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Showing posts with label spending. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spending. Show all posts
Friday, June 27, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Spending Obama Style--None Have Spent More In Less Time. Meanwhile Unemployment Stays High And Economy Is Soft.
Financial Audit Ousts Obama as Spending Addict
Published Fri, Mar 21, 2014 | Floyd Brown, Chief Political Analyst
“Without precedent” is how one member of Congress described it.
Another member announced it was “nearly unbelievable.”
No, they weren’t talking about the latest Obama girls’ outing to China. They were talking of the more than $1 billion spent on travel every year by Obama and his family.
Or, as Britain’s Daily Mail reported, Obama is spending 20 times what the entire royal family spends for travel. That sort of luxury and excess would make the sovereigns of any European nation wince.
The latest trip to China includes all the must-see sights, such as the historic city of Xi’an, the southern district of Chengdu and the home of China’s beloved panda bears. American taxpayers should be in open revolt, as they’re footing the bill for this opulence and grandeur.
Adding insult to injury is the simple fact that Michelle Obama won’t answer a single question about the entire trip. And still we’re paying the freight….
Living Large in Spite of the Times
When the Obamas travel, they never seek to lower the bill. They stay at the finest private homes, rented for top dollar, or they check into the most luxurious resorts.
Figures and details are often hard to obtain, but the Washington Postestimated that the Obama’s June 2013 sojourn to Africa cost taxpayers $60 million to $100 million. The legendary size of the entourage forced the government to pay for 4,000 “room-nights” for the single stop in Johannesburg, South Africa. They also rented a mind-boggling $2-million worth of cars – that must have been nearly every auto in town!
Back home, Obama keeps a 747 at his disposal, ready to take off at a moment’s notice. He’s used the plane so frequently that the White House had to expand the number of pilots available since Obama was elected. As Andrew Malcom reported in the L.A. Times, “At an Air Force-estimated cost of $181,757 per flight hour (not to mention the additional travel costs of Marine One, Secret Service, logistics and local police overtime), that’s a lot of frequent flier dollars going into the president’s carbon footprint.”
The perks of the office don’t end with a plane, either. Not only does the White House have a theater, they have a projectionist available on standby 24 hours a day. Chefs, gardeners and personal trainers are available for any family member at a moment’s notice.
Bored with the movies? How about a party? The Obamas have thrown the most ostentatious parties in White House history, including Michelle Obama’s infamous 50th birthday party. BeyoncĂ© headlined the party, but it included musicians like John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Jennifer Hudson, James Taylor, Gladys Knight and Mary J. Blige. Celebrities lined up to attend, including Magic Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson, Rachel Ray, Billie Jean King and Al Roker.
Meanwhile, our defense budget and foreign policy are in shambles. Our economy has sputtered and sank while Obama has been in office. Deficits are out of sight. Obamacare is on the ropes. Yet our First Family parties and lives large, passing the cost off to hard-working Americans.
It’s no wonder that Obama’s popularity is in the toilet.
Your eyes on the Hill,
Floyd Brown
Friday, December 20, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
We Agree With Ron Paul--Spending Must Be Curtailed, However, That Is NEVER Going To Happen In Washington As It Is Currently Constituted. It Will Take A Fiscal Tsunami To Stop The Spend-A Holics In Washington! The Result Will Be An End To America As We Have Come To Know It.
Texas Straight Talk: How DC Won On The Debt Ceiling, And Americans Lost
October 21, 2013 by Ron Paul
Washington, DC, Wall Street, and central bankers around the world rejoiced this week as Congress came to an agreement to end the government shutdown and lift the debt ceiling. The latest spending-and-debt deal was negotiated by Congressional leaders behind closed doors, and was rushed through Congress before most members had time to read it. Now that the bill is passed, we can see that it is a victory for the political class and special interests, but a defeat for the American people.
The debt ceiling deal increases spending above the levels set by the “sequester.” The sequester cuts were minuscule, and in many cases used the old DC trick of calling reductions in planned spending increases a cut. But even minuscule and phony cuts are unacceptable to the bipartisan welfare-warfare spending collation. The bill also does nothing to protect the American people from the Obamacare disaster.
As is common in bills drafted in secret and rushed into law, this bill contains special deals for certain powerful politicians. The bill even has a provision authorizing continued military aid to opponents of the Ugandan “Lord’s Resistance Army,” which was the subject of the widely-viewed “Kony 2012″ YouTube videos. Most of these unrelated provisions did not come to public attention until after the bill was passed and signed into law.
Members of Congress and the public were told the debt ceiling increase was necessary to prevent a government default and an economic crisis. This manufactured fear supposedly justified voting on legislation without allowing members time to even read it, much less to remove the special deals or even debate the wisdom of intervening in overseas military conflicts because of a YouTube video.
Congress should have ignored the hysterics. A failure to increase government’s borrowing authority would not lead to a default any more that an individual’s failure to get a credit card limit increase in would mean they would have to declare bankruptcy. Instead, the failure of either an individual or a government to obtain new borrowing authority would force the individual or the government to live within their means, and may even force them to finally reduce their spending. Most people would say it is irresponsible to give a spendthrift, debit-ridden individual a credit increase. Why then is it responsible to give an irresponsible spendthrift government an increase in borrowing authority?
Congress surrendered more power to the president in this bill. Instead of setting a new debt ceiling, it simply “suspended” the debt ceiling until February. This gives the administration a blank check to run up as much debt as it pleases from now until February 7th. Congress can “disapprove” the debt ceiling suspension, but only if it passes a resolution of disapproval by a two-thirds majority. How long before Congress totally abdicates its constitutional authority over spending by allowing the Treasury permanent and unlimited authority to borrow money without seeking Congressional approval?
Instead of seriously addressing the spending crisis, most in Congress would rather engage in last-minute brinksmanship and backroom deals instead of taking the necessary action to reign in spending. Congress will only take serious steps to reduce spending when either a critical mass of Americans pressures it to cut spending, or when investors and foreign countries stop buying US government debt. Hopefully, those of us who understand sound economics can convince enough of our fellow citizens to pressure Congress to make serious spending cuts before Congress’s reckless actions cause a total economic collapse
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