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And so the Atlanta Fed, whose "shocking" Q1 GDP prediction Zero Hedge first laid out nearly 2 months ago, with its Q1 GDP 0.1% forecast was spot on. Moments ago the BEA reported that Q1 GDP was far worse than almost everyone had expected, and tumbled from a 2.2% annualized growth rate at the end of 2014 to just 0.2%, in a rerun of last year when it too "snowed" in the winter. This was well below the Wall Street consensus of a print above 1.0%. n other words, in the quarter in which the S&P rose to unseen highs,...

I first caught wind of this story from our good friend Fausta, and it seems like a suitably silly note to help wrap up an already strange and unusual week. We’ve got a brand spanking new, rootin’ tootin’ study, fresh off the press from a distinguished group of scientists. (And I can tell they were scientists because I checked, and most of them were wearing white lab coats.) In it, we find what we already suspected about the party that hates science, clings to their guns and their God, and disapproves of Barack Obama not because of his damaging policies,...

Tuesday night's speech from the Oval Office of the White House was written to a 9.8 grade level, said Paul J.J. Payack, president of Global Language Monitor. The Austin, Texas-based company analyzes and catalogues trends in word usage and word choice and their impact on culture.... Obama's nearly 10th-grade-level rating was the highest of any of his major speeches and well above the Grade 7.4 of his 2008 "Yes, we can" victory speech, which many consider his best effort, Payack said.

**SNIP** Homeowners Irrationally Choosing to Be Deadbeats: "And so when I read people saying, now, this wouldn't be a big deal; we should test it out; let's take default out for a spin and see how it rides -- and I -- I -- I say, imagine, in your private life, if you decided that I'm not going to pay my mortgage for a month or two. First of all, you're not paying money by not paying your mortgage. You're just a deadbeat. And you can anticipate that will hurt your credit, which means that in addition to the debt...

Well, Obamacare is now official, which means that a lot more people in the United States will have health insurance. And it also means a lot more people will be paying more taxes. (You didn't think Obamacare was free, did you?) Here are some of the new taxes you're going to have to pay to pay for Obamacare: A 3.8% surtax on "investment income" when your adjusted gross income is more than $200,000 ($250,000 for joint-filers). What is "investment income?" Dividends, interest, rent, capital gains, annuities, house sales, partnerships, etc. Taxes on dividends will rise from 15% to 18.8%--if Congress...

(CNSNews.com) – In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year. Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the IRS. The IRS's assumption that the cheapest plan for a family will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan. The examples...

Amber Lee Ettinger, widely known as “Obama Girl” during the 2008 presidential campaign, told The Daily Caller she is “not as excited as I was the last time, that’s for sure.” The model-actress became a nationally known celebrity after starring in the viral YouTube video “Crush on Obama.” “Barack Obama was definitely the first ‘Internet President,’” she said, describing her experiences during the last cycle as “quite a roller coaster ride.” This time, however, Ettinger won’t say if she still supports Obama. “At this point I’m keeping that to myself,” she told The DC. “If I’m not making videos, I’m...

An estimated three to six million taxpayers will get a nasty surprise when they fill out their federal income returns this year. They will be subject to the ObamaCare tax penalty, or as it is expressed in governmentese, a “shared responsibility payment.” Just calculating one’s “shared responsibility payment” can be quite a chore. There is an online worksheet posted here. It is remarkable that ObamaCare, a bill that was promoted by former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as one that should be passed so that people could learn what's in it, would have a tax penalty that would require...

If you or I lived rent free for five years in an apartment in pricey Washington, DC, we would have to pay income taxes on the value of the rent on the place. But apparently not Rahm Emanuel. The wonderful Andrew Malcolm of the LA Times writes: We already knew that BP and its folks were significant contributors to the record $750-million war chest of Barack Obama's 2007-08 campaign. Now, we learn the details of a connection of Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago mayoral wannabe, current Obama chief of staff, ex-representative, ex-Clinton money man and ex-Windy City political machine go-fer. Shortly...

Even if they come from affluent families or attend highly rated schools, black students in Ohio continue to lag far behind their white peers in school, according to a Dispatch analysis of data from state standardized exams. On more than two dozen state tests given to students in kindergarten through high school last year, the average passage rate among black students was 64 percent. On average, 87 percent of white students passed. Disparities between races have existed across the country since schools were physically divided by race, researchers say, but many now view those gaps largely as a product of...

Rep. Charles Rangel, censured by Congress in 2010 for a variety of misdeeds, including non-payment of taxes on his Dominican villa, didn't pay any rent on his district office in Harlem for all of 2013. His "excuse": his office lost the lease. But that's OK, said New York state. Instead of having to pay back rent. the state cut the real estate company a check for $87,000. New York Post: “I finally heard back from Congressman Rangel’s office and it seems we haven’t gotten the signed lease back because they lost it!” OGS real-estate specialist Sydney Allen wrote in a...

President Obama is calling for a $250 rebate for seniors after the Social Security Administration announced Friday that interest rates in 2010 haven't risen enough to justify an increase in benefits next year to the 58 million retirees and disabled Americans who receive the entitlement. Congressional Democrats, already in a precarious position headed into Election Day, are heeding the president's call. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs announced that in light of the economic downturn and the fact that Social Security will not provide a cost-of-living adjustment for a second year, the president will ask Congress to approve a $250 "economic...

Lowering expectations for quick passage of an economic stimulus bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid rejected setting "some false deadline" for delivering legislation to President-elect Barack Obama in favor of a more deliberate approach that allows Congress to get the package right "the first time." Congressional leaders had hoped to hand Obama an economic assistance package immediately after he is sworn in Jan. 20, but that looks increasingly doubtful as the legislation grows in complexity and size. In separate interviews this morning, Reid (Nev.) and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said the process could take six more...

DAYTONA BEACH -- In a cramped room, smaller than two walk-in closets, Jesus Valentin's two children jump from one bunk bed to the next trying to burn off energy. He and his fiancee, who is expecting their third child in August, have tried to make their room at the STAR Family Shelter more of a home by decorating with schoolwork from their 3- and 4-year-olds. But after seven months of eating with about 80 adults and children in the shelter, sharing common spaces such as the living room area and restrooms and showers, they are anxious to get into a...

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - Tinley Park squatter living rent and mortgage free The problem with squatters is hitting home in an upscale Tinley Park Subdivision. On Mallow Street where homes sell for $350,000 or more, a woman has been living in a house rent and mortgage free for two years. “It's very frustrating, our property taxes are very high, I work nights to pay mine and to help support my family. And I just see her coming and going without a care in the world it's enormously frustrating,” said neighbor Patti Yara. And no one is more frustrated than...

The cluster of special federal tax benefits and subsidies for homeowners has long seemed politically untouchable. Those include deductions for mortgage interest, local property taxes and capital gains exclusions on up to $500,000 in sale profits. Is the Obama administration serious about beginning to limit at least some of these subsidies?

Obama Is Pushing Banks To Make More Home Loans To Borrowers With Poor Credit Brett LoGiuratoApril 3, 2013The Obama administration is readying a push to get banks to make more home loans available to individuals with weaker credit, The Washington Post's Zach Goldfarb reports. It's a push that walks a tightrope, since it is expected to help boost the continuing economic recovery immediately but risks opening up the shaky lending that led to the housing crash. Obama's plan would provide for more lending to individuals such as young people buying their first homes, as well as people whose credit has...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Yesterday at the end of the program -- the last half hour of the program -- I was watching TV. Obama did his White House ceremony raising the minimum wage for federal contractors. It just hit me. There he is giving away some more of other people's money, and it immediately hit me: How popular could I be if I could do that? How popular could I be and how unbeatable could I be if I were able to give away other people's money to anybody I wanted to, and if I focused on the downtrodden and...

As much as President Barack Obama wants your vote, he's not actually offering to pay your monthly bills. But thousands of Americans have been persuaded otherwise, falling victim to a fast-moving scam that claims to be part of an Obama administration program to help pay utility bills in the midst of a scorching summer. The scheme spread quickly across the nation in recent weeks with help from victims who unwittingly shared it on social media sites before realizing they had been conned out of personal information such as Social Security, credit card and checking account numbers. "No one knows who...

An article late last week in the San Diego Tribune offers up some very realistic, yet depressing advice about the current state of home ownership: Many homeowners would be best off if they simply stopped paying their mortgages. How so? The passage of the bailout bill meant that help for homeowners was assured. After all, politicians can't risk bailing out corporate America, while letting poor little homeowners lose their houses and be out on the streets. If you've got little to no equity in your house and find it a struggle to pay the mortgage, just stop paying. The government...