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

Monday, October 22, 2012

IT'S MAGIC! Joe Biden's Brother Wins $100 Million Federal Contract to Build Homes In Iraq

Even better: he has no background in residential construction. Charles Gasparino at Fox Business gives us the lowdown:

David Richter, the president of Hill International (HIL), a mid-sized outfit that manages construction projects, was speaking last year at a private meeting with investors when he was asked about the recent success of his newest subsidiary, HillStone International.

How was it that HillStone, a newcomer in the business of home building, landed a massive and potentially lucrative contract to build 100,000 homes in war-torn Iraq?

Richter didn’t mince words. It really helps, he said, to have “the brother of the vice president as a partner,” according to a person who was present.

The “brother” Richter was referring to during the meeting is James Biden, the younger brother of Vice President Joe Biden.

Since November 2010, James Biden has been the executive vice president of Hill International’s housing subsidiary despite little if any documented work history in residential construction. And if the company’s projections are accurate, both Hill and Biden are on the verge of a huge payday...

...the Iraq project may be the most lucrative single development in Hill’s history.

Just a coincidence, I'm sure.

When the final history of this administration is written -- with the dozens of green energy companies tied to Obama's campaign bundlers, the hundreds of Mexicans and Americans killed by Operation Fast and Furious, and the rest of the hideous Obama legacy -- it will have recorded the greatest collective fleecing of the American taxpayer in history.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

NO, OBAMA'S NOT GOING TO PAY YOUR MORTGAGE, SUGAR: Another Report Proves Republicans Better Informed Than Democrats

And in fact, "the results weren't even close":

...Pew’s latest survey only reaffirms previous surveys demonstrating [that Republicans are more knowledgeable than Democrats].

In a scientific survey of 1,168 adults conducted during September and October of last year, respondents were asked not only multiple-choice questions, but also queries using maps, photographs and symbols. Among other subjects, participants identified international leaders, cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, nations on a world map, the current unemployment and poverty rates and war casualty totals.

In a 2010 Pew survey, Republicans outperformed Democrats on 10 of 12 questions, with one tie and Democrats outperforming Republicans on just 1 of the 12. In the latest survey, however, Republicans outperformed Democrats on every single one of 19 questions.

Amusingly, the Pew report attempted to soften the stark partisan knowledge disparity:

“Republicans generally outperformed Democrats on the current quiz. On 13 of the 19 questions, Republicans score significantly higher than Democrats and there are no questions on which Democrats did better than Republicans. In past knowledge quizzes, partisan differences have been more muted, though Republicans often have scored somewhat higher than Democrats.”

“Generally outperformed?” “Somewhat higher?” That’s a curiously charitable way to describe the surveys, which went from previous blowouts to a complete shutout in the latest edition.

The President's poster children -- the 66% of 18-to-29 year-olds that helped propel him into office -- have likely smartened up this year. That's the kind of lesson a 53 percent unemployment and underemployment rate for college grads younger than 25 will teach.


Saturday, October 20, 2012

SOLVENCY: Democrat politicians run their own finances just as well as they run the country's

Color me shocked: the Democrats are just as incompetent with their own money as they are with ours.

Obama Campaign Borrows $15M from Bank of America


Obama For America took out a $15 million loan from Bank of America last month, according to the campaign’s October monthly FEC report. The loan was incurred on September 4 and is due November 14, eight days after the election. OFA received an interest rate of 2.5% plus the current Libor rate.

Warren Buffett, Obama donor and namesake of the infamous “Buffett Rule,” invested $5 billion in Bank of America last year in an effort to help the ailing financial institution. Last month, two weeks after OFA took out the loan, Bank of America announced a plan that would lay off 16,000 workers by the end of the year.

Obama has a complicated relationship with Bank of America. The bank contributed $20 million toward the cost of the Democrat National Convention earlier this year...

Curious how we never hear about the incestuous ties between the Obama campaign and BofA, eh?

Oh, and then there's this.

DNC takes out $10 million loan while RNC has $83 million in bank


The Democratic National Committee was unable to keep up with the Republican National Committee's fundraising again in September, despite taking out $10.5 million in loans.

The DNC raised $20.3 million in September, including the loans, and only $3.7 million of its total fundraising came from individuals and political action committees. The rest came from transfers and offsetting operating expenditures...

Boy, that Debbie Wasserman Schultz is doing an outstanding job, isn't she? She's such a bipartisan and non-polarizing figure.

In conclusion, I assert that not only are Democrats intellectually bankrupt, they're also just plain bankrupt.

Try and contain your chortles.


Thursday, October 18, 2012

ONCE IN A WHILE HE BLURTS OUT THE TRUTH: Bill Clinton admits the economy is broken

Well, this won't help the ever-widening rift between the Clinton clan and Barack Obama.

At a campaign event for Barack Obama's reelection campaign, Bill Clinton said that Mitt Romney's argument "is true, we're not fixed"...

Governor Romney's argument is, we're not fixed, so fire him and put me in. It is true we're not fixed. When President Obama looked into the eyes of that man who said in the debate, I had so much hope four years ago and I don't now, I thought he was going to cry. Because he knows that it's not fixed.


...A Romney spokesman comments: "We agree with former President Bill Clinton. The economy has not been fixed under President Barack Obama. Today, more than 23 million Americans are struggling for work, poverty has increased and food stamps are at record levels. Mitt Romney believes we can do better by creating 12 million new jobs with higher take-home pay, cutting spending to put our nation on course for a balanced budget, and actually fixing our economy."

With a record number of people on food-stamps, a record number of people in poverty, a record number of people who have left the work-force, and a record decline in household income, it's safe to say that Bill Clinton is right.


Wednesday, October 17, 2012

SURELY YOU JEST: Violent Crime Up 17 Percent in One Year Thanks to the Brilliant Leadership of Barack Obama

And don't call me Shirley. And please don't call Mr. Obama the "Food Stamp President", even though that's precisely what he is.

Violent crime in America rose 17 percent last year, a study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics finds. In 2011, 5.8 million Americans age 12 older -- 22.5 of every 1,000 -- were victims of violent crime, up from 19.3 in 2010, [which] includes homicide, rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated or simple assault. About 17.1 million more Americans were victims of property damage crimes, an increase of 11 percent.

Let me assure you that this increase was expected. And it will get worse.



Studies prove -- beyond a shadow of a doubt -- that making it easy to get food stamps and other forms of welfare increase the occurrence of children born out of wedlock. And kids born out of wedlock, irrespective of race, commit significantly more violent crimes than children born to two-parent families.



In a nutshell: the Democrats' multi-decade effort to make welfare checks easier and easier to get have destroyed opportunities for society's most vulnerable children. And the crime wave is only beginning, thanks to Barack Obama and the Democrat Party, who have made food stamps easier to get than a job.


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Questioners at Tonight’s Debate Face $4,492 Tax Hike Next Year

Via @Heritage:

Well, I'm sure that sending even more money to a bloated, unaccountable, fraud-prone, bankrupt, doddering, debt-ridden leviathan of an unconstitutional federal government will help streamline the economy.



IT'S ANOTHER OBAMA RECORD: The Number of Americans on Food Stamps Just Hit Another All-Time High

President Obama's plans for the future? Things are just swell. Let's stay the course.

Food stamps enrollment has hit a new record high. 46,681,833 million are now enrolled in the social welfare program, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, the federal department that runs the program.


..."[The] USDA has engaged in an aggressive outreach and promotional campaign to boost food stamp enrollment. Among these efforts are an ongoing partnership with the Mexican government to advertise food stamps to Mexican nationals, migrant workers, and non-citizen immigrants. Partly as a result of these efforts, the number of non-citizens on food stamps has quadrupled since 2001," explains the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee.

And the cost, the committee explains, is astronomical. "Total spending on food stamps is projected to reach nearly $800 billion over the next 10 years, with no fewer than 1 in 9 people on the program at any given time. Neither food stamp participation nor spending on the program are ever projected to return to pre-recession levels at any point in the next 10 years."

But don't worry, peons. Michelle Obama just said that "We are in the midst of a huge recovery!"


Monday, October 15, 2012

FLOTUS DOES HENNY YOUNGMAN: Michelle Obama Says ‘We Are in the Midst of a Huge Recovery’

Oh. You mean to say she was trying to be serious?

First Lady Michelle Obama said in a radio interview on Friday that the United States is in the “midst of a huge recovery” because of what “this president has done.”

Pablo Sato, co-host of Pablo & Free on WPGC 95.5, a Washington, D.C.-area hip-hop radio station, asked the first lady: “Mrs. Obama, you know what, in your words, tell us what you think the state of the union is in right now?”

Mrs. Obama said, “I mean, we are seeing right now that we are in the midst of a huge recovery. Right? Because of what this president has done.”

...According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the real gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 1.3 percent in the second quarter of 2012, down from 2.0 percent from first quarter 2012.

The BEA data also show GDP growth of (negative) - 3.1 percent in 2009; 2.4 percent in 2010; and 1.8 percent in 2011.

Let's see:

• A record high 1-in-6 Americans are living in poverty.

• A record high 48 million Americans are on food stamps.

• The labor force participation rate is at a 30-year low.

• Democrats have stolen $500 billion from Medicare to fund a new, completely undefined entitlement program the costs of which have already tripled from original estimates.

• Barack Obama has added $6 trillion to the debt in only four years with no plans to reduce the yawning chasm facing future generations.

Oh, and she called many of her supporters' family members and friends "knuckleads":

First lady Michelle Obama is encouraging supporters to reach out to the "knuckleheads" in their life to ask them to vote for President Obama... "Talk to everyone you know -- your friends, your neighbors, that cousin you haven't seen in a while, that student sitting next to you in class. You know he's kind of a knucklehead," the first lady said. "You know the one."

"Tap him on the shoulder. Be nice. Don't call him a knucklehead. Not to his face. You just want to encourage him to get to the polls," Obama said. "But tell him what's at stake."

Michelle, however, may be right about that recovery.

We're about to evict her and her husband from the White House and install leadership that understands the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I call that a recovery.


RUH ROH: Miami Herald Poll Has Obama Leading Romney 51-44 in FL...

...among likely Hispanic voters:

Mitt Romney is closing the gap on President Barack Obama among likely Hispanic Florida voters, a majority of whom say they’re not better off than four years ago, according to a new Florida International University/Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald poll.

Obama is ahead of Romney 51-44 percent among Hispanics, a relatively narrow lead that could spell trouble for a Democratic campaign that’s counting on minority support as non-Hispanic white voters flock to the Republican ticket in droves...

...Cuban-American voters, who are overwhelmingly Republican and who appear to be increasingly excited about Romney’s campaign.

“What’s remarkable is the demographic split in Florida: Puerto Rican and Dominican and other Hispanic voters trust Obama. Cubans just don’t,” said Eduardo Gamarra, an FIU professor of Latin American studies who conducted the poll with his political research firm, the Newlink Group.

I'm not in the prediction business, but if we all continue the full-court press -- marshaling our friends, family members and colleagues -- we are going to evict the current occupant of 1600 Penssylvania and install someone who actually believes in and supports the free market.


A SINGLE DEVASTATING GRAPH: The Real Obama Jobs Record

This could be the single best illustration of the unemployment catastrophe Barack Obama's policies have inflicted upon the population.

Whether you are rich, poor, old, young, fat, thin, female, male, brown, white, Christian or Jewish, Obama's policies of spreading misery are equal opportunity job destroyers.

...since January 2009, for every person added to the labor force, 10 have been added to those not in the labor force. Here's a chart showing the dwindling labor force:


...That is, in nearly the four years, since President Obama took office in January 2009, only 827,000 people have been added to the labor force, while during that same time period, 8,208,000 have been added to those not in the labor force.

The chart relies on data available from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In simple terms, the advertised unemployment rate of 7.8 percent is completely bogus. It ignores all those who have stopped looking for work or are employed part-time but want full-time work.

The real unemployment rate -- the true measure of the Obama Jobs Disaster -- has hovered around 14 percent ever since he came to office. And unless we course-correct quickly, the tax, Obamacare and deficit cliffs are poised to kill millions of more jobs in 2013.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Why California is headed for fiscal collapse, Chapter Bajillion and Seven

I'll let the Mercury News describe the latest episode of public sector unions ripping off taxpayers for hundreds of millions:

An analysis of the last three years of government salary data shows state employees are continuing to store up massive banks of vacation, instead of heading to Big Sur or hitting the slopes at Lake Tahoe. They're cashing in by retiring with whopping final paychecks worth, in some cases, more than $500,000 in unused time off.

From 2009 through 2011, cash-strapped California paid more than $800 million for days off state workers never used -- a problem that has grown by tens of millions of dollars in the four years since this newspaper first investigated the costly practice...

It's an accounting liability that private companies work aggressively to avoid, but one that continues to pile up in Sacramento. And, ironically, the problem grew even worse in recent years when the state tried to save cash by forcing workers to take unpaid furlough days as an emergency budget fix. As a result, banks of unused vacation grew even larger.

"Is the system broken? Obviously the system's broken," said Tim Malan, a supervising dentist at Avenal State Prison, who retired in 2009 with 247 days off still on the books, sweetening his final paycheck by an extra $317,000... Like Malan, more than 4,000 people retired from the state over the past three years with an extra $50,000 more for unused vacation and comp time, the newspaper's analysis of pay data from 153 state departments shows. That's almost four employees cashing out at least that much money every day. An additional 16,302 state workers retired during the three-year period with payments from $10,000 to $50,000 each...


...Topping the list was Napa State Hospital psychiatrist Dr. Gertrudis Agcaoili, who retired after 33 years with 642 days of accrued vacation and comp time. It cost taxpayers nearly $609,000.

How did she manage to bank so much time?

"It's none of your business," Agcaoili said in a brief telephone interview...

No, it's none of the taxpayers' business.

California is broke, its system of government is broken, and the infernal alliance of Democrats and public sector unions are the primary culprits.

It's hard to imagine how it gets fixed without a complete collapse and a reboot from scratch.


Saturday, October 13, 2012

DOOM ANTIDOTE FROM KEVIN DUJAN: These are the Last Days of Pompeii for the Democrat Party

During the last presidential election cycle, Hillbuzz founder Kevin DuJan was a major Hillary Clinton supporter. As the 2008 primary unfolded, he became outraged with reports of systemic cheating by Obama's hard left Chicago Machine, especially in Caucus states. His focus then turned from supporting Hillary to crushing the Marxist left.

Most recently, he has been on the frontlines of keeping conservatives focused on victory. His ongoing Doom Antidote series has been especially valuable in reminding us of the big picture.

Evidence that Democrats are in “Last Days of Pompeii” mode


...Democrats [were certain they had solved the demographic challenge in] 2008, with Howard Dean and Donna Brazile convincing them that they could dominate the country demographically by streamlining the party into one of “blacks, urban elite, college voters, Jews, Muslims, gays, and women who want to kill their babies”. The Clintons’ Democrat Leadership Council (a “DLC”, but not the one that Barack Obama belonged to) would be purged from the party and anyone Obama saw as “bitter, clinging” would be shown the door because Donna Brazile, in particular, felt these people were no longer wanted or needed for Democrats to win. Brazile, it should be noted, is also the rocket scientist who advised Al Gore not to use the Clintons in the 2000 election when Bill wanted to be deployed to bring home Arkansas and Tennessee for Gore (two states Gore lost... which would have landed him in the White House if the Clintons had campaigned aggressively in just those TWO STATES).

...Democrats were absolute fools to believe Donna Brazile and Howard Dean back in 2008. Deciding to push Barack Obama to the presidency and give the Left absolute control over the country was a fatal error that’s going to be corrected on November 6th. [The Ministry of Truth] Minitru insists this is not happening, and continues to pretend that Democrats will hold power for many years to come. The volcano is rumbling, and these people are still lounging on couches and eating their grapes, completely oblivious to what’s going to happen in just three weeks now...

...If they’d have run Hillary Clinton in 2008, then Democrats would have cruised to her re-election this year; Obama would have most likely been her VP and he’d have spent 8 years in the Naval Observatory (most likely observing his own naval) and would have been setup to be president himself in 2016. Democrats would have likely had 12 years in the Oval Office, with Obama destined to be president no matter what (sadly). The Left wanted everything all at once, and it got just four years before the country woke up and booted them out of office (hopefully for generations).

...As bad as things are, and as much damage as Barack Obama has done as president, just imagine how much worse things could have been if Democrats had moved slowly and done things under the radar over 12 years instead of trying to cram it all into four years of Obama. Democrats got greedy and wanted Obama to do all the crazy things upfront, thinking they could overpower Americans and force radical change on the country quickly before anyone could resist them. Donna Brazile, in particular, believed that a black president was key to pushing the Left’s agenda because all criticism of him would be countered with charges of — let’s see if you can guess — RACISM so his skin color would give cover for the craziest things Democrats wanted to do.

...When the books are written on the last four years, I think it will be clear that most of what Democrats tried to shove through couldn’t have been done if the President was white…because racialist demagoguery was key to making a lot of these things happen. From 2008 through 2010 or so, it was nonstop screams of “If you don’t support Obama, you are a racist!”. Democrats who weren’t leftists (and there used to be some of these in the party) had to go along with whatever Obama wanted because they, too, would have been declared racists for not supporting him. Hence, that Christmas Eve 2009 vote for Obamacare in the Senate where not a single Democrat read the bill or understood what it would do to the country…but they all voted for it anyway. Democrats needed a black president to make that happen, because only the threat of being called racists could make all Democrats in the Senate abandon their constituents and their duties as elected officials and vote for something they never read and didn’t understand.

At the time, Democrats danced around laughing and cheering at what they had done.
They weren’t cheering when the Midterm elections happened in 2010, however.

And they won’t be cheering in three weeks either.

The days of wine, roses, and using false accusations of racism to get whatever they want are coming to an abrupt end when voters’ anger at the party erupts on November 6th.

From Kevin's lips to God's ears. Take nothing for granted, my friends. Use this time to talk to your friends, your neighbors, and your co-workers (if you're lucky enough to have a job in the ongoing Obama Depression). And if you need a cheat sheet to hand folks, here's one you can print out. It specifically hits the economic catastrophe that is the Obama record.


STUDY IN CONTRASTS: The VP Debate in One Picture

This one -- sent in by Redman Bluestate -- seems to capture the unseriousness of the Vice President and vintage media.


On a related note, Breitbart did us a public service with a true fact-check, documenting the top 10 lies by Joe Biden in the VP debate.


Friday, October 12, 2012

A SIMPLE CHOICE: Adolescent Rule or Adult Decision-Making

In the wake of the VP debate, Whoopie offers what I think is an incisive summary:

They say that VP debates never decide Presidential elections and maybe that’s so, but this one should because once again it showed the stark contrast that divides this nation.

Do voters want four more years of clownish adolescent rule or are they ready to let adults run the nation again?

...Apparently, unlike other Presidents who have calculated that besides their steadfast base, they need a majority of the middle to win, Obama and his Party have written off the political center entirely.

They feel that they can cobble together a coalition of fringe groups [including] the free Obama phone social parasites, anarchists, Animal Rights activists, the Green Movement, the open border crowd, the willfully uninformed and uneducated, the porn industry, the Hollywood elites, the criminal class and sundry malcontents with a grudge against society.

In short, all the elements that the conniving Communists of the old Soviet Union incubated in an attempt to undermine American society and erode our culture. It’s truly ironic that the Soviet Union has long since gone extinct, but their legacy lives on in our very midst.

To me the most troubling aspect of Biden’s childish behavior (laughing, chuckling, mugging faces) was that he was doing it while Ryan spoke of serious matters, like the death of a US Ambassador or our troops in harms way or the threat of a nuclear armed Iran.

My guess is that the Leftists' glee over Biden's performance will fade quickly. Anyone who watched the debate will remember only the Cheshire Cat grin of the Vice President during the most inappropriate of moments.



Thursday, October 11, 2012

CEO TO EMPLOYEES: If Obama Wins, You May Want to Get Some Boxes and Pack Up Your Offices

The CEO of Westgate Resorts emailed his employees on Monday and told them precisely what is going to happen if Barack Obama wins reelection and raises taxes on "the rich".

Subject: Message from David Siegel
Date:Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:58:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: [David Siegel]
To: [All employees]

To All My Valued Employees,

As most of you know our company, Westgate Resorts, has continued to succeed in spite of a very dismal economy. There is no question that the economy has changed for the worse and we have not seen any improvement over the past four years. In spite of all of the challenges we have faced, the good news is this: The economy doesn't currently pose a threat to your job.

What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration. Of course, as your employer, I can't tell you whom to vote for, and I certainly wouldn't interfere with your right to vote for whomever you choose...

Now, the economy is falling apart and people like me who made all the right decisions and invested in themselves are being forced to bail out all the people who didn't. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed 42 years of my life for. Yes, business ownership has its benefits, but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds. Unfortunately, the costs of running a business have gotten out of control, and let me tell you why: We are being taxed to death and the government thinks we don't pay enough. We pay state taxes, federal taxes, property taxes, sales and use taxes, payroll taxes, workers compensation taxes and unemployment taxes. I even have to hire an entire department to manage all these taxes. The question I have is this: Who is really stimulating the economy? Is it the Government that wants to take money from those who have earned it and give it to those who have not, or is it people like me who built a company out of his garage and directly employs over 7000 people and hosts over 3 million people per year with a great vacation?

Obviously, our present government believes that taking my money is the right economic stimulus for this country. The fact is, if I deducted 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, that's what happens to me...

Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate business, not kill it. However, the power brokers in Washington believe redistributing wealth is the essential driver of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change they want.

So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company. Rather than grow this company I will be forced to cut back. This means fewer jobs, less benefits and certainly less opportunity for everyone.

So, when you make your decision to vote, ask yourself, which candidate understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn't? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of protecting and saving your job. While the media wants to tell you to believe the "1 percenters" are bad, I'm telling you they are not. They create most of the jobs. If you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the "1%"; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country.

You see, I can no longer support a system that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, so will your opportunities. If that happens, you can find me in the Caribbean sitting on the beach, under a palm tree, retired, and with no employees to worry about.

Signed, your boss,

David Siegel

Oh. And one other thing. Is this America?

Word on the street has it that hundreds if not thousands of CEOs want to make similar statements, but are afraid of political retribution by the Obama machine.

Folks, Obama promised "fundamental transformation" in 2008 and he's making good on his promise. This country is being transformed into a Banana Republic.



JACK WELCH DOUBLES DOWN: Yes, the Unemployment Rate is Bogus and Here's Why, Media-Schmucks

Actually, he didn't call them "media-schmucks", but I'm sure that was just an oversight on his part:

Even if the BLS had a perfect process, the context surrounding the 7.8% figure still bears serious skepticism. Consider the following:

In August, the labor-force participation rate in the U.S. dropped to 63.5%, the lowest since September 1981. By definition, fewer people in the workforce leads to better unemployment numbers. That's why the unemployment rate dropped to 8.1% in August from 8.3% in July.

Meanwhile, we're told in the BLS report that in the months of August and September, federal, state and local governments added 602,000 workers to their payrolls, the largest two-month increase in more than 20 years. And the BLS tells us that, overall, 873,000 workers were added in September, the largest one-month increase since 1983, during the booming Reagan recovery.

These three statistics—the labor-force participation rate, the growth in government workers, and overall job growth, all multidecade records achieved over the past two months—have to raise some eyebrows. There were no economists, liberal or conservative, predicting that unemployment in September would drop below 8%.

Not to worry, Jack. Nate Silver's mathemalogical models predicted this improvement in the labor market.

Can't you just smell all of the jobs being created?



Wednesday, October 10, 2012

STUNNING: Tax Foundation Reports That Blue States Are the Most Unfriendly to Businesses

The Tax Foundation has published its 2013 edition of the State Business Tax Climate Index.

Can you guess which states are most unfriendly to businesses?


If you guessed "blue states", take a gold star and go to the head of the class. Nine of the 10 states are run by Democrat bureaucracies.


Hat tip: R.F.

THE GREAT OBAMAPHONE SCANDAL: Another Fraudulent Program That "Is Completely Out of Control"

I gleaned some interesting news from this Fox News Baltimore report that appears relevant to our ongoing discussion of the debt, personal responsibility, and Joe Biden's mullet:

• Vans are driving around Baltimore offering free "Obamaphones", which you -- the beleaguered taxpayer -- are funding


• The phone program is, in the words of the report, "completely out of control, not just here in Baltimore, but all over the country"

• Baltimore resident Monique Crawford says that she has "30 phones, and all of them are [turned] on"


• She was able to get each one in "five, ten minutes."

• Private, prepaid cellphone companies are giving away phones to people in Baltimore and dozens of other cities... all paid for by you.


• In Baltimore, the number of Obamaphone subscribers has ballooned from 6,000 in 2008 to 231,000 in 2011

Some residents just stand in line for phones, and then sell them to drug dealers

Buried in each of our monthly cellphone bills is line-item called a "universal access fee", which is helping to fund this insanity.

Isn't a giant, bloated, corrupt and unaccountable federal bureaucracy grand?

This administration needs to go.


Sunday, October 07, 2012

THE BUSH-OBAMA DEBT CHART: "As God is my witness: I never thought that it would get this bad"

One of Instapundit's readers offers the following graph, which Moe Lane promptly designated "Chart o' the Day":


Glenn Reynolds notes this illustrates just "how absurd it is to blame today’s huge national debt on George W. Bush’s spending on Iraq and Afghanistan."


Saturday, October 06, 2012

EXPLAINED: What the president means when he says we must "grow from the middle out"

When the president first uttered the following, I hadn't really understood what he meant:

This country doesn’t just succeed when just a few are doing well at the top. It succeeds when the middle class gets bigger. Our economy doesn’t grow from the top down -- it grows from the middle out.

We don’t believe that anybody is entitled to success in this count

That is, until Biff Spackle sent me this montage.


Then it all became clear.

Oh, and as you could have predicted, "The First Food Czar’s School Lunchroom Mandate is Failing."