Congress succeeds again

[ljb]

Progressives scored a major victory when Sen. Dodd and others blocked Congress from giving immunity to lawbreaking phone companies.

[skate]

Progressives scored a major victory when Sen. Dodd and others blocked Congress from giving immunity to lawbreaking phone companies.

...until the Bomb goes off.

[Tom]

MEanwhle, they passed Omnibus Pork ACt of 2007.
13,000 special interst pork projects.
Over $15 billion in NEEDLESS spending.
Examples - $700 million for BIKE TRAILS in Minnesota ( almost a billion bucks!)
and $113,000 for RODNET control in Alaska.....mousetraps????

And of course, Uncle Fluffy is eager to sign it today.

I wouldn't be singing the praises of anyone associated with this government.
It is far worse than theone our founding fathers ran out at gunpoint.

Just remeber, ANYONE who votes yeah for this bill is a blatant THIEVE.
It is the one thing they are bi-partisan on.

[ljb]

MEanwhle, they passed Omnibus Pork ACt of 2007.
13,000 special interst pork projects.
Over $15 billion in NEEDLESS spending.
Examples - $700 million for BIKE TRAILS in Minnesota ( almost a billion bucks!)
and $113,000 for RODNET control in Alaska.....mousetraps????

And of course, Uncle Fluffy is eager to sign it today.

I wouldn't be singing the praises of anyone associated with this government.
It is far worse than theone our founding fathers ran out at gunpoint.

Just remeber, ANYONE who votes yeah for this bill is a blatant THIEVE.
It is the one thing they are bi-partisan on.
and I agree.

[Tom]

A thought...35,000 pages in this baby.
Bush is in a rush to sign it today.
Who read it to him? Evelyn Wood?

[JustRalph]

Hillary also got her Woodstock Museum..................

http://www.mathie.demon.co.uk/Album%20covers/RH/woodstock.jpg

[skate]

your kidding...?


that's funny.


i think it was "What's-a-Murtha-Wurtha", who received (or at least he was in line) the Most- Pork-For-Dork.

[riskman]

In the first five years of the Bush admin., federal spending increased 45%. "Real" conservatives warned about Bush's fiscal irresponsibility before he took office. For comparison's sake, during the eight Clinton years nominal federal spending increased 32%, and under Bush I federal spending increased 23% in four years. In the 2000 election, Bush II promised to shovel money into all sorts of programs — and he's kept that promise.
A significant portion of this spending is being financed with government borrowing. Much of this debt is owed to the Federal Reserve. US taxpayers are on the hook for $758 billion plus of government securities that are held by the Fed. So on average, every person in the country owes the Fed about $2500 plus.

Tax revenues and borrowing have financed all sorts of interventions. Since 1959, we have suffered from the Great Society, the war on poverty, price controls, increasingly burdensome environmental regulations, the establishment of the Department of Education and its increasing federal control over local schools, Federal Reserve created recessions, agricultural price supports, minimum wage laws, and energy policies that keep oil and gasoline prices high.

There's more. We've also had labor policies that increase the costs of hiring workers driving down their take-home pay, trade restrictions and trade agreements that give the feds control over our international trade, massive increases in the welfare state, the drug war( ha-ha ), endless pork barrel spending, and the prosecution of businessmen for political gain.

I am convinced that the two party system should become three or more before we all become wards of the state.

[skate]

In the first five years of the Bush admin., federal spending increased 45%. "Real" conservatives warned about Bush's fiscal irresponsibility before he took office. For comparison's sake, during the eight Clinton years nominal federal spending increased 32%, and under Bush I federal spending increased 23% in four years. In the 2000 election, Bush II promised to shovel money into all sorts of programs — and he's kept that promise.
A significant portion of this spending is being financed with government borrowing. Much of this debt is owed to the Federal Reserve. US taxpayers are on the hook for $758 billion plus of government securities that are held by the Fed. So on average, every person in the country owes the Fed about $2500 plus.



i recognize you 're not saying does not mean you do not know.

consider Mandatory Programs put into Law, Legislation enacted in the past, that must INCREASE with todays normal inflation, 3/4%.

So, the figures 23% to 35% to 45% increases are very much in line with the Original Laws.

Inflation up at 3% per year, over 7 years would be 21%. so, we can expectn a10% increase in Mandatory Programs.
Give away Programs that were started long ago have a built in increase.


Also, the tax payer or every person, did not take out any money from the Gov, and does not owe the Gov...

A debt of $9 Trillion today, will be a debt of $40 Trillion in 15/20 years. that debt is paid by Printing (that simple), it's the job of the Gov to Print.

the only danger would be over printing, over Inflation.

WE (USA, Gov) can handle much more Debt and the Citizen does not owe anything which the Gov Prints.
Take that to court.:cool:

[hcap]

Congratulations to the record-breaking Senate GOP — Most. Obstructionist. Ever.
Posted December 19th, 2007 at 2:18 pm

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13977.html

For quite a while, many of us have wondered whether Republican officials in Washington have any apparent talents at all. Governing is clearly not their strong suit, but are they completely without skills?

Absolutely not. The 49-member Senate Republican minority has done something no Senate minority in American history has ever done: they’ve filibustered more bills than any Congress ever has — and they broke the record with a full year to spare.

....Is obstructing all of that popular legislation “working” for Republicans?
If Congress’ approval rating is any indication, the answer is no.

So the Congress is polling lower than bush. Now you why.
Democrats don't control Congress. They may have a majority, but the repugs have dominated. The dems have layed down for the GOP. Senator Dodd has guts. Maybe this will change the cowardly behavior of others in his party

I don't give the dems a pass . They were brought in to change things. The repugs are the culprits, the dems the scared enablers.

http://www.bartcop.com/tutus-best-for-2006.jpg

Equal time cartoons

http://www.roadblockrepublicans.com/images/filibuster_widget.gif

[JustRalph]

Congratulations to the record-breaking Senate GOP — Most. Obstructionist. Ever.

The only decent thing they have done.................

[riskman]

i recognize you 're not saying does not mean you do not know.

consider Mandatory Programs put into Law, Legislation enacted in the past, that must INCREASE with todays normal inflation, 3/4%.

So, the figures 23% to 35% to 45% increases are very much in line with the Original Laws.

Inflation up at 3% per year, over 7 years would be 21%. so, we can expectn a10% increase in Mandatory Programs.
Give away Programs that were started long ago have a built in increase.


Also, the tax payer or every person, did not take out any money from the Gov, and does not owe the Gov...

A debt of $9 Trillion today, will be a debt of $40 Trillion in 15/20 years. that debt is paid by Printing (that simple), it's the job of the Gov to Print.

the only danger would be over printing, over Inflation.

WE (USA, Gov) can handle much more Debt and the Citizen does not owe anything which the Gov Prints.
Take that to court.:cool:


I'll take that "to court" ----the banruptcy court.

Last year, the federal government spent $3 trillion, which is more money than it spent from 1787 to 1900 combined, in 2007 dollars.

In 1963, John F. Kennedy was concerned when the budget hit $99 billion, because he didn’t want to be the first president with a $100 billion budget.

In 1980, when Ronald Regan promised to get government off of our backs, the federal budget was $500 billion.

In 1990, just half a generation later, the federal budget had more than doubled, to more than $1 trillion.

In 1995, when the Republicans took control of Congress, the federal budget was $1.5 trillion.

In 2000, leading into the previous administration, the budget was $1.8 trillion.

The budget last year was $3 trillion.
In short, the budget has doubled in just 13 years. It’s six times what it was in 1980, and 20 times what it was in 1960.

What happened in 1995, 1990, 1960, or even 1900, with a much smaller government? The sky didn’t fall, California didn’t break off into the ocean, and people weren’t starving in the streets.

There’s no question that our standard of living today is much higher than in previous years, but that’s in spite of government spending and regulation, not because of it.

Today, thanks to the degree of capitalism, liberty and property rights that remain in this country, the poor literally have a higher standard of living than the richest person in the world did less than 150 years ago. Consider that the wealthiest of the wealthy in the 19th Century didn’t have indoor plumbing, electricity, central heating or air-conditioning, or life-saving antibiotics and other life-saving medical technologies of 2009, much less cars, airplanes, computers, televisions, telephones, cell phones, and on and on.

Where did these things come from? Who makes life better for you: The private sector, or government?

The standard of living we would enjoy without government boggles the mind.

In contrast, what is the federal government giving us for our $3 trillion a year? It steals our money, through taxation and inflation, as the price of earning a living and attempting to save some of it. It tells us what we can buy and what we can sell, whom we can hire and whom we can fire, and with whom we can associate and with whom we cannot, as well as other impediments to the peaceful, voluntary interaction that makes civilization possible. It runs up the prices of the goods we buy and holds down the wages we earn. It keeps life-saving medicines and other products from us under the guise of ‘consumer protection.’ And that’s just for starters; I don’t have enough space to even begin detailing the ways in which government abuses us.

Budget Breakdown

On what does the federal government spend the $3 trillion it extracts from the economy yearly?

In 2007, the budget broke down as follows:

$699 billion (+4.0%) - Defense
$586.1 billion (+7.0%) - Social Security
$394.5 billion (+12.4%) - Medicare
$367.0 billion (+2.0%) - Unemployment and welfare
$276.4 billion (+2.9%) - Medicaid and other health related
$243.7 billion (+13.4%) - Interest on debt
$89.9 billion (+1.3%) - Education and training
$76.9 billion (+8.1%) - Transportation
$72.6 billion (+5.8%) - Veterans' benefits
$43.5 billion (+9.2%) - Administration of justice
$33.1 billion (+5.7%) - Natural resources and environment
$32.5 billion (+15.4%) - Foreign affairs
$27.0 billion (+3.7%) - Agriculture
$26.8 billion (+28.7%) - Community and regional development
$25.0 billion (+4.0%) - Science and technology
$20.1 billion (+11.4%) - General government
$1.1 billion (+47.6%) - Energy
And all of these figures represent increases over the previous year’s budget. (Figures in parentheses show increase.)

"The income tax accounts for $1.1 trillion, which means if it were repealed, the federal government would still be roughly the size it was in 2000, just nine years ago,

"The interest in the debt accounts for roughly 8% of the budget, so that could be eliminated with a balanced budget.

Here is I want the next president of the U.S. to say after he'she is sworn into office:
"Within 30 days, I will send Congress a budget for the new fiscal year that cuts federal spending by 50% immediately, repeals the income tax and replaces it with nothing, and requires that the budget be balanced. I’ll let them figure out what to cut; most of this spending is blatantly unconstitutional and destructive to the average person’s standard of living anyway, so overall I’m unconcerned with where the cuts will come from.

"If the budget they send back is one penny more, I will veto it.

"If they override my veto an enact their budget, then the battle will finally be joined and you will know exactly where your Senator or Representative stands on the issue of your liberty, and you can vote accordingly in the future.

"If at least one-third of one house stands up for liberty, we will reach an impasse and most of the government will be shut down. That will put no pressure on me, as I’m trying to shut most of it down – permanently. I will hold out for as long as it takes for them to pass my budget – not their budget.

Yep, a dream ----but who knows !

[PaceAdvantage]

In the first five years of the Bush admin., federal spending increased 45%.Yup...making sure there wasn't another terrorist attack (now going on eight years) was bound to cost some $$$$ after 9/11.

I notice you don't mention this in your post....odd.....

[ljb]

And again we have the FEAR card played. How about avoiding ww3 ? Oh wait that has been dropped with the latest nie report.

[Tom]

Wait unitl the wasted spending for Global Warming hits the fan!
Rat will become a family traditin at Thanksgiving!

Thanks to the left for playing the "fear factor" again.

[skate]

riskman;


Ziiiiiiiiiiing!

ok babe, good point, thanks.