Free Republic

PHOTO CAPTION: "Correspondents say the deal is part of Washington's attempts to counter anti-US sentiment in Pakistan" SNIPPET: "US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced aid projects worth $7.5bn (£5bn) for Pakistan at the start of talks in the capital Islamabad. The package, agreed by Congress last year, is part of Washington's attempts to counter anti-American sentiment in the country, correspondents say. The five-year deal includes projects for two hydro-electric dams and renewable energy sources."

Hoping to lift sagging confidence in President Barack Obama's economic leadership, the White House will make the case on Wednesday that his policies are creating jobs and spurring private investment. A report to be unveiled at 11 a.m. EDT will estimate that Obama's $862 billion economic stimulus package, which passed last year, has saved or created 3 million jobs and is on track to meet its goal of 3.5 million jobs by the end of this year. The analysis from the White House Council of Economic Advisers will say that government funding of clean energy, economic development, construction projects and...

Schäuble moots hiking 'solidarity' tax to help rescue budget Published: 3 Jun 10 18:32 CET Online: http://www.thelocal.de/money/20100603-27631.html As the German government scrambles to rein in the ballooning deficit, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has reportedly proposed a hike in so-called 'solidarity' surcharge - the unpopular reunification tax. In one of the more surprising ideas being thrown about, Schäuble stunned his senior colleagues by suggesting raising the Soli surcharge from the present 5.5 percent of a worker’s income tax to 8 percent, the Financial Times Deutschland reported Thursday. The solidarity surcharge was set up nearly 20 years ago to pay for the...

The $145 billion “extenders” package that the Obama administration and its allies in Congress are attempting to pass has revealed most of what they told us publicly over the last 18 months — about the stimulus, the health-care bill, the budget deficit, and taxes — to be a gusher of lies. BP has apparently plugged the hole that was hemorrhaging oil into the Gulf. Who will plug the hole Obama and his never-ending stimulus have blown in the U.S. budget? The $145 billion is above all an extension of the $800 billion stimulus bill that passed last year. We were...

WASHINGTON – The federal budget deficit hit an all-time high for the month of April as government revenue fell sharply. The Treasury Department said Wednesday the April deficit soared to $82.7 billion, the largest imbalance for that month on record. That was significantly higher than last year's April deficit of $20 billion and above the $30 billion deficit private economists had anticipated. The government normally runs surpluses in April as millions of taxpayers file their income tax returns. However, income tax payments were down this April, reflecting the impact of a severe recession which has pushed millions of people out...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's updated budget proposal won't be unveiled until Friday, but Assembly Democrats are already responding to the yet-to-be released May revise. Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Assembly Budget Committee Chair Bob Blumenfield are holding a 10 a.m. presser to lay out their expectations and pledge to maintain openness in the budget process. Those promises include bucking the Big 5 meetings and televising committee hearings online.

Obama: Is He Helping Or Hurting Your Business? Timothy Shea has been providing IT solutions for 21 years and has never worked as hard or felt as much economic pressure. Shea, CEO and senior consultant at Alpha NetSolutions, a solution provider based in Marlborough, Mass., says his income as the owner of an "S" corporation that files a personal tax return has dropped 25 percent from 2007 to 2009. At the same time, the health-care costs for his eight-employee, $1.2 million business have doubled over the past three years. Shea is one of many small-business solution providers interviewed for this...

US Stock Market is $18 Trillion US Residential Real Estate $23 Trillion US Commercial Real Estate $5 Trillion US GDP $14 Trillion US National Debt $13 Trillion 2009 Federal Spending $3.5 Trillion 2009 Federal Receipts $2.1 Trillion US Household Debt $14 Trillion US Federal Land Value (Unknown)

BATON ROUGE -- Slumping tax collections have punched a $319 million hole in the state budget, a forecasting panel determined Wednesday, giving Gov. Bobby Jindal and the state Legislature less than 10 weeks to decide what mix of spending cuts and one-time revenue sources should be used to fill the gap. In addition to lowering the current-year forecast, the Revenue Estimating Conference, a four-member panel that decides how much the state can spend each year, also lowered the forecast for the 2010-11 fiscal year that begins July 1 by $245 million. State officials have been anticipating another round of midyear...

Mr. Obama said the government takeover of health care would "lift burdens" off the middle class and reduce the deficit "by more than $1 trillion over the next two decades." Yet this questionable claim is a paltry sum compared to the trillions of dollars of debt Mr. Obama's policies will levy on the same middle class he pretends to be helping.... Mr. Obama can make all the claims he wants about his fiscal responsibility but, unlike some politicians, the numbers don't lie.

Economy: A major problem this administration has is it continually downplays the power of free markets to right themselves. That was apparent in remarks made by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Thursday. Speaking on NBC's "Today" show, Geithner said the bailouts and buyouts and other aid to companies were "deeply unfair" — especially given the way it's played out. True enough, today many companies are reporting booming earnings. Even banks look healthier. Average joes don't look so good. More than 8 million have been laid off since the recession began in December 2007, and unemployment at 9.7% is "terribly high...

As part of the White House Forum for Workplace Flexibility, the CEA released a report today presenting an economic perspective on flexible workplace policies and practices. Work-Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility (pdf) highlights changes in American society over the past half century, including the increased number of women entering the labor force, the prevalence of families where all adults work, increasing eldercare responsibilities, and the rising importance of continuing education. These changes are among those that have increased the need for flexibility in the workplace. This increased need can be met with flexibility in terms of when...

Entitlements: Social Security's chief actuary reports that the social safety net will run a deficit for 2010, nine years earlier than predicted. Put down that big gavel, Madam Speaker, we're about to hit the iceberg. No sooner had House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, carrying the gavel used when Medicare was enacted, taken a victory lap around the Capitol Building after passage of the health care bill than did the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration report that his part of the social safety net had a big hole in it and would run a deficit for all of 2010. Stephen...

The Obama administration plans to overhaul how it's tackling the foreclosure crisis, in part by requiring lenders to temporarily slash or eliminate monthly mortgage payments for many borrowers who are unemployed, senior officials said Thursday. Banks and other lenders would have to reduce the payments to no more than 31 percent of a borrower's income, which would typically be their unemployment insurance, for up to six months. In some cases, administration officials said, a lender could allow a borrower to make no payments at all. The new push, which the White House is scheduled to announce Friday, takes direct aim...

Today, after almost a century of trying; today, after over a year of debate; today, after all the votes have been tallied — health insurance reform becomes law in the United States of America. Today. It is fitting that Congress passed this historic legislation this week. For as we mark the turning of spring, we also mark a new season in America. In a few moments, when I sign this bill, all of the overheated rhetoric over reform will finally confront the reality of reform. And while the Senate still has a last round of improvements to make on this...

<p>Last week, Moody's released guidance stating that the US and UK Aaa bond ratings are at risk. Debt levels are rising rapidly to levels where those ratings cannot be maintained, and avoiding that outcome will require "fiscal adjustments" -- read, spending cuts and/or tax increases -- that are likely to "test social cohesion."</p>

"Congress Votes to Socialize Health Care in United States" Monday, March 22, 2010 By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief SNIPPET: "According to the CBO, by 2016, the cheapest family health care plan that Americans will be required to buy under the law will cost $12,000 per year. The average family plan will cost $15,200. A family of four making $88,201 per year—or more than 400 percent of the poverty level—will not receive any federal subsidy to purchase such a plan. They will pay taxes, however, to subsidize the health care purchases of people earning less than 400 percent of poverty. According...

"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. " Federalist 10, James Madison In the late 1990's I managed a large portfolio for a German re-insurance company. I loved visiting my client in the quaint city of Cologne. Church bells, spires, street markets with handmade goods including colorful steins and wooden nutcrackers, baked goods that looked like works of art in shop windows. Though I was working I felt like I had been transported to a surreal fairyland. Except for one thing. The persistent double-digit unemployment. I asked my client about the cause of Germany's relentless unemployment. His reply?...

For those true believers out there who still accept whatever this Administration tells them, despite being caught in numerous lies, here is one to add to the list. Perhaps this will convince you that Barack Obama and his minions cannot be trusted. The Congressional Budget Office released figures that show that despite Obama's notion that his plan for America will reduce the national debt, the Obama agenda will actually add 9.7 trillion dollars to the debt over the next ten years, almost doubling the current debt-load of 12 trillion.

President Obama said on Thursday, "The politics of dealing with chronic deficits is fraught with hard choices, and therefore, it's treacherous to officeholders here in Washington. As a consequence, nobody has been too eager to deal with it." He then handed the problem off to a commission, thus proving his point. Mr. Obama likes to use the expression "hard choices," but he has yet to make any when it comes to federal spending. After announcing his fiscal commission, he went to Las Vegas and announced a $1.5 billion housing assistance program, seeking to bolster the flagging fortunes of Senate Majority...