Running On Empty

Actually, we’re running beyond empty now. The United States can’t legally borrow any more money until Congress acts to raise the debt ceiling.

US government hits debt ceiling, lighting 11-week fuse

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner informed Congress on Monday that the United States has reached its legal debt limit, setting off a ticking time bomb that could explode in less than three months if lawmakers can’t bridge differences and allow more government borrowing.

In hitting the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling – the limit on how much the government can borrow – the Obama administration on Monday began temporarily halting payments to the retirement and federal pension accounts of federal workers and started borrowing from those funds, to be restored later.

Geithner sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., warning that the government can move money around for about 11 weeks but if a new debt ceiling isn’t agreed to by Aug. 2, the U.S. government could effectively default on its obligations to its creditors. He warned of “catastrophic economic consequences for citizens” unless Congress raises the debt ceiling.

An increase of about $2 trillion is expected, enough to get the issue past the 2012 elections before Congress would have to lift it again.

Republicans who control the House of Representatives vow to link raising the debt ceiling to cuts in government spending of at least equal measure. In a combative statement Monday, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, upped the ante.

“As I have said numerous times, there will be no debt limit increase without serious budget reforms and significant spending cuts, cuts that are greater than any increase in the debt limit.” Boehner has called previously for $2 trillion in spending cuts as part of any deal to raise the debt ceiling.

See also:
US hits $14 trillion debt limit
US Hits Debt Ceiling, But Treasury Market Rules Out Default For Now
Deja Vu, But No Disaster: U.S. Government Hits Debt Ceiling
U.S. Hits Debt Limit, Sky Doesn’t Fall
U.S. hit debt limit today
Treasury Tapping Federal Retirement Accounts to Stave Off Default
Turbo Tim Raids Pension Plans
With Debt Limit Maxed Out, Lawmakers Hold Firm On Remedy
Rep. Jordan: U.S. won’t default if debt ceiling isn’t raised
U.S. National Debt Clock

Well, we hit the debt ceiling and, despite all the Democrat Chicken Little hysteria, the Sun didn’t explode, the seas didn’t boil, and the markets didn’t plunge thousands of points. Go figure.

/all I can say is that the Republicans had better stand firm and hold their ground this time and hold out for concrete, verifiable spending cuts that at least equal the amount of any debt limit increase

A Line In The Sand?

Does he mean it this time or will he cave to the out of control spending Democrats yet again?

Boehner says ‘trillions’ in cuts loom on debt vote

The top Republican in Congress wants trillions of dollars in spending cuts as part of must-pass legislation permitting the government to continue to borrow to fund its operations and meet obligations to investors.

House Speaker John Boehner, in a speech prepared for delivery Monday night, says it would be irresponsible to raise the so-called debt limit beyond its $14.3 trillion cap without a major effort to curb the spiraling deficit. He says the cuts should be larger than the amount of the permitted increase in the debt.

See also:
John Boehner’s tough talk on debt limit: a departure from history
Wonkbook: Boehner’s debt-ceiling demands
Boehner: Spending cuts should be greater than debt limit increase
Boehner really isn’t asking for that much to raise debt ceiling
Wall Street Takes Boehner Debt-Limit Speech In Stride
Speaker Boehner: Tax hikes are ‘off the table’
Speaker Boehner: Tax Hikes Are ‘Off The Table’
Republicans Rule Out Tax Increases in Battle With Democrats Over Debt Cap
John Boehner’s debt pitch has risks for GOP
Boehner’s debt-limit speech: Reactions from the Hill
Democrats and Republicans Spar Over US Debt Ceiling
Boehner reiterates GOP’s ransom demands
Obama aide: Boehner shouldn’t hold debt limit ‘hostage’ to spending cuts

So, have Boehner and the Republicans finally grown a spine? They talk the talk, but can they walk the walk? They’re on the right side of fiscal reality and American public opinion in this all the marbles battle for the country’s very economic survival. The stakes for our future literally couldn’t be any higher.

/hopefully, they won’t chicken out again, the last time they promised to stand their ground on spending cuts, it ended in a humiliating disaster for Republicans

What Was The [Expletive Deleted] Point?

First they promised to cut $100 billion, then said what they really meant was that they’d hold out indefinitely for $60 billion, then they totally caved in to the Democrats, compromising on $38 billion, and in the end all we got was a lousy $352 million in cuts. What a gyp, shame on the spineless Republicans.

Budget deal: CBO analysis shows initial spending cuts less than expected

A federal budget compromise that was hailed as historic for proposing to cut about $38 billion would reduce federal spending by only $352 million this fiscal year, less than 1 percent of the bill’s advertised amount, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Although that analysis dampened enthusiasm for the deal among many Republicans on Thursday, the House and the Senate approved the measure with bipartisan support. President Obama is expected to sign the bill Friday, officially ending the prospect of a government shutdown.

The findings from the budget office warned that the deal may never come close to delivering on its promises. The analysis found that $13 billion to $18 billion of the cuts involve money that existed only on paper and was unlikely to ever be tapped.

See also:
U.S. Budget Analysis Shows Smaller Savings
CBO Says Budget Deal Will Cut Spending by Only $352 Million This Year
Forget $38B: Budget only cuts $352 million this year
Deal Approved but Debate Continues Over Actual Extent of Spending Cuts
Budget cuts too small for many conservatives
Spending cuts fall short of $38 billion: CBO
How Washington Turned $38 Billion Into $352 Million
CBO: 2011 Budget Cuts Far Less Than Promised
Editorial: Washington’s $38 Bil In ‘Cuts’ Are Bogus

This is insane, the United States is $14 trillion in debt, the world bond markets could decide to cut up our national credit card at any given moment, the laws of mathematics dictate that the American economy will completely collapse by 2037, and these congressional buffoons spent the entire last month arguing over cutting $352 million?

The 2012 elections can’t come fast enough. We need to start with a new President and Republicans taking control of the Senate and keeping control of the House. It’s apparent that one party rule, with a party that’s serious about restoring fiscal sanity (and that ain’t the Democrats), is going to be required to stop this country from careening off the cliff of financial ruin.

/and, if that doesn’t work, we’ll have to get us some new Republicans starting in 2014

Bogus Obama Math Busted

It’s bad enough that Obama had the gall to release a farcically irresponsible 2012 budget that kicks the fiscal sanity can down the road and shoves the United States well down the path to third world status, but then he and his clown posse minions have the further, cynical audacity to lie about it to the American public.

CBO: W. House Lowballs Debt

The president’s budget plan would double the debt over 10 years to $20.8 tril, the CBO estimated, $2.3 tril more than the White House had projected. Interest on the debt would top 18% of federal revenue in 2018, a level that Moody’s has said could trigger a downgrade of America’s AAA rating.

Read the Congressional Budget Office report:

Preliminary Analysis of the President’s Budget for 2012

See also:

Report says Obama budget underestimates deficit
CBO Claims Obama Budget Underestimates Future Deficits by $2 Trillion
CBO: Obama budget underestimates deficits by $2.3 trillion over upcoming decade
CBO: Obama understates deficits by $2.3 trillion
Obama Budget Underestimates Deficits by $2 Trillion
CBO: Obama FY12 Budget Would Result In $9.5T In Deficits Over Next Decade
CBO: Obama policies would require deficits of $9.5 trillion through 2021
CBO: Obama budget worse than projected on 10-year deficit
Congressional Budget Office projects higher Obama deficits
CBO Analysis: Obama’s 2012 Budget Increases Deficit
US budget to worsen deficits: CBO
UPDATE 2-Obama budget would worsen deficits – CBO report
Oooops! CBO says Obama’s budget understates deficits
To Bull[expletive deleted] . . . And Beyond!

Paul Ryan and the Republicans will soon unveil their 2012 budget which will address the looming entitlements disaster, make the hard choices, and put America back on the road to fiscal solvency. And, of course, Obama and the Democrats, in control of the Presidency and the Senate, will fight tooth and nail to sabotage and undermine any attempt to walk America back from the edge of the financial abyss which they seem hell bent on flinging us into.

/I can’t emphasize just how important the 2012 elections are, without a new President and Republican control of the Senate, the United States economy will continue to recklessly stagger towards economic collapse under Obama’s crushing, unsustainable debt load

,

The 2010 Aftermath

Not total victory, but all in all, it was a very good day for Republicans.

After GOP landslide of Election 2010, what next for Obama?

The Republican Party has swept the Democrats out of power in the House and gained seats in the Senate, sending a strong message of voter discontent to President Obama on the economy.

Republicans scored at least a 60-seat gain in the House, the biggest partisan shift since the Democrats lost 75 House seats in 1948. In the Senate, the Republicans fell short of the 10 they needed to take control, and failed to capture their most-hoped-for quarry: the seat of Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada, who defeated tea partyer Sharron Angle by five percentage points. It is the first time in 80 years that the House has changed hands without the Senate following.

The historic wave that makes Rep. John Boehner (R) of Ohio the expected next speaker of the House also hands Mr. Obama the biggest challenge of his political career. Suddenly, the president has no choice but to work toward his unfulfilled 2008 campaign promise of greater bipartisanship. The alternative is gridlock and the appearance of ineffectiveness. But if Obama concedes too much to the Republicans, he risks losing the support of his Democratic base when he runs for reelection in 2012, as expected.

Maybe even more impressive and certainly just as important was the Republican near sweep at the state level. Republicans will now be in charge of redistricting in the majority of states, which will set legislative boundaries for the next ten years.

Forget D.C., look what Republicans won in state legislatures

This is especially important in years ending in ’00 because these newly elected governors and state legislators will (with the exception of California) be the ones redrawing legislative and congressional district lines that will stand for the next decade until the 2020 census. And occupying the governor’s mansion puts that party in control of an immense statewide political apparatus to help its presidential ticket two years hence.

Come January, Republicans will now run crucial governors’ offices in….

…major presidential battleground states like Florida (Rick Scott), Ohio (John Kasich), Pennsylvania (Tom Corbett) and Iowa, where former Gov. Terry Branstad returns. New Mexico voters elected their first female governor, Republican Susana Martinez, a Latino. Sometimes-maligned South Carolina voters chose Nikki Haley, who is not only the state’s first female governor but only the nation’s second of Indian American descent (Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal being the other.) Oklahoma also picked its first female governor, Republican Mary Fallin.

According to the authoritative Stateline.org, the country’s contests for governor and lieutenant governor cost $850 million. Heading into 2012, the GOP will control at least 29 of the 50 governor’s suites.
Perhaps more importantly, the Republican wave at the national level was also felt at the grass-roots level, where Republicans gained control of at least 19 more state legislative chambers, possibly two dozen as vote-counting continues.

The GOP will have a majority in at least 54 of the 99 state legislative chambers, including a minimum of 53% of state legislature seats (about 3,900). That’s the most the party has controlled in 82 years — and up about 700 seats from Monday.

Of course, we didn’t win them all and this one personally sticks in my craw. If it wasn’t for third party spoiler candidate Tom Horner (former Republican), Republican Tom Emmer would already easily be the next Governor of Minnesota. Mark Dayton should send Horner some flowers or candy or a tip or something.

Guv’s race: Long ride, no end in sight

A seismic shift in Minnesota’s political landscape unfolded Wednesday as the most game-changing election in a generation sent Republicans and the DFL scrambling for the last undecided prize — the governor’s office.

DFLer Mark Dayton unofficially leads Republican Tom Emmer by 8,856 votes — a margin so slight that it could trigger a hand-ballot recount for the second election cycle in a row.

Officials began the tedious, nerve-wracking task of locking up ballots, which both parties may guard around the clock.

The day’s events placed the state, yet again, in political suspended animation, awaiting the prospect of another recount brawl that could take months to resolve and get tangled in the courts.

See also:
2010 Elections Exit Poll Analysis: The Political Price of Economic Pain
Election Day 2010 and its aftermath
Exit polls Election 2010
Karl Rove, U.S. Chamber Amass Winning Record in 2010 Elections
Tea Party Top 10 biggest winners and losers
Statehouse wins put GOP in redistricting driver’s seat
Vote 2010 Elections: What’s Your Reaction to Republicans’ Big Win?
With 2010 Behind Us, A Look Ahead To 2012
Republicans celebrate, outline legislative goals
In Social Media Election, The GOP Capitalizes
How will Obama react to GOP gains?

Tuesday’s vote was an absolute thumping repudiation of Obama and the Democrats and their big government, far left agenda. Now that the Republicans have a tight leash on the Democrats, will the Democrats learn to play ball in the poetical center? Will the Democrats learn to at least read the destructive legislation they vote to cram down the throats of the American taxpayers, over the vociferous objections and protestations of the electorate.

/because, if the Democrats don’t learn their lesson this time, they’re going to get thumped even harder in 2012, the American people have spoken and they’ve had enough of Obama and the Democrats’ progressive socialism

Vote, Damn It!

You’ve waited two years for this, NOW GET OFF YOUR ASS AND VOTE!

/Michael Ramirez

Take America back from the hateful morons that are destroying this country.

Stick a fork in their ass, straight up!

/vote Republican!

I Can See November From My House

It’s 27 days away and counting down.

/Michael Ramirez

See also:
GOP Widens Lead in Generic House Ballot, CBS Poll Finds
Democrats’ Troubles: The Bigger Picture
Democrats’ struggles with working class whites (and why it matters)
Political Wisdom: Measuring the GOP Wave
Republicans have mid-term muscle: Worthington
Obama’s Approval Plummeting and GOP Surges in Generic Ballot, So CBS Sets Out to Discredit Tea Party
Poll: Republicans remain revved up about Nov. 2 elections
The Enthusiasm Gap Is Killing Democrats in the 2010 Election
Gallup Likely Voters Looks Like Waterloo for Dems
Election Forecasts Favor Republican Gains in Midterm
Gallup: Poll of ‘likely voters’ portends big House gains for Republicans
Poll: ‘Likely voters’ favor GOP

Over the last two years, Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the Democrats have brought America to her knees with their progressive/socialist agenda. Well, it’s time to take our country back. Pummel the Democrats with your votes on November 2nd, even if you have to crawl over broken glass to do it. Only YOU can save the United States.

/and give no quarter, remember, if it isn’t close, they can’t cheat

Enemy Of The Economy

Elizabeth Warren has never held a private sector job, never worked in the financial industry, and she hates banks, with a passion. So, what’s Obama’s brilliant idea? Let’s put her in charge of the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection bureaucracy! There’s only one problem, that position requires Senate confirmation and Warren is so toxic that even top Democrats know that there’s no way she would ever be confirmed. So, does that stop Obama, have Constitutional requirements ever stopped Obama? Hell no! Obama just ignored the Senate confirmation requirement and appointed her as his newest “czarina”.

Obama names Warren to new post

President Obama on Friday formally tapped Harvard Law Prof. Elizabeth Warren as a “special adviser” tasked with setting up a new consumer watchdog agency, sidestepping a thorny Senate confirmation battle and drawing the ire of Republicans.

Ms. Warren, who had been serving as head of the investigative board that oversees the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, is a hero to many progressives but is viewed coolly by financial firms turned off by her harsh rhetoric surrounding their role in the recession.

That’s likely one of the reasons Mr. Obama opted not to name Ms. Warren director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as that position would require Senate confirmation — something that even Democrats, including Sen. Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, have said may not be possible. Instead, she will take the lead in establishing the new regulator, serving as a special adviser to Treasury Sec. Timothy Geithner and a special assistant to Mr. Obama.

See also:
Warren takes post; liberals cheer
Hurdles for Warren in Agency Launch
Warren is named bureau adviser
Obama taps Elizabeth Warren to launch Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Barack Obama taps Elizabeth Warren for consumer watchdog job
What has Wall Street got against Elizabeth Warren?
Obama names consumer advocate Warren to new post
Obama makes it offical: taps Elizabeth Warren as financial consumer czar
Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren

Oh boy, just what this economy needs, a brand new gigantic government bureaucracy, created by someone with zero private sector experience, that will generate reams of onerous new government regulations. Is it any wonder why the United States has such an unfriendly business climate?

/somewhere in Germany, the Board of Deutsche Bank is smiling

Suck On It Benedict Arlen, And Take Your Scottish Law With You!

The Democrats raped him for his vote and then shunned him like the turncoat whore he is. Hey Arlen, get your [expletive deleted] nasty old wrinkly weasel ass out of my government! Karma’s a real bitch, eh mister shameless political mercenary?

Arlen Specter Loses Pennsylvania Democratic Senate Primary to Joe Sestak

Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania’s longest-serving senator, lost his bid to run for re-election as a Democrat to Rep. Joe Sestak, the Associated Press reports.

With 65 percent of precincts reporting, Sestak received nearly 53 percent of votes, the AP reports, to Specter’s 47 percent.

Sestak’s victory marks a striking triumph over the establishment candidate, who just last month had a more than 20-point lead in polls.

After serving in the Senate for nearly 30 years as a Republican, Specter switched to the Democratic party in order to salvage his career. He won the support of the Democratic establishment — including Gov. Ed Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who worked on his behalf to mobilize voters in Philadelphia, a critical part of the state for Specter.

President Obama also supported Specter, but he never joined him on the campaign trail.

While the Democratic establishment worked to elect Specter, Sestak seized on the 80-year-old senator’s party switch to portray Specter as self-interested. He ran a bruising political ad that showed Specter with then-President George W. Bush.

See also:
Arlen Specter loses Senate race in Pennsylvania
Specter Loses Pennsylvania Senate Fight
Arlen Specter’s party switch and subsequent fall
Specter loses as the “Tea Party”‘ wins in U.S. voting
Sen. Arlen Specter loses Pennsylvania primary
PA Gov Not Surprised by Specter Loss
Sen. Arlen Specter Concedes After Losing Democratic Primary
Buh Bye Benedict Arlen
Arlen Specter, Poster Boy For Term Limits

/quick, someone drive the wooden stake home before Specter, fresh out of any major party support, declares a Senate run as an Independent

Open Wide

Apparently, the Democrats are somehow under the mistaken impression that American citizens are still hungry for even more economy killing bull[expletive deleted] to be crammed down their taxpayer throats.

/Michael Ramirez

Kerry’s Powerless America Act

Regulations: Call it cap-and-trade or bait-and-switch, but John Kerry and Joe Lieberman continue to tilt at windmills with a bill to restrain energy growth in the name of saving the planet.

The bill introduced Wednesday and sponsored by the two senators is called the American Power Act, an Orwellian phrase if ever there was one. Like President Obama’s offshore drilling program, for every “incentive” there is a restriction. It’s as if Hamlet were to be appointed Secretary of Energy.

The legislation has little to do with developing America’s vast domestic energy supply. It’s cap-and-trade meets pork-barrel spending. It’s about regulations, restrictions and research. It does not deal with exploiting America’s vast energy reserves but with finding ways to mitigate their alleged harmful effect.

To that end, the bill creates some 60 new agencies and projects to eat up our tax dollars and buy support (see list alongside).

See also:
Cap And Tax Bureaucracy
Senators Propose Emissions Reductions Bill
Boondoggle giveaway: A glimpse at the new Senate cap-and-trade bill
Senate Climate Bill: Last Chance for Cap and Trade
Climate change bill in a tough spot
Now Launched, the Climate Bill Faces Period of Hard Work
Kerry-Lieberman Bill Bad for Consumers
Joe Lieberman’s sad, doomed American Power Act
Cap and Scam
How To Strangle the Economy

Needless to say, not a single Republican is on board with this job destroying garbage dump. In fact, it’s really hard to find much Democrat support for the bloated, bureaucratic eco-scam either.

/so, Kerry’s Folly is probably dead on arrival for now, however, it’s still best to vote these Democrat nimrods out of majority control of Congress so they can’t resurrect it from the grave