More Money Down the Drain; Economic Woes Continue

money down the drain Pictures, Images and Photos

Obama and the Democrats continue to spend taxpayer money and rack up our debt.  The House panel, last night, passed the supplemental war bill worth more than $106 billion.  The supplemental bill includes funds not just for the two wars we are currently fighting, but also for foreign aid, car rebates, and the Flu.  The bill passed by a very narrow margin 226 – 202, with an almost united opposition from Republicans.  If foreign aid caught your eye, then you were paying attention.  Obama and the Democrats were sneaky and stuck several billion dollars worth of IMF funds to bailout foreign banks; as if AIG wasn’t enough.  Republicans were strongly opposed to another bailout, especially in a war supplemental.

I guess we are supposed to feel sympathetic to Obama’s lack of sleep due to the deficit?  Pardon me for saying so, but I couldn’t care less.  He continues to sign these bills and propose legislation/policies which all require massive amounts of government funding.  My sympathies are also few and far between because I too have not been sleeping.  I’m actually up every night researching and writing to attempt to stay on top of the latest news items and stay abreast of all the crazy things this administration is doing.  If possible I’d like to record every time Obama tramples on the constitution… Needless to say, that’s a lot of sleepless nights.

One of Obama’s agenda items is his health-care plan which is a deceitful little gem…passed off as a competitive option to private industry, when intelligent individuals who have contracted with the government already know, anything that competes with the government loses.

His health-care plan is therefore a farce and it will require individuals who work for a living and pay taxes, to pay for those who do not.  It’s another entitlement program that will raise taxes and put a massive burden on all Americans.

Senate sources say the latest cost estimates for health care legislation are around $1.6 trillion over 10 years. Two Senate staffers, one Democratic and one Republican, said Congressional Budget Office estimates put the cost of the Finance Committee version of the bill at around $1.6 trillion.

Even with all the spending, Obama truly believes we will have economic growth:

President Barack Obama said he is “confident” that he won’t have to raise taxes on most Americans to close the budget deficit as long as the economy picks up steam.

“One of the biggest variables in this whole thing is economic growth,” the president said in an interview with Bloomberg News at the White House. “If we are growing at a robust rate, then we can pay for the government that we need without having to raise taxes.”

Obama has repeatedly said he would keep his campaign pledge to cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans while rolling back tax breaks for households making more than $250,000 a year.

“I’m confident that we don’t have to raise taxes on ordinary working families,” he said.

But he already has.  He raised taxes on cigarettes, a product that most lower income households consume.  Food products, and other goods have also had taxes tacked onto them.  Obama’s plan may not be to outright raise taxes, but they are already hiding them in miscellaneous goods. Obama’s health-care plan also paints an entirely different story, requiring $600 billion in new taxes to fund
the program. I’m not sure if Obama is completely deluded, a great liar, or both.

The fact that Obama believes that we will have incredible amounts of economic growth, when Forbes and others have already compiled a list and conducted studies on future GDP growth for those countries with a moderate to larger sized economies – proving that the United States and the United Kingdom would be two of the most repressed/stagnant, is just ludicrous.  Obama recently told Bloomberg that he expected the unemployment rate to go to 10%, and although it is a lagging economic indicator, you cannot expect an unemployment rate to go back down to below 4% in 6 months when it took almost 18 to get there.  Roubini also doesn’t believe that the unemployment rate will stop at 10% but rather upwards to 11% by year end.  Roubini also predicts that we could see another recession in the future if the proper actions are taken by the government and the Federal Reserve.  I have absolutely no confidence in either entity and Roubini fears that if the correct actions are taken now, we could wind up in an inflationary crisis over the next couple of years – of which I believe to be inevitable.

How’s that Hope and Change working out for ya?

Geithner Leaves Door Open to Oust More CEOs if Necessary

Above is the full Katie Couric interview with Geithner. 

Days after GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner was forced out by the Obama administration, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner left open the possibility that such moves could happen again.

This is very similiar to other countries living behind an iron curtain or our most progressive president FDR, who scared the private sector and then wondered why it took so long to come out of the depression.  What talented person wants to work their way up in a company, always mindful, looking of their shoulder for the government’s action and intervention to cap their salaries, demonize them in the public eye or just kick them out of their position?  Would you want to work in a society that allows that to occur?  Does that create incentives for those who are the most talented and have the most potential to want to move up in a company or just stay at a position that is just right, never going beyond just being mediocre?  Maybe some of the best talent will also choose to move abroad and leave the United States in a weaker position economically and in turn less powerful militarily.  This is utterly insane!

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Tax Credit Takes Effect…All $10 bucks!

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Most workers will start seeing about a $10 bump in their weekly paychecks this week, thanks to a new federal tax credit.

The “Making Work Pay” tax credit, which took effect Wednesday, was enacted as part of the economic recovery package that Congress passed in February. It’s the Main Street version of the Wall Street bailout, doled out in bite-sized portions to workers in their paychecks.

Yes, in an era of trillion dollar spending, and multi-million dollar bonuses to financial executives, the Presidents so called tax credit, will be immediately wiped out with his new taxes. Along with inflation, these policies will put the country back into a hole we have not seen since the Carter years, but worse.

With 39 weeks left in the year, the credit will increase workers’ take home pay by about $10.25 a week. In 2010, when the credit is spread over the entire year, it will amount to about $7.70 a week.

Yes, and what a difference that is going to make in our economy. Ten dollars will buy almost 5 gallons of gas, or one movie ticket, or two packs of smokes. This money is not going to be spent in Wal-Mart, Target or JC Penny. It is not going to make a dent in the current situation.

The credit expires after 2010, but Obama has proposed making it permanent. Budget resolutions pending in Congress would allow the tax credit to expire after 2010, but lawmakers say they will work to find ways to extend it. The two-year tax credit will save taxpayers about $116 billion.

The new administration wants to make these pitiful tax breaks permanent, however, the Dems would have no talk on making the Bush tax cuts permanent. Tax cuts that the Dem Congress will let expire, the net result will be a tax increase. Along with a plethora of new taxes on energy, health care plus all the new state and city taxes, the tax payer is going to be deeper in the hole. It is a problem that current fiscal policy isn’t going to fix any time soon.