Spending Daily | May 17, 2013

“Report: Leader Of IRS Office That Targeted Tea Party Now Runs ObamaCare Office”

The Washington Post, “The woman who ran the office accused of targeting Tea Party groups is now running the office tasked with implementing ObamaCare. ABC News reported Thursday that Sarah Hall Ingram, the former director of the office that oversaw tax-exempt organizations during the alleged targeting of conservative groups, now leads the office in charge of the Affordable Care...

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AZ Eagletarian has a concise run-down of a rumored deal by AZ Senate President Andy Biggs (which I hinted at on my Sunday Square Off appearance) to ram a budget through the Senate by tacking a Medicaid expansion amendment on it and dangling some district pork in front of a few Dem Senators to get their votes.

Here’s the scenario as it was set forth to me earlier this evening:

Senate President Andy Biggs, who has been declaring all along that he is dead set against the Medicaid expansion, w...

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Spending Daily | May 13, 2013

IRS Targeted Groups Lobbying to “make America a better place to live”

The Wall Street Journal reports, “The Internal Revenue Service’s scrutiny of conservative groups went beyond those with ‘tea party’ or ‘patriot’ in their names—as the agency admitted Friday—to also include ones worried about government spending, debt or taxes, and even ones that lobbied to ‘make America a better place to live,’ according to new details of a government ...

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Christine Bauserman, whose Facebook page proudly boasts all her conservative and Republican affiliations, believes that poor people getting health care in Arizona is a Marxist plot. She wrote a hilarious LTTE to the AZ Capitol Times about it.

Just how desperate are Gov. Jan Brewer and political wizard Chuck Coughlin to force Obamacare on an unwilling Arizona? Dwindling resources, loss of votes, and lackluster public support seem to be a reason for the fraught Republicans to enlist the support of...

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Spending Daily | May 7, 2013

“Promises, Promises: When Obama’s Promises Conflict”

The Associated Press reports, “Absent a magic potion or explosive economic growth, it was all but inevitable President Barack Obama would have to break some of his campaign promises to keep others. If there’s one thing that distinguished them besides their ambition, it was their incompatibility. Cut a staggering $4 trillion from deficits while protecting big benefit programs, subsidizing more hea...

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Spending Daily | May 6, 2013 

No More Tax-Free Online Shopping?

The Associated Press reports, “Attention online shoppers: The days of tax-free shopping on the Internet may soon end for many of you. The Senate is scheduled to vote Monday on a bill that would empower states to collect sales taxes for purchases made over the Internet. The measure is expected to pass because it has already survived three procedural votes. But it faces opposition in the House, where some Republicans regard it as ...

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Spending Daily | May 3, 2013

US Economy Adds 165,000 jobs in April

Market Watch reports, “The U.S. created a net 165,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department said Friday. The increase surpassed the 135,000 forecast of economists polled by MarketWatch. What’s more, the economy created an additional 124,000 jobs in March and February than previously reported. The number of new jobs created in March was revised up to 138,000 from 88,000, the Labor Department said, while February’s figure was...

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Contrary to popular mainstream (liberal Democrat) media opinion, we are still waiting for an economic recovery and the first openly gay male player still active in the NBA, NFL and MLB.

But Mike, over 100,000 jobs were “created” last month and Jason Collins of the Washington Wizards “came out.”

If only the same number of jobs that existed before the new jobs were created still existed; but alas, as we sit here in Month 52 of the Age of Obama, the total number of American...

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No Smart Way?
What Happened to “Line-By-Line”?

Remember when President Obama prided himself on the desire to get out the red pen and go “line-by-line, page-by-page” through the federal budget to eliminate waste and inefficiency?  That was a long time ago.  Now, the White House is changing its tune.  When it comes to the sequester, “line-by-line” is “piecemeal.”  And that’s no way to do business in Washington … at least if you want to hold onto your political leverage for...

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No Smart Way?
Debt Hoarders

More and more lawmakers in Washington are lining up to say we don’t have a spending problem and are ready to defend their massive deficits that add trillions to the debt.  But a new poll from Public Notice shows that the vast majority of Americans disagree; the best way to improve the economy is by cutting spending and exercising some fiscal restraint.  At the same time, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is warning that the debt is unsustainable without...

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Spending Daily | April 19, 2013

“Pompeo to Baucus: ObamaCare ‘Train Wreck’ Is Your Fault”

The Hill reports, “Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) was not impressed with Sen. Max Baucus’s (D-Mont.) criticism of how the Obama administration has implemented its signature healthcare law. Baucus said Wednesday that he fears the implementation will be a ‘huge train wreck’ because people do not understand what the reform law does. If it’s a train wreck, Pompeo said, Baucus has n...

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Spending Daily | April 18, 2013

“Hamel: No more taxes, Mr. President”

Public Notice Executive Director Gretchen Hamel editorializes in The Richmond Times Dispatch, “In business, you have to compete. The only way to attract new jobs and create economic growth is by cultivating a better environment for businesses to thrive. Virginians understand this, and so do their neighbors. North Carolina is considering legislation to drop its corporate tax rate to 4.9 percent, which would be the lowest...

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Budgetology: As Far As The Eye Can See

Deficits as far as the eye can see?  Washington’s proved they can do it, but why would they want to?  On several Sunday talk shows this weekend, White House senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer stated the curious goal of running endless deficits and explained that the president’s budget is just the ticket.  Make no mistake, more deficits, large or small, mean our debt continues to grow. But after four years of promises that more spending will improve the e...

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With the March jobs report showing the smallest gain in 10 months, it’s not a good day for America. While the sequester has become the Obama Administration’s go-to scapegoat for all things bad, it’s not to blame for the disappointing jobs numbers. It’s more likely the “downtick” is a result of the payroll tax hikes in the fiscal cliff deal, a deal that included all tax hikes and no spending cuts because of the White House’s demands for “balance.”  TGIF, h...

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POLLING ANALYSIS
March 30-April 5, 2013

President Obama: Average approval from mid-March to early April was 47.8% according to RealClearPolitics. Average disapproval was 47.1%. (The average one week ago, which covered early to late March, was 48.0%. Average disapproval was 46.8%)

Here are the polls released this week on Presidential job approval:

Economist: 48% of adults approve and 44% disapprove.
Quinnipiac: 49% of registered voters (44% of Independent registered voters) approve and 45% (46% ...

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Moms Tell Washington: “Balance Your Budget!” 

Arlington, Va. – Bankrupting America, a project of Public Notice, today released a new web video featuring testimonials from local Virginia moms regarding their concerns over the national debt and the economy, as well as what lawmakers in Washington could learn from the average mother. Decisions about federal spending and debt will leave a lasting impact on future generations, and mothers provide a unique perspective as they raise tomorro...

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Spending Daily | April 1, 2013

New Federal Department Unveiled Aimed Aimed At Tackling Government Waste
Slugline reports, “With the federal debt nearing $17 trillion, the White House will announce today the formation of a new federal agency to deal with the crippling spending and waste in Washington. The new Department of Spending and Management (SPAM) will have the largest combined budget of any federal department in the administration. According to one senior administration official, ...

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The Arizona Daily Star’s banner headline on Sunday was “Luxury for students”.  The article by Carli Broseau focused on a run-down (no pun intended) of the development that is in full swing or being planned in and around downtown Tucson and The University of Arizona. For a few years now, UA officials have been predicting a [...]

May Day– more than any other day– is a holiday for the 99%. For decades, on May 1, workers around the world have honored the memory of Haymarket Square and striking Chicago workers who were fighting for an 8-hour work day. From Wikipedia… The Haymarket affair (also known as the Haymarket massacre or Haymarket riot) refers to [...]