Pork Barrel Fun with Clinton and Obama
Pork Barrel Spending ( aka Earmarks) is going to become more of an issue that it is now, and here is why from the LA Times.
The nonpartisan taxpayer watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste is out with its newest Pig Book, an overwhelming detailing of all 11,610 pork barrel projects inserted in the current fiscal year’s appropriations bills by individual members of Congress.
These semi-secret spending measures cost taxpayers an extra $17.2 billion this fiscal year alone. This is the first year legislators have had to attach their names to these measures.
And guess which one of the surviving presidential candidates likes pork the most? And the least?According to the Pig Book (”The Book Washington Does Not Want You to Read”), New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is our new grand national oinker among presidential contenders for most pork barrel spending. She inserted a whopping 281 individual spending projects into bills for the benefit of New York interests at the cost of taxpayers everywhere.That totals $296.2 million.
The new national hero, on the other hand, for not inserting one penny of pork barrel spending is the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. As a longtime staunch opponent of such earmarks, McCain may be expected to raise the subject of such special spending if Clinton becomes his Democratic opponent in the fall’s general election.
He may also bring it up if his opponent is Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who may be a freshman senator but still isn’t shy about inserting special earmarks into legislation cataloged by the taxpayer group’s annual report. He accounted for 53 special earmarks, totaling almost $97.4 million.
This includes about $402,000 for a juvenile delinquency program at the Shedd Aquarium and $383,000 for another ethanol research plant.
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who still technically is in the GOP race, has campaigned against large government seeping into the lives of American citizens. However, according to the Pig Book, that didn’t keep him from proposing eight pork-spending bills totaling $22 million, including nearly $4 million to alter a Galveston bridge.
Photo: Baltimore Sun
Sphere: Related ContentEx-Fed Reserve Chair Greenspan Warns Of Recession
Alan Greenspan former Chairman of the Federal Reserve says that the U.S. is teeting on the edge of a recession. He says that while oil prices aren’t the main cause, the fact that they haven’t caused one is clearly a sign of how strong are economy is at its base. He cites the housing crisis as the reason for the coming recession, and specifically its instability of the housing market. Greenspan may be giving the economy more credit than it deserves, as many people aren’t finding it do be doing anything worth while, then again it could be worse.
Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Thursday said the U.S. economy is “clearly on the edge” of a recession.
Greenspan said the economy will continue to erode until there is a stabilization of U.S. housing prices.
“We have a long way to go” before housing prices hit a bottom, Greenspan told energy executives at the CERA conference.
High oil prices are dragging on the economy, but the fact that they haven’t done more damage shows its resiliency.
“It’s a burden now,” Greenspan said. He added that it’s “quite remarkable” that the U.S. economy is “able to do reasonably well” with oil prices near historic highs.
Crude oil futures hit above $95 a barrel on Thursday and went above $100 in early January.
Greenspan again — as he had last month — said that the likelihood of the U.S. economy going into recession was “50 percent or better.”
He said the U.S. economy was growing at “stall speed.”
“Stagflation is too strong a term for what we are on the edge of,” Greenspan said.The subprime mortgage crisis would already have put the United States into recession if U.S. businesses weren’t healthy in part as the result of years of low interest rates, Greenspan said.
“If businesses weren’t in extraordinarily good shape, I have no doubt we wouldn’t be asking if we’re in a recession, but how long and how deep,” Greenspan said.
“Obviously, they (businesses) are not pushed for credit,” said Greenspan.
Banks have cut back lending and will continue tight controls on borrowing until housing prices backed by subprime mortgages stabilize, said Greenspan.
Greenspan made his comments in response to questions by Daniel Yergin, chairman of CERA.
Greenspan said he would like to see additional use of electric cars.
Nuclear power makes the “most sense” to increase U.S. power generation when all trade-offs are weighed, he said. “We have to use nuclear,” Greenspan said.
He said more discussion is needed before any “cap” is created as part of a U.S. cap-and-trade carbon program.
A carbon cap would likely lead to lower economic activity and higher unemployment if one were set before emissions-cutting technology is widespread, Greenspan said.
Greenspan said he doubted that technological advances will solve the problem of growing carbon dioxide emissions.
“If you don’t have a significant amount to trade, a lot of people won’t be able to trade and won’t have the energy they need,” Greenspan said.
Stagflation is a period when economic growth is stagnant but when prices rise. Recession is at least two quarters of negative economic growth.
Source: Reuters
Sphere: Related ContentPresident Passes Stimulus Plan Into Action
President Bush signed a stimulus plan Wednesday morning. This stimulus plan is estimated to cost $168 billion dollars. Most people in the country will get a “rebate” check that will range from $300-$1200, those checks will begin to be mailed out in May. This is a Band-Aid for a broken arm, and will probably harm the economy in the long run.
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Wednesday signed a multibillion-dollar economic rescue package on Wednesday that means $300 to $1,200 rebates for many American households.
Bush called the measure “a booster shot for our economy” to stave off a recession.
Several dozen members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, stood on the stage behind Bush as he signed the bill.
Rebates are to go out beginning in May to taxpayers and low-income people, including seniors living off of Social Security and veterans who depend on disability checks. Businesses would get tax breaks for investing in new plants and equipment.
Most taxpayers will receive a check of up to $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples from the Internal Revenue Service, with an additional $300 per child. People earning at least $3,000 and those who owe little or no taxes would get $300 for singles, $600 for couples. Those making more than $75,000 and couples with income exceeding $150,000 are to get smaller rebates — $50 less per $1,000 they make over those thresholds.
Economic analysts generally believe the $168 billion package Bush signed will help prevent the current downturn from ballooning into a crisis. But if the rebates don’t spur a consumer spending spree strong enough to cure what ails the economy, Congress is ready to throw more money at the problem. Bush said the measure was “large enough to have an impact.”Democrats and Republicans who put aside deep differences to craft the plan and rush it to enactment joined the president at the White House for the signing ceremony in the East Room. The package is designed in part to inoculate lawmakers from voter blame should the economy continue to lag as the November elections bear down.
Congressional leaders already are considering more economic rescue measures that could include transportation spending, unemployment aid and measures to address the housing crunch that’s at the root of the current economic doldrums.
In the meantime, economists are debating how effective the rebates will be, with critics arguing that debt-burdened consumers will use the money to pay bills rather than spending the checks and spurring growth.
Source: MSNBC
Sphere: Related Content
Hillary Clinton Responds To Ann Coulter
Hillary Clinton responded to republican conservative Ann Coulter’s comment that she would be voting for Hillary Clinton if John McCain got the Republican nomination for President. Clinton said ” See I told you I could bring the Country together.”
Click Here To Watch Video of Hillary’s response
Click Here To Watch Ann Coulter’s admission of who she will cast her vote
Photo Source: flapsblog.com
Sphere: Related ContentBush Announces The Largest Budget In History
President Bush announced a 3.1 trillion dollar budget proposal, which is the largest in the history of the United States. He sent the proposal on Monday, and the crying and moaning has already begun. Click here to view the budget.
WASHINGTON - President Bush sent the nation’s first-ever $3 trillion budget proposal to Congress on Monday, contending that the spending blueprint will fulfill his chief responsibility to keep America safe.
The $3.1 trillion proposed budget projects sizable increases in national security but forces the rest of government to pinch pennies. It seeks $196 billion in savings over five years in the government’s giant health care programs - Medicare and Medicaid.
But even with those restraints, the budget projects the deficits will soar to near-record levels of $410 billion this year and $407 billion in 2009, driven higher in part by efforts to revive the sagging economy with a $145 billion stimulus package.
Bush called the document, which protects his signature tax cuts, “a good, solid budget” But Democrats, and even a top Republican, attacked the plan for using budgetary gimmicks to claim the budget can return to balance in 2012, three years after Bush leaves office.
Democrats called Bush’s final spending plan a continuation of this administration’s failed policies which wiped out a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion and replaced it with a record buildup in debt.
Source: MSNBC
Sphere: Related Content
-
Search
-
Blogroll
