Archive for April 14th, 2011

Con job: Gross = $38.5 billion, Net = $352 million … Boehner should resign!

April 14, 2011

The National Journal Reports …

A Congressional Budget Office analysis of the fiscal 2011 spending deal that Congress will vote on Thursday concludes that it would cut spending this year by less than one-one hundredth of what both Republicans or Democrats have claimed.

A comparison prepared by the CBO shows that the omnibus spending bill, advertised as containing some $38.5 billion in cuts, will only reduce federal outlays by $352 million below 2010 spending rates. The nonpartisan budget agency also projects that total outlays are actually some $3.3 billion more than in 2010, if emergency spending is included in the total.

The astonishing result, according to CBO, is the result of several factors: increases in spending included in the deal, especially at the Defense Department; decisions to draw over half of the savings from recissions, cuts to reserve funds, and mandatory-spending programs; and writing off cuts from funding that might never have been spent.

* * * * *

Ken’s Take: Either Boehner was in on the con, or he’s so stupid that he was had.

Either way, he should resign as Speaker of the House,

That’s what I think …

Posted in Budget - Deficit | Leave a Comment »

BHO declares war on the wealthy (again) …

April 14, 2011

In yesterday’s pitch, the President reaffirmed his position that the makers should give more of their $$$ to the takers.

That’s one he can win, since there are increasing number of takers.

Robert Samuels points out in Newsweek:

We in America have created suicidal government; the threatened federal shutdown and stubborn budget deficits are but symptoms.

By suicidal, I mean that government has promised more than it can realistically deliver and, as a result, repeatedly disappoints by providing less than people expect or jeopardizing what they already have. But government can’t easily correct its excesses, because Americans depend on it for so much that any effort to change the status arouses a firestorm of opposition that virtually ensures defeat.

Government’s very expansion has brought it into disrepute, paralyzed politics and impeded it from acting in the national interest.

For example, the Census Bureau reports that in 2009 almost half (46.2 percent) of the 300 million Americans received at least one federal benefit:

  • 46.5 million, Social Security;
  • 42.6 million, Medicare;
  • 42.4 million, Medicaid;
  • 36.1 million, food stamps;
  • 12.4 million, housing subsidies.

There are a lot of voters in the stack …

Posted in Taxes | Leave a Comment »

Another reason that New Yorkers are glad they don’t live in Alaska …

April 14, 2011

State & Local tax rates.

New data from the Census Bureau showcases the usual suspects on the list of high tax states.

I’m glad I’m domiciled in Virginia.

image

http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/27181.html

Posted in Taxes | 2 Comments »