May 24, 2013

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TOTUS #FAIL. What happens when you have no Cliff Notes

April 29, 2010 By Carol Greenberg

Gotta start this one off with a video. Is sickening. Really, sickening. Either Gibbs the Fibbs had the day off, or he failed to tell Obama he needed crib notes as a back-up:

Just like Biden, one never knows what to expect from Zero when there’s a TOTUS fail. Yep. For himself, he doesn’t begrudge the $5.5 M he made last year. But try and let anyone else make that kind of dough, it’s a WHOLE different matter. The Hypocrite-in-Chief made it easy for me today. Apparently all that stuff from Reverend Wright didn’t rub off on the Thief-in-Chief after all because he failed to tithe:

What is surprising, given the recent controversy over Obama’s membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ, is how little the Obamas apparently gave to charity — well short of the biblical 10% tithe for all seven years. In two of the years, the Obamas gave far less than 1% of their income to charity; in three of the years, they gave around 1% of their income to charity. Only in the last two years have they given substantially more as their income skyrocketed — 4.7% in 2005 and 6.1% in 2006. (Of course, it is possible that the Obamas may have made gifts to other worthy causes that were not deductible for federal income tax purposes.)

And Peter Orszag, after Monday’s first meeting of the President’s Fiscal Commission admits the “current policy is unsustainable.” Hey, I didn’t take ECON 101 or POLY Sci but I already knew this.

Unsustainable spending

And the pain continues under Obamacare. One third of employers may be penalized for health coverage deemed ‘unaffordable.’

Many will probably consider paying the penalty, which is considerably cheaper, than choosing to enroll employees in Obamacare.

Budgets currently in the Administration will:

  • create long term deficits
  • reduce availability of dollars for investment
  • increase needed borrowing from abroad
  • elevate interest rates

I don’t need TOTUS or crib notes to remember the above. Has been burned in my brain.

Crossposted

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Filed Under healthcare, spending Tagged With Biden, Gibbs, healthcare, tithe, TOTUS

Institute for Energy Research Releases Easy-to-use website

April 29, 2010 By Carol Greenberg

I had an opportunity this afternoon to be on a conference call with two gentlemen from the Institute for Energy Research. They have launched an easy-to-use website which contains economic and energy data from each state. Just roll your mouse over the state you want to see, and everything pops up. Unemployment rate, gasoline prices and the percentages of where fuel-use comes from.

Energy Consumption in the US

Energy Consumption in the US

Dan Simmons and IER President Tom Pyle were on the call. They explained that 250 bills were passed in the last seven years by various states in an attempt to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. There are also 600 state programs which attempt to regulate greenhouse gases. There is also a 40-page pdf file called “Energy Regulation in the States: A Wake-up Call.”

Twenty-nine states have renewable energy mandates, while six states have renewable energy “targets.” It was pointed out in these states that electric rates are higher and is indicative of these mandates. Also, ten states had mandates placed into “law” by governor Executive Order. Former Gov. Napolitano passed one of these mandates while she was governor of Arizona, and the present governor rescinded it.

It was pointed out these regional and/or state mandates have little effect on the climate and only keep the earth’s temperature from rising between 6/1000 and 15/1000 degree. The mantra for this is “economic pain, but no gain.”

Please take a look. You can see trends, and what kind of energy your state and others are using. In closing both gentlemen stated the importance of the US getting away from being dependent on foreign oil.

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Filed Under IER

Can I Pay Higher Taxes?

April 28, 2010 By Carol Greenberg

Probably the Debt Commission’s desk is more cluttered than the desktop of my computer. What will they have in store for us by December 1, just as the lameduck Congressional session is in full swing?  Bet it ain’t just one tax hike. Probably a cocktail. One from column A, one from column B, etc. Try and squeeze more blood out of the turnips Americans have become.

Appearing on Fox’s Your World with Neil Cavuto, House Republican John Boehner (R-OH) made clear that Republicans will address Washington’s out-of-control spending habits if Americans elect a GOP majority. Americans want to cut spending, not raises taxes, to start addressing the deficit problem. Boehner reiterated his concerns that the President’s commission would be used by Democrats as political cover to raise taxes at a time when Americans are asking “Where are the jobs?” Lastly, Boehner said Congress should work together to end the bailouts and address Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – the government-sponsored companies that sparked the meltdown by giving high-risk loans to people who couldn’t afford it – instead of the partisan, go-it-alone approach President Obama and Democrats continue to pursue. Following is the full video and excerpts of his remarks:

And at a press conference this morning with House GOP leaders, Boehner  made the following comments on the growing credibility gap of Washington Democrats who say one thing and do another:

“Democrats here in Washington are developing a serious credibility gap. You just think about this, they promised that the President’s health care plan would lower costs, lower the deficit, and the facts now say that not only will we have higher costs, but we’re going to have higher deficits.”

Dems promised in their financial services regulation bill, they wouldn’t have any more bailouts. That isn’t true. We could have a permanent bail-out for those “too big to fail.”

If Obama and the Dems get their way, we may be seeing more magazine covers like this one on Time:

AIG bomb

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Filed Under bailout, Debt Commission, taxes

TARP II, Lack of Jobs, Out of Control Spending and “Flatlines”

April 27, 2010 By Carol Greenberg

We have a full day of info, so here goes.

Myths Regarding the Senate Democrats’ Permanent TARP Bill

MYTH #1 – The bill does not provide bailout authority.

  • REALITY: TARP II authorizes the FDIC to use resources to make payments to anyone in any amounts.

MYTH #2 – TARP II prevents taxpayer funded Wall Street bailouts.

  • REALITY: TARP II attempts to wipe out the shareholders and management of firms placed in receivership, but the bill provides the FDIC with significant latitude to bailout counter-parties and creditors.

MYTH #3 – The $50 billion liquidation fund cannot be used to bailout a failed firm.

  • REALITY: TARP II bill creates a $50 billion resolution fund that would get replenished from assessments on covered firms, ensuring a constant flow of funds from family and small business owners.

MYTH #4 – The bill does not perpetuate “too big to fail.”

  • REALITY: TARP II bill creates a special regulatory structure for select firms. Those select firms, supervised by the Fed, would have access to a bailout fund, a Treasury line of credit and FDIC guarantees will have an implicit guarantee of the US government.

MYTH #5 – The bill will not increase moral hazard.

  • REALITY: In a Financial Services Committee, Secretary Tim Geithner argued that large firms should be assessed the cost of liquidation after the FDIC liquidates a firm. [sic] However, access to a bailout fund (ex ante or ex post) increases moral hazard.

Here is Rep. Ed Royce discussing TARP II “Measures would subsidize financial institutions at expense of taxpayers.”

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) states President’s Fiscal Commission “Not A Serious Effort to Stop Out of Control Spending”

Our country is facing a fiscal crisis, but the president’s fiscal commission is not a serious effort to stop out of control spending. The president needs to tell this commission that new taxes are not an option, and he needs to take all new tax proposals off the table, including any form of a European-style Value Added Tax.

If the president is serious about reining in government spending, he will take out his veto pen and tell Congress to stop sending him bloated, big-government legislation that’s filled with wasteful spending.

The American people want fiscal discipline and bold new ideas. That’s why Congressmen Jeb Hensarling, John Campbell, and I introduced the Spending Limit Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Our Spending Limit Amendment will limit government spending to one-fifth of the economy.

The American people don’t want to wait for another commission to tell us how bleak the problem is, and then hope that Congress will finally make tough choices. We need to cut spending now, and adopt a Spending Limit Amendment to rein in government spending for generations to come.

Here is a video of Pence and Hensarling discussing their proposed amendment on Washington Journal:

Even the Dems know the Stimulus isn’t working. Contrary to what Mr. Obama has said, according to The Committee on Ways and Means Republicans 48 out of 50 states have lost jobs since the Stimulus was passed. Only Alaska and the District of Columbia have had an increase in jobs. Obama’s home state of Illinois has lost 187,900 jobs, despite his claims that 148,000 jobs were created.

Remember the CEOs who Waxman was going to haul into Congress for an inquiry and then cancelled?  An Inquiry Says Health Care Charges Were Proper.

Representative Joe L. Barton of Texas, the senior Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said, “From a financial standpoint, from a purely economic standpoint, many companies would be better off discontinuing health care as a fringe benefit, paying the penalty and pocketing the savings.”

And finally, we know from the CMS study put out last week:

  • Medicare Changes Threaten Access to Care for Seniors.
  • Medicaid Changes Threaten Access to Care for Low-Income Americans.

Please see my detailed post on the above and make sure you watch the video of HHS Secretary Sebelius and her cluelessness.

And finally, Obama and the Dems must be getting really, really nervous. Obama released this video on April 23, already “readying his troops” to get out the vote in November:

Enough said. We’re gonna take out the trash in DC in November. And we’re gonna need a lot of dump trucks.

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Filed Under healthcare, Jobs, Tarp II Tagged With Barton, CMS, Flatlines, Hensarling, Obama, Pence, Sebelius, Spending Limit Amendment, Stimulus, Tarp II, Waxman

Obama having a major hissy fit over Arizona Immigration Law

April 26, 2010 By Carol Greenberg

Update 4/30/10. AZ Governor Jan Brewer issues statement on the AZ Immigration law signed last week. She wishes to clarify that racial profiling will not be tolerated.

*Update 4/26/10 at 4:25 pm EST. Please go to the asterisk below. Thank you.

Citing the Feds failure to act to control our borders and putting it off on the states, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law tough immigration reform on 4/23/10:

Anyone wishing to read the new law, it is here. I haven’t read it, but if it is included, God forbid that anyone might have to be coerced into carrying any ID. Here is Brewer’s statement on the new law:

“We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act,” she said, as hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside her Phoenix office. “But decades of federal inaction and misguided policy have created an unacceptable situation.”

Obama has been pushing for amnesty for all the illegals in this country presumably so he can garner most of the Latino vote for the mid-term elections;  and he is having a  major hissy fit over the Arizona law, fearful that other states will follow suit.  Here is his little foot-stomping where he says this law “threatens to undermine basic notions of fairness.”

What “unfairness”? Too bad, Mr. Obama. We are picking up the tab for these people’s schooling, medical care, and what not; to the point of in many parts of this country having to “press ’1′ for English.”  And let’s not forget the increased violence associated with all these illegals. So it looks like a showdown will be coming between Obama and the states and it ain’t gonna be pretty.

Of course, as expected there were protests in Arizona. Here is a youtube of one, but if you wish you view it you’ll have to sign in. I cannot embed it here. Probably some blood, the f-bomb and some middle fingers I’m guessing. But Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) has already been put on notice, h/t to Erick Brockway of RedState; that the illegals in her state won’t tolerate any such law. According to Brockway’s post things were said like:

“We don’t have nothing against Dianne, but like we wanna let them know that this is not right.”

Also according to Brockway’s links Al Sharpton is gonna be thrown into the mix, who will be calling for a “boycott of Arizona.” Just how does one go about “boycotting” a state, anyhow? Hey Al! Does that include no airline layovers in AZ and no watching AZ sports games on TV, even when they are playing an out-of-state team? And going around the whole state of AZ on a road trip to or from CA?

*Update: Not only does Al Sharpton want to boycott Arizona, but so does the San Francisco city attorney. Ah, the land of Pelosi. Who would have thought? H/t to @PsychoSix. Followed a tweet and did a google search.

The man in my life has a favorite mantra. When we get into this subject over the dinner table, he hauls out his “if we send back all the illegals, who will pick the tomatoes?”  I respond “everyone who doesn’t have a job and their unemployment is about to run out.”

In this blogger’s opinion, any work is decent work as long as it is legal. Whether it be a CEO or a tomato picker, all equal in my eyes. What I do find extremely bothersome is this woman’s attitude:

After we send all the illegals back, maybe she can pick tomatoes.

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Filed Under immigration reform Tagged With Brewer, Brockway, immigration, Sharpton