February 22, 2012

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Carney: “Republicans forced Obama to turn down Keystone”

February 22, 2012 By Carol Greenberg Leave a Comment

Another unbelievable 6 minutes at the White House daily press briefing yesterday when Obama’s press secretary Jay Carney was questioned by ABC’s Jake Tapper on Keystone. Daily Caller has the video, start at about the 9 minute mark:

Carney: “In terms of Keystone, as you all know, the history here is pretty clear. And the fact is because Republicans decided to play political with Keystone, their action essentially forced the administration to deny the permit process because they insisted on a time frame in which it was impossible to completely approve the pipeline,” [snip].

Tapper: “How can you say that you have an all the above on approach if the President turned down the Keystone pipeline? And you blame the Republicans for making it political.”

Carney: “But the President didn’t turn down the Keystone pipeline. There was a process in place, with long precedent, run out of the State Department because of the issue of the pipeline crossing an international boundary, that required an amount of time for proper for review after an alternate route was deemed necessary through Nebraska at the request of the Republican Governor of Nebraska and other stakeholders in Nebraska and the region that needed to play out, to be done appropriately. You can’t review and approve a pipeline, the route for which doesn’t even exist.

“The Republicans were the ones who unfortunately decided because they were looking for scalps, I guess, or wins in a situation where they somehow found themselves on the wrong side of cutting taxes for 160 million Americans last December. They decided to play politics with this decision and attack the payroll tax cut extension. Even though it was made clear by the State Department that doing so would make it impossible for them to conduct the review responsibly, they did it anyway knowing what the result would be.”

Too bad Rep. Joe Wilson wasn’t in attendance to yell “you lie.”

Related articles: The calamity of Keystone, Obama chooses OPEC oil over Canadian

Obama dumps Keystone Pipeline Project on advice of Clinton

Filed Under Keystone Pipeline Project Tagged With Jake Tapper, Jay Carney, Keystone Pipeline Project, Obama

Americans for Prosperity’s bold plan to save Social Security

February 21, 2012 By Carol Greenberg Leave a Comment

AFP Foundation headerFrom Americans for Prosperity via email:

Last week the President released his latest budget, proposing policies that would result in a $1.33 trillion deficit this year and continued budget deficits for as far into the future as government bureaucrats project.  As budget experts like the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office have explained, the main cause of the looming fiscal problems going forward is unsustainable spending in entitlement programs like Social Security.  Yet the President’s FY 2013 budget does not propose major reforms to this broken program.

Social Security has nearly $18 trillion in unfunded liabilities, and with continued waves of Baby Boom retirees and sluggish growth in the number of workers to support them, the problem is only likely to get worse.  Opponents to reform often argue that the program can be fixed with minor tweaks around the edges, but those changes tend to make what is already a bad deal even worse for workers.

Unless the program sees major structural reforms, massive benefit cuts, tax increases, or more government borrowing will be needed.  This would be a huge disappointment to retirees, a drag on the American economy, or an even bigger debt burden onto the shoulders of our children and grandchildren.

Today, Americans for Prosperity Foundation is launching an effort to educate the American people about the benefits of optional personal savings accounts for Social Security.  It’s a policy that relies on freedom and choice instead of forcing Americans to stomach benefit cuts and tax increases.

And it’s a policy with several success stories where it has been tried.  For example, more than 94 percent of Chilean workers have opted in to their country’s personal account system, taking advantage of the retirement benefits that are 50 to 100 percent more generous than what their old system offered.

Click here to read AFPF’s new paper and check out all the materials on our new homepage for Social Security reform.

From page 5:

Workers could be empowered with a choice: they could stay with the tax-and-benefit system of Social Security as it is currently structured, or they could take some or all of the payroll tax contributions that they and their employer currently pay and instead save and invest them through a personal savings account. In the latter instance, whatever portion of their payroll taxes that they chooseto put aside into their personal savings account would come back to them in retirement and substitute for the corresponding portion of their Social Security benefits. Plus they would also receive the accumulated interest earnings from their account’s investments. Such accounts don’t just reduce the growth of government spending; they also shift vast amounts from a public sector tax and spend plan to private sector savings and investment.

Please see the image below for a simple explanation of the plan:

AFP SS plan

AFP’s Phil Kerpen had this to say:

“The current Social Security program is broken. There is no actual savings, no investment, and very soon it will not meet the needs of Americans entering retirement. Our plan offers personal savings accounts that put freedom and control back in the hands of the individual, safe from government bureaucrats who would see that money squandered.

“If adopted, this plan would solve the looming insolvency of Social Security, while resulting in the largest reduction in government spending and the largest tax cut in world history,” continued Kerpen.

Filed Under Uncategorized Tagged With budget, personal savings accounts, Phil Kerpen, Social Security

House Natural Resources Committee chart on gasoline prices

February 21, 2012 By Carol Greenberg Leave a Comment

Obama Admin’s Skyrocketing Gasoline Prices Threaten American Jobs, Economic Recovery

Republicans Have Bipartisan Plan to Lower Gas Prices, Create Jobs & Grow the Economy by Producing More American Energy

gasoline prices

Higher gasoline prices could stall recovery, Obama’s re-election, Boston Herald, 2/21/12

“By summer, some analysts said, you could be paying $4 for a gallon of gas, almost as high as the record set in the summer of 2008. A price that high could cripple the still-fragile recovery…The average price for a gallon of regular gas in the Midwest was $3.41 last week, up 32 cents from a year ago and $1.59 more than the day Obama became president…In Los Angeles, the price of regular unleaded already is $4.93 a gallon and premium $5.09 at some gas stations, and the escalating fuel costs are expected to ripple throughout the economy, affecting everything from groceries to air fares.”

Obama’s gas-price spike, Washington Times Editorial, 2/20/12

“Here we go again. Gasoline prices are rising rapidly and already have shattered the $4-a-gallon mark in California. Industry analysts say the all-time national average record of $4.11 could be shattered this summer…This latest gas-price jolt is predictable. President Obama has done much to impede the supply of petroleum products to consumers. Most particularly, he exploited the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as an excuse to clamp down on oil drilling in the Gulf and also along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.”

Surging gas prices threaten to derail economic recovery, LA Times, 2/20/12

“Just as the recovery is finally looking real, surging fuel prices are once again looming as a major threat to the financial health of U.S. consumers and the broader economy…Nationally, drivers started this week paying on average $3.565 for a gallon of regular gas, up more than 5% in the last month…many consumers remain on edge, burdened by heavy debts and very cautious about spending. With high unemployment…analysts say the U.S. recovery remains highly vulnerable to external shocks, perhaps none more so than a surge in gas prices.”

Gas price spike pumping up fears, Chicago Tribune, 2/20/12

“Fears of $5 per gallon gasoline are in the back of some motorists’ minds, jeopardizing the nascent economic recovery…Whether they break a record or not, rising gas prices could stunt the nation’s sluggish economic recovery. Economists say that higher oil prices may have crimped retail sales…The new economic worries are eerily reminiscent of what happened about this time a year ago when political turmoil flared in Egypt and elsewhere in the oil-rich region, sending crude prices sharply higher for months.”

Oil jumps to 9-month high after Iran cuts supply, AP, 2/21/12

“Oil prices jumped to a nine-month high above $105 a barrel on Monday after Iran said it halted crude exports to Britain and France in an escalation of a dispute over the Middle Eastern country’s nuclear program…Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi had warned earlier this month that Tehran could cut off oil exports to “hostile” European nations. The 27-nation EU accounts for about 18 percent of Iran’s oil exports.”

As part of the American Energy Initiative, House Republicans last week passed H.R. 3408, a bipartisan plan that will remove government barriers to American energy production, create over 1.2 million jobs, help lower gasoline prices and strengthen our national and economic security. The bill would expand offshore energy production, open less than three percent of ANWR for oil and natural gas production, encourage the development of 1.5 trillion barrels of oil shale in the Rocky Mountain West, and require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve the Keystone XL pipeline within 30 days.

Crossposted at Unified Patriots

Filed Under Uncategorized Tagged With American Energy Initiative, ANWR, gasoline, H.R. 3408, House Natural Resources Committee, Iran, Obama, oil, oil shale

State Dept announces films for their *world-wide must-see* list

February 18, 2012 By Carol Greenberg 1 Comment

The title sounds really, really bad; doesn’t it. I could say I’m at a loss for words, but nothing surprises me any more with this present administration.

It’s terrifying enough that Obama nixed the Keystone Pipeline on the advice of the State Department, specifically by Hillary Clinton. But now the State Department is in the business of telling the world what films to watch.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) announced today the 29 films selected for the American Film Showcase, an international cultural diplomacy initiative that brings people together worldwide through film. The Showcase, a partnership between the U.S. Department of State and USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, brings award-winning American films, including documentaries, feature films and animated shorts, to foreign audiences through events worldwide. Filmmakers and film experts will discuss the films and conduct workshops and master classes on a variety of issues related to filmmaking and film scholarship.

The American Film Showcase builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power diplomacy,” which embraces the use of a full range of diplomatic tools – in this case film – to bring people together and foster greater understanding.

Anytime you have a university and the government working in tandem one can always expect bad results. Take a look at #7 on the list. Gasland.

Gasland on State Dept watch list

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this infammatory film, and I say this literally, in a nutshell, this kid by the name of Josh Fox tries to put a “hit” out on hydro-fracking of natural gas by traveling around the country and trying to set tap water on fire. Trailer is below:

This docucrockery won an award from the Sundance Film Festival in 2010 and the Hollywood loony/lib crew even put it up for an Academy Award last year. Thank goodness it lost.

Fox claims that fracking causes groundwater contamination. The prestigious Institute for Energy Research debunks Fox’s claim, stating:

Two studies conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC)—the national association of state ground water and underground injection agencies whose mission is to promote the protection and conservation of ground water—found that there have been no confirmed incidents of groundwater contamination from hydraulic fracturing.[3] This is particularly noteworthy in consideration of the fact that approximately one million wells have been hydraulically fractured in the United States.[4] Furthermore, according to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC)—the multi-state governmental agency representing states’ oil and gas interests—each IOGCC member state has confirmed that there has not been a case of groundwater contamination where hydraulic fracturing was attributed to be the cause.[5]

But this didn’t stop Hillz from *making a list, and checking it twice* and adding Gasland to the world-wide must-see lists of films. Fox, at least on twit, sees himself and this film now as a cause celebre because he was arrested in DC a couple weeks ago for illegally attempting to film a hearing of the Science, Space and Technology Committee.

According to his Facebook page the charges of “unlawful entry” were dismissed.

But the bigger picture here folks, is what business does the U.S. State Department have in telling the world what films to watch. Yea, I didn’t take a look in depth at the other films on Hillz’ *recommended list.* Too frightening to think about, at least for this writer.

Crossposted at Unified Patriots

Filed Under government intrusion Tagged With Gasland, Hillary Clinton, hydrofracking, Josh Fox, Obama, U.S. Dept. of State

New chart showing the failure of the stimulus

February 16, 2012 By Carol Greenberg Leave a Comment

Tomorrow marks the third anniversary of the signing of the stimulus.

From the Republican Study Committee, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) Chair, comes this chart and commentary  which shows the stimulus has been an abject failure:

Where are the jobs

The numbers come directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Democrats said their costly plan ($1.2 trillion, including interest) would “save or create” up to 4 million jobs and bring the unemployment rate down to about 6% today. The unemployment rate has not fallen below 8% at any point in the last 36 months. Furthermore, the official unemployment rate does not actually count unemployed people who have given up looking for work.

The above chart shows the “labor force participation rate.” This statistic represents the share of working-age Americans who are either employed or unemployed but looking for work. It is not a pretty picture. Only 63.7% of working-age Americans are currently in the workforce – the lowest in almost 29 years!

To put it another way, 36.3% of working-age Americans do not have a job and are not even looking.

After 3 years of failure, it’s time to try something that will work. Let’s ramp up energy production. Let’s cut away government red tape that slows down job creation. And let’s design new tax code that is simpler, flatter, and fairer. Let’s pass the Jobs Through Growth Act, and create jobs by growing the economy – not the government.

Filed Under Stimulus Tagged With cash for clunkers, Jobs, Jobs Through Growth Act, Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican Study Committee, Stimulus