A Non-Ethics Problem With The Gang Of 8 Bill: It Won’t Work.

By: Repair_Man_Jack (Diary)  |  April 23rd at 11:30 AM  | 

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

– Einstein

Oh Good. We have Comprehensive Immigration Reform being set before the US Senate. It’s the brainchild of a Gang of 8. Perhaps I can be forgiven for wondering if that means this bill will be twice as odious as the intellectual deep thoughts of Mao Tse Tung’s Gang of Four.

Now I understand that this was catty and mean, but I’m just getting really tired of these comprehensive master plans from the desks of our elected mental midgets. Attempting to do everything at once with regards to a difficult, complex issue leads us to the type of legislation where you have to pass it first to find out what’s in it. That, I fear is what will happen with the latest Comprehensive Immigration Reform proposal.

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Austerity Cuts vs. Real Entitlement Reform

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  April 9th at 07:04 PM  | 

In his latest attempt to cajole Republicans into raising taxes, Obama has called for a budget plan that makes some cuts to Medicare providers and subjects Social Security payments to the chained CPI.  John Boehner was correct to reject this ploy of holding entitlement savings hostage for tax increases.  However, he has come close to negotiating such a deal in the past, and there are | Read More »

CBO: Government to Spend $47.2 Trillion Over Next 10 Years

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  February 5th at 04:24 PM  | 

We’ve all been waiting to see the updated CBO Budget and Economic Outlook for 2013 and the next ten years.   Most of the news articles are focusing their headlines on the deficit and debt numbers projected in the CBO report.  But remember that the reason why CBO deficit projections always understate the reality is because they overstate the amount of revenue they expect to come | Read More »

Facing the Reality of Obamacare, Entitlements, and Budgets

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  January 23rd at 10:28 AM  | 

It’s a done deal.  Republicans in the House will overwhelmingly support a bill (HR 325) today which will suspend the debt limit law until May 19.  The bill will also call on the Senate to pass a budget by April 15 – with the threat of cutting off pay for a dereliction of this duty, as prescribed by the 1974 Budget Act. In return for | Read More »

The President Stands Athwart History Yelling Stop

By: Repair_Man_Jack (Diary)  |  January 22nd at 12:00 PM  | 

If you were hoping that the president would set the stage for a grand bargain to restructure America’s entitlement programs and fiscal health for the 21st century, you wouldn’t have found much encouragement.

– David Ignatius (WaPo)

David Ignatius stated the obvious in a very polite and understated manner. The President has hit his high water mark. He won re-election, and has no idea what to do with his power beyond the satiation of the power base that drove his reelection. He can hand out fish-sticks, but he but he won’t teach you how to catch your own. (HT: Moe Lane) * This only reinforces my earlier opinion that Barack Obama is nowhere near as in charge of events as he likes to ask. The man is a prisoner of historical trends and of his choice of supporters.

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Boehner’s Tax Increase to Nowhere

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  December 18th at 11:44 AM  | 

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 Boehner Fiscal Offer

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  December 3rd at 05:00 PM  | 

Here are two things to keep in mind with regards to Boehner’s budget offer.  First, when you begin negotiations agreeing to 60% of the demands of the other side and fail to offer a bold contrast on the other 40%, you are headed for an outcome that is 80-90% favorable to your opponent.  Second, when you need to outsource your budget plan and entire view | Read More »

VIDEO: There’s Still Time President Obama

By: Ben Howe (Diary)  |  November 30th at 12:18 PM  | 

In 2008, President Obama campaigned on hope and change. He made lofty promises from closing Gitmo to changing the sea levels. At a debate in 2008, in between John McCain obsessively saying “my friends”, we heard a different Barack Obama than teh one we hear today. One that believed we must deal with our entitlement crisis and we must deal with it swiftly. He addressed | Read More »

Obama Speech: Multiply Failure, Divide the Country

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  September 7th at 05:50 AM  | 

What has always amazed me about Democrat policies is that they feign outrage over the need to implement them, even though they have already been championed by both parties, and have produced negative results.  Government has already invested in crony capitalism and has already micro-managed every sector of the economy; from higher education to agriculture, health care, and energy.  Many of these policies have been | Read More »

The “Extreme” Ryan Budget

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  August 14th at 11:58 AM  | 

In the coming days, we will invariably be subjected to a barrage of lies about the “extreme” Ryan budget.  As such, it’s worthwhile to reexamine the latest version of his budget, and view it in its proper context.  Here are some talking points for Soledad O’Brien the next time she wants to grill a Democrat on the Ryan budget: The budget won’t balance until 2040, | Read More »

Paul Ryan: Risk and Opportunity

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  August 13th at 08:45 AM  | 

So, will Romney’s pick of Paul Ryan as VP help or hinder his chances to defeat Obama?  That is the million dollar question Republican pundits and grassroots activists are frantically asking this week. One serious flaw with much of the post-analysis of any VP selection during a presidential campaign is the singular focus on the pick himself without any regard for the top of the | Read More »

Obama: The Gold Medalist in Debt Race

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  August 7th at 06:55 PM  | 

Well, Obama is approaching another milestone.  In addition to breaching the $16 trillion debt mark, Obama will earn another gold medal in the Greek Olympics for fiscal insanity.  According to CBO, we will definitely incur another $1 trillion debt this year, ensuring that Obama will become not only the only president to rack up a trillion dollar debt, but the only one to ever do | Read More »

The Pale-Pastel Republican Farm Bill

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  July 10th at 06:45 AM  | 

In 1975, Ronald Reagan declared that we need a Republican Party that will raise “a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people.”  Almost 40 years later, we’re still struggling to provide that bold contrast. Case in point: the Farm Bill (S. 3240).  Several weeks ago, Senate Democrats, with | Read More »

The Tea Party, Reagan, and Why We Fight

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  June 12th at 11:15 AM  | 

Much ink has been poured over the past 24 hours regarding Jeb Bush’s controversial remarks about the state of the Republican Party.  In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg News, Bush said the following: “Ronald Reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, similar to my dad, they would have a hard time if you define the Republican | Read More »

RSC Budget: Cut, Cap, and Balance is Back – And Here to Stay

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  March 27th at 10:50 AM  | 

Last year, we were proud to be one of the first websites to publicly promote the Republican Study Committee’s Cut, Cap and Balance (CCB) plan.  What started out as an idea hatched by a few principled conservatives grew into a unifying rallying cry for the entire conservative movement.  Sadly, GOP leadership jettisoned the universally-heralded CCB plan in favor of the Budget [Out of] Control Act, | Read More »