I personally think that maybe Chris Wallace shouldn’t have done this to Senator Dick Durbin. Executive summary of “this:” Wallace asked Durbin why it was that President Barack Obama in 2013 declared that our $16 trillion debt was “sustainable,” when Candidate Barack Obama in 2008 declared that $9 trillion debt was “unpatriotic;” and Durbin answered the question by declaring to Wallace that Durbin had had | Read More »
This week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will deliver his semiannual testimony before Congress defending his reckless monetary stimulus. He will testify before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee today and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. Now is a good time for Republicans to demand more accountability from the fourth branch of government – the one not mentioned in the Constitution. | Read More »
It’s easy to kick Detroit. The place just about roles over and begs for it. Now we learn that the City Henry Ford built is now eligible to be put under emergency management by Governor Rick Snyder. Michigan State Treasurer described the situation succinctly below.
“We believe there’s a financial emergency in the city and that there’s no plan in place to correct the situation … I do believe strongly Detroit is fixable,” he said.
I read this, nod in sad agreement and then think to myself that Detroit is just the symptom. Detroit is just the canary that died in the burning coal mine of American finance. Our country is going bankrupt and despite our heartfelt desire that this not happen, most of us are helping it occur. We are caught in what’s called a discursive dilemma. Gonzalo Lira gives us an explanation of how we made it to sequestration below.
Read More »Republicans came into their annual retreat at Williamsburg, Virginia looking for a starting point in the upcoming debt and budget battles. It appears that they have emerged from the retreat with a full blown plan. They will pass a bill this week that will suspend the debt ceiling law until May 18. The debt limit increase will be tied to a requirement that the Senate | Read More »
On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Arthur Brooks to discuss the debt, education reform and the moral argument for conservatism.
Read More »In the field of politics, you either drive the narrative or become a victim of the narrative. Unfortunately, for most of the 112th Congress, the GOP-controlled House abdicated their power and became a victim of the political narrative driven by Obama and the Democrat Senate. Over the past two years, the House has been in recess almost every other week. Additionally, a large chunk of | Read More »
In one of the last votes of 2012, the Senate passed Obama’s bloated Sandy “relief” bill (H.R. 1) 62-32. The $60.4 billion price tag makes this the most expensive disaster aid bill on record. It’s full of special interest projects that have nothing to do with the emergency, as witnessed by the fact that 64% of the funds will not be spent until FY 2015. | Read More »
It feels like yesterday when John Boehner was bragging how he got 98% of what he desired from the deal negotiated to raise the debt ceiling in August 2011. Yet just 17 months after Obama was granted a $2.1 trillion debt limit increase to preserve his reelection, we have breached the new ceiling. In just 519 days, we’ve burned through $2.1 trillion in debt, for | Read More »
So Boehner plans to introduce a bill on the House floor that increases the top marginal tax rate on those earning more than $1 million per year. Most likely, Boehner and Obama will ultimately agree on a deal that splits the difference between $400,000 and $500,000. Many Republicans will shrug their shoulders: “Who cares about a few rich liberals?” However, this rationale represents a shortsighted | Read More »
The Bureau of Economic Analysis published its report for 3rd quarter GDP and found that the economy is growing at a mediocre 2.0% rate, a slight improvement of the 1.3% growth in the 2nd quarter. Had we not experienced such a deep recession, this number would not concern us. However, in order to recover from such a deep recession we need consistent growth of 4% | Read More »
In many respects, this country no longer looks like the American Republic that our parents and grandparents experienced. More than ever before, government is destroying private enterprise on the one hand, and offering permanent dependency on the other hand. With all the focus on big bird, binders, and the 47%, the most important figure is the $1.03 trillion – the cost of combined federal and | Read More »
Get ready for another weak ground out into a double play in the upcoming budget battle. Shortly before the August recess, we reported that Republicans planned to pass a clean 6-month CR which funds Obamacare and appropriates $1.047 trillion in spending – commensurate with Obama’s request instead of the House budget. The idea behind the “deferment” strategy was twofold; to delay the major battles to | Read More »
Our nation learned more things we didn’t really want to know this morning. It seems German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble believes the United States will fail to effectively deal with its government debt after this November’s election. Moody’s has also threatened to cut the US government bond rating to AA1. I learned all of this from The Drudge Report.
What concerns me to no end, is the fact that President Obama apparently learned these things from the very same source. I say that because he certainly wasn’t present very often to hear it from his economic team during his regularly scheduled White House briefings. The Government Accountability Institute reports that President Obama has been truant from his official place of duty more often than Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer combined. The Washington Post forgets whose side they are on and reports details below.
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Now that the gross federal debt has smashed the $16 trillion milestone, more people are focusing on the gravity of the debt crisis. However, too many people are being exposed to the spurious idea that it’s only the public share of the debt that counts. Many liberal economists are saying that the non-public share of the debt is “money we owe ourselves,” and is inconsequential | Read More »
Good closing speeches – especially Romney’s – but this is the important thing that you need to take away from it:
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