● Chief Justice John Roberts found State of the Union scene 'troubling'... ● Obama's plans for NASA changes met with harsh criticism... ● House Ways and Means Chairman Levin says job creation will be top priority...Again?... ● Massa flirts with the right, but Beck isn't tickled... ● CBO Update... ● Massa under investigation for allegedly groping male staffers... ● From Greece, an economic cautionary tale for the U.S.... ● Obama wants to Overhaul Immigration System. What's Next? The People?... ● Are unemployment benefits no longer temporary?... ● Analysis finds uneasy mix in auto industry and regulation...
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When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; When the government fears the people, there is liberty.  ~ Thomas Jefferson

 

Entries Tagged as 'Federal Spending'

From Greece, an economic cautionary tale for the U.S.

March 9th, 2010 · Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Foreign Policy, Government, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Terrorism from Within, Treason

By Dana Milbank Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Look into the face of George Papandreou, America, and see your future.

The Greek prime minister is in town this week as part of a world tour seeking help for his beleaguered homeland. Greece is broke, its government on the verge of default. As Papandreou landed in Washington, there were strikes in the streets of Athens over his tax increases, his wage cuts for government workers and his scaling back of retirement benefits.

As he and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faced the cameras Monday, she spoke of the weekend’s election in Iraq. “Greece is the birthplace of democracy, so anytime there’s a democratic election anywhere in the world, Greece should get a royalty, Prime Minister,” Clinton said.

“Would help our deficit, too,” Papandreou joked.

“Yeah,” Clinton agreed. “It’s a new way of plugging the hole.”

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Are unemployment benefits no longer temporary?

March 9th, 2010 · Federal Spending, Money Lost, Obama's Scheme, Stimulus, Unemployment

By Michael A. Fletcher and Dana Hedgpeth Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Millions of Americans have been forced to rely on unemployment payments for extended periods as the nation struggles through its longest period of high joblessness in a generation, and critics are taking aim, saying that the Depression-era program created as a temporary bridge for laid-off workers is turning into an expensive entitlement.

About 11.4 million out-of-work people now collect unemployment compensation, at a cost of $10 billion a month. Half of them have been receiving payments for more than six months, the usual insurance limit. But under multiple extensions enacted by the federal government in response to the downturn, workers can collect the payments for as long as 99 weeks in states with the highest unemployment rates — the longest period since the program’s inception.

The unemployed say extensions help to tide them over in unusually difficult times when jobs are hard to come by. Although unemployment held steady at 9.7 percent in February, millions of jobs have been lost in the downturn, particularly in the hardest-hit sectors including real estate, construction, manufacturing and financial services. Those jobs are unlikely to return even when the economy recovers, many experts say.

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Analysis finds uneasy mix in auto industry and regulation

March 9th, 2010 · Auto Industry, Corruption, Deception, Ethics, Federal Spending, Government, Greed

By Kimberly Kindy Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Dozens of former federal officials are playing leading roles in helping carmakers handle federal investigations of auto defects, including those for Toyota’s runaway-acceleration problems.

A Washington Post analysis shows that as many as 33 former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration employees and Transportation Department appointees left those jobs in recent years and now work for automakers as lawyers, consultants and lobbyists and in other jobs that deal with government safety probes, recalls and regulations.

The reach of these former agency employees is broad. They are on staff rosters for every major automaker and every major automotive trade group, and they appear as expert witnesses and legal counsel for the industry in major class-action lawsuits over auto safety.

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Key vacancies give Obama a chance to steer financial reform

March 8th, 2010 · Congress, Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Fraud Alert, Government Control, Greed, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Terrorism from Within, Treason

By Binyamin Appelbaum Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 8, 2010

President Obama has the chance during his first term to appoint leaders for each of the federal agencies that oversee banks, an important opportunity to reshape the government’s approach to regulation even as the White House struggles to push structural reforms through the Senate.

In his first such decision, Obama chose to keep Ben S. Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve, in part because administration officials concluded that Bernanke had demonstrated a commitment to increasing the Fed’s focus on regulation and consumer protection. The administration also appointed a second Fed governor, Daniel K. Tarullo, to lead an overhaul of the central bank’s approach to regulation.

A second opportunity comes in August, when John C. Dugan reaches the end of his term as comptroller of the currency, the chief regulator for most of the nation’s largest banks.

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Congressman Steve Kagen (D-WI) under fire from the media.

March 6th, 2010 · Deception, Federal Spending, Greed, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Unemployment

 The media is beginning to pay attention to Kagen’s record.  

Listen to a clip from Charlie Sykes Radio Show.

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In e-mails, lobbyists perceive ties between campaign cash, earmarks

March 6th, 2010 · Accountability, Congress, Corruption, Deception, Ethics, Federal Spending, Greed, Money Lost, Obama's Scheme, Politics, Selling Out the US, Stimulus, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Treason

By Carol D. Leonnig Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 6, 2010

Lobbyists and corporate officials talked bluntly in e-mail exchanges about connections between making generous campaign donations and securing federal funds through members of an important House Appropriations subcommittee, according to not-yet-public documents reviewed by ethics investigators.

In summer 2007, for example, senior executives at a small McLean defense firm tried to figure out which of them would buy a ticket to a wine-tasting fundraiser for Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), a member of the Appropriations subcommittee on defense. At the time, the company sought help from Moran’s office in securing contracts through special earmarks added to the defense bill.

In an e-mail exchange, one senior officer said he didn’t understand why he had to attend the fundraiser when he didn’t even drink wine.

“You don’t have to drink,” Innovative Concepts’ chief technology officer, Andrew Feldstein, shot back in an e-mail. “You just have to pay.”

“LOL,” responded the other officer.

The fundraiser was hosted by the PMA Group, a powerful lobbying firm whose unusual success in obtaining “earmarked” contracts from members of the military subcommittee was a key focus of a recent House ethics investigation.

Moran raked in $91,900 in campaign checks to his personal campaign and leadership PAC that day. He secured an $800,000 earmark for Innovative Concepts in the 2008 defense appropriations bill.

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Obama & Democratic Leaders – Pass Bill Now, Fix Later. Abortion is Small Price to Pay.

March 6th, 2010 · Congress, Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Greed, Healthcare Industry, Immigration, Insurance Industry, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Terrorism from Within

Democratic leaders working to win over abortion opponents for health-care reform

By Alec MacGillis Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 5, 2010

As President Obama makes his final plea for a health-care overhaul, Democratic leaders in Congress are embarking on a delicate strategy to win over abortion opponents, a gambit that could determine whether the legislation becomes law.

The effort depends on convincing as many as a dozen antiabortion Democrats in the House that abortion language in the Senate bill is more stringent than initially portrayed. But Democratic leaders must be careful that they don’t drive away abortion rights supporters who are increasingly concerned that the measure would prove severely restrictive.

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Fannie Mae Seeks Another Bail-Out

March 2nd, 2010 · Federal Spending, Housing Industry, Stimulus, Tax Dollars, Taxes

Fannie Mae admitted last week that it needs another $15.3 billion from the federal government to stabilize its finances.

Fannie, which is controlled by the federal government, is making financial progress. It reported a fourth-quarter loss of $16.3 billion, including $1.2 billion in dividend payments to the Treasury Department, as compared to a loss of $25.2 billion in the same period in 2008.

Fannie’s problems stem from a continuing stream of bad loans, with 5.38 percent of its single-family loans more than 90-days delinquent, up from 2.42 percent in 2009.

Source: CNNMoney, Tami Luhby (02/26/2010)

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Move-Up Tax Credit Having Little Impact

March 2nd, 2010 · Federal Spending, Housing Industry, Obama's Scheme, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Treasury

The $6,500 move-up tax credit isn’t significant enough to have much of an impact on the housing crisis, housing experts say.

The percentage of current home owners who are considering buying was unchanged from January, a traditional slow month, to February, when business is usually better, according to a poll of 1,500 real estate agents by Campbell Communications and Inside Mortgage Finance.

“You’ve got a really big problem that requires big guns, and the tax credit is just not big enough,” says Roberton Williams, senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center in Washington.

The credit “is hardly registering on the economic Richter scale,” says Patrick Newport, an economist with IHS Global Insight.

Source: Associated Press, Adrian Sainz (03/01/2010)

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Obama’s Priority – Pass Bills, Not Protect Americans

March 1st, 2010 · Banking Industry, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Government Control, Greed, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Terrorism from Within

Obama may compromise on consumer agency to pass financial regulation

By David Cho and Brady Dennis Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Obama administration is no longer insisting on the creation of a stand-alone consumer protection agency as a central element of the plan to remake regulation of the financial system.

In hopes of quick congressional approval of a reform bill, White House officials are opening the door to compromise with lawmakers concerned about creating a new bureaucracy, according to congressional and some administration sources.

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