Free Republic

While politicians may debate whether or not America is the most "generous" (with other generations' money of course) socialist welfare state in the history of mankind, the undoctored numbers make the affirmative case quite clear and without any chance for confusion. The single most disturbing statistic: in 2011 nearly half of the population lived in a household that receives some form of government benefit, which in turn accounted for 65% of total federal spending, or $2.5 trillion, and amount to 15% of GDP. And yet some people out there still think these people, long since indoctrinated to do little but...

Introduction The Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) is pleased to present its fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget request. The FCC is requesting a budget of $354,181,000 to carry out the FCC’s functions and meet the expectations of Congress. As detailed in this submission, the requested budget includes funding to: (1) support the Commission’s cyber-security role; (2) implement the Broadband Plan; (3) overhaul the Commission’s data systems and processes; and (4) modernize and reform the FCC by ushering in 21st century communications tools and expertise. We project we will require 1980 full-time equivalents (FTEs) from all available resources to carry...

With all the talk these days all around the world of fiscal consolidation, it may interest you to know that the US still has an extremely small percentage of its workers employed by the public sector, at least compared to Europe. The largest? According to Citi's Tobias Levkovich, the answer is China, where nearly 50% of workers are somehow in the government sector. Granted, this could include state-owned-enterprises, which remain a large chunk of the Chinese economy, but either way it does confirm that for Chinese employment to remain solid, Beijing will have to keep its foot on the gas...

What we instead need are more free markets and more liberty – for history has shown that this is the way for our country’s restored greatness – both as a nation but also for the general populace. To that end, we will be rallying on December 3rd at 11:30 a.m. on the West Steps of the Colorado State Capitol to show support for free market capitalism. Additionally, we will be having a charity drive for a charity to be determined to help show that voluntary contributions – not forced altruism at the hand of the government – is the most...

For those eager to put some math to the rhetoric coming from the White House over the president's jobs creation plan, and that should be everyone, here is a quick and dirty estimate based on the numbers being thrown around of a 2% GDP increase in year 1 and 1.9 million jobs created or saved... most saved, as in those you can't really quantify. Said otherwise, roughly a $300 billion increase in GDP yields 1.9 million jobs. So far so good. Now since the president is proposing to pay for the program over 10 years, let's assume the $475 billion...

Remember when one month ago the US, to much pomp and circumstance, not to mention one downgrade, announced a grand bargain raising the debt ceiling from $14.294 trillion to something much higher, with a stop gap intermediate ceiling of $14.694 trillion, or $400 billion more. Well, as of today, or less than a month since the expansion, total US debt is at $14.697 trillion. Yep - the total debt is again over the ceiling, which means the US debt increased by $400 billion in one month. Score one for fiscal prudence. And while the total debt subject to the limit...

Washington, DC – This morning the Chairman of the Republican Governors Association, Governor Rick Perry, and the Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, Governor Joe Manchin, released a joint letter to Congress urging them to pass an economic recovery package. A copy of the letter is attached and the full text of it is below. As leaders of our respective organizations, we don't always see eye to eye on policy, but we come together today with one clear purpose. We strongly urge Congress to leave partisanship at the door and pass an economic recovery package. We both believe that it’s...

(CNSNews.com) – Then-House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) spent $17,945.17 in tax dollars last year for “food and beverage” for his office purchased from the Corner Bakery in Washington, D.C., a pastry and coffee shop chain.By comparison, then-House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) spent $16,176.04 for “food & beverage” and “bottled water” services provided by Joe Ragan’s Coffee, a Washington, D.C.-area coffee service and office-supply company. (See related story here.)The expenditures were reported in the quarterly report published by the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives—“Statement of Disbursements of the House—that itemizes the expenditures of all House leadership...

“My congressman went to the mat over the debt ceiling and all I got was this lousy economy.” That T-shirt slogan seems to sum up the reaction of local business people to the recently completed increase in the U.S. debt limit.

No matter what happens with the eventual debt ceiling deal, one thing is certain: the political ground has now shifted under President Obama’s feet, and he and his strategists have yet to realize how seismic the shift has been...

Late last week, it looked like Tom Coburn might rejoin the Gang of Six in the Senate, which restarted their efforts to find a compromise on the budget as the debt-ceiling limit debate rages. Today, however, Coburn will become a Gang of One by releasing his own plan to reduce the deficit by twice the amount of the Paul Ryan plan. Unlike Ryan, Coburn plans on increasing federal revenues, but through reform of the tax code: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Sunday the federal government can save $1 trillion though tax reform, a proposal that will put him at odds...

Back in power, House Republicans may have poisoned the well with their austere spending strategy, including the fiscal 2012 interior and environment spending bill that is on track for approval Tuesday in the Appropriations Committee. Under the legislation, the Interior Department’s overall budget would fall $720 million from fiscal 2011. A popular land and water conservation fund would see a more than 80 percent cut to $62 million, while funding for the North American Wetlands Conservation Act would get a 47 percent reduction to $20 million. State Wildlife Grants would also be cut 64 percent to $22 million. Wildlife-themed riders...

A top House Republican leader suggested a way to end a stalemate over taxes in the debt-ceiling negotiations, saying Wednesday that Republicans could endorse ending some business tax breaks targeted by Democrats if they also agreed to renew other business-backed tax benefits. The proposal by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.), which was described in a briefing with reporters, represents a new wrinkle in the ongoing budget discussions. In recent weeks, Democrats have pushed for raising revenue by closing a raft of corporate tax breaks and benefits as part of a potential deficit-reduction deal that would ease the passage...

President Obama said Wednesday that the Republican position that they will not accept any tax increases as part of a deal to increase the debt limit is not "sustainable," adding, "everybody else has been willing to move off their maximalist position; they need to do the same." Mr. Obama said Democrats have already taken on their "sacred cows" in the negotiations, including accepting spending cuts that hurt their constituencies and an openness to "look at" entitlement programs. Yet Republicans, he said, have refused to break from their opposition to tax increases for "corporate jet owners" and oil companies. "If everybody...

Here's a question: Why is repealing the Bush tax cuts such a constant obsession for the Democratic Party? Especially the top rates for the most successful earners and small business entrepreneurs? It seems this is the Democratic answer for every single issue, every problem, every debate. This, of course, saddens me enormously. And so, always ready to help, I am recommending a 12-Step program to help them overcome their anger, resentment, and obsession over the Bush tax cuts. Democrats really need a Higher Power on this. First, when tax rates were lowered across-the-board in mid-2003, the incentive effect kicked in...

Link only - Failure to Raise U.S. Debt Cap Seen Idling 800,000 Workers

Supply side economics invokes the most basic element of human nature: self-interest. We all seek to improve our material circumstances. The tinier the tax man’s bite, the greater is our incentive to produce. As tax burdens lighten, motivation heightens, sparking a robust economy. Allowing producers to enjoy their hard earned gains is both just and effective. Contrasted with demand side economics it’s a no-brainer. It is neither just nor effective to funnel public money to political favorites hoping they will spend lavishly and thus stimulate production. Paying people not to produce inspires little effort. Depriving producers of needed capital so...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Lawmakers may not reach an agreement to tackle the ballooning federal debt until financial markets indicate they are losing confidence in the United States' ability to pay its obligations, former heads of the Congressional Budget Office warned Tuesday. [...] Borrowing rates for the federal government remain at historically low levels, but confidence could erode quickly, Tuesday's panelists said. Douglas Holtz-Eaken, who headed the CBO during the George W. Bush administration, predicted a crisis of confidence in less than two years unless action is made to reduce long-term deficits. Concerns about market confidence could be constructive, some panelists said....

As the deadline rapidly approaches for a deal to keep the government running, President Obama and the Democrat leadership in Congress have made it clear that the political game is more important that providing the country with responsible leadership. Sen. Harry Reid has drawn a line in the sand, setting the spending cut bar at the Cowboy Poet level. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has expressed her concern that cutting the federal budget will cause old people to starve, and President Obama has made it clear to all that he will not let efforts to pay the salaries of our...

Rolling out a plan that is as shocking in how much it cuts as President Obama’s first budget was in how much it spent, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is laying out a case for huge spending cuts in a new white paper that couches the coming battle in almost apocalyptic terms. “This generation’s defining moment has arrived,” Ryan says in his conclusion. At issue is the GOP’s proposed budget, which cuts $5.8 trillion over 10 years, including massive cuts to entitlement programs experts say are driving the government towards a fiscal cliff. The bold move by Ryan and House...

House Speaker John Boehner says congressional leaders and President Barack Obama did not reach a budget agreement following a White House meeting. Boehner says Republicans are rallying behind a short-term cure. Obama met with Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the top House and Senate appropriators Tuesday in hopes of breaking an impasse in talks to set spending levels through the end of September. Without an agreement by Friday, the government would be forced to shut down. Boehner said he told Obama that House Republicans are preparing a short-term measure that would keep the government running for another week...

With less than two weeks to head off a government shutdown, congressional Republicans and Democrats don’t look like they’re in the mood to compromise — at least judging by what’s on tap for Tuesday. As the clock ticks, here’s a sampling of what’s happening on Capitol Hill and elsewhere: Tuesday morning, Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, was set to speak on the Senate floor and blame the “far right” for the breakdown of budget talks. “Schumer will say the only hurdle to a deal at this point between House Republicans and the White House is the tea party...

The House just voted 236-181 to remove federal funding for National Public Radio via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

A Senate vote will show Americans the austere, GOP-controlled House budget bill to fund Washington through September "is dead," a top Democrat said. The Senate will debate and then vote Wednesday on the House budget bill, which calls for $57 billion in spending cuts through September, said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. If the bill doesn't get the needed 60 votes, senators will vote on a Democratic plan, which would cut $4.7 billion, he said.Republicans and Democrats acknowledged neither plan would likely pass, but said this would show they need to work out a compromise, The Washington Times reported."We...

NPR, PBS campaigns to keep federal funds called unlawfulBy Seth McLaughlin and Stephen Dinan The Washington Times 8:47 p.m., Monday, March 7, 2011 NPR and PBS stations nationwide are rallying their audiences to contact Congress to fight against Republicans’ proposed spending cuts, but some affiliates’ pleas may violate laws preventing nonprofits or government-funded groups from lobbying. Interrupting popular programs, the stations air warnings that cuts could end beloved children’s television shows such as “Sesame Street.” Some stations urge their audience to call and let Congress know their feelings, while others go further, instructing viewers to “stop the Senate” or “defend...

Washington (CNSNews.com) – House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said on Tuesday that it may take as many as 20 years to balance the federal budget after years of deficit spending in Washington. At Hoyer's weekly press briefing on Capitol Hill, CNSNews.com noted that President Obama's latest budget proposal does not balance at any time in the next 10 years and asked Hoyer, "Do you plan on introducing anything that balances within that 10-year timeframe, or is that possible?" Hoyer said, “Now [that] we’re at $14 trillion in debt, I think the answer is – responsibly – we’re not going...

Electorate wants more cuts than the GOP is willing to make. If there’s one thing politicians are good it, it’s avoiding hard choices. The new Republican majority in the House appears - at least for the moment - not to be an exception. Despite having a clear mandate to make deep cuts in the current budget, the House proposed a mere $4 billion in pain-free reductions while putting off the question of a government shutdown for another two weeks. The timid approach met with overwhelming 91-9 approval in the Senate yesterday and a 335-91 vote in the House on Tuesday....

WASHINGTON -- There's no chance the Senate is going to take up last week's House Republican budget cuts, yet they sent a loud, clear, muscular message to the other side of the Capitol that the Obama Democrats' spending binge days are over. The $61 billion the House will slice from this fiscal year's 2011 budget will cut much more deeply into the government's discretionary programs than anyone expects, eliminating or shrinking dozens of programs and offices, even axing some of the GOP's own sacred cows, and slashing agencies by up to 40 percent. But with the March 4 deadline looming,...

Pursuing a path of deficit reduction and government reform, President Obama will tonight in his State of the Union address call for a ban on earmarks and he will propose a five year budget freeze on non-security related discretionary spending, ABC News has learned. The proposals come as the president prepares to tackle the deficit and debt and as he faces a House of Representatives in Republican hands, many of whose members include those affiliated with the Tea Party who may be willing to embrace both moves. The president will propose some new spending in certain areas that address the...

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It's Time To Proudly Wear The Deficit Awareness Ribbon The Deficit Awareness Ribbon The concept of the deficit awareness ribbon is not new. It was originally created by Rush Limbaugh as a gag when he folded a full dollar bill into a ribbon. James Fitzmaurice, aka the artist Lazlo has taken the idea one step further by making it into “Art”. Lazlo created his performance art to be worn by others as a constitutionally protected demonstration of free speech, similar to flag burning. It is also a form of participatory art or “Social Sculpture” Q and A’s Q: Why should...

Only, like the running gag in the Princess Bride, that word does not mean what you think it means. Pursuing a path of deficit reduction and government reform, President Obama will tonight in his State of the Union address call for a ban on earmarks and he will propose an overall budget freeze, ABC News has learned…. The president will propose some new spending in certain areas that address the speech’s theme of “How We Win the Future”: innovation, education and infrastructure. But those increases will be proposed as part of an overall budget freeze, which given the annual rate...

Of all the targets for fund-cutting, the idea from Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) might be the most popular — and the most appropriate. Ros-Lehtinen wants to save money by cutting all funds supporting the United Nations’ worst practical joke, its Human Rights Council. The Congresswoman rightly calls it a “rogues’ gallery�: A key House Republican is quickly pressing forward with her goals to scale back U.S. funding for the United Nations.Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Hill that oversight would be a key function of the panel, particularly funding to the U.N. Human...

Senate Democrats have filed a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that would fund the government through fiscal 2011. The 1924-page bill includes funding to implement the sweeping healthcare bill Congress passed earlier this year [ObamaCare]. The package drew swift rebuke from Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee. "This bill is loaded up with pork projects and should not get a vote. Congress should listen to the American people and stop this reckless spending," Thune said in a statement.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) is ready to battle over the omnibus spending bill. According to Roll Call, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) has taken notice: Although Reid had initially intended to begin work on an omnibus spending bill after the tax vote, he is now pushing it off until late Thursday in the face of stiff GOP opposition. Republicans have threatened to filibuster the omnibus, and DeMint said Tuesday that he would force a reading of the bill on the floor, a process that could take 60 to 70 hours, a Reid aide said. Reid could begin...

If you thought Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., went on interminably last week, just wait until you see what Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., has planned. Democrats, having passed none of this fiscal year's appropriations, want to ram through the lame duck Senate a 2,000-page spending bill that no one had a chance to read. DeMint released the following statement yesterday.

Election? What election? "The twelve bills included in this package fulfill the Congress' most basic responsibility, to exercise the power of the purse," he said in a statement. "This measure reflects a year's worth of work by members of both parties. Together, we have closely scrutinized the president's budget request, held hundreds of hearings, thousands of meetings, and asked literally tens of thousands of questions to each and every federal department and agency seeking justification for how taxpayer dollars are being spent." Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, responded in a statement, saying that after neglecting to pass a budget, "today we...

By Shane D'Aprile - 12/07/10 10:22 PM ET Christine O'Donnell on Tuesday compared the "tragedy" of extending unemployment benefits to Pearl Harbor and the death of Elizabeth Edwards. "Today marks a lot of tragedy," O'Donnell, the Tea Party-backed GOP Senate candidate from Delaware, said Tuesday night during an appearance in Virginia. "Tragedy comes in threes," O'Donnell said. "Pearl Harbor, Elizabeth Edwards's passing and Barack Obama's announcement of extending the tax cuts, which is good, but also extending the unemployment benefits." O'Donnell continued: "The reason I say this is a tragedy is because his announcement of economic recovery was more of...

There is perhaps no bigger scam in the federal budget than Social Security. Since its inception, Social Security has grown into a bigger and bigger Ponzi scheme. Take, for example, the first recipient of Social Security, Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont. She paid a total of $24.75 into the Social Security System. The first Social Security check she received was for $22.54 and after her second check, Fuller already had received more than she ever contributed. She lived to be 100 and collected a total of $22,888.92- which is approximately 92,000% more than she contributed to the Social Security...

Since Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) is apparently going to explore the possibility of running for president in 2008, I thought I'd dig up some of his roll call votes. Like most Republicans, he's strong on tax cuts, but he's been part of the big government spending spree of the last 6 years. He also has a protectionist streak in him. Here are some of the more troubling votes: NO on NAFTA YES on No Child Left Behind YES on Sarbanes-Oxley YES on the 2003 Medicare Drug Benefit NO on CAFTA YES on 2005 Highway Bill YES on the 527 bill...

Baby boomers withdrawing funds from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are going to "crush the system" in a matter of years, a member of President Obama's blue-ribbon commission on the debt warned Sunday. David Cote, CEO of Honeywell and one of a handful of private-sector chiefs appointed to the 18-member fiscal reform commission issuing its final recommendations on Dec. 1, said he didn't realize -- even perched at the top of his field -- that the next decade will be disastrous to the nation's accounts ledger unless something drastic is done. "It scares me that as a financially conversant CEO,...

Because of overstaffing, the U.S. Postal Service selects 1,125 employees daily to sit in empty “standby rooms.” They are not allowed to work, read, play cards, watch television, or do anything. This $50 million annual cost may be dumped in the taxpayers’ laps if the debt-ridden Postal Service receives a federal bailout. Stimulus dollars are being spent on mascot costumes, electric golf carts, and a university study examining how much alcohol college freshmen women require before agreeing to casual sex. Washington is spending $2.6 million training Chinese prostitutes to drink more responsibly on the job. This is the kind of...

won't make attendance goal (even after spending more than 9 million dollars to open) (snip) The museum's annual budget is about $3 million with the money coming from ticket sales, special programs and corporate contributions. The museum also hosts three fundraising events to help with operating funds. No public money is used for daily operations.

Aren't these also the same folks who tell us how well JFK and LBJ ran the economy back in the roaring 60s? During the eight years of 1961-69, 46% of all federal spending was on national defense. During President Bush's eight years, defense spending did not even average 20% of federal outlays. Under JFK/LBJ, defense spending was 8-9% of GDP. Under Bush it was about 4%. How did the economy do so well in the 1960s, and so badly in the 2000s, when less than half as much of our resources were devoted to defense in that more recent term?...

Incredibly Indispensible Search Engine That Tracks All Spending by the US Government http://usaspending.gov/

After voting to spend hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars on TARP, Cash for Clunkers and other costly measures, RINO Republican U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri's 8th Congressional District says she opposes such waste.

Here is an outstanding new video from the Heritage Foundation called “Federal Spending by the Numbers.” The numbers it reveals are shocking to say the least, along with the three options our out-of-control Federal Government is going to leave us with as a result of waste and abuse. Thanks to Brandon S. at Heritage.org for the heads up on the video!

Has Pres. Obama's ass-kickin' line given license to MSM members to offer cruder commentary? Could be, judging from Mika Brzezinski's Morning Joe performance today, in which she suggested that House Republican leader John Boehner should "just bend over." Mika normally plays the role of Morning Joe hall monitor, keeping the rambunctious trio of Joe Scarborough, Mike Barnicle and Willie Geist in line. But with Joe away today, it was Mika who indulged in some off-color imagery. Prompting Mika's remark was a clip of Boehner wondering why Pres. Obama isn't looking for someone's "ass to kick" on the subject of unrestrained...

Over the past quarter century, U.S. taxpayers have pumped more than $100 billion in subsidies into the nation's urban mass transit systems. That massive taxpayer investment has paid for urban public transportation systems that fewer and fewer Americans are using. Incredibly, mass transit ridership is lower today--not only as a percentage of commuter trips taken but also in absolute numbers of riders-- than it was in the early 1960s. Despite the low and declining use of bus and rail systems, federal grants for urban transit now appear to be as popular as ever: bills before both houses of Congress would...

(CNSNews.com) – Four months after the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Flight 253 over Detroit and nine years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, only 14 of the 57 U.S. consulates identified as being at “high risk” for potentially providing visas to terrorists have been furnished with units of the Department of Homeland Security’s Visa Security Program (VSP). President Barack Obama, meanwhile, is planning to freeze the program’s budget for fiscal 2011.