Welfare government’s single largest budget item in FY 2011 at approx. $1.03 trillion

“The government spent approximately $1.03 trillion on 83 means-tested federal welfare programs in fiscal year 2011 alone — a price tag that makes welfare that year the government’s largest expenditure, according to new data released by the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee…  The data excludes spending on Social Security, Medicare, means-tested health care for veterans without service-connected disabilities, and the means-tested veterans pension program…  The total federal spending on federal welfare programs vastly outpaced fiscal year 2011 spending on such federal expenditures as non-war defense ($540 billion), Social Security ($725 billion), Medicare ($480 billion), and departments such as Justice ($30.5 billion), Transportation ($77.3 billion) and Education ($65.486 billion)”

The unsustainable warp-speed expansion of the Obama welfare state continues unchecked.  We have already passed the point where the spending levels can be sustained by the number of people working and paying taxes.  The spending on welfare programs, and government spending in general, is increasing like a runaway nuclear reactor, and the pace at which people quit pulling the wagon and climb into it expecting a free ride is accelerating.  Pretty soon the few who remain straining at the bit to pull the wagon are going to quit pulling.  Then what? 

Atlas Shrugged?  Weimar Republic?  Greece?  Zimbabwe?

All of the above.
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Report: Welfare government’s single largest budget item in FY 2011 at approx. $1.03 trillion

Posted By Caroline May On 12:00 AM 10/18/2012 @ 12:00 AM In DC Exclusives – Original Reporting,DC Exclusives – Slideshow,Politics,RSS to email,Slideshow,Uncategorized

The government spent approximately $1.03 trillion on 83 means-tested federal welfare programs in fiscal year 2011 alone — a price tag that makes welfare that year the government’s largest expenditure, according to new data released by the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee.

The total sum taxpayers spent on federal welfare programs was derived from a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on federal welfare spending — which topped out at $745.84 billion for fiscal year 2011 — combined with an analysis from the Republican Senate Budget Committee staff of state spending on federal welfare programs (based on “The Oxford Handbook of State and Local Government Finance”), which reached $282.7 billion in fiscal year 2011.

The data excludes spending on Social Security, Medicare, means-tested health care for veterans without service-connected disabilities, and the means-tested veterans pension program.

According to the CRS report, which focused solely on federal spending for federal welfare programs, spending on federal welfare programs increased $563.413 billion in fiscal year 2008 to $745.84 billion in fiscal year 2011 — a 32 percent increase.

34 Shocking Facts About U.S. Debt That Should Set America On Fire With Anger

We have been lied to, and our wealth has been stolen.  We have been enslaved to debt by our government.  We are in for a world of pain.  If we don’t wake up and get VERY angry, and soon, it will be too late to save the country.

We MUST make our government listen to us, and they MUST stop spending beyond OUR means.  How do we make the government adhere to the Constitution short of the 2nd Amendment failsafe?
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http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/34-shocking-facts-about-u-s-debt-that-should-set-america-on-fire-with-anger

We have all been lied to.  For decades, the leaders of both major political parties have promised us that they can fix our current system and that they can get our national debt under control.  As the 2012 election approaches, they are making all kinds of wild promises once again.  Well you know what?  It is all a giant sham.  The United States has gotten into so much debt that there will be no coming back from this.  The current system is irretrievably broken. 30 years ago the U.S. debt was a horrific crisis that was completely and totally out of control.  If we would have dealt with it back then maybe we could have done something about it.  But now it is 15 timeslarger, and we are adding more than a trillion dollars to the debt every single year. 

Liberals see opportunity for big cuts in defense – Washington Times

Why is it that liberals and progressives want to continually weaken the single institution in America that is the protective umbrella for all others?

Further commentary embedded in the story below.
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Liberals see opportunity for big cuts in defense – Washington Times.

Liberals see opportunity for big cuts in defense

Push for troop, arms levels after Cold War

By Rowan Scarborough
The Washington Times
9:10 p.m., Monday, July 18, 2011

The political left is pressing the White House and Congress to inflict a wave of Pentagon budget cuts not seen since the post-Cold War 1990s.

Liberals are citing the debt crisis and troop drawdowns from Iraq and Afghanistan to argue that now is the time for the Defense Department to shed people, missions and weapons after a decade of doubling arms spending after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (Should we come home from Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, and all the other places we are flushing money down the toilet because we aren’t really there to win? Yeah, we should. Should we then consolidate, modernize, and re-equip that military to continue to act as the deterrent it is supposed to be, and the weapon it MUST be if deterrence fails? Or should we just dismantle the military altogether and spend that money on more social programs? Will those social programs protect our borders? Will the “free handouts” do battle with an attacking enemy? Call me crazy, but I don’t think food stamps will stop the Chinese, Russians, or terrorists when they choose to attack us.)

The proposals, including one from the Center for America Progress, go well beyond President Obama’s call in April for $400 billion in defense cuts over 12 years. The center — run by John Podesta, who served as chief of staff to President Clinton — wants that much in reductions over the next three years and $1 trillion from what had been projected increases over the next decade.(Liberal/progressive/communists who want the destruction of America. Don’t get me wrong. I think there is a lot of waste in military spending. Most if it comes from how the politicians MANDATE that we spend our money. We have to buy from politically favored vendors and exorbitant prices, and we aren’t rewarded for SAVING money. Cut out the corruption and waste, and spend that money more effectively to by the military even MORE effective equipment, and a larger force for the same money.)

Obama’s debt plan fails the truth test

And the money quote:

“Obama hiked spending by one-third in three years without improving our lives; he can cut it by an equal amount without destroying them.”

Something Obama says is untrue? Now there’s a shocker for you.

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http://www.detnews.com/article/20110707/OPINION03/107070334/1008/OPINION01/Obama

Last Updated: July 07. 2011 1:00AM

Nolan Finley

Obama’s debt plan fails the truth test

Credit counselors offer standard advice to clients overwhelmed by debt: Tear up the credit cards and start paying down the balance before spending another dime on nonessentials.

That’s just common sense. Yet President Barack Obama is trying to sell us on the opposite approach for an overextended federal government. He wants us to issue him another credit card while he keeps spending as if the bills will never come due.

Obama has no credibility in the current showdown over raising the debt ceiling because he’s pitching a bundle of fibs to cover the reality that he doesn’t believe government spending is a problem.

Message to the Republican Party

If the republican party caves on the debt limit and spending cuts, as it appears they will, they will have officially rendered themselves completely irrelevant, and a successor to the Whig party which also went the way of the dinosaur. The message below was posted on the GOP/RNC Facebook page, and will find its way to the inboxes of many republican senators and representatives. In encourage you to do the same. Copy this if you want, or write your own, but fax, call, write, and e-mail these idiots and pressure them to do the right thing, not the easy thing which is to just keep spending to keep the special interest groups quiet.

When are TAXPAYERS going to be considered a ‘special interest group’ I suspect it will be when the producers go ‘Galt’ and simply quit laying the golden eggs that fund government’s lavish spending.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/06/house-republican-leader-flexible-in-deficit-talks/

Message to the Republican Party: You have rendered yourselves irrelevant

All of your ads castigating Obama are nice, but they are hollow, and indeed disingenuous. The GOP is finished, going the way of the Whigs. You have caved in to liberalism too many times, and despite your words, as a party you refuse to change course.

You are holding all the cards on the issue of debt and spending, but under the ‘leadership’ of Mr. ‘Crying Game’ Boehner you play the game like you have a pair of deuces. You could stand firm on the no tax increases/cut spending or no debt limit increase, but once again you cave and kick the can down the road. Our country is on track to be Greece raised to the power of 3, yet you just allow Obama and the democrats (and many of you) to just keep spending.

Now republicrats in the house have caved AGAIN in the issue of ‘revenue’ increases (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/06/house-republican-leader-flexible-in-deficit-talks/), which unless you strictly stick to selling government owned/confiscated land/property, you might as well just say tax increases. You talk of “closing loopholes,” but NONE of you are in the slightest bit serious about reforming a burdensome tax code that costs government, and therefore taxpayers, billions of dollars per year. For example, if you have a 30% tax rate, but people in that bracket are only paying 15% because of the loopholes, exemptions, and shelters that YOU wrote into the thousands of pages of tax law, just go to a 15% FLAT TAX with NO EXCEPTIONS, LOOPHOLES, or SHELTERS. You pay your 15% off the top, you don’t file any tax returns, you don’t get any refunds, YOU CAN DO AWAY WITH THE IRS, and therefore save taxpayers the $13 to $14 BILLION dollars that the IRS is costing us every year. Not to mention the money saved/not spent on accountants and other things to keep from getting screwed by said IRS. But that makes far too much sense to EVER happen in Washington, and it would force you all to give up the coercive power you have in the IRS.

ALL of you are more concerned about your political careers than you are for the preservation of our constitution and our liberties, so there is absolutely ZERO chance that any REAL reforms will be made that actually help our nation. When a politician says “reform,” it usually means more laws, higher taxes, and bigger government. In concert with the democrats, you are driving the citizens of this nation into a corner from which they have no escape. You are turning us all into slaves and/or cornered animals. Both yearn for freedom, and will struggle for it until the end. I mourn what our nation has become, and I mourn for what I fear will soon happen if brave men and women are unwilling to make courageous but probably painful decisions that will return us to our constitutional path. In the short term, understand that no matter which way you vote your political future will not be a long one. But I pray that you will make the choices that will allow a revived America to view you kindly through the prism of history.

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Obama’s ‘Transparent’ Secrecy

We’ve seen what Obama’s style of “transparency” gets us. Trillions of dollars in debt, more unemployed than the Great Depression, a crumbling economy, a worthless dollar, a decaying military, increasing dependence on government, record poverty, a declining stature around the world, a constitution under attack. He. Can. NOT. Be. Trusted.

I believe we are girding for our last stand as a nation. If we let the politicians play politics as usual, and try to kick the debt can down the road, failing to take responsibility for both our past and our future, I firmly believe that our economy and way of life will collapse.

Do you believe what’s left of America is worth fighting for?  I do.
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http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-s-transparent-secrecy_575979.html

Two Republican senators protest.

1:45 PM, Jul 1, 2011 • By FRED BARNES

Imagine the reaction if President Obama and congressional Democrats had released a sweeping health care bill, drafted in closed-door meetings, and demanded its approval by Congress immediately. There would have been national outrage over the secrecy, lack of time for public hearings, and the absence of discussion, revisions, amendments, and multiple votes.

Yet that is exactly what the White House and Democrats are proposing once – and if – a deal on raising the debt limit by as much as $2 trillion is reached. The administration now insists on an agreement by July 22 in order for the government to avert a default on August 2.

Tax Dispute Stalls Debt Talks

Oh, dear Lord, NOOOOOOO!!! The conservatives are holding all the cards, and you leave BOEHNER in charge of the negotiations?!?!?!?!? WTFreak are you thinking? He’s almost as bad at compromising away an advantage as John “Windsock” McCain.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304569504576403522729881988.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories#printMode

JUNE 24, 2011

GOP Team Withdraws, Leaving Obama and Boehner to Negotiate a Final Deal

 By JANET HOOK And COREY BOLES

The drive for a major deficit-reduction deal entered a new phase Thursday when Republican negotiators pulled out of bipartisan talks, leaving it to President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner to resolve the toughest issues.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) said he was backing out of the talks for now because the group had reached an impasse over the question of whether tax increases should be included in the deal.

The only other Republican in the group, Sen. Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.), soon followed suit, agreeing that only the highest levels of leadership could break the logjam between Democrats’ demand that the budget deal include tax increases and Republicans’ adamant opposition to that demand.

Wall Street shares slump as S&P downgrades US debt outlook

Are you all-is-well, republican-budget-cuts-are-too-deep, can’t-touch-social-security-or-Medicare imbeciles GETTING THIS YET? This isn’t a political game, you retards. The future of our nation is at stake. We can’t bet on political promises to cut spending over 10-20 years, WE MUST CUT IT NOW if we hope to survive.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/apr/18/us-economy-credit-rating

Ratings agency cuts long-term outlook from stable to negative for first time since Pearl Harbor attack 70 years ago

Shares fell heavily on Wall Street on Monday after a leading ratings agency fanned fears of Europe’s debt crisis spreading across the Atlantic by issuing a strong warning about America’s failure to tackle its budget deficit.

In a move seen by Wall Street as a “shot across the bows” of bickering politicians in Washington, Standard and Poor’s (S&P) said it was cutting the outlook on the US’s long-term rating from stable to negative for the first time since the attack on Pearl Harbor 70 years ago.

(click HERE for entire article)
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Socialism’s Trajectory: Obama’s HHS Is Bigger Than LBJ’s ENTIRE Government

Yes, you read that right. Adjusted for inflation, JUST the Dept of Health and Human Services under Obama will spend more in 2011 than LBJ’s ENTIRE FREAKING GOVERNMENT.

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Jeffrey on Socialism’s Trajectory: Obama’s HHS Is Bigger Than LBJ’s Government

Wednesday, February 16, 2011
By Terence P. Jeffrey

Anyone who doubts that the trend toward socialism is pushing America toward ruin should examine the historical tables President Obama published Monday along with his $3.7 trillion budget.

In fiscal 2011, according to these tables, the Department of Health and Human Services will spend $909.7 billion. In fiscal 1965, the entire federal government spent $118.228 billion.

What about inflation? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ inflation calculator, $118.228 billion in 1965 dollars equals $822.6 billion in 2010 dollars. In real terms, the $909.7 billion HHS is spending this year is about $87.1 billion more than the entire federal government spent in 1965.

1965 was a key year in the advancement of socialism in the United States.

From 1776 until 1965, Americans generally did not rely on the federal government for health care unless they served in the military or worked in some other capacity for the federal government.

But in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson and a Democratic Congress enacted two massive federal entitlement programs — Medicare and Medicaid — that fundamentally altered the relationship between Americans and the federal government by making tens of millions dependent on the government for health care.

Prior to 1937, the Supreme Court correctly understood the Constitution to deny the federal government any power to create and operate social-welfare programs. The Constitution held no such enumerated power, and the 10th Amendment left powers not enumerated to the states and the people.

From George Washington’s administration to Franklin Roosevelt’s, Americans took care of themselves and their own communities without resorting to federal handouts.

FDR sought to change what he believed was an unrealistic reliance on families in American life.

He used the crisis of the Great Depression to pass the Social Security Act of 1935, compelling Americans to pay a payroll tax in return for the promise of a federal old-age pension. This was blatantly unconstitutional. That same year, in Railroad Retirement Board v. Alton, the Supreme Court had justly slapped down a law mandating what amounted to a Social Security program for the railroad industry alone.

FDR attempted to defend the railroad pension law as a legitimate regulation of interstate commerce, justifiable under the Commerce Clause — the same argument the Obama administration has used to defend the individual mandate in Obamacare.

The Court scoffed, suggesting that if the federal government could mandate a federal pension for railroad workers, the next thing it would do would be to mandate health care.

“The question at once presents itself whether the fostering of a contented mind on the part of an employee by legislation of this type is, in any just sense, a regulation of interstate transportation,” the Court said answering FDR’s argument. “If that question be answered in the affirmative, obviously there is no limit to the field of so-called regulation. The catalogue of means and actions which might be imposed upon an employer in any business, tending to the satisfaction and comfort of his employees, seems endless. Provision for free medical attention and nursing, for clothing, for food, for housing, for the education of children, and a hundred other matters, might with equal propriety be proposed as tending to relieve the employee of mental strain and worry.”

When Social Security went to the Court in 1937, FDR used a different strategy. He argued that Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 of the Constitution, which gave Congress the power to levy taxes to “provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States,” meant the federal government could do virtually anything it deemed in the “general welfare” of Americans even if it was otherwise outside the scope of the Constitution’s other enumerated powers.

FDR’s interpretation of the General Welfare Clause effectively rendered the rest of the Constitution meaningless.

To persuade the same court that ruled against him in the railroad case to rule for him in the Social Security case, FDR proposed the Judicial Reorganization Act. This would allow him to pack the court by appointing an additional justice for each sitting justice who had reached age 70 and six months and not retired.

Faced with a potential Democratic takeover of the court, and thus a federal government controlled entirely by FDR’s allies, Republican Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Associate Justice Owen J. Roberts flip-flopped from their position in the railroad case. They quietly voted in favor of Social Security and took the steam off FDR’s court-packing plan.

That year, federal spending was 8.6 percent of gross domestic product, according to President Obama’s historical tables.

When LBJ enacted Medicare and Medicaid — and began fulfilling the court’s prophecy in the 1935 railroad-pension case — federal spending was 17.2 percent of GDP.

When George W. Bush expanded Medicare with a prescription drug benefit in 2003, federal spending was 19.7 percent of GDP. This year, federal spending will be 25.3 percent of GDP.

In 2014, when Obamacare is scheduled to be fully implemented, HHS will become the first $1-trillion-per year federal agency. That year, Medicare and Medicaid will cost $557 billion and $352.1 billion respectively, or a combined $909.1 billion — about what all of HHS costs this year.

In other words, when Obamacare is just getting started, Medicare and Medicaid will cost more than the $822.6 billion in 2010 dollars than the entire federal government cost in 1965 when LBJ signed Medicare and Medicaid into law.

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Obama: We Can’t Afford His “Leadership”

Have you noticed that any time Obama says “We can’t afford to wait for X,” we wind up another $800 billion in debt, have lost more freedom, and the government has grown by another leap and another bound?

What we can’t afford is more of this liberal/progressive destruction of our country.

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Federal debt tops $13 trillion, Deficit Grows by $5 Billion Every Day

It is now undeniable, but the issue was never really in question.  Obamanomics is a failure.  Obamanomics is simply repackaged Keynesian economics mixed with socialism, progressivism, and sprinkled with a healthy dose of narcissism.

The “stimulus” hasn’t stimulated anything.  The only jobs being created are in government, and many of those are temporary.  The government is lying about these temporary jobs to build the false impression that companies are hiring and the recession is ending (gov’t fuels 413,000 gain with temp census hires).  Census workers report being hired and fired multiple times and each instance of their hiring being reported as a new job, and their firing being done in a way to prevent collection of unemployment (Census Worker Claims Job Numbers Are Being Inflated)

Obama can no longer blame Bush for anything happening to the economy now.  Obama’s continued deficit spending, giveaways and bailouts are breaking us.  Obama and the left are ignoring the warning signs coming from Europe, and the signs staring us in the face here in our own country.  This can be nothing more than the intentional destruction of the American economy and our capitalist system by a far left ideologue and his henchmen.

Wake up, America!  If we don’t “drain the swamp” of corruption in Washington NOW, we likely won’t have the chance to do it later.

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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/2/federal-debt-tops-13-trillion-mark/

Federal debt tops $13 trillion mark

GOP sounds ‘alarm’ on red ink

President Barack Obama speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, June 1, 20010, after meeting with the BP Oil Spill Commission co-chairs. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

By Stephen Dinan

9:38 p.m., Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The federal government is now $13 trillion in the red, the Treasury Department reported Wednesday, marking the first time the government has sunk that far into debt and putting a sharp point on the spending debate on Capitol Hill.

Calculated down to the exact penny, the debt totaled $13,050,826,460,886.97 as of Tuesday, leaping nearly $60 billion since Friday, the previous day for which figures were released.

At $13 trillion, that figure has risen by $2.4 trillion in about 500 days since President Obama took office, or an average of $4.9 billion a day. That’s almost three times the daily average of $1.7 billion under the previous administration, and led Republicans on Wednesday to place blame squarely at the feet of Mr. Obama and his fellow Democrats.

“A $13 trillion debt is an alarm bell and a wake-up call combined, but Democrats are not even trying to pass a budget,” said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican. “How out of touch can Washington Democrats get? Instead of continuing to pay lip service to this issue, President Obama should call on congressional Democrats to pass a budget that provides the fiscal discipline economists say is needed to create jobs and grow our economy.”

The White House would not comment for the record, but an official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the administration is “committed to restoring fiscal responsibility.”

(read complete article HERE)

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Barack O-Bankruptus’ Budget: Stake Through America’s Heart

Here are some facts about the new Obama budget that should just piss you off.

• President Obama just submitted a $3.8 trillion budget
  • the largest federal budget EVER
  • $700 billion larger than Pres. George W. Bush’s last budget
  • TWICE the size of Pres. Bill Clinton’s last budget of $1.9 trillion
  • The projected deficit of that budget would be $1.6 trillion

Yet does the All Barack Channel (ABC), the New Barack Channel (NBC), or Consistent Barack Supporter (CBS) speak out AT ALL about this record spending?  Do they call it irresponsible?  Do they say he is spending too much?  NOT ON YOUR LIFE!  He’s ‘the one,’ the m-O-ssiah, Chairman Maobama, JoBama Stalin.  They won’t question him for one second, because they share his values and agenda.  And what’s worse, they cover up and/or spin the truth and paint him as a ‘fiscal conservative.’

The idiots in the media, and the one economist out of millions who actually believes that government created jobs create wealth or stimulate the economy are lying saying that the hundreds of billions of dollars Obama plans to spend will ‘spur job growth.’  It will only stimulate GOVERNMENT job growth.

These same purveyors of Obama propaganda quote Obama who said:

“The bottom line is this. We simply cannot continue to spend as if deficits don’t have consequences, as if waste doesn’t matter, as if the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like Monopoly money.”

Does any of these propagandists address the fact that Obama’s budget does EXACTLY what he is saying we ‘cannot continue’ to do?  Not on your life.

Are any of them reporting that in one single year, Obama has increased discretionary spending nearly 85%?  Are they reporting the hypocrisy of then saying he wants to ‘freeze’ spending at these unsustainable, bloated levels?  Not a peep.

These propagandists report favorably on Obama’s budget and quoted administration officials (Obama, budget director Peter Orszag, press secretary Robert Gibbs) a number of times, but mostly ignored tax or economic experts critical of the budget.

To top it all off, Obama’s budget is based on many faulty assumptions.

• Bush proposed spending at a rate that would rise to $2.71 trillion by 2011
  • Projections missed the mark and spending actually hit $3 trillion by 2008
  • Bush/Cheney spent $916 billion more annually by 2009 than they had planned
  • Obama’s budget figures passage of health care reform (which is currently in limbo) into the budget
  • The costs of Cap-and-Trade, which he intends to pass, are not figured into his budget
  • Obama’s budget assumes an economic growth rate of 3% per year plus inflation
    • This ignores a historic rate of 2.89% since 1980, and the current and projected state of our economy

So while Obama is spending money like a sex addict with a bottomless checkbook at the Moonlite BunnyRanch, what is he telling Americans about tough times?

“When times are tough, you tighten your belts.  You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage.  You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices.”

He made these statements in front of a crowd at a Nashua, NH highschool.

WHAT A FREAKING HYPOCRITE!

He is personally living it up, partying his skinny little Kenyan a$$ off at taxpayer expense, and jet-setting all over the world unnecessarily while Americans are sliding into poverty by the millions.  He flies in for a photo op, says “I understand,” and hops back on AF1, at a cost of thousands of dollars per flight hour, so he can make it back to the crib for the latest party, with entertainment provided by big name rock bands.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is much more than just a budget. It is a blue print for fundamentally changing America from a representative republic to a socialist/communist nation.

How will the Obama budget impact you directly?  Here are a few examples.

• Obama will let the Bush tax cuts expire (this is a tax increase)
• Obama’s stated tax focus on people making over $250,000 per year is a lie.  Many of these are small business corporations filing as individuals who personally take home less than $70,000 per year.  Their corporation may gross $250K, but most of that goes to expenses and wages for employees.  These businesses will close their doors when hit by these new taxes.

Middle class family backdoor tax increases

• George W. Bush 2001 targeted tax provision.
  • Lowered individual tax rates
  • Slashed capital gains taxes
  • Scaled back estate tax (death tax) to zero
  • Democrats call this tax cuts for the ‘wealthiest Americans’
  • If these provisions are allowed to expire in December 31^st, 2010 as Obama plans,
    • 10% tax bracket that existed under G.W. Bush will no longer exist
    • 25% tax bracket will increase to 28% (rich people, huh?)
    • 28% tax bracket will increase to 31%
    • 33% tax bracket will increase to 36%
    • Top tier personal income tax rate will rise from 35% to 39.6%
    • Estate (death) tax will go from 0% under Bush’s cuts in 2010 to 55% of everything you will to someone
      • Oh, by the way, all of this has already been taxed at least once by the government when it was earned in the first place
• Investors, (anyone who has a 401K, IRA, Union retirement account, or retirement account of any kind is considered an ‘investor’) tax on dividends will increase from 15% to 39.6%
• Capital Gains tax will increase from 15% to 20%
  • This will freeze money because no one will want to pay more than twice the penalty on their dividends
  • Say goodbye to the stock market
  • Congress also failed to renew the Alternative Minimum Tax ‘patch’
    • AMT originally intended to keep the VERY rich from avoiding income taxes
    • Some wealthy people were FOLLOWING THE TAX LAWS AS WRITTEN BY CONGRESS and were able to write off so much stuff that they owed no taxes
    • Congress acting on anger and class envy imposed the AMT
    • It has never been indexed for inflation, so now it applies to millions of Americans that it should not apply to
      • The government KNEW what they were doing when they did this.  They have been reluctant to correct their ‘mistake’ because it has become such a large source of income for the government
• Without renewing the patch, people with incomes as low as $33,000 will be affected
  • That means that if you earn more than $33,000 you are ‘rich’ under Obama’s definition
  • $250 teacher tax credit for buying classroom supplies will go away
    • School systems are receiving between $9,000 and $18,000 per student depending on the district which is being wasted in everything BUT the student
    • Dedicated teachers are paying for basic needs for their students from their own inadequate salaries
    • Taxpayers who itemize will lose ability to deduct state and local sales tax
    • Taxpayers who DON’T itemize will no longer be able to increase their standard deduction by up to $1,000 for property taxes paid
    • Tax deduction for up to $4,000 of college tuition and expenses: GONE
    • First $2,400 of UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS will now be TAXABLE
      • These were tax free under the Bush plan through 2009
      • Obama wants to eliminate the home mortgage deduction for people make over $250K/year
        • This will drive the final stake through the housing market
        • Construction, landscaping, housekeeping, and other jobs associated with these homes will disappear
        • People buy expensive houses so they can write them off

Ladies and gentlemen, this is tyranny worth fighting over. You and I are about to be enslaved, and our country destroyed by the whims of a communist president, and his willing accomplices in the house and senate. He has already sold us to China, who now dictates Obama’s policies and actions. We are now number 2 or 3 in the world economically, and soon to be militarily. He must be stopped.

We are approaching the tipping point, the precipice, the point of no return. If this agenda, and these people are not stopped from finishing the destruction of our constitution and our economy, we are soon to see a collapse of America that will make the “Great Depression” look like the “good ole’ days.” Your wheelbarrow full of money will not buy you a loaf of bread, and the cities like New York and LA will be charnel houses of anarchy because those people are completely dependent on outside sources for EVERYTHING they have.

Stop him now. Stop him before it’s too late. Stand together and save America.

Understanding the Danger of the Debt

This, friends, is why we absolutely CAN NOT afford another bailout, CAN NOT afford the multi-trillion dollar government takeover of health care, CAN NOT afford to ship BILLIONS of dollars over seas every year under a Cap-and-Trade treaty, and just CAN NOT continue to endless stream of government handouts and freebies with no accountability. The Obama/democrat spending train MUST be derailed before our nation implodes.

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Recognizing the Danger

As of today, the United States government has borrowed $12,013,338,919,392.31. Such an enormous debt poses short-term and long-term dangers.

The most immediate problem is that we are spending huge amounts of money just paying the interest. In 2008, we spent $253 billion on interest alone — that’s six times what we spend on the Department of Education, or thirteen times more than NASA. All just for interest payments, and much of it to foreign governments.

Over the next ten years, the debt is expected to almost double in size, to about $20 trillion. Our annual interest payments will grow even faster, to $675 billion in 2019. That’s more than all the money we spend presently on national defense, and much of it will flow to other countries.

A growing debt means higher taxes, painful cuts in government services, job loss, and a very real danger of economic catastrophe. Unless we stop this out of control spending now, the consequences could be devastating.

How bad could it get?

To understand how bad the debt situation could get, it’s important to understand who we actually owe the money to. The government can get loans from a few different sources:

• Private investors
• Foreign governments
• The Federal Reserve
• Intragovernmental holdings

The majority of the debt is in the first two categories. Those investors include individuals and businesses (especially banks), as well as foreign governments (especially China). Other countries buy our debt because it is a good investment — they trust us to pay them back, with interest. The most recent figures show we owe about $3.3 trillion to the governments of other countries, including nearly $800 billion to China alone.

The debt is dangerous because it isn’t under control. We cannot force anyone to loan us money, and the interest we pay can become more expensive. If that happens, our expenses go up, but our income doesn’t — so we sink even further into debt.

If investors are unwilling to lend the U.S. money, the government can go to the Federal Reserve. The Fed can literally create money out of nothing (print it), and then lend it to the government. This already happens — the Fed has lent about $270 billion to the government in the last year, in response to the credit crisis. But creating new money has a catch — inflation. Printing money can lead to a vicious cycle, as inflation devalues the money already in the economy.

What If We Can’t Pay it Back?

If the debt keeps growing, eventually we just won’t have enough money to pay the interest. There are two options at that point: default or inflation.

Default

We don’t know for sure what would happen if the U.S. defaulted. Credit depends on trust and expectations, and for much of our history the United States has been acknowledged as the most trustworthy and reliable borrower in the world. We benefit tremendously from that trust, as people are willing to lend us money even when everything seems to be going wrong. But if that trust is broken, the mountain of debt would cause economic chaos far beyond anything we have seen in the past few years.

Not only would defaulting destroy our credit rating, but everyone who has invested in Treasury bonds would lose their savings. Thousands of pension funds would fail, and tens of millions would lose their retirements.

The problem would be all the worse because U.S. Treasury bonds are supposed to be the safest investment of all: they don’t pay a high interest rate, but investors buy them with the money they cannot afford to lose.

Inflation

In a worst-case scenario, the alternative to defaulting on our loans is to borrow more money from the Federal Reserve. But if the Fed starts printing trillions of dollars, that will dramatically lower the value of the money already in the economy. Once a cycle of government-caused inflation is started, it is very difficult to stop. Many countries have fallen into an inflation trap, including Argentina, Zimbabwe, and Hungary. Learn more.

Every year that we overspend, we are depending on investors to lend us money. As long as they believe we will repay the money, we can keep spending. But as Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman writes, if we allow our debt to expand without a credible plan to get it under control, “investors will eventually conclude that America has turned into a third world country, and start to treat it like one. And the results for the U.S. economy won’t be pretty.”

How Can We Defeat the Debt?

The solution is simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. When you already owe a lot of money, the first step toward recovery is not borrowing more money. Every year we wait to address this problem, the debt grows larger and the solution gets more expensive.

If we spend less than we collect in taxes, the difference can go towards paying down the debt. In 1999 and 2000 we had a budget surplus of about $360 billion, but since then we have borrowed about $6 trillion, or $6,000 billion.

That ability to pay down debt came from increased tax revenues, which in turn were the result of an expanding economy. But the massive size of the new debt threatens to slow our economic growth and make repayment much more difficult..

Not Another Zimbabwe

Out-of-control debt led Zimbabwe, once one of the strongest economies in Africa, into economic ruin and a humanitarian crisis that has yet to be resolved.

Descent into Debt: Zimbabwe’s Story

Some critics worry that our escalating national debt will lead to an inflationary crisis. A look at the first inflationary crisis of the 21st century, in the African nation of Zimbabwe, provides an illuminating case study of the consequences of runaway debt.

Zimbabwe’s 12 million inhabitants have experienced some of the worst currency inflation in history. By one estimate, over the last decade, Zimbabwean currency was devalued (i.e. lost its value) by 89 sextillion percent. (One sextillion is a billion trillion or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000!)

Defaulting on the Debt

While inflation of the Zimbabwean dollar had been high for years (approximately 50% in 1998, 1999, and 2000), it wasn’t until 2001 that the crisis began in earnest. In 2001, Zimbabwe defaulted on its loans from the International Monetary Fund, and on top of that, owed more than $4.5 billion to foreign countries, the African Development Bank, European Investment Bank, and the World Bank. The IMF estimated that in 2001, Zimbabwe’s external debt totaled 64% of the nation’s GDP. The country’s credit was ruined, and the government could not get loans elsewhere. Investors around the world were understandably unwilling to risk their money by lending to a nation that had just reneged on billions of dollars in outstanding debt.

Printing Money

Deprived of foreign sources of credit, the government began to simply print large amounts of money to pay for its operations. The money was then sold on the foreign-exchange market for U.S. dollars, and used to pay the country’s loans. This attempt to restore the country’s credit rating flooded the market with vast amounts of Zimbabwe’s currency, devaluing the money held by Zimbabwean citizens.

The government quickly became addicted to printing more and more money in order to pay its internal and external debts. As a result, all the money in circulation was being constantly devalued.

If a new municipal building project was needed, the government of Zimbabwe simply printed more money. With little revenue with which to pay public employees, the government printed new money to pay them every day. The international community quickly caught onto the scheme, but the country’s citizens were trapped.

Hyperinflation

This cycle of hyperinflation destroyed people’s life savings. The economy fell into ruin. A functioning economy became impossible when the value of currency literally dropped by the hour. Long term investments disappeared. Basic goods and services were nowhere to be found. Credit was non-existent.

The pace of inflation was so fast that the value of the Zimbabwean dollar changed by the hour, and by 2008, prices were doubling every 1.3 days. At that rate, a bag of rice that cost $10 on Monday would be $80 by Friday. In July of 2008, the inflation rate was estimated at more than 200 million percent, though many say that number fails to capture the heights to which inflation had soared. Time Magazine reported in July 2008 that a pint of milk cost three billion Zimbabwean dollars, or about 30 U.S. cents. Another estimate by the Institute of Commercial Management claimed that 1.2 trillion Zimbabwean dollars was worth one British pound.

Despite the government’s attempts to rebase the currency by literally lopping off 10 zeros in August 2008 and 12 zeros in February 2009, inflation continued to rocket out of control.

The Death of a Currency

By early 2009, the Zimbabwean dollar was effectively worthless. The government was issuing bills in denominations up to one hundred trillion dollars.

At the end of January, citizens of Zimbabwe were allowed to conduct business in any currency, and on April 12, 2009, the Zimbabwean government gave up on the official currency and suspended its use.

Zimbabwe’s Tragedy

Once one of the most successful countries in Africa, Zimbabwe is now one of the poorest in the world.

With no regard for the future of the country, Zimbabwe’s leaders chose a path of reckless borrowing—and then tried to pay their debts by printing more money. This devastated the economy and precipitated a humanitarian crisis and the death of a currency.

The United States is not Zimbabwe, nor will it ever be. However, as we consider the magnitude of our growing national debt, it is useful to look to the example of a nation that chose to ignore its own national debt for too long and paid a very, very dear price.

Top Ten Inflation Rates in the World In 2008

1. Zimbabwe 11,200,000.00%
2. Ethiopia 44.40%
3. Seychelles 37.00%
4. Venezuela 30.40%
5. Mongolia 28.00%
6. Burma 26.80%
7. Kenya 26.30%
8. Iran 25.60%
9. Ukraine 25.20%
10. Kyrgyzstan 24.50%

Source: CIA World Factbook, est. 2008

They Never Saw it Coming

Many nations have been devastated by unexpected debt crises.

California

In 2008, the state of California needed to borrow or raise $40 billion. In a special election, voters rejected higher taxes. Because state law requires politicians to balance the budget, the state was forced to lay off thousands of employees, raise some taxes, and cut billions from popular programs. Californians will pay far more to borrow in the future, as the state’s credit rating dropped from “A-” to “BBB”. Despite the size of California’s crisis, that $40 billion shortfall is only 0.3% of the size of our national debt.

Japan

A stock market and real estate bubble in Japan led businesses and individuals to borrow far more than they could repay. When the bubble burst in 1990, the Japanese economy was crippled. As of 2008, the Japanese stock market was actually lower than it was in 1982.

Argentina

From 1975 to 1991, Argentina’s government embarked on a strategy of printing money to pay its debts. The eventual inflation was so great that 100 billion Argentine pesos in 1975 were worth 1 peso in 1992. If the same thing happened in America, Bill Gates’ fortune of $60 billion would be worth 60 cents.

Thailand

In the 1990s, the Thai government accumulated a huge amount of foreign debt. In 1997, the government was so overextended that it could not afford to protect the value of its own currency. In a few months, the Thai baht lost 40% of its value, 1.5 million people lost their jobs, and the Thai stock market lost about 75% of its value.

Iceland

After Iceland’s biggest banks declared that they were unable to repay their loans, the government nationalized them to avoid disaster. The country had to borrow huge amounts of money to afford the takeovers, and now every Icelander owes the equivalent of $156,000.

Zimbabwe

This small African nation has experienced some of the worst inflation in history. For a decade, the government continually printed more money to pay its debts, so all the money in circulation was constantly devalued. The pace of inflation was so fast that prices were doubling every 1.3 days. At that rate, a bag of rice that cost $10 on Monday would be $80 by Friday. By one estimate, Zimbabwean currency has been devalued by 89 sextillion percent. (One sextillion is a trillion trillion!)

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Obama Betraying Military, Causes Troops to Die in Afghanistan

From one of the mouths on one of his faces, Obama NOW says that his worries about military spending are delaying his decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan.  That’s funny.  He wasn’t worried about too much spending when he signed the $787 Billion (which we didn’t have) porkulus package into law.  He doesn’t seem too worried about spending TRILLIONS more dollars we don’t have on a freedom destroying takeover of the American health care system.  He doesn’t seem too worried about spending TRILLIONS more dollars we don’t have, and completing the destruction of our economy by pushing his cap-and-charade climate change agenda, and vowing to sign the Copenhagen Treaty.  He doesn’t seem too worried about the BILLIONS of dollars that are being funneled to his cronies and union buddies in the form of political payoffs.

The amount of fraud, waste, and abuse of the Medicare system last year would fund the 40,000 troops that General McChrystal is requesting for an entire year.

Here’s a Nancy Pelosi, “Are you kidding me?” moment if I ever saw one.  During his current Asian “Apologize for America” tour, Comrade Obama stopped at Eielson AFB in Alaska.  There he told the 1,000 some-odd troops in attendance the following:

“I want you guys to understand that I will never hesitate to use force to protect the American people and our vital interests,” Obama told the troops. “But I also make you this promise: I will not risk your lives unless it is necessary to America’s vital interests.”

“And if it is necessary,” Obama added, “the United States of America will have your back. We’ll give you the strategy and the clear mission you deserve. We’ll give you the equipment and support you need to get the job done. And that includes public support back home.”

I wonder if he includes the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq in this statement, because he is using military force, and he is risking American military lives in those places.  Does he consider Afghanistan and Iraq to be “America’s vital interests?”  If he did, he would give them a “strategy and the clear mission” they deserve, and he would indeed “have their back,” and would be giving them “the equipment and support” they “need to get the job done.”

He has delayed for 3 months giving the General THAT HE APPOINTED the men and material that he has requested, so what does that say about Obama’s attitude toward Afghanistan?  What does it say about his attitude toward the military in general when looked at in the larger context of his military spending plans?

It appears to me that Chairman Maobama is attempting to destroy the military just as he appears to be intentionally trying to destroy the economy.  What will fill the void?  Remember that “civilian security force” Obama spoke of during his campaign?  The one that he said would be “just as well funded and equipped as the military?”  The current military swears to protect and defend the constitution.  Obama’s new “military” would swear allegiance to him.

Didn’t we learn ANYTHING from the second world war?  Brown Shirts, anyone?

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Harry Reid Caught Lying About Healthcare Bill Price Tag

In the first clip you see and hear Harry Reid in his previous lie about how much healthcare reform was going to cost.  He said “approaching 1 trillion dollars…”  This was in the face of several reliable, independent estimates that more than doubled the estimate.

In the second clip you see and hear Harry Reid belittling the idea and push for tort reform and caps on medical malpractice.  It is said that these thing alone could save around 54 billion dollars.  Yet the soon to be deposed senator Reid says that “…we’re talking about 2 trillion dollars,  54 billion dollars compared to 2 trillion dollars.  You can do the math, we can all do the math.  It’s a very small percent.”

Yes, Mr. Reid, we can do the math.  I’m told that the government CURRENTLY is spending about 400 billion a year on Medicare/Medicaid and other healtcare related expenditures.  54 billion dollars is almost 14% of the total expenditure.  By instituting tort reforms and liability caps and changing NOTHING ELSE, that’s 54 BILLION DOLLARS that the taxpayers would not be getting raped for every year.  This as opposed to getting raped and sodomized for an ADDITIONAL 2 TRILLION DOLLARS.

Yes, indeed, Mr. Reid, we can do the math.  And the numbers add up to the fact that we the American people are being lied to, stolen from, and forced into modern slavery.

See below for an explanation of just how big a trillion REALLY is.

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With all this talk of “billions” and “trillions”, I thought a quick refresher was in order on the real magnitude of those numbers.

One TRILLION dollars…

What does that look like? I mean, these various numbers are tossed around like so many doggie treats, so I thought I’d take Google Sketchup out for a test drive and try to get a sense of what exactly a trillion dollars looks like.

We’ll start with a $100 dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen them, slighty fewer have owned them. Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go.

A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2″ thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decadent fun.

Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet…

And $1 BILLION dollars… now we’re really getting somewhere…

Next we’ll look at ONE TRILLION dollars. This is that number we’ve been hearing so much about. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it’s a million million. It’s a thousand billion. It’s a one followed by 12 zeros.

You ready for this?

It’s pretty surprising.

Go ahead…

Scroll down…

Ladies and gentlemen… I give you $1 trillion dollars…

Notice the man standing at the left front corner for size reference.

(And notice those pallets are double stacked.)

So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase “trillion dollars”… that’s what they’re talking about

** Keep in mind, what you see is NOT one trillion $1 bills, it is 10,000,000,000 $100 bills.

Here’s a breakdown of size if you stacked the following amounts in $1 bills

A stack of one trillion $1 bills would make just over 16 round trips from New York to Los Angeles.

A stack of one trillion $1 bills would make 3.17 laps around the earth at the equator.

A stack of one trillion $1 bills would reach over 1/3 of the way to the moon.

Sound like a lot of dollars to you?  Yet these idiots in Washington, many of whom have never had to earn an honest days wage, throw these numbers around like they don’t mean anything.  To them it doesn’t mean anything because they won’t be the ones paying for it.

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