Doug Ross @ Journal

Monday, May 17, 2010

One Answer to the Public Sector Unions: Outsourcing

Taxpayers are growing angrier and angrier at the outsized salaries, pensions and benefits negotiated by public sector unions. It is commonplace to have retirees in California receive guaranteed six-figure salaries in retirement with cost-of-living increases. Former school administrators in New Jersey can expect to earn $200,000+ annually for the rest of their lives.

Study after study shows that for equivalent jobs, public sector wages are far more lucrative on average than the private sector. And pensions -- retirement benefits overall -- are leaps and bounds richer than their private equivalents. These disparities are due to union monopolies that work directly against the taxpayer and reward politicians who "go along to get along" during contract negotiations. Big government Democrats reward unions, which turn around and contribute heavily to Democrats.

In Europe, outsourcing of some public sector jobs has become commonplace to break this vicious and deadly cycle.

In the UK – viewed as one of the economies hit hardest by the crisis thanks to an over-reliance on financial services, and facing a budget deficit of over £175bn – outsourcing contracts already account for around 13% of government spending; the UK is widely viewed as a ‘world leader’ in public-sector outsourcing. Since the production last year by former outsourcing luminary DeAnne Julius of a somewhat controversial ministerial-level report heavily backing increased outsourcing, a drive towards efficiency via outsourcing has become entrenched policy.

With state and local economies flat on their backs, administrators in the U.S. are right to examine ways to force efficiencies out of bloated, monopolistic contracts.

[In the U.S.] the picture is less cut-and-dried, as a traditional distaste for public-sector outsourcing (reinforced by heavy pressure from organized labor to keep jobs under state control and within national boundaries) runs up against the overwhelming need to bring public finances back under some semblance of control. Muddying the water still further is the conflation in the minds of many both within and outside government of “outsourcing” with “offshore outsourcing”...

Indeed, outsourcing does not necessarily imply offshoring. Outsourcing can translate to near-sourcing, e.g., a situation where Ohio contracts with a private organization in West Virginia to handle call center operations.

While fire-fighting remains the order of the day for many state governments, there is a growing belief that the downturn might have tipped the scales in terms of ushering in a new (and, in many eyes, long-overdue) wave of public sector transformation)...

"The current crisis offers an opportunity to find better ways of doing business and better ways of providing service," according to Patrick Moore, Georgia’s state CIO.

I commend Moore and other government executives who use private sector companies to compete on price, quality and other traditional measures unheard of by organizations like the AFT, the NEA and the SEIU.

A Nutty Non Sequitur from the Pro Journalists at the Associated Press

Dan from New York writes:

This story, which will serve as the copy for scores of newspaper and electronic media stories throughout the world, inevitably (see bold below) winds its way back to the root cause of misery and Hamas oppression in Gaza - Israel.

There is an invaluable lesson in this nutty non-sequitur, for those who are willing to absorb it. The received wisdom, the narrative gospel, is that Jews are always at fault and indeed is created by sophisticated, highly intelligent people. Thus, the war for Israel has nothing to do with PR, education, disseminating "the Truth," eloquent speeches, correcting the record, editorial rebuttals, international law, "shared values," letters to the editor or warnings "we all face the same enemy."

The war for Israel - if Israel is to win it - requires Israelis to use the strong arm that history has given them to reclaim their land and neutralize their foes without waiting for the understanding, let alone the approval, of the Nations (now including Obama's America) which seek to destroy them.

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Hamas destroys dozens of homes in southern Gaza

AP - 5/17/10

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Hamas police wielding clubs beat and pushed residents out of dozens of homes in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on Sunday before knocking the buildings down with bulldozers, residents said.

Gaza's militant Hamas rulers said the homes were built illegally on government land. Newly homeless residents were furious over Palestinians on bulldozers razing Palestinian homes.

For years, Palestinians have criticized Israel for destroying houses, mostly because they were built without permits issued by the military. Now, Rafah residents complained, their own government, run by the Islamic militant Hamas that seized power in Gaza in July 2007, has done the same.

"They promised reform and change — instead they've destroyed our homes," shouted Miasar Gan, a 54-year-old woman. Gan said she and her husband had nowhere else to go... Her neighbor, Nazira Abu Jara, 56, said policewomen wearing face veils typical of conservative Muslim women beat her with clubs until she fled her house with her husband and two children... Others picked through rubble to retrieve dusty clothing and mangled furniture.

Residents said between 30 and 40 homes were torn down, ranging from concrete structures to tin shacks. They did not know how many people were affected. Hamas officials did not allow reporters into the area until the demolition was over... Residents said more demolitions in the area were expected Monday.

Even if they are allowed to rebuild, Israel does not allow most building materials into the territory it has blockaded since Hamas seized power. The newly homeless residents are unlikely to be able to afford the steep black market prices for concrete, steel and wood. Some of the families cannot afford rent.

Rafah's mayor, Issa Nashar, promised alternative housing. Gaza's housing minister Yousef al-Mansi said he had no information about such housing.

Larwyn's Linx: MI Dems form fake third party called 'Tea Party'

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Sunday, May 16, 2010

Zero Hedge Calculates Real Unemployment (12.2%) and Underemployment (22%) Rates; Democrats Shrug: 'You F***ed Up! You Trusted Us!'

Tyler Durden has carefully reexamined the nation's unemployment situation using population growth statistics that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) routinely ignores. The results are astonishing as he finds that real unemployment in the U.S. could be worse than that of Spain.

At 65.2%, the civilian employment participation rate is significantly lower than the 66.4% 20-year average.

But the U.S. population isn't static. The nearly straight line, above, represents the nation's population. But the second line, the civilian labor force, has grown at a much slower pace. The gap represents a growing class of the permanently unemployed and those who work under the table (e.g., illegal immigrants and others who pay no taxes). The group also represents an increasing pool of welfare and social service recipients who must be supported by a lower percentage of taxpayers.

Durden believes that the BLS has biased the data to skew the unemployment numbers -- and using the real population data, unemployment (U-3) is actually 12.7% (nearly 30% higher than the "official" 9.9%).

The underemployment (or U-6) rate is even more dire. It represent the "real" unemployment rate that many other countries use in their calculations. Durden states that our true unemployment measure is 22%; 34 million people who are "unemployed, marginally attached, plus total employed part time for economic reasons."

The average duration of unemployment is now a record high of 33 weeks (nearly eight months). Nearly half of the unemployed have been out of work for more than six months.

And the chart shows that this average out-of-work duration continues to skyrocket.

Democrats took a serious but typical recession and turned it into an utter disaster. Spending program upon spending program, debt upon debt, welfare payment upon welfare payment, earmark upon earmark, entitlement upon entitlement -- unemployment payments without end and always more regulations, more government-controlled industries and more taxes.

This level of irresponsibility is unprecedented in American history. It really is November or never to throw these bums out of office.

Illinois Melts Down: the Inevitable Result of Unchecked Democrat Rule

How's that whole "Daley Machine" thing working out?

Illinois Faces 50% Budget Shortfall

'Illinois lawmakers were in disarray Thursday as they groped for stopgap measures to address a $13 billion deficit equaling nearly half of the state's general-fund revenue... "We are lucky in that we still can borrow," Mr. Trotter said, noting that lawmakers responded to rating-agency concerns last month by reducing pension benefits and lifting the retirement age for new state employees to 67 from 60. Lawmakers also are weighing the idea of postponing pension payments... '

State will have $5.5 billion in unpaid bills by end of June

'Meanwhile, the state still owes billions of dollars to hospitals, universities, social-service providers and others. Mr. Hynes said the state's backlog of unpaid bills probably will exceed $5.5 billion at the end of June... "Eventually, many providers of essential state services may be unable to continue their operations at current levels, and those vulnerable segments of the population to whom they provide services will suffer the consequences," [Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes] wrote.'

Democrats unveil creative plan to address budget shortfall: 33% increase in income taxes

'Illinois tax rates are the most talked about issue on the campaign trail and in the statehouse, as Gov. Pat Quinn pushes for a 33 percent income tax increase... Illinois ranks fifth [in the U.S.] with more than $116 billion in debt, translating to about $9,000 per-capita [as of 2007]."

No School Vouchers -- Teachers' Unions Still Rule Springfield

'There apparently will be no vouchers for the children in Chicago's worst schools. The Illinois House refused this week to pass a voucher bill, which would the first of its kind in this state... State Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) [introduced a] voucher bill would have given children in more than 50 of the worst-performing elementary schools in Chicago an opportunity to attend private schools by giving them $3,300 vouchers.'

'Ticking Time Bomb' Threatens Illinois University System

'"I think everyone is aware of our situation,"

Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard told a Senate committee earlier Thursday. "We're owed right now, a number of public universities in the state, over $700 million by the comptroller. We simply do not have the ability to make up that money in a short period of time. So we need this borrowing to keep our universities working and to pay our people." ...The state owes its public universities more $700 million in appropriations for the current school year. The University of Illinois alone is owed $386 million and SIU is owed $104 million for its two campuses... The money isn't being paid because of a $13 billion state budget deficit and it isn't clear when that might change... "Here we are with a ticking time bomb once again and what's the solution? Borrow more money," Sen. Matt Murphy, a Palatine Republican, told colleagues before the vote. "We already owe more money per capita than any other state in the nation. Here's another effort to farm out our debt."'

Crushed by deficit, IL hones new strategy for overdue bills: don't pay them

'For 35 years, frail senior citizens in southern Illinois could turn to the Shawnee Development Council for help cleaning the house, buying groceries or any of the chores that make the difference between living at home or moving to an institution.

No more. The council shut down the program Thursday because of a budget crisis created by the state of Illinois' failure to pay its bills.

Paralyzed by the worst deficit in its history, the state has fallen months behind in paying what it owes to businesses and organizations, pushing some of them to the edge of bankruptcy.

Illinois isn't bothering with the formality of issuing IOUs, as California did last year. It simply doesn't pay... Illinois' deadbeat reputation has created some embarrassing situations.

A supplier refused to sell bullets to the Department of Corrections unless it got paid in advance. Legislators have gotten eviction notices for their district offices because the state wasn't paying rent. One legislator said he had to use campaign funds to pay the telephone bill after service was cut off at his office.

...The practice of simply putting off payments became commonplace under ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich... The strategy also may have been helped along by Illinois' "anything goes" political culture...

...Some schools have tried to shame Illinois into paying by posting signs announcing how much the state owes. The website IllinoisIsBroke.com details the state's financial mess...'

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Gee, Madge, aren't these Democrat-controlled Utopias cool? But don't worry, I trust President Obama and his Chicago-slash-Beltway Machine completely to take better care of the United States economy. The whole Daley-Blago-Jarrett-Rezko connection to the utter destruction of Illinois is tenuous, I'm sure.

Fire Pelosi: Show your support with Harris, Nunnelee, Pearce, Guinta, Chabot & Stivers Blog Widgets

Herein I present six (count 'em: six) blog widgets using my patented "Double Your Vote" theme. Each points to the respective GOP challenger in a key House race. If you don't have a blog yourself, please pass the link on to friends who do. Needless to say, if you have a blog -- get to steppin'.

And, either way, if you can spare a couple of bucks, click on the links and donate.

World's dumbest blogger blames BP-Transocean spill and federal government's ineffective response on -- well, I'll give you one guess.

Matthew Yglesias, who has held the undisputed title of World's Dumbest Blogger since 2004, unleashed another hilarious literary excretion on Friday.

Yggie Pop -- that's the nickname he prefers -- uses the favorite oh-so-creative, who'd-have-thought-of-it tactic of the Left. See if you can guess which option he called for out of the Left's tired playbook as he tried to reassign blame for the tragic BP-Transocean oil rig explosion and spill:

Choose Your Play from the Left's Playbook
A) Race Card (Al Sharpton optional)
B) Blame Bush
C) It's the Tea-Baggers' Fault
D) Because the U.S. supports Israel's genocidal apartheid
E) Because talk radio and Fox News are controlling people's minds kind of like The Matrix

Ready? As 99% of you surmised, the correct answer is 'B'. For the rest, i.e., you Democrats reading this, my personal position is that we should blame the Fillmore administration.

In Obama's Katrina -- An Illustrated Timeline, I documented the activities of the administration in relation to the tragic explosion and oil spill.

Before there was any substantial response (other than that of the U.S. Coast Guard and sending in lawyers to New Orleans), the President spent almost all of his time on:

• Campaigning for the financial overhaul bill to give the federal government even more regulatory power over our lives, while ignoring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
• Blasting Arizona's enforcement of federal immigration law with its onerous demands for documentation in situations where police have engaged suspects
• Using his radio address to rally disaffected Hispanics and Blacks to his big government cause
• Meeting with the Rev. Bill Graham for photo ops during a vacation to the Smokies
• Filming racially divisive video spots for Organizing for America
• Golf

Put simply, the lack of serious White House response points to, at best, negligence and most likely sheer, unmitigated incompetence.

For a man who decries 'finger-pointing', the President has yet to take the blame for any of his actions. And his useful idiots in the press, new media and old, are all too happy to oblige by playing cards that have been worn thin through overuse.

Bear takes bite of hiker -- Internet flame war ensures

The Knoxville News reports that a tourist angling for a closeup photo was bit on the foot by a black bear in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The man, whose name wasn't immediately available, let the bear get within inches of him Wednesday while hiking the Laurel Falls Trail, park spokeswoman Nancy Gray said. He didn't need treatment.

Park rangers believe they've caught the bear, a 60-pound female captured Thursday, Gray said. They'll kill it once they confirm it's the same one.

Park policy decrees an automatic death sentence for any bear that injures a human. Park officials said they're seeing more hungry, aggressive bears this year, probably due to a scarce acorn crop.

The article has generated, at current count, 119 comments including this entertaining anecdote.

I didn't realize there was an automatic death sentence [for bears who attack humans]. My wife and I were in the Smokies last year. Several kids [were] chasing a couple of cubs through the woods, I knew Mama wasn't too far away. I was trying to tell them it wasn't a good idea (from a goodly distance away). Then their Dad jumps in "Whudduyuh doin'?! There just havin' fon! Dem beers won't hoit 'em will dey?" I said "You ain't from around here are you? Where are y'all from?" "Noo Joisey." I said "Nah, they'll be fine. Do you have any more family members that might be able to help them catch those cute little fellers?"

Another commenter suggests the man may have approached the bear because he "was just trying to apologize to [it] for global warming -- apology not accepted."

No word on whether the tourist has retained a slip-and-fall lawyer to sue the bear and the park.

See, folks, this is what happens when you allow Democrats to visit wildlife refuges without chaperones.

Photo: WBIR.

Larwyn's Linx: Why Conservatives Love the Founders

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Nation

Why Conservatives Love the Founders: AT
Dean Obama has U.S. on Double-Secret Probation: Hanson
What those 5,800 crosses represent: Manteca

D’JEver Notice? LVI: RWN
The dots some don't want to connect: Steyn
Holder still evasive on Sestak job offer: Bulletin

Economy

It's Official – Congress Shuns Budget Duties: Foundry
Greece Syndrome Defined: LegalIns
Inflation U.S. (Video): NIA

Don't expect Obamacare to cut down E.R. usage: Betsy
Achievement Gap Politics: NAS
The Ugly Side of Social Justice: AT

Climate & Energy

Global Green Meltdown Gains Momentum: TAI
Death by a thousand regulations: AT

Media

Red Meat -- Sarah Palin’s NRA Convention Speech: AnotherBlackCon
Brewer-Palin Press Conference: GWP
Film The Federal Reserve? Want To Be Arrested?: LogMon

Barack Obama's "Respectable" Socialist Mentor - Abner Mikva: NewZeal
Chutzpah: it's what's for dinner: SixMeat
Pelosi to aspirising musicians: quit your job, taxpayers will pay for your health care: BlogProf

When Black Meant Republican: HHR
Anti-Semantic: Soccer Dad
Brewer to Obama: 'Don't Quit Your Day Job, Though Maybe You Should, Given Your Performance': GWP

World

Does fighting a great evil make it stronger?: Gina Cobb
Plans Announced To Erect Islamic Culture Center On Lars Vilks' Decapitated Body: Ace
The U.S. Government Knows that Iran Helps al-Qaida But Does Nothing About It : BRubin

The EU crackup and what it says about US priorities: Wizbang
Still Waiting for Saudi Arabia: JPost
The Ten Ships: Belmont Club

SciTech

A Translation Guide to the Obama Space Program: PJM
Facebook's First President, Sean Parker, Was Fired Over A Cocaine Arrest: SFgate
Armageddon, brought to you by the FCC: Fortune

Cornucopia

Submariner's Story: SondraK
Werewolf Prevention Training: Ace
Last-ditch Appeal to Save the Planet: Jore-El: Ridge

Image: Maktoob Business (AFP).
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: SecureTheBorder.org:

QOTD: "President Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court is irresponsible. Ms. Kagan is a liberal activist and political operative with no experience as judge. A Supreme Court nominee ought to have significant practical experience as a lawyer or a judge — especially a nominee for the nation's highest court. Her decision to throw military recruiters off the campus of Harvard Law School during a time of war shows she is far to the left of mainstream America. The fact that she continued to work in the Clinton White House after it became clear that President Clinton lied under oath raises questions about her ethical judgment. And her record, as spotty as it is, shows that Ms. Kagan is a committed liberal judicial activist.

Tea Party activists ought to be paying close attention to this nomination. With looming constitutional battles ranging from Obamacare to illegal immigration, the United States Senate should ensure that only a justice who will strictly interpret the U.S. Constitution is approved. There’s no reason to believe that Ms. Kagan meets this standard. Given the stakes, every U.S. Senator should know that the upcoming vote on Ms. Kagan will be as closely watched as their votes on Obamacare." -- Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch

Saturday, May 15, 2010

The man who endlessly pontificates on every topic imaginable strangely silent on Iran's new partnership with Al Qaeda

In his first year in office, President Obama gave 411 speeches and statements, using the teleprompter 178 separate times. On 52 occasions in the first year, he spoke specifically about the Democrat Party's plans to nationalize the health care system.

Yet on the subject of the stunning revelation that Iran is assisting Al Qaeda -- the same group that killed 3,000 innocent Americans -- the administration is mum, two months after the news first broke.

Consider: the man who doesn't hesitate to pontificate on Israel's apartments in East Jerusalem, the Cambridge Police Department, a faulty oil rig in the Gulf, the profit margins of health insurers, Arizona's enforcement of immigration laws and every other imaginable topic has suddenly turned into President Marcel Marceau.

Two months ago, General David Petraeus revealed the nefarious partnership.

Iran is assisting al Qaeda by facilitating links between senior terrorist leaders and affiliate groups, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East told Congress on Tuesday... On Tehran's ties to al Qaeda, Gen. Petraeus said the group "continues to use Iran as a key facilitation hub, where facilitators connect al Qaedas senior leadership to regional affiliates."

On Thursday, the Associated Press elaborated on the burgeoning partnership.

Al-Qaida operatives who have been detained for years in Iran have been making their way quietly in and out of the country, raising the prospect that Iran is loosening its grip on the terror group so it can replenish its ranks, former and current U.S. intelligence officials say.

This movement could indicate that Iran is re-examining its murky relationship with al-Qaida at a time when the U.S. is stepping up drone attacks in Pakistan and weakening the group's leadership. Any influx of manpower could hand al-Qaida a boost in morale and expertise and threaten to disrupt stability in the region.

U.S. officials say intelligence points to a worrisome increase in movement lately.

In late 2008, Saad bin Laden -- one of Osama's sons -- and four other AQ officials left Iran. Since then, other AQ members have slipped out of the country.

Some experts believe that anyone from al-Qaida freed to leave Iran must be returning to the battlefield...

Others believe that, with al-Qaida families left behind, terrorists may actually be working for Iran, gathering intelligence or passing messages before returning to Iran.

Either way, it's being noticed. Clare Lopez, a former CIA officer and a senior fellow at Center for Security Policy, says it's not a good sign.

"Movement like this doesn't augur well," she said.

And the man who never stops blathering about every topic known to man is strangely silent on the one issue of critical importance to all Americans.

Hat tips: Barry Rubin and Dan from New York.

IMF: Say, Sparky, right about now wouldn't exactly be the best time to increase federal spending -- unless you wanted to trigger an economic collapse

The latest edition of the International Monetary Fund's Fiscal Monitor (PDF) was made public on Friday. Even the terse, spare prose of economists living on various governments' tabs could not conceal the ominous message: this ain't exactly the time for any country -- least of all the United States -- to take on more debt.

In terms of adding both gross debt and overall deficit (as a percentage of total economic output, or GDP), the U.S. is outspending Portugal, Great Britain, Italy and -- wait for it -- Greece. This level of deficit spending, on the heels of massive borrowing in 2009, is simply unsustainable.

Canada is reducing its debt.

Italy's borrowing has increased recently, though at a much slower rate than prior years.

Even Japan, which sells its debt primarily to its citizens, has begun to slow the rate of growth.

The United Kingdom has reined in its debt growth as well, as evidenced by the flattened hump.

Meanwhile, the United States' deficit spending looks like a moonshot.

Despite all of the TARP spending and so-called "fiscal stimulus" programs, the U.S. and other developed countries suffer from dramatic downturns in revenue. For you drones out there, that means the real, private economy is flat on its back. Real businesses like energy, insurance, manufacturing, etc. You know, the ones that you Marxists hate.

This year alone, the U.S. has bonds (debt) representing 21.2% of its entire economic output coming due (maturing). This means that new debt must be issued. Heard of a Treasury Auction? That's a sale of debt and the amounts that must be refinanced are staggering.

The risks are immense. Consider Greece and the panic it caused. The chart directly above depicts interest rates on various countries' debt from November 2008 to May 2010. As investors lost confidence that the Greek government could make its bond payments (service the debt), interest rates skyrocketed. This helped precipitate the 1,000-point drop in the Dow that we experienced little more than a week ago. The risk for the U.S. is stark: should investors conclude that the federal government will be unable to make its bond payments, our interest rates will necessarily skyrocket. The result would be hyperinflation and economic catastrophe, not dissimilar to the pre-Hitlerian days of the Weimar Republic when the German economic system melted down and its currency became worthless.

The cost to insure yourself against a governmental default -- a failure to make its interest payments -- is called a CDS spread and is represented here. You can clearly see what occurred to the price of Italy, France and the U.K. CDS when Greece began to implode.

The IMF also attempted to predict the effect of new deficits, based not only on projected spending but also entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare, etc.) that will suffer from massive growth as the population ages. Based on this measure, the U.S. fiscal situation is the worst in the world. Its projected budgets are, by far, the most irresponsible on the planet.

And as for the Keynesian School of Economists -- the Paul Krugmans of the world who believe that governments should grow unchecked and spend their way out of recessions -- this graph shows that the Obama-Democrat plan for spending was doomed from the start, as we conservatives predicted. Put simply, the lower the deficit spending, the better your economy will grow.

That's what our founders knew. That's why they tried to restrain what the federal government could do with specifically enumerated powers. You know, that living-and-breathing contract with America called the Constitution.

Even the IMF is trying to tell us to stop the insanity: "If governments fail to signal a credible commitment to reduce debt ratios, the resulting increase in interest rates (and decline in growth rates) could increase the [possibility of a dangerous financial condition]... fiscal adjustment will require a sizable, and sometimes unprecedented, effort."

Democrats in Congress are not reducing or stabilizing debt... they are increasing debt to heights never before seen in world history, including a new entitlement program that threatens to capsize the fiscal ship of state.

Call it an Obonzi Scheme that puts this country on the precipice of disaster.

It's November or never, my friends.

'The IED President'

Dan from New York calls Obama 'The IED President' for reasons that will soon become apparent.

John Hinderaker of Powerline asks, "Is the United States Greece?," and then cites this factoid: The national debt in the US (on a gross basis) will climb to above 100pc of GDP by 2015 - a far steeper increase than almost any other country.

Hinderaker concludes: "The Democrats in Washington are both too stupid and too ideologically committed to read the writing on the wall. They are leading the United States over a financial cliff, and they have no intention of turning back. On the contrary: if they can, they will hobble our economy further by enacting a carbon tax. There is only one way to stop them, and to save our children--from whom greedy, selfish Washington liberals are borrowing trillions of dollars--from a lifetime of debt. The Democrats must be voted out in 2010, and Barack Obama must be denied a second opportunity to deconstruct the country that he doesn't much like."

At home and abroad, Obama's policies are timed to explode intermittently in the future - mostly too far out to damage him politically in the here and now. Americans need the foresight to defuse them before they go off in our faces, not after it's too late.

It's November or never, America.

The fiscal time-bomb is even worse than that. In addition to the "off-the-books" entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare, etc.) that aren't included on the federal balance sheet, consider Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The hidden tab for the GSEs is estimated at over $6 trillion.

Those "job shops for out-of-work Democrats" were destroyed by the likes of Andrew Cuomo, Janet Reno, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick, Jim Johnson and Rahm Emanuel through a series of brain-damaged policy decisions and outright criminal activities.

Big government is literally crushing America -- and Democrats in Congress and the President don't appear to care a bit.

Awesome: Another $23 Billion of Your Money to be Redistributed to the Teachers' Unions

Democrats in Congress and the President are doing their best to undermine the financial system before the November midterms. Unsatisfied with transferring $60 billion (abrogating contract law along the way) with payoffs to the UAW... not content with a $800 billion dollar "Stimulus" package that rewarded the AFL-CIO and the SEIU... and not quenched with jamming a massive new entitlement program down Americans' throats in the midst of unprecedented deficits... they are now trying to take $23 billion more of the next generation's money and Fed-Ex it to the Teachers' Unions.

A post on The White House blog (via ABC News) late Wednesday evening announced that it was time for "bold action" to save teachers' jobs.

Specifically, Arne Duncan, Obama's education secretary wrote the following to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid:

We applaud Chairmen Harkin, Miller and Obey for crafting legislation in direct response to these challenges. S. 3206, the Keep Our Educators Working Act, H.R. 2847, the Jobs for Main Street Act, and H.R. 4812, the Local Jobs for America Act, each call for $23 billion in emergency support to preserve education jobs modeled after the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) established in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This funding would keep teachers in the classroom while helping to sustain meaningful and necessary reforms in public education across the country.

We urge Congress to include this funding in the supplemental appropriations bills soon to be considered. We also urge Congress to include $2 billion in support to localities for police and firefighters to ensure that our communities remain safe, as well as $1 billion in funds for the Child Care and Development Block Grant to preserve early childhood education jobs and ensure that our youngest children do not lose the supports and services critical to their learning and overall well-being.

So this is another multi-billion dollar payoff to the NEA and the AFT, the hard-left partisans who control public school teachers, invariably support big government Democrats and continuously wage war against the taxpayer.

Gee, this seems so responsible, what with all of the spare money we've got.

Seriously, it's hard for me to conceive of a more partisan and dangerous government than our current set of leaders at the federal level.

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin and Doug Powers.