Posts Tagged ‘We’re Broke’

Last week at its regular policy-setting meeting, the Federal Reserve announced it would double down on the policies that have failed to produce anything but a stagnant economy. It was a disappointing, but not surprising, move.

The Fed affirmed that it is prepared to increase its monthly purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities if things don’t start looking up. But actually the Fed has already been buying more than the announced $85 billion per month. Between February and March, the Fed’s securities holdings increased $95 billion. From March to April, they increased $100 billion. In all, the Fed has pumped more than a half trillion dollars into the economy since announcing its latest round of “quantitative easing” (QE3) in September 2012.

–SNIP– It is not surprising the Fed has decided to hand the American people more of the same failed policies. But it is disappointing. We know what the real solution is: allow the marketplace to work. Allow entrepreneurs the chance to create instead of stifling innovation with arbitrary regulations. Allow interest rates to rise to equal the risks in the economy. Allow bad debts to be liquidated so we can build on a firm foundation. Stop printing money to benefit the government and big banks. Restore sound money to the economy and the American people. Sound money is the bedrock for prosperity and the best check on big government and crony capitalism.

Read more by Ron Paul at the-free-foundation.org

President Barack Obama’s second term has so far been a story of high liberal hopes and scant liberal achievements.

The president has been re-elected, demographic trends favor the growth of his coalition, his party has a technological edge, and his opposition is confused and divided. One might therefore expect Obama to be enacting the legislative agenda of that rising coalition. Yet the White House has to be disappointed, whatever it says, by the way the second term has been going.

Read more by Ramesh Ponnurua at Bloomberg.com

A method to cut government spending where bureaucrats will WANT to cut!

It is a well known and quite understandable reaction of any bureau to make sure that the current year’s budget has been spent by the end of the fiscal year, even on unnecessary projects, else they lose it. Personal interest should have every employee watching for any possible waste of the taxpayer’s dollars.

A new budgeting policy for each bureau should be established, where any unspent budgeted funds at the end of the fiscal year shall be equally divided up and paid out to all of the employees in that bureau, and, then the lower budget figure, pre-disbursement, would be used for the next fiscal year, with, again, any unspent surplus being distributed to the employees who made the surplus possible.

No money would be saved the first year, but from then on every department would have continuously lowering budgets. Could the cost of running the state be cut in half in three years? I think so. The bottom line would be far more efficient and less costly state services.

(Idea from Wayne Green)

At least our state budget is getting better. Thanks Governor Walker!

Good thing, given sequestration’s cuts in spending increases, that the Obama administration has curtailed spending like canceling this spring’s White House public tours.

Otherwise, the administration might be in big financial trouble, like the country they’re allegedly leading, given the Vice President’s recent European hotel tabs.

The cost of the night’s London lodging in early February for Joe Biden and his unusually large entourage was $459,388.65. That’s right, nearly a half-million dollars, which would be a BFD for anyone who wasn’t self-appointed political royalty.

Read more by Andrew Malcolm at Investors.com

He could have stayed at the US Embassy in Paris.

Because the mainstream media lobbied every bit as hard as Obama to win passage of ObamaCare, they are every bit as invested in doing whatever is necessary to see that it is perceived as a success. Unfortunately for Americans who expect truth from their media, this means the media are having to manufacture a false reality that says ObamaCare is, to steal a phrase, “doing fine.”

In order to manufacture this phony reality, the media must further sell their blackened soul by violating one of their most cherished principals: reporting on how government policy hits America’s weakest the hardest. It’s just a fact that the worst fallout of ObamaCare is already landing hard on the working class, who are losing work hours, jobs, and their insurance.

Read more by John Nolte at Breitbart.com

A method to cut government spending where bureaucrats will WANT to cut!

It is a well known and quite understandable reaction of any bureau to make sure that the current year’s budget has been spent by the end of the fiscal year, even on unnecessary projects, else they lose it. Personal interest should have every employee watching for any possible waste of the taxpayer’s dollars.

A new budgeting policy for each bureau should be established, where any unspent budgeted funds at the end of the fiscal year shall be equally divided up and paid out to all of the employees in that bureau, and, then the lower budget figure, pre-disbursement, would be used for the next fiscal year, with, again, any unspent surplus being distributed to the employees who made the surplus possible.

No money would be saved the first year, but from then on every department would have continuously lowering budgets. Could the cost of running the state be cut in half in three years? I think so. The bottom line would be far more efficient and less costly state services.

(Idea from Wayne Green)

–SNIP– You probably thought the Dodd-Frank Act was all about reining in greedy big banks and Wall Street predators.

Well then, what is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau it established doing planning to “help” people manage the $19.4 trillion they’ve managed to save for their retirement?

CFPB director and longtime Democratic politician Richard Cordray earlier this month told Bloomberg News that managing retirement savings is “one of the things we’ve been exploring … in terms of whether and what authority we have.”

Every such new creature legislated into existence by our elected officials wastes little time before seeking to expand its power — always with the best intentions, of course.

There always ends up being an excuse to do things the law doesn’t give you any authority for, and the CFPB’s Office for Older Americans being headed by another big government Democrat, Hubert H. Humphrey III, is further cause for worry.

What business, exactly, does a U.S. government that has rung up over $16.6 trillion in red ink have giving consumers advice on how to save money?

Read more at IBD

Admiral Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that “the greatest threat to our national security is our debt.” Senator Coburn said on “Morning Joe” on Feb 13 that “$100 billion could be cut.” Ron Paul says that only about half the defense budget is for defense, the other half is for militarism abroad.

So here are 16 ways to cut its waste, fraud, and abuse of American taxpayers.

Read more by Jon Basil Utley at AmericanConservative.com

The Congressional Budget Office gives its baseline budget projections for fiscal years 2013 to 2023 in its February 5, 2013  Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2013 to 2023. Table 1-5 shows how the CBO incorporates the $55 billion per year in sequestered defense cuts and the $37 million per year in sequestered non-defense cuts into its projections of  discretionary spending.

The sequester “cuts” are subtracted after  increasing  appropriations subject to the sequester at the rate of  inflation and adding back in more than a trillion dollars (over ten years) of spending exempted from the sequester.

Read more by Paul Roderick Gregory at Forbes.com

http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/

From The Cato Institute

The world’s markets are beginning to go haywire.

The world’s money system – the scales upon which the world’s market functions – is being deliberately destroyed. And so, the monetary signals that guide the markets – which are supposed to represent the supply and demand decisions of billions of people – have become distorted.

–SNIP– The distortions in the markets are the result of the deliberate manipulation of currency values around the world by central bankers. The central bankers are responding to their political masters’ demands for easier money and cheaper credit. There is now, around the world, a widespread belief that the symbol of wealth (paper money) alone can deliver all the benefits of the market.

This is the great lie. It is the final modern delusion.

Read more by Porter Stansberry at DailyWealth.com

• Dr. Benjamin Carson delivered a noteworthy National Prayer Breakfast keynote speech in President Barack Obama’s presence
• Carson attacked political correctness as a “dangerous” threat to free speech and encouraged Americans to boldly share their views
• The pediatric neurosurgeon also provided his theories about the national debt, deficits, taxation and health care, taking stances that were opposed to the president’s
• Obama watched intently as Carson spoke for more than 25 minutes

Read more by Billy Hallowell at theblaze.com

The President delays needed conversations about our fiscal challenges.
February 4, 2013

WASHINGTON—Today, President Obama is required by law to submit his budget request for Fiscal Year 2014. For the fourth time in five years, however, he will miss the statutory deadline. In response, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin issued the following statement:

“I’m disappointed the President has missed his deadline. But I’m not surprised. In four of the last five years, he’s failed to submit his budget on time. We still don’t know when we’ll receive the president’s request. And for nearly four years, Senate Democrats haven’t passed a budget at all. We deserve better.

“We spend $1 trillion more than we take in each year. In fact, we spend $3 for every $2 we take in. And we can’t keep that up. If we stay on this path, our finances will collapse. The economy will stall. And the most vulnerable will suffer. We need a budget that reflects our priorities—that expands opportunity. The fact is, we cannot achieve those goals unless we budget responsibly.

“Every time the President and Senate Democrats shirk their duty, they delay choices we need to make. We’ve still got time, but it’s dwindling. Every missed deadline is a missed opportunity. We need to get serious about spending now.

“The House Budget Committee will do its job. We’ll write a budget—and submit it on time. In the past two years, we’ve offered our solutions to the country’s fiscal challenges. Now the President must do the same.”

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Press Release from Committee on the Budget: U.S. House of Representatives

The House, under the leadership of Speaker John Boehner, has precipitated a postponement in the debt ceiling fight until May. This represents a strategic choice by Boehner to make the Sequester fight, not the debt ceiling fight, the next major engagement. Much of the mainstream media now is accusing Congress of “kicking the can down the road.” They are missing the strategic implications.

In retrospect, at the Battle at Fiscal Cliff, Boehner took President Obama to the cleaners. He did it suavely, without histrionics. While Obama churlishly, and in a politically amateurish manner, publicly strutted about having forced the Republicans to raise tax rates on “the wealthiest Americans” Boehner, quietly, was pocketing his winnings.

Read more by Ralph Benko at Forbes.com