Showing posts with label Pelosi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pelosi. Show all posts

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Democrats distancing themselves from Murtha


Politico reports that even the swamp-denizen Democrats are returning money from John "Unindicted Co-Conspirator" Murtha, author of some of the sleaziest earmarks in Congressional history.

A Democratic congressional candidate in Florida returned a campaign check from House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha’s PAC, offering further evidence that Democrats in competitive races are worried about being linked to Murtha, who has come under intense scrutiny for his earmarking practices.

Lori Edwards, running in a GOP-leaning district in Florida, gave back $1,000 in Murtha money earlier this summer, shortly before the House killed a resolution from Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) demanding a probe into earmarks and contributions related to the now-defunct PMA Group lobbying firm, run by former Appropriations Committee aide Paul Magliocchetti. The returned check was revealed in the October campaign finance reports released Wednesday.

More than 100 House members secured earmarks for clients of the PMA Group in the Murtha-written fiscal 2008 defense spending bill alone, and those members had taken in more than $1.8 million in campaign contributions from the PMA Group’s political action committee and its employees since 2001, according to CQ Politics.

...Flake spent months trying to pressure the House to force an ethics investigation, and around the time Edwards returned her Murtha money, more Democrats were beginning to distance themselves from Murtha. Though Democratic leaders were able to fend off the Flake efforts, 29 Democrats — mostly from swing districts — voted with Flake on one of his Murtha-related resolutions...

Of course, it's easy to forget about Murtha with so many corrupt slugs circling the drain (Rangel, Dodd, Mollohan, Reid, Waters, Frank, Feinstein, Pelosi, etc., etc.).


Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Charts o' the Day: Obama has a Death Panel --- for the Economy


Democrats in Congress and in the Obama administration have tripled the national deficit in only nine months.

Their egregious budgets put America on a glide-path to bankruptcy. Nine years from now, unless we throw out these economic illiterates, the deficit will be the size of the entire American economy.

How has the economy responded to their gravity-defying spending spree?

The "Cash for Clunkers" program was an utter failure, pulling demand forward primarily for foreign automakers, even though American taxpayers own GM and Chrysler.

Surely a genius like TurboTax Tim Geithner -- the only man smart enough to rescue the economy -- could help us understand this chart. Multiple housing starts are still at a record low and there is literally no momentum for improved real estate sales when so many Americans are unemployed.

Mortgage rates are at record lows. Taxpayers are funding $8,000 down payments in the form of tax credits. And yet, despite all of the spending, home sales remain at near record lows. The few houses that are selling are existing homes. So much for stimulating construction employment.

The price of "affordable" mortgage rates -- affordability being a relative term when you're unemployed -- is the catastrophic devaluation of the U.S. dollar. At some point soon, rates must increase. And when they do, the outstanding Option ARM and Alt-A loan book will truly become a ticking time-bomb.

The true unemployment rate (U-6) is at 17 pecent while the average work week is the lowest it's been since they started keeping records in the sixties.

Despite a record number of foreclosures, debt forgiveness packages and bankruptcies, households are still carrying a phenomenal amount of debt. The "stimulus" package appeared to be a wonderful bailout for the banks and their cronies in Washington, but less effective for Joe Average.

The stock market trend over the last few months is an odd one: despite very low volumes, the DJIA and SPY have ratcheted up 50% from their lows. The underpinnings of the ramp-up are hard to rationalize given the upcoming waves of Option ARM, Alt-A and Commercial Real Estate defaults. And although they're swimming in cash, the banks aren't extending credit, presumably because they're sitting on massive hidden losses that haven't been marked to market. Given the uncertainty around small businesses (mandated health care, energy taxes, etc.), unemployment will remain high. All of these factors mean that we could have a third major bubble building in the markets.

An analysis by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PDF) demonstrates that health care bills for individuals and families will skyrocket under the Democrats' "health care reform" efforts that leave tens of millions uninsured.

Count on spending an additional $4,000 (in after tax dollars) each year for your family.


Add in the health care bill to all of the other deficit spending and the results are dismal indeed.

The health care bill adds trillions to an already dangerously swollen deficit.

Feel stimulated yet?

In the midst of this economic catastrophe, the failures in Washington are relentlessly pushing the nationalization of one-fifth of our entire economy.

I don't know whether there are "death panels" in the health care bill, but the Democrats have one running our economy.


Charts and Commentary Hat Tips: The Foundry and Doctor Housing Bubble,
.

 

Monday, October 12, 2009

A Call To Action From 1950: We Must Fight Socialized Medicine!


Realistico writes:

Attached is an ad taken out by the American Medical Association in the Ladies' Home Journal of November 1, 1950. Its subject? Compulsory, socialized medicine...


Our beloved Congress appears to have forgotten, once again, who actually runs this country.


Thursday, October 08, 2009

Welcome to Zimbabwe: World Economic Forum ranks U.S. financial stability 38th, currency stability 50th globally


The Democrats' game plan is working. They've already tripled the deficit, they're desperately trying to nationalize one-fifth of the economy with trillions more in spending and they're not done yet.

Economists are not pleased. The World Economic Forum has issued its 2009 Financial Development Report (PDF) and the news for the United States is decidedly poor.

...the impact of the systemic risk potentially created by some of these activities is captured only in the financial stability pillar; the United States achieves very low scores in overall financial stability (38th)...

Particular disadvantages are evident in currency stability (50th) and banking stability (36th) measures. The banking system in general also exhibits signs of weakness, with relatively lower scores in size (21st) and efficiency (26th).

Potential areas of improvement in the institutional environment include the strength of auditing and reporting requirements (25th), the regulation of securities exchanges (29th), and public trust of politicians (26th).

Trust in politicians? I didn't know an instrument existed that could measure trustworthiness in the likes of Pelosi, Reid and Obama.

Welcome to the third world, courtesy of the outstanding leadership of the National Socialist Democrat Party.


Linked by: InstaPundit, Gateway Pundit and Mark Levin. Thanks!

Fire Nancy Pelosi: 1 of 204,997


The NRCC:

In 2008, Nancy Pelosi received 204,996 votes to win reelection in her home district. We need your help today to collect at least 204,997 names on our "Fire Nancy Pelosi" mobile petition. You can put us one step closer to our goal by signing the petition right away.

Republicans are in a strong position to take back the House majority and fire Pelosi in the 2010 midterm election. In terms of candidate recruitment, fundraising, and issue development, we are far ahead of where we were at this point in 1993 - and you remember what happened in 1994.

Please take a moment to sign our petition by entering your mobile number to the right and send a clear message that Americans are unhappy with Pelosi's "leadership."

Do your part and help send a pink slip to the dumbest House Speaker in history.


Update: You can stop a Pelosi Democrat on November 3rd!.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

And these are the guys who want to nationalize 17% of the economy?


Gee, they got the whole stimulus thing wrong.


And screwed up the auto companies. And the banks. And the budget. And "Cash-for-Clunkers". And the dollar.

But I'm sure Biden, Pelosi, Reid and President Training Wheels will be able to successfully revamp the entire health care system using a central-planning approach reminiscent of East Germany in 1963.


Update: More good news: "Halloween came early to the White House."

"The Scariest Jobs Chart Ever"


One more from Henry Blodget:

It's now official: The country has lost more jobs as a percentage of peak employment than any time since the Great Depression.

This includes the recessions of the early 1980s, even when they are combined.

(Click to zoom)

...regardless of what the jobs recovery eventually looks like, it hasn't started yet... here's [Calculated Risk]'s explanation:

The dashed line is an estimate of the impact of the large benchmark revision (824 thousand more jobs lost).

The graph compares the job losses from the start of the employment recession in percentage terms (as opposed to the number of jobs lost).

Instead of 7.2 million net jobs lost since December 2007, the preliminary benchmark estimate suggests the U.S. has lost over 8.0 million net jobs during that period.

Thankfully, the President of Chicago has a vast amount of experience in revitalizing businesses, so it shouldn't be much of a problem for him to repair the badly wounded economy.

Monday, October 05, 2009

Fail Blog: Central Planning Edition


Consider the track record of the Central-Planner-In-Chief:

• The results of the ill-fated $787 "Stimulus" package?


Cash-for-Clunkers?


• The First-time Home Buyers' Tax Credit?


• Nationalizing GM and Chrysler, while abrogating bankruptcy laws to reward major campaign contributors like the union bosses?


• Allowing the Treasury Department (a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs) and the Federal Reserve to artificially and illegally prop up the country's "too-big-to-fail" banks?


• Attempting a takeover of 17% of the economy through creation of a government-run health care system?


You'd have thought the fall of the Soviet Union would have taught the would-be central planners the futility of Politburo-style orchestration of the economy.


But, then, you'd be thinking rationally, unlike the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Democrats who are -- intentionally or not -- destroying the American economy.

Remember their outrageous failures. And vote accordingly in 2010.


Sunday, October 04, 2009

Top Ten Bizarre Aspects of ObamaCare


With David Letterman back in the news, a top ten list is in order. Let's illustrate the panoply of weirdness that are the health care bills working their way through Congress.

10. Doctors who treat the oldest patients will be fined by the government: The government will create a "hit list" of doctors who are in the top 10% of Medicare costs per patient nationwide. Those doctors on the list automatically lose 5 percent of their total Medicare reimbursements, which are already abysmally low. Because the most aged patients are the most costly to treat, doctors will shy away from treating the oldest segment of the population for fear it will relegate them to the hit list. Put simply, this stricture will dramatically reduce access to health care for our most vulnerable seniors.

9. Democrats have combined free health care for illegal immigrants with measures to increase the number of illegals in this country: All GOP efforts to amend the health care bills to require a photo ID, a Social Security number and similar measures have been defeated on party lines. This is consistent with a June report ("If the American people found out...") that "[pro-illegal immigration group] La Raza said if they get this, they don't even care about amnesty, because they've fixed it so that one family member can apply for all extended family members."

8: Seniors will receive hefty tax hikes for care: Medical devices are taxed by the Baucus bill in order to raise about $4 billion annually. So much for the promises that the middle class won't see their taxes raised. These newly taxed devices include pacemakers, hip joint replacements, gastrointestinal tubes, artificial hearts, hearing aids, heart defibrillators, powered wheelchairs, etc. In other words, the taxes will hit seniors hardest, make procedures less affordable, and punish the device manufacturing sector.

7: Choose to self-insure? You'll face a year in prison: Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold [confirmed] the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance: Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty.

6: Taxes for everyone with health care insurance will increase: To pay for the $1 trillion cost of the bill, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wants either an income surtax on the wealthy or higher taxes on "Cadillac" health plans (e.g., most comprehensive plans, including those of union members). Again -- so much for the promises that the middle class won't see their taxes raised.

5: Nearly half of all doctors would consider quitting if ObamaCare becomes law: Two out of three doctors oppose the bills under consideration in Washington. And hundreds of thousands of doctors would take an early retirement or shut down their practices if the bills become law. Lastly, "72% of the doctors polled disagree with the administration's claim that the government can cover 47 million more people with better-quality care at lower cost."

4: Health care companies are under a "gag order" and can not criticize the bill: In an absurdly illegal repudiation of the First Amendment, "the federal government has now told all companies that provide Medicare Advantage to seniors to stop communicating with their clients about the effects of that legislation — even telling them what they can and cannot post on their websites. This gag order [is] enforced through an agency of the federal government at the request of a Senator... Citizens, either as individuals or grouped together in companies, have a fundamental right to talk about legislation they favor or oppose. That is the core of the First Amendment’s protections on speech. Unfortunately, this is part of a troubling trend of efforts to dismiss the concerns raised by the American people over the past few months."

3: President Obama says that the health care bill is a job-creating stimulus package: The President stated that small businesses would especially benefit because they 'could buy health insurance through an exchange... 'where they can compare the price, quality and services of a wide variety of plans'... [and the] government would subsidize health insurance for many businesses and individuals."

2: 47% of households pay no taxes -- and their ranks are growing: Thus, government-run health care is the greatest wealth transfer in history. The 53% of tax-paying households will therefore subsidize the 47% who pay no taxes. And: with the "$787 billion economic recovery package, which included a host of new or expanded tax breaks," the 47% number is certain to grow.

1: By a margin of nearly 2-to-1, Americans don't even want government-run health care: Gallup's latest polling confirms what the 9/12 celebrations, the "tea parties" and other grassroots movements should be telling the bureaucrats in Washington. That is, "89% of Republicans, 64% of independents, and 61% of Americans overall say Americans themselves -- rather than the government -- have the primary responsibility for ensuring that they have health insurance."

That won't stop the Statists, of course, so vote accordingly in 2010.


Linked by: Maggie's Farm. Thanks!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Blues State


Democrats have controlled California for over two decades. Their policies have transformed a beautiful, industrious state into a monumental catastrophe.

Open Borders and Easy Access to Welfare: as the stack graph shows, California accounts for 12% of the nation's population but 32% of welfare recipients. Only California and Texas registered high enough to include the state name on the Y-axis. Texas has 8% of the U.S. population and is equally burdened by border issues but has only 1/10th of California's welfare rolls.

More Open Borders, More Welfare: This pie will give you indigestion; California represents 32% of America's welfare caseload. Chuck Devore explains, "California's share of the nation's welfare recipients has been soaring since Democrat legislators severely relaxed welfare rules and eligibility while hiking benefits around 2001. The result was as predictable for welfare as California's high taxes and heavy regulations have been for jobs and business."

Even More Open Borders and More Relaxed Welfare Policies: While the Blue State of New York has its own bragging rights (highest per capita spending on welfare rolls), the distance between New York and the other states compared to California is like the distance between the Earth (other states), the Moon (New York), and the Sun (California). California is the only state that refuses to "seriously enforce the federal lifetime limit of 5 years of welfare for able-bodied adults."

California faces the biggest financial crisis in its history due in no small part to the waste, fraud, and abuse related to its outrageous entitlement programs. Devore calls them "a honey pot for many in America who find it easier to accept a taxpayer handout than to work."

This "generosity" with other peoples’ money impels Sacramento lawmakers to give such large sums of working Californians' money to non-working Californians inevitably results in less of the former and more of the latter. This is simple economics, and it's a shame that it escapes the architects of our state's governance today.


Powerful and Unaccountable Unions: San Francisco, to use a simple example, employs at least 100 unionized workers who earn over $200,000 annually (including a $350,000 a year "Special Nurse").

Los Angeles has nearly 300 retirees earning over $100,000 a year.

The website Pension Tsunami recently noted several articles of interest related to union pension funds. “Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout” summarizes how public employee pension funds have cooked their books for years. This has gotten worse in recent years, as public sector employee unions have, "consolidated their power in state and local governments by controlling elections [and] demanded unsustainable increases to the benefit packages of their members – often retroactively – from politicians whose survival depended on their obedience."

Gee, by all means, let's pass card-check (also known as "The Employee No Choice Act")!

The facts are indisputable: Blue States are melting down.

California is an ominous preview into America's future. Perhaps an enterprising progressive (or is that an oxymoron?) could explain why we should follow the Obama-Pelosi-Reid brain-trust into certain oblivion.


Linked by: Verum Serum. Thanks! Hat tips: Chuck DeVore will be a candidate for Senate in 2010, challenging the egregious Barbara "Call Me Senator" Boxer, No Oil For Pacifists.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

In whom do you place your trust?


As it pertains to the role of government, individual liberty, the free market, Democracy and natural law, in whom do you place your trust?

Benjamin Franklin
"Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in the world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes."
Barney Frank
"These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis... The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."

 

Alexander Hamilton
"It's not tyranny we desire; it's a just, limited, federal government."
"The sacred rights of mankind... are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased."
Christopher Dodd
"I don't care what the public wants, I'm going to give it what it needs!"

 

Thomas Jefferson
"A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference. ...A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. "
Nancy Pelosi
"Every month that we do not have an economic recovery package 500 million Americans lose their jobs."
"The impact of climate change is a tremendous risk to the security and well-being of our countries."

 

John Adams
"Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty. Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power."
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
Harry Reid
"It's time that America's government lived by the same values as America's families. It's time we invested in America's future and made sure our people have the skills to compete and thrive in a 21st century economy. That's what Democrats believe."

 

James Madison
"Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government." "Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms."
Barack Obama
"I think when you spread the wealth around it's good for everybody."
"In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world."
"We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. "

 

Principles grounded in thousands of years of human experience versus soaring, yet utterly empty, rhetoric.

Timeless genius versus power-hungry political hacks.

Our choice is clear. We choose liberty.


Linked by: Curmudgeonly & Skeptical. Thanks!