Heritage Foundation: The Obama Tax and Spend Economy is Here

Love the Heritage Foundation, the world isn't right until I've read my Morning Bell. Always have great insights and a clear, consise look at what's going on in our world:

Yesterday, just weeks after they signed their economic stimulus plan, the White House released a statement claiming credit for the reopening of a window and door factory in Chicago, Illinois. Vice President Joe Biden said, “The reopening of this factory and the rehiring of these workers provide an excellent example of how the money in the Recovery Act is targeted to spur job creation quickly.” If the Obama Administration is going to claim credit for every job created since they were elected, then if they are honest, they should also take the blame for every job lost. Since President Barack Obama was elected on November 4, 2008, the Dow has dropped 2,562 points. This past Friday, the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy shrank by 6.2%, making it the worst quarter since 1982. Many economists predict that labor data to be released this Friday will show that as many as 700,000 jobs were lost in February.

Breaking Down the Energy Budget

Why has our economic downturn only accelerated since President Obama took office? Because the Obama Administration’s policies amount to a declaration of war on the investors, entrepreneurs and small businesses that make our economy grow. The budget released last week only confirmed the worst fears about the direction the Obama Administration wants to take the country.

Taxes: At a time when only the economists on the White House payroll believe our economy is about to recover, the Obama Administration plans to raise taxes on the American people by almost $2 trillion. The first $1.3 trillion of these taxes are aimed at the highest earning Americans, corporations, and small businesses. According to Heritage Foundation senior analyst Brian Riedl, while the top 20% of taxpayers now pay 80% of all taxes collected by the government, under the Obama plan, the top 20% of tax filers would pay 90% of all taxes, and the number of families who owe no tax would climb to near 50%. Riedl warns: “You can only increase taxes on the rich so much before they stop working, saving and investing, and that reduces economic growth for everybody.”

Then there is the $646 billion tax hike on every American. The Obama Administration euphemistically refers to these taxes as “climate revenues” from their planned carbon capping scheme. But make no mistake: government taxes on energy will be passed on to the consumer. And the deadweight loss from this massive and regressive tax hike doesn’t even include the costs of the invasive new government monitoring of all economic activity necessary to make the plan work.

Spending: Obama’s budget proposes $1.13 trillion in regular discretionary spending for 2010. This is a full 12% increase over the 2009 spending baseline. On top of this the Obama budget increases entitlement spending by another $700 billion. The proposed post-recession spending level of 22% of GDP has been exceeded only 8 times in the post-war era. And these numbers do not include the spending priorities of the unchecked far left in Congress.

The Chicago Tribune reports today “President Barack Obama will break a campaign pledge against congressional earmarks and sign a budget bill laden with millions in lawmakers’ pet projects … Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, identified almost 8,600 earmarks totaling $7.7 billion.”

Deficits: The Obama budget claims to cut the deficit in half by 2012, but relies on audaciously optimistic economic forecasts that no one believes in. Adding the “stimulus” bill to a realistic budget baseline yields a projected 2010-2017 cumulative budget deficit of $8.4 trillion – 2.5 times the size of President Bush’s deficits over the same 8-year time period. Before the recession, revenues were 18 percent of GDP and spending was 20 percent. After the recession, President Obama would maintain revenues at 19 percent of GDP, and spending at 22 percent. In other words, all new tax revenues would finance new spending, rather than deficit reduction. President Obama’s structural budget deficit would exceed President Bush’s.

Defending Obama’s budget on Meet the Press this Sunday, Democratic Leadership Council chairman Harold Ford Jr. said, “In November voters said, “We want a different path.” If it doesn’t work, [Obama]’s indicated, “I own this budget. I own this economy.” Exactly.

Want a bit more gloom and doom?

I know you don't, neither do I. But it just keeps on coming and it keeps gettin' worse. Or, as my young nephew says, it gets worser and worserer.

IMF may run out of cash to fight crisis in six months, Strauss-Khan warns
Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the Fund needed an urgent cash infusion if it was to continue bailing out troubled economies in the future. Mr Strauss-Kahn also indicated that the world's advanced economies were now tipping from recession into full-blown depression, cementing fears about the scale of the economic slump in rich nations.
The IMF head made the comments in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia over the weekend, where he is attending a meeting of central bankers from Southeast Asia. The Fund has bailed out a number of countries including Iceland, Latvia and Pakistan but Mr Strauss-Kahn said there would be many others in need of help in the months ahead.

If you read the entire article, about half way down it says, "The Fund is seeking pledges from nations with large current account surpluses and foreign exchange reserves to donate it cash to help bolster troubled countries. "

Japan is mentioned. I'm not sure who else is left in the world with a surplus AND a willingness to help. Can you see Iran volunteering to help bail out Great Britain? the United States?

It was an interesting article in that it shows just how tough things are in our old world.

I don't understand why the IMF (International Monetary Fund) doesn't follow our example and print whatever money they need. Shoot, why aren't these countries that think they're in dire need doing what we're doing?

Here's an idea - if they're not willing to print their own, maybe we could lease out our presses or print whatever they need for a percentage of something that's worth something.

Hopefully you're catching the sarcasm?

Worser and really worserer.

Stop the "Compromise" Stimulus

Newt outlines in stark terms exactly why this bill, as currently written, is not worthy of our support.

Call your Senators today at 202-224-3121 and tell them to oppose the stimulus package. And for good measure, send them an email too.

Let's be honest, it’s not really a stimulus bill. It’s a big government, pork-laden spending bill filled with wasteful projects.



http://www.americansolutions.com/Blog/Read.aspx?guid=dcda8b24-c6db-4d27-a4f8-fbe3b5fb740b

The Gallup Poll found that 54% of Americans either want to see major changes to the current plan, or they outright reject it. Other surveys are also indicating that public support is plummeting. Politicians can call it stimulus and they can call it change, but it's just more of the same - and the American people are starting to realize it.

That's why the time to act is now. With so much at stake, our elected officials need to hear from us.
Here is what you can do - pick up your phone and call your Senators right now at 202-224-3121. Let them know exactly what you think about how they intend to spend your hard-earned money.

What I was trying to say... but said much better!

I just posted a blog about the stimulus package and why it doesn't matter whether we like it or not.... it's going through. This article (tweet link courtesy of @ZanP) outlines very clearly why Mr. Obama and the Dems are so fired up about passing this thing.

The Truth About the Obama Agenda, Part I
By Wayne Allen Root
I have been asked by radio talk show hosts across the country to talk about President Obama’s possible – if not probable — nationalization of the banking system. But there’s more to the story than just banks.

This issue ties in with every aspect of the Obama Socialist Agenda — bailouts, handouts, economic stimulus packages, giving too much power to the Federal Reserve … and let’s not forget tax cuts to people who don’t pay taxes.

The Obama agenda isn’t about saving the American economy. Rather, it is about putting Big Brother in control of our lives. It’s about the Nanny State — big government intrusion into every aspect of our lives in order to “protect” us. It’s about destroying capitalism and tearing down the U.S. economy to build a new economic system based on rewarding the “right kind” of Americans — those who support Obama and his agenda.
http://blog.robertringer.com/2009/01/31/the-truth-about-the-obama-agenda-part-i/

Well, so much for optimism...

Okey Dokey… Obama declares implementing socialism shall be his “core” economic policy…
Posted: 24 Nov 2008 02:14 PM CST
Wow! To think this is coming from the President of America… Oh well, it could have been worse... From CNN
“As a thought leader, Larry [Summers] has urged us to confront the problems of income inequality and the middle-class squeeze, consistently arguing that the key to a strong economy is a strong, vibrant, growing middle class,” Obama said of Summers. “This idea is at the core of my own economic philosophy and will be the foundation of all of my economic policies.”...

(From P.U.M.A. --- they have great updates, be sure to sign up and check them out. I read things on there that I don't find anywhere else).