Free Republic

Is there even one half-sane Democrat that will stand up and denounce the fiscal atrocity of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion spending bill? Is there not one single patriotic Democrat in the entire country who will speak out? The silence is deafening. The House Democrats are now rallying behind a budget resolution that calls for a $6.1 trillion single-year budget. When I first came to Washington in 1985, President Ronald Reagan passed the first $1 trillion budget bill. We were all aghast. Now, we are spending six times that amount, and no one blinks an eye. Even worse, the Biden...

[SNIP] So here's the truth about the "generational theft" theme: It's wrong on the numbers and wrong on the implications. Let's start with that 7-to-1 spending ratio on seniors versus children. Among the flaws in the calculation is that the vast majority of government dollars spent on children comes from state and local governments, which pay most of the cost of education. On a per capita basis, state and local spending on kids swamps the federal government's spending 8 to 1. Moreover, there are twice as many children 18 and under as seniors 65 and over (this 2008 figure also...

The left continues to pile on Mitt Romney for allegedly outsourcing jobs while at Bain Capital. Yet the mainstream media seem curiously uninterested in reporting on “outsourcing” by the Obama Administration, which has (1) outsourced stimulus monies to create jobs in foreign nations, (2) outsourced U.S. foreign policy to U.N. and (3) outsourced our kids and grandkids financial future to pay for his unprecedented spending binge. The Obama Stimulus has turned out to be an exercise in Venture Socialism . Unlike Venture Capitalism, in which investors risk their own capital to help companies launch and grown, Venture Socialism is when...

I’ve written before about the crisis of inequality in the United States and about the quasi-religious abhorrence of “wealth redistribution” that causes many Americans to oppose tax increases, even on the ultra rich. The conviction that taxation is intrinsically evil has achieved a sadomasochistic fervor in conservative circles—producing the Tea Party, their Republican zombies, and increasingly terrifying failures of governance. Happily, not all billionaires are content to hoard their money in silence. Earlier this week, Warren Buffett published an op-ed in the New York Times in which he criticized our current approach to raising revenue. As he has lamented many...

Since President Barack Hussein Obama was inaugurated into office a bit less than 21 months ago, Obama, Pelosi, and Reid have increased the total combined national debt by more than three trillion dollars: Date                   Debt Held by the Public         Intragovernmental Holdings   Total Public Debt Outstanding 01/20/2009         6,307,310,739,681.66         4,319,566,309,231.42         10,626,877,048,913.08 10/18/2010         9,059,271,396,291.56         4,606,655,246,964.40         13,665,926,643,255.96 In this time period, the debt has increased precisely...

Since President Barack Hussein Obama was inaugurated into office a bit less than 14 months ago, Obama, Pelosi, and Reid have increased the total combined national debt by more than two trillion dollars: Date                   Debt Held by the Public         Intragovernmental Holdings   Total Public Debt Outstanding 01/20/2009         6,307,310,739,681.66         4,319,566,309,231.42         10,626,877,048,913.08 03/15/2010         8,152,640,856,906.57         4,484,022,099,233.50         12,636,662,956,140.07 In this time period, the debt has increased precisely...

Johnstown, Pa. If you hate the hubbub of crowded airports, you might want to consider flying out of Johnstown, Pa. The airport sees an average of fewer than 30 people per day, there is never a wait for security, you can park for free right outside the gate, and you are almost guaranteed a row to yourself on any flight. You might wonder how the region ever had the air traffic demand to justify such a facility. It didn't. But it is located in the district of one of Congress's most unapologetic earmarkers: Democrat John Murtha. In 20 years, Mr....

Baby Boomer Apology Tour by: Deborah Lambert, July 15, 2009 When faced with periods of gloom and doom, there are two ways to respond. Ignore it—or dwell on it. As noted in previous columns, many commencement speakers for the class of 2009 chose Option #2. In fact, the Wall Street Journal reported that “graduation ceremonies have become collective airings of guilt and grief,” adding that “it’s now chic for boomers to apologize for their generation’s crimes.” GOP governors like Mitch Daniels, R-Ind, told Butler University seniors that his generation was “just plain selfish.” NY Timeser Tom Friedman compared boomers to...

Save the GOP by: Deborah Lambert, June 18, 2009 Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, touted as a possible savior of the GOP, took a gamble that paid off when he delivered a recent commencement address at Butler University (Indianapolis) that took a critical look at his own generation of baby boomers, according to Byron York. “All our lives, it’s been about us,” said the 60-year-old Daniels, who told the graduating seniors that his free-spending “Me Generation” who wore T-shirts saying “If it feels good, do it,” will also “leave you with a staggering pile of bills to pay. . . Good...

The House on Thursday approved a $3.45 trillion budget blueprint that largely supports President Obama's proposal after defeating a Republican alternative that slashed spending and taxes.