 LAR: Obama's phony $4 trillion in deficit 'reduction | ||||||||||||
Inbox | x | |||||||||||
1:30 PM (4 hours ago) | | |||
 |
Feb. 14, 2012
Obama's phony $4 trillion in deficit 'reduction' At best, Obama's budget can claim $1.977 trillion in deficit reduction off of the current baseline, but over 95 percent of that is because of tax increases.
America's Lingering, Looming Employment Problem Since his election Obama's modus operandi has been to blame the previous administration for the recession and to tout his policies as the reason for the nation's turnaround.
Video: The 'Occupy' Movement, Ann Coulter and A Movie Star In Our CPAC Wrap Up ALG caught the fracas between Occupy D.C. and the CPAC crew, it was all a part of an eventful convention this year.
Only way to rein in out-of-control NLRB With its phony 'recess' appointments, the NLRB lacks quorum to even act. Now is the time to enact legislation by Rep. Austin Scott that will rein in the agency's rulemaking authority. Obama's phony $4 trillion in deficit 'reduction'
By Bill Wilson
Only in Washington, D.C. can a proposed budget that increases spending and borrowing every single year be considered to somehow reduce the deficit. The latest Obama budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 — and how the Administration is spinning it — was no exception.
According to Barack Obama himself, the proposal would somehow "reduce" the deficit by $4 trillion. By every measure, however, there is simply no way to get there.
An even bigger whopper was tossed out by departing White House Budget Director Jack Lew, who on Meet the Press said, "The president's budget has $1 of revenue for every $2.50 of spending cuts."
The Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) baseline for 2013-2022 says outlays will total $47.053 trillion. Obama's proposed budget takes that to $46.959 trillion. Since spending actually increases every year under Obama's proposal, the only cut is off of the baseline — and that's just $94 billion of so-called "cuts".
Meanwhile, OMB says revenues over the next ten years will total $38.391 trillion. Under Obama's proposal, that goes up to $40.274 trillion — an increase of $1.883 trillion in taxes, mostly on job creators.
By our count, that's about $20 of tax increases for every dollar of "cuts," and those are not even real cuts to the actual budget. Spending would still increase every single year under Obama's proposal. Meanwhile, the tax hikes are real.
Get full story here. America's Lingering, Looming Employment Problem
By Howard Rich
Earlier this month the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that America's unemployment rate fell from 8.5 percent in December to 8.3 percent in January — its fifth consecutive monthly decline. The agency also estimated that the U.S. economy created nearly a quarter of a million new jobs last month — its highest output since last April.
According to the White House, this data provided "further evidence that the economy is continuing to heal from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression."
Is this really the case, though? Scratch the surface of the "good news" touted by these official statistics and you'll find several troubling indicators — including sharp increases in the number of long-term unemployed and a labor force that's shrinking to historic new lows.
No wonder most Americans aren't experiencing the economic "healing" that the White House claims is occurring all around them.
According to the BLS, 43 percent of America's 12.8 million unemployed workers have been out of a job for more than six months. Two-and-a-half years ago that figure was below 30 percent. Moreover the average unemployment duration now stands at 40 weeks — up precipitously from a then-record high of 25 weeks two-and-a-half years ago.
And with the federal government continuing to fund long-term unemployment benefits in perpetuity, taxpayers are simultaneously subsidizing and incentivizing this sustained joblessness.
"This crisis of long-term joblessness is unprecedented in the post-war period," The Economist noted last October, adding that "for the first time in decades, jobless workers are more likely to drop out of the (labor) force … than to get a job."
Get full story here. The 'Occupy' Movement, Ann Coulter and A Movie Star In Our CPAC Wrap Up
Video by Frank McCaffrey
Get permalink here. Only way to rein in out-of-control NLRB
Who knew that the National Labor Relations Board was so important?
After a year and a half of battles over whether Boeing can build a plant in a state other than Washington, and forcing the National Right to Work organization to put employee unionization posters in their break room one would think that the NLRB could take a long winter's nap.
But no, the continuation of the NLRB's ability to wreak havoc in the rules of engagement between Big Labor and the job producers of our nation is so important, that President Obama bi-passed the Senate and set off a potential constitutional crisis in order to stack the board with new appointees.
Now, it wasn't a surprise that the NLRB was about to lose appointed members and a quorum. In fact, the NLRB rushed through a number of controversial decisions prior to going dark when they lost a quorum in December 2011.
In spite of the foreknowledge that appointments needed to be made, Obama did not bother to announce new appointees until Dec. 15 and two of the appointees had not yet turned in necessary background information for the Senate to start the advice and consent process.
Instead, in a headlong rush to ensure that Big Labor's biggest friend in government could continue to function, Obama tore up the U.S. Constitution, challenging anyone to do something about it.
So, what should the House of Representatives do?
Get full story here. |
No comments:
Post a Comment