GOP declares war on Dem pet projects
Will this strategy work or has the GOP lost all credibility on spending?
POLITICO-First they took on the hippie museum. Now, they’re gunning for Los Angeles’ Fashion District and tennis player Andre Agassi’s prep school.
Senate Republicans are launching a new offensive next week on earmarks and spending, the latest chapter in a GOP effort to recapture the mantle of fiscal conservatism the party lost amid bribery scandals, deficits and the infamous “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska.
GOPERS CHANGE COLORS !
Washington — Federal GOPers swore that the Republican’ts loss of control over the nation’s purse strings had nothing to do with their sudden conversion to fiscal responsibility. “This is nothing new,” said spin doctor Betty Kant, “We always advocate fiscal prudence when the other guys have more votes than we do.”
Sorry,but they have lost all credibility. And as long as they continue to support dumping trillions into a quagmire, no one is going to care. Besides, giving money to Andre Agassi’s school should be something they support shouldn’t it?
Also, the job report they are saying is good, isn’t so great.
quote:
Nonfarm employment…………….….+166,000
…Goods-producing…………………………-24,000
………..Construction ……………………… -5,000
………..Manufacturing ………………….…-21,000
….Service-providing (1)…………..+190,000
…….Retail trade (2)………………………..-22,000
…..…Professional and business services … +65,000
…….Education and health services .…..… +43,000
….….Leisure and hospitality ………….…. +56,000
……Government …………………..……. +36,000
snip————–
The number of jobs in the employment services industry rose over the month (34,000), following a large decline in September. Thus far in 2007, the industry has lost 156,000 jobs.
Health care employment continued to grow in October (34,000) with job gains in ambulatory health care services and hospitals. Over the year, health care has added 400,000 jobs.
Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services and drinking places continued to trend up in October (37,000). This industry has added 365,000 jobs over the year.
Manufacturing employment continued to trend down over the month (-21,000) with declines in motor vehicles and parts (-6,000), computer and electronic products (-4,000), and chemicals (-4,000). Manufacturing has lost 275,000 jobs since June 2006.
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/news.release/empsit.txt
==========================
Well, at least we are drinking more. That ought to relieve the pain of losing 275,000 Mfg. jobs and going to work as a waiter, busboy, dishwasher, or as a person helping people find jobs.
Or how about those good paying healthcare and education jobs and government jobs that depend on tax revenues to fund the salaries. Medicare and Medicaid payments for our aging and declining income lower middle-class should be good news unless you are the people paying the taxes to support those jobs.
Remember, they don’t pay taxes. Their “contributions” are just a return of some of the tax revenue they consume with their salary. But, it makes tax revenues look higher the more they contribute even though it came from tax revenues in the first place.
The GOP will tell us this is proof the tax cuts are working. Yup, they are, but not in a way that will be good in the long run. Let’s see, we borrow to spend to create the salaries that then return some of the borrowed money so that it can be counted as “tax revenues.” Hmmm? Smoke and mirrors?
Increasing debt to raise tax revenues seems kind of like a scam.
Bart
Let me apologize in advance. I know you think that means the glass is half-full and the GOP is doing great.
I may think the Dems are even worse but that doesn’t mean I have to like what the GOP is doing with their deceptive reporting of the true condition of the U.S. and millions of working men and women seeing their buying power decline every year.
However, there is even more “doom and gloom,” out there for middle-class home owners and consumers and borrowers.
quote:
Mortgage delinquencies doubled last month compared to the year before. That’s
not a good thing.
The Dow fell 362 points yesterday. That’s not a good thing either.
The Fed pumped $41 billion into the financial system yesterday…and that’s probably a terrible thing.
The Fed does not toss out $41 billion lifelines unless someone is actually drowning. And if our suspicions are correct, a few big financial institutions might be at risk of slipping under the waves.
snip——————
The vast community of investors worldwide is refusing to finance mortgage-backed-securities of any size or description or credit-rating. That’s why the Federal Reserve is in bail-out mode. The Fed’s $41 billion of repo activity yesterday was the largest such injection since September 2001 (think 9-11).
http://www.agorafinancial.com/afrude/
====================
Is that a sign of a healthy nation and a healthy economy?
Jan Paul,
“Manufacturing employment continued to trend down over the month . . .”
I believe that should be “Manufacturing employment continued to trend down for the 63rd straight year.”
.
“I may think the Dems are even worse . . .”
—Evidence? I mean, from the last 70 or 80 years, if you please.
Go on, check the numbers: unemployment higher under Republican’ts; job creation lower.
Inflation higher, real economic growth lower.
Interest rates higher, the dollar lower.
Deficits larger, stock market smaller.
Run the numbers, sir.
David
Do not we need manufacturin industry in the U.S.?
Why do you think we should co-dependent on Communist China?
Is this not the same problem we have with oil via the Middle East?
The Democrats had control of Congress for 40 years during which, as you say, year after year, manufacturing dropped as a portion of GDP. They were in control during the last currency crisis, Vietnam, they expanded socialism’s grip on the U.S. They were in charge when we went from one wage earner being able to care for a family to where it takes two.
They were in control when inflations took off like a ski-slope up.
Also, for social security look at their record
quote:
Which political party took Social Security from the independent “Trust Fund” and put it into the General Fund so that Congress could spend it? It was Democrat President Lyndon and the Democrat controlled Congress House and Senate.
The Democrat party also eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding.
The Democrat party also started taxing Social Security annuities, with Vice President Al Gore casting the “tie-breaking” deciding vote.
The Democrat party led by President Jimmy Carter also decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants. Immigrants moved into America and, at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments.
Now the Democrat politicians running for public office are lying to Americans by saying the “Republicans want to take away your Social Security!”
For the record, the New Deal “entitlements” were all in violation of our nation’s Constitution.
Finally, after all of the Democrat maneuvering over the past 70 years, the Social Security Trust Fund is broke. There is no money in the Trust Fund. Instead, there is an IOU from the federal government in the amount of $1.7 trillion.
————————
A little old but still a record of the Democrats who were also in control of Congress when Reagan signed the bill they passed that raised payroll tax on social security 54% from 8% to 12.4%
The Democrats push socialism which is causing a centralization of power and wealth redistribution that is, of course, a disaster in the long run. They call themselves “progressive” after 70 years of failed policies. At least they are honest about what they want to do, how they want to pay for it, and who they want to help.
But, “good intentions” doesn’t help a nation if the policies used to carry out those “good intentions” are failures. Their policies will not let the U.S. compete in the world market any more than current GOP policies. However, Rangel at least sees the need for a corporate income tax cut. So, maybe, if they reform they will carry the day after we hit bottom.
Of course, neither party can stop the train wreck but, they could reduce the impact and prepare the citizens better for it when it comes in a few years.
As we now know, we can’t “grow” our way out of it or “tax” our way out of it. We passed the point years ago. Now, it is question of when and how hard we hit. Or what if the derivatives market is more of a problem than we realize?
Quote:
Bank of International Settlements (BIS) calculates that the total “notional” value of all derivatives outstanding in the world is a mind-boggling $415 trillion.
That’s over eight times the GDP of the entire world economy … twenty times the total value of all U.S. stocks … and fifty times all the Treasury debts of the United States Government.
The fear: That any unexpected disruption in this $415-trillion market could throw the world’s financial markets into turmoil …
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/weiss/2007/0813.html
=======================
It isn’t just the debt of the U.S. government but its citizens and corporations that is putting us at risk. Can’t really blame that on either party since both have ignored the problem.
Neither party is or has been good for America for decades in certain areas of our nations policies. Some different policies but in general, both have enough bad policies that neither can be trusted with our future.
Jan Paul,
“The Democrats had control of Congress for 40 years during which, as you say, year after year, manufacturing dropped as a portion of GDP.”
What’s your point? Last time I checked the boards of directors of US companies were a whole lot more likely to be Republican’t than Democrat.
.
As for the rest, check with the Congressional Budget Office website for the historical data on which party was in charge when the deficit soared. You might be surprised at the answer!
= = = = = = = = = =
Mr Konop,
Still fixated on bashing bits of metal together, eh? Forget the value-added industries, just build something, huh?
Get out of banking, since banks don’t actually “make” things, is that it?
Drop insurance; nothing real men make there, right?
Transport? Entertainment? Communications? Not interested.
Welcome to KonopWorld!
.
If you don’t remember, I’ll tell you again:
-o- 60% of everything China exports is made by foreign-invested enterprises.
-o- Less than 17% of everything the US imports is made in China.
-o- Imports from East Asia were a larger portion of US imports in 1987-94 – before China became a factor – than they are today.
Got it?
The GOP is a disaster and the Democrats are worse. One spends like drunken sailor. No! That is an insult to a drunken sailor.
The democrats promote socialism which is even worse for a nation but, both will bankrupt the nation, the question is which will do it sooner.
David, as you probably know, corporate America is donating heavily to the Democrats. They, I believe, realize that this GOP, at least, is worse for them than the Democrats when it comes to spending which eventually, American voters will expect business to pay for since the voters don’t want to pay for it.
If I was in “corporate America” and there was no other choice, I believe I might be tempted to switch to the democrats too.
As we are seeing in socialist nations around the world, that aren’t at war, at least they have been cutting taxes on business profits and reforming and moving back to a more sensible business atmosphere.
Combine a “peace dividend,” lower taxes (U.S. now 2nd with Japan in industrialized nations for corp. tax rate) and growing GDP, and expanding infrastructure like in many Asian nations, I can see why corporate America sees the GOP as more of a threat than a solution.
However, it really doesn’t matter. As the GAO says, we can’t grow our way out of this mess and we no longer can raise taxes enough to get out of it either. Should make for some interesting times as this all unfolds over the next 5 to 10 years. (if we don’t have some “collapse” of the dollar before then)
Neither party is worth a hoot, nor have the been any good for a long time nor can they avoid the crisis that is coming that they both helped create.