Free Republic

Bailout Solution: Obama’s Mouth! September 30, 2008 I’ve given this a lot of thought. The stock market decline yesterday forced me to think outside the box. So I have a proposal for the American people that will get us out of this financial crisis pronto, without spending a dime from the general taxpayer fund. We all know that Obama has his so-called Truth Squad out in force, attempting to curtail our First Amendment rights. And if we are to take the name of this Squad seriously then they only seek the truth. Since the beginning of the primaries and on...

Professors Against the Bailout by: Bethany Stotts, September 29, 2008 Politicians opposing the $700 billion bailout, known as the Paulson plan, got support from an academic venue on Thursday, September 25. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) met before the press that day to explain his opposition to the plan. “I don’t know if you have this, but I have…five pages of the leading economists in America that wrote to me and the leadership saying ‘the Paulson plan is a bad plan, it will not solve problems, it will create more problems, we’re rushing to judgment, and that we do have stress...

Lawmakers finished writing the bill late Sunday, after which Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi declared it "frozen," meaning no changes would be made. The bill leaves many mechanics of the operation up to the Treasury. Among these are the crucial issues of how the U.S. government would decide which assets it will buy and how it would decide what to pay for them. The legislation leaves the Treasury 45 days to issue guidelines on those procedures. The bill awaits votes in Congress starting on Monday. From big Wall Street houses to small community banks, executives have expressed an interest...

First of all, the title of the WSJ article is misleading. The Paulson plan will not make money for the taxpayer. It will make money for the same government that got us into this mess in the first place. Andy Kessler writes: My analysis suggests that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (a former investment banker, no less, not a trader) may pull off the mother of all trades, which could net a trillion dollars and maybe as much as $2.2 trillion -- yes, with a "t" -- for the United States Treasury.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A small group of House Republicans urged the Treasury and Federal Reserve against bailing out any more companies on Thursday, saying the government is putting taxpayers on the hook for too much money. "Enough is enough. It is time to bail out the American taxpayer from bailout mania," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas. Hensarling and others said consumers and companies need tax cuts to help them amid one of the worst financial crises in U.S. history.

"It's a very positive sign for sensible management if the State of Texas does take a new look at how we rebuild extremely vulnerable shorelines," says Rob Young, director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C. "But I'm also skeptical, because the people who are being shut out of rebuilding tend to be wealthy and politically influential. People say, 'Those people must be nuts to build on the West End of Galveston,' but it's actually the taxpayers who are nuts for subsidizing that development."

Whatever you do, don’t ask Boston City Council President Maureen Feeney about getting rid of mandatory police details. She doesn’t want to talk about it. In response to Gov. Deval Patrick’s modest reforms of this “Only in Massachusetts” boondoggle, unions are fighting back by taking the issue to the cities and towns. Which means Boston City Hall. Councilor Sam Yoon supports at least studying the issue, but according to The Boston Globe-Democrat, there is “little appetite on the council or from Mayor Menino to change the arrangement.” And according to Feeney’s spokesman, this profile in City Council courage is refusing...

With little or no public input, California lawmakers are expected to vote late today on a closed-door weekend budget deal that depends largely on borrowing billions from taxpayers. A key element of the deal would increase by 10 percent the amount of income taxes withheld from working Californians, and from taxpayers who earn income from investments. The maneuver would generate about $3.8 billion to ease the budget crunch, but the plan calls for providing future refunds to affected taxpayers. Lawmakers were rushing to the Capitol this afternoon to vote on ending the state's 11-week budget standoff with a last-minute deal...

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday outlined plans for the four biggest U.S. banks to issue new bonds to stimulate mortgage lending, the latest in a series of steps to aid the troubled housing market. Paulson outlined rules to issue so-called covered bonds backed by mortgage loans. The instruments are popular in Europe but had little appeal in the U.S. until demand for mortgage-backed securities plummeted because of soaring home loan foreclosures. C,JPM,BAC,WFC...have signed up to issue covered bonds, seen as less risky than mortgage-backed securities. "Covered bonds have the potential to increase mortgage financing...

Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens is pushing a national campaign to make the U.S. "energy independent" through wind power and vehicles that run on natural gas. His blitz of TV ads featuring his own down-home voice has picked up a lot of admiring news coverage. To date, Pickens has yet to explain whose dime will pay for this. Well, Californians can clarify exactly whose dime it will be: Ours. Along with being the country's biggest wind power developer, Pickens owns Clean Energy Fuels Corp., a natural gas fueling station company that is the sole backerof the stealthy Proposition 10...

Americans should be outraged at the latest sweetheart deal in Washington. Congress will put U.S. taxpayers on the hook for potentially hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It's a tribute to what these two institutions — which most Americans have never heard of — have bought with more than $170-million worth of lobbyists in the past decade. With combined obligations of roughly $5-trillion, the rapid failure of Fannie and Freddie would be a threat to mortgage markets and financial markets as a whole. Because of that threat, I support taking the unfortunate but...

“Every crisis presents an opportunity.” Sure, it’s one of the oldest clichés in the book. But clichés don’t find their way into “the book” without invoking some elemental, common sense wisdom. Of course, since such wisdom is generally anathema to our elected officials’ way of thinking, expecting them to behave any differently during the current economic malaise than they have in previous downturns is probably wishful thinking. In a nutshell, here’s the predicament government budget writers are facing – the property taxes that provide their main source of revenue are plummeting alongside national home prices, which suffered a record dip...

What started out as a plan to shift state workers to a 4-day, 10-hour work week with Fridays off, has morphed into a more sweeping measure after policy makers penciled out the numbers. “At first we thought shutting down on Fridays looked like a good way to save some money during the budget crunch,” said Frank Lee, spokesman for Governor Jon Huntsman (R). “But when we looked at the costs and benefits in more depth it became clear that a total shutdown would be the best option for the state.” “When you get right down to it, the sad fact...

In Colorado, taxpayers have a tremendous amount of control over their own property taxes. Thanks to the state’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), which stunts the growth of property taxes, those of us who own property in Eagle County shouldn’t expect to see our taxes skyrocket at the same rate as our property values without voter approval. This year, however, taxpayers’ rights were usurped by Gov. Bill Ritter’s decision to freeze the statewide school district property tax rate... Not only was Ritter’s move a clear violation of the TABOR Amendment because it effectively raised taxes without voter approval, it didn’t...

It was Al Capone who said you can get more with a smile and a gun than with just a gun. Well, Senate boss Don Perata is not smiling as he holds a tax gun to the heads of California taxpayers. The June 15th constitutional deadline to pass the state budge has come and gone and all 120 members of the Legislature and the governor are in violation. Perata is making good on his threat, voiced last month, that there will be no budget without a tax increase. He and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass want at least $11.5 billion in...

Sometimes, what’s wrong with government in America really can be “boiled down” to a delicious metaphor – one that exquisitely encapsulates the failure of our politicians to get a handle on their insatiable “appetites.” Take last week’s news that the U.S. Senate is finally privatizing its restaurant business after losing more than $18 million over the past fifteen years – a decision it reached after taking advantage of one last $250,000 taxpayer bailout just to make this month’s payroll, of course. Sure, that amount is scarcely a drop in the bucket compared to the much larger pork smorgasbord Senators spread...

A Denver District Court judge ruled today that Gov. Bill Ritter's controversial mill-levy freeze is unconstitutional. "However well-intentioned and commendable the purpose and consequences ... this Court must be concerned only with enforcement of the Colorado Constitution," District Court Court Judge Christina Habas ... A group of taxpayers, organized by the conservative Independence Institute, filed suit late last year against the Colorado Department of Education, arguing that the property-tax freeze amounts to an unconstitutional tax increase because voters did not directly approve it. "All that's required to raise taxes in this state is to ask first. Only the most arrogant...

The latest battle in the war on illegal immigration isn't over the smuggling of undocumented workers, it's over the trash they leave behind. Government officials and border activists say the garbage dumped in the desert by illegal immigrants and their smugglers is staggering. And the cleanup is costing taxpayers millions.

A judge today will hear a case calling Gov. Ritter's move unconstitutional because voters didn't approve it. The year-long controversy around Gov. Bill Ritter's mill-levy freeze spills into a Denver courtroom today, where a judge will decide whether the state has to give the money from the freeze back. A group of taxpayers, organized by the conservative Independence Institute, filed suit late last year against the Colorado Department of Education, arguing that the property-tax freeze amounts to an unconstitutional tax increase because voters did not directly approve it. The trial in the case is scheduled to start today in Denver...

Little-Known But Exploited Loophole Allows Politicians To Drive, Maintain Expensive Cars, SUVs On Taxpayer Money. Rep. Charles Rangel: 'My Constituents Appreciate It'. You may not realize it, but members of the House of Representatives can lease a car and have it paid for by you -- the taxpayer. And it's not just the car, but gas, registration, insurance … the works. And as CBS 2 HD found out, there's no limit on how much they can spend. Congressman Charles Rangel was recently seen getting out of his Cadillac DeVille, which he leases for $774 per month.... Congressman Gregory Meeks was...

Now that’s an expensive pie. When presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton had pizza at Revello’s Cafe in Old Forge on March 10, it cost borough taxpayers almost $400 a bite. Mrs. Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, spoke for less than 10 minutes during his appearance at the Society of Irish Women dinner on St. Patrick’s Day. The cost to Scranton taxpayers? About $90 for each minute he was on the dais. While the parade of presidential hopefuls through Northeastern Pennsylvania before the April 22 primary is expected to give the voting public an unprecedented firsthand look...

The poll is about halfway down the page, left-hand side and asks: Should Governor Spitzer resign or apologize and move on.Last time I checked, there was only a small majority on the side of resignation.

The Muslim American Society is a front group for the Muslim Brotherhood, out of which the genocidal terrorist group Hamas emerged. The Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society has been the source of local controversies involving the purported observance of Sharia in public facilities such as taxis based at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society also houses a Minnesota charter school in the Twin Cities suburb Inver Grover Heights. The school is Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy -- named for the Muslim general who conquered medieval Spain. As a charter school, Minnesota taxpayers...

Would you believe it if we told you that the U.S. House of Representatives voted to raise the price you pay for gasoline at the pump and -- at the same time -- give a huge tax break to that America-hating dictator Hugo Chavez? Well, that is exactly what our so-called elected leaders-- led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her liberal colleagues in the House -- just did. In common parlance, we call that a "twofer" and as unbelievable as it may sound, Pelosi and company have yet again proved that they have never met a socialist tyrannical despot thatthey...

Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) -- named for the Muslim general who conquered medieval Spain -- is a K-8 charter school in Inver Grove Heights. Its approximately 300 students are mostly the children of low-income Muslim immigrant families, many of them Somalis. The school is in huge demand, with a waiting list of 1,500. Last fall, it opened a second campus in Blaine. TIZA uses the language of culture rather than religion to describe its program in public documents. According to its mission statement, the school "recognizes and appreciates the traditions, histories, civilizations and accomplishments of the eastern world (Africa,...

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick went on the radio Friday to lash out at the Detroit Free Press for the sex-text scandal -- and tell Detroiters that he's on a mission from God.

Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services show that those in this country, and the county, illegally collected more than $37 million in welfare and food stamp allocations in November, up $3 million from September... for a projected annual cost of $444 million. "an alarming increase in the devastating impact illegal immigration continues to have on Los Angeles County taxpayers."

The AZ Federation of Taxpayers/Americans for Prosperity put on the biggest AZ conservative event of the year, their third annual Legislative Awards Luncheon. In addition to crediting the guys who put it on, Chad Kirkpatrick and Tom Jenney (on the left), the governor should be credited for frightening so many people into coming this year.This year’s award for the biggest government spender and taxer was renamed from the Vladimir I. Lenin award to the Empty Wallet Award and went to Rep. Steve Farley, who received a 14% rating from AZ Taxpayers, the lowest of any legislator. Farley did not show...

Mandated by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA), which was co-sponsored by Coburn and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., USASpending.gov is a searchable, Googlelike database that puts most federal spending within a few mouse clicks for every American.... Today is a milestone because, as President Bush noted when he signed FFATA into law Sept. 26:... “… Taxpayers have a right to know where [their] money is going, and you have a right to know whether or not you’re getting value for your money.” ...USASpending.gov brings federal spending into the Internet age. It’s the place to go, for...

Montana still relies more heavily than do other states on property taxes for revenue, but the actual tax levels are not abnormally high... Doug Young, professor of economics at MSU-Bozeman, also told a meeting of Montana business and political officials that residential and commercial real estate is shouldering a greater share of the property tax burden in the state. Young spoke in Helena at the annual meeting of the Montana Taxpayers Association, a group that primarily represents business taxpayers. Property taxes account for 37 percent of tax revenue in Montana, while the national average for states is 31 percent... Income,...

New Iowa Leader Criticized by for Indecision on Federal Student Aid. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who backed in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, hedged Sunday on whether illegal immigrants who have gone to school in the United States should become eligible for federal student aid such as Pell grants and subsidized federal student loans. "I'm not sure that I would support that," Huckabee told ABC News, "it was a different program in Arkansas." Huckabee's failure to take a clear position on federal student aid while appearing on ABC News' "This Week with George...

County settles lawsuit Woman claims Allen made sexually explicit comments Tuesday, September 25, 2007 8:03 PM CDT Bryson City – Cherokee County has settled a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former employee of the building department, according to a document filed with the U.S. District Court. The case was settled during a mediation session officiated by C. Frank Goldsmith Jr. on Sept. 13. The settlement agreement must be filed with the court within 10 days of the agreement, according to the document. Terms of the agreement were not available at press time Tuesday. Attempts to reach the plaintiff’s attorney,...

The near doubling in the cost of a college degree the past decade has produced an explosion in high-priced student loans ... While scholarship, grant money and government-backed student loans - whose interest rates are capped - have taken up some of the slack, many families and individual students have turned to private loans, which carry fees and interest rates that are often variable and up to 20 percent. Many in the next generation of workers will be so debt-burdened they will have to delay home purchases, limit vacations, even eat out less to pay loans off on time. Kristin...

A voter opinion poll sponsored by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce shows that Coloradans are increasingly jittery about the economy and not likely to vote in favor of sweeping reforms that could result in tax increases. The poll shows the public also solidly supports drilling at the Roan Plateau, especially if tax revenues are used to fund higher education. Environmental groups immediately blasted the poll methodology, however, arguing the question about the Roan inappropriately tied proposed Roan Plateau drilling with foreign crude oil imports. There are no crude oil deposits in the leasing area, the groups said. About 60...

Total annual cost of illegals on taxpayers exceeds $1 billion . LA County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich has announced that a new report shows illegal aliens and their families in Los Angeles County collected over $35 million in welfare and food stamp allocations in July. In the report, illegals are said to have collected nearly $20 million in welfare assistance for July 2007 and an additional $15 million in monthly food stamp allocations for an estimated annual cost of $440 million. “Illegal immigration continues to have a devastating impact on Los Angeles County taxpayers,”said Antonovich. “In addition to $220 million...

This just in from the Department of No Surprises: The Democrats in charge of state government have earned an F for their voting performance during the last legislative session from the conservative Colorado Union of Taxpayers. Republicans, meanwhile, consistently rated higher when it came to voting the way the organization said they should on about 25 bills. Former Rep. Penn Pfiffner, who heads the group, said the ratings show that the state's Democratic lawmakers are tax-and-spend power-grabbers who are not trying to actually solve problems. Gov. Bill Ritter, for example, sided against taxpayers' interests 23 out of 25 times, earning...

The Town of Herndon announced yesterday that it would close its 21-month-old day-laborer center next week instead of complying with a judge's ruling that the site must be open to all residents, including those who might be illegal immigrants. The decision to close the site, which became a flash point in the national debate over immigration, was reached late Tuesday by Mayor Stephen J. DeBenedittis and the six-member Town Council after a 2 1/2 -hour closed-door session. It brings the western Fairfax community virtually full circle in its attempts to regulate -- critics say drive out -- its large population...

Talk about grist for my mill or even fodder for my cannon: Ready, aim, guess what? Everyone’s favorite “underfunded� state agency, the Texas Department of Transportation, intends to spend $9 million in multimedia advertising promoting toll roads and the unpopular Trans-Texas Corridor. The department is seeking to sway public opinion on a political issue using your tax dollars. Let me re-emphasize: That’s $9 million of taxpayers’ money to tell you that you need to not only pay a gasoline tax but also pay tolls on taxpayer-funded construction. In effect, you are now paying taxes to be propagandized by a state...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Low and middle income taxpayers are paying millions of dollars in fees to file their tax returns because of an IRS decision to end a free telephone filing service, an inspector general said Tuesday. "Once again the IRS has made a taxpayer service decision based on questionable data," said J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. George, whose office does independent oversight of the IRS, said about 2 million individual and joint taxpayers used the TeleFile program in 2005, when the IRS, citing declining usage and increasing costs, shut it down. He said about half...

There is $220 billion worth of waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending, according to a months-long analysis of 17 federal agencies and departments by the Inspectors General of all the federal agencies and the General Accounting Office. Their study, called "Government at the Brink - Urgent Federal Government Management Problems Facing the Bush Administration" (June 2001) was released by Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) on his last day as Chairman of the Senate Government Affairs Committee, before the Democrats took control of the Senate. The Senate Government Affairs Committee staff lists the top 10 most egregious examples, including, for example,...

But complaints fell on deaf ears, ex-employee says. Michelle Cawthra, the state tax department supervisor accused of stealing $10 million of public funds, was abusive and demeaning to subordinates for years, according to a worker who quit over what he called her "dysfunctional management." But despite employees' repeated complaints to top management, Cawthra seemed untouchable, James McClarnon said. "The management of Michelle Cawthra and (her boss) Janet Swaney has made Income Tax Accounting into the most dysfunctional section I have ever worked in," McClarnon, 49, wrote in an exit interview. McClarnon, a tax supervisor who reported to Cawthra, quit March...

LUBBOCK, Texas — One Central Texas farmer said Monday he was "dumbfounded" by Gov. Rick Perry's veto of an eminent domain bill designed to protect landowners when the state wants to take their property. Robert Fleming is not alone in an area worried about the massive Trans Texas Corridor proposal. The planned route cuts through Fleming's Bell County farms. He's bewildered by Perry's veto. "We were so close to getting something done," Fleming said. "We've worked hard trying to get private property rights." Perry vetoed the bill, and 48 others, Friday. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Kelo...

Judicial Watch, a public-interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, has obtained more documents pertaining to the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America -- an initiative that has created uneasiness among some conservative groups. According to its own government website, the SPP is defined as a "trilateral effort to increase security and enhance prosperity among the United States, Canada, and Mexico through greater cooperation and information sharing." The effort includes what the website calls "ambitious security and prosperity programs" designed to keep the nations' borders "closed to terrorism yet open to trade." Tom Fitton, president of Judicial...

A transportation panel appointed by Gov. Bill Ritter and charged with taking public input around the state the rest of this year is, "little more than an attempt to justify the governor's next big tax hike," Senate Republican leader Andy McElhany said today. The veteran Colorado Springs lawmaker, who has made transportation a cornerstone of the Republican agenda, said a sustainable mechanism for transportation-funding already exists, "if only the General Assembly can refrain from siphoning money off of it to grow other programs." "These blue-ribbon panels that bring together notable experts and interested citizens are fine and well if all...

$28 million rehab of Illinois Statehouse includes $950 urinals, $405 doorknobs. A $38,000 clock... Redecorated bathrooms for state legislators and staff — more than $444,000. Those are among the hidden costs of a multimillion-dollar makeover of the Illinois House and Senate with opulent showpieces re-creating the look of the chambers in the late 1800s. With work finished, a Chicago Sun-Times review of construction documents unearthed expenditures one GOP lawmaker said would “appall” her constituents. “Certainly, the chamber has to be nice and to befit a state of our stature. It’s not like we’re Mississippi. We’re a rich state,” said Rep....

Bloomberg stories are "link only," per FR excerpt policy.FULL STORY

A steady stream of customers flowed into Grace Lopez-Williams' office on Jimmy Carter Boulevard. They were taxpayers, looking for help to file by this year's April 17 deadline.Many of them were also illegal immigrants.Norcross tax preparer Grace Lopez-Williams (left) talks with Ruth Santiago in the reception area of her accounting firm. She said she's seen an increase in the number of immigrants paying multiple years of back taxes, preparing for immigration reform that could require payment of back taxes for a chance at legal status.It is not unusual for people who are here illegally to pay taxes. The Internal Revenue...

PORTLAND - Portland taxpayers are getting the bill for last month's war protest that ended with police and demonstrators clashing. The cost: $70,000 and counting.

The immigration bill passed by the U.S. Senate in May 2006 not only would have granted amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, but it would also have required an amnesty-seeker to have a lawyer and forced taxpayers to provide one. Although the bill did not become law, the election of Democratic majorities in both Houses of Congress ensures that it will be revived in 2007, very possibly with the support of President Bush. Tax-Funded Bonanza for LSC Giving free legal help to illegal aliens would mean a bonanza for the taxpayer-funded Legal Services Corporation (LSC). LSC leaders in recent years...

On his way out the door, Kofi Annan has signed new rules meant to curb corruption in UN procurement activities, which since the Feds began investigating last year have been sprouting indictments and guilty pleas pertaining to the abuse of enormous amounts of taxpayer money on Kofi’s watch. It’s thoughtful of Kofi to bequeath brand new rules to his successor, Ban Ki-moon, who takes charge Jan. 1. But this leaves the question of why Kofi, who worked in the UN system for more than four decades, and spent much of that time deep in the nitty-gritty of UN personnel and...