● It's okay to burn US Flag but an Obama-nation to burn the Kornan... ● Light bulb factory closes; End of era for U.S. means more jobs overseas... ● Obama at it again: Spend more money before Dems no longer control Congress... ● CBO Update... ● Obama has kept his promise to the American People: A promis of change.... ● Delusional Harry Reid Still Making Crazy Comments... ● Unlikely battleground of Wisconsin reflects Democrats' vulnerability in midterm elections... ● Republicans making gains against Democrats ahead of midterm elections... ● The Obama Economy: How trillions in fiscal and monetary stimulus produced a 1.6% recovery.... ● Los Angeles: Broke and Building the Most Expensive School in U.S. History ...
PositiveReform header image 4
When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; When the government fears the people, there is liberty.  ~ Thomas Jefferson

 

Entries Tagged as 'Stimulus'

Obama at it again: Spend more money before Dems no longer control Congress

September 8th, 2010 · Change of Power, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Greed, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Stimulus, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Terrorism from Within

Obama to unveil more stimulus, tax breaks for business

By Lori Montgomery Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 8, 2010; 3:04 AM

President Obama will argue personally Wednesday against extending the Bush-era income tax cuts for the nation’s wealthiest families even for a year or two, White House officials said Tuesday – a message aimed at wavering Democrats who have been swayed by arguments that the economy is too weak to raise anyone’s taxes.

In a speech scheduled for delivery Wednesday afternoon in Cleveland, Obama will restate his long-held position that the nation cannot afford to extend tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of families, White House officials said.

The officials added that Obama would not threaten to veto any compromise which extends the upper-bracket cuts, a position that has gained ground in recent weeks among moderates in both the House and Senate. But congressional sources said they were told to expect the president to try to stiffen Democratic spines in expectation of a showdown over income tax rates before the November midterm elections.

[View Complete Article →]

Tags: ··················

No Comments

Delusional Harry Reid Still Making Crazy Comments

September 7th, 2010 · Change of Power, Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Dissention, Ethics, Federal Spending, Greed, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Stimulus, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Terrorism from Within, Unemployment

By Sharron Angle – Sep 07

In national interviews with both CNN and ABC News, Harry Reid once again appeared completely delusional in making claims that he had nothing to do with the economic downturn, despite being the most powerful Senator in Washington D.C.

With ABC News, Reid said: “You know that I had nothing to do with the massive foreclosures here. You know that I had nothing to do with these unemployment figures.”

Reid went on to say, “I think it is my job to create jobs and I’ve done my best.”

Remember, this is the same Harry Reid whose campaign slogan is, “No one can do more for Nevada.”

Harry Reid’s “best” has resulted in Nevada having the highest unemployment in the nation with a 14.3 percent jobless rate statewide and a 14.8 unemployment rate in Las Vegas.

That leads us to yet another outrageous claim from Majority Leader Reid. There are 194,943 people out of work in Nevada, and yet Harry Reid is making the claim that he’s created 3.5 million jobs. But the question is where, Sen. Reid? These jobs certainly are not in Nevada.

“Harry Reid is making crazy statements while claiming absolutely no responsibility for the economy and the jobless rate in his own state. Yet, by the same token, he wants credit for creating 3.5 million jobs somewhere else,” said Jarrod Agen, Communications Director for Sharron Angle. “Harry Reid needs to stop running from his failed record and start taking responsibility for what he’s done to destroy the Nevada economy. If the Senate Majority Leader has absolutely nothing to do with unemployment or the economy, why is Harry Reid always asking for credit for doing ‘more for Nevada?’”

Tags: ··············

No Comments

The Obama Economy: How trillions in fiscal and monetary stimulus produced a 1.6% recovery.

September 7th, 2010 · Accountability, Change of Power, Deception, Democrats, Dissention, Ethics, Federal Spending, Greed, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama Nominees, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Terrorism from Within, Unemployment

So two months before an election, and 19 months after the mother of all spending programs, President Obama said yesterday he’s rolling out one more plan to stimulate the economy. We’ll discuss the details when they’re released, but the effort itself is a tacit admission that his earlier proposals have flopped. As the autumn economic debate gets underway, it’s important to understand how and why we got here.

***

The recession preceded Mr. Obama’s Inaugural by 13 months, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, and so did the President’s fiscal policy ideas. George W. Bush got there first. In February 2008, he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed on a $168 billion combination of federal spending and temporary tax rebates that were supposed to maintain growth through the housing market decline that election year.

Larry Summers, who would later become Mr. Obama’s chief economic adviser, made the case for such a stimulus to boost domestic “demand” in late 2007. Any stimulus, he told the Brookings Institution, should be “timely, targeted and temporary.” Peter Orszag, then at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) before joining the Obama White House, made the same case.

The official GDP statistics did show a growth blip in the second quarter of 2008 to 0.6%, but third quarter GDP fell by 4%, and we all know what happened after the financial meltdown. Stimulus I failed.

Enter Stimulus II, the $814 billion plan that was also supposed to make up for lost private demand. It too was a combination of one-time tax rebates and spending, mostly on social programs like Medicaid rather than on “shovel-ready projects.” Mr. Summers promised this would have a 1.5 “multiplier” effect on GDP growth, and White House economists Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein famously predicted the spending would keep the jobless rate below 8%.

[View Complete Article →]

Tags: ················

No Comments

Unemployment rate rises to 9.6 pct

September 7th, 2010 · Deception, Democrats, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Terrorism from Within, Treason, Unemployment

The Associated Press
Friday, September 3, 2010; 5:41 PM

– UNEMPLOYMENT RISES: The unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent in August from 9.5 percent, as the nation lost 54,000 jobs. Private employers added a net total of 67,000 workers, but 114,000 temporary census jobs ended.

9 PERCENT PLUS: Job creation by private companies is too weak to reduce the unemployment rate anytime soon. Unemployment has been 9 percent or higher for 16 months, nearing the record of 19 months, set during the 1982 recession and recovery.

ANEMIC ECONOMY: Without more job growth, personal incomes won’t grow by much. That will limit consumer spending, which fuels 70 percent of the economy.

Tags: ···············

No Comments

Obama’s economic team considering new stimulus package

September 2nd, 2010 · Deception, Democrats, Money Lost, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Stimulus, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Terrorism from Within, Treason

White House considering major tax breaks for businesses, sources say

By Lori Montgomery – Thursday, September 2, 2010; 5:33 PM

With the recovery faltering less than two months before the November congressional elections, President Obama’s economic team is considering another big dose of stimulus in the form of tax breaks for businesses – potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars, according to two people familiar with the talks.

Among the options are a temporary payroll tax holiday and a permanent extension of the research and development tax credit, say people familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to describe private deliberations.

Permanently extending the research credit would cost roughly $100 billion over the next decade, tax experts said. And depending on its form and duration, a payroll tax holiday could let businesses keep more than $300 billion they would otherwise owe the Treasury.

[View Complete Article →]

Tags: ···············

No Comments

Health insurance tax credit likely to affect small part of small-business workforce

September 2nd, 2010 · Democrats, Federal Spending, Healthcare, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama Exposed, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Small Business, Tax Dollars, Taxes

By N.C. Aizenman Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 2, 2010; 12:09 AM

About 16.6 million workers are employed by small businesses that are eligible for health insurance tax credits under the new health-care law, according to estimates that were to be released by a nonpartisan research foundation Thursday.

However, the report by the Commonwealth Fund estimated that only 3.4 million of those workers are at firms that would take advantage of the tax credit. For the most part, those are firms that already offer their employees health insurance.

Those firms that do not offer coverage are unlikely to consider the tax breaks enough of a financial incentive to start doing so, according to the report’s authors.

Still, the authors stressed the potential stimulus benefits of the tax credits, which apply beginning this taxable year and will increase in value in 2014 from as much as 35 percent of an employer’s premium contribution to as much as 50 percent. (The lower the wages and number of workers at a small business, the greater the size of the tax credit it is eligible for.)

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that by 2016, the last year for which the tax credits will be available, they will have reduced health insurance premiums for small business by 8 to 11 percent.

At that point, small businesses and their employees will be able to buy comprehensive insurance on state-based exchanges, which will be established in 2014 and are expected to offer more affordable rates than available in the current market.

Tags: ··············

No Comments

Summer of Economic Discontent

September 2nd, 2010 · Change of Power, Deception, Democrats, Dissention, Ethics, Federal Spending, Foreign Policy, Government, Greed, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Social Security, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Unemployment

The administration’s ‘summer of recovery’ has fizzled in almost every way imaginable. The growth rate is less than half what it was at this stage after the 1974-75 and 1981-82 recessions.

By Michael Boskin

The Obama administration’s “summer of recovery” has morphed into a summer of economic discontent amid anxiety over the weakening economy. The greater than 4% growth and less than 8% unemployment envisioned by the president’s economic team are nowhere to be seen. Almost everything that is supposed to be up—the economic growth rate, the stock market, bond yields—is down. And almost everything that is supposed to be down—unemployment-insurance claims, new mortgage delinquencies—is up.

Sometimes a weak early recovery gathers strength after a year or so, as in 2003 when the second round of the Bush tax cuts helped double growth to 3.8% from 1.9%. But there are serious headwinds to stronger growth: household deleveraging, unresolved toxic assets, and most government economic policies headed in the wrong direction. While the base case outlook is still slow recovery, a double-dip recession or a Japanese-style lost decade is more plausible than a few months ago. This explains why Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke felt compelled last week to reiterate that the Fed will use more of its (in my view, weak) ammunition should the economy falter further.

How bad is it? In the data for the last few weeks and months, real personal disposable income was flat; core capital goods orders, a precursor of business capital spending, declined 8%; new home sales fell 12.4%, existing sales 27%, despite record low mortgage rates; single-family housing starts declined 4.2%; building permits, foreshadowing future construction, fell 1.2%; initial jobless claims spiked to over 500,000, leading forecasters to expect at best meager short-term private-sector job growth; the Kansas City, Philadelphia and New York Fed manufacturing indexes fell; and the trade deficit increased, as exports fell and imports rose.

These weak backward-looking data were accompanied by big downdrafts in forward-looking financial markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq over 6% in August—partly retraced yesterday—and the 10-year U.S. bond yield, at 2.47%, was back to its lows of March 2009. Real GDP growth slowed from 3.7% in the first quarter to just 1.6% last quarter.

[View Complete Article →]

Tags: ·················

No Comments

The Folly of Subsidizing Unemployment

August 30th, 2010 · Accountability, Deception, Democrats, Federal Spending, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Treason, Unemployment

My calculations suggest the jobless rate could be as low as 6.8%, instead of 9.5%, if jobless benefits hadn’t been extended to 99 weeks.

By Robert Barro

Congressman John Boehner recently suggested that President Obama replace his top economic advisers. I think he may have a point. The economic “recovery” has been disappointing, to put it mildly, and it has become increasingly clear that the blame lies with the policies of the Obama administration, not with those of its predecessor.

In general, the current administration has been too focused on expanding government, redistributing more from rich to poor, and stimulating aggregate demand. I have previously criticized the stimulus package as cost-ineffective. In particular, whatever tax reductions were in the package did not involve the cuts in marginal income tax rates that encourage investment, work effort and productivity growth.

Now the administration wants to kill the 2003 income-tax cuts, at least the parts that reduced marginal income tax rates for high-income earners and for all recipients of dividend income. This proposal is particularly disturbing because the 2003 law was George W. Bush’s main economic achievement; unlike most of Mr. Bush’s policies, this one was well-conceived and effective.

I want to focus here on another dimension of the Obama administration’s policies: the expansion of unemployment-insurance eligibility to as much as 99 weeks from the standard 26 weeks.

[View Complete Article →]

Tags: ·················

No Comments

The Death of Conservatism Was Greatly Exaggerated

August 28th, 2010 · Accountability, Change of Power, Deception, Democrats, Dissention, Federal Spending, Government, Government Control, Greed, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama Exposed, Obama's Scheme, Tax Dollars, Taxes

In 2008 liberals proclaimed the collapse of Reaganism. Two years later the idea of limited government is back in vogue.

By Peter Berkowitz

Last August left little doubt that a conservative revival was underway. Constituents packed town-hall meetings across the country to confront Democratic House members and senators ill-prepared to explain why, in the teeth of a historic economic downturn and nearly 10% employment, President Obama and his party were pressing ahead with costly health-care legislation instead of reining in spending, cutting the deficit and spurring economic growth.

Still, whether that revival would have staying power was very much open to question. A year later—and notwithstanding the Democrats’ steadily declining poll numbers and the mounting electoral momentum that could well produce a Republican majority in the House and a substantial swing in the Senate—it still is.

Sustaining the revival depends on the ability of GOP leaders, office-holders and candidates to harness the extraordinary upsurge of popular opposition to Mr. Obama’s aggressive progressivism. Our constitutional tradition provides enduring principles that should guide them.

In late 2008 and early 2009, in the wake of Mr. Obama’s meteoric ascent, the idea that conservatism would enjoy any sort of revival in the summer of 2009 would have seemed to demoralized conservatives too much to hope for. To leading lights on the left, it would have appeared absolutely outlandish.

[View Complete Article →]

Tags: ···

No Comments

Recovery in danger as firms, homebuyers cut back

August 25th, 2010 · Dissention, Housing Industry, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Real Estate, Selling Out the US, Unemployment

By DANIEL WAGNER and ALAN ZIBEL – The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 25, 2010; 12:09 PM

WASHINGTON — The economic recovery appears to be stalling as companies cut back last month on their investments in equipment and machines and Americans bought new homes at the weakest pace in decades.

Overall orders for big-ticket manufactured goods increased 0.3 percent in July, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. But that was only because of a 76 percent jump in demand for commercial aircraft.

Taking out the volatile transportation category, orders for durable goods fell at the steepest rate since January. And business orders for capital goods took their sharpest drop since January 2009, when the economy was stuck in the deepest recession in decades.

Separately, Commerce said new home sales fell 12.4 percent in July from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 276,600. That was the slowest pace on records dating back to 1963. Collectively, the past three months have been the worst on record for new home sales.

The weak sales mean fewer jobs in the construction industry, which normally powers economic recoveries. Each new home built creates, on average, the equivalent of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in taxes, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

[View Complete Article →]

Tags: ·········

No Comments