'Harry, am I making this up?' Yes, Mr. President, you are

Editorial--New York Post

August 30, 2010

It was an $800 billion misadventure that will be wreaking havoc on the econ omy for years to come.

No, not the war in Iraq, where an American combat-troop presence officially comes to an end tomorrow.

We're talking about President Obama's economic-stimulus program.

Remember the stimulus? The miracle cure Obama said would boost the economy and save millions of jobs?

Well, the president's panacea turned out to be an $862 billion bottle of snake oil -- and it cost $100 billion more than the entire Iraq campaign to date.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the total Iraq tab comes to $709 billion this month, a costly engagement in terms of treasure.

But as Randall Hoven points out on the American Thinker Web site and in the nearby chart, the war made up just 3.2 percent of federal spending while the fight raged. Leave it to the feds to make $700 billion look like a drop in the ocean.

And it accounts for less than 15 percent of the overall deficit since it began in 2003.

By: Michael Sandoval

August 25, 2010--National Review

Sen. Michael Bennet’s recent appearance in Greeley, Colorado is sure to set political tongues wagging–Bennet is quoted as saying that though trillions of dollars of Federal debt has been incurred through spending since he was appointed to the Senate in January of 2009, “we have nothing to show for it”:

Michael Bennet, D-Colo,at a town hall meeting in Greeley last Saturday, Aug 21 said we had nothing to show for the debt incurred by the stimulus package and other expenditures calling the recession  the worst since the Great Depression. [...]

Last week, Senators Tom Coburn and John McCain issued a report on wasteful spending in the Democrats' federal stimulus package.

Among the more ridiculous uses of taxpayer money, the report pointed out almost $200,000 for an “energy upgrade” at a Roswell animal shelter, including the installation of low-flow toilets. Also highlighted was a Wake Forest University study observing the behavior of monkeys under the influence of cocaine, costing $75,000, as well as over $500,000 to replace windows in an abandoned Forest Service building near Mt. St. Helens.

This sort of profligacy has not created the jobs Washington promised, but instead has led to an unemployment rate hovering above 9% for more than a year. Families are struggling every day just to get by, and Washington is wasting their hard-earned tax dollars on window replacements in abandoned buildings and new toilets in animal shelters. The current leadership in DC is hopelessly out of touch.

Link to the study on Senator Coburn's website: http://tiny.cc/ipf0z

By: Dick Morris and Eileen McGann

August 5, 2010

As Congress reconvenes next week to pass a $26 billion bailout of state and local governments entombed in their own deficits, we witness a foretaste of the crisis that will be the central event of the first half of next year: the collapse of state governments.

As long as the Democrats control Congress, they will continue to rubber-stamp Obama’s requests for bailouts of profligate states. But when the Republicans take control, they will be less than forthcoming. Republicans will ask the central question: Why should taxpayers from states that have cut their budgets and observed spending restraint, pay for the extravagances of the other states? Why should forty-seven states have to pay for California, New York, and Michigan?

State government employment has risen by 16 percent since 1995 and overly generous Medicaid and other spending has climbed alongside it. Pension obligations, initially incurred as a cheap alternative to pay raises for public workers, are increasingly driving state budgets over the brink.

By: Beth Sitzler, Las Cruces Bulletin

Link: http://tiny.cc/lascrucesbulletin

With the economy and housing market suffering, now is the time to create jobs, said congressional candidate Steve Pearce to members of the Building Industry Association of Southern New Mexico Thursday, June 17.

Pearce, who is seeking to regain his former seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, spoke to the association during its monthly luncheon about the issues he said are important to southern New Mexico.

“The election coming up is a historic election,” he said. “We are discovering again that government isn’t the solution, government is the problem.”

One way, he said, the government is impeding the economy is by increasing taxes, which in turn causes local businesses to cut employees.

“At a time when we are trying to create jobs, the government is talking about tax increases,” he said. “Tax increases kill jobs.”

He added that once government officials understand that tax cuts help promote business growth, and therefore create jobs, then economic conditions in the country and state will improve.

By: ATR

July 1, 2010

     In just six months, the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect. They will hit families and small businesses in three great waves on January 1, 2011:

First Wave: Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief

In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families. These will all expire on January 1, 2011:

Personal income tax rates will rise. The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed). The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent. All the rates in between will also rise. Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the same mathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates. The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:

- The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%

CBO released its cost estimate of Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act today.  It can be found here:  http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/115xx/doc11565/AmericanPowerActKerryLtr.pdf. The numbers are fairly close to CBO’s Waxman-Markey (H.R. 2998) and Kerry-Boxer (S. 1733) numbers earlier this Congress.  Here are some initial thoughts and highlights:

CBO Rings the Alarm on the Democrats’ Runaway Spending Spree 

National Debt Will Reach Highest Percentage of GDP Since WWII. Democrats Once Promised to Restore Fiscal Discipline and Tame Exploding Deficits.