?
What Biden said actually makes sense, though not in the way he'd intended.
Hat tip: BadBlue.com/Money.
The [accompanying] chart ... is based on data in the recently-released CBO report "Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2008 and 2009," [PDF] showing the share of federal income taxes paid by income group in 2009. In 2009, almost all (94.1%) federal income taxes collected were paid by just one-fifth of Americans (top quintile) and the top 1% paid almost 39% of all taxes collected. In contrast, the lowest and second quintiles were net "tax collectors" because that 40% of Americans received more in refundable tax credits than they paid in income taxes.
But all we hear about is how the rich don't pay their fair share of taxes, and proposals for increasing taxes on "the rich," like the one from Warren Buffett discussed here
Joe Biden calls this having "skin in the game".
"We see a system where everybody pays their fair share. Where the middle-class tax cut is maintained, and where no one making a million dollars a year or more pays a lower percentage in income than middle-class and working-class families. Where everyone, and I mean everyone, has skin in the game and no one gets played for a sucker.
Skin in the game? Yes, I agree with that. What about the bottom 60 percent putting some skin in the game?
No one gets played for a sucker? Yes, I agree with that. How about taxpayers recoup the billions Obama sent to his campaign bundlers for their phony "green companies"?
What Biden said actually makes sense, though not in the way he'd intended.
Hat tip: BadBlue.com/Money.
Sweet: USDA partnering with government of Mexico to dramatically boost the distribution of food stamps
This administration just keeps getting better and better:
Oh, and if that's not enough, the USDA also provides food-stamp brochures in... wait for it... Arabic.
You can't make this s*** up.
Hat tip: Wanda.
The Mexican government has been working with the United States Department of Agriculture to increase participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps.
USDA has an agreement with Mexico to promote American food assistance programs, including food stamps, among Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals and migrant communities in America.
“USDA and the government of Mexico have entered into a partnership to help educate eligible Mexican nationals living in the United States about available nutrition assistance,” the USDA explains in a brief paragraph on their “Reaching Low-Income Hispanics With Nutrition Assistance” web page. “Mexico will help disseminate this information through its embassy and network of approximately 50 consular offices.”
...The goal, for USDA, is to get rid of what they see as enrollment obstacles and increase access among potentially eligible populations by working with arms of the Mexican government in America. Benefits are not guaranteed or provided under the program — the purpose is outreach and education.
Some of the materials the USDA encourages the Mexican government to use to educate and promote the benefit programs are available free online for order and download. A partial list of materials include English and Spanish brochures titled “Five Easy Steps To Snap Benefits,” “How To Get Food Help — A Consumer’s Guide to FNCS Programs,” “Ending Hunger Improving Nutrition Combating Obesity,” and posters with slogans like “Food Stamps Make America Stronger.”
Oh, and if that's not enough, the USDA also provides food-stamp brochures in... wait for it... Arabic.
You can't make this s*** up.
Hat tip: Wanda.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Hasn't he done enough for us already? Non-partisan Ernst & Young accounting firm estimates Obama tax hike will kill 710,000 more jobs
And it seems like only a few months ago the president was claiming that tax hikes would kill the economy. Oh, you say it was only a few months ago?
Oh.
Perhaps the president simply changed his mind.
Look, folks: just do whatever the president tells us to do. Ours is not to ask questions, no matter how many failed policies and edicts he may issue. He has far more experience with businesses of every variety and size than all of us, so I'm certain his decisions will work out. Someday.
Image hat tip: Moonbattery.
Oh.
Perhaps the president simply changed his mind.
A new study conducted by Ernst and Young proves conclusively that the President’s tax increase would be devastating to the economy and jobs.
The study finds that, if Congress misguidedly adopted President Obama’s plan to raise taxes on job creators by allowing the Bush-era tax policies to expire for incomes over $200,000 ($250,000 for married filers), the economy and jobs would suffer terribly:
- Output in the long run would fall by 1.3 percent, or $200 billion, in today’s economy;
- Employment in the long run would fall by 0.5 percent or, roughly 710,000 fewer jobs, in today’s economy;
- Capital stock and investment in the long run would fall by 1.4 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively; and
- Real after-tax wages would fall by 1.8 percent.
There are almost 13 million Americans out of work today. President Obama’s tax increase would needlessly add almost three-quarters of a million people to that already much too large number. Even those with jobs wouldn’t escape the pain of President Obama’s tax increase, as they would see their wages suffer.
Look, folks: just do whatever the president tells us to do. Ours is not to ask questions, no matter how many failed policies and edicts he may issue. He has far more experience with businesses of every variety and size than all of us, so I'm certain his decisions will work out. Someday.
Image hat tip: Moonbattery.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
A Slight Difference of Economic Opinion
I'm not sure I see any patterns here, but perhaps you're better at econ than I am.
Is it true that facts, logic, reason and human experience all tell us that Obama's vision of collectivism works?
Is it true that facts, logic, reason and human experience all tell us that Obama's vision of collectivism works?
You didn't build that: a gallery of Obama entrepreneurship
After spotting this...
...I simply couldn't resist:
I'm truly shocked that America's most liberal senator (according to National Journal) turned out to be a radical leftist who hasn't the first clue about the economy.
...I simply couldn't resist:
I'm truly shocked that America's most liberal senator (according to National Journal) turned out to be a radical leftist who hasn't the first clue about the economy.
Monday, July 16, 2012
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Survey Says: Look Out Below!
Free Enterprise phrases it a bit more diplomatically than I would have: "Uncertainty Holding Back Hiring".
Some of the charts are all you need to see. The situation is dire, exacerbated by feckless executive leadership, a complete failure to budget, and a regulatory regime bent on "crucifying" companies (their words).
I guess these misguided business owners haven't yet learned the lesson President Obama has tried to teach us for lo these many years: "If you've got a business, you -- you didn't build that!"
Some of the charts are all you need to see. The situation is dire, exacerbated by feckless executive leadership, a complete failure to budget, and a regulatory regime bent on "crucifying" companies (their words).
I guess these misguided business owners haven't yet learned the lesson President Obama has tried to teach us for lo these many years: "If you've got a business, you -- you didn't build that!"
Boortz speaks truth to power: "Obama is a fascist"
It would seem that Neal Boortz is a tad peeved at the president's unconscionable statements about free enterprise.
I've asked it over and over again of you Leftists and no one can answer this question: when did it become acceptable for the Democrat Party to embrace and integrate Marxists, Fascists and Communists into its party?
Because, back during the Cold War, it was called treason. For that is what it is.
Related: The Wiktionary Definition of Fascism (2009).
...after a week of batting around successful business owners, Caesar Obammus went to Roanoke, Virginia to deliver a speech. In this speech Obama finally spoke the words that left no doubt --- no doubt at all – not one infinitesimal grain of doubt – that he is an anti-free enterprise, controlled economy, big-government economic fascist and a grave threat to our style and standard of living in the United States.
Yes … I called Obama a fascist. Unlike occutards and assorted proggies, I can back up my words with fact.
A brief review of the three general ways to formulate an economy:
• Free Enterprise: Private ownership and control of the means of production with only necessary and limited government involvement.
• Socialism: Government ownership and full control of the means of production.
Hmmmmmm. That doesn’t cover everything, does it? What if the control of businesses are still in private hands, but the government is pretty much running the show with excessive rules and regulations. For instance, what if banks and financial institutions invest literally billions of dollars into the development and deployment of a bank debit card system by which consumers can pay for purchases simply by swiping a plastic card through a reader and entering a secret personal identification number --- and the government comes along and tells the banks just how much they will be allowed to charge merchants to use this system. Private ownership – government control. What do you call that?
Fascism … that’s what you call that. Economic fascism. And fascism is the Barack Obama game.
Now in his Roanoke speech not only did Dear Ruler show his complete disdain and outright animosity toward free enterprise. He has truly hated capitalism his entire life. He learned if from his mother and father, and from the people he chose to associate with throughout his life – people like Frank Marshall Davis, Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, and many more.
I read the speech --- all 13 nauseating pages of it --- and my heart sank with every paragraph. Here is a man who, thanks to the government-educated dumb masses in this country, may very well be reelected for another four years who is completely clueless as to how our economy works. Not only does he consider the free market to be – in his own words – the “enemy;” but it is a system he simply does not understand at ANY level. There are thousands of high school Junior Achievement members across this country who know more about free enterprise than Dear Ruler...
...Obama sees every successful and wealthy businessman as someone living off of the spoils of an exploitive system that has victimized those at the lower end of the income scale --- and he sees it as his job to make things right by taking money from the evil rich – who, after all, don’t need it – and giving it to the poor. Pure absolute Marxism.
I've asked it over and over again of you Leftists and no one can answer this question: when did it become acceptable for the Democrat Party to embrace and integrate Marxists, Fascists and Communists into its party?
Because, back during the Cold War, it was called treason. For that is what it is.
Related: The Wiktionary Definition of Fascism (2009).
Rush speaks truth to power: "Barack Obama hates this country"
Okay, Leftists: if you think Dr. Limbaugh is over the top with this statement, pray tell me how someone who loves America seeks to "fundamentally transform" it?
How do you destroy a resilient United States? Well, you spend it into oblivion with wild, trillion-dollar deficit spending. And then you tack on a brand new, massive entitlement for good measure.
You destroy the value of the dollar through currency manipulation.
And then you begin destroying the American work ethic.
So tell me, Leftists: how do you live with yourselves? How do you sleep at night, knowing the president you support is trying to crush the most magnificent society the world has ever seen?
This is well-known Indian squaw Elizabeth Warren. It was in September of 2011 in Andover, Massachusetts, during a "Talking Tour" running for her Senate against Scott Brown:
I hear all this, "You know, well, this is class warfare. This is whatever." No! There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody! You built a factory out there? Good for you! But I want to be clear: You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You, uh, were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory and hire someone to protect against this because of the work the rest of us did.
Now, a couple of interesting things about this. Let's look at roads, for example. Which came first, the paved road or the car? Well, which necessitated which? I would submit to you that the car came along, and then the government (and all of the people that really made this thing work) built the roads. What Obama and Elizabeth Warren want you to believe is that government is the center of everything, that government starts everything. And government doesn't. Government reacts...
...It was a bunch of people that built cars. It was a bunch of people who invented the assembly line to make them efficiently and quickly. Government had nothing to do with it! The second point about this is, you know what this really is? This is a bunch of people that don't count. This is a bunch of people with miserable, meaningless lives who are lying to themselves; trying to tell themselves that they matter...
...Here's Obama in Roanoke on Friday night...
Look, i-i-if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own... You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, "Well, it must be because I was just so smart!" ... here are a lot of smart people out there. "It must be because I worked harder than everybody else." Let me tell you something. There are a whole bunch of hardworkin' people out there! ... Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges! If you've got a business, you -- you didn't build that!
Yeah, well, you know who really invented the Internet? It was the military. It was a DOD project, and Obama hates that. But, folks, look. Here he is repeating it: Roads and bridges. The roads and bridges came after what was necessary, or what made the roads and bridges necessary. They came after that. I'll tell you what. I think it can now be said, without equivocation -- without equivocation -- that this man hates this country.
He is trying -- Barack Obama is trying -- to dismantle, brick by brick, the American dream...There's no other way to explain this.
He was indoctrinated as a child. His father was a communist. His mother was a leftist. He was sent to prep and Ivy League schools where his contempt for the country was reinforced. He moved to Chicago. It was the home of the radical-left movement. He hooks up to Ayers and Dohrn and Rashid Khalidi. He learns the ruthlessness of Cook County politics. This is what we have as a president: A radical ideologue, a ruthless politician who despises the country and the way it was founded and the way in which it became great.
How do you destroy a resilient United States? Well, you spend it into oblivion with wild, trillion-dollar deficit spending. And then you tack on a brand new, massive entitlement for good measure.
You destroy the value of the dollar through currency manipulation.
And then you begin destroying the American work ethic.
So tell me, Leftists: how do you live with yourselves? How do you sleep at night, knowing the president you support is trying to crush the most magnificent society the world has ever seen?
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Holy Crap: Obama Tax Hikes Could Cost 1.2 Million Jobs
Well, this should have a delightful impact on small business hiring. Or should I say "firing".
Now, if Democrats had half-a-brain among 'em, they'd slash taxes across the board while stripping the size of government down to a manageable size. The entire, mammoth, federal leviathan is an enormous anchor on the private sector. It produces nothing but regulations, taxes, fees and dictates. It exists solely to leech the private sector of life.
But despite reams of evidence, Democrats refuse to allow businesses to thrive. They are bound and determined to crush entrepreneurship, innovation and liberty.
Which is why we must fire every Democrat in November. Let 'em have a taste of life in the private sector.
President Obama has made raising taxes on “the rich” a central plank of his re-election campaign. Yet even many Democrats are questioning the wisdom of hiking taxing on job creators while the economy is still struggling and unemployment is still lingering at over 8 percent.
They are right to be concerned. According to calculations by The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis (CDA), the average American with $250,000 or more in income can expect an average $24,888 tax increase next year under Obama’s proposed policies.
...The $24,888 figure is often enough for a salary, and despite what some proponents of the tax hike have argued, many of these successful small businesses do have employees. According to the Treasury Department, 1.2 million small businesses both had employees and earned more than $200,000 in 2007. So the President is putting about 1.2 million jobs—perhaps even more—at risk with this tax hike...
Now, if Democrats had half-a-brain among 'em, they'd slash taxes across the board while stripping the size of government down to a manageable size. The entire, mammoth, federal leviathan is an enormous anchor on the private sector. It produces nothing but regulations, taxes, fees and dictates. It exists solely to leech the private sector of life.
But despite reams of evidence, Democrats refuse to allow businesses to thrive. They are bound and determined to crush entrepreneurship, innovation and liberty.
Which is why we must fire every Democrat in November. Let 'em have a taste of life in the private sector.
Don't fear the fiscal cliff -- fear the welfare cliff
I dream of a day when vintage media covers the important issues, such as how the president's policies are permanently condemning the nation's poor to lives of misery.
And which candidate continues to press for more and more dependency?
Some call the inevitable result 'Going Galt'. Professor Glenn Reynolds describes it as 'Middle Class Anarchy':
The whole idea of "The Cloward-Piven Strategy" may seem far-fetched for readers unaccustomed to the idea of a fifth column working -- within the government -- to collapse the financial system.
I think we have assembled more than enough proof: record use of food stamps (even Spanish language advertisements hawking the benefits of food stamps, presumably to illegal aliens), record use of welfare benefits, record dependence on government-funded health care, and much, much more.
Combined with annual trillion-dollar deficits, the only possible scenario is one of collapse. The laws of mathematics aren't partisan. The numbers are what they are.
And this president appears bound and determined to "fundamentally transform America" -- his words -- achieved via an economic catastrophe.
You and I have but one chance to stop this madness on November 6th.
I wrote last year about the way in which welfare programs lead to very high implicit marginal tax rates on low-income people. More specifically, they lose handouts when they earn income. As such, it is not very advantageous for them to climb the economic ladder because hard work is comparatively unrewarding... Thanks to the American Enterprise Institute, we now have a much more detailed picture showing the impact of redistribution programs on the incentive to earn more money.
...Needless to say, there’s not much reason to earn more income when living standards don’t improve. May as well stay home and goof off rather than work hard and produce... This is why income redistribution is so destructive, not just to taxpayers, but also to the people who get trapped into dependency.
And which candidate continues to press for more and more dependency?
[Does the name] Julia ring a bell ... ? If you guessed Obama, pat yourself on the back. Why just yesterday he gutted the Work Requirements From Clinton-era Welfare Reform. As the chart indicates above, there is NO incentive to work and get off the government crutch and the Democrats are pushing forward with agendas to add more.
The problem for Obama and the Democrats is that eventually, you will lose many taxpayers as they give up the ghost and join those already on the teat of government. The reason will be that it is no longer worth having to work over 6 months of the year just to make enough to pay your taxes and then have only a few months of pay to spend on everything else.
Some call the inevitable result 'Going Galt'. Professor Glenn Reynolds describes it as 'Middle Class Anarchy':
When the backbone of a country starts thinking that laws and rules are not worth following, it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to anarchy...
TV has given us the illusion that anarchy is people rioting in the streets, smashing car windows and looting every store in sight. But there’s also the polite, quiet, far deadlier anarchy of the core citizenry—the upright citizenry—throwing in the towel and deciding it’s just not worth it anymore. If a big enough proportion of the populace—not even a majority, just a largish chunk—decides that it’s just not worth following the rules anymore, then that society’s days are numbered...
The whole idea of "The Cloward-Piven Strategy" may seem far-fetched for readers unaccustomed to the idea of a fifth column working -- within the government -- to collapse the financial system.
I think we have assembled more than enough proof: record use of food stamps (even Spanish language advertisements hawking the benefits of food stamps, presumably to illegal aliens), record use of welfare benefits, record dependence on government-funded health care, and much, much more.
Combined with annual trillion-dollar deficits, the only possible scenario is one of collapse. The laws of mathematics aren't partisan. The numbers are what they are.
And this president appears bound and determined to "fundamentally transform America" -- his words -- achieved via an economic catastrophe.
You and I have but one chance to stop this madness on November 6th.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Ruh Roh: Even CNN blisters President Offshore McSandtrap for Lying About Romney's Record
I mean, off the top of my head:
• Outsourcing NASA to the Russians: "If offshoring is so bad, Mr. President, why are we paying the Russians to take our astronauts to the ISS?"
• Outsourcing oil drilling to Brazil's Petrobas: "The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field."
• Outsourcing the Keystone XL pipeline to Red China: "President Barack Obama’s decision yesterday to reject a permit for TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline may prompt Canada to turn to China for oil exports."
• Outsourcing automotive jobs to Finland: "With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work."
• In fact, the Obama administration has offshored $29 billion in work: "President Obama, head of an administration that paid foreign companies almost $29 billion for services like food, gas, and space travel last year, is attacking Romney for 'offshoring,' when FactCheck.org declared, 'we found no evidence to support the claim that Romney — while he was still running Bain Capital — shipped American jobs overseas.'."
And with his oppressive regulatory regime, crony capitalism and promises of higher taxes, Obama is provably driving hundreds of thousands of jobs offshore.
He's the biggest outsourcer in history!
Got it, drones?
Update: CNN Accuses Obama of 'Swiftboating' Romney
• Outsourcing NASA to the Russians: "If offshoring is so bad, Mr. President, why are we paying the Russians to take our astronauts to the ISS?"
• Outsourcing oil drilling to Brazil's Petrobas: "The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field."
• Outsourcing the Keystone XL pipeline to Red China: "President Barack Obama’s decision yesterday to reject a permit for TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline may prompt Canada to turn to China for oil exports."
• Outsourcing automotive jobs to Finland: "With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work."
• In fact, the Obama administration has offshored $29 billion in work: "President Obama, head of an administration that paid foreign companies almost $29 billion for services like food, gas, and space travel last year, is attacking Romney for 'offshoring,' when FactCheck.org declared, 'we found no evidence to support the claim that Romney — while he was still running Bain Capital — shipped American jobs overseas.'."
And with his oppressive regulatory regime, crony capitalism and promises of higher taxes, Obama is provably driving hundreds of thousands of jobs offshore.
He's the biggest outsourcer in history!
Got it, drones?
Update: CNN Accuses Obama of 'Swiftboating' Romney
Friday, July 13, 2012
Sick: Obama and his minions promote dependency on government using taxpayer dollars and pop culture
Because that's what this president does. As you may know, the Obama administration has spent millions promoting the benefits and availability of food stamps.
A more cynical blogger would claim that Obama is attempting to buy votes using taxpayer funds.
There's no doubt, though, that his efforts strengthen a nefarious culture of dependency symbolized by rap videos like this one (yep: language warning).
I ask you patriotic Democrats -- you Reagan Democrats -- who refuse to succumb to the crazy: do you think any country can survive this? I mean the trillions in deficit-spending each year? Promoting illegal immigration and vote fraud? Government consuming 30 to 40 percent of all goods and services produced each year? Endless regulations and federal edicts? Nationalized auto companies and health insurers?
Any sane person knows how this will end. We're seeing it happen in Europe. It's called an economic implosion.
You need to join us, friends. You must help us save this country by electing candidates who will honor the oath they take to protect and uphold the Constitution.
Because our children and grandchildren -- your children and grandchildren -- are counting on us.
Important and Related: The Fork in the Road.
The Spanish-language radio ads composed a 10-part miniseries called "Hope Park." In it, the characters were shown persistently trying to convince a character named "Diana" to go on food stamps -- known these days as SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- even though her husband works and she doesn't think she needs it.
"I don't need help from anyone," Diana says in Episode 4. "My husband makes enough to take care of us."
But her friends are persistent, and by Episode 10 Diana is enrolled and singing the program's praises.
The ads drew criticism at a time when one in seven are already enrolled.
The food stamp rolls have swelled since the recession, growing roughly 40 percent since 2009. As of April, more than 46 million people were in the program, which costs $80 billion a year.
A more cynical blogger would claim that Obama is attempting to buy votes using taxpayer funds.
There's no doubt, though, that his efforts strengthen a nefarious culture of dependency symbolized by rap videos like this one (yep: language warning).
I ask you patriotic Democrats -- you Reagan Democrats -- who refuse to succumb to the crazy: do you think any country can survive this? I mean the trillions in deficit-spending each year? Promoting illegal immigration and vote fraud? Government consuming 30 to 40 percent of all goods and services produced each year? Endless regulations and federal edicts? Nationalized auto companies and health insurers?
Any sane person knows how this will end. We're seeing it happen in Europe. It's called an economic implosion.
You need to join us, friends. You must help us save this country by electing candidates who will honor the oath they take to protect and uphold the Constitution.
Because our children and grandchildren -- your children and grandchildren -- are counting on us.
Important and Related: The Fork in the Road.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Forward: Americans working six months to pay for the cost of government... only six more months to go, comrades!
Funny, you don't look Argentinian:
Only five-and-a-half months until we get to Democrat Utopia! And we'll know precisely when we've achieved it: it's the moment when you and I are working side-by-side in the rice paddies, receiving exactly the same health care benefits... and there's zero income inequality.
Related: North Korean Motivational Posters.
This year, Americans have to work until July 15 to pay for the burden of government, more than six months..."Cost of Government Day is the date of the calendar year on which the average American worker has earned enough gross income to pay off his or her share of the spending and regulatory burden imposed by government at the federal, state and local levels," reads the report [PDF].
The report, Cost of Government Day, shows that Americans will work 88 days to pay for federal spending; 40 days for state and local spending; and 69 days for total regulatory costs.
"From a different perspective, the cost of government makes up 54.0 percent of annual gross domestic product (GDP)," reads the report. "What's more, the largest tax hike in the nation's history is scheduled to take place at the end of 2012 unless Congress acts to protect taxpayers. If this tax increase is allowed to hit, COGD [Cost of Government Day] could permanently be pushed back into August and beyond."
Only five-and-a-half months until we get to Democrat Utopia! And we'll know precisely when we've achieved it: it's the moment when you and I are working side-by-side in the rice paddies, receiving exactly the same health care benefits... and there's zero income inequality.
Related: North Korean Motivational Posters.
The "Demographic Time Bomb" Charts
That's what Mike Shedlock calls these beauts:
And if anyone reading this thinks these paths are sustainable, you must be mentally impaired (for which I'm truly sorry). Or a misguided Democrat.
Perhaps the latter is treatable through regular exposure to Mark Levin podcasts. Perhaps.
Here is a chart from reader Tim Wallace showing social security and disability stats for June of 2012 compared to June in prior years.
Chart shows those receiving benefits. Those not in the labor force claiming a disability is much higher.
...Here is one final chart to ponder... Social Security Benefits in Dollars
As of May 2012, the outlays are $756.9 billion annualized. Fewer worker relatively speaking, support more and more recipients with exponentially growing payments. This is supposed to work?
And if anyone reading this thinks these paths are sustainable, you must be mentally impaired (for which I'm truly sorry). Or a misguided Democrat.
Perhaps the latter is treatable through regular exposure to Mark Levin podcasts. Perhaps.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
A must-read: What happens when the dollar dies?
In Investment News, the brilliant Peter Schiff describes the real fiscal cliff facing Americans.
And what happens when our colossal debts truly become unmanageable? Chris Martenson provides the sobering lessons from one such episode that occurred less than a century ago in "Our Money Is Dying."
What can you do to protect yourself? I'm no expert, but according to the real financial gurus like Mike Shedlock, investing a portion of your assets in gold could help protect your portfolio. Shedlock recommends GoldMoney to do so.
I would just recommend preparing. Because annual trillion-dollar deficits are certain to end in disaster, unless we return this country to Constitutional conservatism.
The current national debt is about $16 trillion (this is just the funded portion...the unfunded liabilities of the Treasury are much, much larger). The only reason the United States is able to service this staggering level of debt is that the currently low interest rate on government debt (now below 2 per cent) keeps debt service payments to a relatively manageable $300 billion per year.
On the current trajectory the national debt will likely hit $20 trillion in a few years. If, by that time interest rates were to return to some semblance of historic normalcy, say 5 per cent, interest payments on the debt would then run $1 trillion per year. This sum could represent almost 40 per cent of total federal revenues in 2012!
In addition to making the debt service unmanageable, higher rates would depress economic activity, thereby slowing tax collection and requiring increased government spending. This would increase the budget deficits further, putting even more upward pressure on interest rates. Higher mortgage rates and increased unemployment will put renewed downward pressure on home prices, perhaps leading to another large wave of foreclosures. My guess is that losses on government insured mortgages alone could add several hundred billion more to annual budget deficits. When all of these factors are taken into account, I believe that annual budget deficits could quickly approach, and exceed $3 trillion. All this could be in the cards if interest rates were to approach a modest five per cent.
If the sheer enormity of the red ink were to finally worry our creditors, five per cent interest rates could quickly rise to ten. At those rates, the annual cost to pay the interest on the national debt could equal all federal tax revenues combined. If that occurs we will have to either slash federal spending across the board (including cuts to politically sensitive entitlements), raise taxes significantly on the poor and middle class (as well as the rich), default on the debt, or hit everyone with the sustained impact of high inflation. Now that's a real fiscal cliff!
By foolishly borrowing so heavily when interest rates are low our government is driving us toward this cliff with its eyes firmly glued to the rear view mirror. For years I have warned that a financial crisis would be triggered by the popping of the real estate bubble. My warnings were routinely ignored based on the near universal assumption that real estate prices would never fall. My warnings about the real fiscal cliff are also being ignored because of a similarly false premise that interest rates can never rise. However, if history can be a guide, we should view the current period of ultra low rates as the exception rather than the rule.
And what happens when our colossal debts truly become unmanageable? Chris Martenson provides the sobering lessons from one such episode that occurred less than a century ago in "Our Money Is Dying."
In the book When Money Dies by Adam Fergusson, which details Weimar Germany's inflation over the period from 1918 to 1923, the most riveting parts for me were the first-hand accounts from the people caught in the storm.
So many people left their wealth in the system only to watch it get eroded and utterly destroyed over time. The reasons were many: patriotism, inertia, disbelief, and denial cruelly fed by hope every time prices moderated or even retreated momentarily.
The simple observation is that many people had a blind belief in the money system. They lost their wealth because they were unable or unwilling to allow reality to challenge their beliefs. It's not that there weren't numerous warning signs to heed -- in fact, they could be seen everywhere -- but most willfully ignored them.
Most mysterious is the fact that in Austria and Germany, where the inflation struck most severely, there were numerous borders and currencies into which people could have dodged to protect their wealth. That is, protecting one's wealth was a relatively straightforward and simple manner. And yet…it did not happen.
What can you do to protect yourself? I'm no expert, but according to the real financial gurus like Mike Shedlock, investing a portion of your assets in gold could help protect your portfolio. Shedlock recommends GoldMoney to do so.
I would just recommend preparing. Because annual trillion-dollar deficits are certain to end in disaster, unless we return this country to Constitutional conservatism.
Perfect: Obama adviser outsourced hundreds of jobs to India last year
Curious: didn't see any stories on this outrage on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, MSNBC or read about it in The New York Times-Democrat or The Washington Post-Democrat:
AsJim Geraghty observes, Mitt Romney has outsourced a grand total of zero jobs, while our beloved President Zippy McStatist has spent about $29 billion of your money outsourcing. At least.
Oh, and vintage media hacks: don't bother picking up this story and running with it. We've got it handled, thanks.
About a year ago, Xerox told some 600 employees, many of them engineers, that their jobs were being transferred to an India-based IT services firm.
How has that worked out? Neither company is disclosing detail about what's been going on, but information is leaking out about some layoffs.
The move by Xerox goes to the heart of the outsourcing debate between President Barack Obama and the presumptive Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.
It involves outsourcing product engineering employees, a skill set often linked to the nation's innovation capacity, to an offshore company. Will Xerox's moves result in a net gain or net loss of jobs? The answers may still be in the future, but one of the people involved has the president's ear.
Xerox's CEO, Ursula Burns, is playing a prominent advisory role in the Obama administration as the vice chair of the President's Export Council as well serving on the President's Jobs Council.
As
Oh, and vintage media hacks: don't bother picking up this story and running with it. We've got it handled, thanks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
































