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Showing posts with label BankruptingAmerica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BankruptingAmerica. Show all posts

Sunday, September 18, 2016

FREE BEACON: Roberts: Democrats Whispering Clinton Might Step Aside From Race

 

Hillary Clinton / AP
BY:

Cokie Roberts said Monday on NPR that there were whispers by Democratic Party establishment members that Hillary Clinton may have to step aside from the race because of her health, Mediaite reports.
Clinton’s health has become the central focus of the campaign after she was forced to leave Sunday’s Sept. 11 memorial in New York and was taped almost collapsing and getting helped into a van. Her campaign later revealed she was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday, leading to criticism for keeping the illness secret for two days.

TO READ MORE: http://freebeacon.com/politics/roberts-democrats-whispering-clinton-step-aside-race/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&utm_campaign=d190db3315-Best_of_the_Beacon_9_18_169_17_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-d190db3315-45610861

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

GOPDD: Hillary’s Motorcade Now Includes an AMBULANCE! (VIDEO)

by

hillary-coughing-fit-575x359
Hillary nearly collapsed on stage during her Labor Day speech in Cleveland on Monday.
She coughed on stage for over FOUR MINUTES…
Now this…
Via Prison Planet– Hillary’s motorcade now includes an AMBULANCE!

TO READ MORE AND WATCH VIDEO: http://gopthedailydose.com/2016/09/06/hillarys-motorcade-now-includes-ambulance-video/

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Weekly Recap: Tantrum‏


Hi there,
Before you head out to enjoy your Sunday morning, here's our recap of last week's events.

1) Flying the furloughed skies. In response to sequester cutbacks, the FAA furloughed 47,000 employees causing massive delays in air travel. But by Friday, Republicans and Democrats in Congress had passed legislation giving the FAA the flexibility to stop the furloughs.

2) Washington's tantrum. The White House has thrown its sequester fit trying to make sequester cuts hurt - and it failed. See why the predictable antics of big-spending politicians are just more of the same.

3) Voters agree: Cut spending, lower taxes, balanced the budget. According to poll results released by Public Notice, “two-thirds of Americans (66 percent) believe the federal government should cut spending and 62 percent believe taxes should also be lowered to create jobs and grow the economy. A significant majority (70 percent) also believes that a balanced budget would help the nation’s economy."

4) Three big examples of big, dumb spending. Electric car manufacturer Fisker Automotive sacks most of its workforce after selling cars for one-sixth their production cost. The kicker? Washington gambled your tax dollars on Fisker being a big "winner."

The feds spent $890,000 on... nothing - all while furloughing essential employees like FAA air traffic controllers and complaining about budget cuts.

The Army burned through $5 million by not burning anything. A military base in Afghanistan continues burning garbage in a crater after spending a cool five million dollars on incinerators that were never put to use.

5) No one likes a crying baby while stuck at the airport. Check out our sister organization's latest cartoon showing a very accurate depiction of the FAA's attitude over the past few days
.



Saturday, April 20, 2013

Bankrupting America: Weekly Recap: A Difficult Week‏





 
Hi there,
It's been a difficult week, one that has us all wishing paying taxes was the most pressing concern on our minds. That said, here's our recap of the fiscal news that took a back seat this week:

1) How is Washington handling your tax dollars? In our latest video, we ask working Americans what they think about Washington's tax day track record, and about some of our government's most questionable expenses.

2) Americans turning (more) sour on the tax code. Gallup reports that fewer Americans now see their income taxes as fair. See what the average taxpayer's federal tax bill could have bought.

3) The Postal Service cuts deliveries, but not losses. According to The Washington Post, the USPS is losing a cool $25 million every day, a situation the Postmaster General calls a "broken business model."

4) Running up our tab overseas. Foreign holdings of America's national debt hit an all-time high of $5.66 trillion, the 14th consecutive monthly increase.

5) Stand strong, America. Americans were reminded this week that life is precious - and that it is the worst of times that brings out the best in all of us.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Bankrupting America Weekly Update:






Hi there,
Happy Saturday! We hope you're enjoying your weekend and the improving weather as we bring you our recap of last week's events:

1) What is bankrupting America? Our new animated short video follows the clues to find the cuprit behind America's fiscal woes: government overspending.

2) Breaking down the president's budget. With the long-awaited release of the White House budget plan, buzz now revolves around how it compares with the House and Senate proposals already on the table. Our new Budget Briefing Book for FY2014 has the breakdown. Also, check out some of the less-known spending items hiding inside the president's budget.

3) The March budget deficit. The federal government overspent by some $106.5 billion last month - an amount that could've bought 234,065,934 tickets to the NCAA men’s basketball final four.

4) A Hall-of-Fame for Washington's worst spending. We launched a new Questionable Spending Resource Center to help you keep tabs on some of Washington's biggest big-spending blunders in one convenient location.

5) You like cats, right? We were told you liked cats. Confused about the president's budget? Wondering what "Chained CPI" is? Why not have it explained to you by a bunch of cats?

Monday, April 1, 2013

Bankrupting America; Weekly Recap: Who's In Charge Around Here?‏


Hi there,

Somehow, we made it through another week. While you enjoy the improving weather and holiday festivities, here's our recap of the past week's events:
1) Congress on recess. Our legislators departed for their week-long Easter recess, heading for cover following the intense budget wars of the past few weeks. As they travel about the country, give a look and see just who pays for congressional travel.

2) Cashing out in Cyprus. Cyprus continued to struggle financially even after striking a bailout deal with the EU, with some of the nation’s biggest depositors taking a larger loss than previously anticipated as part of the bargain.

3) White House budget. The White House budget has been scheduled for release on April 10. The looming question over the presidential budget is entitlement reform, with The New York Times reporting that President Obama may be open to changes in Medicare.

4) A big week for waste. Even with Congress out of town, stories of Washington’s wasteful spending weren’t hard to find. The Department of Energy “mismanaged” some $1.5 billion in stimulus funding, the IRS spent $60,000 to shoot a Star Trek parody, and the National Science Foundation handed out a $880,000 grant to study the benefits of snail sex. You read that right.

5) A 24th century wake-up call for Washington. Following the IRS’ wasteful (and, let’s face it, woefully non-canon) Star Trek spinoff, we turned to the crew of the starship Enterprise for their reactions to Washington’s big-spending antics.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Gretchen Hamel, BankruptingAmerica.org‏


Hi there, 


Are you going to a town hall meeting?
Congress is on recess for the next two weeks, and they’ll be holding town hall events with voters to explain their recent budget votes. 
What’s included in our fact sheet?
Tough questions, like: Are you concerned with the Congressional Budget Office’s assessment that our national debt is and will remain “historically high relative to the economy for the next decade”? 
And fast facts on the consequences of our rising debt and dates for when Medicare and Social Security will become insolvent unless we alter course.
Members of Congress will come armed to events with talking points and fancy charts, so it’s only fair to be equipped with our Fiscal Facts sheet so you can ask your representatives about the consequences of our rising debt and out of control spending.

Sincerely,

Gretchen Hamel
Executive Director

Public Notice

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Bankrupting America: Weekly Recap: Keeping The Lights On‏


Hi there,
Finally, it's Saturday! We won't keep you long, but here's our recap of this week's events:
1) A victory for sensible spending. Both the House and Senate managed to pass continuing resolutions to fund the government through the remainder of fiscal year 2013. The CR doesn’t have wasteful big-spending amendments and keeps the 3 cents on the dollar in sequester cuts in place as we urged earlier this month with our “3 Pennies” ad campaign.
2) Vote-A-Rama! The Senate began the process of passing - for the first time in almost four years - a real, honest-to-goodness budget. The Senate Democrats’ budget calls for over $1 billion in tax hikes and reverses the sequester spending cuts.
3) What does “balanced” mean? The White House says a “balanced approach” must include entitlement reform. The Senate wants a “balanced approach” that leaves entitlements alone. Neither one actually balances the budget, but Republican and Democratic plans from the House promise just that. Just another example of confusing rhetoric intended to obscure business as usual.
4) No Budget, No Pay? While the Senate will do what we haven’t seen in the last four years and pass a budget -- that budget won’t pass in the House, and neither will the House budget pass in the Senate.  However, the threshold of the recently passed “No Budget, No Pay” Act will have been meet, as it required both the House and Senate to adopt a budget, but it didn’t require the President to actually sign it into law. So despite accomplishing the bare minimum to earn their paycheck – nothing really changes until Congress reaches a deal.
5) March Madness is here. Did you know there are 9,223,372,036,475,775,808 (that’s 9.2 quintillion) different ways you could fill out your bracket? A number that compares to our current national debt. Check out a post on sister site, Washington Could Learn A Lot, explaining what DC politicians can learn from college hoops.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Weekly Recap: Budget Crunch‏





Hi there,
Happy Saturday! Here's our quick recap of last week's events:
1) President Obama glossed over nearly $17 trillion in debt. In an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, the president claimed that "“We don’t have an immediate crisis in terms of debt. In fact, for the next ten years, it’s gonna be in a sustainable place;" his remarks put him firmly out of touch with both the facts as presented by the nonpartisan CBO and with the prevailing opinion of the American people.
2) The president's budget is now historically late. For the first time in 92 years, Congress lead the way on the budget process instead of the White House. The last time that happened, no American student had ever been subjected to reading The Great Gatsby - because it hadn't been written yet.
3) Begun, the budget wars have. The House and Senate both released their budget plans this week. Despite previous expressions of concern over entitlement reform, the White House backed the Senate plan, while the GOP touted their plan's promise to balance the budget in 10 years. All in all, the 10-year spending outlook for each was similar - the House plan would spend $41 trillion, while the Senate would spend $46 trillion.
4) Meanwhile, the Senate passes another continuing resolution. The Senate picked up the House's CR (H.R. 933), managing to keep the government running for another 6 months. The problem? In the process, it seems like they managed to pack in all kinds of wasteful spending.
5) A disenfranchised Leprechaun took over Washington Could Learn A Lot's social media outlets. It seems a particularly bad piece of legislation has the wee folk up in arms, with one Leprechaun going so far as to commandeer our sister organization's Facebook and Twitter feeds to express his outrage.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Saturday Recap‏


Happy Saturday, here’s the top economic news from the past week from your fiscally fit friends at Public Notice. 
1) This week we rolled out an advertising blitz urging Washington to offset sequestration with more responsible spending cuts, as The Hill reports. The Washington Post wrote on how our campaign focuses on what is really being asked of Washington – a cut of 3 cents from every dollar Washington spends, which is the type of sacrifice Americans make everyday.  
 
2) The U.S. economy added 236,000 jobs in February, bringing the unemployment rate down to a four year low of 7.7 percent. Meanwhile, the national debt surpassed the median household income for the first time ever.
 
3) The U.S. House passed a six-month continuing resolution that will keep the federal government funded after the current continuing resolution expires on March 27. The spending plan ensures that the government will not shut down, and now goes to the Senate where it is expected to expand with additional spending bills.
 
4) On Monday, the White House nominated Sylvia Mathews Burwell to become the new director of the Office of Management and Budget, which some consider the toughest job in government. Here are the top five things you need to know about Burwell, including her past work for Walmart, the Clinton Administration and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
 
5) Finally, enjoy this cartoon from our sister project, Washington Could Learn A Lot on why cutting wasteful spending should be as easy as pie.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Hardhat Time!; BankruptingAmerica: Weekly Recap: The Sky is Falling‏




Hi there,

Welcome to the weekend! Here's our Saturday morning recap of last week's events:
 
1) Washington's collective sequester freak out. With the sequester deadline approaching, Washington wasted no time with scare tactics. Calling the potential cuts "draconian" and warning of their impact on job creation and medical research, Congress and the White House were met with skepticism from both the public and major media outlets.  
 
2) The Last Ditch Effort. With just hours left before the deadline, Washington politicians decided it might be a good idea to finally meet and look for a solution. Hopes were not high. President Obama's midday address looked to shift blame for the "unnecessary" cuts and pushed for increased taxes - despite a lack of public support.
 
3) The End of the World. The sequester happened anyway; national collapse began immediately. No? Well, it turns out the 'disastrous' impact of sequester cuts may have been exaggerated.
 
4) After decades of decline, Detroit will get a state-appointed emergency manager.  With runaway deficits and no indication that elected city officials can solve their problem on their own, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder will ask the new manager to tackle a $327 million budget deficit and over $14 billion in long-term debt. Watching Detroit and other municipalities across the country falter under their crushing debt, one wonders if Detroit's present isn't America's future?

 
5) The NFL Scouting Combine. Here's the story we actually wanted to talk about last week. Latest buzz puts Geno Smith as the top QB pick, but the #2 spot is still up in the air for fans who are looking for a good debate.
 
 

Monday, February 25, 2013

Bankrupting America Weekly Recap



Hi there,

Happy Saturday! While you savor that don't-have-to-be-anywhere feeling, enjoy our recap of the past week's big events:

1) Congress skipped out. Congress decided doing their jobs was getting a little difficult and went on recess last week. President Obama headed to Palm Beach for a little R&R as well, leaving many Americans wondering if anyone in Washington had noticed that now might be a good time to fix the forthcoming budget sequester that has been causing such an uproar lately.

2) Simpson-Bowles 2.0. Early last week, Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson took a second shot at long term debt reduction and released a new spending plan. The merits of the plan are up for debate, but all can agree it represents a serious attempt to fix our fiscal problems.

3) The sequester looms. The automatic spending cuts scheduled to go into effect on March 1 have caused much uproar in Washington, but are still set to go ahead as planned.

4) The stimulus had a birthday party. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (more commonly called simply the 2009 "stimulus" bill) turned four years old, with its success or failure still a topic of dispute. The legislation represented one of the largest spending items on record. Was it worth the price tag? Check out our analysis.

5) Washington's penny-pinching problem. Despite protests that offsetting or preventing the sequester are "impossible," Washington would actually only need to cut about three cents from every dollar of spending to counteract the much-maligned automatic cuts. Many ask why Washington has such a problem with making such a small and prudent cutback if it would mean offsetting the damage the sequester is feared to cause
.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

The Maine WIRE: Heritage Foundation: Nation’s Debt Impedes Growth






Heritage Foundation: Nation’s Debt Impedes Growth

Posted: 16 Feb 2013 02:15 PM PST
By Amy Payne,

Heritage Foundation You’re busy. So busy you barely have time to read these words. So why should you care about the U.S. debt? Does it affect your life? Unfortunately, high government debt is having more of an impact on each of us than we realize. Heritage’s Romina Boccia explains that high levels [...]
Continue to Read Here:


Saturday, February 16, 2013

Weekly Recap: Broken Hearts, Broken Budgets‏



Hi there,

It's Saturday! We interrupt your weekend activities to bring you the highlights from the past week:
1) President Obama delivered his State of the Union address. The annual presidential speech laid out Obama's plans for numerous new spending programs, which he claimed would not add "a single dime" to the deficit.
2) Bankrupting America rolled out a campaign to demand the president “Show Us Your Cuts” during his State of the Union address, which happened to fall on Mardi Gras. The campaign grabbed headlines, including a front-page write-up in the Washington Post.

3) Valentine's Day. The holiday broke both hearts and budgets on Thursday. Like an over-anxious date, Washington continued its big-spending ways instead of taking the more sensible romantic-dinner-at-home route.
4) The Washington Post took a look at ineffectual spending cuts. Flying in the face of Washington's claims that "we don't have a spending problem" and "we've had plenty of spending cuts," the Post found that many of the cuts in spending over the past few years were marginal with no meaningful impact.

5) Congress prepared to go on vacation. With the looming sequester and continued gridlock, Congress decided now was a great time to get out of town and take some R&R.
Send us your questions! Unsure about the budget, the sequester, or anything else going on in Washington? Ask our policy team! Tweet us your questions or post them on Facebook; we'll respond via short video clips on Vine, a new social network, next week.
 

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Bankrupting America: Weekly Recap: No Mail?‏





Hi there,


Happy Saturday! Here’s your roundup of the top headlines from the past week:


1) USPS is cutting Saturday mail service. The Postal Service, in a move indicative of its financial woes, announced the upcoming end of normal service on Saturdays beginning in August. The additional scale-back in service from the government agency prompted many to ask whether a government that can’t figure out how to deliver mail will find a way to save entitlement programs like Medicaid and Social Security.


2) President Obama prepares to deliver his annual State of the Union address next Tuesday, with some saying the speech will be agenda-setting for his second term.


3) The Congressional Budget Office released its annual Budget Outlook report. The report showed a continued rise in both the deficit and the national debt over the long term, with continued slow economic growth.


4) On Sunday, President Obama called for closing tax loopholes in order to increase revenue. But just a month ago Washington passed a deal to avert the fiscal cliff that included a host of tax breaks for special interests like rum distillers in Puerto Rico. Will those sweetheart giveaways be on the chopping block too?


5) We broke down the projected 2013 deficit to see just how big it is. As it turns out, our projected deficit of $845 billion would pay for Indianapolis Colt linebacker Dwight Freeney’s salary for 44,392 years
.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Weekly Recap‏


Hi there,
 
Happy Saturday! Enjoying the weekend? Sorry to hear that, because here’s our weekly recap email just in time to drag you back over the highlights of the workweek that you’ve just escaped.

1) U.S. GDP had its worst quarterly performance since the financial crisis. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the American economy shrank by 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2012. The White House pointed to looming cuts in spending as the cause, but we’ve shown why Washington has no one to blame but themselves for the poor performance of the economy.

2) We released our latest Briefing Book taking a look at the debt ceiling debate. With such an intense focus on the formerly obscure congressional credit card, the upcoming second round of debt ceiling talks is as confusing as it is critical. Luckily, the briefing book is here to help. Grab your copy here.

3) “No Budget, No Pay” passed in the Senate. The bill’s passage marks a step forward for legislation aiming to give Washington politicians a personal financial stake in fulfilling their budgetary responsibilities in a timely manner. Will it work? We can’t say for sure, but the idea might have potential.

4) January’s jobs numbers leave little to cheer (or cry) about. With a slight increase in the unemployment rate to 7.9% but modest gains in total jobs, the latest employment numbers provided a blank slate for partisan spin while largely maintaining the status quo.

5) We’re all excited for the Super Bowl, but Washington’s been Super-Spending year round. It’s a well established fact (especially by those whose team is losing) that commercials are the best part of any Super Bowl. Washington seems to agree - at least about the price tag. It turns out that Washington spends the equivalent cost ($3.4 million) of a 30-second Super Bowl advertisement every 30 seconds of every day, all year round. Pass the doritos?

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Weekly Recap‏






Hi there,
 
Happy Saturday morning! The day you’ve been holding out for all week long has finally arrived. And to celebrate, here’s a recap of the top fiscal and spending news, just for you. No need to thank us. It’s what we do.  
1) This week, President Barack Obama nominated Jack Lew, his current Chief of Staff and close advisor to become the next Treasury secretary. Lew’s main tasks will be working on a deficit reduction plan with Congress and then tax-reform later this year, the Wall Street Journal reports.  
Lew’s loopy signature is coming in for criticism as it would grace all of America’s dollar bills. Even the president quipped that he considered nixing Lew’s nomination when he found out how bad the man’s penmanship was. For more facts on Lew, check out our blog post here.  
2) We launched a new video as part of our “Talk is Cheap, Overspending is Not” campaign that features speeches from former President Ronald Reagan, former Vice President Al Gore and President Obama each promising to address the government’s overspending. Watch and share the video here.  
3) Can minting a trillion dollar coin solve our debt limit woes? The Washington Post explains:
Thanks to an odd loophole in current law, the U.S. Treasury is technically allowed to mint as many coins made of platinum as it wants and can assign them whatever value it pleases.  
Under this scenario, the U.S. Mint would produce (say) a pair of trillion-dollar platinum coins. The president orders the coins to be deposited at the Federal Reserve. The Fed then moves this money into Treasury’s accounts. And just like that, Treasury suddenly has an extra $2 trillion to pay off its obligations for the next two years — without needing to issue new debt. The ceiling is no longer an issue.
In a press conference this week, Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, did not explicitly rule out the idea, and while most experts don’t think a trillion dollar coin will actually be minted, businesses like CoinStar are freaking out.
 
4) The president’s budget proposal is likely to be late for the third year running -- this time because of the lengthy fiscal cliff negotiations at the end of 2012. The budget for fiscal year 2014 is expected to arrive on Capitol Hill sometime in March, at least a month after the legal deadline.
 
5) We are still on track for an annual budget deficit of $1 trillion, with the Treasury Department reporting on Friday that our federal deficit grew by $260 million in December. This will be the fifth straight year of trillion dollar deficits.
 
6) A new Gallup Poll shows 77 percent of Americans think politics in Washington, D.C. is hurting the nation. 87 percent of Republicans think this, along with 79 percent of independents and 68 percent of Democrats, reports POLITICO.
 
7) Meanwhile, the Pentagon is spending $247,000 to sponsor its first-ever float in the Rose Bowl while facing deep budget cuts due to sequestration. As the Washington Guardian dryly notes, “The festive spending sat in uncomfortable contrast with the Pentagon's sober assessment that planned budget cuts in 2013 -- part of the so-called fiscal cliff debt deal -- were so severe that they would require it to crimp its mission and jeopardize national security.”
 
8) Finally, for dessert enjoy an unfortunate video of a poor man getting knocked out by a rogue soccer ball. The video is a profound metaphor for our current fiscal situation. Watch and you’ll understand.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

RECAP; BankruptingAmerica


Hi there,

Starting today, we’re rolling out a fresh newsletter to recap the week’s top spending and fiscal news. Our email drops every Saturday, so you can wake-up to a cup of coffee and the important stories you missed during the week.
 But enough small talk, here’s the weekly recap you’ve been patiently waiting for:


 1) This week’s fiscal cliff fix resulted in a 154 page bill that raises taxes on people making over $400,000, includes zero spending cuts, and $25.3 billion in new Medicare payments to doctors. More numbers on the deal here, and for all the wonky details, read our fact-sheet.

2) Our “Talk is Cheap, Overspending is Not” campaign rolled out on New Year’s Eve to hold politicians accountable for their big promises to cut spending and tackle our debt and deficit. Our campaign features advertising at Capitol South and Union Station metro stops in Washington, D.C., and we’re encouraging folks to tweet with #TalkIsCheap about what crazy promises they’ll follow through on if Washington actually balances the budget this year.

3) “The ‘fiscal cliff’ is a massive failure of presidential leadership,” says Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson in a must-read op-ed, and deficit hawks Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles are exactly right in calling this week’s deal a “missed opportunity” to tackle our out-of-control debt and deficit.

4) What other taxpayer-funded freebies are in the fiscal cliff deal? Well, there’s $430 million in tax breaks for Hollywood studios, $15 million-a-year in handouts to asparagus farmers, and $4 million in tax write-offs to folks who buy Segways. Thanks Congress.

5) Rep. John Boehner was re-elected as House Speaker with 220 votes, and 12 Republican lawmakers not supporting him on Thursday. He pledged to reduce our $16 trillion debt, saying that "nothing is more important."

6) What’s the next big fight in Washington? Raising the debt limit in late February or early March. Speaker Boehner thinks he can win the next round, and shared supportive polling on Friday that found seventy-two percent of Americans agree an increase in the debt limit must be accompanied by bigger spending cuts and reforms.
 Bankruptin​gAmerica.or​g