Playing The Sequester Blame Game: Drama Obama Not Problem Solver But Blame Shifter–Republicans Are Not Problem Solvers But Blame Shifters–Shut Off The Blame Shifters–Lead, Follow, or Get Out of The Way–Balance The Budget In Four Years By Real Cuts of $250 Billion Each Year To Budget Baseline for Four Years For Total of $1,000 Billion or You Are Out–Tea Party Patriots Proclamation–Videos

Posted on February 20, 2013. Filed under: Banking, Blogroll, Books, Communications, Economics, Employment, Federal Government, Federal Government Budget, Fiscal Policy, government, government spending, History of Economic Thought, Inflation, Law, liberty, Life, media, Monetary Policy, Money, People, Philosophy, Politics, Public Sector, Rants, Raves, Unemployment, Unions, Video, War, Wealth, Wisdom | Tags: Balanced Budgets, Barack Obama, Blame Game, Blame Shifters, Bob Woodward, Budget Baseline, Flip Flopper, FY 2013 Budget, Jobs, Liar, Massive Deficits, Obama's Big Lie, Rand Paul, Sequester, Spending Addiction Disorder, Tea Party Patriots, The Sequester |

Obama PROMISES To Cut Deficit In Half By 2012

Live Obama speech on debt 23th february 2009

Amazing – Obama Caught in Bald-Faced Lie on White House Sequester

Sequester- President Obama says $85B in spending cuts WILL kick in Friday

Judge Napolitano: Facts About Sequester Caught Up To Obama “His Scare Tactics Are Reprehensible”

Obama’s big lie and massive deficits: spending addiction disorder (SAD)

By Raymond Thomas Pronk

Crisis and fear mongering as well as blame shifting are again running rampant among the ruling political elites in Washington over out-of-control government spending and what to do about it.

President Barack Obama and progressive Congressional Democrats want to increase federal government spending by increasing taxes through closing so-called “tax loopholes” or more precisely eliminating existing tax deductions and credits in the Internal Revenue code.

House Speaker John Boehner and conservative Congressional Republicans want to decrease government spending and decrease tax rates by also eliminating “tax loopholes.” There is no middle ground to negotiate given the diametrically opposed positions of the political parties. This was not always the case.

Early in his first term Obama delivered a speech in the White House titled “A New Era of Responsibility,” captured on the YouTube video titled “Obama will cut deficit in half FEB 2009.” He said, “We cannot, and will not, sustain deficits like these without end. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom in Washington these past few years, we cannot simply spend as we please and defer the consequences to the next budget, the next administration, or the next generation.

“We are paying the price for these deficits right now. In 2008 alone, we paid $250 billion in interest on our debt — one in every 10 taxpayer dollars. That is more than three times what we spent on education that year; more than seven times what we spent on VA health care.

“So if we confront this crisis without also confronting the deficits that helped cause it, we risk sinking into another crisis down the road as our interest payments rise, our obligations come due, confidence in our economy erodes, and our children and our grandchildren are unable to pursue their dreams because they’re saddled with our debts.

“And that’s why today I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we’ve long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay — and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control.”

The last George W. Bush deficit for fiscal year 2008 was nearly $459 billion. If Obama was serious about meeting his pledge of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term, the deficit should have been less than $230 billion for fiscal year 2012. Obama did the exact opposite of what he promised the American people he would do in February 2009. Instead of cutting the deficit in half, he doubled the deficit to more than a trillion dollars for each fiscal year he has been in office as the table below clearly shows:

Summary of Spending Outlays, Tax Receipts, Deficits (-) or Surpluses, 2005-2013 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal Year	Spending Outlays	Tax Receipts	-Deficit +Surplus	President (Party)	House Control	Senate Control
2005	2,471,957	2,153,611	-318,346	Bush (R)	Republicans	Democrats
2006	2,655,050	2,406,859	-248,181	Bush (R)	Republicans	Democrats
2007	2,728,686	2,567,985	-150,701	Bush (R)	Democrats	Democrats
2008	2,982,544	2,523,991	-458,553	Bush (R)	Democrats	Democrats
2009	3,517,677	2,104,989	-1,412,588	Obama (D)	Democrats	Democrats
2010	3,456,213	2,162,724	-1,293,489	Obama (D)	Democrats	Democrats
2011	3,603,061	2,303,466	-1,299,595	Obama (D)	Republicans	Democrats
2012	3,538,286	2,449,093	-1,089,193	Obama (D)	Republicans	Democrats
2013 est.	3,803,364	2,901,956	-901,408	Obama (D)	Republicans	Democrats
Source: The Budget for Fiscal Year 2013, Historical Tables, Table 1.1http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/hist.pdf

These massive and unprecedented deficits required that the national debt be increased to pay for the government’s out-of-control spending and for Congress to increase the debt ceiling to $16.4 trillion. On Aug. 2, 2011 President Obama signed into law The Budget Control Act of 2011. This ended the so-called debt ceiling crisis by increasing the debt-level immediately by $400 billion and allowing Obama to ask for another increase of the ceiling by $500 billion with Congressional approval in the future. The law established the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Debt Reduction, better known as the “super committee,” with the task of reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion by Dec. 23, 2011. The super committee failed to accomplish its assigned task.

This triggered the sequestration provisions in the law requiring across-the-board cuts in government spending of $1.2 trillion over 10 years with a corresponding increase in the debt-level by $1.2 trillion. Both Democrats and Republicans voted for the sequestration when they passed the law. However, the original idea for sequestration came from White House congressional relations chief Rob Nabors and Jack Lew, who was then budget director, whom with Obama’s approval presented the idea to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, according to Bob Woodward as documented in his book “The Price of Politics.“

On Jan. 31, Congress suspended the borrowing limit or debt ceiling of $16.4 trillion for three months until May 19.

By March 1 Congress needed to cut $1.2 trillion from the growth in the Congressional Budget Office baseline for fiscal years 2013 through 2021 or the sequestration would be triggered. These automatic spending cuts had to come from both discretionary and mandatory spending.

Under the sequestration order for fiscal year 2013, signed by Obama on Mar. 1, there needs to be a $85.3 billion cut in growth in federal government budget authority of which $42.7 billion is defense, $28.7 billion non-defense discretionary, $9.9 billion Medicare and $4 billion other mandatory.

For fiscal year 2013 the total federal government spending outlays are estimated to be about $3.8 trillion with estimated total tax revenues of about $2.9 trillion resulting in a deficit of about $901 billion. The sequestration impact for fiscal year 2013 is an estimated $44 billion cut in spending outlays or about 1.4% of total federal government spending.

The crisis and fear mongering and blame shifting is never-ending as Congress must now agree to a fiscal year 2013 continuing resolution by March 31. Meanwhile the U.S. economy is on the verge of another recession with higher unemployment rates and many more millions of unemployed Americans.

The absence of leadership in Washington to budget to estimated tax receipts and by so doing live within the means of the American people is the core problem. The solution would require the repeal of Congress’s baseline budgeting process whereby current spending levels are used to determine future funding requirements by adding increased funding for population growth, inflation and other factors to the current level of spending. The congressional budget baseline process totally ignores estimated tax receipts or revenues as a budgetary constraint. The result is massive unsustainable deficits.

Obama’s new era of responsibility was pure propaganda prevarication. Obama’s age of fiscal insanity and spending addiction disorder continues to destroy jobs, wreck the economy and kill the American dream. Neither progressive Democrats nor Republicans have the will, courage, integrity, wisdom and vision to balance the federal budget. Truly unbelievable.

http://federalbudget.com/

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/debt_deficit_history

Historical Debt Outstanding – Annual 2000 – 2012

Includes legal tender notes, gold and silver certificates, etc.

The first fiscal year for the U.S. Government started Jan. 1, 1789. Congress changed the beginning of the fiscal year from Jan. 1 to Jul. 1 in 1842, and finally from Jul. 1 to Oct. 1 in 1977 where it remains today.

To find more historical information, visit The Public Debt Historical Information archives.

Date	Dollar Amount
09/30/2012	16,066,241,407,385.89
09/30/2011	14,790,340,328,557.15
09/30/2010	13,561,623,030,891.79
09/30/2009	11,909,829,003,511.75
09/30/2008	10,024,724,896,912.49
09/30/2007	9,007,653,372,262.48
09/30/2006	8,506,973,899,215.23
09/30/2005	7,932,709,661,723.50
09/30/2004	7,379,052,696,330.32
09/30/2003	6,783,231,062,743.62
09/30/2002	6,228,235,965,597.16
09/30/2001	5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/2000	5,674,178,209,886.86

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo5.htm

The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It

U.S. Debt Clock

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Budget Control Act Sequestration Would Hit Defense Hardest

Rand Paul: Sequester Doesn’t Cut Enough – Stossel 2/28/2013

Balderdash! Sen. Rand Paul demolishes Obama’s sequester scare tactics

Hooray for SEQUESTRATION…

Illegal Immigrants Released from Detention Centers…

Bernanke Urges Sequestration Alternative

The Obama Sequester: He Was For It, Before He Was Against It

Obama Then and Now: I was for the sequester and now I am against it

Rand Paul: Obama Claiming To Have Cut Debt By $2 Trillion Is Absurd – 2/13/2013

Paul Ryan confronted on sequester

The Truth about Sequestration

Fiscal Cliff: 5 Facts about the Federal Budget (animated) (2012)

Sequestration 101

Sequestration and transfer authority

Rand Paul: Sequester Is A Pittance – 2/19/2013

Rand Paul to Obama on Sequester: Stand Up, Be a Leader and Just Do the Right Thing

Sen Paul Sequester Barely Cuts Any Icing From Cake

Greenspan: Odds of Sequestration Occurring Are Very High

Krauthammer: ‘Republicans Should Do Nothing’ On The Sequester

Next big challenge facing DC: The sequester

US military fighting against ‘sequester’ cuts

What is the March 1 sequester!…

Sessions Criticizes Composition Of Sequester, Says Surging Domestic Spending

Understanding the Sequester with David Sirota

Obama Senior Adviser: Haven’t Talked To Congressional Leaders About The Obama

Bob Woodward: Sequester was Obama’s Solution

Drama Obama Pleas For Delay To Sequestration Cuts

Jay Carney: Yes the Sequester Idea Was Put Forward by the President’s Team

Flashback: Obama promises veto stopgap alternative to sequester cuts

Bob Woodward on ‘The Price of Politics,’ Fiscal Fight

In summer 2011, a partisan Congress sparred with the White House on how to solve the U.S. debt crisis. Judy Woodruff talks to journalist Bob Woodward about his new book, “The Price of Politics,” about how Washington’s politicians couldn’t look past their own political aspirations in order to forge a deal.

Our Lying President – Debate lie on sequestration

White House Already Backpedaling On Obama Sequestration Comments

Bob Woodward talks about his new book ‘The Price of Politics’

Fox & Friends Rips Obama On Sequester: Is It ‘Blackmail’ To Get More Tax Hikes

CBO Director: “We haven’t seen a specific proposal” from Obama on replacing

OBAMA despises his OWN idea: the SEQUESTER

Obama:Congress Putting Thousands Of Jobs At Risk

Markets Will React Big When Reality Sets In

Peter Schiff: Obama recession will be worse than the Obama recovery

John Lennon – Give Peace or Sequester A Chance (Original Video Tape)

John Boehner: The President Is Raging Against a Budget Crisis He Created

Obama invented the ‘sequester’ in the summer of 2011 to avoid facing up to America’s spending problem.

By JOHN BOEHNER

A week from now, a dramatic new federal policy is set to go into effect that threatens U.S. national security, thousands of jobs and more. In a bit of irony, President Obama stood Tuesday with first responders who could lose their jobs if the policy goes into effect. Most Americans are just hearing about this Washington creation for the first time: the sequester. What they might not realize from Mr. Obama’s statements is that it is a product of the president’s own failed leadership.

The sequester is a wave of deep spending cuts scheduled to hit on March 1. Unless Congress acts, $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will occur this year, with another $1.1 trillion coming over the next decade. There is nothing wrong with cutting spending that much—we should be cutting even more—but the sequester is an ugly and dangerous way to do it.

By law, the sequester focuses on the narrow portion of the budget that funds the operating accounts for federal agencies and departments, including the Department of Defense. Exempt is most entitlement spending—the large portion of the budget that is driving the nation’s looming debt crisis. Should the sequester take effect, America’s military budget would be slashed nearly half a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. Border security, law enforcement, aviation safety and many other programs would all have diminished resources.

How did the country find itself in this mess?

During the summer of 2011, as Washington worked toward a plan to reduce the deficit to allow for an increase in the federal debt limit, President Obama and I very nearly came to a historic agreement. Unfortunately our deal fell apart at the last minute when the president demanded an extra $400 billion in new tax revenue—50% more than we had shaken hands on just days before.

It was a disappointing decision by the president, but with just days until a breach of the debt limit, a solution was still required—and fast. I immediately got together with Senate leaders Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell to forge a bipartisan congressional plan. It would be called the Budget Control Act.

The plan called for immediate caps on discretionary spending (to save $917 billion) and the creation of a special House-Senate “super committee” to find an additional $1.2 trillion in savings. The deal also included a simple but powerful mechanism to ensure that the committee met its deficit-reduction target: If it didn’t, the debt limit would not be increased again in a few months.

But President Obama was determined not to face another debt-limit increase before his re-election campaign. Having just blown up one deal, the president scuttled this bipartisan, bicameral agreement. His solution? A sequester.

With the debt limit set to be hit in a matter of hours, Republicans and Democrats in Congress reluctantly accepted the president’s demand for the sequester, and a revised version of the Budget Control Act was passed on a bipartisan basis.

Ultimately, the super committee failed to find an agreement, despite Republicans offering a balanced mix of spending cuts and new revenue through tax reform. As a result, the president’s sequester is now imminent.

Both parties today have a responsibility to find a bipartisan solution to the sequester. Turning it off and erasing its deficit reduction isn’t an option. What Congress should do is replace it with other spending cuts that put America on the path to a balanced budget in 10 years, without threatening national security.

Having first proposed and demanded the sequester, it would make sense that the president lead the effort to replace it. Unfortunately, he has put forth no detailed plan that can pass Congress, and the Senate—controlled by his Democratic allies—hasn’t even voted on a solution, let alone passed one. By contrast, House Republicans have twice passed plans to replace the sequester with common-sense cuts and reforms that protect national security.

The president has repeatedly called for even more tax revenue, but the American people don’t support trading spending cuts for higher taxes. They understand that the tax debate is now closed.

The president got his higher taxes—$600 billion from higher earners, with no spending cuts—at the end of 2012. He also got higher taxes via ObamaCare. Meanwhile, no one should be talking about raising taxes when the government is still paying people to play videogames, giving folks free cellphones, and buying $47,000 cigarette-smoking machines.

Washington must get serious about its spending problem. If it can’t reform America’s safety net and retirement-security programs, they will no longer be there for those who rely on them. Republicans’ willingness to do what is necessary to save these programs is well-known. But after four years, we haven’t seen the same type of courage from the president.

The president’s sequester is the wrong way to reduce the deficit, but it is here to stay until Washington Democrats get serious about cutting spending. The government simply cannot keep delaying the inevitable and spending money it doesn’t have.

So, as the president’s outrage about the sequester grows in coming days, Republicans have a simple response: Mr. President, we agree that your sequester is bad policy. What spending are you willing to cut to replace it?

— Mr. Boehner, a Republican congressman from Ohio, is speaker of the House.

A version of this article appeared February 20, 2013, on page A15 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: The President Is Raging Against a Budget Crisis He Created.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323495104578314240032274944.html

2013 United States federal budget

The 2013 United States federal budget is the budget to fund government operations for the fiscal year 2013, which is October 2012–September 2013. The original spending request was issued by President Barack Obama in February 2012.^[1] The actual appropriations for fiscal year 2013 must be authorized by the full Congress before the budget can take effect, in accordance with the United States budget process.

The Budget Control Act of 2011 mandates caps on discretionary spending, which under current law will be lowered beginning in January 2013 to remove $1.2 trillion of spending over the following ten years. In addition, several temporary tax cuts are scheduled to expire at the beginning of the 2013 calendar year, including the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts on income, capital gains, and estate tax, which had been extended in a 2010 tax deal, as well as a payroll tax cut that began as a result of the 2010 deal and had been most recently extended in an early 2012 tax deal. The combination of sudden spending cuts and tax increases has led to concerns about significant negative effects on the economy in the wake of the weak recovery from the late 2000s recession.

History

Budget Control Act and the Deficit Reduction Committee

The Budget Control Act of 2011 was passed in August 2011 as a resolution to the debt-ceiling crisis. The fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget is the first to be affected by the second of two rounds of budget cuts specified in the act. (The first round of cuts has already been applied to the ten years beginning in FY2012.) For this second round of cuts, the Budget Control Act had formed the United States Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, sometimes referred to as the “supercommittee”, to identify at least $1.2 trillion in cuts over the ten years beginning with FY2013, and specified automatic across-the-board cuts of the same amount, equally split between security and non-security programs, if no such budget reduction legislation was passed by Congress.^[4]

On November 21, 2011, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction announced that it did not reach a deal on the budget-cutting legislation, raising the possibility that the automatic cuts would be activated if the full Congress could not enact its own deficit reduction legislation by December 23, 2011. The supercommittee’s lack of an agreement was attributed to the refusal of Republicans to consider any tax increases, combined with Democratic insistence on including these revenue increases such as the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, which under current law expire at the end of 2012.^[5]

Initial proposals

President Obama’s February 2012 budget message to Congress addressed themes of economic crisis and response, an updated defense strategy, taxation fairness, income equality, fiscal responsibility, and investments in education and research to help the U.S. compete economically. He wrote: “The way to rebuild our economy and strengthen the middle class is to make sure that everyone in America gets a fair shot at success. Instead of lowering our standards and our sights, we need to win a race to the top for good jobs that pay well and offer security for the middle class. To succeed and thrive in the global, high-tech economy, we need America to be a place with the highest-skilled, highest-educated workers; the most advanced transportation and communication networks; and the strongest commitment to research and technology in the world. This Budget makes investments that can help America win this race, create good jobs, and lead in the world economy.”^[6]

Key elements of the President’s budget for fiscal year (FY) 2013 included expiration of a variety of tax cuts for couples earning over $250,000 ($200,000 if single), short-term stimulus measures to support job growth, and targeted tax cuts for families and businesses. The budget included 2013 revenues of $2.9 trillion or 17.8% GDP (up from $2.5 trillion or 15.8% GDP in 2012) and spending of $3.8 trillion or 23.3% GDP (similar to the prior year in dollar terms but below the 24.3% GDP in 2012). The projected 2013 deficit was $900 billion (5.5% GDP), down from the 2012 deficit of $1.3 trillion (8.5% GDP).^[7]

Over the 2013-2022 period, the budget essentially freezes defense and non-defense discretionary spending in dollar terms, such that these categories shrink relative to a growing economy, from 8.7% GDP to 5.9% GDP. Mandatory spending (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other safety net programs) remain around 14% GDP. Net interest rises from 1.5% GDP to 3.3% GDP. Revenues rise steadily during the period from 17.8% GDP to 20.1% GDP, averaging 19.2% GDP.^[8] Debt held by the public rises from $12.6 trillion to $18.7 trillion, but remains flat around 77% GDP during the period.^[9]

On May 16, 2012, the United States Senate voted on a 52-page Republican budget amendment billed as a summary of the nearly 2,000 pages in the Obama administration’s 2013 budget proposal. The amendment was defeated by a unanimous 99–0 vote, which paralleled the House of Representatives having voted a similar rejection in March by a count of 414–0. Those defeats of the Republicans’ amendments marked the second year in a row such summary bills met unanimous opposition.^[10] In explaining their votes against, Congressional Democrats disputed whether the Republican summary accurately represented the Obama budget proposal; by contrast, Congressional Republicans claimed that their amendment included ample data taken directly from said budget.^[11]

Legislation begins to be passed

On July 31, 2012, a tentative deal was announced to fund the government from October 2012 through March 2013 through a continuing resolution, with spending rates slightly higher than the FY2012 levels. The deal was reached because Republicans were eager to avoid a prolonged dispute that could threaten a government shutdown just before the upcoming 2012 general elections.^[12] The bill, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013, was passed in the House 329–91,^[13] passed in the Senate 62–30,^[14] and signed by President Obama on September 28, 2012.^[15]

On August 1, 2012, the House and Senate passed competing bills on the extension of the Bush tax cuts. The House bill would extend all the tax cuts for one year, while the Senate version would allow taxes to rise on incomes over $250,000. The passage of the bills was reported as being intended as political cover; progress on tax legislation was not expected until after the November elections.^[16]

In late December, the Republican House leadership proposed legislation that would allow tax cuts to rise relative to 2012 levels only for annual income over $1,000,000. The proposal was known as “Plan B”, and was intended to force the Senate and the Obama administration to pass it and delay further negotiations until the following month, when Republicans were expected to use the reaching of the federal debt limit as leverage. However, the House vote on the plan was abruptly cancelled on December 20, 2012 after it became clear that the bill did not have enough support to pass, due to conservative members of the House who would not support any legislation that would raise taxes without also cutting spending.^[17]

On December 28, 2012, the Senate passed the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013 to provide for $60.4 billion in additional spending to cover recovery costs from Hurricane Sandy, which had hit the northeastern United States in late October. The bill passed the Senate 62–32, but faced uncertain prospects in the House.^[18]

At around 2 a.m. on January 1, 2013, the Senate passed a compromise bill, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, by a margin of 89–8. The bill would delay the budget sequestration by two months, and bill includes $600 billion over ten years in new tax revenue relative to extending 2012 levels, which is about one-fifth of the revenue that would have been raised had no legislation been passed. The revenue would come from increased marginal income and capital gains tax rates relative to their 2012 levels for annual income over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples; a phase-out of certain tax deductions and credits for those with incomes over $250,000 for individuals and $300,000 for couples, an increase in estate taxes relative to 2012 levels on estates over $5 million, and expiration of the two-year-old cut to payroll taxes, which is applied to income under the Social Security Wage Base, which was $110,100 in 2012. All these changes would all be made permanent.^[19]^[20] House Speaker John Boehner promised a prompt vote on the Senate bill, but the prospect of the House passing an amended bill raised the prospect that legislation might not be enacted by the end of the 112th Congress at noon on January 3.^[21]

Analysis

Implications of the Budget Control Act

Main articles: Budget Control Act of 2011 and United States fiscal cliff

The automatic cuts of $1.2 trillion resulting from the absence of a deal from the supercommittee over ten years would be split equally between security and non-security programs, and include $500 billion in cuts to the Department of Defense. The FY2013 defense budget would be reduced 11%, from $525 billion to $472 billion, after already having been cut from $571 billion in the first installment of cuts in the Budget Control Act. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta initially gave the total cut figure as 23%.^[22] The planned cuts include reductions in troop levels, a modest limit in pay raises for soldiers starting in 2015, an increase in health fees for veterans, delays in the construction of new naval ships and in the purchasing of new fighter aircraft such as the F-35, and the possibility of a round of base closings within the United States, but cuts to special operations, cyberwarfare, and intelligence programs were avoided.^[23] Initial reports had also suggested that the number of carrier battle groups might be reduced from 11 to 10,^[22] although it was later determined that the number of aircraft carriers would not in fact be cut.^[24] Some Republicans in Congress advocated reversing the cuts to the military, citing the effect on national security, and Secretary Panetta has opposed the cuts, calling them “devastating” and raising “substantial risk of not being able to meet our defense needs.” President Obama has promised to veto any legislation seeking to avoid the cuts, and House Speaker John Boehner also indicated his commitment to following the cuts in the Budget Control Act.^[5]^[25] According to the Center for American Progress, several Presidents have significantly reduced defense spending after wars, without compromising national security. Defense spending in 2011 remained high by historical standards, adjusted for inflation.^[26]

The Budget Control Act also specifies automatic cuts of 7.8% to domestic programs and 2% to Medicare, while Medicaid and Social Security will be unaffected. These entitlement programs were protected from cuts in return for the absence of new revenues in the Budget Control Act.^[27]

The automatic cuts to domestic programs would include cuts of up to 11% to science research and development agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, NASA, and the U. S. National Laboratories run by the Department of Energy. It is anticipated that this could cause federal grant acceptance levels to fall into the single digits, a consequence which has been called catastrophic for academic institutions by Michael Lubell of the American Physical Society. The cuts could also endanger politically controversial research such as climate change research programs in NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.^[28] Due to the role of scientific research in economic growth and job creation, and given international competition in this field, the cuts have been opposed by professional and academic organizations, and federal support of research and development has been called “an area of U.S. investment too critical to be cut” by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.^[29]^[30]

Ten-year projections

Annual rates of increase in major revenue categories budgeted for the 2012-2022 period were:

Individual income taxes: 8.4%
Corporation income taxes: 8.2%
Social insurance (mainly payroll) taxes: 6.6%
Total tax revenues: 7.6%

Annual rates of increase in major spending categories budgeted for the 2012-2022 period were:

Defense: 1.8%
Non-defense discretionary: 1.6%
Social Security: 5.8%
Medicare: 6.6%
Medicaid: 8.5%
Net interest: 14.2%
Total spending: 5.0%^[31]

Changes in revenues primarily represent a return to the long-run average. Tax revenues historically have averaged around 18% GDP. The subprime mortgage crisis resulted in significant declines in revenues due to high unemployment and reduced economic activity, with revenue falling to a record low 15% GDP. President Obama’s budget preserves the Bush income tax cuts for couples earning below $250,000, while eliminating some tax exemptions and deductions (tax expenditures).^[32]

Defense and non-defense discretionary expenses are essentially frozen in real dollar terms for the 2013-2022 period, growing at or below the rate of inflation. Department of Defense spending rose at an annual rate of 8% between 2000 and 2011; this amount includes both the baseline and war spending. Non-defense discretionary spending rose at an annual rate of 6.6% between 2000 and 2011. Mandatory spending is mainly driven by demographic changes (i.e., an aging population, with fewer workers per retiree), healthcare cost increases per capita, and Social Security cost of living adjustments. Interest costs represent a return to more typical interest rates as the economy recovers along with the growing public debt.^[32]

Total revenues and spending

The Obama administration’s February 2012 budget request contained $2.902 trillion in receipts and $3.803 trillion in outlays, for a deficit of $901 billion.^[33] The budget projects a reduction in the deficit to $575 billion by 2018 before rising to $704 billion by 2022.^[34]

Total receipts (in billions of dollars)::

Item	Requested^[33]
Individual income tax	1,359
Corporate income tax	348
Social Security and other payroll tax	959
Excise tax	88
Customs duties	33
Estate and gift taxes	13
Deposits of earnings and Federal Reserve System	80
Other miscellaneous receipts	21
Total	2902

Total outlays by agency (in billions of dollars):

Agency	Discretionary	Mandatory	Total
Department of Defense including Overseas Contingency Operations	666.2	6.7	672.9
Department of Health and Human Services including Medicare and Medicaid	80.6	860.3	940.9
Department of Education	67.7	4.2	71.9
Department of Veterans Affairs	60.4	79.4	139.7
Department of Housing and Urban Development	41.1	5.2	46.3
Department of State and Other International Programs	56.1	3.4	59.5
Department of Homeland Security	54.9	0.5	55.4
Department of Energy	35.6	–0.6	35.0
Department of Justice	23.9	12.7	36.5
Department of Agriculture	26.8	127.7	154.5
National Aeronautics and Space Administration	17.8	–0.02	17.8
National Intelligence Program	52.6	0	52.6
Department of Transportation	24.0	74.5	98.5
Department of the Treasury	14.1	96.2	110.3
Department of the Interior	12.3	1.2	13.5
Department of Labor	13.2	88.4	101.7
Social Security Administration	11.7	871.0	882.7
Department of Commerce	9.5	–0.5	9.0
Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works	8.2	–0.007	8.2
Environmental Protection Agency	9.2	–0.2	8.9
National Science Foundation	7.4	0.2	7.5
Small Business Administration	1.4	–0.006	1.4
Corporation for National and Community Service	1.1	0.007	1.1
Net interest	246	0	246
Disaster costs	2	0	2
Other spending	34.0-	61.7	29.5
Total	1,510	2,293	3,803

References

^ Riley, Charles (February 13, 2012). “Obama unveils $3.8 trillion budget”. CNNMoney. Retrieved February 13, 2012.
^ Hensarling, Jeb (November 22, 2011). “Why the Super Committee Failed”. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
^ Murray, Patty. “Deficit-reduction chair says she’s not done working for compromise”. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
^ Lisa Mascaro; Kathleen Hennessey (July 31, 2011). “U.S. leaders strike debt deal to avoid default”. Los Angeles Times.
^ ^a ^b Steinhauer, Jennifer; Cooper, Helene; and Pear, Robert (22 November 2011). “Panel Fails to Reach Deal on Plan for Deficit Reduction”. The New York Times: p. A18. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
^ President Obama-The Budget Message of the President-February 2012
^ OMB-President Obama’s 2013 Budget-Summary Tables S5 and S6
^ OMB-President Obama’s 2013 Budget-Summary Table S-6
^ OMB-President Obama’s 2013 Budget-Summary Table S15
^ Dinan, Stephen (16 May 2012). “Obama budget defeated 99-0 in Senate”. Washington Times. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
^ http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/house-and-senate-unanimously-reject-obama-budgets-or-do-they/
^ Steinhauer, Jennifer (1 August 2012). “Leaders Reach Tentative Deal on Spending to Avoid Fight Before Election Day”. The New York Times: p. A11. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
^ Weisman, Jonathan (14 September 2012). “House Republicans Welcome Back Ryan, and His Vote, on a Spending Measure”. The New York Times: p. A13. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
^ “U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 112th Congress – 2nd Session: On the Joint Resolution (H.J.Res. 117)”. United States Senate. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
^ “Status of Appropriations Legislation for Fiscal Year 2013″. Library of Congress. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
^ Weisman, Jonathan (2 August 2012). “House Approves One-Year Extension of the Bush-Era Tax Cuts”. The New York Times: p. A12. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
^ Weisman, Jonathat (21 December 2012). “Boehner Cancels Tax Vote in Face of G.O.P. Revolt”. The New York Times: p. A1. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
^ Hernandez, Raymond (29 December 2012). “Senate Passes $60.4 Billion for Storm Aid; Bill’s Fate in House Is Unclear”. The New York Times: p. A15. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
^ Weisman, Jonathan (1 January 2013). “Senate Passes Legislation to Allow Taxes on Affluent to Rise”. The New York Times. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
^ Hook, Janet; Hughes, Siobhan (1 January 2013). “Fiscal-Cliff Focus Moves to House”. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
^ Steinhauer, Jennifer; Weisman, Jonathan (1 January 2013). “G.O.P. Anger Over Tax Deal Endangers Final Passage”. The New York Times. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
^ ^a ^b Bumiller, Elisabeth (23 November 2011). “Despite Threat of Cuts, Pentagon Officials Made No Contingency Plans”. The New York Times: p. A20. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
^ Bumiller, Elisabeth; Shanker, Thom (27 January 2012). “Defense Budget Cuts Would Limit Raises and Close Bases”. The New York Times: p. A12. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
^ Stewart, Phil (21 January 2012). “U.S. won’t cut carrier fleet to fix budget, Panetta says”. Reuters. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
^ Steinhauer, Jennifer (23 November 2011). “Automatic Military Cuts May Stand in Congress”. The New York Times: p. A20. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
^ Center on American Progress-A Historical Perspective on Defense Spending-July 2011
^ Bendavid, Naftali (21 November 2011). “Congress’s Deficit ‘Bomb’: Scary or Not?”. Washington Wire. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
^ Hand, E. (2011). “Debt deal sets day of reckoning”. Nature 476 (7359): 133–134. doi:10.1038/476133a. PMID 21833060. edit
^ Ham, Becky (25 November 2011). “Science, Engineering Groups Urge Lawmakers to Protect R&D”. Science 334 (6059): 1079. doi:10.1126/science.334.6059.1079.
^ “Open Letter to the United States Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction”. Stand With Science. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
^ OMB-President Obama’s 2013 Budget-Summary Table S4 and S5
^ ^a ^b CBO-Long Term Economic Outlook-January 2012
^ ^a ^b “Fiscal Year 2013 Budget of the U.S. Government”. United States Office of Management and Budget. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
^ Weisman, Jonathan (2012-02-10). “Obama Budget Bets Other Concerns Will Trump the Deficit”. New York Times. Retrieved 2012-04-22.

External links

Status of Appropriations Legislation for Fiscal Year 2013 from the Library of Congress

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_United_States_federal_budget

Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )

Tea Party Impact on Republican Party Platform–Videos

Posted on August 21, 2012. Filed under: Blogroll, Business, College, Communications, Economics, Education, Federal Government Budget, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, Tax Policy | Tags: Agenda for America, Balanced Budgets, Dick Armey, Freedom Works, Politics, Pro Life Platform, Republican Party Platform, Tea Party |

FreedomWorks “My 2012 GOP Platform” discussion with Glenn Beck 7.25.12

As the 2012 election shifts into high gear and the Republican party continues to develop its official platform, the voice of the right and center-right grassroots activists must be included.
FreedomWorks has created the “My 2012 GOP Platform” poll that gauges such support using a unique “run-off” matchup model. It is designed to elicit deeper preferences from voters and make it much more difficult for well-organized campaigns to “game” the system. The results below are for the last 30 days and reflect the percentage of times an issue was preferred in a head-to-head “run-off” against other issues. We also suspect they more accurately reflect the true pulse of the this community than those cited by the GOP establishment or the mainstream media.
http://results.my2012platform.com/

GOP Platform Supports Voter ID Laws

GOP Platform: Monetary Policy

GOP Platform Debate: Foreign Aid

Mitt Romney Rejects the Republican Party Platform

Full Show 8/21/12: FDR Calls Out Romney & Ryan

RNC’s Platform Cmte. Preps for Upcoming Convention

“…The Republican National Convention (RNC) Platform Committee met Monday and Tuesday to decide the policy issues that will be addressed during the GOP’s National Convention.

The committee drafted and recommended a proposed national platform to the RNC to be voted on by all of the RNC delegates on the first day of the convention, Monday August 27th.

The Republican National Convention (RNC) adopts a new national platform every four years, which is an official statement of the Republican Party’s position on a variety of issues.

Sections on the Economy; Jobs and Debt; and Energy, Agriculture and the Environment were amended and approved by the committee on Monday. On Tuesday, delegates amended and approved the Foreign Policy and Defense, Government Reform, Restoring Constitutional Government and Healthcare, Education and Crime subcommittees’ reports.

The Platform Committee is responsible for drafting and recommending a proposed national platform to the RNC for approval by its delegates.

The meetings were chaired by Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota and Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee served as Co-Chairmen. …”

http://www.c-span.org/Events/RNCs-Platform-Meetings-Prep-for-Upcoming-Convention/10737433193/

Tea party influences GOP platform talks in Tampa

By Michael Van Sickler, Times Staff Writer
Michael Van SicklerTampa Bay Times In Print: Tuesday, August 21, 2012

“…

TAMPA — When Republicans nominated John McCain for president in 2008, conservative groups associated with the tea party had yet to form.

Four years later, these groups say they are practically writing the party platform ahead of the Republican National Convention here next week.

“We’re extremely happy that the tea party can have this type of influence,” said Ryan Hecker, a legal adviser for FreedomWorks, the conservative advocacy group founded by Dick Armey. “We’ve definitely taken over the Republican Party.”

More than 100 delegates met Monday at the Marriott Waterside to draft the Republican platform in a sneak peek of the Aug. 27-30 convention. The platform is a 50-page document that provides policy statements that will guide Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign from here on out.

Weeks ago, FreedomWorks had 30 ideas posted on its website so members could log on and vote for the ones they wanted Republicans to include in the platform. Hecker said that after 1.2 million votes, 12 ideas were selected.

The ideas include repealing Obamacare, scrapping the tax code and replacing it with a flat tax, reining in federal regulation while eliminating government jobs and auditing the Federal Reserve. He said Republicans were lobbied by his group to include these ideas.

Although the platform hasn’t been released, Hecker said that he has seen much of the draft and that 10 of the 12 ideas have been included nearly word-for-word from how they were written by FreedomWorks. Parts of the remaining two are in there, as well, he said.

“Everyone is expecting Romney to move to the center,” said Debbie Wilson, an Apollo Beach resident who is a member of Tampa 912 and a state coordinator for FreedomWorks. “But I’m pleased to see that so far, the platform is very much to the right.”

GOP platforms since at least 1996 have been conservative in nature, said Al Cardenas, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, a volunteer post.

By now, about 80 percent of the work on the platform is done. This week will be a matter of tweaking language here and there, inserting or deleting clauses. The 112 delegates voting on the platform will approve a draft tonight that will be submitted for a vote on Monday by the full convention.

But Cardenas said he was impressed so far with how well the platform is getting done, calling it unusually well-written with little disagreement.

“I’m delighted; it’s one of the best drafts I’ve seen,” Cardenas said.

Monday’s discussion about the platform revealed an interesting quirk about the tea party. Although members of their groups say they hail from the working class, many support policies that could hurt them.

Take the one tax cut that isn’t guaranteed in a Romney presidency: the mortgage interest deduction. It makes ownership affordable to millions of middle-class Americans. A motion was made Monday to include its protection in the platform.

“This is the last vestige of why people want to buy a home,” said April Newland, a Virgin Islands delegate and a Realtor. “It sends a message not just to Realtors, but also to homeowners. It should be included because it would be so widespread.”

But it was defeated after pushback from delegates like Kevin Erickson, a pastor from Minnesota who calls himself a “Ron Paul Republican,” after the maverick Texas congressman.

Including the protection of the mortgage deduction would ruin tax-reform efforts, Erickson said.

“(The mortgage deduction) is why we can’t talk about tax reform,” Erickson said. “Everyone has their pet deduction.”

This year’s platform was the result of greater participation among voters than ever, said one of the platform committee’s co-chairs. U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said the GOP website got 30,000 votes on various policies to be included.

Asked if the tea party played any special role, Blackburn said only that people in general had better access to party officials as they wrote the platform during the past two months.

“We’ve heard from thousands of people and we’ve had meetings with groups all across the country,” she said. “I don’t think any one group has had a special say. Everybody has had special access, through snail mail and social media like Facebook and Twitter.”

Platform chairman Bob McDonnell, the governor of Virginia, said the tea party didn’t have an exaggerated influence on the rightward tilt.

“We’re a conservative party,” he said.

But many of the delegates credited the tea party with setting the tone of the platform.

“They started the main conversation that we’re having now about the economy and the deficit,” said Cam Ward, an Alabama state senator who said tea party groups are very powerful in his district. “It’s a good debate, and I’m glad they’ve had the impact that they’ve had.” …”

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/rnc-kicks-off-a-week-early-in-tampa-to-write-the-party-platform/1246731

Republican Party approves strict anti-abortion platform, earning rebuke from Scott Brown

By Glen Johnson and Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

“…The 110-member platform panel, meeting today in Tampa, Fla., passed a so-called Human Life Amendment that calls for a ban on abortion, without mention of the more common exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

“Faithful to the ‘self-evident’ truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed,” said platform language obtained by CNN. “We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.”

It is similar to language included in the GOP platform in both 2004 and 2008 but it has become even more politically loaded since Akin, a US House member from Missouri, was criticized for the answer he gave when asked if abortion were legitimate in cases of rape.

“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down,” Akin said during a television interview aired on Sunday.

The differentiation between forms of rape prompted a swift rebuke not just from his Democratic opponent, Senator Claire McCaskill, but presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan. Romney initially urged Akin to spend 24 hours reconsidering his continued candidacy.

In a statement today, Romney said he now agreed with former Missouri Senators John Ashcroft, Kit Bond, John Danforth, and Jim Talent that Akin should quit the race.

“As I said [Monday], Todd Akin’s comments were offensive and wrong and he should very seriously consider what course would be in the best interest of our country. Today, his fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race,” Romney said.

Brown was among the first Republicans to call for Akin to drop out of the race, doing so in a statement on Monday morning.

Brown supports abortion rights, while Romney and Ryan oppose them. Romney would make an exception for rape and incest, but Ryan would do so only when the health of a mother would be jeopardized by a continued pregnancy.

The reelection committee for Obama, an abortion rights supporter, pounced on the platform vote.

“Several Romney supporters and advisers were present and stood silently while this vote took place. This should come as no surprise, as Mitt Romney supported this exact language in the 2004 and 2008 Republican platforms and Paul Ryan fought to ban abortion even in cases of rape,” Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement.

“Women across this country should take note of the Republican Party’s position, and not trust any of the false promises made by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan on the campaign trail,” Smith added.

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, chairman of the RNC’s platform committee and an abortion opponent, thanked the committee for “affirming our respect for human life” today before moving onto other platform issues.

The platform will come up for a vote of the convention delegates on Monday

http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/08/21/republican-convention-platform-committee-approves-strict-anti-abortion-plank/r8PAXGUUpNE5IsyGY8WAAI/story.html

AP sources: GOP platform draft at odds with Romney

“…Republican Party leaders decided to include that position during a party meeting Tuesday, two GOP officials confirmed to The Associated Press. The language is the same as it’s been since 1984, and the platform is set to be officially adopted Monday. But this year, it comes as GOP officials are calling on Missouri Rep. Todd Akin to quit his Senate bid after he made inflammatory comments about rape. Akin, asked in a local TV interview aired Sunday if he opposes abortion in cases of rape, said a woman’s body is able to prevent pregnancy in what he called “a legitimate rape.”

In a Sunday statement condemning Akin’s remarks, Romney said his administration would not oppose abortion in cases of rape. That puts him at odds with his party’s official line.

Romney is set to be nominated for president at the Republican National Convention that kicks off Aug. 27.

“The details of some of these things, like an exception for rape or life of the mother, these are not uncommon differences that candidates have and don’t share some of the detail on those exceptions,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday on MSNBC. “But as far as our platform is concerned, I mean, this is the platform of the Republican Party. It is not the platform of Mitt Romney.”

The party’s platform says members of the GOP “assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution.”

Romney’s position on the question is also at odds with his running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, who opposes abortion except in instances where the life of the mother is at risk. That’s closer in line with the Republican Party’s official position.

A Ryan aide downplayed the difference. “He knows he is joining the Romney ticket and the Romney administration will reflect the views of the nominee,” Ryan spokesman Michael Steel told reporters traveling with Romney’s no. 2 from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.

Ryan has voted for legislation that has included exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, another spokesman said.

The decision might have passed with little notice if not for Akin, whose weekend comments drew intense criticism and quick calls for him to step aside.

“It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Akin said when asked about abortion in cases of rape. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

Romney did not call for Akin to leave the race until about two hours before a state-imposed deadline for him to drop out without going to court. Akin was still in the race at 6 p.m. EDT Tuesday, and now has until Sept. 25 to seek a court order to take his name off the ballot. After that date, there is no way for Akin to leave the race.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who RNC’s Platform Committee, called it a “document that transcends time.”

“Current events regarding who said what at any given time don’t affect this document,” McDonnell said.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/08/21/2283061/ap-source-gop-platform-draft-at.html

Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )

Wisconsin Citizens and Governor Scott Walker Defeat Government Union Thugs and Their “Big Pal” Barack Obama–Recall Obama Golfing–Videos

Posted on June 6, 2012. Filed under: American History, Blogroll, Business, College, Communications, Economics, Education, Employment, Federal Government, Federal Government Budget, Fiscal Policy, government, government spending, history, Inflation, Investments, Law, liberty, Life, Links, Macroeconomics, media, Microeconomics, People, Philosophy, Politics, Public Sector, Rants, Raves, Security, Tax Policy, Taxes, Unions, Video, Wealth, Wisdom | Tags: Balanced Budgets, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Golf, Governor Scott Walker Wins Recall Election, Politics, Records, Scott Walker, Unemployment Rate, Union Thugs, Wisconsin |

Sarah Palin On Wisconsin: “Obama’s Goose Is Cooked”

BO:”Now what do I do?”

Bill:”First–Replace Joe with Hillary,

Second–Let Hillary Do Your Job

Third–Play more golf!

BO: Sounds like a plan.

It’s Been Three Years

Clinton: “No Question” Being Gov And “Sterling Business Career” Makes You Qualified

Note: Color Co-ordinated Golf Shirt & Shoes!

Records

Governor Walker “On The Record” w/ Greta Van Susteren 05/16/12

What Is Wisconsin Recall All About?

Scott Walker CPAC vs NEA Teachers Union

You + Two= Victory

Governor Walker on “Hannity” 05/30/12

Gov Scott Walker Recall Election Victory Speech

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Easily Wins, But So Might Obama

“Obama’s Goose is Cooked” Sarah Palin on Greta 6/5/2012

Background Articles and Videos

Public Employee Union Membership in Wisconsin Drops After Collective Bargaining Law
By: David Dayen Thursday May 31, 2012 11:06 am

“…To figure out what will really happen, I think you have to factor in what Sargent writes here:

Labor and Dems are widely believed to have a superior ground game to that of Walker, though it’s still unclear whether it will be enough to compensate for Walker’s seeming lead in the polls. A Clinton visit, Dems hope, will galvanize base turnout (the black vote in Milwaukee, for example) just enough to put Barrett over the top.

Ah, the ground game. This is seen as the savior, with labor throwing a lifeline to Barrett to pull him over the finish line. There’s one thing about this that I can’t get past. The goal of Walker’s anti-worker bill was to decimate public sector unions, to ruin the funding base for Democrats in Wisconsin elections. In other words, the bill was designed to deal with close races like this, to give Republican candidates an advantage. And a story in the Wall Street Journal sticks out like a sore thumb on this point:

Public-employee unions in Wisconsin have experienced a dramatic drop in membership—by more than half for the second-biggest union—since a law championed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker sharply curtailed their ability to bargain over wages and working conditions [...]

Wisconsin membership in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees—the state’s second-largest public-sector union after the National Education Association, which represents teachers—fell to 28,745 in February from 62,818 in March 2011, according to a person who has viewed Afscme’s figures. A spokesman for Afscme declined to comment.

Much of that decline came from Afscme Council 24, which represents Wisconsin state workers, whose membership plunged by two-thirds to 7,100 from 22,300 last year [...]

Membership declines could be self-perpetuating, said Mr. Chaison of Clark University. With diminished dues, unions deliver fewer services, making membership less appealing and hampering recruiting.

Simply put, public employee unions were decimated by the assault on collective bargaining. They’re losing members at a rapid rate. That means they’re losing their funding base. And that means that their efforts will be that much less effective. That was the entire point.

This could be much of the reason why, in that Marquette poll out yesterday, when asked whether they supported restrictions on collective bargaining for public employee unions, one year after the anti-worker law, 55% of Wisconsin voters said yes, and 41% said no. There isn’t really anyone left to tell voters otherwise. …”

http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/05/31/public-employee-union-membership-in-wisconsin-drops-after-collective-bargaining-law/

Change Direction

Change Direction 2

Change Direction 3

The Debt Clock

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Dan Mitchell Discussing Dishonest Budget Numbers with John Stossel

Geithner Admits: Obligations In President’s Budget ‘Unsustainable’

Tim Geithner to Paul Ryan: “We don’t have a definitive solution… We just don’t like yours”

Paul Ryan: President’s Budget Ensures Government Can’t Keep Its Promises

The Deal with Jack Hunter: Ignoring Rand Paul’s Budget

Ron Paul to Congress: If Debt Is the Problem, Why Do You Want More of It?

Another Day Older & Deeper In Debt: Federal Deficit to Top $1 Trillion for Fourth Year

Deficits, Debts and Unfunded Liabilities: The Consequences of Excessive Government Spending

Unfunded Liabilities and Hidden Taxes

Stunning Finding: President’s Health Law Creates $17 Trillion In Unfunded Financial Obligations

The National Debt: A Primer and A Plan by George C. Christy

How Big Is the U.S. Debt?

Charlie Rose The Movie (Bloomberg) – In The Year 2525

Default America: Interest Suppressed

Kotlikoff Says Next Generation to Suffer From Fiscal Gap

Default America: Deflation vs Inflation

Default America: Ron Paul has already won

Ron Paul Ad – Plan

SPECIAL REPORT: Ron Paul’s Plan To Restore America

Balance the Budget NOW

The Crimes of the Century

Fed Reserve Caught Red Handed

Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room

http://www.hulu.com/watch/337496/enron-the-smartest-guys-in-the-room

Why doesn’t the Federal Reserve just buy Treasury securities directly from the U.S. Treasury?

“…The Federal Reserve Act specifies that the Federal Reserve may buy and sell Treasury securities only in the “open market.” The Federal Reserve meets this statutory requirement by conducting its purchases and sales of securities chiefly through transactions with a group of major financial firms–so-called primary dealers–that have an established trading relationship with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY). These transactions are commonly referred to as open market operations and are the main tool through which the Federal Reserve adjusts its holdings of securities. Conducting transactions in the open market, rather than directly with the Treasury, supports the independence of the central bank in the conduct of monetary policy. Most of the Treasury securities that the Federal Reserve has purchased have been “old” securities that were issued by the Treasury some time ago. The prices for new Treasury securities are set by private market demand and supply conditions through Treasury auctions. …”

http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/money_12851.htm

Lackluster Five-Year Auction Weighs On Treasury Market

By REUTERS Posted 03/28/2012

“…U.S. Treasury prices fell Wednesday after weak demand for a debt sale dampened gains built on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s assurances U.S. interest rates will remain low.

In a day of choppy trade, the lackluster reception for $35 billion in five-year notes overshadowed weaker than forecast durable goods orders that earlier lifted bond prices from session lows.

Another influence was the Fed’s purchase of $4.81 billion of Treasuries maturing between August 2020 and November 2021. The purchases helped the bond market erase its morning losses, leaving it flat to slightly higher by early afternoon before the Treasury auction.

Treasury losses widened when the stock market began to erase some of the day’s worst losses and the S&P 500 index clung to the 1,400 level, hurting the bid for safe-haven U.S. debt.

In afternoon trade, the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was down 5/32, its yield rising to 2.20% from 2.18% late on Tuesday.

RSC Budget Has Ambitious Targets, Needs More Policy Detail

“…The Republican Study Committee (RSC) has once again pushed the outside of the fiscal envelope, presenting a budget that reaches balance in just five years—twice as fast as the group’s proposal a year ago—through entitlement reforms, deep spending reductions, and no tax increases. This aggressive plan incorporates many elements of the House Budget Committee resolution, in some cases going further toward cutting spending.

The RSC budget[1] is a highly ambitious effort that moves as far and fast toward its goals as seems possible. It is not a perfect plan. It falls short in substantiating all its significant spending cuts with adequate substantive policy detail. But it draws another clear, sharp contrast with the President’s vision of ever-expanding government, higher spending, and more debt. …”

“…How the Plan Could Be Improved

Even with the strengths cited above, the RSC plan would benefit from more substantive policy detail on how it would achieve its $112 billion reduction in 2013 discretionary spending from the 2012 cap level of $1.043 trillion. This is a tall order that warrants a fuller description; it cannot be accomplished solely through the worthwhile but inadequate eliminations of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Legal Services Corporation, National Endowment for the Arts, and National Labor Relations Board.

On the entitlement side, the RSC should explore the effects of its large and rapid cuts in major programs such as Medicaid and CHIP. To be sure, the RSC does not have the same access to the Congressional Budget Office and other resources that budget committees do; but budgets should be driven more by policy than just numerical targets.

Testing the Boundaries

The RSC budget reflects the need to reverse the explosion of federal spending and debt that threatens the country’s economy—and to do so soon. It pushes hard toward the limits of government spending reduction and reform. However ambitious this budget seems, and notwithstanding its limitations, the convictions behind it should not be ignored.

Patrick Louis Knudsen is the Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Senior Policy Analyst Curtis S. Dubay contributed to this paper.”

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/03/analysis-of-the-budget-proposed-by-the-republican-study-committee

1,000 Days Without a Budget: Facts on the Senate’s Failure

“…Tuesday, January 24, will mark the 1,000th day since the U.S. Senate has passed a budget—an egregious dereliction of duty on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D–NV) watch. By enacting continuing resolution upon continuing resolution (short-term measures to keep the government running, spending money at the current rate), the Senate has taken a pass on leading, all to the detriment of the poor and middle class.

The budget process forces Congress to set priorities to protect the people’s money and put it to its appropriate use. Instead, the Democrat-controlled Senate has abdicated its responsibility. The result? The deficit is soaring, causing a looming tax burden and injecting uncertainty into the economy, leaving jobs and economic growth on the table. It’s no wonder the U.S. economy’s growth is so tepid.

As the 1,000th day nears, here are some facts about America’s budget and why the Senate must take action to be stewards of the people’s money as the Constitution requires:

The last time the Senate passed a budget was on April 29, 2009.
Since that date, the federal government has spent $9.4 trillion, adding $4.1 trillion in debt.
As of January 20, the outstanding public debt stands at $15,240,174,635,409.
Interest payments on the debt are now more than $200 billion per year.
President Obama proposed a FY2012 budget last year, and the Senate voted it down 97–0. (And that budget was no prize—according to the Congressional Budget Office, that proposal never had an annual deficit of less than $748 billion, would double the national debt in 10 years and would see annual interest payments approach $1 trillion per year.)
The Senate rejected House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R–WI) budget by 57–40 in May 2011, with no Democrats voting for it.
In FY2011, Washington spent $3.6 trillion. Compare that to the last time the budget was balanced in 2001, when Washington spent $1.8 trillion ($2.1 trillion when you adjust for inflation).
Entitlement spending will more than double by 2050. That includes spending on Medicare, Medicaid and the Obamacare subsidy program, and Social Security. Total spending on federal health care programs will triple.
By 2050, the national debt is set to hit 344 percent of Gross Domestic Product.
Taxes paid per household have risen dramatically, hitting $18,400 in 2010 (compared with $11,295 in 1965). If the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire and more middle-class Americans are required to pay the alternative minimum tax (AMT), taxes will reach unprecedented levels.
Federal spending per household is skyrocketing. Since 1965, spending per household has grown by nearly 162 percent, from $11,431 in 1965 to $29,401 in 2010. From 2010 to 2021, it is projected to rise to $35,773, a 22 percent increase. …”

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/01/20/1000-days-without-a-budget-facts-on-the-senates-failure/

http://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/2012/Countdown/senate-counter.html

Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )

Paul’s Jolt: Peace and Prosperity Full Employment Economy with Balanced Budgets vs. Obama’s Volt: Welfare and Warfare Economy With High Unemployment and Rising Debts and Prices–Videos

Posted on March 29, 2012. Filed under: Agriculture, American History, Babies, Banking, Blogroll, Books, Business, College, Communications, Demographics, Diasters, Economics, Education, Employment, Federal Government, Fiscal Policy, Foreign Policy, government, government spending, Health Care, history, Language, Law, liberty, Life, Links, Macroeconomics, media, Microeconomics, Monetary Policy, Money, People, Philosophy, Politics, Rants, Raves, Unemployment, Unions, Video, War, Wealth, Wisdom | Tags: Balanced Budgets, Barack Obama's Volt, budget deficit, Budget of U.S. Government, Dan Mitchell, food prices, gasoline prices, government spending, Historical Tables, national debt, Peace and Prosperity Full Employment, Ron Paul Jolt, Ronald Reagan, Welfare and Warfare High Unemployment |

http://www.federalbudget.com/chartinfo.html

Fiscal Year 2013 Historical Tables Budget of the U.S. Government

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/hist.pdf

Department of Treasury, Monthly Treasury Statement

http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/index.html

Reality Check: Ron Paul’s Budget Plan

CNN: Ron Paul is the JOLT America needs

Ron Paul Plan to Balance Budget and End Government Overspending

Ron Paul Ad – Plan

It’s Simple to Balance The Budget Without Higher Taxes

Ronald Reagan Talks About Balancing the Budget on “The Tonight

President Obama: When I leave the White House, I’m buying a Volt

The President’s Budget in 62 Seconds

Obama’s Budget compared to Bush’s Last One

Background Articles and Videos

The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases

D. Andrew Austin

Analyst in Economic Policy

Mindy R. Levit

Analyst in Public Finance

May 16, 2011

“…

Summary

Total debt of the federal government can increase in two ways. First, debt increases when the

government sells debt to the public to finance budget deficits and acquire the financial resources

needed to meet its obligations. This increases

debt held by the public

. Second, debt increases

when the federal government issues debt to certain government accounts, such as the Social

Security, Medicare, and Transportation trust funds, in exchange for their reported surpluses. This

increases

debt held by government accounts. The sum of debt held by the public and

debt held by

government accounts

is the total federal debt. Surpluses reduce debt held by the public, while

deficits raise it. Total federal debt outstanding was $14,308 billion on May 12, 2011, of which

$14,256 billion was subject to the debt limit. The U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner

announced that the federal debt reached its statutory limit on May 16, 2011 and that he had

declared a debt issuance suspension period, which would allow certain extraordinary measures to

extend Treasury’s borrowing capacity until early August 2011. Funding federal operations could

soon become complicated without a debt limit increase.

Congress has always placed restrictions on federal debt. The form of debt restrictions, structured

as amendments to the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917, evolved into a general debt limit in

1939. Congress has voted to raise the debt limit 10 times since 2001, as federal debt has nearly

reached the debt limit several times due to persistent deficits and additions to federal trust funds.

Congress raised the limit in June 2002, and by December 2002 the U.S. Treasury asked Congress

for another increase, which passed in May 2003. In June 2004, the U.S. Treasury asked for

another debt limit increase. After Congress recessed in mid-October 2004 without acting, the

Treasury Secretary told Congress he could keep debt below its limit only through mid-November.

Congress increased the debt limit in a post-election session, which the President signed on

November 19, 2004. In 2005, reconciliation instructions in the FY2006 budget resolution

(H.Con.Res. 95) included a debt limit increase. The Treasury Secretary sent letters warning

Congress that the Treasury would exhaust its options to avoid default by mid-March 2006.

Congress passed an increase that the President signed on March 20. The House indirectly

approved legislation (H.J.Res. 43) to raise the debt limit by $850 billion to $9,815 billion. The

Senate approved the resolution on September 27, 2007, and the President signed it two days later.

The recent economic slowdown led to sharply higher deficits in recent years, which led to a series

of debt limit increases. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (H.R. 3221), signed

into law (P.L. 110-289) on July 30, 2008, included a debt limit increase. The Emergency

Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (H.R. 1424), signed into law on October 3 (P.L. 110-343),

raised the debt limit again. The debt limit rose a third time in less than a year to $12,104 billion

with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 13, 2009

(ARRA; H.R. 1), which was signed into law on February 17, 2009 (P.L. 111-5).

The House’s adoption of the conference report on the FY2010 budget resolution (S.Con.Res. 13)

on April 29, 2009, triggered the automatic passage of H.J.Res. 45 to raise the debt limit to

$13,029 billion. In August 2009, Treasury reportedly said that the debt limit would be reached in

mid-October, although it later stated that the limit would not be reached until December 2009.

H.R. 4314, passed by the House on December 16, 2009, and by the Senate on December 24,

raised the debt limit to $12,394 billion when the President signed the measure (P.L. 111-123) on

December 28. On January 28, the Senate passed an amended version of H.J.Res. 45, which the

House passed on February 4 and the President signed on February 12 (P.L. 111-139), raising the

limit to $14,294 billion. This report will be updated as events warrant. …”

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31967.pdf

Table of historical debt ceiling levels^[129]
Date	Debt Ceiling(billions of dollars)	Change in Debt Ceiling(billions of dollars)
June 25, 1940	49^[130]
February 19, 1941	65	+16
March 28, 1942	125	+60
April 11, 1943	210	+85
June 9, 1944	260	+50
April 3, 1945	300	+40
June 26, 1946	275	−25
August 28, 1954	281	+6
July 9, 1956	275	−6
February 26, 1958	280	+5
September 2, 1958	288	+8
June 30, 1959	295	+7
June 30, 1960	293	−2
June 30, 1961	298^[131]	+5
July 1, 1962	308	+10
March 31, 1963	305	−3
June 25, 1963	300	−5
June 30, 1963	307	+7
August 31, 1963	309	+2
November 26, 1963	315	+6
June 29, 1964	324	+9
June 24, 1965	328	+4
June 24, 1966	330	+2
March 2, 1967	336	+6
June 30, 1967	358	+22
June 1, 1968	365	+7
April 7, 1969	377	+12
June 30, 1970	395	+18
March 17, 1971	430	+35
March 15, 1972	450^[132]	+20
October 27, 1972	465	+15
June 30, 1974	495	+30
February 19, 1975	577	+82
November 14, 1975	595	+18
March 15, 1976	627	+32
June 30, 1976	636	+9
September 30, 1976	682	+46
April 1, 1977	700	+18
October 4, 1977	752	+52
August 3, 1978	798	+46
April 2, 1979	830	+32
September 29, 1979	879^[133]	+49
June 28, 1980	925	+46
December 19, 1980	935	+10
February 7, 1981	985	+50
September 30, 1981	1,079	+94
June 28, 1982	1,143	+64
September 30, 1982	1,290.2	+147.2
May 26, 1983	1,389	+98.8
November 21, 1983	1,490	+101
May 25, 1984	1,520	+30
June 6, 1984	1,573	+53
October 13, 1984	1,823	+250
November 14, 1985	1,903.8	+80.8
December 12, 1985	2,078.7	+174.9
August 21, 1986	2,111	+32.3
October 21, 1986	2,300	+189
May 15, 1987	2,320^[134]	+20
August 10, 1987	2,352	+32
September 29, 1987	2,800	+448
August 7, 1989	2,870	+70
November 8, 1989	3,122.7	+252.7
August 9, 1990	3,195	+72.3
October 28, 1990	3,230	+35
November 5, 1990	4,145	+915
April 6, 1993	4,370	+225
August 10, 1993	4,900	+530
March 29, 1996	5,500	+600
August 5, 1997	5,950	+450
June 11, 2002	6,400^[135]	+450
May 27, 2003	7,384^[136]	+984
November 16, 2004	8,184^[135]	+800
March 20, 2006	8,965^[137]	+781
September 29, 2007	9,815^[138]	+850
June 5, 2008	10,615^[139]	+800
October 3, 2008	11,315^[140]	+700
February 17, 2009	12,104^[141]	+789
December 24, 2009	12,394^[142]	+290
February 12, 2010	14,294^[143]	+1,900

Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )

Taxman Obama’s Hidden Tax Increase On The Rich That Results In Fewer Jobs And Lower Economic Growth vs. Ryan’s Long and Winding Road To Economic Stagnation vs. Senators Lee, DeMint and Paul’s Stairway To Peace and Prosperity With A Balanced Budget!–Videos

Posted on May 23, 2011. Filed under: Banking, Blogroll, Business, Communications, Culture, Demographics, Economics, Employment, Entertainment, Federal Government, Fiscal Policy, government, government spending, Language, Law, liberty, Life, Links, media, Microeconomics, Monetary Policy, Money, Music, People, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Rants, Raves, Talk Radio, Taxes, Video, War, Wealth, Wisdom | Tags: Balanced Budgets, deficit spending, Economic Club of Chicago, fiscal policy, Fiscally Responsible, government spending, Jim DeMint, Led Zeppelin, Music, National Debt Ceiling, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, Reality Check, Ron Paul, Senator Demint, Senator Lee, Senator Paul, Stairway To Heaven, Tax Policy, Taxman, The Beatles, The Long and Winding Road |

Pronk Pops Show 29:May 26, 2011

The Beatles – Taxman

One, two, three, four…
Hrmm!
One, two, (one, two, three, four!)

Let me tell you how it will be;
There’s one for you, nineteen for me.
‘Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.

Should five per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don’t take it all.
‘Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.

(if you drive a car, car;) – I’ll tax the street;
(if you try to sit, sit;) – I’ll tax your seat;
(if you get too cold, cold;) – I’ll tax the heat;
(if you take a walk, walk;) – I’ll tax your feet.

Taxman!

‘Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.

Don’t ask me what I want it for, (ah-ah, mister Wilson)
If you don’t want to pay some more. (ah-ah, mister heath)
‘Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.

Now my advice for those who die, (taxman)
Declare the pennies on your eyes. (taxman)
‘Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.

And you’re working for no one but me.

Taxman!

The Contrast on Taxes – Pro-growth reform or Job Crushing Tax Hikes

The Budget Debate’s Missing Ingredient – Economic Growth

Paul Ryan at the Economic Club of Chicago: Shared Scarcity vs Renewed Prosperity

Neither higher taxes nor more deficits and a higher national debt are the path to economic growth and prosperity.

President Obama hides in his budget proposal a tax rate increase to 44% for the so-called rich whose businesses create wealth and jobs in America .

This is a great speech or talk by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan.

Unfortunately, while Paul Ryan talks the talk, his proposed Republican Budget simply does not walk the walk.

Congressman Ryan hides the Republican Party’s deficit in the open yet the press cannot even figure it out.

The proposed Ryan Republican budget for fiscal year 2012 results in an estimated deficit of $995 billion dollars or about another $1,000 billion increase in the national debt.

Yes, this is better than President Obama’s estimated Fiscal Year 2012 budget deficit of $1,101 billion.

Yet both proposed budgets are not fiscally responsible but business as usual for the Democratic and Republican Party establishments.

Neither the Republican nor Democratic Party budget proposals are the road to peace and prosperity but a Tea Party budget with balanced budgets most definitely is:

Which Budgets Are Balanced And Living Within The Means of The American People?

Republican Party Budget Proposals

S-1 FY2012 Chairman’s Markup (Nominal Dollars in Billions)
Fiscal Year	Outlays	Revenues	Deficits	Debt Held By Public
2011	3,618	2,230	-1,388	10,351
2012	3,529	2,533	-995	11,418
2013	3,559	2,860	-699	12,217
2014	3,586	3,094	-492	12,801
2015	3,671	3,237	-434	13,326
2016	3,858	3,377	-481	13,886
2017	3,998	3,589	-408	14,363
2018	4,123	3,745	-379	14,800
2019	4,352	3,939	-414	15,254
2020	4,544	4,142	-402	15,681
2021	4,739	4,354	-385	16,071
2012-2021	39,958	34,870	-5,088	n.a.

http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/PathToProsperityFY2012.pdf

Democratic Party Budget Proposals

S-1 FY2012 President’s Budget(Nominal Dollars in Billions)
Fiscal Year	Outlays	Revenues	Deficits	Debt Held By Public
2011	3,819	2,174	-1,645	10,856
2012	3,729	2,627	-1,101	11,881
2013	3,771	3,003	-768	12,784
2014	3,977	3,333	-646	13,562
2015	4,190	3,583	-607	14,301
2016	4,468	3,819	-649	15,064
2017	4,669	4,042	-627	15,795
2018	4,876	4,257	-619	16,513
2019	5,154	4,473	-681	17,284
2020	5,442	4,686	-735	18,103
2021	5,697	4,923	-774	18,967
2012-2021	45,952	38,747	-7,205	n.a.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2012/assets/tables.pdf

Tea Party Budget Proposals

S-1 FY2012 Tea Party’s Balanced/Surplus Budget(Nominal Dollars in Billions)
Fiscal Year	Outlays	Revenues	Surpluses	Debt Held By Public
2012	2,500	2,500	0	10,900
2013	2,800	2,800	0	10,900
2014	3,000	3,000	0	10,900
2015	3,200	3,200	0	10,900
2016	3,300	3,300	0	10,900
2017	3,400	3,500	100	10,800
2018	3,500	3,700	200	10,600
2019	3,600	3,900	300	10,300
2020	3,700	4,000	300	10,000
2021	3,800	4,300	500	9,500
2012-2021	32,800	34,200	1,400	n.a.

The real problem is out of control government spending and unbalanced budgets for nearly three more decades.

Paul Ryan long and winding road to a balanced budget in twenty-five years or longer is not a path to prosperity but a road to economic stagnation and financial ruin for the United States.

I applaud Paul Ryan’s growth and jobs message.

However, more and more deficit spending and an ever increasing national debt are a recipe for failure.

Stop spinning and distracting us Mr. Ryan.

Balance the budget in Fiscal Year 2012 or you too will be replaced with someone from the tea party movement who will balance the budget and really cut spending.

Senators DeMint, Lee and Paul are on the right track for a peace and prosperity balanced budget that would cut spending by permanently closing Federal Departments.

Rand Paul “I Don’t Think We’re On A Path To Balancing The Budget”

3/09/11: Sen. Rand Paul on balancing the budget

03/17/11: Sen. Rand Paul Introduces Five-Year Balanced Budget Plan

Rep. Garrett explains the RSC plan to balance the budget in less than ten years on “Stossel”

However, five years is simply too slow and the cuts are too small.

The United States economy is on the brink of another recession that must be prevented by balancing the budget now to restore business and consumer confidence that Congress understands both the scope and urgency of problem.

Time is running out on both the Democratic and Republican Party establishment and their leadership.

With over thirty million American searching for a full time job, the American people will vote out of office both big spending Democrats and Republicans.

Food and gasoline prices as well the prices of imports and other goods and service are going up as the Federal Reserve devalues the dollar by massively increasing the money supply with so-called qunatitative easing.

In other words the purchasing power of your money is falling in value to pay for the Federal Government’s out of control spending.

Ron Paul: There’s Too Much Bipartisanship in Spending and Welfare/Warfarism

Ron Paul: Fall of the Federal Empire

The tea party movement wants balanced budgets and absolutely no increase in the National Debt ceiling.

Any Republican or Democratic in the House or Senate that votes for unbalanced budgets starting in Fiscal Year 2012 and an increase in the National Debt ceiling should be voted out of office in the next election.

Rep. Garrett dissects the debt ceiling with Judge Napolitano

National Debt Clock

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Neither Taxman Obama nor The Long and Winding Road Ryan are the stairway to heaven with peace and prosperity.

George Michael – The Long And Winding Road

The Beatles The Long & Winding Road (2009 Stereo Remaster)

The long and winding road
That leads to your door
Will never disappear
I’ve seen that road before
It always leads me here
Lead me to your door.

The wild and windy night
That the rain washed away
Has left a pool of tears
Crying for the day.
Why leave me standing here?
Let me know the way.

Many times I’ve been alone
And many times I’ve cried,
Anyway you’ll never know
The many ways I’ve tried.

And still they lead me back
To the long, winding road
You left me standing here
A long, long time ago
Don’t leave me waiting here
Lead me to your door.

But still they lead me back
To the long winding road
You left me standing here
A long, long time ago (ohhh)
Don’t keep me waiting here (don’t keep me waiting)
Lead me to your door. (yeah yeah yeah yeah)

The tea party movement and the American people are looking for the piper of living within ones means with balanced budgets and a dollar that is stable in value or purchasing power.

The American people will be calling the tune and throwing out of office both Democrats and Republicans who waste the people’s hard earned money on all that glitters–warfare and welfare.

The American people are looking for a rock and not being rolled by yet another articulate but fundamentally deceitful politician.

Led Zeppelin-Stairway to Heaven

“Stairway To Heaven”

There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold
And she’s buying the stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.
Ooh, ooh, and she’s buying the stairway to heaven.

There’s a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook, there’s a songbird who sings,
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it makes me wonder.

There’s a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who stand looking.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

And it’s whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.

If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now,
It’s just a spring clean for the May queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There’s still time to change the road you’re on.
And it makes me wonder.

Your head is humming and it won’t go, in case you don’t know,
The piper’s calling you to join him,
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll.

And she’s buying the stairway to heaven.

Background Articles and Videos

47% See Major Changes in Defense, Social Security, Medicare As Necessary to Big Budget Cuts, 36% Don’t

“…Most voters know they want to cut government spending in a serious way, but despite the ongoing national budget-cutting debate, they don’t seem to recognize what that’s going to take.

The majority of U.S. federal spending is allotted to national defense, Social Security and Medicare. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 47% of Likely U.S. Voters correctly recognize that it is necessary to make major changes in those areas to make truly significant long-term cuts in government spending. Thirty-six percent (36%) don’t believe big changes in these three areas are needed, while another 17% aren’t sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

This marks virtually no change from early April but shows increased voter awareness from February of last year.

The most high-profile plan for changing Medicare that’s currently on the table is the one proposed by Republican Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. That plan, which includes allowing individuals to purchase private health insurance as an alternative and raising the eligibility age from 65 to 67, has been denounced by most Democrats and even has drawn the criticism of Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich.

But despite the attention politicians and pundits are giving Ryan’s plan, public views of it are virtually unchanged from late last month. Twenty-six percent (26%) of voters continue to favor Ryan’s budget proposal, while 34% are opposed to it. The plurality (40%) is not sure what they think of the plan. …”

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/federal_budget/may_2011/47_see_major_changes_in_defense_social_security_medicare_as_necessary_to_big_budget_cuts_36_don_t

Will ‘Watchdog’ Media Report on Obama’s Stealth Tax Hike?

By Lachlan Markay | May 23, 2011

“…New facts released by the office of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., reveal a hidden tax increase in President Obama’s budget proposal. Obama’s plan would, these facts demonstrate, impose a 20 percent increase in the top income tax rate – a significantly greater increase than the president has admitted.

The news media fancies itself a watchdog, so if the president is going to dramatically hike taxes, one would hope that Americans would hear about it first. But thus far, there has been almost no coverage of these stealth tax hikes. On Monday, Washington Post fact-checker Greg Kessler confirmed the veracity of Ryan’s claims. Whether other major media outlets report on them will be the true test.

Background Articles and Videos

Paul Ryan and David Walker on Entitlements

GOP budget plan to cut more than $4 trillion

By Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY

“…In a Fox News Sundayappearance, Ryan said the GOP 2012 budget blueprint would exceed the $4 trillion in spending cuts previously recommended by a presidential debt commission “by cutting spending, reforming entitlements and growing our economy.”Instead of using changeable spending caps as a percentage of the economy, the plan would use budget caps set by law on the portion of the federal budget that is negotiated by Congress and the president each year, Ryan said. Republican proposals for the precise levels are still being discussed, he said.The plan would also lower federal tax rates and broaden the tax base, Ryan said. Decisions on specific tax changes, such as eliminating federal tax breaks for oil and gas companies, would come later, Ryan said.Discussing entitlements, he said the plan would change Medicare, the federal health care plan for seniors, by creating a “premium support” system that allows seniors “to pick the (private health) plan of their choosing, and then Medicare subsidizes that plan.”However, the plan would allow Americans who are now 55 and older to keep the current Medicare programs.”By addressing the drivers of the debt now, we do it in a gradual way,” Ryan said. “We can guarantee the mission of health and retirement security, not just for current generations, but for future generations.” …”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-04-04-Budget04_ST_N.htm

Year	Gross Debt in Billions undeflated^[11]	as % of GDP	Debt Held By Public ($Billions)	as % of GDP
1910	2.6	unk.	2.6	unk.
1920	25.9	unk.	25.9	unk.
1928	18.5^[12]	unk.	18.5	unk.
1930	16.2	unk.	16.2	unk.
1940	50.6	52.4	42.8	44.2
1950	256.8	94.0	219.0	80.2
1960	290.5	56.0	236.8	45.6
1970	380.9	37.6	283.2	28.0
1980	909.0	33.4	711.9	26.1
1990	3,206.3	55.9	2,411.6	42.0
2000	5,628.7	58.0	3,409.8	35.1
2001	5,769.9	57.4	3,319.6	33.0
2002	6,198.4	59.7	3,540.4	34.1
2003	6,760.0	62.6	3,913.4	35.1
2004	7,354.7	63.9	4,295.5	37.3
2005	7,905.3	64.6	4,592.2	37.5
2006	8,451.4	65.0	4,829.0	37.1
2007	8,950.7	65.6	5,035.1	36.9
2008	9,985.8	70.2	5,802.7	40.8
2009	12,311.4	86.1	7,811.1	54.6
2010 (31 Dec)	14,025.2	95.2 (3rd Q)	9,390.5	63.7 (3rd Q)

Date	Dollar Amount
09/30/2010	13,561,623,030,891.79
09/30/2009	11,909,829,003,511.75
09/30/2008	10,024,724,896,912.49
09/30/2007	9,007,653,372,262.48
09/30/2006	8,506,973,899,215.23
09/30/2005	7,932,709,661,723.50
09/30/2004	7,379,052,696,330.32
09/30/2003	6,783,231,062,743.62
09/30/2002	6,228,235,965,597.16
09/30/2001	5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/2000	5,674,178,209,886.86

Background Articles and Videos

I.O.U.S.A.: Byte-Sized – The 30 Minute Version

Budget of the U.S. Government Fiscal Year 2o11

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy11/pdf/budget.pdf

2010 Social Security Trustees Report: Reform Needed Now

“…Abstract: The 2010 annual report by the Social Security trustees has been released. It comes as no surprise that the Trustees Report predicts massive—and permanent— yearly deficits if the Social Security system is not reformed. Though the report shows that Social Security payments are secure for another five years, Social Security already owes $7.9 trillion more in benefits this year than it will receive in tax revenues. The time for reform is now—delay will only make each challenge and problem harder to fix. Heritage Foundation financial and pension expert David C. John examines the findings of the new Trustees Report—and explains what they mean for Americans. …”

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/08/2010-social-security-trustees-report-reform-needed-now

“…Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker analyzes America as a corporation in an epic presentation: USA Inc.: A Basic Summary of America’s Financial Statements (pdf).

“…This report looks at the federal government as if it were a business, with the goal of informing the

debate about our nation’s financial situation and outlook. In it, we examine USA Inc.’s income

statement and balance sheet. We aim to interpret the underlying data and facts and illustrate

patterns and trends in easy-to-understand ways. We analyze the drivers of federal revenue and

the history of expense growth, and we examine basic scenarios for how America might move

toward positive cash flow. …”

This report is available online and on iPad at www.kpcb.com/usainc

http://images.businessweek.com/mz/11/10/1110_mz_49meekerusainc.pdf

Mary Meeker’s Definitive Guide To The American Public Debt Crisis

“…Here are some key slides from her definitive report:

Spending as a percent of GDP rose 3 percent each year from 1790 and 1930. Worse: It rose to 24% in 2010.

Here’s a great breakdown of America’s biggest costs.

Debt levels will be three times current levels by 2030. Entitlements and interest alone will exceed total revenue by 2025.

Only 1 in 50 Americans needed Medicaid when it was first created in 1965, 1 in 6 Americans receives Medicaid now.

Extended unemployment benefits could set back America Inc. $34 billion in the next two years alone.

The only good investments: technology, education and infrastructure.

The crucial reforms: entitlement and tax policies

There is no quick-fix to America’s deficit problem. While raising taxes could help, the only real solution is cutting costs.

Why we should cut Medicare benefits by 53%

Why we should increase the retirement age to 73 or cut Social Security benefits by 12%

March 7, 2011

Spotlight on the States: Wisconsin

“…Today, Wisconsin faces a budget shortfall of $137 million (just shy of 10 percent of the budget) for the remaining fiscal year (which ends June 30) and a $3.6 billion shortfall over the next 2 years (six percent of the budget) in a $59 billion 2012-2013 budget. In an attempt to put the state back on a sustainable fiscal path, and more specifically to address this year’s shortfall, newly-elected Gov. Scott Walker (R) introduced what he called a “Budget Repair Bill” last month. The bill requires government workers to contribute 5.8 percent of their salary toward pensions–which has sparked a back-and-forth about whether pension benefits are paid for by taxpayers or employees–and increases contributions to health care premiums from 6 percent to at least 12 percent. It also limits public employee collective bargaining rights, with the exception of police, firefighters, and other public safety employees, which is the provision that has sparked the current protests, as the unions are willing to accept the other changes.

Nevertheless, Gov. Walker has said that enacting these reforms would save $30 million this fiscal year and thousands of state and local jobs. He also said that he could pledge there would be no layoffs or furloughs for state employees. This did not comfort the thousands of government employees who swarmed the state’s capital, protesting that the Governor’s budget bill is more geared to political ends than fiscal ones.

In his March 1st budget address, (postponed from February 22), Gov. Walker outlined some of the details of his full proposal. The biennial budget balances the $3.6 billion two-year deficit and reduces the structural deficit–deficits even under normal economic conditions and full employment–by 90 percent, from $2.5 billion to $250 million. It also reduces overall state spending by $4.2 billion (6.7 percent) over the biennium. Other highlights of the legislation include:

$1.25 billion in reductions in aid to local governments
$834 million in reduction in aid to public schools
$80.6 million in tax cuts for FY 2012, including elimination of the capital gains tax for investors with long-term (5 or more years) investments in Wisconsin-based businesses
$500 million in Medicaid spending cuts through various reforms
$200 million in funding for the ”public-private agency” the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
Various reforms to state agencies, including a 10% across-the-board cut to non-personnel budgets of most agencies and elimination of all positions that have been vacant for over a year …”

http://crfb.org/blog

Wisconsin Governor Seeks Deep Cuts

“…The collective-bargaining bill stalled in the state Senate also would require most public employees to contribute 5.8% of their salary this year toward their pension payments and 12.6% of their health-insurance premiums out of their wages. The measure passed the state Assembly last week.

Mr. Walker said that bill would produce savings of $1.44 billion for school districts and local governments, more than offsetting the cuts in state aid he recommended Tuesday.

Critics said the governor’s estimate is overstated, because some communities and school districts already require employees to pay more than 12.6% of their health-insurance premiums out of their salaries.

In De Pere, Wis., employees already pay 15% of insurance premiums from their wages. For that reason, and because police officers and firefighters are exempt, “I believe the savings through pension-contribution increases will not be enough to offset the loss of state shared revenue,” De Pere Alderman Daniel Robinson wrote in a letter Monday to Republican state Sen. Robert Cowles. …”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704506004576174413551008574.html

Pronk Pops Show 19: March 8, 2011

Listen To Pronk Pops Podcast or Download Shows 16-19

Listen To Pronk Pops Podcast or Download Shows 10-15

Listen To Pronk Pops Podcast or Download Shows 1-9

Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )

The Rising Stars of The Tea Party, Conservative And Libertarian Movements–Senator Rand Paul and Jim DeMint and Representatives Paul Ryan, Mike Pence, Michele Backmann and Ron Paul–Let’s Get The Second American Revolution Going!–Videos

Posted on January 29, 2011. Filed under: Banking, Blogroll, Communications, Economics, Employment, Federal Government, Fiscal Policy, Foreign Policy, government, government spending, history, Investments, Language, Law, liberty, Life, Links, media, Monetary Policy, People, Philosophy, Politics, Rants, Raves, Regulations, Taxes, Technology, War, Wealth, Wisdom | Tags: Balanced Budgets, Jim DeMint, Libertarians, Michele Bachmann, Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, Progressives, Rand Paul, Reason, Republican Party, Ron Paul, Tea Party Movement |

Herman Cain on Your World with Neil Cavuto 1.12.11

Herman Cain Talks With Sean Hannity About Potential 2012 Presidential Run

Sen. Rand Paul: State of the Union Response

Rand Paul – Spending Cuts & the FED

Rand Paul on Debt Crisis ( 27-Jan-11)(POLITICS IN ACTION series)

Part 1) Jim DeMint named “Conservative of the Year” by Human Events

Part 2) Jim DeMint named “Conservative of the Year” by Human Events

Part 3) Jim DeMint named “Conservative of the Year” by Human Events

Rep. Paul Ryan Gives Republican Response to State of the Union Address

Paul Ryan: Hiding Spending Doesn’t Reduce Spending

Charlie Rose – Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin (R)

Rep. Mike Pence: Obama Signals More Spending in State of the Union

Congressman Mike Pence Remarks at the National Tea Party “March on Washington”

Weekly Republican Address 10/16/10: Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN)

Congresswoman Bachmann • Tea Party Express Response

We Must Cut Spending

Rep Bachmann’s Intro To Ron Paul

Ron Paul Responds to Obama’s State of the Union Address

Ron Paul: The People Can Handle The Truth About Unemployment and Inflation

Ron Paul: A New Hope

Ron Paul 2012 – Can you Hear us Now?

Background Articles and Videos

Ron Paul Channel On YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/user/ronpaul2008dotcom?blend=3&ob=4

Michele Backmann Channel On You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/user/RepMicheleBachmann

Mike Pence Channel On YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/user/CongressmanMikePence

Herman Cain Channel On YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/user/DraftCain2012

Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )

Debt Ceiling Battle–Tea Party Balanced Budget Constitutional Conservatives vs. Republican Party Unbalanced Budgets Establishment–The Party’s Over–The Piper Must Be Paid–Videos

Posted on January 6, 2011. Filed under: Blogroll, Communications, Fiscal Policy, government, government spending, Law, liberty, Life, Links, media, Rants, Raves, Taxes, Video, Wealth, Wisdom | Tags: Balanced Budgets, Budget Deficits, Doris Day, Expenditures, Fiscal Responsibility, Government Initerventionism, Nat King Cole, Outlays, Paul Ryan, President Obama, Prudence, Rand Paul, Republican Establishment, Revenues, Rich Santorum, Ron Paul, The Party's Over, U.S. National Debt Ceiling |

Nat King Cole “The Party’s Over”

“The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduce, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instread of living on public assistance.”

~Marcus Tullius Cicero

~Thomas Jefferson

U.S. National Debt Clock

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

“If The Debt Limit Isn’t Increased It’s Going To Cause Problems” Ron Paul & Rand Paul Interview

Geithner Urges Lawmakers to Increase Federal Debt Limit

New National Debt Record

Congressman-Elect Mulvaney on Debt Ceiling

Peter Schiff – How the Government can Avoid Default

Debt Ceiling Balanced Budget

Boehner Floor Speech Opposing the Dems National Debt Limit Hike

DeMint Says No Lifting Debt Ceiling Without Cuts Then Can’t Name Any Specifics Besides Earmarks

Ron Paul to Congress: Refuse to Raise the Debt Ceiling!

Paul Ryan on debt ceiling increase: “A proud moment” for Speaker Pelosi?

Need for a Limited Government

We Must Cut Spending

Expert: Republicans Will Raise Debt Ceiling

Peter Schiff with Tom Woods – Government Nonsense

Bond bubble – with Peter Schiff and Marc Faber Aug 23-2010

More debt, please

END THE FED!

The Day the Dollar Died

The tea party movement wants constitutional government of limited size and scope.

This requires cutting Federal spending and balanced or surplus budgets.

This would require the cutting of Federal spending of over $1,000 billion from the current level of Federal expenditures to balance government revenues and outlays.

If the budget is not balanced or in deficit with outlays exceeding revenues, then the national debt ceiling must be increased.

If the budget is balanced or outlays equal revenues, then the debt ceiling need not be increased.

If the budget is in surplus or revenues exceed outlays, then the debt ceiling can be lowered.

Yet the Republican Party is already talking about spending cuts of only $100 billion and a level of government outlays of 2008 which would mean an unbalanced budget or budget deficits and more debt.

Paul Ryan Says U.S. Will Avoid Defaulting on Debt

A $100 billion cut in spending is simply a joke when a balanced budget would require cuts of over $1,000 billion.

With estimated tax revenues of about $2,600 billion the budget for Fiscal Year 2011 needs to be cut by more than $1,000 billion dollars.

The tea party is already being sold out by the Republican Party establishment in Washington D.C.

Any Republican who votes for raising the debt ceiling is voting for more government budget deficits and more debt to make up the shortfall in tax revenues.

In other words these Republicans are not in favor of Constitutional limited government but business as usual.

Either vote for balanced budgets now or face defeat in November 2012.

Dan Mitchel with Cavuto if the Republicans won’t cut spending run them out of town

The real alternative to defaulting on the national debt is cuts in Federal government spending levels that balance the budget.

The tea party movement wants Federal government spending to be cut and the debt ceiling to remain the same and eventually lowered.

Start closing Federal Departments and terminating Federal government employees.

The American people have had enough of both political parties out of control government spending and month after month of deficits spending and a rising national debt.

The Federal Government can avoid defaulting on the debt by immediately terminating Federal Government employees.

Where do make the cuts in spending?

How limited in size and scope should the constitutional republic of the United States be:

Milton Friedman on Libertarianism

Lew Uhler on Responsible Government Spending 01

Lew Uhler – Cut the Size of Washington 02 SD

Lew Uhler – Right Size of Government 03 SD

Controlling Leviathan: The Battle for Limited Government

Eight Reasons Why Big Government Hurts Economic Growth

The Optimum Size of Government

Optimal Size of Government Conference, Volume 1

Optimal Size of Government Conference, Volume 2

Start by closing permanently the following Federal Departments:

1. Department of Agriculture

2. Department of Commerce

3. Department of Education

4. Department of Energy

5. Department of Health and Human Resources

6. Department of Housing and Urban Development

7. Department of Interior

8. Department of Labor

9. Department of Transportation

10. Department of Veteran Affairs.

Have ten up and down votes in the House of Representatives for closing these Federal Departments by the end of the Fiscal Year 2011 on September 30, 2011.

The ruling class of both political parties having been fiscally irresponsible for decades.

The American people have put the political elites on notice, cut spending, balance the budget and no more hikes in the national debt ceiling.

Shut the Federal government down or the American people will shut you down by voting you out of office.

Ron Paul and Rand Paul are right.

Government spending should be limited by the amount of tax revenues that are collected.

There must be a balanced budget rule that says that the total budget for a fiscal year cannot exceed the revenue collected in the previous fiscal year or the estimated tax revenues for the current year, which ever is lower.

No balanced budget rule, then no debt ceiling raise.

Congress does not need to raise the debt ceiling.

Congress needs to start cutting spending starting now.

If the means closing entire Federal Department so be.

The Republican establishment point of view is represented by former Senator Santorum.

Santorum on Debt Ceiling, Spending Cuts

The tea party movement point of view is represented by Michele Bachmann with a proposed $450 billion in Federal spending for the current budget year compared to Paul Ryan and the Republican Party leadership proposal of $50 to $100 billion.

Confronting Reckless Federal Spending

Actually over $1,000 billion needs to be cut to have a balanced budget, which means everything including Defense and entitlement needs to be cut.

The American people are way head of both political parties and big media as to what needs to be done.

What is irresponsible is both political parties have been increasing the debt ceiling for decades.

Enough is enough.

If the current members of Congress cannot do the job, the tea party movement will find others who will cut spending by closing Federal Departments, agencies and reform entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Start sending out the pink slip or termination of employment notices–downsize the Federal Government now.

If President Obama refuses to have the Federal Government operate on tax revenues only, then President Obama will be the person blamed for forcing the Federal Government into default on its Treasury obligations.

Refuse to Raise The Debt Ceiling!

The party is over! The piper must be paid.

Doris Day sings The Party’s Over

The party’s over
It’s time to call it day
They’ve burst your pretty balloon
And taken the moon away

It’s time to wind up
The masquerade
Just make your mind up
The piper must be paid

The party’s over
The candles flicker and dim
You danced and dream
Through the night
It seemed to be right
Just being with him

Now you must wake up
All my dreams must end
Take off your makeup
The party’s over
It’s all over, my friend

Background Articles and Videos

Quantitative Easing and Unemployment

Tom Woods Smashes Central Bank Dogma on Freedom Watch 12/21/10

Debt Ceiling

“…The Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917 established a statutory limit on federal debt.^[96] Congress had previously approved each debt issuance separately. The debt limit provided the U.S. Treasury with more leeway in the administration of debt, allowing for modern management techniques in government finance.

The U.S. Treasury Department now conducts more than 200 sales of debt by auction every year. The Treasury has been granted authority by Congress to issue such debt as was needed to fund government operations as long as the total debt (excepting some small special classes) does not exceed a stated ceiling.

The most recent increase in the U.S. debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion by H.J.Res. 45 was signed into law on February 12, 2010.^[97]

Date	Debt Ceiling	Change in Debt Ceiling
June 25, 1940	$49,000,000,000 ^[98]
February 19, 1941	$65,000,000,000	$16,000,000,000
March 28, 1942	$125,000,000,000	$60,000,000,000
April 11, 1943	$210,000,000,000	$85,000,000,000
June 9, 1944	$260,000,000,000	$50,000,000,000
April 3, 1945	$300,000,000,000	$40,000,000,000
June 26, 1946	$275,000,000,000	-$25,000,000,000
August 28, 1954	$281,000,000,000	$6,000,000,000
July 9, 1956	$275,000,000,000	-$6,000,000,000
February 26, 1958	$280,000,000,000	$5,000,000,000
September 2, 1958	$288,000,000,000	$8,000,000,000
June 30, 1959	$295,000,000,000	$7,000,000,000
June 30, 1960	$293,000,000,000	-$2,000,000,000
June 30, 1961	$298,000,000,000 ^[99]	$5,000,000,000
July 1, 1962	$308,000,000,000	$10,000,000,000
March 31, 1963	$305,000,000,000	-$3,000,000,000
June 25, 1963	$300,000,000,000	-$5,000,000,000
June 30, 1963	$307,000,000,000	$7,000,000,000
August 31, 1963	$309,000,000,000	$2,000,000,000
November 26, 1963	$315,000,000,000	$6,000,000,000
June 29, 1964	$324,000,000,000	$9,000,000,000
June 24, 1965	$328,000,000,000	$4,000,000,000
June 24, 1966	$330,000,000,000	$2,000,000,000
March 2, 1967	$336,000,000,000	$6,000,000,000
June 30, 1967	$358,000,000,000	$22,000,000,000
June 1, 1968	$365,000,000,000	$7,000,000,000
April 7, 1969	$377,000,000,000	$12,000,000,000
June 30, 1970	$395,000,000,000	$18,000,000,000
March 17, 1971	$430,000,000,000	$35,000,000,000
March 15, 1972	$450,000,000,000 ^[100]	$20,000,000,000
October 27, 1972	$465,000,000,000	$15,000,000,000
June 30, 1974	$495,000,000,000	$30,000,000,000
February 19, 1975	$577,000,000,000	$82,000,000,000
November 14, 1975	$595,000,000,000	$18,000,000,000
March 15, 1976	$627,000,000,000	$32,000,000,000
June 30, 1976	$636,000,000,000	$9,000,000,000
September 30, 1976	$682,000,000,000	$46,000,000,000
April 1, 1977	$700,000,000,000	$18,000,000,000
October 4, 1977	$752,000,000,000	$52,000,000,000
August 3, 1978	$798,000,000,000	$46,000,000,000
April 2, 1979	$830,000,000,000	$32,000,000,000
September 29, 1979	$879,000,000,000 ^[101]	$49,000,000,000
June 28, 1980	$925,000,000,000	$46,000,000,000
December 19, 1980	$935,000,000,000	$10,000,000,000
February 7, 1981	$985,000,000,000	$50,000,000,000
September 30, 1981	$1,079,000,000,000	$94,000,000,000
June 28, 1982	$1,143,000,000,000	$64,000,000,000
September 30, 1982	$1,290,200,000,000	$147,200,000,000
May 26, 1983	$1,389,000,000,000	$98,800,000,000
November 21, 1983	$1,490,000,000,000	$101,000,000,000
May 25, 1984	$1,520,000,000,000	$30,000,000,000
June 6, 1984	$1,573,000,000,000	$53,000,000,000
October 13, 1984	$1,823,000,000,000	$250,000,000,000
November 14, 1985	$1,903,800,000,000	$80,800,000,000
December 12, 1985	$2,078,700,000,000	$174,900,000,000
August 21, 1986	$2,111,000,000,000	$32,300,000,000
October 21, 1986	$2,300,000,000,000	$189,000,000,000
May 15, 1987	$2,320,000,000,000 ^[102]	$20,000,000,000
August 10, 1987	$2,352,000,000,000	$32,000,000,000
September 29, 1987	$2,800,000,000,000	$448,000,000,000
August 7, 1989	$2,870,000,000,000	$70,000,000,000
November 8, 1989	$3,122,700,000,000	$252,700,000,000
August 9, 1990	$3,195,000,000,000	$72,300,000,000
October 28, 1990	$3,230,000,000,000	$35,000,000,000
November 5, 1990	$4,145,000,000,000	$915,000,000,000
April 6, 1993	$4,370,000,000,000	$225,000,000,000
August 10, 1993	$4,900,000,000,000	$530,000,000,000
March 29, 1996	$5,500,000,000,000	$600,000,000,000
August 5, 1997	$5,950,000,000,000	$450,000,000,000
June 11, 2002	$6,400,000,000,000 ^[103]	$450,000,000,000
May 27, 2003	$7,384,000,000,000 ^[104]	$984,000,000,000
November 16, 2004	$8,184,000,000,000 ^[105]	$800,000,000,000
March 20, 2006	$8,965,000,000,000 ^[106]	$781,000,000,000
September 29, 2007	$9,815,000,000,000 ^[107]	$850,000,000,000
June 5, 2008	$10,615,000,000,000 ^[108]	$800,000,000,000
October 3, 2008	$11,315,000,000,000 ^[109]	$700,000,000,000
February 17, 2009	$12,104,000,000,000 ^[110]	$789,000,000,000
December 24, 2009	$12,394,000,000,000 ^[111]	$290,000,000,000
February 12, 2010	$14,294,000,000,000 ^[112]	$1,900,000,000,000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt

David Stockman on TARP, the Fed, Ron Paul and Reagan [FULL VERSION]

The Party’s Over by Johnny Mathis

Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )

President Obama Signs Tax Extension Bad Deal Bill–Now Shut The Government Down And Cut Federal Spending By $1,000 Billion Per Budget Year To Balance The Budget–Videos

Posted on December 17, 2010. Filed under: Banking, Blogroll, Communications, Demographics, Economics, Federal Government, Fiscal Policy, Foreign Policy, government, government spending, history, Investments, Language, Law, liberty, Links, media, Monetary Policy, Money, People, Philosophy, Politics, Raves, Regulations, Reviews, Taxes, Video, Wisdom | Tags: Balanced Budgets, Deficits Spending, Federal Government Spending, fiscal policy, monetary policy, President Obama, Ron Paul |

Breaking News: Obama signs tax deal into law

Glenn Beck-12/16/10-A

Glenn Beck-12/16/10-B

Glenn Beck-12/16/10-C

Do not be fooled by ear-marks–they are at most 1% of the total Federal Expenditures.

A balanced budget requires the cutting of Federal Expenditures by over $1,000 billion.

Anything less is simply not enough.

Any talk of a $100 billion to $500 billion spending cut is not serious.

Everything should and must be on the table including Department of Defense and entitlement spending–Social Security, Medicare and Obamacare.

Obamacare must be repealed.

Ten Federal Departments need to be closed permanently.

The American people also want lower taxes and comprehensive tax reform–the flat tax or the FairTax.

The time is now for leadership to step-up to the plate.

Unfortunately I am not optimistic.

The Tea Party Movement must continually put pressure on the representative and Senators to do what needs to be done.

Otherwise it will take another four to six years when the situation is much worse.

Do nothing and the market will do it for you with inflation that will wrecks the U.S. economy.

Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )

Barack Obama: The American People’s $3,000,000,000,000++ Mistake–Stop Spending By Closing Federal Departments Down!

Posted on October 19, 2010. Filed under: Blogroll, College, Communications, Demographics, Economics, Education, Employment, Federal Government, Fiscal Policy, government, government spending, history, Language, Law, liberty, Life, Links, media, Monetary Policy, People, Philosophy, Politics, Quotations, Taxes, Technology, Video, Wisdom | Tags: Balanced Budgets, Barck Obama, deficits, Economics, Federal Budget, fiscal policy, Fiscal Responsibility, government spending, monetary policy, national debt, President Obama |

United States’ Projected Debt – 2009-2019

National debt. Crisis

The National Debt Road Trip

U.S Debt Clock

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

Deficits, Debts and Unfunded Liabilities: The Consequences of Excessive Government Spending

http://www.federalbudget.com/

US National Debt, What DC & Obama Arent Telling

$78.8 Trillion; United States Debt Obligations exceed world GDP; Monetary Collapse Looming?

President Barack Obama’s Endgame: A Look At The National Debt

Backround Articles and Videos

(1/6) American Debt

(2/6) American Debt

(3/6) American Debt

(4/6) American Debt

(5/6) American Debt

(6/6) American Debt

Lesson 1 National Debt & Budget Deficit Explained

National Debt Up $3 Trillion on Obama’s Watch

“…The National Debt stood at $10.626 trillion the day Mr. Obama was inaugurated. The Bureau of Public Debt reported today that the National Debt had hit an all time high of $13.665 trillion.

The Debt increased $4.9 trillion during President Bush’s two terms. The Administration has projected the National Debt will soar in Mr. Obama’s fourth year in office to nearly $16.5-trillion in 2012. That’s more than 100 percent of the value of the nation’s economy and $5.9-trillion above what it was his first day on the job.

Mr. Obama frequently lays blame for soaring federal deficits on his predecessor.

“By the time I got into office we already had a $1.3 trillion deficit and we had exploded the national debt,” he said last month during one of his backyard chats with Americans.

Just last Friday, the Treasury Department portrayed it as good news when it reported that the federal deficit in the fiscal year that ended September 30th was $1.294 trillion. That’s less than the $1.416 trillion deficit accrued in 2009 – the largest federal deficit ever recorded. It was also less than the $1.556 trillion that had been initially projected for 2010. …”

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20019931-503544.html

Obama Sends Congress $3.8 Trillion Budget, Soaring Deficits Projected

“…According to the plan, the 2011 deficit of $1.267 trillion would fund nearly the entirety of the year’s discretionary spending, which is $1.415 trillion or 37 percent of the government’s total outlays. Mandatory spending on items such as entitlements and interest payments make up the rest.

The Senate moved last week to extend the nation’s debt limit to $14.3 trillion to accommodate the projected gap for the current spending year, which ends Sept. 30, but with another $1.3 trillion hole next year, the nation’s debt could reach $15.6 trillion by Oct. 1, 2011. That would surpass the nation’s annual gross domestic product.

A $1.6 trillion deficit would represent 10.6 percent of current GDP, while 2011′s budget deficit would be 8. 3 percent of GDP. The White House says over the next 10 years, the average deficit will represent only 4.5 percent of GDP annually. Last year’s deficit was $1.42 trillion.

Obama on Monday blamed much of the nation’s budget woes on tax cuts passed under the prior administration, as well as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and other programs. He called for reining in the budget over time, but said the need to help Americans hurting from the economic downturn makes that difficult to do right away.

“We have to do what families across America are doing — save where we can, so that we can afford what we need,” Obama said. “We won’t be able to bring down this deficit overnight.”

According to White House estimates, the budget’s deficit for fiscal year 2013 would drop to $700 billion before jumping back up to $1 trillion in 2020, the furthest out that budgeters will predict. …”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/31/obama-offers-budget-deficits-far-number-crunchers/

The Revenue and Spending Mismatch

How the United States Got into a Sinkhole of Debt

The revenue-to-spending ration and budget deficits, 1949-2009

“…The RSR and budget deficits

The relationship between the RSR and the overall budget deficit is simple and clear. Any budget that does not cover 100 percent of its spending with revenues will necessarily be in the red. An RSR of less than 100 percent indicates a budget deficit, an RSR of more than 100 percent indicates a surplus, and an RSR of exactly 100 percent means a budget in perfect balance with income exactly equal to spending.

The federal government has paid for an average of 92 percent of its total expenditures with revenues over the past 60 years. The RSR has, however, fluctuated over time with some periods enjoying a higher RSR and others a much lower one.

The overall RSR for the federal budget fluctuated from 1950 to 1974, between a high of 113 percent in 1951, and a low of 86 percent in 1959 and 1968. The overall RSR during those 25 years most often fell into the even narrower range between 90 percent and 100 percent, and as result the federal government ran only small deficits, averaging only 0.6 percent of GDP.

The budget shifted onto somewhat weaker ground starting in 1975 when the RSR dropped below 85 percent for the first time since World War II. During the next 20 years, the RSR only climbed back over 90 percent once in 1979, and on average the federal government’s revenues only paid for 83 percent of total spending. The federal deficits in this period were as a result significantly larger than during the previous quarter of the century, averaging more than 3.5 percent of GDP.

1983 was a low point for the RSR as it dipped to 74 percent, driven down by the massive tax cut passed in the previous year. The 1983 RSR was nearly 6 percentage points lower than at any point since 1950. The deficit grew accordingly in 1983 and set a new postwar high at 6 percent of GDP that was not matched until the Great Recession swamped the budget in 2009.

Ten years after reaching that new low, the federal budget’s RSR came to a turning point and began to climb steadily, improving every year for eight straight years. The RSR surpassed 100 percent in 1998 for the first time since 1969, indicating the first budget surplus in nearly 30 years, and then hit its peak of 113 percent in 2000—the highest RSR in 50 years. …”

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/02/revenue_spending_mismatch.html

Raymond T. Pronk

Email Subscription

Pages

RSS Links

Categories

Search

Search

Blog Stats

Calendar

Archives

Pages

Email Subscription

Search

Blogroll

Follow “Pronk Palisades”

S-1 FY2012 Chairman’s Markup(Nominal Dollars in Billions)
Fiscal Year	Outlays	Revenues	Deficits	Debt Held By Public
2011	3,618	2,230	-1,388	10,351
2012	3,529	2,533	-995	11,418
2013	3,559	2,860	-699	12,217
2014	3,586	3,094	-492	12,801
2015	3,671	3,237	-434	13,326
2016	3,858	3,377	-481	13,886
2017	3,998	3,589	-408	14,363
2018	4,123	3,745	-379	14,800
2019	4,352	3,939	-414	15,254
2020	4,544	4,142	-402	15,681
2021	4,739	4,354	-385	16,071
2012-2021	39,958	34,870	-5,088	n.a.

Obama PROMISES To Cut Deficit In Half By 2012

Live Obama speech on debt 23th february 2009

Amazing – Obama Caught in Bald-Faced Lie on White House Sequester

Sequester- President Obama says $85B in spending cuts WILL kick in Friday

Judge Napolitano: Facts About Sequester Caught Up To Obama “His Scare Tactics Are Reprehensible”

Historical Debt Outstanding – Annual 2000 – 2012

Budget Control Act Sequestration Would Hit Defense Hardest

Rand Paul: Sequester Doesn’t Cut Enough – Stossel 2/28/2013

Balderdash! Sen. Rand Paul demolishes Obama’s sequester scare tactics

Hooray for SEQUESTRATION…

Illegal Immigrants Released from Detention Centers…

Bernanke Urges Sequestration Alternative

The Obama Sequester: He Was For It, Before He Was Against It

Obama Then and Now: I was for the sequester and now I am against it

Rand Paul: Obama Claiming To Have Cut Debt By $2 Trillion Is Absurd – 2/13/2013

Paul Ryan confronted on sequester

The Truth about Sequestration

Sequestration and transfer authority

Rand Paul: Sequester Is A Pittance – 2/19/2013

What is the March 1 sequester!…

Bob Woodward: Sequester was Obama’s Solution

Flashback: Obama promises veto stopgap alternative to sequester cuts

John Boehner: The President Is Raging Against a Budget Crisis He Created

Obama invented the ‘sequester’ in the summer of 2011 to avoid facing up to America’s spending problem.

By JOHN BOEHNER

2013 United States federal budget

History

Budget Control Act and the Deficit Reduction Committee

Initial proposals

Legislation begins to be passed

Analysis

Implications of the Budget Control Act

Ten-year projections

Total revenues and spending

References

Further reading

External links

FreedomWorks “My 2012 GOP Platform” discussion with Glenn Beck 7.25.12

Tea party influences GOP platform talks in Tampa

Republican Party approves strict anti-abortion platform, earning rebuke from Scott Brown

AP sources: GOP platform draft at odds with Romney

Sarah Palin On Wisconsin: “Obama’s Goose Is Cooked”

BO:”Now what do I do?”

Bill:”First–Replace Joe with Hillary,

Second–Let Hillary Do Your Job

Third–Play more golf!

BO: Sounds like a plan.

Note: Color Co-ordinated Golf Shirt & Shoes!

Records

What Is Wisconsin Recall All About?

Gov Scott Walker Recall Election Victory Speech

Background Articles and Videos

Change Direction 2

Related Posts On Pronk Palisades

Betrayal of the Constitution An Exposé of the Neoconservative Agenda

Constitution Si, Amnesty No

A Tale of Two Rights by the Southern Avenger

SA@TAC – The Great Neo-Con: Libertarianism Isn’t ‘Conservative’

SA@TAC – Taking the ‘Neo’ Out of ‘Conservative’

William F. Buckley Jr. and the John Birch Society — ­ A Book Review

‘Bill Buckley: Pied Piper of the Establishment’

Stiff Right Jab: Pied Piper for the Establishment

Steve Farrell

Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven Live (HD)

The Debt Clock

Dan Mitchell Discussing Dishonest Budget Numbers with John Stossel

Geithner Admits: Obligations In President’s Budget ‘Unsustainable’

Tim Geithner to Paul Ryan: “We don’t have a definitive solution… We just don’t like yours”

Paul Ryan: President’s Budget Ensures Government Can’t Keep Its Promises

The Deal with Jack Hunter: Ignoring Rand Paul’s Budget

Ron Paul to Congress: If Debt Is the Problem, Why Do You Want More of It?

Another Day Older & Deeper In Debt: Federal Deficit to Top $1 Trillion for Fourth Year

Deficits, Debts and Unfunded Liabilities: The Consequences of Excessive Government Spending

Unfunded Liabilities and Hidden Taxes

Stunning Finding: President’s Health Law Creates $17 Trillion In Unfunded Financial Obligations

The National Debt: A Primer and A Plan by George C. Christy

How Big Is the U.S. Debt?

Charlie Rose The Movie (Bloomberg) – In The Year 2525

Default America: Interest Suppressed

Kotlikoff Says Next Generation to Suffer From Fiscal Gap

William F. Buckley Jr. and the John Birch Society — A Book Review