Tea Party Slams Boehner and Ryan on Debt Ceiling

Raising the debt ceiling with no policy to work towards avoiding raising it in the future is a bad idea. The Tea Party has a right to be pissed. The Tea Party backed these people with certain expectations, if Boehner and Ryan don't plan to follow through with those expectations they need to be replaced.

Going along with the washington business as usual is how we got in this horrible financial shape to begin with. The culture needs to change, even it means changing the culture through legislation. No one in washington is going to change on their own. Feeling some pain is the only way to break the old spending habits. But it won't just be the politicians feeling the pain, millions of Americans need to come to the realization that we are broke, and that no one is entitled to anything...

by Wes Barrett - FoxNews

Tea Party leaders ripped into House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, as well as other House Republicans, saying any vote to raise the debt limit without major fiscal policy changes will amount to selling out the Tea Party, adding the group will work to unseat those who vote for an increase in the next election.

"We're telling Boehner and all of the House Republicans, they came into office with Tea Party help. We now expect them to keep their promises and hold the ceiling on the national debt," said William Temple, head of this fall's Tea Party National Convention. "The Tea Party will not be in a very forgiving mood this fall, nor as the GOP primary season opens, if House freshmen and others elected by the Tea Party cave to Obama. We will find replacements for them this fall."

He added the group could go along with a small increase in the debt ceiling, but only if Republicans were able to win a major policy battle such as a repeal of health care or the passage of a balanced budget amendment.

Temple appeared at a Washington press conference dressed in colonial garb and was especially critical of the 2011 budget compromise Boehner worked out with Republicans last month. The deal cut $37.8 billion in spending and narrowly avoided a government shutdown, but was short of the $100 billion in cuts Republicans originally sought.

Temple noted the emotion the house speaker famously wears on his sleeve and suggested Boehner and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., caved during the 11th hour negotiation.

"I wish our tearful House Speaker would just show some compassion for American taxpayers and our children, but he and Mr. Ryan have already surrendered to President Obama," Temple said. "It's a cowardly act of treason against coming generations, and we may be able to give Boehner something to really cry about in 2012."

Chair of the Congressional Tea Party caucus Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., echoed the idea that the 2011 vote was a missed opportunity, saying the debt ceiling vote offers a chance for a do-over.

"The debt ceiling vote will offer an opportunity that was squandered during the vote for the 2011 Continuing Resolution," she said in a statement.

In a Monday night speech to the Economic Club of New York, Boehner is expected to challenge Obama on the debt limit, warning that a hike in the ceiling without major spending cuts and reforms will actually hurt the economy and destroy more American jobs.

"To increase the debt limit without simultaneously addressing the drivers of our debt -- in defiance of the will of our people -- would be monumentally arrogant and massively irresponsible," Boehner says in prepared remarks released to Fox News. "It would send a signal to investors and entrepreneurs everywhere that America still is not serious about dealing with our spending addiction."

Economists who side with the Tea Party point to the idea that a no-vote on a debt increase should be easy for conservative Republicans, dismissing downsides of allowing the U.S. to hit the ceiling. CATO Institute Senior Fellow Dan Mitchell says the government will still be able to pay interest on the current federal debt even if there is no increase in the ceiling.

"The Treasury Secretary is being deceitful, the Fed chairman is being very misleading on the issue as well," he said. "Default is not the issue, the issue is whether we get government spending under control. The debt and deficit are the symptoms. The underlying problem of a government that is too big."

Read the rest at the link above...

Federal Borrowing on Pace to Hit Debt Limit in Less Than Week

Where does it end? Since obama has been president, debt has been accumulating at $4.5 BILLION a DAY!

Can you believe that number? Every single day our government spends $4.5 BILLION dollars that we don't have. How long can we keep that up? I guess as long as China keeps loaning us money. But then what? Do we find another lender? Who would that be? This is complete madness. There is no way that we can sustain this.

Write your congress critters people, let them know that you want the spending to STOP. Let them know that their jobs depend on it...

By Terence P. Jeffrey- CNSNews

Federal borrowing is on pace to hit the legal limit on the national debt in less than a week.

As set in a law passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama on Feb. 12, 2010, the legal limit on the national debt is $14.2940 trillion. As of the close of business Tuesday, according to the Daily Treasury Statement released at 4:00 pm today, the portion of the national debt subject to this legal limit was $ 14.268365 trillion. (The total national debt, including the portion exempted from the legal limit, was $14.3205 trillion.)

This left the U.S. Treasury with the authority to borrow only an additional $25.635 billion before it hits the statutory debt limit.

On April 4, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) in order to warn Congress that the Treasury was approaching the legal debt limit. In an appendix to this letter, Geithner pointed to the rapid pace at which new debt was accumulating.

“On average,” Geithner wrote, “the public debt of the United States increases by approximately $125 billion per month (although there are significant variations from month to month).”

In a 31-day month, $125 billion in new debt works out to an average of $4.03 billion in new debt per day. At that pace, the $25.635 billion in legal borrowing authority the Treasury had left at the close of business on Tuesday would be exhausted in less than seven days.

Geithner’s letter did not spell out the time period he used to determine that the debt increases at approximately $125 billion per month. In fact, according to the official debt figures published by the Treasury itself, the debt has been increasing at a somewhat faster pace than $125 billion per month during the Obama presidency.

On Jan. 20, 2009, the day Obama was inaugurated, the portion of the nation debt subject to the legal limit (a small portion of the debt is exempted from the limit) was $10.568142 trillion. By April 19, 2011, the portion of the national debt subject to the limit had increased to 14.268365 trillion. That means that during the first 821 days of Obama’s presidency the debt increased by $3.700223 trillion—or $4.5 billion per day.

1 TRILLION DOLLARS - A tutorial...

I've posted this before, but following the post below, I thought I would refresh your memory.

This is One Hundred Dollars

This is Ten Thousand Dollars

 

This is One Million Dollars

This is One Hundred Million Dollars

This is One Billion Dollars

This is ONE TRILLION DOLLARS. Do you see our little, tiny guy at the lower left corner? Do you notice that the pallets are double stacked? Think about it for a minute.

Now imagine that our current debt is 14 TRILLION DOLLARS.

Obama Challenges GOP on Immigration

I may be wrong, but it seems like there are lots of things wrong right now that are far more important than immigration reform. I'm sure that some of the millions of unemployed folks would agree with that. And the people who are facing foreclosure or are upside down in their mortgage may agree. I'm willing to bet that the countries that hold TRILLIONS of dollars worth of our debt might even agree.

obama plans to push for immigration reform... again. How about this, how about we seal our borders, make them secure, and then round up all the criminals in our Country and send them back where they came from. Any politician that is willing to talk about immigration reform before we accomplish those tasks should be fired immediately. Illegal aliens cost us (taxpayers) BILLIONS of dollars a year. Not hundreds, or thousands or even millions, BILLIONS, every year.

obama has one goal in mind, voters, that's it. He doesn't care that we can't afford millions of new leaches on our entitlement programs. He doesn't care that our healthcare system is already overburdened with illegal aliens using emergency rooms as primary care providers. He doesn't care that our school systems spend millions of dollars a year to hire spanish speaking teachers to instruct the non-English speaking children of illegal aliens.

These people should not be rewarded for breaking our laws. What kind of message does this send to the world. Our laws our all equal. It's not as if some laws are more important than others. Illegal aliens are called that because by entering our Country in a manner other than that prescribed by the law, it is ILLEGAL...

by Kelly Chernenkoff - FoxNews

President Obama has revealed fresh resolve in pressing for immigration legislation Tuesday; challenging Republicans to join his path for reform or face the electoral consequences.

"[P]erhaps some of my Republican friends are gonna start recognizing, if they looked at the last census, that they are gonna have a very hard time winning any elections if they continue to deliberately target anti-immigration sentiment," the president told Spanish-language CNN en Espanol Tuesday in El Salvador.

"I find it ironic that a president who promised immigration reform and failed to deliver, like he has on so many other issues, is now criticizing the other party for issues he has done absolutely nothing on," Republican National Committee Spokesman Sean Spicer tells Fox News.

Mr. Obama has been down this road before. He pushed for passage of immigration legislation in both 2009 and 2010. Those efforts failed.

Now the president wants to tackle the issue anew.

"The president will be making the case to the American people soon about why we need to fix the broken immigration system, as he has done before," a senior administration official tells Fox. "But as he has repeatedly said, it will require Democrats and Republicans working together to get it through Congress."

The president himself reiterated that need for Republican support on the issue Tuesday, then went on to critique the failings of GOP-backed ventures, like the Arizona immigration law. He cited the down-sizing of Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's controversial immigration law because, Mr. Obama said, businesses recognize it's not good for them.

The president appears to think momentum is on his side, saying the American people can rally behind a strong immigration reform effort. He will be testing that theory again when he speaks out on the issue and notes one of the things people always underestimate him on is "how persistent I am."

Geithner says Congress must raise debt limit

This is the kind of thinking that obama relies on to make his stupid decisions. No choice but to borrow more money. It's the easy way out, that's for sure. I know that there are millions of people in this Country who have no clue what kind of financial trouble we are in, and it seems like most of them are in the obama administration...

From Reuters

Treasury Secretary timothy geithner said on Wednesday that there was no alternative except for Congress to raise the debt ceiling so that the government can keep borrowing.

"Congress has to do it. There's no alternative," he said in response to questions at a House of Representatives appropriations subcommittee.

He repeated a warning that it would be have "catastrophic" consequences for the economy if the debt ceiling was not raised and the country defaulted on its debt obligations.

Marco Rubio is a badass...

I was listening to Sean Hannity on the way home today. He was interviewing Marco Rubio. I have to tell you, I am jealous of Florida. They have Rubio and I am stuck with claire mccaskill.

He talked a lot about the continuing resolutions congress keeps passing. He has very strong opinions on how we got to the financial situation we are in. The inability of congress to pass a budget for the last couple of years has left us looking rather stupid in the eyes of the world. We borrow about 4 BILLION dollars every 30 HOURS. Can you even imagine that? Most of that money we borrow from China.

What is going to happen to us when our creditors refuse to loan us more money? At some point that has to happen. We will get to a level of debt that we just won't have the ability to pay back.

Hannity also asked him about running for president in 2012. He completely ruled that out. He says he is far more interested in doing the job the people of Florida hired him to do. He also ruled out a run as vice president.

For as bad as our Country needs a president with the views Marco Rubio has, you have to commend the guy for wanting to stand by the commitments he made to his State.

I agree with Hannity that Rubio will be president one day...

$223 BILLION dollar deficit in February...

The federal government posted the largest single month deficit in history in February. $223 BILLION dollars, did you get that number? I said $223 B I L L I O N dollars, in ONE month.

The old record was last February, and that was a mere $220.9 BILLION dollars.

Last month was the 29th straight month that our government ran a deficit. Another record!

obama should be so proud, two records in one month!

Do you have any idea how many generations of our children, grand children, etc. it is going to take to pay back all of the debt obama and the democrats have racked up in the last two years? Me neither, but you can bet your ass it will be several.

Go visit this debt clock site. It will scare the hell out of you. It has a lot of other information on it too, like bankruptcies and forclosures, interest on the national debt, etc. We are in some very bad trouble people...

Taxes and Debt

Millions of honest hard working Americans are preparing their 2010 taxes. I started my taxes last weekend. I have always prepared my own taxes. I have this crazy notion that the average person should be able to prepare their own taxes. Crazy.

Anyway, I don't mind paying federal income taxes. We need good government services, mail, protection, strong defense, schools, etc. I do, however, hate paying taxes on my savings account. If you're lucky you might get 2 - 2.5% interest? I don't have a lot of money. I try to have no debt and believe planning for the future financially is important. Even the government wants us to have less debt and save more. It seems to me there is a disincentive to save. We get pitifully low interest rates and then they take 20 to 25% of the earnings. Why save?

Change gears: the federal debt on February 25, 2011 was $14,133,170,464,255.33. If you divide approximately 310,000,000 citizen's into this number it's about $45,576 for every man, women and child. I'm guessing illegal aliens aren't part of this number. The government adds about $4.11 billion per day in debt.

Since I can't wrap my mind around at number like $14 trillion, another way to look at it is the government borrows 40 cents on every dollar it spends. When you mail your taxes, 40% of the postal workers salary is borrowed, 40% of the clerk who processes passport applications is borrowed, 40% of your congressman and senator salaries is borrowed, 40% of the money to fund the war in Afghanistan is borrowed. Hey, I'm not picking on postal workers or clerks. That's not my point.

In my opinion this is not just obscene it is immoral. Where is the accountability? I freaking don't get it! What does the government do when it goes bankrupt? China? I'm curious of the 40% we borrow on every dollar spent, how much of that is loaned by China? I think Mandarin is the most spoken dialect. Maybe I will take a class or two. Just in case.

Enough of the whining. Next week I will have a profile on the firearm of the week. It will be cool.

Blessings yall, Big Mullet

White House Ignores Interest Payments in Claiming to Control Debt

This is classic of the obama administration. Deceit. They figure if they say often and loud that they are working to reduce the national debt we won't worry about the details. Too bad for him that they Republicans got the message we sent last November.

We are not being misled about the budget and the debt. We are being lied to. Just like we were lied to about the actual cost of obamacare. They tell us what they think we want to hear and hide the downside.

Not taking the interest payments into consideration is downright stupid, and expecting us to believe their story should be criminal. These thugs think we are too stupid to see through thier bullshit. Some may be, but not all of us. One of these days, even the hardcore obama supporters will have to admit the truth, the guy is a liar and a thug...

By Judson Berger - FoxNews

The Obama administration's statement that the government will not be adding to the debt by the middle of the decade clashes hard against the facts, Republicans say, leaving officials straining to justify the budget claim they've pushed repeatedly over the past few days.

As it turns out, the administration is not counting interest payments. That means the budget team plans to have enough money to pay for ordinary spending programs by the middle of the decade. But it won't have the money to pay off those pesky -- rather, gargantuan -- interest payments. So it will have to borrow some more, in turn increasing the debt and increasing the size of future interest payments year after year.

So how then, visibly agitated Republicans asked, can the administration claim that its 2012 spending plan sets the country on a course to "pay for what we spend" in just a few years?

"We're still going further into debt, massively," Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., told White House Budget Director Jack Lew at a budget hearing Tuesday, accusing the administration of "double-talk."

Anyone who gives the budget chart a cursory glance can see the debt will continue to skyrocket under the White House proposal. In fact, the long-term outlook shows the public debt -- which isn't even the entire debt -- soaring from about $11 trillion this year to nearly $19 trillion in 2021. Driving that increase is the fact that annual deficits will never fall below $600 billion.

To justify the administration claim, Lew said the administration was merely referring to "primary balance" -- or federal spending minus interest payments. Lew sought to forgive the public for their confusion.

"The terminology that we use in Washington of primary balance is a little confusing," Lew said.

"It's because I believe it's dishonest," Ensign shot back.

Republicans were understandably befuddled. To put the scenario in everyday terms, it's like a family claiming that they've balanced the family finances, but neglecting to mention that they're taking out a new loan every month to pay off credit-card interest. As a result, the family keeps going deeper into debt.

For an $80 interest payment, that might be manageable. But this is the United States budget. If the government does what the Obama administration is recommending, net interest payments will go from about $200 billion this year to $844 billion in a decade. That's more than the country spends now on Social Security.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, at his first official press briefing on the job, used the credit card analogy Wednesday and acknowledged interest rates "have to be contended with."

"But the first important step in dealing with this issue is getting your regular spending and income in balance so that you're no longer adding to the problem," he said. "And interest payments are a major portion of our long term debt problem that we need to address. But it is not an inconsequential deal."

Yet President Obama and Lew neglected to explain this point in their initial statements. Lew, in an interview Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," said: "Our budget will get us, over the next several years, to the point where we can look the American people in the eye and say we're not adding to the debt anymore. We're spending money that we have each year, and then we can work on bringing down our national debt."

Obama, discussing his budget in Baltimore Monday, said the proposal "puts us on a path to pay for what we spend by the middle of the decade."

In his press conference the next day, Obama went further.

"What my budget does is to put forward some tough choices, some significant spending cuts, so that by the middle of this decade our annual spending will match our annual revenues. We will not be adding more to the national debt," he said.

Pressed to explain this claim, the president hinted at the rationale.

"We've racked up a whole bunch of debt. And there's a lot of interest on that debt," he said. "So in the same way that if you've got a credit card and you've got a big balance, you may not be adding to principal. You've still got all that interest that you've got to pay. Well, we've got a big problem in terms of accumulated interest that we're paying and that's why we're going to have to whittle down further the debt that's already been accumulated."

Under questioning from Senate Republicans Tuesday, Lew acknowledged the government would be adding to the debt by borrowing to pay interest, but still stood by his statements.

"We're getting further in debt ... because of our interest rate," Ensign said.

"Yeah," Lew responded.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, grilled Lew over this disconnect.

"We are adding to the balance, and we're not cutting up the credit card. That's just the fact," Sessions said, calling the administration's claims "misleading."

Lew stood by his claim. "What I said was we're going to stop adding to the debt. Our spending will not add to the debt," he said. "It's an accurate statement."

Sessions disagreed, calling the assessment "not a legitimate way to analyze it."

The website PolitiFact, which tries to sort out politicians' policy claims, analyzed the administration's argument in an article Tuesday and gave it a rating of "false."

The White House later claimed that the debt would not increase as a share of the economy -- that's technically true, given that the public debt would level out at about 76 percent of GDP by mid-decade. But that assumes a certain level of growth in the economy and also assumes the debt, as a figure, will continue to rise year after year. PolitiFact ruled that its "false" rating would remain unchanged, given that Obama did not make that distinction in his press conference.