The Political Fish

Congratulations to team Obama who not only set the record, they actually obliterated the record deficits set by the Bush administration. Obama didn’t beat, or even double it, nay…he tripled our national deficit.

WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficit tripled to a record $1.4 trillion for the 2009 fiscal year that ended last week, congressional analysts said Wednesday.

The Congressional Budget Office estimate, while expected, is bad news for the White House and its allies in Congress as they press ahead with health care overhaul legislation that could cost $900 billion over the next decade.

The unprecedented flood of red ink flows from several factors, including a big drop in tax revenues due to the recession, $245 billion in emergency spending on the Wall Street bailout and the takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Then there is almost $200 billion in costs from President Obama’s economic stimulus bill, as well as increases in programs such as unemployment benefits and food stamps.

The previous record deficit was $459 billion and was set just last year.

The Obama health plan would be “paid for” with new revenues and curbs in spending. But the overhaul effort would eat up tax increases and spending cuts that could be used to bring the deficit down.

Obama has attributed the nation’s dismal fiscal situation to the financial and economic crises he inherited. White House Budget Director Peter Orzsag is overseeing the administration’s efforts to tackle the soaring deficit next year.

“As part of the fiscal 2011 budget, we will be putting forward proposals that return us to a fiscally sustainable path and that have lower deficits in the out-years,” Orszag said in a recent Associated Press interview.

So what is the best way to curb these staggering amounts of red ink flowing from Washington these days?? I am glad you asked. Nancy Pelosi has given us a tremendous answer today.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Confronted with big job losses and no sign the U.S. economy is ready to stand on its own, Democrats are working on a growing list of relief efforts, leaving for later how to pay for them, or whether even to bother.

Proposals include extending and perhaps expanding a popular tax credit for first-time home buyers, and creating a new credit for companies that add jobs. Taken together, the proposals look a lot like another economic stimulus package, though congressional leaders don’t want to call it that.

Democratic leaders in Congress and the White House say they have no appetite for another big spending package that adds to the federal budget deficit, which hit a record $1.4 trillion for the budget year that ended last week.

But with unemployment reaching nearly 10 percent, many lawmakers are feeling pressure to act. Some of the proposals come from the Republicans’ playbook and focus on tax cuts, even though they, too, would swell the deficit.

“We have to do something for the unemployed, politically and economically,” said Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

The House already has voted to extend unemployment benefits an additional 13 weeks for laid off workers in the 27 states where the jobless rate is 8.5 percent or above. Senate Democrats reached a deal Thursday to extend the benefits an additional 14 weeks in every state. Both proposals are paid for by extending a federal unemployment tax.

Also on the table: extending subsidies for laid-off workers to help them keep the health insurance their former employers provided, known as COBRA. The current program, which covers workers laid off through the end of the year, costs nearly $25 billion.

Congressional leaders haven’t settled on the length of an extension, or how to pay for it.

Yes…its brilliant. Another stimulus package (although we can’t call it that) is the way to go. Since the first one worked so well and all, another one could only be better right? Ms. Pelosi stated today that the first stimulus “saved many many jobs, and created some as well” which is actually an extremely weak version of the typical Obama/Biden spin on the stimulus which purports that millions of jobs were created or saved. Since they have no way to come up with the number of “saved” jobs, I will continue to scoff at this incredibly weak assertion as to the success of a stimulus that really aimed at nothing more than pouring money into historically Democrat pet-projects, and money into government agencies. Stimulus starts on Main Street. Always has always will. Small businesses and consumers drive a free market into a recovery. Instead, Stimulus 1 was aimed at big corporations and government bureaucracy. Hence, we have seen no recovery, in fact the news has only gotten worse.

Check out the Heritage Foundations column today on what they view as some of the more wasteful elements of Anti-Stimulating Stimulus 1. We can only dream of more government programs and spending if they really want to shoot for Stimulus 2. (shh, don’t call it a stimulus)

The spending frenzy on Capitol Hill marched on this week, deficit notwithstanding.

Lawmakers in this great country are already provided multiple jets and aircraft for their travelling needs. The Pentagon this year had asked for an additional Gulfstream V and a Boeing 737 to replace aging planes in that fleet. Turned out to be Christmas in July in DC.

Congress has approved over 550 million dollars to buy not two, not four, but eight additional private luxury aircraft for Congressional use.

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said the Department of Defense didn’t request the additional planes and doesn’t need them. “We ask for what we need and only what we need,” he told reporters Wednesday. “We’ve always frowned upon earmarks and additives that are above and beyond what we ask for.”

Flashback to November of 2008 for a moment if you will…

As the CEO’s of Detroit’s Big Three Automakers went to Washington, they flew on their corporate jets to get there. In a rousing (and in retrospect hypocritical) show of righteous indignation, lawmakers blasted the CEO’s for the audacity to come to Washington in luxury, while their companies were drowning in debt and failing miserably. CNN ran one of the many stories that helped in blasting Nardelli, Wagoner and Mullally. Here is an excerpt…

“There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they’re going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses,” Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.

“It’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious.”

He added, “couldn’t you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it.”

Maybe it was an inappropriate gesture by the Ford, GM and Chrysler CEO’s, I will not dispute that one bit. But isn’t on par with what is going on in our country today?

At this moment, our national deficit is $11,776,021,160,804. The nation is going bankrupt. Yet strangely enough, Congress (who apparently views the American taxpayer as nothing more than an all-you-can-eat buffet) appropriates another half a billion dollars for luxury jets that are not needed. And they designate them as their own. The fleet of 12 jets is already in place, maintained by the Air Force. They do not believe we need more. But Congress loves travelling on the taxpayer dime.

Actually, it appears that Congress just cannot stop spending the taxpayer money, no matter how deep in debt we become.

In a sense, I agree with the Congressional travel. We need to send them packing, back from whence they came.

Check out this wonderful site, with that goal in mind

Let me take a moment to tick off a few of the things the new President of the United States has dealt with and is dealing with in just over 6 months in office.

• Iranian Revolution – what to say, what not to say. Biggest challenge to let it play out.
• Oh by the way, if Ahmadinejad stays in office – the Iranian nuclear threat
• Iraq war – drawing it down and peacefully handing it off to the Iraqi government. (Bush did all the leg work on this one)
• Afghanistan – a struggling democracy vital to American interests.
• Pakistan – Taliban moving from Afghanistan into the Swat Valley attempting to overthrow the Pakistani democracy. Oh by the way, if they are successful, a nuclear Taliban.
• Darfur – what to do here, since basically nothing has been done thus far. Oh by the way, people are still dying there daily.
• North Korea – this insane little man is doing alot of saber rattling. Oh by the way, that saber may have a nuclear warhead on it sooner than later.
• Closing Guantanamo – he brought this one on himself with his ill advised opening day signing.
• Israel – They are still our friends right? See the Iranian crisis for more info on this one. We still need to look out for our buddies. And Ahmadi wants them outta here….

Now lets head to the home front for some more problems. I think you know where I am going with all of this…

• A depressed economy – handed off from his predecessor, and has failed miserably at stemming the recession.
• Now the proud owner of a American car iconic company – brought this one on himself.
• Right-wing extremists (such as myself according to DHS) – this one im just kidding. Start paying attention BO.
• Teaparties – oh right, he didn’t know they were going on.
• Socialized medicine – whats another trillion or two in the grand scheme of things right *sarcasm
• 11 trillion dollar debt – ’nuff said
• almost a 4 trillion dollar budget (loaded with ridiculous pet projects) this one is his own fault.
• Proud owner of banks, credit default swaps, and other assorted financial “stuff” that I wont pretend to know about.
• Joe Biden
• Hillary Clinton
• Janet Nap
• Tim Geithner
• Getting to work on picking a better Cabinet

My point in all of this is simple. Who would even want this job?? I suppose making an end run at absolute power is worth it in the end. One problem, and you can add this to the list of problems. The Constitution and the American people WILL NOT allow absolute power to run our country. We will not become Iran as it is today.

Just another quick deviation from the Iranian issue for a US homeland issue. President Obama today signed the Presidential memorandum extending federal LGBT employees additional benefits.

This is not intended to start a debate on gay marriage, frankly when I saw this another thought crept into my head. At what point do we start cutting from the federal budget? Obama mentions all the Fortune 500 companies that already extend these additional benefits to their LGBT workers, but how many of those companies operate with trillion+ dollar budget shortfalls?
Another thought here, when you apply to become a federal worker, do you have to fill out a section on your application letting them know that you are actually transgender? Or you have a domestic partner? Or if your single and heterosexual, do you also have to let them know that?

Maybe this is  just a little over-analysis here. Any thoughts? Please don’t go ranting on and on about how you are gay and its your right…your missing my point if thats all you can come up with.

This President continues to baffle. Yesterday he instructed Congress to start living by the pay-as-you-go rules instituted in the 1990’s. Today, he apparently wanted to qualify that, by saying that “pay-go” should not apply to his planned health care spending spree.  The planned rules leave open the ability for Congress to borrow, or better yet, tack on to the federal deficit (that would be the record shattering federal deficit) in order to pay for this ambitiously socialist takeover of the nations  health care. I mean, you need lots of money to start things up right?

A note to the President. The American people are watching this duplicitous talk. We are noticing. Frankly, if you were not mortgaging our future with your lies and hypocrisy, it would be funny. But as the case may be, its not funny. 2012 is coming fast. 2010 is coming even faster when you will no longer have any Congressional support for your grand nationalisation schemes.

President Obama is showing the world just how fiscally responsible he is. And he is only five months late.

Today, the Prez urged leaders in Congress to pass the so-called “pay-go” legislation, which basically says that Congress cannot spend a dollar without saving a dollar somewhere else. Probably not a bad idea on the surface, just like everything else the President tells us.

Obama also sought to continue to lay blame at the feet of the previous administration for the deficit issues. “The reckless fiscal policies of the past have left us in a very deep hole,” Obama said. “Digging our way out will take time and patience and tough choices.”

For those with an exceptionally short memory, this is the same man who quadrupled the federal deficit in his FIRST budget. TARP, the stimulus package which has yet to stimulate anything, not to mention future ridiculous spending, such as the health care initiative.

Which leads me to the issue with “pay-go”. This legislation will force Congress (with the “gentle” prodding of Obama) to raise taxes exponentially to fund all of their grandiose plans. Health care reform, which will probably cost in the trillions, will be funded by the massive electricity tax known as “Cap and Trade”. 

It seems to me that “pay-go” will not institute the fiscal responsibility needed at the Capitol, it will only force those who cannot stop spending the taxpayers money to stick it to the taxpayer even more. Not a great plan in my book.

How about we just be stewards of the tax revenue instead of spending unprecedented amounts of money, which by the way we don’t have any to spend…and what we do have is quickly becoming worthless.

Here is the link to the “PAYGO” rules, you can bet their will be changes.

When will liberals start to get it. (I already know that answer by the way, its never) Tax and spend does not work. It does not work. I will say it a third time, it DOES NOT WORK.

A state which if it stood alone would be the 8th largest economy in the world, has for decades now taxed its citizens at rates the rest of the country could not imagine. There is a tax for everything!

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today proposed more taxes for the ever widening budget deficit, which is estimated to be around 40 billion dollars. Voters are likely to stand up and declare that they have had enough.

The dreadful economic situation in California can be attributed to many things. They have taxed businesses and individuals to the point that people are leaving, businesses are packing up shop and going elsewhere and revenues plummet. Mexicans streaming over the border have strained all levels of state government financially, this is also the pilot run for the federal government to see what really happens when you sprint towards socialism. The state has been flowing in that direction for decades now. Now look what you have done…good people of California, your country needs you. Get rid of the Dem legislature and start over.

While Karl Marx believed that socialism—and ultimately communism—would replace capitalism as the morally superior societal system, it was Margaret Thatcher who observed, “The trouble with socialism is that it always runs out of other people’s money.” Now, after 50 years of steady indoctrination by California’s media and education establishments, acquiescence to the soft tyranny of socialism dominates the culture, business climate and legislature. A byproduct of this is California’s massive government spending machine, where wealth redistribution is the organizing principle. Despite being home to the eighth-largest economy in the world, California is also teetering on insolvency. … – Larry Kelley from the Townhall Magazine article “California Crack up”