Free Republic

Make no mistake: Barry is a just a little economic genius. New York Times Magazine Sunday May 1, 2016Well of course he has a theory. Barry’s got a theory about everything, every one of which has been or will be proven absolutely positively wrong. Butt we won’t let that stop a good story – it’s the Old Gray Lady and you know what their motto is: “We were moving so fast early on that we couldn’t take victory laps. We couldn’t explain everything we were doing. I mean, one day we’re saving the banks; the next day we’re saving the...

Washington, DC – This morning the Chairman of the Republican Governors Association, Governor Rick Perry, and the Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, Governor Joe Manchin, released a joint letter to Congress urging them to pass an economic recovery package. A copy of the letter is attached and the full text of it is below. As leaders of our respective organizations, we don't always see eye to eye on policy, but we come together today with one clear purpose. We strongly urge Congress to leave partisanship at the door and pass an economic recovery package. We both believe that it’s...

Ways and Means Committee ranking member Republican released a chart today of the Administration "claims" vs. the actual job losses for all 50 states, 49 of them losing jobs...

To those hurt by the recession but too proud to seek government help, Gov. Ed Rendell says: If not for yourself, do it for your country. He urged people to view food stamps not as welfare, but as economic stimulus. "Think of it this way: If you avail yourself of these sources of government relief, you'll have money to spend in the economy, and that's exactly what we need to reboot the economy," Rendell said Wednesday at Brashear High School in Beechview. His 45-minute address was televised live to gatherings in six other cities. Property owners should take advantage of...

I understand the need for oversight of the CRAPulus Spending Bill, but Obama can't find anyone with some better credentials? Citizens Against Government Waste, the group that specializes in being a watch dog against wasteful government spending, routinely put Biden in a select group the worst wasteful spenders while he was in Congress.

I have noticed two significant patterns developing. The first pattern: November 5, 2008 - the day after the 2008 presidential elections, the markets reacted to this news of Obama's win by plummeting. Then, on January 20, 2009 - Obama's inauguration day - markets again dropped significantly. And then, on January 28, 2009, the day that the U.S. House of Representatives first approved the Pork-filled "Stimulus" package, markets posted another loss. Finally, on February 17, 2009, the day that Obama signed the "Stimulus" package, markets yet again showed their disapproval with yet another significant loss. This pattern of the markets severely...

The leftists at the NYSlimes published an article on Friday defending the Non-stimulating Porkified Pile of Socialist Excrement. The leftist moonbat "journalists" working for my local newspaper reprinted the article in its entirety, but managed to show off their creative writing skills by slightly rewording the article's title. Although paying minor lipservice to the fact that some people oppose our current Pork Pie (a few paragraphs contain conservative arguments against increased government spending, but they are tempered by "yes, but..." arguments), the article contains the typical stale communist arguments that are being trumpeted by the Obama administration. Little wonder that...

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter is a marked moderate. In the Senate, the Philadelphia Republican voted mostly with his party last year, but with the Democrats more than a third of the time. Neither side thinks that’s enough and both want to beat him when he seeks an unprecedented sixth six-year term next year. Conservative Republicans consider him a RINO — a “Republican in name only.” They would like nothing better than if one of their own knocked him off in the Republican primary and took their anti-government, lower-taxes, anti-abortion fight to the Democrats. “I think he’s extremely vulnerable in the...

The Blue-Dog Democrats in the House have been somewhat disenchanted with the Democrat leadership, and have been wanting to flex their muscles. They realize that they are in districts that could go Republican in 2010, and may be the key to defeating the stimulus package. Today, a letter signed by 49 Blue Dog Democrats was sent to Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, requesting that more spending be cut from the bill. The letter stated that many of the members of the Blue-Dog Coalition voted for the original bill because they were assured of cuts in the Senate and in the...

China falls into budget deficit as spending balloons China's attempts to spend its way out of economic depression led to a fiscal deficit of 111bn yuan (£12bn) last year. By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai Last Updated: 3:03PM GMT 02 Feb 2009 Despite a near 20pc rise in tax revenues and a record surplus of 1.19 trillion yuan (£128bn) in the first six months of the year, the dramatic scale of government spending in November and December was enough to plunge the entire year into deficit. The figures are the first indication of how quickly and forcefully China reacted to the...

"Now is the time to make the tough choices." -- Barack Obama, Jan. 26 Among the many claims made for the "economic stimulus" package now before Congress is that it will "jump-start" a "bigger, better, smarter" electric grid, enabling Americans to use energy more efficiently. The package commits $4.5 billion to this, which (says the White House) will help finance 3,000 miles of transmission lines and 40 million "smart meters." Sounds great. But it may be mostly hype. For starters, $4.5 billion is a pittance. An industry study in 2004 -- surely outdated -- put the price tag of modernizing...

Chapter 5 - Fighting the BasiliskWith Voldemort trying to release the Basilisk from the Chamber of Socialism, many in Gryffindor are opposing the move.

HotAir’s Allahpundit has made it known for quite some time that he is no fan of Sarah Palin. In the world of political discourse and debate, that is fine. People can have differing opinions and views on who would make the best candidates (I personally think that Sarah Palin has a great future in the GOP), what polices would be best, etc. The trouble is, Allahpundit is now taking his dislike for Palin and using it to cloud his judgement when reading any stories about her in the Drive-By Media. Take a recent AP story, headlined GOP Governors Press Congress...

"It (the Reagan Era) was the best of times. It (the Obama Era) was the worst of times." Now that the economy is in the dump, primarily due to Carter- and Clinton-era laws, Obama has decided to wage an all-out war on prosperity. But like any good communist (if you can call communists "good"), he is calling his pork-filled plan an "Economic Stimulus" package. At best, however, the only thing that the package could stimulate are ...

A failure by House Democratic leaders to allow bipartisan input into an $819 billion economic stimulus proposal was a key reason U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski said he voted against it this week. Efforts to reach Mr. Kan-jorski, D-11, for comment were unsuccessful, but his office provided a copy of a statement he read on the House floor before the vote. He said Republicans “raise a reasonable objection that they were not fully included” as the bill was drafted. Republicans echoed the complaint. The stimulus bill passed 244-188. The Senate is taking up its version of the bill, and a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama's plan to fight the U.S. economic recession with $825 billion in emergency spending and tax cuts was expected to pass on Wednesday in a divided House of Representatives. Working closely with Obama, who says he is open to changes to the plan, the House began a full day of debate on one of the most expensive single bills ever considered by Congress. Most House Republicans were planning to oppose the legislation. They will offer a competing plan, which is expected to fail, that would scrap the Democrats' hundreds of billions of dollars in spending...

Barack Obama is looking for Republican Cover regarding his stimulus package, by meeting with Republicans today on Capital Hill. He is hoping to convince them to support his $850+ billion stimulus package, thinking that he would placate them by removing the contraception-funding provisions. What he forgets is that the contraceptive funding is only one example of what most Republicans consider a package laden with wasteful spending (funding for Acorn is another example, but far from the only one) that will have limited or no positive effect on the economy; in fact, it will likely have a negative effect. What Republicans...

Talk about burying the lede, i.e. The Truth.The two main objectives of the Drive-By Media in the dissemination of their “news” product are, (a) never let liberalism nor Democrats be discredited; and (b) make sure that the media is seen a necessary agent of positive change.The dead-tree version in Charlotte seems so dedicated to these axioms, that they are even willing to be a party to damaging the Queen City’s most prominent company, Bank of America.Ever since the BofA’s stock began to fall a few weeks ago due to growing awareness of the extent of toxic Merrill Lynch assets...

"How can you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives? How does that stimulate the economy?"

Here is audio of Rush Limbaugh today offering a response to President Barack Obama's Economic Stimulus Plan. Rush's alternative plan is a take-off on Obama's assertion to GOP Leaders last Friday, when he said "I won," as they discussed the stimulus plan. Rush rightly points out that Obama's victory means that 53% of the American people voted for him, but 47% did not. Therefore, Rush suggests Obama spend 54% of the money using his left-wing ideals, and allow 46% of the funds to be spent using free market principles! This is classic Rush! If only such an approach was taken!...