Image via Wikipedia
2.
This works out to $20,928 profit every minute! Continue reading
And if you have run low on crises, then create one. Let’s see how that might happen. Summer of 2010 and into the fall, fail to pass a budget bill for the fiscal year beginning 10/1/2010. In spite of being in control of Congress and the Executive. Even after November 2010 elections, when still in control until the new Congress convenes, let the matter continue to languish. Still no budget.
Fast-forward slowly to spring 2011. Need a crisis (for a host of reasons). Continue reading
Let’s compare it to something we can visualize. First, what is the debt figure?
Click on the thumbnail and get a good look at what $14 trillion looks like written out. A “14″ with TWELVE places after that! And 15 cents. Check the clock for updates.
OK, $14 trillion. Now let’s think of something really, really huge and complicated that we might want to spend some money on. The object is to try to think of a monstrously expensive project. Continue reading
(To the tune of Bob Hope‘s “Thanks for the Memories” and apologies to him.) By the way, you can subscribe to this blog in the box to your right.
What are the consequences of federal policies, and what is the message of the 2010 election? Continue reading
Regardless of how you view the Nov. 2, 2010 election results, we still have the future to worry about; and one of the most worrisome features of Congress is the concept of “earmarks” a/k/a “pork barrel projects.” I suggest that earmarks constitute the most divisive, dishonest and dangerous of procedures threatening the republic. Why do I say that? Continue reading
Sen. Everett Dirksen, in the 1950′s on the floor of the U.S. Senate during budget debates, is said to have quipped “a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon it adds up to real money.” It is now well-accepted that he did not actually make that statement so often attributed to him, but he was well capable of saying such, and likely should have. So what would he think about the current spending spree? Who is at fault? It’s Congress (led by the nose by Pres. Obama) and while the following article (which appears to have the facts) faults more the currently Democrat-led Congress, neither party can claim to have been fiscally responsible in recent decades.
A little-known fact is that federal spending rose by only 2.8% during fiscal 2007 under the final budget passed by a Republican Congress. I know, zero percent would have been preferable, and it was way too little and too late for a bunch that had let spending grow way too quickly during the previous five years.
Then came the Democrats. Spending during the fiscal year that ended in September 2008, the first full budget year under the control of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, increased by 9.1% to almost $3 trillion. That percentage increase was greater than any Republican Congress under George W. Bush.
They were just warming up. Fiscal 2009 brought the beginning of the $787 billion (before interest) “economic stimulus plan.” All but those in serious denial acknowledge that it has failed to revive the economy, which economist David Rosenberg described on August 25 as already being in a depression. Despite representations to the contrary, the stimulus plan had 9,000 earmarks, including that $2 billion Illinois energy debacle. More generally, entitlement and other spending went into overdrive. Fiscal 2009 ended with a reported deficit of $1.416 trillion.
via Pajamas Media » It’s the Spending, Stupid. (The above links are mine)
Where does it end? When? What does it take for us (you) to get mad enough to make your voice heard? If the general idea of spending doesn’t get your dander up, focus on the following comment from the above article:
Despite representations to the contrary, the stimulus plan had 9,000 earmarks, including that $2 billion Illinois energy debacle. More generally, entitlement and other spending went into overdrive. Fiscal 2009 ended with a reported deficit of $1.416 trillion.
If that title doesn’t catch your eye, how about a $1.25 BILLION payout by the federal government about which you’ve probably never heard? I’m not expressing any opinion about this matter but feel it deserves to be further promulgated.
I’m confused. If there are only 39,697 African-American farmers grand total in the entire country, then how can over 86,000 of them claim discrimination at the hands of the USDA? Where did the other 46,303 come from? Now, if you’re confused over what the heck I’m even talking about, let’s go back to the beginning of the story:
Pigford v. Glickman. In 1997, 400 African-American farmers sued the United States Department of Agriculture, alleging that they had been unfairly denied USDA loans due to racial discrimination during the period 1983 to 1997. The farmers won the case, known as Pigford v. Glickman, and in 1999 the government agreed to pay $50,000 each to any farmer who had been wrongly denied an agricultural loan. By then it had grown into a class action case, and any black farmer who had filed a complaint between 1983 and 1997 would be given at least $50,000 — not limited to the original 400 plaintiffs. It was estimated at that time that there might be as many as 2,000 beneficiaries granted $50,000 each.
via Pigford v. Glickman: 86,000 claims from 39,697 total farmers?.
Note, the figure of 39,697 black farmers is as of 2007. In 1992, the relevant period, there were only 18,816 black farmers. It seems that should have been the claimant pool in the Pigford suit. No-one is claiming that the suit and the original settlement (which was done in 1999) were not appropriate, but how does this get resurrected in 2010? And this:
Conservative opposition to the settlement came to light last week in the aftermath of the Shirley Sherrod scandal. A farm collective founded by Sherrod and her husband that was forced out of business by the discriminatory practices received a $13 million settlement as part of Pigford last year, just before she was hired by the USDA. Some, including Rep. Steve King (R-IA), have called the settlement a fraud.
via Senate Strips Funding For Legal Settlement To Black Farmers From War Bill | TPMMuckraker.
Read it all for yourself, then ponder why these things don’t hit the so-called “mainstream” media. Is there fraud going on here and if so, at whose hands? Is there something “untoward” about the role of Shirley Sherrod or about her being hired at the USDA? Have we yet heard all of the story?
Don’t Cry for me Argentina America … you have to watch this if you care about the fiscal disaster which America is rapidly becoming. Besides, the music alone is worth it. Argentina was once a thriving country and was driven into the economic ground by soaring debt resulting from its government’s (remember Peron? Evita?) pandering to those with their hands out for the “entitlements.” Can it happen here? After you view this you’ll be convinced … yes. Just today, the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury estimated the national debt to be $19Trillion in five years, up from the $13Trillion it hit in May of 2010. About a 50% increase in only five years. Here’s a nice summary:
According to the Debt Clock:
• Total national debt: $13 trillion
• Debt per citizen: $42,026
• Debt per taxpayer: $117,982
• Total interest due: $1.9 trillion
• Interest per citizen: $2,211Click here to see the Debt Clock, which is updated every second.
(Source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/26/national-debt-clock-tracking-red/ (accessed 6/9/2010))
Click here to view the powerpoint show. (be patient, it can be slow to load)
Source: http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/soundmanjay-344588-dont-cry-america-obamacare-socialism-argentina-ppspap-business-finance-ppt-powerpoint/ (accessed 6/9/2010).
There is a copyright notice on the website, but no name or attribution.
You’ll love this. Be sure to read the rest of the article (link below). Then thank your Congresspersons for the additional debt ceiling authorized today which amounts to $45,000 for every man, woman and child in the country!
Federal agencies are spending stimulus money at the rate of $196 million an hour. And they will do so every hour for the next eight months until a September 30, 2010, deadline.”When you put that kind of money out the door that fast, there’s a possibility of $55 billion dollars of waste, fraud and abuse connected with it,” Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Thursday before a Senate Finance Committee hearing examining the lack of oversight in the $878 billion dollar economic stimulus bill passed a year ago.Grassley said he fears much of the money is going to some individuals and businesses that don’t qualify for it and projects that do not serve taxpayers best interests. Judge for yourself:
– $233,000 to the University of California at San Diego to study why Africans vote. Jobs created: 12, but seven of those are Africans in Africa.
– In Nevada, $2 million in stimulus money built a new fire station, but because of budget cuts, the county can’t afford to hire firefighters to work there.
via FOXNews.com – Millions in Stimulus Spending Being Doled Out for Questionable Jobs.
Healthcare “reform” is not your job. Raising an army and protecting the country — and its inherent sovereignty — IS your job.
In none of the enumerated powers (Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution) do we find anything about regulating not only the healthcare industry but, as you are attempting, the individual healthcare choices of the people. We are not your subjects to be dictated to — we got rid of the king a long time ago!
On the other hand, providing for the defense of the country is clearly required, not merely permitted. What do we hear now? That “. . . Americans will feel “a certain shock” when a report is released today detailing the intelligence failures that could have prevented the Christmas Day attack.” (Foxnews.com http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/07/national-security-adviser-airline-bomber-report-shock/(accessed Jan 7, 2010). That report from retired 4-star General James Jones goes on to detail the utter and devastating failure of our national security system.
There is no sense in pointing fingers at any one administration or session of Congress, Washington did it — i.e. failed. And I suggest that this failure is due to the intense partisan politics, and the headlong rush toward (senseless) change for the sake merely of change, that has so distracted Washington from the priorities with which they should be attending. Washington has become so obsessed with managing — and I suggest micro-managing our lives that they are on the brink of forfeiting our lives and our liberty on the altar of “change.”
I prefer hope, individual liberty, and preservation of what made America great. Wholesale change is not only meaningless but counter-productive. Stop it, and get back to your constitutionally mandated duties!
Bad Behavior has blocked 243 access attempts in the last 7 days.