Free Republic

Supply side economics invokes the most basic element of human nature: self-interest. We all seek to improve our material circumstances. The tinier the tax man’s bite, the greater is our incentive to produce. As tax burdens lighten, motivation heightens, sparking a robust economy. Allowing producers to enjoy their hard earned gains is both just and effective. Contrasted with demand side economics it’s a no-brainer. It is neither just nor effective to funnel public money to political favorites hoping they will spend lavishly and thus stimulate production. Paying people not to produce inspires little effort. Depriving producers of needed capital so...

WASHINGTON – One of President Barack Obama's economic advisers said Sunday that the economy is fundamentally sound, a striking reversal from the Democrat's campaign rhetoric as his administration now guides the nation's financial health amid dire conditions. Obama's Democratic allies pleaded for patience for an administration hitting the two-month mark this week, while Republicans said the White House's plans ignore small business and the immediate need to fix what ails the economy. During the fall campaign, Obama mercilessly mocked his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, for declaring, "The fundamentals of our economy are strong." Obama's team painted the veteran senator...

“I favored Obama over McCain because I thought Obama to be a middle-of-the-road Democrat, exactly the kind I have supported all my adult life.” - Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money A little over two years ago, then-Sen. Barack Obama stormed onto the American political landscape as a breath of fresh air in a tired partisan environment. Democrats vowed to oust a Republican Party led by an unpopular president, while Republicans scrambled to defend their quickly fading majority. Emerging behind the scenes was a new voice, a powerful and charismatic orator named Barack Obama. As the Democratic primary edged...

President Obama said Thursday the nation's economic woes are not as dire as they seem and said his economic policies will get the country back on track. "I don't think things are ever as good as they say, or ever as bad as they say," Obama told CEOs at a meeting of the Business Roundtable in Washington. "Things two years ago were not as good as we thought because there were a lot of underlying weaknesses in the economy," he said. "They're not as bad as we think they are now."

President Obama’s biofuel and oil policy is on a collision course to a national catastrophe. Yet, the alarms are not sounding and the red lights are not flashing. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is not warning Obama that his oil policy will increase our dependence on foreign oil. Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Administration, is not alerting the President that his oil policy will increase carbon dioxide emissions. National Security Advisor James L. Jones is not cautioning the President that his biofuel and oil policy increases the US vulnerability to a Second Arab Oil Embargo. Christina Roner of...

This is something many of us predicted. All of a sudden Obama declares the economy is not as dire as feared. I just thought he would wait long enough to believably give credit to the stimulus bill. Confronting misgivings, even in his own party, President Barack Obama mounted a stout defense of his blueprint to overhaul the economy Thursday, declaring the national crisis is "not as bad as we think" and his plans will speed recovery. Challenged to provide encouragement as the nation's "confidence builder in chief," Obama said Americans shouldn't be whipsawed by bursts of either bad or good...

Confronting misgivings, even in his own party, President Barack Obama mounted a stout defense of his blueprint to overhaul the economy Thursday, declaring the national crisis is "not as bad as we think" and his plans will speed recovery. Challenged to provide encouragement as the nation's "confidence builder in chief," Obama said Americans shouldn't be whipsawed by bursts of either bad or good news and he was "highly optimistic" about the long term. The president's proposals for major health care, energy and education changes in the midst of economic hard times faced skepticism from both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol...

Just 27% of voters nationwide favor passage of a second economic stimulus package. The latest Rasmussen Reports nationwide telephone survey found that 55% are opposed and 19% are not sure. Despite the public opposition, 74% say it’s likely that Congress will try to pass another stimulus plan before the year is out. That figure includes 45% who say it’s Very Likely that Congress will do so. These results come at a time when consumer and investor confidence continue to hover around record lows. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that she is open to consideration of a second stimulus bill,...

President Obama’s honeymoon is beginning to fade. Members of Congress and old political hands say he needs to show substantial progress reviving the economy soon. Some Democrats have started to worry that voters don’t and won’t understand the link between economic revival and Obama’s huge agenda, which includes saving the banking industry, ending home foreclosures, reforming healthcare and developing a national energy policy, among much else. While lawmakers debate controversial proposals contained in the new president’s debut budget — cutting farm subsidies, raising taxes on charitable contributions, etc. — there is a growing sense that time is running out faster...

President Barack Obama, sounding weary of criticism over federal earmarks, defended Congress' pet projects Wednesday as he signed an "imperfect" $410 billion measure with thousands of examples. But he said the spending does need tighter restraint and listed guidelines to do it. Obama, accused of hypocrisy by Republicans for embracing billions of dollars of earmarks in the legislation, said they can be useful and noted that he has promised to curb, not eliminate them. On another potentially controversial matter, the president also issued a "signing statement" with the bill...

President Obama’s honeymoon is beginning to fade. Members of Congress and old political hands say he needs to show substantial progress reviving the economy soon. Some Democrats have started to worry that voters don’t and won’t understand the link between economic revival and Obama’s huge agenda, which includes saving the banking industry, ending home foreclosures, reforming healthcare and developing a national energy policy, among much else. While lawmakers debate controversial proposals contained in the new president’s debut budget — cutting farm subsidies, raising taxes on charitable contributions, etc. — there is a growing sense that time is running out faster...

Barack Obama has written two famous, widely read books of autobiography -- "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope." Let me introduce his third, a book that will touch everyone's life: "A New Era of Responsibility: Renewing America's Promise. The President's Budget and Fiscal Preview" (Government Printing Office, 141 pages, $26; free on the Web). This is the U.S. budget for laymen, and it's a must read. Turn immediately to page 11. There sits a chart called Figure 9. This is the Rosetta Stone to the presidential mind of Barack Obama. Memorize Figure 9, and you will never...

The signs are becoming increasingly clear that Obama is in way over his head. Supporters tout the quick passage of the stimulus and omnibus, but those were practically inevitable given the large majorities enjoyed by the Democrats in Congress. Yet with the first fifty days of his presidency in the history books, his missteps far outweigh his achievements, and the early signs are that Obama and his team simply are not up to the job. Obama’s missteps are many. From the overabundance of withdrawn nominations for cabinet and other administration positions, to his complete and utter lack of decorum with...

Less than two months into this administration, three things are clear. First, its agenda is every bit as radical as many of us expected and feared. Based on President Barack Obama’s supposedly unimportant past, there was every reason to believe that this would happen. That some Obama supporters are surprised is a “tribute” to a media elite that treated decade-plus relationships with radicals Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, and others as “distractions from the real issues,” and to a McCain campaign that refused to treat Obama’s candidacy as the threat that it was, and now is. Second, despite strong signals that...

AP: President Barack Obama signed the bill in private, unlike a number of recent signings that took place with fanfare, but he raised the issue of earmarks in public remarks playing down their scope and possible harm in the measure. They comprise about 1 percent of the spending package, which will keep the government running through September, he told reporters.

When it comes to global warming, the Gore Effect refers to the uncanny ability of global warmingist's to plan events and have the weather turn dreadful with massive snow storms occurring. We now have the Obama Effect whereby the markets will tank as soon as he opens his piehole about his plans for saving the economy. At 11:20, Obama made remarks to the media about the economy during a presser on earmark reform and guess what happened?

It seems like just yesterday that I was wondering if The One had miscalculated by expecting a bailout-weary public to support more than one gargantuan stimulus bill. Oh right — it was yesterday. Remember to emphasize confidence when you’re pitching this next one, Nancy. Just 27% of voters nationwide favor passage of a second economic stimulus package. The latest Rasmussen Reports nationwide telephone survey found that 55% are opposed and 19% are not sure. Despite the public opposition, 74% say it’s likely that Congress will try to pass another stimulus plan before the year is out. That figure includes 45%...

Isn't MSNBC the most off-the-hinges left wing whack job bastardized substitution for journalism in existence? Isn't it the home of the inventive and mostly imaginative and seldom true ramblings of Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann where venting against all things Christian or Conservative are demonized and the only acceptable form of worship IS Obama as Messiah? So how on earth will MSNBC explain that at 3pm EST on Wednesday, MSNBC web traffickers are FLUNKING "President Jebus" by 60%?

Obama, Geithner Get Low Grades From Economists By PHIL IZZO U.S. President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received failing grades for their efforts to revive the economy from participants in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey. Charts and Full Results Their assessment stands in stark contrast with Mr. Obama's popularity with the public, with a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll giving him a 60% approval rating. But a majority of the 49 economists polled is dissatisfied with the administration's economic policies. On average, they gave the president a mark of 59 out of 100, and although there...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lower tax revenue and massive government spending on the bank bailout pushed the federal deficit to $765 billion in the first five months of the budget year, well on its way to hitting the Obama administration's projection of a record annual imbalance of $1.75 trillion. The Treasury Department also said Wednesday that the February deficit reached $192.8 billion. That's a record for the month and up 10 percent from a year ago, but below analysts' expectations of $205.7 billion.