As we noted earlier this week, the Continuing Resolution voted on in the House will increase spending, fund Obamacare, and extend the main welfare program without forcing Obama to reinstate work requirements. This bill is really an embarrassment to everything House Republicans professed to stand for. It will delay the major battles until March 27, 2013. And let me tell you, they will really really | 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 »
You are familiar with the Tax Foundation’s “Tax Freedom Day” — the date by which the average American has earned enough to pay his taxes for the year. This year Tax Freedom Day finally arrived on April 17th. To borrow a phrase from President Obama, let me be clear, on average Americans, must use every penny they earned from January 1st until April 17th to pay their taxes for the year.
One of my favorite economists, Professor Antony Davies, and his colleague, James R. Harrigan, suggest we also celebrate what they call “Deficit Day” to focus Americans’ attention on the on fact that we are headed to bankruptcy. They explain it all in an excellent article they published at Real Clear Markets.
Read More »Over the past few months, there has been a daily trickle of establishment Republicans coming out before the media in hostage style confession statements to declare that they would accept tax increases as part of a “grand bargain” to cut the deficit. The latest members are Senator Lamar Alexander and Rep. Scott Rigell. The entire premise behind Republicans acquiescing to the “balanced approach” to the | Read More »
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 »
Today, the national debt is $16,015,769,788,215.80 (as of 8/31/12 — US Department of the Treasury, TreasuryDirect.gov, accessed 9/4/12). It was $10,626,877,048,913.08 when Obama became president. That is an increase of more than a five and one-half trillion dollars (50 percent) during in the forty-two months of the Obama presidency.
In honor of this momentous occasion, the Republican National Committee in conjunction with Romney for President released a new video titled, “$16 Trillion.”
http://youtu.be/7UEDJncZbh4
Read More »The Congress doesn’t cut spending and balance the budget because they can’t. Not even if they remove every department and employee including the military.
So says Hal Mason in the shocking accompanying video titled, “United States Budget Dilemma.”
President Obama, in his proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget, would spend $3.8 trillion. But the federal government will only collect $2.5 trillion in taxes, resulting in a deficit of $1.3 trillion. That $1.3 trillion is an amount larger than Congress appropriates to operate the federal budget.
The problem is easily stated; spending on mandatory programs and interest is greater than taxes collected. According to Mason, in order to balance the budget, Congress would have to raise taxes 50 percent or eliminate the federal government.
Read More »Several days before the August congressional recess, we noted that some conservatives were considering abjuring the House budget in favor of a 6-month CR to fund the beginning of FY 2013 in October. Their rationale was to defer the major spending fights until 2013, when presumably, we would have more control over the final outcome. Additionally, the original intent of this plan was to deny | Read More »
Through Obama’s truculent special interest campaign of division and derision, he is rapidly exhausting his check list of demographic groups. He’s already targeted women, Hispanics, gays, blue collar workers, and all sorts of minorities. Now he is going after the ‘commuter vote’ in northern Virginia. Politico is reporting that Obama is up with a 60-second radio spot in northern Virginia claiming that Paul Ryan’s budget | Read More »
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 »
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 »
Yesterday, it was announced that John Boehner and Harry Reid had reached an early agreement on the FY 2013 budget in order to avoid a government shutdown on October 1. Pursuant to the agreement, both chambers will vote on a 6-month continuing resolution after returning from the August recess in September. The CR will provide spending for discretionary programs set at the $1.047 trillion level | Read More »
As we approach the 1-year anniversary of the disastrous debt ceiling deal hatched late last July, it is worthwhile to reflect on what we have gained from that legislation. On August 1, 2011, the House passed the Budget Control Act with support of 72% of the Republican conference. The Senate followed suit on August 2, with support of 60% of the Republican conference. Buoyed by | Read More »
We constantly hear about the age of austerity and painful spending cuts that are being enacted in Washington. The only problem is that they don’t exist. Earlier this week, the CBO published a report on the budget deficit for the first 9 months of Fiscal Year 2012 (October 2011-June 2012). The headline figure of the report shows that the 9-month deficit stands at $905 billion, | Read More »
It is funny how those who believe Congress has unlimited power to regulate the private sector are abdicating their primary constitutional responsibility. Senate Democrats have not passed a budget in 1,169 days. Last year, despite their failure to comply with the Budget Act of 1974 and to pass a budget resolution, they made an effort to pass a couple of individual appropriations bills. Now Roll | Read More »
![[RS]](/t/img/logo-footer.jpg){kind=logo}