Free Republic

Earlier [last] week, MarketWatch’s Rex Nutting claimed President Obama has not increased federal spending dramatically. Despite four years of evidence to the contrary, Nutting posits that the whole “misunderstanding” comes from widespread naiveté of the federal budgeting process—in fact, federal spending has grown 27 percent in just the last four years alone. To start, Nutting claims that since the 2009 Fiscal Year began in October of 2008, President Bush is responsible for the “major spending decisions in the 2009 fiscal year.” Really? For someone who spent an entire article bloviating on his budget acuity, Nutting has evidently not been paying...

Unlike most normal people, we closely follow Twitter wars between competing economists. On Wednesday, AEI economist James Pethokoukis took issue with Rex Nutting of MarketWatch.com who claimed Obama is not a big spender because spending rose 1.4 percent during his Presidency. First of all, Nutting doesn’t give credit to Tea Party conservatives for preventing rapid spending growth of the kind President Obama’s budget proposes. Secondly, Pethokoukis points at two overlapping metrics which accurately show Obama’s big spending tendencies—baseline spending and spending as GDP. Nutting’s baseline is FY2009 part of which fell under Bush’s final budget and represented the initial injection...

* By: Larry Walker, Jr. *“In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs forever and ever.” ~ Oscar Wilde *According to Barack Obama, the job of the President of the United States is to “make sure everyone has a fair shot." However, according to Article II (Sections 1 – 3) of the United States Constitution, in which the job of the President is officially and clearly outlined, nowhere do we find such 'verbage'. Therefore, it is unnecessary to try to figure out who’s included or excluded in 'everyone', and how fair a shot must be – before...

...While much has been made of the site’s creator Mark Zuckerberg, its co-founder Eduardo Saverin garnered some negative press recently for a decision to renounce U.S. citizenship and move to Singapore. While his reasons are likely personal as well as financially motivated, it’s interesting that much of the talk has focused on Saverin’s unstated desire to avoid high taxation in the United States. Depending on when he cashes in his stock Saverin would face capital gains or individual income taxes. Singapore has no capital gains rate and doesn’t tax income earned abroad. The United States has a long term cap-gains...

The Martinez Report is a constantly updated site covering U.S. and world news with a focus on politics, finances, media bias, and show-biz.

Brazil president, a former Communist guerrilla, to receive “apologies” from political ally for “torture”By Julio Severo The Rio de Janeiro state government said Friday it will apologize to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff for the “human rights abuses” she suffered during the country’s 1961-1985 military administration. Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, a former Communist guerrilla Rousseff is a former Marxist guerrilla who spent three years in prison during the military administration and was allegedly tortured. She participated in the militant activities of Marxist organizations Colina and Val-Palmares. Dilma’s role in these militant organizations has been obscure, but she had been dubbed...

It’s generally best to speak to experts when making broad claims about national policy. For instance, if we want to analyze U.S. corporate tax policy it’s probably best to take the word of a few tax attorneys than, say, a constitutional law scholar. A new study by Jonathan Sallet and Robert Rizzi, partner attorneys in the tax practice of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, highlight the constricting nature of corporate tax rates. ATR has previously highlighted the job-killing nature of high corporate taxes and the anti-growth effects of maintaining the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world. Published by the...

Impunity for criminals and disarmament for victims Defenseless Brazilian women vs. a young American mother prepared to defend herselfBy Julio Severo What happens when a robber invades a house at night and finds a young woman? In Brazil, here is what happens, according to several Brazilian newspapers: Gazeta Digital of April 29, 2012: Man invades a house and rapes a 21 year-old woman, in Cuiabá. The crime happened Sunday morning (29). After the victim’s husband left for work, the robber took advantage to enter in the house. According to the police, he raped the woman and fled taking a...

Evidently a spending increase just shy of $1 billion is not enough for Governor Martin O’Malley and the Democrat leadership in Maryland’s General Assembly. Today, May 14, lawmakers will return to Annapolis to pass the Governor’s tax hike proposal, allowing Gov. O’Malley to increase spending by over $1 billion from last year’s budget. Under Gov. O’Malley’s proposal, about one in five Marylanders will see their taxes rise. WBAL is reporting that the proposal will set new income tax rates on Marylanders making over $100,000 a year. However, there is a potential House-Senate compromise that could lower the threshold to just...

You have decided to carry a concealed handgun and you might be nervous about the first time you decide to walk out the door with your gun strapped to your waist. Being nervous is completely normal. Almost every single person I talked to about his or her first time to carry was nervous and self-conscious. Before you step out, make sure you know exactly what your state’s laws are regarding where you can and cannot carry, how you carry, and if you will need a license or permit to carry. Federal law does not allow you to carry a gun...

As we all know, the National Mediation Board (NMB) is a government agency full of unelected bureaucrats looking to promote unions. Most recently the Board worked on further limiting workers’ rights by changing union election rules. The political allies of the unions are now trying to explain that the NMB oversees union elections in the same manner that Congressional elections are held. However, we all know that there are inherent differences between these elections. These include unions lack of term limits, the fact that elections last several weeks and the voting members can cast their ballot from home over the...

...New York Nanny Staters Attack a Loophole: Following the Nanny in chief’s cigarette tax hike, there’s more cigarette tax madness, from New York no less. Despite his abysmal record as Mayor Nanny, this isn’t a Michael Bloomberg driven tobacco tax. Nanny State lawmakers and advocates in Syracuse are pushing New York state to increase taxes on loose tobacco—the kind you use to roll your own cigarettes. Facing Obama and New York State’s high cigarette taxes, people are switching to self-rolled cigarettes and pipe tobacco. This loophole is primed for Nanny State closure because it takes away potential tax revenue from...

There is an absurd report out [today] from Families USA which breathlessly states that, "3.2 million small businesses, employing 19.3 million workers across the nation, will be eligible for [a small business tax credit under Obamacare]." Note the word, "eligible." Meaning, that this many businesses can claim this tax credit. Whether many actually will is another question. The credit in question is a byzantine and confusing provision which most small employers won't try to use. It involves far too much recordkeeping and effort, and isn't very lucrative compared to simply deducting employee health insurance premiums from taxable income. The credit...

Leading the world by evil example: Obama and gay “marriage” By Julio Severo President Barack Obama’s announcement May 9 that he supports gay marriage boosted the hopes of gay supremacist groups around the world that other leaders will follow his example. “This is incredibly important, it’s excellent news. The United States is a global leader on everything, and that includes gay rights,” said Julio Moreira, president of the Rio de Janeiro-based Arco-Iris gay supremacist group. “This will force other nations like Brazil to move forward with more progressive policies.” Follow his example? Last December the Obama administration directed U.S. agencies...

This week, the House will vote to slash Agriculture spending by $33.7 billion. This presents a huge opportunity to reform agriculture in a free-market direction, yet it’s an opportunity being squandered by Congress. For one thing, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, is pushing a Farm Bill that reportedly contains only $24.7 billion in spending cuts. Yet not all farm programs are treated equal and some don’t even rely on direct payments to farmers at all. The most market distorting programs rely on a convoluted system of supply management and price control programs, where government buys...

Most of this will sound depressingly familiar...  ready-made for a malignant narcissist like BHO: "The organizer must become schizoid politically, in-order not to slip into being a 'true believer'.  Before men can act an issue must be polarized.... What I am saying is that the organizer must be able to split himself into two parts- one part in the arena of action where he polarizes the issue 100-to-nothing, and helps to lead his forces into conflict... while the other part knows that when the time comes for negotiations it is really only 10% difference- and yet both parts have to live comfortably...

With French voters electing a Socialist presidential candidate who campaigned on an anti-austerity platform, the size of government has truly evolved into a global, and not just American, vote-moving issue. However, we should call “austerity” policies by their true name—fiscal responsibility. Many economists agree that when a country’s debt reaches 90 percent of GDP, serious economic contraction occurs that can persist for decades. This 90 percent is often called the danger zone. Greece, the paradigm for fiscal conservatives around the world, had debt to GDP ratio of 165.4 percent in 2011. The word austerity conjures up images of Ebenezer Scrooge,...

Bibi's surprise move today solidifies  political ground for pending attack on Iran... Benjamin Netanyahu is congratulated by former Israeli President Zalman Shazar during a ceremony honoring the elite commandos who rescued the hostages from the Sabena Flight 571. On May 8th 1972 -forty years ago today- the Israeli government faced a volatile hostage situation at Lod Airport (now Ben Gurion) outside Tel Aviv.  Belgian-flagged Sabena flight 571 had departed smoothly from Vienna, yet twenty minutes after takeoff two male and two female Black September terrorists (of '72 Munich Olympics massacre fame) had hijacked the plane. Fortunately their attempts to penetrate the pilot's...

Fatal mistake: Chinese pro-life activist seeking help from US government American authorities deceive Chinese activist and deliver him to the den of Chinese communist lions By Julio Severo Chen Guangcheng, a pro-life activist in China, made the fatal mistake of seeking help from the US Embassy in China. Chen Guangcheng He was under house arrest in his home province, but other human rights activists made enormous sacrifices, risking their lives to elaborate a plan for him to flee to the US Embassy, where everyone thought refuge was guaranteed. Everyone hoped he would ask for asylum, but the developments, unfolding in...

After using an Obamacare slush fund to pay for the student lending bill last week, House Republicans have sparked a firestorm of public speculation on what the $15 billion pot of taxpayer money has actually been used for. Reports now reveal hundreds of millions are being spent from Obamacare’s Public Health and Prevention Fund on a variety of government-run programs under the guise of public health. Among the more ridiculous examples of government waste, slush fund grants from the fund distributed through the CDC’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work program went to $7.5 million on pet spaying in Nashville because...