Balanced Budget

Porkulus III Passes Senate With Republican Help

Wed, 02/24/2010 - 4:05pm | posted by Kevin Boyd

The Senate passed Porkulus III by a vote of 70-28 with 13 Republicans demonstrating their party’s new found fiscal conservatism by crossing over to vote with every Democrat present for the bill. Like the first Porkulus signed by George W. Bush in 2008 and the Porkulus II passed last year, Porkulus III forks over billions of borrowed dollars to fund various special interest projects and tax gimmicks in the name of “creating jobs”.

The gimmicks funded in this lastest round of Porkulus include a tax holiday for the remainder of the year on Social Security payroll taxes, but only if the company hires someone out of work for more than 60 days. In addition, Porkulus commits to billions in in more mass transit spending and more highway projects (ie. more pork barrel spending).

The Senate’s version of Porkulus must be sent over to the House where it must be reconciled with the House’s much more expansive $154 billion Porkulus bill. However, the Senate plans to pass more items in the House’s bill one at a time so that Senate Majority Harry Reid and other Democrat leaders can find out how much the prices of the votes of “fiscally conservative” Republicans are.

Included are proposed Senate bills giving away corporate welfare to ethanol producers, which is expected to be supported by farm state Republicans. In addition, there is another planned Senate bill to keep Americans out of work longer by extending unemployment benefits and COBRA.

The RINOs who supported Porkulus III today are:

Is The PAYGO Rule Fiscally Responsible?

Sun, 01/31/2010 - 3:03pm | posted by Kevin Boyd

On Thursday, the US Senate voted to restore pay go rules on a party line vote. President Obama praised the restoration of the PAYGO rule. Obama supporter Andrew Sullivan used the vote as a club to attack Republicans. Republicans opposed the restoration of pay go calling it a backdoor attempt to raise taxes. However, the PAYGO rule is at best a dual edged sword. While PAYGO is an excellent for controlling and limiting deficit spending, it does very little to limit the size and growth of the Federal government.

The PAYGO or “pay as you go” rule simply calls for any increase of mandatory spending or reduction in revenue (ie. taxes) must be offset by decreases in discretionary spending or increases in revenue (taxes). Mandatory spending is things like Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, pay for Federal employees, paying debt, and other welfare programs such as Food Stamps and Veterans benefits. Mandatory spending is nearly 60% of the Federal budget. Discretionary spending is everything that Congress has to pass legislation to authorize.

How PAYGO Is Fiscally Responsible:

Podcast: Health Care Mandate’s Stiff Penalty, Term Limits, Kelo vs. New London, Budget Deficit, Guest: Michael Frisbee

Mon, 11/16/2009 - 9:13am | posted by United Liberty Staff

Jason and Brett were joined by Michael Powell as they interviewed Michael Frisbee, independent Congressional candidate for Georgia’s 13th district.

After an interview with Mr. Frisbee about his campaign, they discuss these issues:

The stiff penalty for refusing to comply with HR 3962’s mandate.
Jim DeMint’s proposed Constitutional amendment to limit legislator’s terms.
Looking back at Kelo vs. New London, now that Pfizer pulls out of site included in Supreme Court case
October 2009’s $176.4 billion budget deficit
A “hit & run” discussion of Obama’s options in Afghanistan and Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue.”

You can download the podcast here (63 minutes/58 MB). The introduction music is once again “Silence is Violence” by the always lovely Aimee Allen.

Maybe Germans Did Learn Something From The Weimar Republic

Mon, 03/30/2009 - 6:23am | posted by Austin Wilkes

When President Obama arrives in London this week he will meet with the leader of Germany, a nation where his election has brought newfound goodwill towards America; but will the goodwill be enough to force the hands of Germany to conform to Washington’s desires for additional stimulus and bailouts? If the latest media reports, which point towards an Administration attempting to dial down expectations, are any indication, then the answer is most likely a soft no.

The NYT is reporting that little ground is expected to be made in regards to additional German stimulus, with Chancellor Angela Merkel expected to cite fiscal discipline as a reason for German non-cooperation with President Obama’s Administration on the issue-

Why Do You Pay Taxes?

Thu, 01/22/2009 - 1:45pm | posted by William 'BJ' Lawson

As various tax-related mail begins to appear in the mailboxes of hardworking Americans across the country, it’s instructive for all of us to reflect on why we carry the burden of our government every April.

Take this morning, for instance. We can credit the “ingenuity of the markets”, and specifically the ingenuity of John Thain, for moving annual executive bonus payments by Merrill Lynch up by a month last November, thus disbursing $15 billion in executive bonuses just before closing Merrill’s acquisition by Bank of America. Fast forward a few months, and the United States taxpayer just gave Bank of America another $20 billion in newly-borrowed funds to put a band-aid on mortar wounds in Merrill Lynch’s balance sheet.

CBO: Obama’s Budgets Will Add $ 9.8 Trillion To National Debt Over Ten Years

Sat, 03/06/2010 - 11:00am | posted by Doug Mataconis

The Congressional Budget Office is out with it’s latest analysis of President Obama’s budget, and the news isn’t good at all:

President Obama’s policies would add more than $9.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, congressional budget analysts said Friday, including more than $2 trillion that Obama proposes to devote to extending a variety of tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration.

The 10-year outlook by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is somewhat gloomier than White House projections, which found that Obama’s policies would add $8.5 trillion to the debt by 2020. While the two agencies are in relative agreement about the short-term budget picture, with both predicting a deficit of about $1.5 trillion this year and $1.3 trillion in 2011, the CBO is less optimistic about future years, predicting that deficits will grow rapidly after 2015

Under these projections, the National Debt would exceed $ 20,000,000,000,000 by 2020.

Here’s a chart to make the matter even more clear:

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Two polls show Americans don’t trust government with liberties or money

Sat, 02/27/2010 - 10:48am | posted by Jason Pye

CNN is out with a new poll that shows Americans don’t trust the government when it comes to safeguarding their rights, and rightfully so:

A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to rights of Americans, according to a new national poll.
Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government’s become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Forty-four percent of those polled disagree.
The survey indicates a partisan divide on the question: only 37 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Independents and nearly 7 in 10 Republicans say the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans.

Some would say that this is paranoia, but it’s not. Over the last several years, we’ve seen a dismantling of the Bill of Rights through restrictions on speech, attempted restrictions on the Second Amendment (Heller was a rare victory), a running over of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, which guarantees the right to privacy, due process and private property. There is also no protection of economic liberty by government anymore.

What should conservatives aim for out of Obama’s deficit commission?

Mon, 02/22/2010 - 5:02pm | posted by Jason Pye

Economist Greg Mankiw offers his comments on President Barack Obama’s new commission to tackle budget deficits and what conservatives should hope to accomplish, which the Wall Street Journal calls the “VAT Commission”:

[L]et’s suppose that you are a conservative and you want the fiscal commission to succeed. You will have to agree to higher taxes as part of the bargain. But what should you aim to get in return? Here is my list.

Elections, And Why The American Economy Will Collapse

Wed, 02/03/2010 - 12:33pm | posted by Peter Quinones

I know what you’re thinking: man that Pete is a positive guy. I like to describe myself as realistic, with a bit of fatalism throw in. Either way, I find it hard to look at the economic landscape and have any hope. It is especially dreadful when politicians have to get re-
elected, AND said politicians consult certain “economists”.

Economists have for years looked at what is happening in a society and sought to come up with solutions as to how an economic crisis can be “fixed”. The problem is, like in all fields, you have good economists, and you have the not so good (The latter seem to be the ones that always find their way onto the public payroll).

In extremely broad terms economists can be split into two categories:

1. The “good” economist traces what a policy can do not only in the present, but
in the future; AND what it does for not only one segment of society,
but the whole.

2. The “bad” economist does the exact opposite; they examine only what
will fix the present issue and usually concentrate on only one segment of
the population.

If you are a student of American history your eyes should be opening as to which economist is most often chosen by our elected officials. The real question is “why”?

Well, why wouldn’t a politician pick economist #2?

A Financial New Year’s Resolution

Thu, 12/31/2009 - 5:16pm | posted by Luke Brady

It’s that time of year again, when we all make resolutions to change something that we do for the betterment of ourselves. Here’s a resolution everyone should adopt: Move Your Money to a local bank and/or credit union.

It’s our money and we can choose to move it where we wish. Remember in It’s a Wonderful Life, how George Bailey stands up to Mr. Potter? We don’t have to deal with these big banks, let’s put our money in the Bailey Building and Loan.

The idea is simple: If enough people who have money in one of the big four banks move it into smaller, more local, more traditional community banks, then collectively we, the people, will have taken a big step toward re-rigging the financial system so it becomes again the productive, stable engine for growth it’s meant to be.