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U.S. Should Not Yield to ‘European Outrage’ over Tanker Deal

by Capitol Confidential

Northrop Grumman has announced it will not compete for the contract to build the U.S. Air Force’s new refueling tanker, stating that the specifications of the RFP were unfair. Northrop’s partners in Europe are lashing out at the United States. One French official said this week, “I can assure you that there will be consequences” for the United States. The Euros were planning on using Northrop as the American face of their plane, but the fact remained that most of it would have been built in France and to many observers that seemed like a bad deal for out of work Americans. In fact, EADS/Airbus, who would have actually built the plane Northrop was proposing, was counting on the American taxpayer-funded refueling tanker to help its financial situation.

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Meanwhile, an advocacy organization called Build Them Both is urging President Obama to step in “fix” it all. “Build Them Both urges President Obama to step in and – with the stroke of a pen – hire each company to build its proposed new tanker. This will put 100,000 Americans to work, provide the Air Force more tankers more quickly and offer massive taxpayer savings over building only one,” says the group’s spokesperson Carrie Giddins, who is also a Democratic political operative.

Build Them Both, which does not disclose its funders, further argues that the United States should yield to French threats and “European outrage.”

But the “build them both” solution would actually be the worst of all possible ideas. It would, in fact, be a terrible deal for taxpayers. The costs of building two tankers would be astronomical, costing taxpayers more upfront and long term. Designing and building two separate refueling tankers would require two separate sets of specifications. It would also require training two separate groups of pilots and maintenance crews and developing and maintaining distinct resupply networks. Its important to note that Northrop’s partner EADS/Airbus was proposing to build a completely different plane; which would require its own hangars, air base taxiways and landing strips. All of these considerations carry enormous costs.

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Tags: Airbus, Boeing, build them both, carrie giddins, EADS
Posted Mar 12th 2010 at 12:37 pm in Defense, News, Obama, Politics, federal spending | 88202139 Comments2010-03-12+20%3A37%3A32Capitol++Confidential

The Unemployment Benefit Black Card

by J.C. Arenas

Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed another Democratic multi-billion dollar legislative handout designed to temporarily alleviate the continuous financial burden hanging over the nation’s unemployed and fiscally irresponsible states.

Democrats—with six Republicans tagging along for the spending spree—swiped the nation’s Centurion Card to the tune of $140 billion, and went home with bags overflowing with goodies: subsides for health insurance, funds to prevent states from laying off public service employees, extensions of unemployment benefits, etc.

Senator Chuck Schumer—apparently now worried about the chattering class—patted himself on the back for a day’s work and proclaimed, “While our Republican colleagues on healthcare have been stonewall[ing], on jobs they know that they block us at their own political peril … and substantive peril as well.”

New York’s senior senator is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

This initiative can’t possibly be touted as a jobs bill when nearly 90% of the funds appropriated are unrelated to job-creation. Moreover, the Republicans who did cross party lines to support this measure, supported—what amounted to—another spending bill, and they might be doing that at their own political peril.

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Tags: federal spending, Jim Bunning, paygo, unemployment, unemployment benefits
Posted Mar 12th 2010 at 11:17 am in Congress, Economics, Politics, federal spending | 8763095 CommentsThe+Unemployment+Benefit+Black+Card2010-03-12+19%3A17%3A28J.C.+Arenas

Breaking: House GOP Adopts Unilateral Ban on All Earmarks

by Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)

This morning, the House GOP Caucus adopted a unilateral ban on all earmarks.

For millions of Americans, the earmark process in Congress has become a symbol of a broken Washington. Today House Republicans took an important step toward showing the American people we’re serious about reform by adopting an immediate, unilateral ban on all earmarks. But the more difficult battle lies ahead, and that’s stopping the spending spree in Washington that is saddling our children and grandchildren with trillions of dollars in debt. Only then will we have succeeded in bringing fundamental change to the way Congress spends taxpayers’ money.

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Tags: earmark ban, Earmarks, federal spending
Posted Mar 11th 2010 at 9:04 am in Congress, News, federal spending | 87814137 Comments2010-03-11+17%3A04%3A19Rep.+John+Boehner

Stimulus Dollars Buy Greyhound Buses in Missouri

by Bob McCarty

I’ve never had the kind of fun enjoyed by passengers in this 1980 Greyhound commercial, but I’m thinking about taking a ride on the commercial bus line soon. Why? Because, as a taxpayer, I’m paying for it.

I came across this news after reading a release on the White House web site that listed the Missouri Department of Transportation as the recipient of $4.9 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a., “stimulus”) funds for use in “construction of two facilities and purchase of two intercity vehicles.” Curious as to the specifics of the spending, I placed a phone call to MoDOT and reached spokesperson Jorma Durant.

During the first conversation, he explained that his agency would be spending the money on construction of buildings for two nonprofit transportation agencies — one each in Poplar Bluffs and Macon, Mo. — as well as on the purchase of two Greyhound buses.

Somewhat surprised, I asked him to explain why the MoDOT was buying Greyhound buses. Durant’s reply was open and honest.

“You have a great question,” he said. “You have an amazing question. Why are we dealing with Greyhound bus? Actually, it kind of surprised me as well. And I’m probably not going to have the right answer for you.”

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Tags: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, federal mandate, greyhound, Missouri, stimulus
Posted Mar 11th 2010 at 7:47 am in Earmarks, federal spending | 8616280 Comments2010-03-11+15%3A47%3A44Bob+McCarty

Its Only Money: Democrats Prepare $100 Billion Jobs Bill for Local Governments

by Publius

From The Hill:

Democrats are set to unveil a new jobs initiative Wednesday that will provide grants to local governments to save or create jobs.

House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) will join other lawmakers and mayors to announce a $100 billion program to support jobs initiatives in local governments and municipalities.

“Our goal is to retain or create a million jobs,” Miller said during an appearance on CNBC Wednesday morning. “There’s some very serious concern that the small, good news we’re getting right now on the unemployment figures could be wiped out by what’s going to happen in local governments, if they don’t get some assistance.”
(more…)

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Tags: community development block grants, economic policy, George Miller, jobs bill, Local Government
Posted Mar 10th 2010 at 10:59 am in Big Labor, Congress, Economics, Local Government, News, Politics, federal spending | 87278112 Comments2010-03-10+18%3A59%3A34Publius

The Stimulus Bill’s Hidden Attack on What We Eat, Drink, and Smoke

by Phil Kerpen

One of the more extreme proposals floated early in the national health care debate was the idea of taxing soda and other sugary beverages. That trial balloon was almost immediately shot down by the American public, but the Obama administration is attempting to achieve, by subterfuge, soda taxes and a lot of other ways to micromanage our lives in the name of public health—whether or not ObamaCare passes. The mechanism is buried in last year’s $862-billion-and-counting stimulus bill, and works by diverting hundreds of millions of dollars that should be promoting economic growth to instead pay lobbyists to push for higher taxes and nanny-state controls over our lives.

no-smoking

It’s on pages 66 and 67 on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which created a $1 billion “Prevention and Wellness Fund.” Of that, $650 million went to Kathleen Sebelius’s Department of Health and Human Services and has been used to start a new program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called “Communities Putting Prevention to Work” (CPPW).

Where does that giant pot of grant funding under the CPPW go? What it calls “MAPPS Interventions for Communities Putting Prevention to Work.” MAPPS stands for “Media, Access, Point of decision information, Price, and Social support/services.” In other words, strategies for changing our behavior, for social engineering on a large-scale, and, it seems, circumventing the normal democratic process. In a 14-page guidance for grant applicants, the CDC details tactics that grant applicants should include in their plans. It includes “counter-advertising” against targeted products, complete tobacco usage bans, limiting “unhealthy food availability” (the really bad stuff like “whole milk, sugar sweetened beverages, high-fat snacks”), and of course taxes (or in CDC lingo: “changing relative prices of healthy vs. unhealthy items”).

A supplemental document explains in more detail what the targets are, including restricting availability of soft drinks “in homes, schools, work sites, and communities.”

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Tags: anti-smoking, Barack Obama, centers for disease control, fast food bans, food lobbyists
Posted Mar 9th 2010 at 2:51 pm in Congress, Culture, Healthcare, News, Obama, Politics, federal spending | 86830142 Comments2010-03-09+22%3A51%3A20Phil+Kerpen

Reason.tv: Pork Party House! Where DC Insiders Go for Tax-Subsidized Fun

by Nick Gillespie

First Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) surrenders his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee amid an ethics investigation. Now Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) proposes an idea that she hopes will help her make good on her promise to help lead “the most ethical Congress in history”—a party-wide ban on earmarks. Will it happen? Don’t bet on it. Reason.tv’s “Pork Party House” helps explain why neither party can resist the pull of pork.

If you’re a politician, lobbyist, or insider and you’re in the mood to party, check out a Washington D.C. mansion called the Sewall-Belmont House. Party with senators and celebrities at thousand-dollar-a-plate fundraisers! You might even get to ride a mechanical bull! The Sewall-Belmont House hosts so many A-list events, you might be surprised to find out that your tax dollars help fund this hotspot for Washington insiders. “Over the last 10 years, the Sewall-Belmont House has gotten over $3.4 million in earmarks,” says Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste.

Reporters often highlight the most ridiculous examples, but politicians have learned how to make their pork projects sound uncontroversial, even appealing. Just say your project will help children, senior citizens, or—if you really want to slip under the radar—direct taxpayer dough to a museum.

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Tags: Charlie Rangel, citizens against government waste, duke cunningham, earmark reform, jeff flake
Posted Mar 9th 2010 at 2:01 pm in Congress, Earmarks, Pork Report, federal spending | 8658243 Comments2010-03-09+22%3A01%3A10Nick+Gillespie

The United States of Argentina: Obama’s Pension Grab

by J.C. Arenas

Barack Obama’s money train has steamrolled uncontrollably across the country, compiling record-breaking budgets, deficits, and debt along its path. Now, the train is running out of fuel, and the nation’s retirement money may find its way on board, to keep the train on the tracks.

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Earlier this year, the U.S. Treasury and Labor Departments began a public discussion on the aim to convert 401(k) saving plans and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) into annuities and other forms of guaranteed income streams. Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Iwry stated, “the question is how to encourage it, and whether the government can and should be helpful in that regard.” The supposition that the government is looking to be helpful with this proposal should automatically cause alarm.

The rationale for what would ultimately serve as a government takeover of the nation’s private pension system is of the same mold as the position Obama and Congressional Democrats have staked throughout the debate on health-care reform; “trust us, we know better than you”. Their assertion is that a weakened economy and a volatile stock market call for them to protect you and your interests, in this case your retirement money.

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Tags: 401k, annuities, argentina pension crisis, Barack Obama, cristina kirchner
Posted Mar 9th 2010 at 10:57 am in Economics, Featured Story, News, Obama, Politics, federal spending | 86282112 Comments2010-03-09+18%3A57%3A40J.C.+Arenas

US Census Form Letter Promises ‘Fair Share’ of Federal Money

by SusanAnne Hiller

census-workers

Knowing that federal and state money doesn’t come from Obama’s stash and does come from our own paychecks and our friend’s and neighbor’s paychecks, I found the 2010 US Census form letter puzzling. Yes, I know that the census is required (but not all forms are completed) and helps allocate federal funds, but this was much more in-your-face and clearly baits the reader with federal funds that they “need” as quoted:

Dear Resident:

About one week from now, you will receive a 2010 Census form in the mail. When you receive your form, please fill it out and mail it in promptly. Your response is important. Results from the 2010 Census will be used to help each community get its fair share of government funds for highways, schools, health facilities, and many other programs you and your neighbors need. Without a complete, accurate census, your community may not receive its fair share. Thank you in advance for your help.

Sincerely, Robert M. Groves
Director, U.S. Census Bureau

Go to for help completing your 2010 Census form when it arrives. [Note: this sentence is repeated in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Russian]

On the web it continues to tell about the 2010 census; this section does not appear on the actual form letter:

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Tags: apportionment, Census, census form, federal spending, immigration status
Posted Mar 9th 2010 at 9:51 am in Congress, News, Obama, Politics, federal spending | 86430164 Comments2010-03-09+17%3A51%3A41SusanAnne+++Hiller

Bob Corker’s Bailout Bureaucracy

by Capitol Confidential

It appears that the Bailout Bob Corker continues to ignore the pleas of his conservative allies and constituents and is close to reaching a deal on establishing a new consumer regulatory bureaucracy that in the words of Sen. Dodd, will be like one we have not seen before. Corker has told CNBC that the last stick point is not the principle of new regulation — he has capitulated on that point — but “administrative issues.”

The legislation includes Corker’s pet project, a “strong resolution mechanism for unwinding troubled companies.” News to Corker: For over 200 years, America had such a mechanism — it was called bankruptcy. But “unwinding” troubled companies is a code word for BAILOUT. The Federal Government, via the Federal Reserve, would be empowered to break-up, subsidized and bailout companies. As House conservatives warned during the House debate, enactment of the bill would establish bailouts as the official policy of the United States for decades to come. That’s why the House bill authorizes $4 trillion for the Federal Reserve.

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Adding insult to injury, Reuters also reports that the Corker “reform” bill does not address the main culprit in the financial crisis — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It does not address the issues associated with Community Lending that encouraged banks to lend to people who could never pay back their loans. It does not address ACORNS. All it does it layer more Washington bureaucracy on top of existing Washington Bureaucracy. Nice work, Bob.

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Tags: ACORN, bank bailout, bankruptcy, Chris Dodd, community lending
Posted Mar 9th 2010 at 8:31 am in ACORN, Economics, News, Politics, federal spending | 8673019 CommentsBob+Corker%27s+Bailout+Bureaucracy2010-03-09+16%3A31%3A23Capitol++Confidential

Now, I Definitely Want A Job In Government

by Veronique de Rugy

Study this USA Today chart and cry:

According to USA Today:

“Overall, federal workers earned an average salary of $67,691 in 2008 for occupations that exist both in government and the private sector, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The average pay for the same mix of jobs in the private sector was $60,046 in 2008, the most recent data available.”

And let’s just add insult to injury:

“These salary figures do not include the value of health, pension and other benefits, which averaged $40,785 per federal employee in 2008 vs. $9,882 per private worker, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.”

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Tags: bureau of economic analysis, government employees, public employees, Public Sector, public sector benefits
Posted Mar 8th 2010 at 9:17 am in Economics, News, Uncategorized, federal spending | 85998172 Comments2010-03-08+17%3A17%3A00Veronique++de+Rugy

That Smell

by Chris Muir

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Tags: jim matheson, Obama Care, scott matheson
Posted Mar 6th 2010 at 9:43 am in Big Labor, Healthcare, Obama, Political Humor, federal spending | 8456631 CommentsThat+Smell2010-03-06+17%3A43%3A38Chris+Muir

Reason.tv: 3 Reasons Obama’s High-Speed Rail Will Go Nowhere Fast

by Nick Gillespie

Supertrain 2010 = Supertrain 1979!

President Barack Obama has pledged $8 billion in tax dollars to build a national network of high-speed rail—trains that can carry passengers at speeds in excess of 150 MPH.

But the Supertrain fantasy was a mistake back in the 1970s, when it gave rise to one of the most expensive—and rotten—TV shows in history. And it’s just as much of a wreck in the 21st century for at least three reasons:

1. The lowball costs. CNN estimates that delivering on the plan could cost well over $500 billion and take decades to build, all while failing to cover much of the country at all. Internationally, only two high-speed rail lines have recouped their capital costs and all depend on huge subsidies to stay in operation.

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Tags: Amtrak, Barack Obama, federal spending, high speed rail, Joe Biden
Posted Mar 4th 2010 at 3:25 pm in Obama, Politics, Technology, federal spending | 84190109 Comments2010-03-04+23%3A25%3A09Nick+Gillespie

The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy: Bunning Throws Reid the High Hard One

by Jeffrey Jena

I grew up in Kentucky where every boy who ever played baseball knew the name of Jim Bunning. He is the Hall of Fame pitcher who threw a perfect game for the Philadelphia Phillies and knew how to play hardball long before the tingly-legged Chris Matthews co-opted the name for his decidedly softball show.

jim-bunning-hof

If you are anywhere near being a fiscal conservative you have to absolutely love what Senator Jim Bunning did this week. This week Senator Bunning showed Senator Harry Reid, and a few Senate Republicans how to throw one high and tight. His one man play at fiscal responsibility has the Washington “in” crowd crying foul and showing their hypocrisy.

In case you missed it here is a brief rundown. A few weeks ago the Congress passed a bill known as “Pay-Go,” a fluffy piece of nonsense posturing. On its surface Pay-Go seems to be fiscally responsibly, if you want to spend some money you need to show where it is going to come from. Senator Bunning knew the bill was hogwash because any spending could avoid being subject to Pay Go if it was “an emergency.” He didn’t vote for the bill for that reason. He also saw another flaw in the bill, a single Senator could hold up the whole Senate if they wanted to.

This week when Senator Reid tried to push through an extension to unemployment benefits Senator Bunning played a little chin music for the Majority leader and put the breaks on the additional 10 billion in spending. Senator Bunning invoked his right to stop the bill and call for the application of the Pay Go rule. When members of the media hounded Senator Bunning for a comment he showed them the door, of the elevator he was taking. Nice added touch!

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Tags: bernie sanders, Chris Matthews, Harry Reid, Jim Bunning, pay go rules
Posted Mar 4th 2010 at 12:59 pm in Congress, News, Politics, federal spending | 84310141 Comments2010-03-04+20%3A59%3A13Jeffrey+Jena

‘Symbolic’ Wind Turbines Generating More P.R. Than Power

by Tom Steward

Now that most of twelve California wind turbines retrofitted for Minnesota winters are finally operational, several cities have acknowledged to the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota that the $5 million project may be more suited for generating PR—both good and bad—than producing significant quantities of power.

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The wind power project involves utilities in eleven cities scattered across the state from the metro area to East Grand Forks in a consortium called the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA). Each of the eleven member cities received one turbine, and the twelfth was given to the MMPA owned and operated Faribault Energy Park in Faribault. It was supposed to be a step toward meeting the state renewable energy mandate that requires 25 percent of Minnesota’s power be from renewable energy sources by 2025.

It turns out, however, the twelve wind derricks will produce power for perhaps several hundred homes, hardly making a dent in the MMPA’s 57,000 household and business customers.

“They’re basically for public relations, educational purposes. They’re just not feasible for any significant amount of electrical generation,” said Dan Voss, Municipal Utilities Director for the City of Anoka.

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Tags: clean renewable energy bonds, East Grand Forks, Faribault Energy Park, Freedom Foundation of Minnesota, green energy
Posted Mar 4th 2010 at 10:13 am in Environment, News, Politics, State Politics, federal spending | 83842156 Comments2010-03-04+18%3A13%3A26Tom+Steward

ShoreBank, Sharia Law and Bank Bailouts

by Central Illinois 9/12 Project

We all know what the words “debt,” “taxpayer,” and “interest” mean, but how many people know what the words “jizya”, “dhimmi” and “Grameen” mean? In order to understand the precipice of disaster that the banking system is resting upon today, one must understand all these words, and then some. No solution can be found by only understanding the first three. Only an illusion of understanding exists until the latter, and more, like “jihad” and “Sharia Law”, are considered.

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The jizya amounts to a tax paid by Non-Muslims to Muslims in order that they may live in peace. A fair comparison is money paid by business owners to neighborhood thugs in order to gain protection. Think Mob. Engaging in this endeavor creates the status of dhimmi – a willingly subservient protected group of third class subjects. Let’s just call this what it is – extortion based slavery. Let us also understand that this is an endgame of this thing called “jihad”.

From the Koran:

(9:29) – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”

(30:39) And whatever you lay out as usury, so that it may increase in the property of men, it shall not increase with Allah; and whatever you give in charity, desiring Allah’s pleasure– it is these (persons) that shall get manifold.

(3:130) O you who believe! do not devour usury, making it double and redouble, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, that you may be successful

(2:275) Those who swallow down usury cannot arise except as one whom Shaitan has prostrated by (his) touch does rise. That is because they say, trading is only like usury; and Allah has allowed trading and forbidden usury. To whomsoever then the admonition has come from his Lord, then he desists, he shall have what has already passed, and his affair is in the hands of Allah; and whoever returns (to it)– these arc the inmates of the fire; they shall abide in it.

You get the idea.

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Tags: Allah, bailout, banking, dhimmi, Economy
Posted Mar 4th 2010 at 5:37 am in Culture, Economics, Featured Story, Justice/Legal, News, Politics, federal spending | 8285095 Comments2010-03-04+13%3A37%3A12Central+Illinois++9%2F12+Project

Feeding the Deficit: The Ultimate Obesity

by Of Thee I Sing 1776

Controlling obesity is all the rage now in America as, indeed, it should be. Feeding the American appetite with too many of the wrong kinds of calories is exacting a terrible toll on the health of Americans of all ages. Obesity, like cigarettes, kills. In recent years, Congress, along with a compliant President Bush and now with an enthusiastic President Obama, has been appeasing another kind of appetite with reckless abandon. The toll this fiscal obesity will exact from America and our people is incalculable and Jenny Craig will be of no help.

Clearly, most Americans do not want to be force fed programs they haven’t asked for and that they know neither they, their children nor their grandchildren can possibly afford. People throughout the country are beginning to dig in their heels and a growing number of congressmen and senators know it. Seventy years ago, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is quoted, following his successful and deadly attack on Pearl Harbor, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” It appears that the American electorate, long apathetic and used to acquiescing by default to reckless government spending may be awakening from its long slumber. Let’s hope so, for it is the last best hope we have to rein in the destructive behavior of so many of our elected representatives of both parties in Washington and the White House strategists who lead them on.

As we noted in this column two weeks ago, Moody’s has fired the first warning shot over the bow of our ship of state. The international credit-rating agency warned that America’s AAA credit rating would be in jeopardy (given our spiraling debt) if economic growth does not keep pace with the projections made by the Obama Administration. China and Japan, our largest sovereign creditors, fired two more warning shots at last week’s treasury auction when they decreased their purchases of U.S. debt. But is anyone in Washington listening?

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Tags: bank bailout, carmen reinhart, Christina Romer, deficit spending, entitlement spending
Posted Mar 3rd 2010 at 3:11 pm in Congress, Culture, Economics, News, Politics, federal spending | 83778138 Comments2010-03-03+23%3A11%3A14Of+Thee+I+Sing+1776

The Bob Corker Bailout Sellout

by Capitol Confidential

While the media and most of the public are consumed by the health care death march, the Senate is deep in negotiations to pass a sweeping re-regulation of the financial sector. As the public knows, ObamaCare is an attempt to regulate 1/6th of the US economy. The financial ‘reform’ proposal, though, will impact the other 5/6ths of the economy. In many respects, the financial services ‘reform’ is much more damaging to the economy and our future competitiveness. Worse, its passage is being aided by Bob Corker.

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Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with his complete capitulation and total surrender on the Financial Services bill. The bill, passed by the House with a $4 trillion bailout provision, making bailouts the permanent policy of the United States government, was on it’s last legs until Corker came to the rescue. Now the Washington Post and other are reporting that Corker and ethically-challenged, retiring Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) are on the verge of a deal to breathe life back into the regulatory and bailout scheme.

Let’s be clear – the President and the hard left want this bill. David Reilly of Bloomberg described the measure as Barney Frank’s $4 trillion gift to the banks. Reilly wrote:

Here are some of the nuggets I gleaned from days spent reading Frank’s handiwork:

– For all its heft, the bill doesn’t once mention the words “too-big-to-fail,” the main issue confronting the financial system. Admitting you have a problem, as any 12- stepper knows, is the crucial first step toward recovery.

– Instead, it supports the biggest banks. It authorizes Federal Reserve banks to provide as much as $4 trillion in emergency funding the next time Wall Street crashes. So much for “no-more-bailouts” talk. That is more than twice what the Fed pumped into markets this time around. The size of the fund makes the bribes in the Senate’s health-care bill look minuscule.

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Tags: bank bailout, Barney Frank, Bloomberg, Bob Corker, Chris Dodd
Posted Mar 3rd 2010 at 8:01 am in Congress, Economics, Featured Story, News, Politics, federal spending | 8371098 CommentsThe+Bob+Corker+Bailout+Sellout2010-03-03+16%3A01%3A59Capitol++Confidential

Batter Up!

by Chris Muir

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Tags: Andy Stern, Government takeover by Unions, SEIU thugs
Posted Mar 3rd 2010 at 6:21 am in Big Labor, Obama, Political Humor, Politics, federal spending | 8322229 CommentsBatter+Up%212010-03-03+14%3A21%3A04Chris+Muir

New Government Programs Always Cost More Than Predicted

by Greg Knapp

fortune teller

It’s time to stop playing along with this ridiculous game called, “The government says the health care bill will cost…” It’s always wrong. And it’s always wrong by underestimating the cost. Why don’t the Republicans point this out? (Probably because they’ve been big government spenders, too.)

Look back at when Medicare was first created:

At its start, in 1966, Medicare cost $3 billion. The House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost only about $ 12 billion by 1990 (a figure that included an allowance for inflation). This was a supposedly “conservative” estimate. But in 1990 Medicare actually cost $107 billion.

In 2007, total Medicare spending was $431 billion! That isn’t even close to the costs predicted in 1965. Why do we act like the numbers coming out of Congress and the CBO have any basis in reality?

The predictions for Medicaid were just as wrong:

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Tags: Barack Obama, Big Government, federal spending, government health care, health care reform
Posted Mar 2nd 2010 at 12:21 pm in Congress, Healthcare, Political Humor, Uncategorized, federal spending | 82574109 Comments2010-03-02+20%3A21%3A15Greg+Knapp