Earmarks, Earmarks Everywhere You Look

The House has passed their version of a budget appropriations bill, also called an Omnibus Bill, and it is full of earmarks as usual.  As always happens with these types of bills, several days on the internet leads to the exposing of government waste via earmark after earmark for mindboggling projects.  Most of these projects are “pet projects” of lawmakers and completely unnecessary, particularly during a time when the national debt has risen above $12 trillion and the government is considering raising the debt ceiling another $1.8 trillion as Moody’s prepares to take away America’s AAA credit rating.  Our government is certifiable at this point.  And the weak Republicans only opt to vote “No”.  Where in the hell are you Republicans?  My God, storm the damn House floor and refuse to vote.

And any hopes that the Republican Senators will put up more fight has been dashed with the vote for cloture this morning in the Senate.  This spending bill rolls in at $447 billion and contains 5,000 earmarks worth $3.9 billion.  This atrosity contains federal funding for D.C., the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill; the Commerce-Justice-State bill; the Labor-HHS-Education bill; the military construction-Veterans Affairs bill; and the State-foreign operations bill.  Funding for the Pentagon was taken out so that these corrupt lawmakers can use it next week to attach on to Obama’s third stimulus for jobs and the lunatic idea to raise the national debt ceiling almost $2 trillion more.

Earmarks include $2.7 million for supporting surgical operations in outer space, $800,000 for jazz at New York’s Lincoln Center, $750,000 for exhibits at the World Food Prize Hall in Iowa and $3.4 million for a rural bus program in Hawaii.

No Chamber Of Commerce At Jobs Summit

Anyone with common sense knows that it is small business that creates the most jobs in America, where free enterprise used to reign supreme before government intrusion into the free market happened.  The champion of small businesses is the United States Chamber of Commerce.  One would think that a large jobs summit hosted by the President would definitely include the Chamber.  But today’s Jobs Summit to be held at the White House will not include the Chamber.  They were not invited and there is no doubt as to the reason why: they are being punished.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been working vehemently against ObamaCare.  This makes sense since it is widely known and just plain common sense that ObamaCare will hurt small businesses.  The Chamber has even put together a Healthcare Toolkit.  For nearly a year, the Chamber has been releasing PDF files that evaluate healthcare reform issues and that critique the various bills coming out of both the House and the Senate.  And the Chamber began running an ad campaign back in June for both print and television.  The Chamber has written Op-eds, sent letters to the Hill and made multiple television appearances.  It has been an all out offensive against ObamaCare.

Also not invited to the farcical summit is the National Federation of Independent Business, which was also critical of ObamaCare.  So who is invited to the summit?  Only the people who agree with the President’s policies and liberal economists who have been wrong at every turn when it comes to the American economy thus far.  And who has agreed with the President?  Union leaders, environmental advocates and executives from Google and other blue-chip firms, of course.  Disney’s Bob Iger has also been invited, which leaves me a bit stumped.  Disney has had a hiring freeze for months now and has preferred to work employees six days a week, rather than hire new employees.  Not sure what Iger will be able to contribute there.  Unless the President plans to threaten these leaders to start hiring?

The Washington Times is reporting:

“He’s going to get lots of recommendations to spend more money,” said Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “These are the very same people who gave us the stimulus package. My feeling is we’re not going to get what we need, and that’s a complete change in direction on economic policy.”

A spokeswoman for the White House would not comment for the record on the format or how the list of participants was drawn up. A full list of attendees is expected to be released Thursday.

More federal spending to generate jobs is a likely subject at Thursday’s summit given that guests will include economists such as Paul Krugman, who has argued that the first stimulus package was not large enough. Likewise, chiefs of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute, both of whom are slated to be in attendance, have called for more federal dollars to aid states experiencing budget shortfalls.

“My chief concern is that the list features no serious and prominent labor economist, which seems essential to offering a sound, long-run policy to put us on a path of lower unemployment,” said John Coleman, an economics professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Representatives from NFIB and the Chamber of Commerce said their organizations were not asked to attend, but representatives from some of the country’s largest unions, Change to Win and the United Steelworkers, will participate.

The Chamber has sent a list of recommendations for the President, but i expect those will be found in a dumpster behind the White House, right beside the Constitution.

Global Economy Continues Onslaught On Dollar

The new global economic order that the world seems hell bent on creating continues to weaken to the dollar.  And with America contributing just as heartily to that fate by increasing our deficit spending, printing unbacked dollars as quickly as ink can meet paper and monetizing our debt, the dollar really has no chance in the world.  Countries are quickly backing away from the dollar and the International Monetary Fund has been playing for months with the idea of creating a basket of currencies for nations to use as backing.  The one item that seems to be gaining ground in this currency turmoil is gold.  Gold has been setting records for weeks and has now reached an all time high.

Today gold prices hit a record above 1,100 dollars.  The reason is because ministers at this weekend’s G20 meeting pledged to continue the fiscal stimulus measures similar to what we have been doing in America.  This is just more easy money, which will eventually collapse under the weight of being propped up by nothing other than the hot air of world economic leaders.

In morning trading, gold struck an all-time peak of 1,109.50 dollars an ounce as the euro rose to 1.50 dollars for the first time in two weeks.  So obviously, if you can get gold get some.  The dollar’s death knell is tolling.

 

Cash For Clunkers Dead – Part 2

The sequels are never as good as the original and this sequel seems to be going that route.  In Cash For Clunkers 1, we watched a government program save itself from the brink of destruction with an added influx of dollars.  The original was so much better at $1 billion dollars, but the sequel had to be bigger to really blow our minds and so it came in at a whopping $2 billion.  The sequel did outlast the original by a few more days.  Funny thing is, we have the exact same ending.  Dealers standing with outstretched hands to recieve the promised government rebates and no money is forthcoming.  Where exactly is the $ 3 billion dollars that supposedly is funding this government entitlement?  And now we hear that Cash For Clunkers is dead yet again.  Wasn’t this suppose to make it into the Fall?  Most sequels do much better in the Fall.  That is when all the best shows are marketed.

Breitbart is reporting that the sequel comes to an end on Monday at 8pm ET, so be sure to see it before then.  ”It’s been a thrill to be part of the best economic news story in America,” Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. “Now we are working toward an orderly wind down of this very popular program.”  Best economic news story in America?  Wow, the economy really does suck.  Dealers not getting reimbursed, people in over their heads with new cars and a bunch of perfectly useful cars smashed to bits and rendered inoperable leaving the used car business in the lurch as well as junkyards.  Sounds great to me!

Don’t worry dealers because Breitbart quoted the President in an interview Thursday “that the program has been ’successful beyond anybody’s imagination’ but dealers were overwhelmed by the response of consumers. He pledged that dealers ‘will get their money.’”  And you can trust him because he never breaks a promise.

Didn’t Obama Promise Not One Dime Of Taxes On Middle Class

Broken promise number one thousand eight hundred and fifty is soon to be coming to a checkbook near you.  Remember those fond days of promised “hope and change?”  Apparently, Obama was not talking about the kind of change many people were expecting.  For decades, the middle class has been under assault from our government and the Internal Revenue Service when it comes to taxes.  Despite the rich shouldering a major portion of the taxes in this country, it is the middle class who end up paying far more than their far share.  The middle class is the cog in the American machine.  Obama promised us that he would not raise taxes on us, “Not one dime.”

The truth is that anyone who smokes in the middle class has already had their taxes raised.  If Crap & Tax passes, the middle class will have another tax levied against them.  And today, Obama administration officials were making the rounds on Sunday morning political television and seemed to be hinting or outright confirming that taxes on the middle class will rise. “We will not get this economy back on track, recovery will be not strong and sustained, unless we … can convince the American people that we’re going to have the will to bring these deficits down once recovery is firmly established,” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said on ABC’s “This Week.”   Tax Cheat Giethner answered a follow up question as to it would be right to say that it is a matter of when and not if taxes will be raised with, “It is absolutely right.”

National Economic President Larry Summers said on a different show today, “There is a lot that can happen over time. … But what the president has been completely clear on is that he is not going to pursue any of his priorities — not health care, not energy, nothing — in ways that are primarily burdening middle-class families. That is something that is not going to happen.”  Well, I sure am glad that we are not going to be primarily burdened.  They think we are idiots. 

Let me ask the real idiots this question, “Which of Obama’s campaign promises has he kept?”

President Obama Decides To Get Fiscally Responsible

Barack Obama has spent more than all other presidents combined and he has only been in office for six months.  Obama has tripled the deficit and by 2014 his budget is set to double the national debt which is currently over eleven trillion dollars.  Now he has decided that he should become fiscally responsible.  Now?!  The President wants to implement a program known as Pay As You Go or Paygo which was first introduced by President Bill Clinton.  Basically for every dollar that the government spends, Paygo requires that they save a dollar somewhere else.

Now we know that the government has no plans to cut any programs.  Thus, the government is going to need to raise money and the only way that the government obtains money is through us so we can expect our taxes to go up.  Also, keep in mind that not only has President Obama already wasted money on the Porkulus Bill and the Omnibus Bill, but he has made big down payments on universal healthcare which he plans to roll out by summer’s end.  How exactly will he be paying for that healthcare?  If Obama follows Paygo, then he will have to make big cuts somewhere else and we know that is not going to happen.

The President also did not mention that not only is this idea of his not new since Clinton used the same tactic, but this is something that he initally proposed in his budget.  The Paygo in his budget had tougher standards.  Fox News has noted, “That version would have required, on average, all affected legislation to be paid for in the very first year. The new plan only requires such legislation to be financed over the coming decade. That mirrors congressional rules and reflects the likelihood that health care reform will add to the deficit in the early years.”

In a moment of complete irony the President claimed, “Entitlement increases and tax cuts need to be paid for.  They’re not free, and borrowing to finance them is not a sustainable long-term policy.”  Did he just wake up and realize this truth yesterday?  Representative Eric Cantor echoed my sentiments of the past couple months when he said, “It’s as if the administration and these Democrat leaders are living in an alternate universe.  The quickest way to save money is to stop recklessly spending it.”

The definiton of disingenuous:  Barack Obama.

UnConstitutional UAW Deal Halted By Ginsburg

I am not a fan of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but I have to give her credit for issuing a temporary stay in the bankruptcy deal between Fiat and Chrysler.  From the beginning, the bankruptcy filing of Chrysler has stunk to high heaven.  The President publicly rebuked bondholders who held out on the final deal, but in reality the President should have supported the bondholders who were obligated to receive one hundred cents on the dollar instead of the paltry amount they have been offered which is much lower than that offered to the United Auto Workers Union which should have been last on the rung to receive anything. 

Indiana pension holders decided that they would not accept this deal and the State Treasurer has done something about it which has now gone all the way to the federal Supreme Court.  The emergency stay only lasts until this afternoon, but Ginsburg could issue another stay or the SCOTUS could decide to hear the case, which they must as this deal threatens the rule of law and would set a bad precedent.  This deal has been pressed by the Obama administration and yesterday they warned the SCOTUS not to interfere.  The power really is going to Obama’s head.  Indiana’s state lawyers say the Chrysler deal allows government-favored unions to gain at the expense of bondholders and also breaks the rules used in bankruptcy cases.  The lawyers stated in the emergency appeal that “the public is watching and needs to see that, particularly when the system is under stress, the rule of law will be honored and an independent judiciary will properly scrutinize the actions of the massively powerful executive branch.”

The Indiana pension funds have about $42 million invested in Chrysler which is not big money when discussing billions, but this does shed some light on the power brokering the government is doing in the realm of private industry.  As the appeal states, the SCOTUS needs to decide “whether the law permits such wholesale alteration of bankruptcy law, not to mention the American capital markets, by the executive branch of the U.S. government acting beyond the color of congressional authority.”  The American people have already decided just what power is rendered to the executive branch by the Constitution and that power is far more limited than the places the President has gone and it must be stopped.  The SCOTUS must stand up for the American people and most importantly, stand up for the Constitution!

George Soros Talking Economy And Dollar – Run For Your Lives!

George Soros is out trying to kill the dollar just like he did the pound.  This libtard is known to manipulate markets and this is yet another attempt by him to stick his fingers in where they should not be and it can only spell trouble for America.  Soros claims that the U.S. economy is in for a “lasting slowdown”.  He also foresees a crash like the one Japan experienced.  And I believe Soros would like to help that along.

Soros was on Reuters Financial Television Monday and warned that rescuing U.S. banks could turn them into “zombies” that would draw on the economy and would prolong the economic slowdown.

AP

“I don’t expect the U.S. economy to recover in the third or fourth quarter so I think we are in for a pretty lasting slowdown,” Soros said, adding that in 2010 there might be “something” in terms of U.S. growth.

A majority of economists disagree with Soros and I would listen to them before I would ever listen to this evil man.  Yes I said it – he’s evil.  Most economists expect the U.S. economy to stop contracting in the third quarter and that the economywould resume growing in the fourth quarter.

The recovery will look like “an inverted square root sign,” Soros said. “You hit bottom and you automatically rebound some, but then you don’t come out of it in a V-shape recovery or anything like that. You settle down—step down.  The banking system, as a whole, is basically insolvent.”

My advice is that America kick George Soros out just like Britain did and let him live on some distant island somewhere where his conniving cannot harm anyone or any country. 

CBO’s “Quiet” Report Tells Taxpayers That TARP Will Cost Us More

The Congressional Budget Office is reporting new numbers as of the end of March as to the cost to taxpayers of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the report seems to be flying under the radar. Due to the Treasury’s move to use TARP funds to help avoid foreclosures – something that still burns me up – and its changing bailout plans for AIG and deteriorating financial conditions, the CBO had to adjust its original estimates of the cost to taxpayers. Originally the CBO reported that it would cost us $189 billion. Now it is saying the cost will be $356 billion. That is an increase of $167 billion.

The Wall Street Journal explains it like this, “The CBO estimates the program’s ultimate cost using techniques similar to those generally applied to federal loans and loan guarantees, and adjusts for market risk. More precisely, it puts the net cost to taxpayers at the difference between what Treasury pays for investments or lends to firms and ‘the present value, adjusted for market risk of any future earnings from holding purchased assets and the proceeds from their eventual sale’.”

Total deficit as projected in March is :-1,667 -1,139 -693 -331 -300 -310 -282 -327 -312 -325 -423 -2,772 -4,441. These numbers are in billions and the range is by the year starting in 2009 and going to 2019. The last two numbers are total for 2010-2014 and 2010-2019 respectively. That’s a total deficit of $4.4 trillion dollars. There is no halving of the deficit either as the President “promises” to do.

Geithner Says America Open To Global Currency

Open mouth and insert foot.  Yesterday, during testimony on AIG and the power grab that the Treasury is seeking over all businesses in America, Geithner was questioned by Congresswoman Michele Bachman as to whether he would support a global currency.  Both Tax-Cheat-Geithner and Fed Chief Bernanke said they would not be open to that and that the dollar will remain the currency that all other economies in the world use as the reserve currency.  But today Geithner was singing a different tune when speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

Geithner said the U.S. is “open” to the proposal introduced by China’s central bank that called for a new reserve currency.  He said,  “I haven’t read the governor’s proposal. He’s a very thoughtful, very careful distinguished central banker. I generally find him sensible on every issue.”  Geithner did say he did not think that the new currency would take place in the literal sense. “We’re actually quite open to that suggestion – you should see it as rather evolutionary rather building on the current architecture rather than moving us to global monetary union.  The only thing concrete I saw was expanding the use of the [special drawing rights at the IMF]. Anything he’s thinking about deserves some consideration.”  Anything deserves consideration?!  He also added that the dollar staying as the reserve currency “depends..on how effective we are in the United States…at getting our fiscal system back to the point where people judge it as sustainable over time.”

Later Geithner clarified his remarks by stating that he does not see the dollar being unpegged from by the world’s economies and ”we will do what’s necessary to say we’re sustaining confidence in our financial markets.”

So is all this contradiction between yesterday’s testimony and today’s contradictory comments signal that Geithner is just an idiot and does not know what he is doing or is this some kind of cover?  Do they plan to create a global currency?  Did the dollar’s fall today cause him to change his remarks even though America truly is “open” to a global currency?  What is going on?  I am about to blow my top – get me some duct tape.

Everyday seems to fulfill more and more prophecy and it really does seem we are marching towards more than just socialism, we seem to be marching towards the end times.