General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection this morning and President Obama plans to give the bankrupt car maker another $30 billion bailout during and after the bankruptcy process. That will bring the bailout of General Motors to $50 billion. The $50 billion bailout of General Motors is second only to the $150 billion AIG bailout. According to the Washington Post, under the proposed restructuring of | Read More »
In Hartford, part of New England which has only Democrat representation in D.C., the tax day Taxed Enough Already (TEA) party protest drew a crowd of thousands: An anti-bailout, anti-stimulus “tea party” at the state Capitol in Hartford on Wednesday drew an estimated crowd of 3,000 to protest what they consider excessive government spending on the day that many Americans pay their federal and state | Read More »
With the so-called “stimulus” bill, President Obama has thrown the change he promised under the bus. On his Change.gov website, Obama promised to “end the practice of writing legislation behind closed doors” – to “restore the American people’s trust in their government by making government more open and transparent. Obama will work to reform congressional rules to require all legislative sessions, including committee mark-ups and | Read More »
“We are not going to be able to perpetually finance the levels of debt that the federal government is currently carrying.” — President Obama, February 12, 2009 That was yesterday, before the Congressional Democrats and three Senate Republicans gave President Obama his national debt-busting $787 billion bailout boondoggle, which will actually cost $3.27 trillion. Now, with his so-called “stimulus” in hand, Obama will morph into | Read More »
The Boston Globe reports Senator Edward Kennedy is going back to Florida, where he has been resting after suffering a seizure on Inauguration Day, Kennedy’s absence has Senate Democrat leader Reid seeking another moderate Republican or two to vote for the compromise version of the stimulus on Friday: With Kennedy’s vote and those of three Republicans, the Senate passed the plan with 61 votes — | Read More »
The Heritage Foundation reports that the true cost of the so-called “stimulus” is going to be $3.27 trillion. That’s right, President Obama’s bloated bailout boondoggle is going to cost four times the already outrageously expensive $789 trillion Senator Susan Collins finds “fiscally responsible.” Here’s the skinny from Heritage:
Now that President Obama, the House and Senate Democrat leadership, and three Republicans have agreed upon the parameters of Obama’s now $789 billion bailout, unelected Democrat staffers, in total secrecy, will write the biggest spending bill in the country’s history in total secrecy. Today or tomorrow, Congress will vote blind, without having anything like a reasonable amount of time to read, let alone sufficient time | Read More »
From his flubbed oath of office, to tax cheat Treasury Secretary Geithner’s market downing $2 trillion financial bailout “plan,” Obama’s presidency has had a bumpy start. Perhaps President Obama’s difficulty boarding Marine One is emblematic: Do you think Obama’s head bump will make a David Letterman top 10 list?
Like Jeff Emanuel, I was shocked by President Obama’s “sub-prime” performance in his first prime time press conference. Obama wasn’t the laid-back, inspirational orator for which he was dubbed the One. No, last night, Obama came across as angry and arrogant. His campaign of hope for change has somehow morphed into a governance of doom and gloom. Jeff and I are not alone in perceiving | Read More »
In an audacious display of chutzpah, President-elect Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress advance plans to spend an additional $1.2 trillion — an amount that will double the record breaking $1.2 trillion budget deficit, while Obama tells Washington Post reporters and editors he will convene a “fiscal responsibility summit.” Under Obama’s veto threat, the Senate, by a vote of 52 to 42, released the second $350 | Read More »
Republicans push back against turning a stimulus package into a bloated boondoggle. Republican Senators spent the day at a retreat at the Library of Congress with three distinguished economists–Martin Feldstein, Larry Lindsey, and Peter Wallison–talking about how to get the economy going. At the conclusion of the retreat Senators McConnell and Alexander spoke about what an economic stimulus ought to contain: Senator Alexander: We — | Read More »
This is just wrong. The Washington Post reports voters spread the blame for the broader economic problems facing the country: In an open-ended question, a quarter of all voters said George W. Bush is responsible for the economy’s relatively poor performance, more than any other single cause. About a quarter name Congress (8 percent), the federal government (8 percent) and Democrats and Republicans (5 percent | Read More »
My biggest concern with the proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial system is that it might not solve the credit crunch because it provides less than sufficient means to ensure financial institutions are able to raise capital, nor does it contain enough incentives to convince financial institutions to become more willing to lend. Five University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business professors, Douglas Diamond, | Read More »
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