What do St. Patrick’s Day and government spending have in common? Well, until we had anything to say about it, not much. As our friend Seamus eagerly displays, years of overspending have left us drunk with debt. And just as drinking more is the last thing you should do when you’re inebriated, spending more is the last thing we should be doing when we’re deep in debt.

(more…)

You really have to see this one to believe it:

The video above was just released by the Institute for Justice. It begins with an elderly woman lamenting:

When my son came back from Kuwait he couldn’t believe it.  He said, “Mom, what’s going on?” And I said, well they want to get rid of us and they’re finally doing it.  He was upset.  He said, “I’m sorry, I’m halfway around the world to help other people and I can’t even help my own mom keep her own home.”

For the past ten years, township officials in Mount Holly have been destroying a close-knit community called the Gardens.  They’ve been recklessly bulldozing select individual row-houses — even when they are attached to occupied homes — to make way for fancier homes for richer people.  The current owners have never been offered a place in the new redevelopment, or enough money to buy comparable home nearby.

A new Institute for Justice study, available here, shows that this redevelopment project may result in a loss of one million dollars every year, one tenth of the township’s budget.

Despite these terrible conditions, the community never gave up hope.  They continued to fight against all odds for their cherished neighborhood.   And on Wednesday, a federal court came to their defense.

(more…)

If you don’t believe that Obama and his administration’s over-reach on so-called climate change costs America jobs, then how to explain even Labor bailing on Obama and the Democrats?

Unable to pay off the Environmental lobby through legislation, Obama’s EPA is looking for every opportunity to end-run Congress by enacting stringent and un-neccesary new regulations.

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration’s environmental agenda, long a target of American business, is beginning to take fire from some of the Democratic Party’s most reliable supporters: Labor unions.

And it isn’t only Labor. The American people as a whole have turned cold to the notion of climate change. Unfortunately, just as we saw with the passage of ObamaCare, this administration isn’t going to allow democracy in the form of the American people to get in the way of their kowtowing to special interest groups, be it the health care lobby, or the far-Left environmental movement in this case.

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans who are worried about global warming has fallen to nearly the historic low reached in 1998, a poll released Monday showed.

This has resulted in a House panel acting today to begin to tell the EPA, no way!! Unfortunately, the battle isn’t over and we’ll need to be especially mindful of how the Senate may eventually behave.

(more…)

In two short years, Barack Obama has wrested the crown for most self-indulgent president from Monica Lewinsky’s ex-boyfriend, Bill Clinton.

Graphic by Freeper paulycy.

Clinton’s most self-indulgent moment came when when he urged Lewinsky to perform oral sex on him while he took a phone call from a Congressman. However, the November 17, 1995 incident occured in private, the Congressman did not suspect anything was amiss and it was not revealed until years later as part of the Starr investigation.

Obama’s most self-indulgent moment was broadcast on national television this week when, in the midst of numerous crises crying out for American leadership, he took time to film his picks for the NCAA basketball tournament brackets for broadcast by the ESPN sports network.

This follows a two-year string of self-indulgences by Obama since he became president that has demonstrated to the world that nothing comes before Obama’s me-time.

(more…)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Washington Post, “Hidden workforce challenges domestic economic recovery,” March 15, 2011:

“Adding These Workers to February’s Jobless Rate Pushes It Up to 10.5 Percent”

“Overshadowing the nation’s economic recovery is not only the number of Americans who have lost their jobs, but also those who have stopped looking for new ones.  These workers are not counted in the Labor Department’s monthly unemployment rate, yet they say they are willing to work. Since the recession began, their numbers have grown by 30 percent, to more than 6.4 million, amounting to a hidden labor force that could stymie the turnaround. Adding these workers to February’s jobless rate pushes it up to 10.5 percent, well above the more commonly cited 8.9 percent rate.”

The following is a chart that has been regularly updated by Ways and Means Republicans, displaying the unemployment rate including unemployed people the Washington Post calls the “hidden labor force.” This same group was dubbed the “invisible unemployed” by Austan Goolsbee, the Chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, in an article he wrote in 2003 assailing the prior Administration.  According to Goolsbee, the “invisible unemployment rate” back then “probably pushed 8 percent” – well below the current level.

(more…)

As breast cancer patients anxiously await a June Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hearing to determine whether they will continue to have access to the life-saving drug Avastin, members of Congress are standing up for patients. Most notably Sen. David Vitter in the Senate and Rep. Kay Granger in the House, and now Rep. Alan Nunnelee, have recognized the dangerous precedent of the Avastin case. Including costs in the evaluation process will limit access of drugs to patients, interfere with the doctor/patient relationship and start American down the road to rationing.

Avastin is an (expensive) anti-cancer drug that has been proven to extend the life of patients. Some unfortunately do not see great gains – perhaps only a few months – while others live for years, crediting the drug for their survival. The FDA is attempting to “de-label” the drug, meaning the drug would be available if you could afford to pay for the drug out of your own pocket. Insurance and Medicare would no longer assist patients in paying for the drug.

At a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, Granger raised her concerns about the pending Avastin decision directly to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius. Granger pointed out that patients and doctors in her district have alerted her to the decision and believe having the Avastin option is a critical tool in fighting breast cancer. Granger pressed Sebelius to assure seniors that Medicare would continue to allow doctors the choice of prescribing Avastin and cover its costs. Sebelius could not or would not. Should the FDA move forward, cancer patients will be on their own – the first victims of the effort to “bend the health care cost curve.”

(more…)

Armed with a bullhorn, thuggery, and the most annoying chants ever, union thugs continued their streak of ‘solidarity’.

The following took place at a recall Jim Holperin Rally in Merill, WI. As you can see, “F*ck you” is written on the ripped up petitions. The video was shot after the incident took place.

According to an eyewitness account:

This video was shot minutes after a union advocate destroyed several petitions at a recall Jim Holperin Rally in Merill, WI. The event was moved to the court house grounds because the private location originally slated to host the event was threatened with arson. It should be noted that police were present when the protestor destroyed these recall petitions, but stated to us that there was nothing they could do about it. The female protestor, who had a young child with her, approached the recall table pretending to be interested in signing the petition, then proceeded to write F— You! She then ripped up other completed petitions before being stopped. Her actions were met with great approval from the rest of the crowd, who took up the chant heard in the video.

(more…)

Americans delivered the House a record 63 Republican seats to ensure that the peoples’ voices would be heard.  And, while the voters thought their message was clear and received, now, it seems, the real battle ensues.

While Congress continues to kick the budget and debt can down the road and passes continuing resolutions to thwart a government shutdown, the Democrat leadership has dropped several messages to the GOP leadership:

“They cannot agree with themselves,” said Hoyer. He called for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to distance himself from Tea Party conservatives and forge a compromise between centrist Republicans and Democrats.

Hoyer said Boehner should abandon the additional cuts conservatives muscled into the bill introduced by GOP leaders that would have cut $35 billion in spending this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. After an uproar from conservatives, GOP leaders rallied around a bill that would cut spending by $61 billion.

Of course he would say that.

This is not 1995 though and the game has changed, and frankly so have the rules.

(more…)

Politicians make many promises during the course of a presidential campaign.  But, more important than studying which promises they keep, voters should note whom the kept promises were made to.  On October 20, 2008—less than two weeks before election day—then presidential candidate Obama sent a letter to the largest federal employee union and promised that if elected, he would “work to ensure” that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport screeners “have collective bargaining rights.”   This political back-scratching ignores the relevant question: why should government power be used to support a legal monopoly of our government’s workforce?

Union Dues Courtesy of the American Taxpayer

Over two years and three TSA administrator nominees later, Obama’s promise to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is now only a few weeks away from being fulfilled.  Starting March 9, TSA airport screeners began voting on whether they want a union or not.  The Federal Labor Relations Authority, a self-described “independent federal administrative agency” created by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 during the Carter Administration, paved the way by issuing a decision calling for an election to determine whether TSA employees want “exclusive union representation.”  Interestingly, when signing the Act, President Carter noted the new law “goes to the heart of what the American people are asking for: a government and civil service that work.”  The vote to pick a union ends April 19th.

There’s a ton of unrest in the world and world markets are jittery. So, having just finished off the arduous task of filling out his NCAA brackets, who would begrudge the President a little R and R. From Forbes:

President Barack Obama will take his first official trip to Brazil this weekend where he will speak in the popular Cinelandia Square in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Access, of course, will be tightly restricted and security measures so secretive that not even the Embassy or US Consulate in Rio know exactly how it’s all going to go down. Obama’s speech will be free and open to the public and take place around 15:00 local time (14:00 EST). Access to the square will begin at 11:30, and is sure to draw a crowd. Obama is popular in Brazil. One politician seeking office in Rio actually changed his name to Barack Obama in 2008 to solicit votes. He didn’t win.

The Obama family will also take in the sights in Rio. A trip to Corcovado mountain, where the Christ the Redeemer statue stands (France gave us Lady Liberty, gave Brazil Jesus) is supposedly on the itinerary.

(more…)

The crusade against for-profit colleges has been raging for the better part of a year with Congressional hearings and the potential for new regulations making financial aid for students attending those school impossible to get. Democrats have declared for-profit schools unworthy of educating students in need of financial aid, which would disproportionally harm lower income and minority students, who make up a large percentage of their student body. But while these for-profit school have be fighting for their lives, others, with the apparent help of regulators from the Department of Education, have been fighting “for profits” of their own, and this starting to catch the eye of elected officials in Washington.

The first red-flag in the crusade against for-profit colleges came when Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) held a hearing where Steven Eisman, a noted Wall Street short-seller, was called to testify against for-profit colleges, something about which he had zero expertise. Then the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) discovered the possible explanation as to why Mr. Eisman was so interested in an issue in which he had no expertise. From documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, CREW discovered that, as the Daily Caller described it, “…Eisman and other short sellers may have been given advanced notice of key regulatory moves by the agency, which would have allowed them to position themselves early in the market, and profit handsomely.”

This used to be called “insider trading,” a term from the 80s that seems to have gone out of vogue, but is still illegal.

CREW sent a letter to Robert Khuzami, Director of the Division of Enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission, informing him of their findings and calling for an investigation into possible illegal activities by Eisman and several people inside the Department of Education who, as the emails and documents they obtained suggest, may have fed Eisman and his colleagues the information.

A further investigation by the Daily Caller found that, in addition to Eisman, another short-seller, Manuel Asensio, a man “securities regulators debarred…from employment as an investment banker for the rest of his life for refusing to answer questions and provide documents about his investment practices,” is now lobbying against for-profit colleges.

(more…)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed

On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Josh Kraushaar to talk about the new electoral math Obama faces in 2012. Then Pejman Yousefzadeh talks about PJ Crowley’s dismissal at the State Department.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

For Obama, Virginia Is the Next Ohio
Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval
Josh Kraushaar at National Journal’s Hotline
Pej: Hope and Change?
(more…)

There are a few very  interesting points below headlines today claiming California residents strongly support extending the state’s once temporary tax increases via special election.

Survey finds Californians back tax extensions

Californians would overwhelmingly back extending temporary tax increases to help balance the state’s budget if asked to in a special election, according to survey results released on Wednesday.

The survey found that, by a 58 percent to 39 percent margin, voters said they would vote in favor of a ballot measure asking them to extend temporary tax increases.

If that’s truly the case, then why did voters flatly reject the same thing as recently as 2009.

His strategy is risky. Voters already overwhelmingly rejected extending the temporary vehicle, sales, and income taxes in May 2009, months after lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger enacted them.

Enter the Labor Unions. Got that?

(more…)

Untouchable.  That’s the treatment being given to the $23.6 billion being spent right now to implement Obamacare.

This $23.6 billion is part of the $105.5 billion appropriated by the last Congress to fund Obamacare.  The remainder (Think of it as post-dated checks for the other $81.9 billion.) automatically becomes available between now and FY2019.

None of this is to be confused with an additional $115 billion authorized for additional appropriation to Obamacare—but which the current Congress is unlikely to provide.

The most pressing question, however, is whether any of the current $23.6 billion will be rescinded as part of the spending reductions being pursued in Congress.

Despite campaign promises to defund Obamacare, it isn’t being done.  Why not?

(more…)

This is bound to be controversial. If the original legal limit was sound, in effect, this is asking workers to sacrifice, potentially their health, or even lives, for the greater good.

TOKYO (AP) – Japan has raised the maximum radiation dose allowed for nuclear workers, citing the urgent need to prevent a crisis at a tsunami-stricken power plant from worsening.

Despite the increase, surging radiation levels forced emergency workers to temporarily withdraw from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant on Wednesday, losing time in their struggle to cool overheating fuel in reactors crippled by last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.

(more…)

The Obama administration was playing games with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by refusing to turn over a report detailing the agency’s investigation of an illegal alien, Carlos Martinelly-Montano, who is charged with killing a Virginia nun in a drunk driving accident in August 2010.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) promised a federal court it would release the report earlier this year, but then later claimed that the document was in “draft” form, and therefore would not be released. (Click here to read some of the emails back and forth we had with DHS.)

Judicial Watch received the edited “final” report on March 3, 2011. The final report, which we were told by DHS was still being “worked on” last month, is dated November 24, 2010. This lying game shows the Obama DHS is thoroughly mendacious. The DHS report details policies and actions of the Obama administration and local governments that allowed Montano, an illegal alien who committed a series of crimes, to remain on the streets despite being subject to deportation.

Here is a detailed chronology of events as described in the report, which we received through a FOIA lawsuit we filed on December 2, 2010. As you’ll see, even though the Obama administration scrubbed the report, there is more than enough evidence of the amnesty and sanctuary policy agenda of the federal government, local authorities and the courts:

On December 7, 2007, Montano was convicted for driving under the influence (DUI) in Prince William County, Virginia and was sentenced to serve 30 days of incarceration. The judge in Prince William County, however, suspended all 30 days of the jail sentence with the result that Montano was not jailed for his offense. Local authorities did not seek to determine Montano’s immigration status nor did they contact ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].…

Almost one year later, on October 4, 2008, Montano was booked into jail in Prince William County and charged with another misdemeanor DUI. At the time of this arrest, the local authorities determined that Montano was an illegal alien. Thus, ICE lodged an immigration detainer against him. As a result of the immigration detainer, immigration officers took him into custody. On October 7, 2008, Prince William County officials released him from custody.…

[Rather than detaining Montano,] ICE agents determined that Montano was a candidate for the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program and … monitored his whereabouts using GPS technology.…

On April 27, 2009, as a result of the October 2008 DUI arrest, the Circuit Court of Prince William County convicted Montano and sentenced him to serve 12 months and 3 days in jail. However, the judge in Prince William County suspended 11 months and 13 days of Montano’s sentence. As a result of the judge’s decision, Montano served less than two weeks in Prince William County for his second DUI conviction.…

(more…)

The earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday has caused tragic devastation to lives and property, but Japan may soon be over-whelmed by a debt crisis tsunami of epic proportions. With crony deficit spending by the Japanese government having destroyed its economy over the last two decades; Japan now has a real national crisis that will force the government to engage in massive deficit spending. There is a strong risk of a financial melt-down in the world’s most indebted nation.

After the credit-induced boom in the late 1980s, Japan’s high rate of growth stumbled and bank loan defaults sky-rocketed. Over the last twenty years, asset prices are down by 65% for the Nikkei stock index, 50% for residential real estate, and 70% for commercial real estate. The centrally planned Japanese government responded to this crisis of falling asset values with wave after wave of colossal deficit spending stimulus. Japan’s public debt rose from virtually nothing to 225% of gross domestic product (GDP), but the economy has remained stagnant.

Japan has engaged in about the same level of 7% deficit spending as the US has averaged for the last two years, except Japan has sustained this level of spending for the last twenty years. Normally, heavy deficit spending quickly exhausts a nation’s internal markets to buy its own debt and the country is forced to auction bonds at higher and higher interest rates to outsiders; which also increases the costs of the debt and forces the nation to sell even more debt. At some point the country becomes so indebted that credit agencies downgrade the country’s quality rating to junk, foreigners refuse to buy new debt, and the country defaults. Japan has avoided this deficit financing end-game, because the nation has been able to finance 95% of its debt at home. Over the last year Greece with a third less and Ireland with less than half the debt to GDP ratio of Japan, imploded when foreigners refused to invest.

As deficit spending has remained extraordinarily high for such a long period, Japan has maintained a 41% corporate tax rate; the highest in the world, 10% above the US and Europe and triple the fast growing Asian economies of Taiwan and Singapore. This has made Japan an unattractive location for private investment. The complete lack job security for young workers who can only find temporary employment has made life difficult for new families and caused the birth rate for Japanese women to be cut in half. Lower family formation has caused the household savings rate for the thrifty Japanese to fall from 5% at the end of the 1990’s to just above 2% currently.

(more…)

While President Obama obsesses over his NCAA brackets, the world anxiously waits to see if Japan can avert a nuclear catastrophe.