The dust bowl

Saw an interesting show on History Channel.

About the dust bowls of the 30s.

The dust storms themselves reduced the sun, and prolonged the dust bowl, so they claimed.

------

There are several factors that were different for the great depression, in my opinion, that made the new deal perhaps the right choice for that time.

The biggest of all was the lack of rain. A very big coincidence that it coincided with the depression.

But times are different today. We have infrastructure and we have technology. So many things are already in place to keep the economy going along even though unemployment stays high.

Back then stimulus was the right choice.

Today, it is not, the right choice is for government to do very little, and let capitalism fix itself.

In my opinion.

a milk cow with 310 million tits!

PrezBo's debt commission faces, perhaps, one of the most daunting challenges of our time: figure out how to get our government back on track. Most are assuming that entitlement reform will be a part of their recommendations. One can only hope. Tasked with this challenge is a group of various politicians and economists, among those is former Republican Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson, the co-chair.

Well ... seems we have a stink on our hands. It seems Alan Simpson sent an email to the executive director of some outfit called the National Older Women's League. Her name is Ashley Carson. In the email he compared Social Security to "a milk cow with 310 million tits!" Responding to a column Carson wrote in the Huffington Post, Simpson writes: "I've spent many years in public life trying to stabilize that system while people like you babble into the vapors about 'disgusting attempts at ageism and sexism' and all the rest of that crap." He then signed the letter, "Call when you get honest work!"

Now there is a movement to have Simpson removed from Barack Obama's debt commission over these comments.

Remove him? No way! Give him a medal! I would have loved to have seen the look on this crone's face when she got that email. Pictures, please!

I think at some point you've done enough damage

Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

You may ask yourself - how did this dope get to be president?

This is so-ooo embarrassing.

"I was told there would be no geometry"

Van der Leun even gave it a musical reference, in case you missed the point:

You may ask yourself 
How do I work this? 
You may ask yourself 
Where is that large automobile? 
You may tell yourself 
This is not my beautiful house! 
You may tell yourself 
This is not my beautiful wife!

WSJ: The folly of subsidizing unemployment

The jobless rate could be as low as 6.8%, instead of 9.5% if it weren't for one thing ...

By ROBERT BARRO

My calculations suggest the jobless rate could be as low as 6.8%, instead of 9.5%, if jobless benefits hadn't been extended to 99 weeks.

Obama's bogus small business bill

You brought this up when we were walking.
The bogus plan that Obama has for small business won't help.

The real problem is their taxes. If they are lowered then they will hire people.
When they hire people then those people will be consumers again, and will buy and pay taxes.
It's a win win situation.

Too bad Obama doesn't understand basic economics.

Back to this small business bill. Obama came out swinging against the Republicans and their blockage of this bill. So there has to be a reason why the Republicans do not believe that this bill will not be the small business savior that the Democrats claim it to be. Essentially the argument is that this small business bill will create a $30 billion "lending facility" run by the Treasury Department. Sparing you from the heinously boring details, the concept is that the government will create a fund (using taxpayer money, of course) that will be used by the Treasury Department specifically for community banks. These small banks would then get a percentage of relief based on the amount of small business loans they then provided with this $30 billion fund. In the end, what does this sound like? A bailout plan. If these small banks loan to these business and the businesses end up failing, who ultimately foots the bill? The taxpayers. That's the bottom line. Not wanting the stigma of participating in a mini-TARP, who knows if these small banks would even participate in the program? Besides the stigma, another reason that banks may not want to participate is because of the strings attached .. the regulations. We don't yet know the rigid loan guidelines that regulators are bound to come up with. In this day in age, it seems like the less a company has to get involved with the federal government, the better. And finally, who is to say that credit is even REALLY the problem that these small businesses are facing? A survey by the National Federation of Independent Business found that only 6% of business owners said that their biggest problem was tied to getting credit. On the other hand, 30% said that their biggest problem was weak sales. Consumers are hoarding their cash. Who can blame them?

Walter E. Williams

What Handouts To Cut

Email Walter E. Williams | Columnist's Archive

Because of failure to heed the limitations of the U.S. Constitution, which has produced runaway federal spending, our nation sits on the precipice of disaster. Former Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming and Erskine Bowles, White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, co-chairmen of President Obama's debt and deficit commission, in a Washington Post article "Obama's Debt Commission Warns of Fiscal 'Cancer'" (July 12, 2010) said that "(A)t present, federal revenue is fully consumed by three programs: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The rest of the federal government, including fighting two wars, homeland security, education, art, culture, you name it, veterans -- the whole rest of the discretionary budget is being financed by China and other countries."

The commission added the current budget trend is a disaster "that will destroy the country from within" unless checked by tough action in Washington. The tough action required is spending cuts in programs, including the so-called nondiscretionary, eating most of the federal revenues.

According to the Census, around 80 percent of Americans 65 and older own their own homes compared to 43 percent under 35. Twenty-three million households, or 37 percent of all homeowners, own their homes free and clear, and most of these are seniors aged 65 and older. According to the Federal Reserve Board's 2007 "Survey of Consumer Finances," the median net worth of people 65 and over is $232,000, those under 35 years have a net worth of $12,000 and for those 35-44, it's $87,000.

For good reason, older people have accumulated more wealth than younger people; the primary reason is that they've had more time to do it. There is no logical case that can be made for using the tax system to force Americans with less wealth to subsidize those with more wealth. But it's not clear who is subsidizing whom. Consider an elderly widow, say 70 years old, with a modest retirement income of $18,000 living in a $300,000 house that's fully paid for. She might receive local property tax forgiveness, medical and prescription drug subsidies and other federal, state and local subsidies based upon her age and income.

12Full ArticleNext »

Obama lousy at governing, good at promising, in bed with the media

• A question from the Guardian in the UK: How could a bunch of people who ran such a brilliant campaign be doing such a lousy job at the politics of governing?
• 88% of 2008 campaign donations by the media went to Democrats.

Here's the story:

Senior executives, on-air personalities, producers, reporters, editors, writers and other self-identifying employees of ABC, CBS and NBC contributed more than $1 million to Democratic candidates and campaign committees in 2008, according to an analysis by The Examiner of data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The Democratic total of $1,020,816 was given by 1,160 employees of the three major broadcast television networks, with an average contribution of $880.

By contrast, only 193 of the employees contributed to Republican candidates and campaign committees, for a total of $142,863. The average Republican contribution was $744.

Eighty-eight percent of employees (who identified their employer) of the three networks who donated to candidates gave to Democrats.

Walter Williams on the Tyranny of the Majority, the US Federal Budget and Free-Market Thinking

Sunday, August 01, 2010 – with  Ron Holland

http://www.thedailybell.com/1259/Walter-Williams-on-the-Tyranny-of-the-Majority-the-US-Federal-Budget-and-Free-Market-Thinking.html

Walter Williams

The Daily Bell is pleased to present an exclusive interview with Walter Williams (left).

Introduction: Dr. Walter E. Williams is the author of over 150 articles on social topics. Some have appeared in scholarly journals, such asEconomic Inquiry, American Economic Review, Georgia Law Review, Journal of Labor Economics, Social Science Quarterly and Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy.  Others have appeared in general circulation publications, such as Newsweek, Ideas on Liberty, National Review, Reader's Digest, Cato Journal and Policy Review. Dr. Williams is the author of six books: America: A Minority Viewpoint, The State Against Blacks (the basis for the PBS production "Good Intentions"), All It Takes Is Guts, South Africa's War Against Capitalism, Do the Right Thing: The People's Economist Speaks and More Liberty Means Less Government. Dr. Williams has been named a Hoover Institution National Fellow and a Ford Foundation Fellow. He has received the Foundation for Economic Education Adam Smith Award, the Valley Forge Freedoms Foundation George Washington Medal of Honor, the Veterans of Foreign Wars U.S. News Media Award, the Adam Smith Award, the California State University Distinguished Alumnus Award and the George Mason University Faculty Member of the Year and Alpha Kappa Psi Award.

Daily Bell:  Dr. Williams, how were you attracted to free-market thinking?

Walter Williams: Free-market thinking grows out of a respect for the basic principles of individual liberty. If I am free, then I can negotiate, I can trade with anybody I wish to whether that person is American or whether he came from Europe, Mexico, Africa or anywhere else. If any third party interferes, then I am that much less free.

Daily Bell: Can you give us some background? Can you identify any influences early in life that pointed you toward classical liberalism? Were you influenced by the American exponents of the Austrian school, such as Murray Rothbard?

Walter Williams: No, I was not. And if I can identify anybody, it was Thomas Payne, who wroteCommon Sense, which I have read a number of times. It was a pamphlet that Thomas Payne wrote to rally the American Colonies to rebel against the Crown.

Daily Bell: Tell us how your professional career has developed.

Walter Williams: I got married in 1960, but I had been drafted into the Army the year before. I was in Korea in 1961 and had a lot of time on my hands. I saw that if I didn't get started on something, I had no future. I told my wife that as soon as I got out of the Army and we had saved $700, we were going to move from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, where I could go to college. I got out of the army July 3, returned to my old job with Yellow Cab, and by December 1 we were on the road to California, where I enrolled at Los Angeles State College. I got a bachelor's degree in three years. Then I transferred to UCLA to study for a Masters degree, but I received so much encouragement that I continued for a Ph.D., which I completed in 1972.

Daily Bell:  Some of your writing reveals a righteous anger. Where does that come from?

Walter Williams: Again, it goes back to my ideas on liberty and my respect for individual rights. I try to write so that economics is understandable to the ordinary person. I have had a lot of encouragement to do so and I had a tenacious mentor at UCLA, Armen Alchian, who used to pick on me. We were in the hallway one day and he said, "You know, Williams, the true test of whether somebody understands his subject comes when he can explain it to someone who doesn't know a darn thing about it." I take pride in doing that kind of explaining. At the same time I try to convince readers of the moral value of individual liberty.

Daily Bell: Has racism ever interfered with your career?

Walter Williams: My first encounter with open racial discrimination was in the Army, on my way to an assignment at Fort Stewart, Georgia. I woke up on the bus in the middle of the night at a rest station, where I saw a sign saying, "Colored Waiting Room" and another saying "White Waiting Room". At Fort Stewart, I encountered gross racial discrimination. I just made life hard for those who were discriminating against black soldiers, hard in the sense of being a troublemaker. I have a book coming out this fall, an autobiography. I go into detail about my life in the military and the racial discrimination I encountered. But the best thing one can do to resist discrimination of any type is to be the best that you can possibly be, as opposed to getting on a soap box and preaching.

Daily Bell: Do matters of race in America concern you?

Walter Williams: I think that black Americans have advanced more swiftly than any other racial group. In 1865 neither slave nor slave-owner would have believed that black people could make the progress that in fact we have made. Today black Americans are among the world's most famous people and the world's wealthiest people. If black America were a country, its GDP would be the 16th or the 17th largest in the world. And now we have a black President.  And this kind of progress speaks well of the intestinal fortitude of a people and of America itself. Nothing like it could happen anywhere else in the world.

Daily Bell: Does the black community still support Barack Obama ?

Walter Williams: Oh, yes, I think they support Barack Obama because today black Americans are a one-party people. They just support whoever is the Democrat. They supported Bill Clinton, they supported Jimmy Carter. It' unfortunate, in a two-party system, because it means that one party, namely the Democrats, will take the black vote for granted and the Republicans won't even try to compete for it.

Daily Bell: How have you seen economic thinking change during your career?

Walter Williams: The principles of economics don't not change any more than the working of gravity changes. Gravity is the same as when Newton wrote about it. So, economic theory is one thing, but economic systems are another. The most tragic economic change is that the world has come to accept the notion that one person has the right to live at the expense of another person, which I think is despicable. People all around the world – and in the U.S. – believe it's OK for the government to take the property of one citizen and give it to another. If a person did that identical thing privately, we would call it theft. But it's what people routinely ask the government to do.

Daily Bell: Would you characterize yourself as conservative, a libertarian or something else?

Walter Williams: If pushed to choose between the two, I would say libertarian. But I call myself a Jeffersonian liberal. Today the people who call themselves liberals are for the most part fascists. I think libertarians need to take back the meaning of "liberal," because liberal means free. For today's so-called liberals, personal freedom is the last thing on their mind.

Daily Bell: What do you think of anarcho-libertarianism as championed by Rothbard?

Walter Williams: Well, I think his ideas are very good. I met him a number of times and had nothing but respect for him.

Daily Bell: What do you think of Dr. Ron Paul and his impact on the sociopolitical conversation?

Walter Williams: Ron Paul and I are friends and longtime associates. I agree with Ron Paul on most matters, but we part company on issues of foreign policy.  I believe in a strong defense, and I believe there are circumstances that call for pre-emptive attack on people who would do us harm.

Daily Bell: What is the difference between a conservative and neo-conservative, if any?

Walter Williams: (Laughing) I don't know. But conservatives, neo or otherwise, and liberals all believe it's all right for government to take the property of one person and give it to another. They prove H.L. Mencken's definition of an election as "...an advance auction on the sale of stolen property." Liberals believe in taking your money and giving it to poor people and poor cities. Conservatives believe in taking your money and giving it to farmers, banks and airlines. They both agree on taking our money, but they disagree on who should get it.

Daily Bell: Was George Bush a good president? Was he conservative? Are there any good presidents?

Walter Williams: Well my hero of all presidents, at least modern day presidents, is Grover Cleveland. He was the "Veto King." He vetoed more legislation than all presidents before him combined. His veto message to Congress often was that "this is not authorized by the United States Constitution." We don't hear presidents today vetoing acts of Congress because they are not authorized by the Constitution.

Few people appreciate how serious our Founding Fathers were about the Constitution. For example, James Madison is considered the Father of the Constitution. In 1794, when Congress appropriated $15,000 for the relief of French refugees who fled from insurrection in San Domingo to Baltimore and Philadelphia, James Madison stood on the floor of the House to object, saying "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."

Now if you look at the federal budget, two-thirds to three-quarters of it is for benevolence, and it's been the same under all recent Presidents. Whether you are talking about foreign subsidies, bank bailouts, welfare programs, food stamps, Medicare or prescription drugs. There is no tooth fairy or Santa Claus giving the government the money; the only way the government can give one American citizen one dollar is to first take it from some another American. I think it's despicable. It's legalized theft.

Daily Bell: What is your opinion on America's present condition? Is it like Rome in the empire days?

Walter Williams: Yes.  Rome?  Spain? Portugal? France?  They all went down the tubes for precisely the same reason. Bread and circuses! In 1892, if someone had suggested during Queen Victoria's Jubilee that England would become a 3rd-world power and be challenged on the high seas by a 6th-rate power such as Argentina, he would have been put into an insane asylum. But the British Empire went down the tubes for precisely what we are doing in our country now – what we have been doing for the past 50 years. Bread and circuses and big-government spending.

Daily Bell: Are we headed toward an international world government?

Walter Williams: I don't believe that's the case.

Daily Bell: How do you see the European Union. Will the EU survive?

Walter Williams: Milton Friedman predicted the EU would survive until one or two countries get into trouble. It looks like Greece and the PIGS are having some problems now. There is a real question as to whether the Portuguese and the Greeks will allow their domestic policy to be dictated by Germany.

Daily Bell: Is the Chinese miracle real, or is it built in a sense on state planning and, like the USSR, doomed to fail?

Walter Williams: The Chinese are a true success story, and the country is moving toward freer markets and toward a more open system of capitalism. It is not a true capitalist country yet, but you do find that 300 million people, 400 or 500 hundred million people perhaps, have been lifted out of poverty without any government subsidies. It's just the free market helping them out of poverty, and I hope the people in China continue in the same direction.

Daily Bell: What do you think will come of the current economic crisis -- depression, hyperinflation or both? Or something else?

Walter Williams: If I had an answer to that, I would take a position in the market and become very rich. However, I am not in the crystal ball business.

Daily Bell: Do you think the bailouts in the West help at all?

Walter Williams: No. Read what happened during the Great Depression and the New Deal. in 1938 Roosevelt's Treasury Secretary said, "Mr. President we have spent more money than we have ever spent in the past and it's not doing any good. Unemployment is just as bad as it was and all we've accomplished is we've gotten into more debt and spent more money." That is the same thing Treasurer Secretary Geithner can say today to President Obama, "We have spent more money, but unemployment is the same; in fact it's higher than when he took over."

Daily Bell: Where are gold and silver headed?

Walter Williams: They've been headed up, but where they're going is another question. As conditions become more uncertain, people have always sought safety in precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum.

Daily Bell: Do you oppose central banking? Would you like to see America return to the free-banking recommended by George Selgin, George White and Antal Fekete?

Walter Williams: Yes, I would. I believe that the monopoly over money maintained by the Federal Reserve and the legal tender laws have not been good for our country. A central bank allows the government to steal from its citizens with impunity. I have often suggested that anyone who finds himself in court on a charge of counterfeiting should tell the judge he was engaging in monetary policy.

Daily Bell: Are you disappointed that the Fed is not going to receive a more thorough audit?

Walter Williams: Ron Paul has been pushing for it for a number of years, and I agree. 

Daily Bell: Would you like to see the Fed abolished? Would you like to return to a gold or a gold and silver standard?

Walter Williams: I am not sure we can go back. The fact that we prospered for a long time without a central bank, from the time of Andrew Jackson and the Second National Bank until the Federal Reserve, shows that the Fed is not absolutely necessary. But getting to a world without the Federal Reserve would be a difficult transition.

Daily Bell: Has the growth of the Internet affected the tone and context of the conversation in America and the world regarding freedom and free markets?

Walter Williams: Yes, definitely. I think the Internet has enhanced freedom all around the world. Now anyone can reach a worldwide audience. This is one of the reasons you hear increasing noise by governments about controlling the Internet.

Daily Bell: How do you se the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Walter Williams: Our "intelligence" said that Suddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. That turned out to be false. But the question we have to ask is which kind of mistake is more costly? We  assumed he had weapons WMDs when in fact he did not. But we might have assumed he lacked WMDs when in fact he did. I think the latter kind oferror is more costly. Keep in mind that intelligence is fraught with error. This is one of the reasons the Allies spent so much time and effort trying to defeat Hitler before defeating Japan. Our intelligence said that the Germans were close to having nuclear weapons. But after the war, we found that they were nowhere nearly as close as we had thought.

In terms of the war and what is going on now, if I were President, I would have toppled the Iraq regime and left. I wouldn't be involved in nation building.  As far as Iran is concerned, and my libertarian friends get upset with me about this, I think that if Iran gets any nuclear weapons it would be very dangerous for the world. But I would not send a single troop there. I would call Ahmadinejad and say, "We know where your facilities are; we have a Trident submarine off your coast; tell your people to get out, because at 10:00 pm two days from now we are going to start destroying your facilities."

Daily Bell: Generally, would you like to see the troops come back home?

Walter Williams: Yes, I would. I would not give them a date. I am not a military person, but I would like an orderly withdrawal.

Daily Bell: What is the most important problem facing America right now?

Walter Williams: I think the growth of government. The amount of money we spend on Medicare, Social Security, Prescription Drugs, etc., eats up the entire federal revenues, and the rest of government lives on borrowed money. We are spending too much. From 1787 until 1920, the federal government spent just 3% of the GDP except during wartime. Today it's close to 30% of GDP. We are in serious trouble because of the spending.

Daily Bell: You mentioned Thomas Paine's Common Sense. Are there other seminal articles or books that you encourage people to read? Where can they be found?

Walter Williams: An important book and certainly one that was a great influence on me was Federic Bastiat's The Law. The book also influenced a number of great thinkers, including Hayekand Friedman. It's available at FEE.org.

Daily Bell: Anything else you wish to mention; any upcoming books or lectures?

Walter Williams: I have two books coming out this year – the autobiography that people have been trying to get me to do for a number of years and a second work called Race and Economics. Both will be published by the Hoover Institution.

Daily Bell: Dr.Willaims, it's been an honor to speak with you.

Dr. Walter Williams has been a bright light in the US free-market firmament for decades now. Way back in the 1980s and 1990s, even in the 1970s, his was one of only a few "mainstream" voices regularly raised to support freedom and free-markets. We always laughed when we heard his great, booming voice on the radio and the affectionate way he made fun of "Mrs. Williams" – always Mrs. Williams because he was always very respectful of her even when teasing her. It was generally his sense of humor that was so surprising to us, especially once we discovered that he was a black person. This was the anti-Jesse-Jackson, we decided.

Where Jesse Jackson was truculent and always blaming the white race and imputing racism to ever-newer generations, we didn't sense any of this emanating from Dr. Williams. Jesse Jackson was always in the news whenever there was a "racial" incident, explaining how such problems confirmed that America was still a racist society. Implicit in Jackson's perspective (and others like him) was the idea that it was black leaders alone that were "perfected" by the crucible of race-in-America and that he therefore (and a few others) were alone granted the historical moral authority to comment on the United States.

We never got this feeling when hearing Dr. Williams speak. Dr. Williams was not obsessed with race or with being a black man in America (or we couldn't detect it, anyway). He seemed to speak first as a human being, and one who was concerned about HUMAN freedom, rather than black-versus-white freedom. Of course, being a black person in America (and being Dr. Williams) we never got the feeling he hid from the issue either, or was reluctant to mention it. It was just that he kept it in perspective.

He was a human being first and a black person in America second (or maybe third or fourth). He was Mrs. William's husband, a successful educator and also a freedom fighter in no particular order. (He also supported the second amendment, and we knew that because when he expounded on threats to freedom, he would sometimes mention "reaching for my gun" in a tone that was as meaningful as it was humorous.)

He was certainly no "race hustler" in an era where so many other prominent black men were milking money from the federal government especially (and large corporations as well) by institutionalizing black victimization and white guilt. In fact, with his usual sense of humor, he went about making sure that white people were comfortable in his presence by issuing his own proclamation that absolved white people. It reads as follows and can be found on his website:

Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon Granted to ... All Persons of European Descent

Whereas, Europeans kept my forebears in bondage some three centuries toiling without pay,
Whereas, Europeans ignored the human rights pledges of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution,
Whereas, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments meant little more than empty words,
Therefore, Americans of European ancestry are guilty of great crimes against my ancestors and their progeny.

But, in the recognition Europeans themselves have been victims of various and sundry human rights violations to wit: the Norman Conquest, the Irish Potato Famine, Decline of the Hapsburg Dynasty, Napoleonic and Czarist adventurism, and gratuitous insults and speculations about the intelligence of Europeans of Polish descent, I, Walter E. Williams, do declare full and general amnesty and pardon to all persons of European ancestry, for both their own grievances, and those of their forebears, against my people.

Therefore, from this day forward Americans of European ancestry can stand straight and proud knowing they are without guilt and thus obliged not to act like damn fools in their relationships with Americans of African ancestry.

Walter E. Williams, Gracious and Generous Grantor

This is vintage Walter Williams. He is well aware of the difficulties of race in America but unlike others in his position he never chose to exploit racial divisiveness to make a living. Instead, being a scholar and a gentleman, he acknowledges that the human condition itself is full of exploitation and misery and that white Europeans have experienced their share as well. This is the difference between an educated man who has spent his life raising up civil society and others who spend their lives tearing down civil society brick by brick to make a living.

We could comment on the above interview in many other ways as well, but we really have no wish to. Others are welcome to do so – and we know they can focus on his comments regarding military first strikes, etc. and a lack of pronounced perspective on monetarism. But people should realize when they are doing so that Dr. Williams was making a courageous stand for freedom at a time when few voices were raised on its behalf in the United States. Sure, there were pro-forma celebrations, flag-waving, etc., but Dr. Williams went beyond that, attempting to explain the virtues of free-markets in a substantive way.

Yes, throughout his career Dr. Williams has been a courageous, even lonely, voice, standing against black victimization and for freedom at a time when there were very few voices to be heard sounding his sentiments. He has spent his life attempting to explain "real" economics; he did so at a time when such discussions had all-but-flickered-out. He provided a bridge between that barren age and the incredibly substantive and energetic conversation going on today in the Western world and especially in America. He is a pioneer; we look forward to his autobiography; we are certainly glad we had a chance to interview him.

Heritage Foundation: How Can We Eliminate the Deficit?

http://www.askheritage.org/Answer.aspx?ID=1319

When President Barack Obama was selling his economic stimulus plan to the American people, he promised that, if enacted, the legislation would prevent unemployment from rising above 8 percent.  Three billion dollars in Cash for Clunkers bailouts, $10 billion in government union bailouts, $16 billion in Medicaid bailouts, $13 billion in home buyer tax credits, and $814 billion in stimulus act spending later the nation's unemployment rate stands at 9.5 percent. And now the  Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that number is not going to come down any time soon. Yesterday, the CBO released its 10-year budget baseline predicting that the economy will grow at an anemic 2 percent next year (half the growth rate it predicted last summer) and that unemployment will remain above 9 percent through the rest of this year. And that wasn't even the worst news.

The CBO also said the federal deficit will surpass $1.3 trillion this year, and predicted an additional $6.2 trillion in deficits over the next decade. But even these numbers are too rosy. By law the CBO only analyzes federal budgets as written ignoring almost certain policy changes that include the annual "doc fix" (stopping cuts to doctor's Medicare payments), rising discretionary spending, and tax changes. Using more realistic assumptions, The Heritage Foundation's Brian Riedl shows that: 1) annual budget deficits will never fall below $1 trillion and will reach nearly $2 trillion by 2020; 2) the national debt held by the public will pass 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020; 3) by 2020 half of all income tax revenues will go to pay just the interest on our $23 trillion national debt.

Even leftist economists are now admitting that this administration's borrow and spend economic plan has been a complete failure. But instead of cutting their losses, the left wants to double down ... with your tax dollars. Last month, Vice President Joe Biden told ABC News that the only problem with the Obama administration's economic policies was that they failed to spend more and drive us into debt faster. This is insanity. It must stop. To get our country back on the right track The Heritage Foundation's Solutions for America chapter on Reining in Runaway Spending and Deficits recommends:

Stop Digging: Washington should repeal the remaining stimulus funds, which have failed to create jobs and growth. Any new unemployment assistance should be offset by spending cuts elsewhere. Remaining TARP funds should be rescinded before they can be allocated to new spending. Most important, lawmakers must repeal Obamacare, a ticking spending and deficit time bomb.

Rein in Entitlements: Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are driving long-term deficit growth. It is impossible to rein in runaway spending significantly without fundamentally reforming these programs.

Enact Spending Caps: Congress should enact a firm cap on the annual increase in total government spending, limited to inflation plus population growth. Lawmakers should exert all effort to keep overall federal spending to less than 20 percent of U.S. GDP, the historical post–World War II average for federal spending.

Empower States: Washington taxes families, subtracts a hefty administrative cost, and sends the remaining revenues back to state and local governments with specific rules dictating how they may and may not spend the money. Instead of performing many functions poorly, Congress should focus on performing a few functions well. Most highway, education, justice and economic development programs should be devolved to state and local governments.

Empower the Private Sector: Anyone who has dealt with the post office or lived in public housing understands how wasteful, inefficient and unresponsive government can be. Government ownership of business also crowds out private companies and encourages protected entities to take unnecessary risks. Any government function that can also be found in the yellow pages may be a candidate for privatization.

Ban Corporate Welfare: Even before the financial bailouts, Washington spent more on corporate welfare ($90 billion) than on homeland security ($70 billion). There is no justification for taxing working Americans to subsidize profitable companies. Lawmakers could start by reforming America's largest corporate welfare program—farm subsidies, which are overwhelmingly distributed to large, profitable agribusinesses rather than struggling family farmers.

Bring Federal Pay in Line with the Private Sector: Federal employee total compensation—hourly wages plus benefits—is 30 to 40 percent above that of comparable private sector workers. Congress should bring equity to federal pay and align federal compensation with market rates. Doing so would save taxpayers approximately $47 billion a year.

These spending reforms may not be easy, but the alternative—record government debt and historic tax increases—is even worse.

A banana as fiscal responsibility

(Don't know who wrote this .. but it should make you think.)

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana.

As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all the other monkeys with cold water. After a while another monkey makes the attempt with same result, all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put the cold water away. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs.

To his shock, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one.

The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.

Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth,then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs he is attacked.

Most of the monkeys that are beating him up have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. After replacing all of the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana.

Why not?

What if the banana is replaced with 'fiscal responsibility' and the monkeys are replaced with constituents and the stairs are replaced with votes (and the controlling agent is of course our ruling class: politicians, media, academics, lawyers, union leaders, etc). Perhaps this metaphor can readily explain why fiscal responsibility is no longer sought after with the logical enthusiasm it deserves.

Investors Business Daily: Frank: Fannie And Freddie Must Go

Facing the prospect of a definitive rejection at the polls this November, Democrats are scrambling to change their spots. Barney Frank played a key roll in the financial collapse of 2008 by protecting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from reform, even as they threatened to bring down the entire economy. Despite being the best friend of these gigantic money pits, Frank sounds downright conservative as he admits that these corrupt, socialistic abominations have got to be abolished before they cause more havoc:

After years of dissembling and denial, Rep. Barney Frank has finally come out. He now says bankrupt government mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "should be abolished." Better late than never.

"There were people in this society who for economic and, frankly, social reasons can't and shouldn't be homeowners," Frank said in an interview with the Fox Business Network and sounding a lot more like an elephant than a donkey. "I think we should, particularly, stop this assumption that you put everybody into homeownership."

After years of blaming heartless Republicans and Wall Street for the crisis caused by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — and their predominantly Democratic supporters in Congress — it's refreshing to hear a member of the Democratic Party admit his mistakes.

It's especially true of Frank, who, more than any other elected official, championed the cause of the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Indeed, Frank is most responsible for stopping GSE reform in the early 2000s, at a time when such a move might have prevented the financial meltdown.

 Just wow, these Dummycrats run to the right just before election time. Never believe a campaign promise from them. It's time to fire the dummycrats!

2-3 years of unemployment is hurting, not helping the employment situation

Quote: "I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." -- Benjamin Franklin

Socialism Studies

Obamacare really is an abomination

The Ant and the Grasshopper under Obama

he old parable of The Ant and the Grasshopper has been updated for the Age of Obama:

The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green…"

ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house, where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome."

Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray for the grasshopper's sake.

President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Ant Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which as you recall just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug-related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the formerly prosperous and peaceful neighborhood.

The entire nation collapses, bringing the rest of the free world with it.

The moral: vote as if the future of civilization depends on it — because it does.

The Obamunist and the Tax Slaves.

On a tip from Gary.

The media and these so-called economists (the Keynesian ones) act surprised, but this is no surprise.
Stimulus doesn't work when there is a looming huge tax increase for 2011 AND Obamacare which will raise the costs to businesses...

Weekly Jobless Claims Post Surprise Jump, Hit 500,000

Published: Thursday, 19 Aug 2010 | 9:05 AM ET

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By: Reuters

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New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-month high last week, yet another setback to the frail economic recovery.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 500,000 in the week ended August 14, the highest since mid-November, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast claims slipping to 476,000 from the previously reported 484,000 the prior week, which was revised up to 488,000 in Thursday's report.

A Labor Department official said there was nothing unusual in the state level data. The data covered the survey week for the government's closely watched employment report for August, scheduled for release early next month.

"There are some technical factors out there and the seasonal factors seem to be pushing it up a little bit. But given the trend of claims it looks like the economy ran into a wall in August," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-MitsubishI UFJ in New York.

U.S. stock index futures turned negative after the report, while Treasury debt prices pared losses. The dollar fell against the yen.

A 9.5 percent unemployment rate and weak housing market are hobbling the economy's recovery from its most brutal recession since the Great Depression.

The economy's poor health has handed President Barack Obama a tough challenge and put at risk the Democratic Party's majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate in November's mid-term elections.

Obama's approval ratings have tumbled to the mid- to lower 40 percent range and Congress' ratings are hovering at about 20 percent.

The four-week average of new jobless claims, considered a better measure of underlying labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose 8,000 to 482,500, the highest since early December.

Claims for unemployment benefits have been stuck at lofty levels for much of this year, which many economists say points to unemployment staying uncomfortably high for some time.

Claims have not come close to the 400,000 level that most analysts generally view as the dividing line between payrolls growth and contraction. Payrolls grew in the first five months of this year, partly due to hiring for the decennial census, and have declined in both June and July.

The economy grew at a 2.4 percent annualized rate in the second quarter, much slower than the 3.7 percent pace in the first three months of the year.

However, recent trade and business inventory data have indicated a much more sluggish pace. According to a preliminary Reuters survey, the government could lower the second-quarter growth estimate to a rate of about 1.4 percent when it publishes its first revision next Friday.

The number of people still receiving jobless benefits after an initial week of aid fell 13,000 to 4.48 million in the week ended Aug. 7 from an upwardly revised 4.49 million the prior week. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast so-called continuing claims rising to 4.50 million from a previously reported 4.45 million.

"The drop in continued claims is an encouraging sign," said Robert Dye, senior economist at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh.

"When you take the life signs on the labor market, it's not all bad news, but it's not where we would like," he added.

The insured unemployment rate, which measures the percentage of the insured labor force that is jobless, was unchanged at 3.5 percent during that period.

The number of people on emergency benefits increased 260,105 to 4.75 million in the week ended July 31.

Why companies are reserving cash

Hot Air: Large companies will get hit with 9% increase in health costs under ObamaCare

Instapundit: "There are death panels. They don't want to be seen as death panels, because to be seen as death panels will undermine their relentless, bureaucratic work."

Canada Free Press: 50 Impeachable Crimes and Counting

50 Impeachable Crimes and Counting

 By Fred Dardick  Tuesday, August 17, 2010

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/26650

A few weeks ago I wrote an article From the White House to the Big House: 25 Impeachable Crimes and Counting that detailed 25 illegal acts committed by President Obama and his Democrat cohorts in Washington. It showed a President and political party willing to break the law at will in order to accomplish their political aims. Thanks to reader contributions and conservative writers around the country, here are 25 more for your consideration.

Whether or not any of these troubling examples will lead to Obama's impeachment and/or imprisonment, only time will tell. Regardless, taken together they paint a picture of an out of control President who lacks basic American values and has little to no respect for the rule of law.

25 More Impeachable Crimes

1. Obama's term as Board Chair of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge in the mid-1990s where he and his colleague, unrepentant terrorist William Ayers, misused over $300 million in private donations meant to improve the education of minorities. Instead of spending the money on traditional learning programs, Obama and Ayers directed the funds to local community activists who wasted it on trying to "radicalize" the students. An official review of the program found that it was a complete and utter failure.
2. As an Illinois State Senator, Obama directed tens of millions in state money to slumlords Valerie Jarrett and Tony Rezko meant to provide for housing for low income, minority tenants in return for political donations. Due to shoddy construction and nonexistent maintenance, the majority of the units, after less than 10 years of use, have been rendered uninhabitable.
3. Michelle Obama's politically connected $316,000 VP of Community Affairs job at University of Chicago Hospitals while her husband was serving as US Senator. She was responsible for the design of an illegal "patient dumping" scheme that prevents local African Americans from using the emergency room at one of the nation's finest hospitals and instead redirects them to community healthcare centers where they often receive substandard and inadequate treatment. The high paying position was eliminated soon after Mrs. Obama's departure from the university.
4. Millions in illegal contributions accepted by the Obama campaign during his presidential run. Credit card filters designed to screen out foreign money and domestic donors who had maxed out their legally allowable limits, as required by US law, were intentionally switched off.
5. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's ongoing effort to create international small arms accords that will subvert the Second Amendment rights of US citizens.
6. The Russian-American START treaty signed by Obama in April 2010 that has no chance of making it through Congress unless passed during the lame duck session. Not only does the treaty hamstring US missile defense development and make it difficult to modernize our rapidly aging nuclear weapons arsenal, it represents unilateral disarmament by the US in return for nothing more than Russian "good will".
7. Moving control of the Census Bureau from the Commerce Department directly into the White House where it is managed by Chief of Staff Rham Emmanuel.
8. Providing de facto amnesty to illegal immigrants by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton, who has prohibited ICE officers from enforcing US immigration laws outside the institutional setting. The ICE union has subsequently taken the unprecedented step of voting "no confidence" in Morton's leadership.
9. Attorney General Erik Holder's failure to sue sanctuary cities for violating US immigration law, while at the same time proceeding with a lawsuit against the State of Arizona for enforcing US immigration law.
10. Failure by Obama to treat the takeover of sovereign land in Arizona by the Mexican drug cartel as an Act of War.
11. Refusal by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator David L. Strickland to release results from an internal investigation into the Toyota sudden acceleration problem that contains findings favorable to the foreign automaker.
12. Ongoing efforts by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to gain control over the internet in opposition to a judge's ruling and Congress's will, by reclassifying internet companies as telecommunication providers thus making them subject to FCC regulation.
13. Obama and his environmentalist allies preventing US industries from taking advantage of our rich natural resources including oil, coal, uranium and timber.
14. Obama's month long stint as UN Security Council Chair in 2009, the first ever by a sitting U.S. President. Not only did this action give credibility to an international organization ruled by tyrants, it also called into question potential dual loyalties by our President.
15. The Obama National Security Strategy released in May that allows for the targeted assassination of US citizens including "homegrown terrorists" without due process. It has also been described by the Kremlin, which knows quite a lot about these kinds of things, as a "new law put forth by President Obama capable of seeing up to 500,000 American citizens jailed for the crime of opposing their government."
16. Obama executive order signed in Dec. 2009 that allows Interpol to operate in US territory with impunity and without oversight by Congress, the courts, FBI or local law enforcement.
17. Deployment of 1,200 National Guard troops to border states where they will not, under any circumstances, be used to stop the flow of illegal aliens or drug traffickers.
18. A foreign policy that can be best described as the turning away of our allies, in particular Great Britain, Israel, Honduras, Poland, Columbia, and Taiwan, and the embracement of our enemies.
19. The State Department using $23 million in taxpayer money to help transform Kenya into a constitutionally communist nation where the freedom of speech is limited and private property rights are subservient to "social justice". In addition, the recently adopted Kenyan constitution allows for the practice of Sharia Law in some regions, ensuring women will not be guaranteed basic human rights.
20. Obama's refusal to hold press conferences and answer difficult questions as expected of a US President. Never in the modern age has there been a President so unwilling to answer to the American people for his actions. Considering the public's growing anger towards his progressive policies, it is doubtful Obama will ever hold another press conference again.
21. The $26 billion bailout of the teacher's unions that Obama recently signed into law. Not only was the money taken from food stamp programs for poor Americans in order to fund Democrat special interests, a portion will be skimmed off the top as union dues and funneled to Democrat political campaigns this fall.
22. Obama's involvement with Governor Rod Blagojevich's attempt to sell his old Illinois Senate seat. Even if Obama didn't try to purchase the position for his chosen replacement, slumlord Valerie Jarrett, at the very least he had to know the seat was for sale.
23. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's plans to take control of millions of acres of public and private land in Western states by designating them national monuments. These efforts are being carried out in secret and without input from Congress, state and local officials and current land owners.
24. Obama's use of taxpayer money to pay for Democrat propaganda including $15 million for The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act road signs and $18 million for the perpetually misleading recovery.gov website.
25. The lasting damage Obama has done to the Jewish people. In his less than two years in office, there has been an outpouring of hatred towards the Jews the likes of which I thought I would never live to see. From Helen Thomas telling the Jews to "get the hell out of Palestine" to heavily armed, terrorist flotillas destined for the Gaza Strip described as "peaceful" by the western press. From throwing stones at little old ladies leaving synagogue in Sweden to the thousands of Jewish families fleeing Muslim persecution in France, a sea change in world public opinion against the Jewish people has been accomplished during Obama's term. Because of his refusal to speak out against virulent anti-Semitism being pushed by left-wing politicians and Islamists around the world, the harm to the Jewish people will surely outlive his presidency and could have terrible, unforeseen consequences.

Original List of 25 Impeachable Offences

1. Convicted felon and Chicago real estate developer Tony Rezko's purchase of land adjacent to Obama's house in Hyde Park, IL. In 2006, Rezko sold a 10 foot strip of his property to Obama for $104,500, rendering the remainder of Rezko's $625,000 investment too small to be developed and, for all intents and purposes, worthless.
2. The provision of Obama campaign donor lists to ACORN in 2007 and 2008, more complete than the ones he gave to the FEC. ACORN used the lists to raise money for Obama's election from donors who had already maxed out their legally allowable contributions.
3. Widespread voter fraud including voter intimidation, ballot stuffing, falsified documents, and threats of violence against Hillary Clinton supporters committed by the Obama campaign and ACORN during the 2008 Democrat primary election. For more information see my CFP article How Obama Used an Army of Thugs to Steal the 2008 Democratic Party Nomination.
4. Obama's refusal to release his long form birth certificate which would show conclusively that he is a dual citizen and therefore not constitutionally eligible to serve as President. Obama's college records, which have also not been released, would also contain information regarding his dual citizenship status.
5. Protecting union interests over those of GM and Chrysler bond holders during bankruptcy proceedings, forcing investors to accept millions of dollars in losses in direct violation of bankruptcy laws, money to which they were legally entitled.
6. Preferential treatment given to minority and women owned car dealerships by Obama administration officials as part of the auto industry bailout program and the forced closing of a disproportionate number of dealerships located in rural areas that did not vote for Obama.
7. Unsubstantiated firing of Corporation for National and Community Service Inspector General Gerald Walpin for exposing Sacramento Mayor and Obama supporter Kevin Johnson's misuse of an $850,000 AmeriCorps grant.
8. Purchase of Congressional support for the passage of Obama's healthcare bill including the "Cornhusker Kickback", "Louisiana Purchase" and having the Department of Interior increase water allocations to the Central Valley of California to secure the votes of Democrat Reps. Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa.
9. Lying to the American people by promising they could keep their healthcare coverage if they wanted to, when in reality tens of millions will be forced out of their current plans.
10. Attempted bribery of Rep. Joe Sestak with job offers to get him to drop out of the Senate primary race against Sen. Arlen Specter.
11. Directing the EPA to unilaterally set carbon emission standards, thus bypassing Congress which opposes Obama's energy reform bill. For more information see my CFP article Forget Cap and Trade: EPA Regulation of CO2 Emissions Will Begin in 10 Months.
12. The Obama administration's statement that a panel of experts had agreed with their plan for a 6 month Gulf Coast drilling moratorium, when in actuality none of them had supported the measure.
13. Bullying BP to set up a $20 billion slush fund to compensate Gulf Coast businesses and residents affected by the oil spill, to be administered by an Obama political appointee without any judicial or congressional oversight.
14. Implementing a third oil-drilling moratorium after the first two were thrown out of court, creating a de facto Gulf Coast offshore drilling ban in opposition to two judge's rulings.
15. Establishment of a commission to investigate the Gulf Coast oil spill that contains not one oil industry expert and whose transparent purpose is to push a partisan political agenda rather than investigate the cause of the disaster.
16. Obama's policy of intentionally not securing our nation's borders, in opposition to Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution which calls for the President to protect states from foreign invasion, in an attempt to blackmail Republican support for comprehensive immigration reform. In essence, Obama is holding border states and residents politically hostage during a time they are being overrun by a narco-paramilitary invasion.
17. Department of Justice illegal race based policies regarding voter fraud as exposed by former Justice attorney J. Christian Adams. This includes the dropping of voter intimidation charges against 2 Black Panthers brandishing weapons in front of a voting location in Philadelphia and the stated intention by political appointees to ignore voter crimes committed by African Americans, Latinos and other minorities.
18. Department of Justice purposefully allowing some states to continue their disenfranchisement of military personnel serving overseas in direct opposition to the 2009 Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, which was established in response to the more than 17,000 military votes that were not counted in the 2008 election because ballots had arrived after the deadline.
19. Recess appointment of Donald Berwick as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services without even a token attempt to put him through the Congressional nomination process, signaling that Congress's constitutional obligation to vet presidential appointees means nothing to Obama. The same can be said of the 30+ Obama administration czars.
20. Spending $23 million of taxpayer money through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to support a constitutional referendum in Kenya in spite of the Siljander Amendment, which makes it illegal for the U.S. to lobby for abortion in other countries. The Kenyan referendum was partially written by Planned Parenthood and is designed to legalize abortion in that nation.
21. The participation of the Obama administration in the firing of Sherry Sherrod from the USDA without due process because of publicized out of context remarks she made at a NAACP meeting in March 2010.
22. The White House sham investigation of BP's involvement in the release of the mass murdering Lockerbie bomber from prison. The Obama administration not only knew beforehand of the Scottish government's plan to set Abdel Baset al-Megrahi free on "compassionate" grounds, they even sent a letter to Scottish authorities stating their preference for his remaining in Scotland over his transfer to a Libyan prison.
23. The canceling of 77 properly filed oil field development contracts approved by the Bush administration by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, preventing the extraction of up to 3 trillion gallons of oil buried under Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and North Dakota, more than enough to end our dependence on foreign oil and supply the U.S. with its energy needs for hundreds of years at current consumption rates.
24. Investigations by the Department of Homeland Security to determine the political affiliation of people making Freedom of Information Act requests and the subsequent delay and even altogether ignoring of requests made by Republican affiliated individuals.
25. The hardest to prosecute in court, but worst crime of all that Obama has perpetrated against the American people is the economic tyranny his socialist policies have wrecked upon our nation. While Obama has been living the life of a king including frequent 5 star vacations, dozens of concerts at the White House and endless rounds of golf, all paid for by taxpayer money—the increased transportation and security costs alone are in the millions of dollars—he has called for the rest of us to endure economic sacrifice. The annual trillion dollar deficits and borrowing of 41 cents of every dollar of federal spending by Obama is leading to unsustainable and potentially catastrophic national debt.