Independent reviews of Obama's claims of job created by the stimulus bill show that the government is making up numbers. As Rep. Joe Wilson so aptly said it, "You lie!"
From Watchdog.org:
Just how big is the stimulus package? Well for one, it has doubled the size of the House of Representatives, according to recovery.gov, which says that funds were distributed to 440 congressional districts that do not exist.
According to data retrieved from recovery.gov, nearly $6.4 billion was used to “create or save” just under 30,000 jobs in these phantom congressional districts–almost $225,000 per job. The Web site operates on an $84 million budget and is tasked with monitoring the distribution of the $787 billion stimulus package passed by Congress–which, for the record, counts 435 members–in early 2009.
It's clear you can't trust anything coming from the Obama Ministry of Propaganda or the state-run media that should be reporting on the most corrupt and deceptive administration ever.
By formally endorsing the House health care bill, President Barack Obama effectively announced that the central promise of his 2008 campaign was a lie, says Americans for Tax Reform, a non-partisan coalition of taxpayers and taxpayer groups.
During the campaign, Obama made a "firm pledge" not to raise "any form" of taxes on families making less than $250,000 per year but the Pelosi bill would impose those taxes on middle-class familes, ATR argues.
The unemployment rate in the U.S. rose to 10.2 percent today despite guarantees by Barack Obama when he signed the $787 billion "stimulus" bill in February that unemployment would never rise above 8 percent. Of all of Obama's lies, this one is the biggest.
More than 16 million Americans are out of work, while Obama continues to insist that his "stimulus" package has "saved or created" 1 million jobs.
The Obama Administration has offered no proof of those 1 million jobs and has been caught several times "cooking" the numbers. The Associated Press continues to report on massive fraud involving the so-called "stimulus" jobs, whereby agencies receiving government money are counting jobs more than once or counting minimal raises given to workers as "saved" jobs to please their Washington masters.
On the same day the Labor Department released the new unemployment figures, Obama signed a 20-week extension of unemployment benefits for 1 million out-of-work Americans whose benefits had run out.
But there are another 6 million Americans who are out of work and have exhausted all unemployment benefits including extensions. Those 6 million will have to put "hope and change" on the table to feed their families as the Obama Recession continues to get worse. (A record 23 million Americans are now collecting food stamps.)
Barack Obama came into office with a 62% job approval number, but that has dropped to 48% by October. Rasmussen offers a month-by-month look at Obama's failed presidency.
From Rasmussen Reports:
The president's ratings dipped slightly in October after stabilizing in September.
In October, for the third straight month, 39% Strongly Disapproved of the president's performance. The number who Strongly Approved fell two percentage points to 29%, the president's lowest full-month total to date. That leads to a Presidential Approval Index rating of -10, also a new low for Obama.
Also in October, the president's total approval slipped a point to 48%. His total disapproval remained stable at 51%.
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, who represents Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District, wants to set the record straight about the latest bogus announcement by the Obama Administration that it has "created or saved" 650,000 jobs.
Earlier this week, The Associated Press reported that the official count of "created or saved" jobs from the $787 billion stimulus was 25,000. It's amazing what you can do with numbers.
Obama released figures from his economic team stating that more than 40,000 jobs have been "created or saved" in Pennsylvania by passage of the stimulus bill, according to Pitts.
Nationwide 650,000 jobs have been "created or saved" at the cost of approximately $1.2 million each, Pitts says. Economists agree that the figure of jobs "saved" is misleading and is not a legitimate economic measure, Pitts says.
Pennsylvania has lost nearly 200,000 jobs in just the past year alone. Nationwide, more than 15 million Americans are out of work. The unemployment rate in the U.S. stands at a 27-year high.
Rep. Pitts' statement follows:
"Once again the administration is claiming that the wasteful $787 billion stimulus bill has 'saved' a distinct number of jobs. The White House has produced a number that is meaningless. There is no way to count jobs that weren't lost. I could just as easily come up with a formula to count the jobs that have been lost due this Administration’s policies on energy, health, and taxation.
"The truth is, unemployment is nearly two percent higher than the President projected. The administration’s website right now shows only one job saved in the entire 16th Congressional District. I understand that these numbers may be updated later today but they certainly won’t change very much. Right now this website shows that one job was created at the cost of $277,000 in government contracts.
"The government cannot create jobs, but it can make is easier or harder for employers to increase their payroll. With job-killing tax hikes in health care reform and the energy legislation being considered in Congress right now, how can we expect employers to invest in their business with confidence?"
News Item: 23 states report higher unemployment in September.
The Obama Recession continues ... and the state-run media is working overtime attempting to cover up the failing presidency of Barack Obama.
While the president and his loyal minions are wasting their time attacking FOX News for daring to criticize Obama's mounting failures, millions of Americans are losing their jobs while millions more have given up looking for work.
From The Associated Press:
Forty-three states reported job losses in September, while only seven gained jobs, the Labor Department said Wednesday.
Wednesday's report underscores the uneven nature of the recovery. The unemployment rate dropped in some Midwestern states as the manufacturing sector improved. But Florida and Nevada, two of the states hit hardest by the housing slump, reported record-high jobless rates.
Some of the states that lost jobs still saw their unemployment rates improve, as discouraged workers gave up looking for work. People who are out of work but no longer looking for jobs aren't counted as officially unemployed.
That trend was evident nationwide in September, as nearly 600,000 people dropped out of the work force, the department reported earlier this month.
The U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.8 percent in September, a 26-year high, from 9.7 percent. Some economists estimate it would have topped 10 percent if there had been no change in the labor force.
Harris Poll: Americans Give Obama Negative Ratings on 12 Key Issues
If this was a report card, Barack Obama would be flunking out of school.
The latest Harris Poll shows a majority of Americans give President Obama negative ratings on his handling of a dozen major issues.
Among the lowest numbers are for Obama's handling of unemployment, the federal deficit and the war in Afghanistan.
From the Harris Poll:
As President Obama's overall approval rating continues to slide, he cannot find much solace in Americans' opinions on his handling of 12 different issues as he does not have a positive rating on any of these.
The top one for President Obama is reducing the threat of terrorist attack with 41% giving his job on this a positive rating, down from 49% who said so in August. Two in five Americans also give the President positive marks on the environment (40%, down from 43% in August) and education (40% up from 37% in August).
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,293 adults surveyed online between October 5 and 12, 2009 by Harris Interactive.
President Obama is dealing with two different wars - one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan - and the American public is not pleased with his handling of either of them. In August two in five U.S. adults (42%) gave the president positive marks on his handling of the war in Iraq. Currently, that number has dropped to 34% while 66% give President Obama negative ratings on this war. The numbers for Afghanistan have gone down even more. In August, two in five (41%) gave the president positive ratings on the war in Afghanistan but now just one-quarter of Americans (27%) give him positive marks while 73% give him negative ratings.
The president has also spent a great deal of time trying to win the American public's support for his health reform plan but does not seem to be making much headway on this issue. Just three in ten Americans (31%) give President Obama positive ratings on his handling of health care while 69% give him negative ratings. In August, over one-third (35%) of U.S. adults gave the president positive ratings on this issue.
Looking at economic issues at least two-thirds of Americans give him negative ratings on all of these issues. On the economy overall, 67% give the president negative marks while one-third (33%) give him positive ones. In September, 40% gave President Obama positive marks on his handling of the economy. More specifically on his handling of regulating the financial system three in ten Americans (31%) give the president positive ratings while 69% give him negative marks. In August, 37% of Americans gave the president's job on this positive marks.
When it comes to the issue of taxes, three in ten Americans (29%) give the president positive marks on his handling of this issue while 71% give him negative ratings. Just one-quarter of Americans (26%) gives the president's handling of employment/unemployment a positive rating, down from 31% who felt this way in August. And, his lowest number is on the federal budget deficit where almost four in five Americans (78%) give President Obama negative marks and only 22% give him positive ratings.
So what?
The President needs a win, whether it is health care reform, some good economic numbers that matter to the American people or a change in Afghanistan. But, until he has something that resonates with the American public in a positive light, there is a sense that a negative attitude will permeate over all issues. One thing to note, education has actually ticked up a little and the White House had put forth their new education initiatives recently. Maybe this is the one issue that they should focus on for the near term, as long as they don't take their eye off of the economy.
Pennsylvania employers shed another 10,300 jobs in September, according to new employment figures released today by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.
The Rendell Administration is attempting to put the best possible spin on the continuing bad news by pointing out that Pennsylvania's 8.8% unemployment rate "remained below the United States' unemployment rate, which rose one-tenth of a point to 9.8 percent."
Doesn't that make you feel better, especially if your unemployment benefits are about to run out?
The bottom line is that Ed Rendell, Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats have done a terrible job dealing with economic issues, resulting in record unemployment.
From the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry:
Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted civilian labor force -- the number of people working or looking for work -- rose by 9,000 in September to 6,368,000.
Employment was unchanged in September, while resident unemployment rose by 9,000.
The Pennsylvania labor force was down 55,000 from September 2008.
Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was up one-tenth of a percentage point to 8.8 percent in September.
The state rate remained below the United States' unemployment rate, which rose one-tenth of a point to 9.8 percent.
Pennsylvania's rate was up 3.2 percentage points from September 2008, while the U.S. rate was up 3.6 percentage points in the 12-month period.
Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs count dropped by 10,300 jobs in September.
The majority of the job losses were among service providing industries, however, the Professional and Business Services sector added 2,700 jobs.
Pennsylvania job count was down 198,100, or 3.4 percent, since September 2008. Nationally, jobs were down 4.2 percent over the same time period.
The Obama recession continues as the U.S. unemployment reached 9.8 percent in September.
It's the highest unemployment rate since June 1983, according to The Associated Press.
The Obama/Pelosi "stimulus" package, approved in February, has been a bust, with more than 15.1 million Americans out of work - 3 million more than when Obama took office.
From The Associated Press:
The Labor Department said Friday that the economy lost a net total of 263,000 jobs last month, from a downwardly revised 201,000 in August. That's worse than Wall Street economists' expectations of 180,000 job losses, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.
The unemployment rate rose from 9.7 percent in August, matching expectations.
If laid-off workers who have settled for part-time work or have given up looking for new jobs are included, the unemployment rate rose to 17 percent, the highest on records dating from 1994.
All told, 15.1 million Americans are now out of work, the department said. And 7.2 million jobs have been eliminated since the recession began in December 2007.
The department said 571,000 of the unemployed dropped out of the work force last month, presumably out of frustration over the lack of jobs. That sent the participation rate, or the percentage of the population either working or looking for work, to a 23-year low.
The unemployment rate would have topped 10 percent if the labor force hadn't shrank.
Older, laid-off workers are dropping out and requesting Social Security at a faster-than-expected pace, according to government officials. The Social Security Administration said earlier this week that applications for retirement benefits are 23 percent higher than last year, while disability claims have risen by about 20 percent.
Poll: 60% view Obama's handling of economy as negative
A new Harris Poll released shows growing discontentment over Barack Obama's handling of the economy.
Three in five Americans (60%) rate the job the president is doing on the economy as negative while two in five (40%) rate his job as positive, according to The Harris Poll.
The numbers are virtually unchanged from last month when 39% rated President Obama's economic job performance as positive and 61% rated it as negative, according to The Harris Poll.
More from The Harris Poll of 2,334 adults surveyed online between Sept. 8-15, 2009, by Harris Interactive:
Confidence in the White House
Confidence in the White House and the Administration to produce policies to help fix the economic crisis has dropped in the past month. In August, over half of Americans (53%) had confidence while 47% did not have confidence. One month later, over half of Americans (52%) now are not confident that the Obama Administration can produce policies to help fix the economic crisis while 48% are confident they will.
Financial conditions ahead
Overall, two in five Americans (40%) expect the economy to improve in the coming year while just over one-third (36%) say they expect it to stay the same and one-quarter (24%) believe it will get worse. In August, almost half (46%) of Americans believed the economy would improve in the coming year.
When it comes to household's financial situation, about half of Americans (48%) believe it will remain the same in the next six months while one-quarter (23%) say it will get better and three in ten (29%) believe it will get worse. This is almost unchanged from last month when 48% said it would remain the same, 24% said it would get better and 28% of Americans believed their household's financial situation would get worse.
The job market
When it comes to the job market, attitudes are mostly negative. Two-thirds of Americans (68%) say the current job market in their region of the country is bad while just one in ten (10%) say it is good and 22% believe it is neither good nor bad. Last month, 71% of Americans said the job market in their region was bad and 8% said it was good. Those in the West and Midwest are most negative about the job markets in their region (77% and 70% saying it is bad respectively) while 15% of Southerners say it is good.
Barack Obama and his media allies are jumping on the slightest bit of positive economic news to tell the American people that the recession is over.
Just tell that to the 15 million Americans who are out of work. Millions of those jobs have been lost during the Obama administration and most of them will never come back.
Today's headline: 42 states lose jobs in August, up from 29 in July
From The Associated Press:
WASHINGTON — Forty-two states lost jobs last month, up from 29 in July, with the biggest net payroll cuts coming in Texas, Michigan, Georgia and Ohio.
The Labor Department also reported Friday that 27 states saw their unemployment rates increase in August, and 14 states and Washington D.C., reported unemployment rates of 10 percent or above.
The report shows jobs remain scarce even as most analysts believe the economy is pulling out of the worst recession since the 1930s. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said earlier this week that the recovery isn't likely to be rapid enough to reduce unemployment for some time.
The jobless rate nationwide is expected to peak above 10 percent next year, from its current 9.7 percent.
Employers have eliminated 6.9 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.
Texas lost 62,200 jobs as its unemployment rate rose to 8 percent in August for the first time in 22 years. The state's leisure, construction and manufacturing industries were hardest hit, losing 35,500 jobs.
Michigan saw 42,900 jobs disappear, including 15,000 in manufacturing, as the state continued to suffer along with its struggling auto industry.
Michigan's unemployment rate rose to 15.2 percent, the highest in the nation. When its jobless rate topped 15 percent in June it was the first time any state surpassed that mark since 1984.
Nevada has the second-highest rate at 13.2 percent, followed by Rhode Island at 12.8 percent and California and Oregon at 12.2 percent each.
The jobless rates in California, Nevada and Rhode Island were the highest on records dating to 1976. California and Nevada have been slammed by the housing bust, while Rhode Island has lost thousands of manufacturing and government jobs in the past year.
Georgia and Ohio reported the third and fourth-highest job losses, respectively, but their unemployment rates both fell as many of the unemployed dropped out of the work force.
The 900-pound gorilla in the health care reform debate appears to be the trial lawyers. Obama and Congress won't touch them. How many trial lawyers have bankrolled Congressional Democrats and members of the Obama Administration?
Has it been 200 days since Barack Obama signed the centerpiece of his economic recovery plan, the $787 billion "stimulus" package passed the Democratic Congress?
How's that stimulus working out for you? No so well if you are one of the 2.2 million Americans who have lost a job since Obama signed the stimulus.
The Republican National Committee has compiled a 61-page recap of the Obama rhetoric and reality surrounding that stimulus plan.
From the report, CLAIMS VS. REALITY: Obama's Failed Economic Experiment:
It is appropriate on the 200th day of the stimulus to look back at exactly what the stimulus has accomplished. The answer is very little. What it has done, however, is give the American people a $787 billion bill they cannot afford. In this report, you will find 200 claims that President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, senior Administration officials and Congressional Democrats have made about the stimulus. None of these claims match reality.
When the stimulus passed, President Obama and Congressional Democrats promised the stimulus would be a targeted, timely and transparent effort to create jobs immediately. This compilation of 200 claims shows that promise has not been kept. Job losses continue, stimulus spending has been slow, and as even the Vice President has said, ― "we know some of this money is going to be wasted."
The Obama Administration and Pelosi-Reid Congressional Democrats have boldly declared that the stimulus is working and they have ― "rescued the economy," but facts are stubborn things. Unemployment is still high and the deficit is out of control. These are not reasons to declare victory.
I know the Kool Aid drinkers on the left will say that we have to give Obama more time, but 200 days is a long time to go down the wrong path. Eventually, we'll never find our way back unless we change direction.
Unemployment is rising, consumer confidence is lagging and the national debt is growing at astronomical rates under Obama. Are you better off today than you were six months ago?
From RNC Chairman Michael Steele:
"In the end, the stimulus is another failed experiment by the President that Americans cannot afford. Instead of creating jobs, millions are unemployed and billions have been added to our deficit. 200 days of this stimulus are 200 days too long."
You can download the full 61-page report in PDF format here.
Harris Poll: Americans Give Obama Negative Ratings on 12 Issues
Bad news across the board for Barack Obama and his failed presidency from the latest Harris Poll:
As President Obama's overall job approval remains just barely positive, when presented with a list of 12 issues he is currently facing, the American public believes that the job he is doing on all 12 of them is negative. The one that is closest to an even split among adults is reducing the threat of terrorist attacks against the United States where just over half of Americans (51%) give the president negative ratings and 49% give him positive ratings.
These are some of the findings of The Harris Poll, a new nationwide survey of 2,498 U.S. adults surveyed online between August 10 and 18, 2009 by Harris Interactive.
Looking at the economic issue overall, three in five Americans (61%) give President Obama negative ratings on the economy, while 39% give him positive ones. In June, 43% of Americans gave President Obama positive ratings on the economy. When it comes to specific economic issues, the news is worse for the president. On regulating the financial system, 63% give President Obama negative marks and on taxes two-thirds of Americans (67%) give him negative marks. Seven in ten Americans give the president negative ratings on employment/ unemployment (69%) and social security (70%) while over three-quarters (77%) give him negative marks on the job he is doing on the federal budget.
Looking at the environment, 57% of Americans give President Obama negative marks for his handling of that issue. When it comes to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the American public is of a similar mind. Almost three in five U.S. adults (58%) give President Obama negative marks on his handling of the war in Iraq and 59% give him negative ratings on his handling of the war in Afghanistan. More than three in five Americans give President Obama negative ratings on the overall job he is doing on education (63%) and health care (65%).
There is also a generation divide on these issues. The youngest generation, Echo Boomers (those aged 18-32) are less likely to give President Obama negative ratings on 11 of the 12 issues. On one, the environment, Baby Boomers are the most "positive" on the job the president has done. In comparison, Matures (those aged 64 and older) and more likely to give President Obama negative ratings on 11 of the 12 issues. On social security, Gen Xers (those aged 33-44) are the most negative.
John C. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, offers an excellent analysis of the growing anger exhibited by Americans toward the political class in Washington.
From his recent column in The Wall Street Journal:
Why are they so angry? The reasons are manifold, but the single biggest reason is the arrogance of our elected officials in Washington. Think about it. For the past seven months a small group of politicians has been meeting behind-closed-doors with powerful special interests to decide whether you will be able to keep your current insurance, where you will be directed to get new insurance and at what price, what fines you and your employer will have to pay if you don't conform, and how they're going to get your doctor to change the way he or she practices medicine. In the process, they never asked you what you thought about anything. If you are not mad about this, odds are you don't understand the situation.
Barack Obama's job approval numbers melting with the August heat. His approval rating has dropped 16 percentage points in just six months, worse than any other president in his first term in office since polling began.
The faltering economy and the ill-conceived health care plan have combined to drop Obama's job approval rating to 49%, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports.
"Last November, the President won 53% of the vote nationwide. His overall approval has now been below 53% among likely voters every day for a month," Rasmussen Reports states.
More from Rasmussen Reports:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 30% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8.
Forty-four percent (44%) of voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on health care. Forty-one percent (41%) trust the Democrats more. While those numbers are essentially a toss-up, they represent a significant shift in opinion. It’s the first time Republicans have held any advantage on health care in years of tracking the issue. In June, the Democrats held a ten-point advantage on health care.
The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. Overall, 48% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That's up a point from yesterday but down five points from a month ago.
Last November, the President won 53% of the vote nationwide. His overall approval has now been below 53% among likely voters every day for a month.
Responding to a questioner who expressed concern about Obamacare eliminating private insurance options, Barack Obama had this to say today at a town hall gathering in Portsmouth, N.H.: "I have not said that I was a single payer supporter."
That is not what Barack Obama said in an earlier forum on government-run health care. His exact words were: "I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care plan."
Do you get the idea now that you can't trust anything Obama says?
Barack Obama will use a prime-time televised news conference tonight to salvage his government-run health care plan. Good luck with that.
From Rasmussen Reports:
The health care reform legislation working its way through Congress has lost support over the past month. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 44% of U.S. voters are at least somewhat in favor of the reform effort while 53% are at least somewhat opposed.
Today's 44% level of support is down from 46% two weeks ago, and 50% in late June.
Opposition has grown from 45% in late June to 49% two weeks ago and 53% today. As in earlier surveys, those with strong opinions are more likely to oppose the plan rather than support it. The current numbers: 24% strongly favor and 37% strongly oppose.
The tide has turned. The more Americans learn about Obamacare, the less they like it. That's why Obama and Pelosi are trying to ram the bill through Congress before the August break. Like the stimulus bill and the cap-and-trade energy tax, the fewer membes of Congress who read the bill, the better chance it has of passing.
Poll: 54% say Obama taking nation in wrong direction
The honeymoon is officially over. On the six-month anniversary of start of Barack Obama presidency, a new Associated Press-GfK Poll finds a majority of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Asked if they would say the country is heading in the "right direction" or in the "wrong direction," 54% of Americans say the nation is headed in the "wrong direction." That's up from 46% in June.
I love the headline on AP's story on their own poll: "Great hopes for Obama fade to reality"
The reality is that Obama has made more mistakes in six months than presidents make over eight years. On the economy, social issues and foreign policy, Obama has made one disastrous decision after another.
And despite having the mainstream media run interference for him, the American people have finally figured out that Obama is all style and no substance.
From the Associated Press story by Nancy Benac and Trevor Tompson:
In Obama's case, the problems he's confronting domestically and internationally are legion, and his ability to blame them on his predecessor is fading. Challenges still abound in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unemployment, at 7.6 percent in January, hit 9.5 percent in June and is expected to keep rising well into next year. Almost 4 percent of homeowners with mortgages are in foreclosure, and an additional 8 percent are at least a month behind on payments — the highest levels since the Great Depression. The president is deep into the debate over how to overhaul the nation's health care system, and people are nervous about how their own insurance could be affected. Obama's critics are accusing him of conducting a risky "rand experiment" that will hurt the economy and could force millions to drop their current coverage.
And it's not just Obama who is slipping in the polls.
The job approval of the Democratically-controlled Congress — already historic low levels — continues to slide, dropping 6 percentage points to 32 percent, according to the poll.
First Joe Biden, then Barack Obama and now Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke are fessing up they don't know what they're doing when it comes to the U.S. economy.
The Federal Reserve predicted today that unemployment will top 10 percent, despite earlier assurances from Obama that it would not go higher than 8 percent if his stimulus package was approved.
With more than 15 million Americans out of work and an additional 500,000 losing their jobs every week, there's no end in sight for the Obama recession.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Mort Zuckerman, chairman and editor in chief of U.S. News & World Report, says the unemployment picture is much worse than the government is letting on.
From his column:
Job losses may last well into 2010 to hit an unemployment peak close to 11%. That unemployment rate may be sustained for an extended period.
Can we find comfort in the fact that employment has long been considered a lagging indicator? It is conventionally seen as having limited predictive power since employment reflects decisions taken earlier in the business cycle. But today is different. Unemployment has doubled to 9.5% from 4.8% in only 16 months, a rate so fast it may influence future economic behavior and outlook.
How could this happen when Washington has thrown trillions of dollars into the pot, including the famous $787 billion in stimulus spending that was supposed to yield $1.50 in growth for every dollar spent? For a start, too much of the money went to transfer payments such as Medicaid, jobless benefits and the like that do nothing for jobs and growth. The spending that creates new jobs is new spending, particularly on infrastructure. It amounts to less than 10% of the stimulus package today.
Read the full column, "The Economy Is Even Worse Than You Think," at the newspaper's Web site.
He never had support from Republicans and now independent voters are waking up to the realization that "hope and change" won't put food on the table as the Obama recession continues.
From a story posted on POLITICO about Obama's declining job approval numbers:
In a potentially alarming trend for the White House, independent voters are deserting President Barack Obama nationally and especially in key swing states, recent polls suggest.
Obama's job approval rating hit a — still healthy — low of 56 percent in the Gallup Poll on Wednesday. And pollsters are debating whether Obama's expansive and expensive policy proposals or the ground-level realities of a still-faltering economy are driving the falling numbers.
But a source of the shift appears to be independent voters, who seem to be responding to Republican complaints of excessive spending and government control.
"This is a huge sea change that is playing itself out in American politics," said Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. "Independents who had become effectively operational Democrats in 2006 and 2008 are now up for grabs and are trending Republican.
"They're saying, 'Costing too much, no results, see the downside, not sure of the upside,'" he said.
Read the full story, "Independents begin to edge away from President Obama" at POLITICO
The latest Rasmussen Reports numbers corroborate Obama's declining popularity.
From a dead-on Karl Rove column in The Wall Street Journal:
In February, President Barack Obama signed a $787 billion stimulus bill while making lavish promises about the results. He pledged that "a new wave of innovation, activity and construction will be unleashed all across America." He also said the stimulus would "save or create up to four million jobs." Vice President Joe Biden said the massive federal spending plan would "drop-kick" the economy out of the recession.
But the unemployment rate today is 9.5% -- nearly 20% higher than the Obama White House said it would be with the stimulus in place. Keith Hennessey, who worked at the Bush White House on economic policy, has noted that unemployment is now higher than the administration said it would be if nothing was done to revive the economy. There are 2.6 million fewer Americans working than Mr. Obama promised.
The economy takes unexpected turns on every president. But what is striking about this president is how quickly he turns away from his promises. He rushed the stimulus through Congress saying we couldn't afford to wait. Now his administration is waiting to spend the money. Of the $279 billion allocated to federal agencies, only $56 billion has been paid out.
Rove asks why anyone in their right mind would trust Obama's promises on health care reform based on his six months of broken promises on every other issue.
The Obama energy tax passed the House by a 219-212 margin, but it can be stopped in the Senate. If you don't want to pay nearly $2 trillion in new taxes on electricity and other forms of energy to give more money to Al Gore and his global warming cabal, contact your U.S. senator and tell him to vote NO on "cap and trade."
How's that trillion-dollar "stimulus" package Nancy Pelosi pushed through Congress and Barack Obama signed in February working out for you?
If you're one of the nearly 3 million Americans who have lost their job since Obama took office, not so well.
Now Obama is talking about a second "stimulus" plan, one that would even more to the national debt, with no guarantee it would create a significant number of jobs.
A new Rasmussen poll says 60% of U.S. voters now oppose the passage of a second economic stimulus plan this year, a five-point increase in opposition since the issue was first raised in March.
Just 27% of voters favor a new stimulus plan, unchanged from the earlier findings. Thirteen percent (13%) are not sure, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Eighty-one percent (81%) of Republicans and two-thirds of voters not affiliated with either major political party (66%) are against passage of a second stimulus plan. Democrats are much more evenly divided, but a plurality of those in Barack Obama’s party (45%) like the idea.
Similarly, a sizable majority of conservatives (82%) oppose a second plan, but a plurality of liberals (45%) favor it.
The Washington Times is the latest newspaper to criticize Barack Obama's failed "stimulus" package, calling it "a stimulus for the rich" in a new editorial.
From the editorial:
President Obama billed the stimulus package as a national effort, one that would involve spending "in communities across America." But the money is not being doled out proportionally across the country. The most funds are not even being distributed to the areas with the greatest economic problems.
It is not surprising that political calculations play a major role when the government hands out money. But it is shocking that Mr. Obama and the Democrats are sending stimulus funds to those places that need help the least.
U.S. unemployment reached 9.5 percent in June, a 26-year high, according to the Labor Department, and Barack Obama is "deeply concerned."
He should be. He promised unemployment would top at 8 percent and start to decline if Congress agreed to his massive spending proposals. Just another in a string of broken promise by Obama.
Employers slashed 467,000 jobs in June, obviously not getting the memo from Obama and his sycophants in the media that things are turning around.
From The Associated Press:
Many economists predict the jobless rate will hit 10 percent this year, and keep rising into next year, before falling back.
All told, 14.7 million people were unemployed in June.
If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.5 percent in June, the highest on records dating to 1994.
Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost a net total of 6.5 million jobs.
Some 3 million jobs have been lost since Obama took office.
The $1 trillion "stimulus" bill he signed in February to put Americans back to work has been a total failure.
His nationalization of banks, insurance companies and auto manufacturers has done little to restore faith in the U.S. economy.
His $1.9 trillion energy tax (cap and trade) will kill tens of thousands more U.S. jobs.
And then you have Obamacare, the government-run health system that will add trillions of dollars in debt.
Are you better off today than you were six months ago?
It's a shame we can't cast a vote of no confidence against the Obama Administration. Six months into the era of "hope and change," we've gotten "despair and more of the same."
More than 3 million Americans have lost their jobs since Obama took office, bringing the nation's unemployment rate to nearly 10 percent.
Gas prices are creeping toward $3.00 per gallon.
The trillion-dollar "stimulus" bill turned out to be what many predicted: A Democratic Party pork bill to reward the special interests who helped get them elected.
The government has taken over the banks, the car companies and now wants to run the health care system.
If Cap and Trade passes the Senate, electricity rates will skyrocket.
And what about the price of potatoes? Yes, potatoes.
That's what tipped off Mark Cour at the Circumlocution for Dummies blog that something is terribly wrong with America in the age of Obama.
From Circumlocution:
I'm not sure if anyone other than myself noticed, but the price of practically everything you may set out to purchase has escalated of late. Escalated and then some, I’d say. On Friday I paid $6.99 for a 10-pound bag of potatoes. That same bag of spuds would have set me back for $2.99 as little as a year ago.
And as I was exiting the supermarket with my overpriced veggies in hand, I passed a guy wearing a T-shirt with that “Yes we can” bit emblazoned on it. And after a quick mumble to myself, I thought, Yes we can? Yes we can, what?
Exactly what are we doing?
It get much better. It's one of the best commentaries I've read anywhere about the current state of affairs in this country.
All the propaganda. All the back room deals. All the pork amendments to buy votes.
And all Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi could get was a 219-212 margin to pass the cap and trade energy tax in the House?
Don't be surprised if the $1.9 trillion global warming tax fails in the Senate.
A 7-vote margin in the overwhelmingly Democratic House? That's pathetic. A total of 44 Demcorats voted against cap and trade! It took 8 GOP House members to pass it.
It's not looking good for Obamacare or other future Obama spending sprees.
House Democrats are beginning to worry about their re-election chances in 2010 as the Obama recession continues, unemployment is reaching record levels and the unprecedented debt Obama has piled on the U.S. takes its toll.
Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer chides Barack Obama for his ineffective response to the Iranian crisis, essentially calling Obama a coward for his failure to act decisively as the Iranian people stand up to their tyrannical government.
From Krauthammer's latest column in Investor's Business Daily:
All hangs in the balance. The Khamenei regime is deciding whether to do a Tiananmen. And what side is the Obama administration taking? None. Except for the desire that this "vigorous debate" (press secretary Robert Gibbs' disgraceful euphemism) over election "irregularities" not stand in the way of U.S.-Iranian engagement on nuclear weapons.
Even from the narrow perspective of the nuclear issue, the administration's geopolitical calculus is absurd. There is zero chance that any such talks will denuclearize Iran. On Monday, Ahmadinejad declared yet again that the nuclear "file is shut, forever."
The only hope for a resolution of the nuclear question is regime change, which (if the successor regime were as moderate as pre-Khomeini Iran) might either stop the program, or make it manageable and nonthreatening.
That's our fundamental interest. And our fundamental values demand that we stand with demonstrators opposing a regime that is the antithesis of all we believe.
And where is our president? Afraid of "meddling." Afraid to take sides between the head-breaking, women-shackling exporters of terror — and the people in the street yearning to breathe free. This from a president who fancies himself the restorer of America's moral standing in the world.
NEWS ITEM: Americans' net worth shrinks $1.33 trillion in 1Q
From The Associated Press:
American households lost $1.33 trillion of their wealth in the first three months of the year as the recession took a bite out of stock portfolios and dragged down home prices.
The Federal Reserve says household net worth fell to $50.38 trillion in the January-March quarter, the lowest level since the third quarter of 2004.
The first-quarter figure marked a decline of 2.6 percent, or $1.33 trillion, from the final quarter of 2008. Revised figures show that during the recession's deepest point in the October-December period, Americans' net worth fell by 8.6 percent.
Net worth represents total assets such as homes and checking accounts, minus liabilities like mortgages and credit card debt.
In case you haven't heard, Barack Obama has been president during the first quarter of 2009 and Democrats control both houses of Congress. How's that "hope and change" thing working out for you?
It's becoming clear that the "stimulus" bill signed by Barack Obama in February has failed to deliver the promised jobs. The propaganda machine in the White House and Obama's media allies have now turned to something "saved jobs" to continue the farce.
"More than 1.6 million jobs have disappeared since the stimulus package was signed in February," says Investor's Business Daily. "Government can't create jobs, only dependency. Make-work jobs will not turn the economy around."
From a new IBD editorial:
The Obama administration, totally unfamiliar with the first rule of holes, has announced it's about to really, really ramp up stimulus spending to create 600,000 jobs this summer. That's on top of the 150,000 jobs it has "saved," though there's no way to identify or measure such jobs.
The unemployment rate, which was never supposed to rise above 8% because of the stimulus, is now approaching 10%. The excuse given is that not enough of the stimulus money has been dispersed.
Monday's announcement of a new and improved stimulus is just old wine in new bottles. In the first 100 days of the stimulus, some $44 billion was spent as jobs continued to hemorrhage. Now we're asked to do more of the same and expect different results.
Obama's 600,000 figure includes 125,000 temporary summer youth jobs and is based on economic projections, not an actual count. The only thing you can accurately count is the number of Americans working — and that's going down fast.
The administration is playing a shell game with its "saved or created" job claims. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said as much to the tax-challenged Timothy Geithner at a March hearing.
Columnist: Don't believe Rendell on 'temporary' tax increase
Lowman S. Henry, writing at Lincoln Blog, is skeptical of a proposal floated by Gov. Ed Rendell and House Democrats for a "temporary" increase in the state income tax to deal with the $3.2 billion deficit Rendell and the Legislature created.
When was the last time a "temporary" tax was repealed? Never. When has Ed Rendell kept a promise to taxpayers? Never.
From Lincoln Blog:
Sensing there is virtually no chance of getting a broad-based tax hike approved by the legislature, Governor Ed Rendell floating a new trial balloon: a temporary 1% rate hike in the state personal income tax.
Temporary, right, uh huh. The Governor wants the tax hike just to get us through the recession and to cushion the loss of federal stimulus money in two years and then it would go away. (Wink, wink.)
Come on governor, we all know there is no such thing as a temporary tax hike. We are still paying a special levy imposed to help finance recovery from the great Johnstown flood. And Johnstown hasn't been flooded in generations with anything but John Murtha's pork-barrel spending.
Despite the propaganda from the White House and the white-washing of the severity of the current recession by the state-run Obama Media, the latest economic numbers paint a clear picture of failure on the part of Barack Obama and his advisers.
Most Americans are worse off today than they were five months ago when Barack Obama moved into the White House. Obama has managed to make the economic crisis worse. So much for that "hope and change" so many American voters fell for in November.
From a new column by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann:
The stimulus package was a total and complete failure. As predicted, as happened with Bush's 2008 tax cut, as happened with the Japanese stimulus packages of the '90s, fearful consumers sat on their money and wouldn't spend it. Keynesian economics didn't work. Again.
But the debt sure piled up. The deficit quadrupled and is sending interest rates soaring, as the government elbows aside businesses and consumers at the loan window, all in a desperate effort to borrow enough money to spend enough money to stimulate the economy, which isn't happening.
Five months into his failed presidency, the U.S. has registered the worst unemployment numbers in more than 25 years. And we're not even counting the tens of thousands of jobs that will be lost after Obama restructures the auto industry.
Tony Fratto of CNBC has a problem with Barack Obama's bogus "jobs saved" claim:
"After nearly twenty years in Washington I thought I've seen every trick ever conceived, but the White House claims of "jobs saved" attributed to the stimulus bill is unrivaled. What causes the jaw to drop is not just the breathtaking deception of the claim, but the gullibility of the Washington press corps to continue reporting it."
If I -- or even my predecessors in the Clinton Administration -- had tried to pull off this ridiculous gimmick we would have been run out of town. I don't even believe it's possible to look back and accurately measure the "job-saving" impact of Bush or Clinton Administration policies, let alone to measure in real time, or project into the future.
On Friday the BLS will release its estimate of May job losses. They will also report their revisions for March and April. And White House officials will once again gear up the spin machine on how many jobs have been "saved".
A self-respecting press corps would vigorously question the White House on their claims. We'll see if we have one.
Read 'The White House 'Jobs-Saved' Deception' at the CNBC Web site.
Despite more than $19 billion in taxpayer dollars that was suppose to keep GM from going under, the giant auto maker is expected to file for bankruptcy on June 1.
Barack Obama promised that the government bailout would allow GM to restructure without filing for bankruptcy. Guess what? He lied. What's next? Will Obama do to health care what he did to the banks? To the car companies? With his track record, can bankruptcy for the U.S. be far behind?
Robert Romano, writing at GetLiberty.org, says the Treasury will now finance GM with another roughly $30 billion while in bankruptcy, which would last 60 to 90 days, bringing taxpayers' burden to $50 billion to "save" the company.
And, of course, the Obama Administration will nationalize one-third of the "Big 3," Romano says.
More from Romano:
Simply put: The fact is, GM was failing just fine without government assistance. And left to tried and true free market devices, the problems between bondholders and GM brass could have been effectively resolved, without presenting taxpayers with the tab. But since bankruptcy was not averted—despite a $19.4 billion infusion of taxpayer capital—the only thing that has now been achieved is that GM is now a de facto agency of the federal government, just like Chrysler.
In short, both are now line items on the federal budget. All at taxpayer expense.
There really is no description for what is taking place other than redistributionism. A new favored political class is being built under the guise of law, and it is all happening under the auspices of his imperial, impervious majesty, Barack Obama. So corrupt is this new system that even the courts are going along with it. Lawmakers speak nary a word against it. And the American people are left only to watch in horror as their own government turns against them, leaving them to wonder if they are next in line for wholesale asset confiscation.
Remember last year when the liberal media kept blaming the "oil men" in the White House for rising gas prices? You don't have George Bush and Dick Cheney to kick around any more. So where's the outrage now that gas prices are spiking under Barack Obama? Why has Obama reneged on his promise to allow drilling for oil off U.S. shores? Do Americans know what the new energy tax Obama is backing will cost them?
Harvard economist: Obama tax hikes could kill recovery
"The barrage of tax increases proposed in President Barack Obama's budget could, if enacted by Congress, kill any chance of an early and sustained recovery," writes Martin Feldstein, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan and a professor of economics at Harvard University.
From Feldstein's latest column in The Wall Street Journal:
Even if the proposed tax increases are not scheduled to take effect until 2011, households will recognize the permanent reduction in their future incomes and will reduce current spending accordingly. Higher future tax rates on capital gains and dividends will depress share prices immediately and the resulting fall in wealth will cut consumer spending further. Lower share prices will also raise the cost of equity capital, depressing business investment in plant and equipment.
The Obama budget calls for tax increases of more than $1.1 trillion over the next decade. Official budget calculations disguise the resulting fiscal drag by treating Mr. Obama's proposal to cancel the 2011 income tax increases for taxpayers with incomes below $250,000 as if they are real tax cuts. The plan to modify the Alternative Minimum Tax to avoid increases for some taxpayers is also treated as a tax cut.
But those are false tax cuts in which no one's tax bill actually declines. In contrast, the proposed tax increases are very real. And despite the proposed tax increases, the government's new spending and transfer programs would cause the annual budget deficit in 2019 to exceed $1 trillion, or 5.7% of GDP.
A new report says more Pennsylvanians are struggling to survive economically.
From an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
One in five Pennsylvania households do not make enough money to meet basic needs even though many live above the federal poverty level, according to a study released Monday.
"It's not a lack of work effort that's a problem," Diana M. Pearce, director of the Center for Women's Welfare at the University of Washington, said during a telephone news conference. "It's the lack of adequate wages."
Pearce is author of "Overlooked and Undercounted: Struggling to Make Ends Meet in Pennsylvania," a study conducted in cooperation with the nonprofit PathWays PA for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
The report found that twice as many of the state's 3.4 million households are having a hard time making ends meet compared to data based on the federal standard for poverty. Just one in 10 households in the state lives in poverty, according to the federal standard.
How can this be?
Hasn't Gov. Ed Rendell increased state spending by $8 billion since he took office in 2003? Isn't he a Democrat and don't Democrats help the little people?
Where did all that money go?
How else can we deal with rising poverty except spend more money? That's what Ed Rendell has been saying and doing for the past 6 years. That's what Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats keep saying.
I'm confused. I'm beginning to lose faith in Democratic politicians. I can't believe they've misled us all these years. I can't believe they waste our tax dollars on pork projects that don't benefit working people. I'm not voting for Rendell again.
More bad economic news the Obama media may not get around to telling you about:
U.S. Unemployment Rate Jumps to 8.9 Percent (the highest since late 1983).
U.S. employers shed 539,000 jobs in April.
2.6 million Americans have lost their jobs since Obama became president.
Here's a month-by-month look at job losses under President Obama:
January: 741,000
February: 681,000
March: 699,000
April: 539,000
How's that stimulus spending working out so far? Even if Obama's prediction of creating 3 million new jobs is real, that just brings us back to square one. What about the millions of others who lost their jobs during the current recession?
Check out this post at NewsBusters about how the Obama media is manipulating economic news to cover Obama's incompetence.
Barack Obama said today he wants to cut $17 billion in wasteful spending from the federal budget by eliminating 121 programs.
The proposed cuts equal less than one-half of 1 percent of the total $3.4 trillion federal budget approved last week by the Democrats in Congress.
And 40 percent of the cuts were proposed by George W. Bush, but were rejected by Congress.
Obama said Americans are tightening their belts in these difficult times and Washington should do likewise. This is Obama’s idea of belt-tightening?
This is the same man who has spent $4 trillion during his first three months in office. This is the man who signed a $400 billion stop-gap budget that contained more than 8,000 pork projects in it. The same man who is planning to double the national debt over the next 10 years if his spending plans are approved by Congress.
The words "fiscal responsibility" and Barack Obama should never be spoken in the same sentence.
So pay no attention to the crazy man talking to himself, children.
Pennsylvania has posted a breakdown by school district of how much property tax savings qualified homeowners can expect to see this year under Gov. Ed Rendell's idea of "tax relief."
The Pennsylvania Department of Education says there is $613 million available from slot parlors for school property tax relief, which is not exactly the $1 billion minimum Gov. Rendell promised when he signed the slots bill into law in 2004.
"For many homeowners the amount of the relief is about the same as last year and varies between $32 and $641, depending on your school district," notes the Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition. "Don't get too excited about your huge and historic (Gov. Rendell's words) 'relief' money and don't plan to spend all of it in one place!"
Like many of Rendell's promises since he came into office in 2003, property tax relief remains elusive.
As state Rep. Sam Rohrer, R-Berks, noted when he announced the re-introduction of House Bill 1275 earlier this week:
"When we first introduced the idea of school property tax elimination, our proposal ran parallel with Gov, Rendell's proposal to use gambling proceeds to relieve — never solve — the property tax burden. Here we are, seven years later, and homeowners have received just one payment, and a pittance at that, to help with their taxes. Had we enacted the School Property Tax Elimination Act back then, we would have already passed through the four-year phase out. Homeowners would not only be free from paying any school property taxes, but the state would have had the time to build up the excess revenue in order to weather this current economic storm."
The PTCC, which is a coalition of more than two dozen tax groups across the state, is backing House Bill 1275, The Property Tax Elimination Act, re-introduced by Rep. Rohrer. HB 1275 would phase out all school property taxes over a four-year period.
The PTCC has launched a petition drive urging lawmakers to co-sponsor Rohrer's bill. You can sign the petition online or download copies to gather signatures at the group's Web site, http://ptcc.us
For one of the best assessments of Barack Obama's first 100 days in office, check out "Obama's Vision Deficit" from Reason by Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch
From their column:
So here we are, 100 days into the great eight-year triumph of Hope over Change, a new Era of Really Good Feelings in which only one thing has become increasingly, even irrefutably, clear: President Barack Obama is about as visionary as the guy who invented Dippin' Dots, Ice Cream of the Future. Far from sketching out a truly forward-looking set of policies for the 21st century, as his supporters had hoped, Obama is instead serving up cryogenically tasteless and headache-inducing morsels from years gone by.
On issue after issue, Obama has made it clear that instead of blasting past "the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long," (as he promised in his inaugural address), he's moving full speed ahead toward policy prescriptions that already had less fizz than a case of Billy Beer back when Jimmy Carter was urging us all to wear sweaters and turn down our thermostats. Instead of thinking outside the box, Obama is nailing it shut from the inside.
More than 6 million Americans have lost their jobs since Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the Democrats took control of Congress after the 2006 elections. The worst recession in U.S. history would begin one year into the Democrats' reign ... and continues today under the Obama Administration.
2 million Americans have lost jobs since Obama took office
You're going to hear a lot of numbers today, which marks Barack Obama's 100th day in office. Most of the spin from the Obama-controlled medial will be positive. The most telling is 2,055,000. That's how many Americans have lost their jobs since Obama took office. Where's the hope? Where's the change? The $1 trillion "stimulus" package that Obama signed will send money to far-left causes, but few working-class Americans will see any benefit. The Obama recession will continue and millions more Americans will lose their jobs.
The Associated Press put together an interesting look at Obama's first 100 days. Here are some of the lowlights of Obama's failed administration:
Doing the math on Obama's 100 days
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama marks his hundredth day in office on Wednesday, but it's hardly the only digit that matters to the new administration.
Here are some highlights of Obama's first 100 days, by the numbers:
$3.6 trillion — Total spending in Obama's proposed federal budget for 2010.
$1.75 trillion — Total projected deficit in Obama's proposed federal budget for 2010. $787 billion — Cost of tax cuts and new spending in economic stimulus package approved by Congress.
$558.4 billion — Increase in the public debt, from Jan. 20 through April 24. $235 billion — Tax dollars spent to bail out failing financial institutions, Jan. 20-April 20.
2.055 million — Number of jobs lost, January-March.
908,666 — Housing foreclosures, Jan. 20-April 24.
106 — U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan since Jan. 20.
State Rep. Sam Rohrer, R-Berks, who has led the fight to eliminate property taxes in Pennsylvania, says Gov. Ed Rendell still doesn't get it.
Pennsylvanians are no closer to truly owning their homes than they were when Rendell took office in 2003, according to Rohrer.
While Rendell is touting his administration expects to deliver $200 in average property tax relief to Pennsylvania homeowners this year, Rohrer says Rendell misses the point about Pennsylvania's onerous system of property taxes to fund schools.
"At the end of the day, not one single Pennsylvanian is any closer to truly owning their home as a result of legalized gambling," Rohrer said in a statement. "The only way Pennsylvanians can truly own their homes is if the state completely eliminates the school property tax. Until that happens, homeowners are merely renting their homes in exchange for school property tax payments. After all, if a homeowner fails to pay, the government will evict them."
Rendell's budget secretary announced today that she has certified approximately $770 million in property tax relief for 2009, but Rohrer argues that that is simply proof that people continue to lose money at Pennsylvania casinos.
"In order for homeowners to win, the Pennsylvanians who put their money in slot machines must lose," Rohrer said. "The entire system is built around creating more dependence. It seems that the governor desires that homeowners, from senior citizens to working families, become dependent on this state tax 'relief' program in order to be able to pay their school property tax bill rather than fixing the problem so they can keep their home. Schools are increasingly dependent on people losing their hard-earned money as the way to fund our public schools. Compulsive gamblers are then encouraged to look to government services to help them quit the addiction government encouraged them to start. The whole thing is set up so that people look toward government for the answers to their problems when, in fact, the existing school property tax system is the real problem."
The Rendell property tax relief provided an average of $169 per household in relief in 2008, although some homeowners received as little as $50.
Rohrer said the "relief" that Rendell is promoting has already been eaten up by higher property taxes imposed by most of the state's school districts.
"For many homeowners, the $200 in so-called 'relief' they will receive is less than the amount their property tax bills were raised since 2006," Rohrer said. "Pennsylvania homeowners deserve more than the false hope the governor’s gambling scheme has to offer."
Americans for Tax Reform sets record straight on Obama tax hikes
Americans for Tax Reform, a non-partisan watchdog group, detailed the impact of the Obama tax hikes on the average American at a press conference:
* Obama's budget claims that it cuts taxes for families by $770 billion. Yet, the same document admits that fully $326 billion -- nearly half -- is in fact new spending, not tax cuts
* The budget raises the top two income tax brackets from 33 percent and 35 percent to 36 percent and 39.6 percent, respectively. These are the tax rates in which $2 out of every $3 in small business profit is taxed. That includes 90 percent of the profits from partnerships and Subchapter S corporations, and 40 percent of the profits from sole proprietorships. This small business tax hike alone is $339 billion
* The Obama budget imposes a "cap and trade" tax of $646 billion. Every American family will pay this tax in the form of higher gasoline, heating, and electric bills -- an average of $3100 per family per year.
* The Obama budget raises taxes on investors in several ways. The capital gains tax is hiked from 15 percent to 20 percent. The dividends tax is raised from 15 percent to 20 percent. Capital gains earned by investment partnership managers are taxed as high as 39.6 percent. At a time when the stock market wealth has nearly been cut in half, why is Obama proposing a $142 billion tax hike on the stock market?
What Gov. Ed Rendell considers "property tax relief" is probably dinner for the family at a local restaurant.
So much for that "substantial" property tax relief Rendell promised when he signed slot gaming into law in Pennsylvania in 2004.
Most residents will see a reduction of between $50 and $200 on their school property tax bills this summer.
With most school districts in Pennsylvania proposing property tax hikes of at least 5 percent, the "relief" Rendell is touting is a wash at best.
"Property tax relief is real and it is making a difference in the lives of older adults and hard-working families across Pennsylvania," Rendell said today.
What's real is that $50-$100 savings on a $3,000 tax bill is a joke, governor.
You can read Rendell's propaganda at the link below:
Admitted swindler Bernie Madoff is an amateur compared to the U.S. government, which has been running the largest Ponzi scheme in the world for more than 70 years.
We've been hearing for decades how Social Security is going broke. The scheme simply can't sustain itself because more people are retiring than are entering the work force. Fewer people paying into the system and more people collecting is a recipe for disaster.
The part of the scheme is that politicians (mostly Democrats) have been raiding the Social Security system for decades to fund other government programs.
The dramatic decline of the U.S. economy in the past year has put more pressure than ever on the Social Security system, says the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, which warns that the day of reckoning is fast approaching.
From an editorial in today's edition:
America's job losses are taking a toll on the surplus from government's favorite Ponzi scheme. That means the feds will have to look elsewhere, and a lot sooner, for the cash that's being borrowed from Social Security.
With the ongoing decline in payroll tax revenues, the Congressional Budget Office projects that Social Security's surplus could drop to $16 billion this year and about $3 billion next. The surplus projection for '09 was $80 billion.
Liberals are quick to point out that the dwindling surplus doesn't affect current Social Security recipients. It's the same head-in-the-sand reasoning that has allowed Social Security to reach this precarious state.
Based on the CBO's projections, the government will have to borrow another $700 billion over the next decade to cover what it would have borrowed from Social Security. And perhaps as early as 2017, the Treasury will have to start paying back the billions it has taken from Social Security for the past 25 years.
Gov. Ed Rendell has violated his own hiring freeze -- again.
Reporter Charles Thompson of the Harrisburg Patriot-News has confirmed that Rendell has hired has hired an attorney from Philadelphia to fill a vacancy in the Office of General Counsel -- the solicitor's office for state government.
Since when are lawyers considered essential personnel?
The latest case of "do as I say, not as I do" is a familiar one. The hire is a politically-connected friend or colleague of Rendell and the pay is at least $100,000.
It's the four time Rendell has done this since he imposed a hiring freeze in light of the $2.3 billion budget deficit he put the state into by years of uncontrolled spending.
All total, 110 people have been hired by the Rendell administration since the governor ordered the "hiring freeze."
You see why it's so hard to take this guy seriously.
From Thompson's story:
General Counsel Barbara Adams announced via e-mail this week that she has hired Patrick Lord as an executive deputy general counsel, effective April 13.
Chuck Ardo, press secretary to Gov. Ed Rendell, said Lord has been hired as a replacement for Nora Winkelman, who has moved on to work as chief counsel for the House Democratic Caucus.
Lord has "many but not all of her duties while also assuming many new duties for which the office has a need," Ardo said, adding the administration has not filled 14 attorney positions vacated since the statewide hiring freeze took effect in September.
'Obama's budget spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much'
From Gov. Haley Barbour, who delivers the weekly Republican address:
"In this budget season we have choices. While states are controlling spending and balancing their budgets, the Obama budget spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much. It's not the right choice for America."
Read a transcript of the full address at the link below:
The bumbling start of the Obama Administration should come as no surprise considering Obama's age and minimal political inexperience, argues Alan Caruba in an excellent commentary titled, "Electing a Child to be President"
From Caruba's column:
His record as a one-term Illinois legislator is replete with "present" votes that revealed little about his political positions. He did not even wait to complete a full term as a U.S. Senator before almost immediately beginning to run for the highest office in the land.
In terms of political leadership, he is a child among grownups and a petulant one at that.
His first months in office have demonstrated an astonishing lack of judgment regarding those who he appointed to office, many of whom were revealed to be tax cheats and others who have since demonstrated a distinct lack of competence or preparation for positions of critical importance. Why, for example, would he appoint a longtime political operative like Leon Panetta to be the Director of the CIA?
The Libertarian Party is blasting Barack Obama for breaking more promises by holding a secret signing ceremony of the $400+ billion pork-spending bill approved by Congressional Democrats.
From a press released issued today by the Libertarian National Committee:
America's third largest party asked Wednesday why President Obama enacted the $490 billion FY09 omnibus spending and its over 8,500 earmarks behind closed doors, and despite campaign promises to end earmark abuse.
"President Obama's decision to hide from the media while signing this bill isn't just a violation of his promise of transparency, it's an attempt to avoid questions about breaking another promise to end earmark abuse," said Libertarian National Committee Communications Director Donny Ferguson.
"He promised to end earmarks. He promised transparency. He promised fiscal responsibility. He didn't mean a word of it. More and more Americans realize his crippling taxes and crushing debt are prescriptions for prolonged economic suffering. Now he has to hide behind closed doors to sign his pork-stuffed plan to explode wasteful spending," said Ferguson.
Libertarians support an economic renewal plan centered on tax and regulatory relief for employers, preserving the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that blunted previous recessions and greatly simplifying the tax code for employers and taxpayers. Polls such as Rasmussen show voters prefer the Libertarian approach over the Republican and Democrat plans to increase government spending.
You can find more information on the Libertarian Party by visiting www.LP.org
Barack Obama announced he will sign the $410 billion stop-gap budget bill approved by the Democratic Congress even though the bill contains billions in pork-barrel projects.
Obama acknowledge the earmarks, saying it was an "imperfect" bill, but he was forced to sign it to keep the government going.
He also confessed that he was breaking his own campaign promise to eliminate earmarks. Apparently, he had his fingers crossed when he made that promise.
Obama said "99 percent" of the bill is legitimate spending, so that's good enough for him as he lowers the standard for reform and ethical government even further.
In his defense, Obama said earmarks have been part of the Washington culture for decades, including the years Republicans controlled Congress. In other words, two wrongs do make a right, according to Obama.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele had this to say about the Democratic spending package, loaded with more than 8,500 pork projects:
"President Obama will break his pledge to go through every line of the budget if he signs this omnibus spending bill. Like the stimulus bill and budget, this spending bill contains too much taxing, spending, and borrowing. Left unchecked, the Democrats' spending spree will grow our national debt and ultimately result in more taxes. Hard-working Americans deserve better from its leaders than the Democrats' tax-and-spend agenda."
Obama did promise not to sign the next pork-laden budget bill Congress sends his way ... unless he changes his mind again. Welcome to the liberal world ... where principles don't matter, where 99 percent is good enough.
Change isn't always a good thing, argues The Wall Street Journal, as it assesses the Obama Administrations failed attempts to jump-start the economy.
"As 2009 opened, three weeks before Barack Obama took office, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9034 on January 2, its highest level since the autumn panic," the newspaper writes. "Yesterday the Dow fell another 4.24% to 6763, for an overall decline of 25% in two months and to its lowest level since 1997. The dismaying message here is that President Obama's policies have become part of the economy's problem."
The current recession is in its 15th month with no signs of ending. If Barack Obama and the Democrats continue to have their way, the economic slump will continue to get worse, the newspaper says.
From an editorial about the Obama Administration's fumbling of the economy over the past five weeks:
The Democrats who now run Washington don't want to hear this, because they benefit from blaming all bad economic news on President Bush. And Mr. Obama has inherited an unusual recession deepened by credit problems, both of which will take time to climb out of. But it's also true that the economy has fallen far enough, and long enough, that much of the excess that led to recession is being worked off. Already 15 months old, the current recession will soon match the average length -- and average job loss -- of the last three postwar downturns. What goes down will come up -- unless destructive policies interfere with the sources of potential recovery.
America's third largest political party wants President Obama to live up to his pledge to "end politics as usual in Washington" and veto a $410 billion spending bill that includes more than 8,500 pork projects.
The Libertarian Party says the earmarks in the bill total $7.7 billion and fly in the face of Obama's campaign promises.
From a release issued by the Libertarian Party:
"Republicans already broke their weeks-old promise to stand for fiscal responsibility by fighting to have their own wasteful earmarks included in the bill," said Libertarian National Committee Communications Director Donny Ferguson. "Will Obama keep his promise to end earmarks by vetoing this bill, or will this be the latest in a long strong of broken Obama promises?"
The White House has indicated Obama will sign the bill, despite his earlier promises to oppose earmarking.
"Republicans are banding together to grab taxpayer cash and Obama is ignoring his own pledge to stop the practice. With Republicans and Democrats working together to continue wasteful spending it's abundantly clear the Libertarian Party is the only party agreeing with the American people that earmarks must be abolished," said Ferguson.
Good luck with that. I'm afraid Libertarians were had by Obama just like a lot of Democrats and Republicans. And why the Libertarian Party so harsh on Congressional Republicans? Most of the pork spending was included by the Democrats.
While the Obama Media has been working overtime to cover up the various failings of The Chosen One, the Republican National Committee Research Department has documented the first 30 days of the Obama Administration.
It's not a pretty picture. Broken promises, etchics scandals and the stimulus bill from hell.
Arguably the worst presidency since a fellow named Jimmy Carter moved into the White House more than 30 years ago.
"Obama's first month has been marked by wasteful spending, failed bipartisanship and questionable ethics," the RNC says.
Follow the link below for a comprehensive list of Obama's first 30 days of failure:
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele released the following statement on President Barack Obama signing the stimulus bill:
"Americans looking for jobs and struggling to pay bills will be disappointed by the spending package written by Congressional Democrats and signed by President Obama today. The transparency and bipartisanship that President Obama promised the American people was sacrificed to pass a pork-laden bill without any public review or meaningful Republican support.
"In these difficult economic times, it is imperative that Republicans and Democrats work together to create new jobs and grow the economy. Instead, Congressional Democrats worked behind closed doors to write legislation that will fall short of creating the promised new jobs, but will guarantee a larger debt burden on our children and grandchildren.
"Republicans are unified in our disagreement with Congressional Democrat leaders and President Obama on this bill. It all comes down to this - the Democrat plan focuses on putting Americans on the public dole, while the Republican plan focuses on putting America back to work.
"The Republican Party stands ready to work together in a bipartisan manner with the Democrat leaders in Congress and the President. Hopefully they will learn from the mistakes in this bill and be interested in true bipartisan efforts in the future."
Gov. Ed Rendell's first term in office will be remembered for three things: 1) one of the largest income tax hikes in state history; 2) the legalization of slot machines; and 3) signing the infamous pay raise into law.
Not exactly a stellar record of accomplishment, but Rendell conned enough Pennsylvania voters to give him a second term.
What will Rendell's second term be remembered for? He still has two years to go, but Pennsylvania is facing a historic budget deficit. The state budget is expected to finish $2.3 billion in the red by June and the next fiscal year is downright apocalyptic with the state facing a $5 billion to $6 billion revenue shortfall.
What is Gov. Rendell's solution to the problem he largely created with uncontrolled spending over the past six years? It appears that he will ask the federal government for a handout and make up the rest by expanding gambling in Pennsylvania.
Rendell wants to legalize video poker machines, according to The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The selling point for expanded gambling is "tuition assistance" for working families in Pennsylvania.
You'll recall Rendell sold the initial foray into slots by promising "substantial property tax relief" for all Pennsylvania taxpayers. That hasn't happened in the nearly five years since gambling was approved by the Legislature.
Pennsylvania homeowners are paying higher property taxes today than they did when Rendell took office in 2003. Whatever minor reduction in taxes homeowners saw in 2008 will be eaten up shortly by another round of tax hike by local school boards.
From the Tribune-Review:
Critics in the Legislature say providing tuition relief is a laudable goal, but legalizing video poker machines is an expansion of slot machine gambling.
"The reality of it is, they are slot machines," said Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery County. "We're being barbaric. We're going into neighborhoods with gambling when we don't have gambling under control."
If the administration's logic is that it's OK to legalize practices that take place illegally, said Republican Rep. Doug Reichley of Allentown, "The Chicken Ranch in Reno, Nev., is looking forward to the day we open prostitution in the Capitol."
Through the Local Law Enforcement Grant Program, the state recently spent more than $3 million to combat illegal slots and video poker machines.
Rendell may have fooled enough lawmakers in 2004 when he won approval to bring 71,000 slot machines to Pennsylvania, but don't bet on Fast Eddie pulling another fast one on the current Legislature.
The unemployment rate in Pennsylvania is now 6.7 percent. Where are all the jobs Gov. Ed Rendell promised would be created when he handed out billions of our tax dollars in the form of corporate welfare over the past eight years?
The Associated Press is reporting today that Hillary Clinton plans to hire so-called "Clinton loyalists" to run the State Department.
I could swear Barack Obama won the election on a promise of change. So what are we getting? How about more of the same Washington insiders.
Reporter Matthew Lee says Clinton is planning to surround herself with "a cast of die-hard loyalists and veterans of her husband's administration."
From Lee's story:
For her team of foreign policy experts, the nation's third female secretary of state is expected to draw heavily from the staff of the first, Madeleine Albright, who was an early supporter of Clinton's unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
And to deal with internal Obama administration affairs, State Department bureaucratic politics and media pressures, the former first lady appears set to tap current Senate aides and former White House "Hillaryland" stalwarts, whose reputation for insularity and staunch protectiveness has already set off anxiety among career foreign service officers.
Lee says among key staff positions, Clinton is considering her 2008 presidential campaign manager Maggie Williams, attorney Cheryl Mills, personal assistant Huma Abedin, current senior adviser and spokesman Philippe Reines and Clinton's chief of staff when she was first lady, Melanne Verveer.
All retreads. Welcome to the third Clinton Administration.
From Lee's story: "All are known to be fiercely loyal. The prospect of their imminent arrival in Foggy Bottom has been a hot topic of nervous corridor conversation among many in the professional diplomatic corps who fear they will be frozen out of positions of influence."
Tony Phyrillas is the city editor and political columnist for The Mercury, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper in Pottstown, Pa. Phyrillas has won several national and state awards for his columns. Phyrillas has been featured on National Public Radio (NPR) and in The New York Times and is a frequent commentator on radio and television programs. He co-hosts "Talking Politics with Tony Phyrillas & Mike Pincus" Thursdays at 5 p.m. on WPAZ 1370 AM.
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Independent reviews of Obama's claims of job created by the stimulus bill show that the government is making up numbers. As Rep. Joe Wilson so aptly said it, "You lie!"
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