Here’s an interesting (no pun intended) video about interest payments and our national debt.
Right now, interest rates are at historical lows. Now imagine what happens to us when interest rates go back up.
Want to re-think that whole borrowing our way out of debt plan?
The president gave the sort of scare speech he not long ago warned against, and blasted the income-tax rates he not long ago agreed were necessary . . .more
Link: NRO, Victor Davis Hanson
President Obama finally came in front of a camera to address the American people about his budget. Or so we all thought. What we got was a campaign 
speech to kick-off his 2012 run for re-election. There were no specific plans to add to or counter the Ryan proposed 2012 budget. What there was were talking points, class warfare, age warfare, scaring seniors, and scaring families with disabled children.
Once again, the President missed an opportunity to lead. Instead, his teleprompter was in campaign mode.
Headline reads “Obama: Cut spending, raise taxes on the wealthy.”
“We have to live within our means, reduce our deficit and get back on a path that will allow us to pay down our debt.” That was after he passed an $800 billion stimulus package that was only designed to stimulate government jobs and save union jobs. And after he and congress rammed the un-Affordable Health Care Act down America’s collective throat. And after the national debt quadrupled to over $14 trillion dollars, unemployment jumped way over his promised 8%, and housing foreclosures are still going strong. It crossed my mind that he was rehearsing for a Saturday Night Live skit with his ‘we have to live within our means’ line.
Obama also wants to raise taxes by allowing Bush-era tax rates to expire for individuals making $200,000 or more a year and couples making $250,000 or more.
That was after, in December 2010, he said that increasing taxes would be counter productive to economic recovery. That was four months ago.
President Obama was all about ignoring the advice of the special debt commission. And saying about the Ryan plan that they (Republicans) want to “end Medicare as we know it,” he said, and to extend tax cuts for the wealthy while demanding 33 million seniors pay more for health care.
If we don’t ‘end Medicare as we know it,’ it will bankrupt the country all by itself. The same as Social Security will do all by itself if that is not overhauled to some sustainable level too. And when that happens, the only seniors that will have medical insurance or medical care will be the ones that can pay for it themselves. But that’s his story and he’s sticking to it. Not leading, but campaigning.
On the Ryan plan to reform Medicare, Obama vowed “That’s not right, and it’s not going to happen as long as I am president.”
What are the American people supposed to take from a comment like that? Sounds to me like he is committed to failure. Committed to his base instead of the health and welfare of the American people.
What is the Democrats’ answer to solving our national debt and deficit problem? Tax the rich of course. It’s really that simple. Or is it?
Revealing Democrats for the class warfare and wealth envy pimps that they are, the truth about tackling the debt problem is that it isn’t going to happen without the help and pain from the middle class too. And too bad for Democrats in Washington when ‘working people’ figure this out.
The debt and deficit are not a product of too little taxation. They were created by the government spending more than it has. The solution is not going to come from raising taxes. It will come from paring back government programs (aka spending) to a sustainable level.
Steve McCann at the American Thinker Blog explains why we can’t tax ourselves out of the deficit problem.
In a nutshell, if everyone in the highest tax bracket, now 35%, was taxed 100% of their AGI (adjusted Gross Income) over $357,700.00, we would be $1,260.0 Billion (or 1.26 Trillion) short for the year. Below is his research on the numbers . . .
The data is contained on the following IRS site: Section: Tax Generated; subsection; Tax rate and size of Adjusted Gross Income (2008): Table 3.5 (The table is here)
The tax year of 2008 was the last to date that the IRS has done this kind of analysis. In 2008 the highest marginal tax rate of 35% applied to all AGI above $357,700.00. In that year the total amount of AGI subject to the highest rate was $622.8 Billion. The government collected in taxes $218.0 Billion (35%).
In 2011 the annual budget deficit will be nearly $1,665.0 Billion and in 2012: $1,100.0 Billion. If the Liberal Democrats in league with the Socialists, the Unions and the Communists, succeed in raising the highest marginal rate, how much more would Washington D.C. receive, assuming no change in behavior and a general eagerness to pay more?
If the highest rate of 35% were raised by a factor of 20% to 42%, then the additional tax revenue would be $43.5 Billion, not much of a dent in $1,665.0 Billion. So, let’s raise the rate by a factor of 50% to 52.5%; the additional revenue would be $108.9 Billion. Still nowhere near enough, so let’s just tax it at a rate of 100%, bringing in an additional $404.8 Billion. Unfortunately the country is still $1,260.0 Billion in the hole for the year.
Obviously by confiscating at 100% of all the income of the so-called rich above a predetermined level, there would never again be an incentive to earn above the highest tax rate threshold. So where will the Left have to turn next: where the money is, the middle class.
The Left knows the gullible among us easily fall for centuries-old class warfare rhetoric that demonizes the wealthy, yet they persist in doing the unconscionable, as it keeps them in power despite the fact that it enflames passions and in some cases, violence.
You have to laugh at Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) when he says that Republicans’ spending cuts are “political.” As if Democrats’ spending, bailouts, and takeovers are not.
Once we get past the part that the government spending is, was and always will be politically motivated, it makes the hard choices much easier. It is the administration’s plan to use the current spending level as the baseline from which their spending is based. A baseline inflated by stimulus spending. So from that standpoint, the budget battle is not only about money, it is routed in ideology. A big government limiting freedom and liberty vs a limited government that protects freedom and liberty.
It is the Republican’s idea to recognize that all that stimulus spending was temporary, and to revert back to spending levels of the 2006-2008 range. A place that, compared to 2011 standards, represents real and fiscally responsible spending levels and, coupled with entitlement program reforms, puts the country on the path to reducing and eventually paying off the debt. Leaving future generations of Americans a country they can be free in and proud of.
Link: Deficit Commission And Debt Ceiling Sleight Of Hand
While the economy is paramount in everyone’s mind, it’s time to get back to the basics for some guidance. And Karl Denninger from The Market Ticker will show you exactly what that means in this video.
A look at life before (or without) video games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_KCTv08vro&feature=player_embedded
A guy walked into the local welfare office to pick up his check. He marched straight up to the counter and said, “Hi. You know…., I just HATE drawing welfare. I’d really rather have a job.”
The social worker behind the counter said, “Your timing is excellent. We just got a job opening from a very wealthy old man who wants a Chauffeur and body guard for his beautiful daughter. You’ll have to drive around in his 2011 Mercedes-Benz CL, and he will supply all of your clothes. Because of the long hours, meals will be provided. You’ll also be expected to escort the daughter on her overseas holiday trips. This is rather awkward to say but you will also have as part of your job assignment to satisfy her sexual urges as the daughter is in her mid-20’s and has a rather strong sex drive.”
The guy, just plain wide-eyed, said, “You’re bullshittin’ me!”
The social worker said, “Yeah, well … You started it.”
And in the “you gotta be kidding” department, try this from Philadelphia. Man shot 16 times and survives.
Liberals don’t love big government because they think it’s efficient, compassionate, fair or even remotely useful. They support big government because they are guaranteed the support of nearly everyone who works for the government.
H/T Ann Coulter
“It’s Your City, Come Join the Discussion!” That’s the message from Mayor Ashton Hayward who will be hosting a town hall-style meeting Monday, April 11, 2011 from 6pm-7:30pm at the Gull Point Recreation Center on the corner of Spanish Trail and Creighton roads.
Mayor Hayward and the unelected and infamous “Pensacola City Staff will be on hand to take your questions, address your concerns, and listen to your comments and feedback.”
Through what is believed to be ‘human error,’ the incumbent Wisconsin Supreme Court justice David Prosser beat out challenger Joanne Kloppenburg by over 7,000 votes instead of Kloppenburg by 204 as was initially reported.
The problem was that the votes in Brookfield, Wisconsin were not counted. And Brookfield had a 55 percent voter turnout that went 3 to 1 for Prosser.
Link: Waukesha County Clerk Failed To Send In City’s 14,000 Votes
Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg holds a 204-vote lead over Justice David Prosser, according the unofficial Associated Press tally. 204 votes is well within cheating range. A recount is expected.
Kloppenburg is running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to unseat Justice David Prosser. Her platform is to repeal Gov. Scott Walker’s reform bill. That’s the one that Democrat Senators fled the state to halt its passage.
So we have a candidate for the Supreme Court who has decided a case that has not been presented before her. That’s blind justice, social/union-justice style.
Unofficial Wis. results show challenger leads by 204 votes in court race –.
At this point in our deficit and national debt, shutting down the government, for as much as it will actually be shut down, would be an improvement. It means they would be unable to spend more than had last been allocated under an approved budget, which was in 2010.
Since the media seems to have forgotten why Washington is haggling over CR’s (continuing resolutions), let me remind you. And no, it’s not Bush’s fault. It is Obama’s fault. And to top it off, I just heard him say today that it is irresponsible to not have a budget. What? Yes, he said that.
“At a time when you’re struggling to pay your bills and meet your responsibilities, the least we can do is meet our responsibilities to produce a budget.
“That’s not too much to ask for. That’s what the American people expect of us. That’s what they deserve. You want everybody to act like adults, quit playing games, realize it is not just my way or the highway.”
How’s that for a cup of arrogance and a pound of audacity?
Here’s where it began. Well, actually it began in a Democratic caucus somewhere in the bowels of the Capitol, but it ended in this: House Democrats Deem Faux $1.1 Trillion Budget as Passed
Adding a little perspective to the dollars and the demagoguery: Obama’s Budget Up Close
And now for the real reason that we are where we are today. The Obama administration made the political calculation NOT to have a budget in public view prior to the mid-term elections. From where I sit, Harry Reid and the rest of them have absolutely no standing whatsoever to demagogue the party that has a plan to fix the financial mess and the 2012 budget because they voted present on both. No Federal Budget for 2011.