Obama Adds More to National Debt in 19 Months Than All Presidents from Washington Through Reagan Combined

In the first 19 months of the Obama administration, the federal debt held by the public increased by $2.5260 trillion, which is more than the cumulative total of the national debt held by the public that was amassed by all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan.

The U.S. Treasury Department divides the federal debt into two categories. One is “debt held by the public,” which includes U.S. government securities owned by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, foreign governments and other entities outside the federal government itself.

The other is “intragovernmental” debt, which includes I.O.U.s the federal government gives to itself when, for example, the Treasury borrows money out of the Social Security “trust fund” to pay for expenses other than Social Security.

At the end of fiscal year 1989, which ended eight months after President Reagan left office, the total federal debt held by the public was $2.1907 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

That means all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan had accumulated only that much publicly held debt on behalf of American taxpayers. That is $335.3 billion less than the $2.5260 trillion that was added to the federal debt held by the public just between Jan. 20, 2009, when President Obama was inaugurated, and Aug. 20, 2010, the 19-month anniversary of Obama's inauguration.

CNS News

Ferndale Teachers Defy District and Deny Students

Wednesday morning was supposed to be the first day of school for up to 4,800 students and 330 teachers in the Ferndale school district. Instead, teachers were pounding the pavement while students expressed frustration and disgust at the strike.

Tucked in the upper northwest corner of Washington state a few miles from the Canadian border, Ferndale is a pleasant community long associated with dairy farming and oil refining, not educational labor troubles.

The issues in dispute in the negotiations included six minutes per day of planning time for elementary teachers, 10 new early release days for teacher planning and more health care plan options for teachers.

But there was confusion as to whether some of the issues were in dispute at all. Communication efforts from both the district and the union made it difficult to discern the status of negotiations or what the relative positions of the two sides were.

In addition, some teachers on the picket line claimed that an attorney for the Washington Education Association had advised them that they had a legal right to strike. When advised that Washington state law did not give them a protected right to strike, they expressed surprise.

by EFF

Changing Everything Is Of Primary Importance

It's time to turn in your primary ballot! We urge you to vote for Justice Richard Sanders and Justice Jim Johnson.

Both of these men will stand for our Constitution, so we must stand with them!Their opponents will not, and will use every opportunity to legislate from the bench.

We can't let that happen!

Please note these critical judicial races will be determined on Tuesday which makes your ballot of primary importance!

Please mail in your primary ballot as soon as possible.

Support every conservative!

Remember...we can change everything...if we vote!

Health Care's Dirty Little Secrets

Dirty little secrets keep emerging from the belly of the beast, otherwise know as the Obama health care bill, imposed by Democrats on the American people.

And here's another one today as reported by ABC News:

Starting Jan. 1, 2012, Form 1099s will become a means of reporting to the Internal Revenue Service the purchases of all goods and services by small businesses and self-employed people that exceed $600 during a calendar year. Precious metals such as coins and bullion fall into this category and coin dealers have been among those most rankled by the change.

This provision, intended to mine what the IRS deems a vast reservoir of uncollected income tax, was included in the health care legislation ostensibly as a way to pay for it. The tax code tweak is expected to raise $17 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Taking an early and vociferous role in opposing the measure is the precious metal and coin industry...

Pat Heller, who owns Liberty Coin Service in Lansing, Mich., deals with around 1,000 customers every week. Many are individuals looking to protect wealth in an uncertain economy, he said, while others are dealers like him.

With spot market prices for gold at nearly $1,200 an ounce, Heller estimates that he'll be filling out between 10,000 and 20,000 tax forms per year after the new law takes effect.

"I'll have to hire two full-time people just to track all this stuff, which cuts into my profitability," he said.

Republican Representative Dan Lungren has introduced legislation to repeal this section of the health care bill recognizing it will place a significant burden on the small businesses who are the job creators of our economy. However with entrenched Democrat control in place it will prove impossible to pass.

Which brings up November.

Unless we make real changes in those elected to lead, at both the national and state level, we will certainly face unprecedented economic disaster.

Real change begins on November 2. If you haven't engaged in the process of electing principled conservatives to office this should motivate you.

For Democrats Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

Obama-Pelosi Plan A Lame Duck Strategy Of Union 'Card-Check,' Cap And Trade, And So Much More.

By JOHN FUND

Democratic House members are so worried about the fall elections they're leaving Washington on July 30, a full week earlier than normal—and they won't return until mid-September. Members gulped when National Journal's Charlie Cook, the Beltway's leading political handicapper, predicted last month "the House is gone," meaning a GOP takeover. He thinks Democrats will hold the Senate, but with a significantly reduced majority.

The rush to recess gives Democrats little time to pass any major laws. That's why there have been signs in recent weeks that party leaders are planning an ambitious, lame-duck session to muscle through bills in December they don't want to defend before November. Retiring or defeated members of Congress would then be able to vote for sweeping legislation without any fear of voter retaliation.

"I've got lots of things I want to do" in a lame duck, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W. Va.) told reporters in mid June. North Dakota's Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, wants a lame-duck session to act on the recommendations of President Obama's deficit commission, which is due to report on Dec. 1. "It could be a huge deal," he told Roll Call last month. "We could get the country on a sound long-term fiscal path." By which he undoubtedly means new taxes in exchange for extending some, but not all, of the Bush-era tax reductions that will expire at the end of the year.

In the House, Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters last month that for bills like "card check"—the measure to curb secret-ballot union elections—"the lame duck would be the last chance, quite honestly, for the foreseeable future."

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, chair of the Senate committee overseeing labor issues, told the Bill Press radio show in June that "to those who think [card check] is dead, I say think again." He told Mr. Press "we're still trying to maneuver" a way to pass some parts of the bill before the next Congress is sworn in.

Other lame-duck possibilities? Senate ratification of the New Start nuclear treaty, a federally mandated universal voter registration system to override state laws, and a budget resolution to lock in increased agency spending.

Then there is pork. A Senate aide told me that "some of the biggest porkers on both sides of the aisle are leaving office this year, and a lame-duck session would be their last hurrah for spending." Likely suspects include key members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Congress's "favor factory," such as Pennsylvania Democrat Arlen Specter and Utah Republican Bob Bennett.

Conservative groups such as FreedomWorks are alarmed at the potential damage, and they are demanding that everyone in Congress pledge not to take up substantive legislation in a post-election session. "Members of Congress are supposed to represent their constituents, not override them like sore losers in a lame-duck session," Rep. Tom Price, head of the Republican Study Committee, told me.

It's been almost 30 years since anything remotely contentious was handled in a lame-duck session, but that doesn't faze Democrats who have jammed through ObamaCare and are determined to bring the financial system under greater federal control.

Mike Allen of Politico.com reports one reason President Obama failed to mention climate change legislation during his recent, Oval Office speech on the Gulf oil spill was that he wants to pass a modest energy bill this summer, then add carbon taxes or regulations in a conference committee with the House, most likely during a lame-duck session.

The result would be a climate bill vastly more ambitious, and costly for American consumers and taxpayers, than moderate "Blue Dogs" in the House would support on the campaign trail. "We have a lot of wiggle room in conference," a House Democratic aide told the trade publication Environment & Energy Daily last month.

Many Democrats insist there will be no dramatic lame-duck agenda. But a few months ago they also insisted the extraordinary maneuvers used to pass health care wouldn't be used. Desperate times may be seen as calling for desperate measures, and this November the election results may well make Democrats desperate.

Freedom From Government Monopoly

This week the Save Our Jobs Coalition submitted more than 340,000 signatures to place I-1082 on the fall ballot. That initiative would move this state away from a government monopoly on workers’ comp by allowing private insurance companies to offer competing coverage.

Contrary to what some may believe, I-1082 does not privatize the current system. Instead, it adds a private option so that employers have choice – without reducing benefits to injured workers. Money saved through better administration and reduced premiums will help employers provide more jobs in this tenuous economy.

This holiday weekend, when you are celebrating American independence, remember that this may be the year employers and employees can declare freedom from a government-run insurance monopoly.

For more information about I-1082 or to contribute to the campaign, visit http://http://www.saveourjobswa.com./

Posted by thefarmstand.org

Next President Elected By 15% of Voters...If National Popular Vote Has their Way

Rapidly advancing movement to eliminate Electoral College shifts control to coasts

A four-year-old effort that effectively would turn the Electoral College out to pasture in the United States by arranging a direct vote of president by the people is gaining strength, and is poised to claim support from states that control 106 of the 270 votes now needed to claim the Oval Office.

The total might be even higher already.

But that has a number of analysts alarmed, including author Tara Ross, who has written in opposition to the concept of a direct national vote for president at the Save Our States.com website.

"Eliminating the Electoral College would probably mean at least two things: Elections will become easier to steal and the two-party system will be undermined. So it follows that two types of political parties would benefit the most: Those that don't mind stealing elections and third parties," she wrote.

The California-based National Popular Vote has been working since about 2006 on its plan that would assign Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who has captured the most individual votes in a presidential election nationwide – no matter who has won in an individual state.

The Electoral College system now assigns votes by the state – or in a couple of cases by the congressional district – based on the popular vote in that state or district. This is the circumstance that gave George W. Bush the presidency in 2000 even though Al Gore collected more popular votes.

It is being promoted in state legislatures – it has been introduced in all 50 – as a compact among the states in which legislators commit their state's votes to the popular vote winner as soon as there are enough states to guarantee a victor with 270 Electoral College votes.

So far, Hawaii, with 4 votes; New Jersey, 15; Illinois, 20; Maryland, 10; and Washington, 11; have made commitments. As of now, there are active bills that could put another three states in that camp: New York, 31; Massachusetts, 12; and Delaware, 3.
That would total 106 of the needed 270 Electoral College votes.

Ross, who has written, "Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College," said in a National Review analysis that the campaign is coming "startlingly close to success even as most Americans remain completely unaware that the presidential-election process is so close to being turned on its head."

Tom DeWeese claims the Electoral College is an effective way of keeping every state in play in a presidential election.

"The abolishment of the Electoral College would, in fact, establish an election tyranny giving control of the government to the massive population centers of the nation's Northeastern sector and the area around Los Angeles. If these sections of the nation were to control the election of our nation's leaders, the voice of the ranchers and farmers of the Mid and Far West would be lost, along with the values and virtues of the South. It would also mean the end of the 10th Amendment and state sovereignty. "

WND columnist Henry Lamb has joined those expressing concern.

"Democracy is often described as two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Democracy is mob rule. Democracy collapses when the majority discovers it can vote for itself treasure from the public coffers. Democracy is the last plateau of social order before anarchy," he has written.

"The last remaining vestige of a federal republic is the Electoral College, an ingeniously designed system to insure that small states are not overrun by large states in the election of the president. Now, there is a powerful movement afoot to bypass the Constitution, and the amendment process, and destroy the Electoral College, which would transform America into a pure democracy," he said.

"The National Popular Vote movement seeks to get legislation adopted in enough states to guarantee that the president will be the candidate who receives the majority of the popular vote, thereby nullifying the constitutionally prescribed Electoral College," he continued. "The genius of the Electoral College designed by the founders is that it provides at least a degree of check and balance against the nation being perpetually led by a president chosen by urbanites. The Electoral College requires candidates to be aware of and concerned about the desires of all states, not just the states with the largest populations.

"It is essential that the president of the United States never be the choice of one segment of the population, or a "faction," as James Madison feared. The president must represent the broadest possible range of ideas and concerns of Americans all across the varied landscape," he said.

By Bob Unrauh

You can read the entire article on World Net Daily here.

Democrats New Financial Rules " No One Will Know...

"No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we've done something that has been needed for a long time."

Key House and Senate lawmakers agreed on far-reaching new financial rules early Friday after weeks of division, delay and frantic last-minute deal making. The dawn compromise set up a potential vote in both houses of Congress next week that could send the landmark legislation to President Obama by July 4.

Lawmakers pulled an all-nighter, wrapping up their work at 5:39 a.m. -- more than 20 messy, mind-numbing, exhaustive hours after they began Thursday morning.

"It's a great moment. I'm proud to have been here," said a teary-eyed Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee led the effort in the Senate.

"No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we've done something that has been needed for a long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get this job done."

Both the House and Senate must approve the compromise legislation before it can go to Obama for his signature.

FOX Nation

Economic Realities Hold Bitter Pills For Democrats and Their Unions

The economy is forcing leaders to swallow bitter pills these days.

Gov. Gregoire recently announced plans to consider major reforms to cut government costs. Unemployment, while falling, is still at 9.1 percent. The state faces a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall just months after "fixing" the last deficit.

Despite this the Washington Federation of State Employees is suing to prevent the state's plan to furlough state employees. The union argues that the furlough plan violates public employees' statutory and constitutional (hmmm....) rights.

And there you have it: the problem with public employee unions.

Regardless of the economic constraints placed upon the state the union will oppose cost-saving measures that affect the union's members.

Forget reality and forget the budget crisis.

Now,do I want to see these individuals and their families out of jobs? No,of course not. But the perverse nature of government unionization is that employees everywhere else are forced to accept economic realities while also shouldering the burden of sustaining the government union's dreamland.

by Mike Reitz

Murray...Lack of Respect or Lockstep

by Bryan Myrick

In 2007, when Petraeus came before Congress to testify on the progress of the war in Iraq, his honest report was preceded by choreographed howling from the rabid anti-war Left.

As soldiers risked their lives executing a surge campaign that would ultimately be effective, Democrats and their allies were conducting a different kind of surge to undermine the military mission and attack leaders like Petraeus. Murray was a dutiful lieutenant in the overall effort to erode public support for the war, going so far as refusing to vote to condemn personal attacks against Petraeus.

While Moveon.org coordinated the anti-war media campaign – punctuated by its infamous full-page “General Betray Us” ad – Murray worked hard to make use of the negative public opinion it generated.

In September 2007, Murray and 24 other Democrats voted against an amendment to show full support for Petraeus and “condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces.”

For the record, Obama did not vote on the measure. Shocking.

Murray’s upcoming vote on Obama’s appointment of Petraeus, therefore, will say a great deal about her principles. She cannot claim to have voted against supporting Petraeus simply because of who the commander-in-chief was at the time, because that truly was not the question put before the Senate.

The vote taken in 2007 was an up or down referendum on the character and fitness of the same man that stood beside Pres. Obama Tuesday morning in the White House Rose Garden, and if she saw serious deficiencies in his ability to lead at that time it is implausible that she would not find the same features in him today.

Neither can Murray claim to have changed her mind about Petraeus in light of the fact that he succeeded in radically reestablishing the kinetic advantage American-led forces had in Iraq and thus bringing greater stability to a country that had at one point been on the precipice of civil war.

The Petraeus plan was the same plan supported by Pres. George W. Bush, and admitting that Bush owns the victory in Iraq is political suicide for a Democrat.

So, will Murray risk breaking ranks with Obama on an issue in which national security is at risk? Or will she simply pull an Obama and vote “not present?”

That is within the scope of possibility, but as the Senate has a key role in foreign affairs any failure to weigh in at a critical moment for the country would be fair game in the upcoming election. The disgrace of Gen. Stanley McChrystal has become a catalyst for renewed debate concerning the Afghan mission. It will be an issue in the Senate campaign.

Whatever course Murray takes in devising a compromise between her lack of respect for Petraeus and her lockstep record of voting with Obama and her party, watching it unfold will be an old-fashioned, popcorn-eatin’ good time!

Coast Guard Halts Clean Up in Gulf

Eight days ago Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state's oil-soaked waters. At a rate of over 4000 gallons per hour crude oil was removed from the Gulf by powerful vacuums and place safely into a waiting fleet of barges...that is, until the Coast Guard came and shut them down.

So on day 59 of this disaster, with 52 mile of coastline compromised, sixteen barges with giant vacuums sat idle...by government order.

Why? The Coast Guard said they needed to confirm there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and they had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.

"These barges work. You've seen them work. You've seen them suck oil out of the water," said Jindal. "The Coast Guard came and shut them down,"

After Jindal strenuously made his case, the barges finally got the go-ahead today to return to the Gulf and get back to work, after more than 24 hours of sitting idle.

Counting Words to Assess Priorities

Obama Speech Breakdown
Counting the president's words to assess his priorities

by Mark Impomeni

President Obama’s much hyped Oval Office address on the Gulf oil disaster is being roundly criticized from the left and the right as lacking in substance and leadership on the spill but full of presidential inaction on the cleanup. An analysis of the number of words the president devoted to the four general topics of the speech shows that the critics are right.

The problem seems to be in Obama’s priorities, as the word count shows. This was not a speech about the oil spill, the aftermath, or recovery in the Gulf. It was largely a sales pitch for Obama’s “green energy” agenda.

Obama spoke close to 2,700 words in his first Oval Office address, which can be separated into four broad themes: an update the oil spill and clean up efforts; the impact on the Gulf region; a history of regulatory ineffectiveness (Bush bashing); and the case for his “green energy” agenda.

Here is how the sections breakdown in words spoken on each:

• 345 words blaming Bush
• 418 words on the impact to Gulf region
• 778 words on the oilspill and cleanup efforts
• 863 words on Obama’s “green energy” agenda

Clearly, the president’s number one priority in making this speech was to make the case for his high tax, command and control, lifestyle changing, carbon regulating energy plan.

Moreover, Obama placed his 863 words on “green energy” at the end of his address. In so doing, the president organized the speech on the principles of inductive logic - in which the bad news comes first in order to soften the impact of the proposed solution.

Everything which comes before his pitch for “green energy” is properly seen, then, as support for Obama’s proposal. The crisis, the impact, the lives of those affected, all props in Obama’s drive to remake the nation’s energy policy.

Last night, Obama revealed himself to be nothing more than a snake-oil salesman. He knows that the public does not want his energy-limiting scheme, but he is determined to force it on America using the worst environmental tragedy in the nation’s history as the hook. Never let a crisis go to waste.

Pay Close Attention - This One Should Be Riveting

In grocery store parking lots (and even inside Costco stores), they’re gathering signatures on initiative petitions. In county auditor offices and in Olympia, they’re signing up to run for office.

Election season has begun in Washington. And with a record number of initiatives filed, along with competitive races taking shape for seats in Congress and the Legislature, it should be fun to watch — even if you’re not one of those too-talkative political nerds people avoid at parties.

If ever there was a year to pay close attention to issues and candidates, this is it.

• A record number of initiative petitions (77) were filed with the Secretary of State’s Office. Some will spark a spirited debate: putting hard-liquor sales in private hands; legalizing marijuana; enacting an income tax on the wealthy; busting the state’s monopoly on worker’s compensation insurance; and reinstituting a supermajority requirement for the Legislature to raise taxes, to name a few.

To qualify for the November ballot, petition supporters must gather 241,153 valid voter signatures by July 2. Expect to be approached soon, if you haven’t been already.

• Patty Murray’s U.S. Senate seat, which appeared safe a few months ago, is now in play. Republican Dino Rossi’s statewide name recognition, along with an apparent anti-incumbent mood, makes this a race to watch. (We’re assuming both will advance from the Aug. 17 primary. If you disagree, we can discuss it at some social event — in an otherwise empty room.)

Every seat in the state House of Representatives is up for election, as are 25 of the 49 Senate seats. Some races will feature contests in the primary. Under the primary system approved by voters in 2004, the top-two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party preference.

Might that set up an all-Republican or all-Democrat final? Probably not in relatively moderate Snohomish County this year, but, hey, it’s possible.

Three seats on the state Supreme Court are up this year, too. Judicial races are worth paying attention to in June, July and August, because if any candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary, they win the seat.

Whether you’re on the right, left, firmly in the center or hovering above the fray, this election will be worth your attention. Who knows? People might even start talking about it at parties.

HeraldNet Editorial

Candidate Filing Week Begins

The election season is officially open with the start of filing week in Washington.

Candidates headed to the secretary of state's office Monday in Olympia.

Races this year include the U.S. Senate seat held by three-term incumbent Democrat Patty Murray. All the state's congressional seats are up, including an open seat in the 3rd Congressional District in southwest Washington where Brian Baird is not seeking re-election.

All 98 state House positions are up for re-election, as are 25 state Senate seats.

Three state Supreme Court seats are also up, as well as numerous court of appeals and superior court positions.

The deadline for candidates to file is June 11. Washington's primary election is Aug. 17.

AP

Gone..."Effective Immediately"

From FOX News: Veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas announced her retirement Monday following an uproar over comments she made about Jews in Israel.

Hearst Corporation, which employed Thomas as a columnist, put out a brief story by Hearst News Service announcing the retirement "effective immediately."

The announcement came after the White House Correspondents Association decried her remarks as "indefensible" and began to consider whether Thomas should continue to have the privilege of a front-row seat in the briefing room.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called her remarks "offensive and reprehensible" on Monday, as other former White House spokesmen called for Thomas to be fired.

The announcement Monday marked an abrupt end to a career that has spanned decades.

Speaking of Obama Spending

Our national debt recently topped $13 trillion. The Washington Times crunched the numbers on Obama’s spending, and here’s what they found:

“At $13 trillion, that figure has risen by $2.4 trillion in about 500 days since President Obama took office, or an average of $4.9 billion a day. That’s almost three times the daily average of … the previous administration.”

The Stand at Ground Zero

They started showing up long before the rally began at noon today. They came from Washington state, California, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, South Carolina, Florida, and elsewhere. They were Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, atheists, Muslims of conscience. They were lovers of freedom.

An hour before the rally began, they numbered 1,000. Zuccotti Park's owners withdrew their permit to allow us to gather there, and so the police repeatedly requested that people leave the park and move into the pens that the police had set up at Church and Liberty streets. Before noon, however, the pens were full -- and so, with free citizens having every legal right to be in the park, the park became a site for the rally.

By the time the rally was in full swing, the crowd filled the pens, the park, and the other side of the street. Police estimated that 5,000 people were there, and other estimates ranged as high as 10,000. The crowd carried signs expressing their love for freedom, their contempt for Sharia, and their anger at Islamic supremacism and insult to the memories of those murdered on 9/11 that this mosque represents.

Robert Spencer

King County Metro Drivers Enjoy the Third-Highest Wages in the Nation

Life is good for King Co. Metro drivers according to this interesting post by Erica Barnett on Publico:

New information released by King County Metro shows that Metro drivers enjoy the third-highest wages in the nation, behind only Boston and San Jose. The top wage for a driver at Metro is $28.47 an hour—higher than drivers’ wages in much more expensive cities like San Francisco ($27.92) and New York ($28).

Metro drivers have also enjoyed significant wage increases over the years, averaging a 3.9 percent annual increase since 2004. That’s significantly higher than the Consumer Price Index (inflation rate) in Seattle, which rose an average of 3.2 percent a year between 2004 and 2008 and just 0.6 percent in 2009.

Only Las Vegas transit operators, who enjoyed an average wage increase over the past five years of 4.5 percent, had a larger pay increase—and they make far less than Metro drivers, topping out at just $19.60.

Meanwhile, Metro projects a budget shortfall due to declining sales-tax revenues of $600 million over the next three years.

You can read the rest here.

Time to Reclaim Self-Government from the Political Class

Richard Davis published an interesting article in yesterday's Everett Herald titled "Government by the people needs renewal" from a recent interview he conducted with pollster Scott Rasmussen. I have exerpted a section below.

In an extended essay, “In Search of Self-Governance,” Rasmussen explores the growing disaffection between the American public and the political class.

He writes, “… the gap today between Americans who want to govern themselves and politicians who want to rule over them may be as big as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18th Century.”

The divide transcends the usual political lines of demarcation.

“The American people don’t want to be governed from the left, the right, or the center,” he writes. “The American people want to govern themselves.”

He reflects on the Founders’ commitment to checks and balances, consciously designed to thwart swift government action. In this way, “the Founders created a mechanism that would force society to reach a consensus before” launching major new programs. Until the recent health-care reform, that demand for consensus has largely prevailed.

Our state has even more countervailing influences built into its governing documents. We have initiative and referendum, the plural executive (nine statewide elected officials), and an elected state Supreme Court. Our founders so distrusted government that they did everything possible to render it inefficient and ineffective.

Rasmussen…encouraging more public involvement. He recommends the usual transparency fixes, like posting legislation before a vote and disclosing meetings between lawmakers and regulators. He also suggests giving the public control of the purse strings, at all levels of government.

“With today’s technology and communications capabilities,” he writes, “there is absolutely no rational reason to keep voters out of the loop on tax increases.” He similarly calls for a public vote on tax exemptions offered to individual companies. At the Research Council dinner, he went further, suggesting a national referendum on major policy measures, like health care reform.

He may be on to something. We can quibble with the details, but it’s clearly time to reclaim self-government.

Richard S. Davis, president of the Washington Research Council, writes on public policy, economics and politics.

It’s Time for Washington to Get Competitive - Yes on I-1082

FACTS

Initiative 1082: The Time is Right for a Competitive Option in Workers’ Compensation

Our Costs Are Too High

■Despite a 52% decrease in on the job injuries since 1990, workers’ compensation taxes have increased more than 53% over the past ten years.
■Even though claims have decreased, the Department of Labor & Industries’ administrative costs increased 82% from 1999 – 2009 (28% in just the last year).
■A recent report from the State Auditor says workers’ comp taxes will need to be increased 33% next year to keep the system solvent.
Our System Doesn’t Work
■In Washington, the average injured worker with a time-loss claim misses 270 days of work—more than twice the national average. Oregon’s average time loss rate is about 70 days.
■WA has the highest pension rate in the nation. Pension rates have increased more than 300% since 1996.
■More than 50% of injured workers are likely to receive a lifetime pension from Washington if they’ve been off work more than two years.
■Between 2007-08 Washington pensioned 3,600 injured workers, while Oregon pensioned just 24. So, for every 1 person who received a pension in Oregon, Washington handed out 150.
■A recent report from the State Auditor says our state’s Accident Fund faces a 74.4% chance of insolvency within two years. Within five years, the chance is 90%.
Washington Is Out of Step With the Rest of the Nation
■Washington is one of only four states with a government monopoly that forbids private competition for industrial insurance coverage.
■While workers’ comp taxes are falling around the country, Washington is one of only a handful of states that increased workers’ comp taxes this year. Oregon has not increased rates in 20 years—and employers there are actually enjoying rate decreases in 2010.
■Washington has the second-highest cost per employee in the nation for workers’ compensation. We provide the third most generous benefit package in the nation. There is no such thing as a high-benefit/low-cost system.

Employers Need More Choices

Five years ago, the West Virginia legislature passed a bill to transition their government-run workers’ compensation system into a competitive market. In the one year since the privatization of WV’s workers’ comp system was fully complete, the result has been:

■The number of claims filed has decreased from 40,000 to 29,000
■Claim protests have fallen 68 percent
■The overall appeals process has been streamlined, resulting in claims disputes being resolved in a shorter period of time
■Claimants have received better claims management by claims adjusters having fewer claims to manage, and
West Virginia’s open market for workers’ comp has also resulted in:

■Overall premiums have dropped over 30%, or more than $150 million
■198 different workers’ compensation insurance companies have filed rates and forms, and 154 of those have active workers’ comp policies in the voluntary market
■More than 90% of all claims are ruled upon within 30 days.
If the goal of workers’ compensation is to assist injured workers in the best way possible while maintaining a competitive business environment, shouldn’t we look at examples where both are apparently taking place?

It’s Time for Washington to Get Competitive.

The High Price of Freedom

Memorial Day is an occasion of special importance to all Americans, because it is a day sacred to the memory of all those Americans who made the supreme sacrifice for the liberties we enjoy. We will never forget or fail to honor these heroes to whom we owe so much.

We honor them best when we resolve to cherish and defend the liberties for which they gave their lives. Let us resolve to do all in our power to assure the survival and the success of liberty so that our children and their children for generations to come can live in an America in which freedom’s light continues to shine.

The Congress, in establishing Memorial Day, called for it to be a day of tribute to America’s fallen, and also a day of national prayer for lasting peace. This Nation has always sought true peace. We seek it still.

Our goal is peace in which the highest aspirations of our people, and people everywhere, are secure: peace with freedom, with justice, and with opportunity for human development. This is the permanent peace for which we pray, not only for ourselves but for all generations.

The defense of peace, like the defense of liberty, requires more than lip service. It requires vigilance, military strength, and the willingness to take risks and to make sacrifices. The surest guarantor of both peace and liberty is our unflinching resolve to defend that which has been purchased for us by our fallen heroes.

On Memorial Day, let us pray for peace — not only for ourselves, but for all those who seek freedom and justice.

Ronald Reagan

This Should Scare You

Government always grows at the expense of the private sector. Government is growing, and that should scare you.

"As for the private sector, thanks to Democrat spendthrifts, it's shrinking while the public sector grows.

"Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year," according to USA Today.

"At the same time, government-provided benefits -- from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs -- rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010."

Patriot Post

And "The Dino" Is In

After months of uselessly wasting other people's energy, time and money NOW "the Dino" decided he wants to be Senator.

Oh how very "politician-y".

A Repulsive Spectacle

Unprecedented: Calderon Slams US From House Floor. Receives Standing Ovation

by Lori Ziganto

Unprecedented, indeed. But, not surprising, given that our own President has done nothing but the same. I’m wondering if Calderon at least read the Arizona bill first, before demonizing an American state. That would actually be unprecedented, amongst our alleged leaders, at least.

President Obama, for once, forewent bowing. Not to worry, though! The Democrats in Congress picked up his slack and went one further. Standing ovations!

For a foreign leader bashing an American state. From our own House floor.

Not only do the Democrats fail to figuratively stand up for America, but they literally stand up for and applaud those who seek to condemn it. Worse, it is condemnation from the foreign leader whose own country is a primary source of our illegal immigration issues. All compounded by the fact that Arizona was forced to try to deal with their immense problem on their own, since the weak-willed and spineless folks in attendance at the Joint Meeting of Congress refused to do so.

You know, the very same ones who are breathlessly applauding and jumping to their feet in sycophantic grand-standing, including two, Janet Napolitano and Eric Holder, who have admitted to not reading the 16 page law. Which I’ve read and can comprehend. Granted, I’m no community organizer or an (alleged) lawyer, but still.

Allahpundit at Hot Air notes:

It’s a repulsive spectacle. And as bad as it is, it’s not even the most audacious bit of meddling that Calderon did today. Brace yourself for this.

On the gun question, Mr. Calderón said: “We have seized 75,000 guns and assault weapons in Mexico in the past three years, and more than 80 percent of those we have been able to trace came from the United States.”

He said it did not seem coincidental that violence in Mexico had begun to grow in 2006, not long after the weapons ban expired in the United States.

That’s right. WE are the source of Mexico’s problems, according to Calderon. If only we had weapons bans, Mexico would be free of crime and violence!

On the plus side, at least we can save some tax-payer cash. There is no longer a need for Obama to travel to commence apology tours. Now, he just invites the foreign leaders here where he apologizes and they bash.

From our House floor.

To cheers and ovations. Remember that, in November. Remember who cheered the bashing of an American state and the denigration of American citizens. For passing a law necessitated by the fact that the federal government themselves refused to act.

Arizona is just doing the job the federal government doesn’t want to do.

A(nother) Great Big Tax

Democrat Cap And Tax Scheme

Wednesday, John Kerry (D-MA) unveiled the Democrats’ cap and trade bill in the Senate. It is 1,000 pages of new regulations, tax hikes and income redistribution. Many conservatives refer to cap and trade as “cap and tax,” but you don’t have to take our word for it.

John Dingell (D-MI) is the longest-serving Democrat in the House of Representatives. He referred to cap and trade as “a great big tax.” Warren Buffett has called it “a huge tax…and a fairly regressive one.”

The liberal New York Times inadvertently admits it even as it acknowledges that cap and trade is a massive redistribution of wealth scheme. Here’s how the Times described Kerry’s bill in a May 13th column: “Two-thirds of allowance revenues raised by the program, outside the 25 percent that goes toward paying down the deficit, will go to households through their utility bills. Low-income residents will receive additional rebates.”

If Congress wants to reduce the deficit, don’t come up with great big, huge new taxes. Just cut spending! And why bother imposing a tax when you know from the outset that 66% of it will be given back? Where’s the logic in that? It’s socialist redistribution of wealth plain and simple. It couldn’t be more obvious.

And why are those rebates necessary? Because cap and trade is a massive tax on energy intended to cause utility rates to skyrocket. Don’t believe me? Barack Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2008, “Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

Unfortunately, it’s more than just your utility bill. Cap and trade will cause food prices to skyrocket, it will cost families $1,800 a year, and lead to $7.00 a gallon gasoline.

Gary Bauer

Democrat Debt Crisis - U.S. Deificit 4X Higher in One Year!

From Reuters today:

The United States posted an $82.69 billion deficit in April, nearly four times the $20.91 billion shortfall registered in April 2009 and the largest on record for that month, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

It was more than twice the $40-billion deficit that Wall Street economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast and was striking since April marks the filing deadline for individual income taxes that are the main source of government revenue.

Department officials said that in prior years, there was a surplus during April in 43 out of the past 56 years.

The government has now posted 19 consecutive monthly budget deficits, the longest string of shortfalls on record.

The U.S. full-year deficit this year is projected at $1.5 trillion on top of a $1.4 trillion shortfall last year.

White House budget director Peter Orszag told Reuters Insider in an interview on Wednesday that the United States must tackle its deficits quickly to avoid the kind of debt crisis that hit Greece.

Democrats obviously enjoy spending with astounding reckless abandon, even to the point of placing our nation in the same peril as Greece.

Puerto Rico - Our 51st State?

Puerto Rico is amazing, but do we want it as our 51st state? I don't think so! Would you be surprised to know that later this week the U.S. House is scheduled to vote to begin the process of doing just that?

Is it a good idea? I think we should have some good information before we decide. Brian Darling from The Heritage Foundation released this post today on The Foundry:

According to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the House will vote on H.R. 2499 , the Puerto Rico Democracy Act, later this week. The legislation provides Puerto Rico a two stage voting process and makes some non-resident Puerto Ricans eligible to vote on Puerto Rican statehood.

This legislation has rigged the process in favor of making Puerto Rico the 51st state and is not a fair way to force statehood on a Commonwealth whose people may not want it. Furthermore, this may be an expensive proposition for the American people who are already on the hook for approximately $12.9 trillion in national debt.

This bill attempts to rig the voting process and denies the American people a real say on the issue of whether they want to allow Puerto Rico to be granted statehood.

The fact of the matter is that Puerto Ricans have rejected statehood numerous times and this bill seems to have been written in a way to fast track statehood without a majority of Puerto Ricans favoring the idea.

Furthermore, the people of the United States should be allowed a vote on whether they want to admit Puerto Rico as a new state. If the people of Puerto Rico can vote, the people of the United States should have a vote.

You can read the rest of Brian Darling's post here. Then call your Representative - Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121

House Attempts to "Invent" Another DC Congressmen this Thursday! Call!

The D.C. House Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional.
Ask your Representative to vote NO on H.R. 157!
Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121

After casting a career-defining vote in favor of Big Government Obamacare, congressional liberals know that they have little time left as the majority party in Congress, so they are pushing hard for all the little-known leftist bills that have been sitting in dusty desk drawers for decades. One such piece of legislation is the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act. Just last week, President Obama called on Congress to get this bill passed and to his desk before November 2010 rolls around.

Sponsored by DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2009 (H.R. 157) would establish full House of Representatives voting rights for the District of Columbia while adding an additional seat to Utah, a traditionally Republican stronghold and the next state in line to pick up a Congressional seat in reapportionment. However, there is one minor problem: D.C. is NOT a congressional district or a state!

The D.C. House Voting Rights Act would accomplish the following:

• Subvert the District Clause of the U.S. Constitution - Article I, Section 8, clause 17 - which makes clear that D.C. is a federal city, not a state, with final governing authority resting with Congress. The U.S. Constitution states that the House shall be composed of "Members chosen...by the People of the several States," not delegates representing non-state territories.

• Silence critics of D.C. voting rights by buying them off with a "sure Republican" seat because they know the D.C. seat will be a solid Democrat. In the last 12 elections since D.C. was granted the right to cast presidential electoral votes, it has never cast less than 74.8 percent of its popular vote for the Democratic presidential candidate. This move is simply a partisan trade-off by the congressional liberal Majority wanting to add a permanent Democrat vote to their tallies.
• Bribe Republicans to favor the idea by including a provision to increase the number of House Members from 435 to 437 and give the extra Representative to Utah.

• Lay the initial groundwork for achieving the ultimate goal of establishing two permanent Democrat Senate seats for the District. If the initial inclination is for DC to be "considered a Congressional district for purposes of representation in the House of Representatives," then the idea for DC to be "considered a state for the purposes of representation in the U.S. Senate," will not be far down the road.

Simply introducing a bill such as this is unconstitutional! DC cannot be "treated as though it were a congressional district," unless it were formally made a congressional district via a constitutional amendment, which would require a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress as well as three-fourths of the states to ratify it.

This is nothing new from the Left. Congressional liberals have been trying to grant full voting rights to the District of Columbia since the 1980s. The maiden attempt to amend the U.S. Constitution through the "D.C. Representation" Amendment was unsuccessful, after it passed Congress but was rejected by the American people and died on August 22, 1985 after a decisive majority of 34 of the 50 states refused to ratify it. Now, Members of Congress are attempting to forgo the constitutional process and slip one past the American people in order to accommodate their political agenda!

Remember, the Senate passed its version of the DC Voting bill (S. 160) by a vote of 61 to 37 (Roll Call 73) in February 2009. However, that bill stalled in the House because it contained a Senate Republican-offered amendment which repealed strict DC gun laws. Although the language of H.R. 157 has not yet been made public, the bill is expected to contain either the same or similar gun provisions, and although many House liberals favor DC gun control laws, it is likely that the liberal House leadership will approach this legislation in much the same way it did Obamacare: Pass it now, fix it later.

TAKE ACTION!

The House is scheduled to vote on H.R. 157 on Thursday, April 22, 2010! Please call and email your representatives and tell them to vote NO on this unconstitutional bill!

Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121

Eagle Forum

Firm Pledge

Barak Obama campaigning in 2008:

“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”

Held Hostage With Lies

Dori Monson had this interesting post on My Northwest:

King County officials say they will likely put a sales tax increase on the ballot this summer. They say they need to jack the tax to avoid drastic cuts to police and criminal justice services.

Without the increase, they claim there will be no more tracking of burglars, fewer domestic violence investigations, arrest warrants piling up, and fewer cases filed.

And they say they need to raise the tax because they have already cut to the bone.

Really?

Take a look at this link with the list of the 17,894 King County employees and their salaries. I'm not very good with Excel - but I know some of you are. Do any of you in the comments want to take a shot at breaking down how many are making over $100,000/year? What is the average salary?

And see if you can find some of the more ridiculous job titles.

But most importantly, can anyone look at this list and tell me, with a straight face, that there is no fat to cut in King County? And that they need to raise taxes to preserve law enforcement?

Please stop buying this game that our politicians play - holding that which is important to us hostage - so their lies can grease the skids for yet another tax increase. It's an incredibly sleazy, shameless strategy on their part.

King County employee salaries

One commenter discovered this: I count 1,473 employees making over 100k/year while the average gross is $54,349.34. Michael David Miner, Police Officer, added 127k worth of overtime to Gross 228k, more than doubling his salary.

Public Disapproval Grows

A new KING 5 News poll of people statewide finds strong disapproval of the job Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Legislature is doing.

In a poll of 600 adults conducted by SurveyUSA, 62 percent say they disapprove of Gregoire's job performance. 35 percent approve and 3 percent are not sure.

It's even worse for the Legislature. Seventy percent disapprove of the job they are doing while just 21 percent approve. Ten percent are not sure.

The poll comes two days after the Legislature approved about $800 million in new taxes to help close a $2.8 billion budget hole.

by DREW MIKKELSEN / KING 5 News

Tax Burden Dangerously Shifted To One Side Of The Boat

Much has been made in recent years of the "Bush tax cuts" for wealthier individuals, and certainly there have been benefits for higher-income Americans. But the class warfare waged by Democrats is sorely misguided.

Here are the facts:

- The top 1 percent of wage earners in this country pay more than 40 percent of all federal income taxes.

- The top 5 percent pay over 60 percent of all federal income taxes.

- The top 10 percent pay over 71 percent of all federal income taxes.

Those numbers completely debunk the emotional blackmail coming from the left about who pays the freight in this country.

But it is what it is, as they say. The more troublesome statistic is that we are approaching the day when a majority of this country pays no income taxes.
Think about the ramifications of that.

When a majority of voters receive government services without paying for them, the natural incentive is to seek more of those services -- and not to bother about whether tax rates have to increase to support those services.

That starts a political and mathematical chain reaction that leads toward a financial meltdown. It is simply unsustainable.

Nor is it healthy, even for those who end up on the receiving end.

"We have 50 percent of people who are getting something for nothing," Curtis Dubay, senior tax policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, told the Associated Press.

National policies cannot help but be warped if half or more of the people in this country have no skin in the game.

Moreover, you have to ask: Should Americans even want a tax system that requires nothing of so many of us? Where's the pride? Where's the American spirit of self-reliance and selflessness?

Tax time tends to pervert the spirit. Americans are the most generous on Earth when it comes to helping out the less fortunate with their time, talent and treasure. One recent news report brought that home in a very personal way: A nurse headed for volunteer work in Haiti broke her leg in three places, then learned she had breast cancer -- and she still left for Haiti.

Yet, late-night television ads happily trumpet how individuals and couples have managed to drastically reduce or eliminate the federal taxes they owe. Is that really something to celebrate? Didn't those people just shift more of the tax burden onto you?

A lower tax burden for all is a good thing. But shifting the weight too much to one side of the boat will only make it perilously unstable.

We're all in the same boat. Shouldn't everyone who's capable grab an oar?

Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff

Obama Tax Hikes...So Far

Yesterday, President Obama made the following comment in Miami about the Tea Party rallies on Tax Day:

"In all, we passed 25 different tax cuts last year. And one thing we haven't done is raise income taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year -- another promise that we kept," he told supporters at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. "So I've been a little amused over the last couple of days where people have been having these rallies about taxes. You would think they would be saying thank you."

You know what? You're right, Mr. President. We should be thanking you. Not for keeping your actual promise never to raise "any form" of taxes on families making less than $250,000 (as opposed to the stripped-down promise you make above).

No, taxpayers should instead be "thanking" you for the following tax hikes you have signed into law (so far):

• a hike in the tobacco tax
• a new tax on individuls not purchasing and employers not providing "qualifying" health insurance
• a 40% excise tax on high-cost health insurance plans
• a new "medicine cabinet tax" on over-the-counter purchases from HSAs, FSAs, and HRAs
• increasing the non-medical early withdrawal HSA penalty from 10 to 20 percent
• a "special-needs kids" tax (capping FSA contributions at $2500)
• an increase in the top Medicare payroll tax rate from 2.9 to 3.8 percent (in so doing raising the top marginal tax rate on labor from 37.9 to 43.4 percent)
• a hike in the capital gains rate from 15 to 23.8 percent
• a hike in the dividends tax rate from 15 to 43.4 percent
• a hike in the "other" investment tax rate from 35 to 43.4 percent
• an increase in the "reduction of the deduction" for medical expenses from 7.5 to 10 percent of AGI
• new annual taxes on health insurance companies, innovator drug companies, and medical device manufacturers--which will make
• a 10% excise tax for tanning salon sessions
• eliminating the deduction for employer-provided retiree Rx coverage in coordination with Medicare Part D
• creating the "economic substance doctrine," which allows the IRS to disallow perfectly-legal tax deductions it deems are only being used to reduce tax liabilities
• requiring 1099-MISC information reporting for small business payments to corporations, increasing compliance burdens for small employers

If that's not enough thanks for you, Mr. President, maybe we should also be thanking you for the new taxes that you or your advisors have proposed on top of these tax hikes:

• a European-style value-added tax (VAT)
• a "bank tax," even on financial institutions that never received a dime of bailout money or who paid their bailouts back with interest
• restoring the death tax from totally gone (this year) to either a 45 or 55 percent rate (depending whom you ask)
• a dangerous new "cap and tax" energy tax on every American family who uses energy
• raising taxes on investment partnership managers, which will result in lower profit sharing for charities, universities, and pension plans
• restoring the "Superfund" tax for trial lawyers
• repeal "LIFO accounting," which is a tax hike on every America using liquid energy sources
• imposing a whole host of international tax hikes which will drive jobs and capital offshore
So thank you, Mr. President, for all you've done for us this Tax Day week.

Ryan Ellis, EA
Tax Policy Director of ATR

Back At Ya! Initiatives Filed To Repeal Democrat Taxes

Tim Eyman took direct aim at the $668 million of new taxes Democrats passed in Olympia on Monday by filing eight seperate initiatives to repeal them. Stay tuned.

Tax and Run

One of the state Legislature's top lawmakers voted to increase your taxes on Saturday, and then announced her retirement today. Of course she did!

Democrat House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler told the House today that she will not run for re-election in November.

Kessler has been in the Legislature for 18 years and served in the majority leadership team for about a decade. As majority leader, she is the second-ranking Democrat in the state House.

But even that position would not have protected her from the voters - the very real families and businesses she targeted with a multimillion-dollar package of tax hikes she helped pass.

So for Kessler it was tax and run...before November.

Not Enough Doctors

The very real concern of a shortage of doctos was raised in this Wall Street Journal article today:

The new federal health-care law has raised the stakes for hospitals and schools already scrambling to train more doctors.

Experts warn there won't be enough doctors to treat the millions of people newly insured under the law. At current graduation and training rates, the nation could face a shortage of as many as 150,000 doctors in the next 15 years, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

That shortfall is predicted despite a push by teaching hospitals and medical schools to boost the number of U.S. doctors, which now totals about 954,000.

The greatest demand will be for primary-care physicians. These general practitioners, internists, family physicians and pediatricians will have a larger role under the new law, coordinating care for each patient.

The U.S. has 352,908 primary-care doctors now, and the college association estimates that 45,000 more will be needed by 2020. But the number of medical-school students entering family medicine fell more than a quarter between 2002 and 2007.

A shortage of primary-care and other physicians could mean more-limited access to health care and longer wait times for patients.

Click here to read the rest of this article.

"Hardly Surprising" Americans Personal Income Down Since Obama/Biden Took Office

Real personal income for Americans - excluding government payouts such as Social Security - has fallen by 3.2 percent since President Obama took office in January 2009, according to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.

For comparison, real personal income during the first 15 months in office for President George W. Bush, who inherited a milder recession from his predecessor, dropped 0.4 percent. Income excluding government payouts increased 12.7 percent during Mr. Bush’s eight years in office.

“This is hardly surprising,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, an economist and former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. “Under President Obama, only federal spending is going up; jobs, business startups, and incomes are all down. It is proof that the government can’t spend its way to prosperity.”

According to the bureau’s statistics, per capita income dropped during 2009 in 47 states, with only modest gains in the other states, West Virginia, Maine and Maryland. But most of those increases were attributed to rising income from the government, such as Medicare and unemployment benefits.

Two of the most populous states in the country reported dramatic declines: Per capita income in California dropped 3.5 percent to $42,325; in New York, the drop was 3.8 percent to $46,957.

“The evidence from New York and California reinforces a basic lesson: Where government gets too large, prosperity suffers. Let’s hope that the Congress learns this lesson before it is too late for the country as a whole,” said Mr. Holtz-Eakin, who also served as chief economic policy adviser to Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama often derided Mr. Bush for what he said were dramatically falling incomes for workers.

“American families, since George Bush has been in office, have seen average family incomes go down $2,000,” Mr. Obama said in a September 2008 speech on the economy in Green Bay, Wis.

The bureau, which doesn’t compile statistics on “family” income, reported that per capita income rose during Mr. Bush’s two terms, from $29,159 to $32,632 (using 2005 dollar values as a base). During Mr. Obama’s 15 months in office, per capita income has dropped nearly 1 percent to $32,343.

The dropping numbers show that the $862 billion stimulus package has not turned the tide on dropping incomes.

Washington Times

Democrats Give Us The Largest Tax Increase In State History

Today Democrats in Olympia did the only thing they know how to do - raise our taxes.

Not a reform or restraint in sight, they only had eyes for our paychecks proving once again they are perfectly willing to hurt and even destroy employers and working families with the largest tax increase in state history.

Taxes include:

• A 0.30% increase in the B&O tax on all services except hospitals and scientific R&D = $242 million;
• DOT foods = $155 million;
• Cigarette($1 per pack) and other tobacco products = $101 million;
• B&O tax on economic income (Nexus) = $84.7 million;
• 50-cent per gallon (28-cents per six pack) beer tax = $59 million;
• Sales tax on bottled water = $32.6 million;
• Sales tax on candy/gum = $30.5 million;
• 2-cent per 12-ounce soda tax = $33.5 million;
• Taxes on business structure transactions = $8.5 million;
• B&O tax increase on property management salaries = $6.9 million;
• B&O increase on certain canned meat products = $4.1 million;
• B&O tax increase on mortgages = $3.6 million;
• B&O tax increase on corporate officer salaries = $2.1 million;
• Tax increase on bad debts = $1.7 million;
• Tax increase on livestock nutrient management = $1.3 million;
• Tax increase on PUD electric bills = $1.2 million;
• Personal liability for tax debts = $1.1 million.

“Families and small businesses are being targeted by new tax increases that will kill jobs and come at the worst possible time in a down economy. These new tax increases highlight an approach that refuses to reform state government in meaningful ways and embraces business as usual in Olympia.

“There have been solutions on the table since day one of the legislative session that would have created jobs, prioritized government and reformed the budget process. Nearly all of these solutions were pushed aside in favor of new tax increases.” Rep. Doug Ericksen

November is coming.

Imagine All Your Purchases Costing 20% More...

VAT = Very Abominable Tax

President Obama is vetting a new national sales tax (commonly referred to as a VAT) to extract more wealth from the private sector to sustain his insatiable hunger for more government spending.

Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke have commenced a vetting strategy to convince Americans that they need to give more and more money to an every-expanding and bloated federal government. Congress needs to just say no to a VAT — and increased taxation — as part of any pitch by this Administration to balance the budget.

Volker and Bernanke have used a two pronged strategy to vet the VAT. First is fear mongering. Bernanke argues that Americans need to choose between higher taxes or massive cuts in critical government programs.

He mentioned Social Security, Medicare, Education and Defense as areas of government spending that would be targeted if we don’t raise taxes. This is a false choice. The federal government needs to reform entitlement programs, needs to root out waste fraud and abuse and should eliminate programs like the National Endowment for the Arts.

The deficit incurred by the federal government has reached about $12.8 trillion and next year’s projected deficit is record breaking at $1.6 trillion. Obama’s solution? Not cutting government, not ending bailouts, not entitlement reform, and not stopping the Stimulus.

Instead, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke yesterday commenced a debate on higher taxes yesterday, see the Washington Post: To avoid large and ultimately unsustainable budget deficits, the nation will ultimately have to choose among higher taxes, modifications to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, less spending on everything else from education to defense, or some combination of the above.

White House economic advisor Paul Volcker, and former Chairman of the Fed, urged the United States to follow Europe and impose a Value Added Tax (VAT). The Washington Examiner has this description of a VAT:

A VAT is a national sales tax that would be collected by retailers. But it can also be imposed on products as they make their way through the manufacturing process. That is, the tax for a single product is paid by manufacturers, producers, and business that add value to the product, as well as by the consumers. Critics argue that the VAT is a regressive tax that unduly places the burden on the poor.

The reason why elites in Washington would look to a VAT before increasing income taxes (and, believe me, higher income taxes are coming) is because not enough of the population even pays income taxes to make it worthwhile for the government to use the income tax structure to balance the budget.

According to the Tax Policy Center, only about 47 percent of Americans will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009. Meanwhile, the government can extract the most amount of your wealth from a national sales tax (VAT) and Volker’s statement yesterday evidences a will on the part of this Administration to start the fear mongering process to tee up higher taxes.

Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric on the part of the agents of President Obama when they try to downplay the effort to impose higher taxes on all Americans. Volker and Bernanke would not be messaging for higher taxes if this Administration did not want them to.

A VAT, national sales tax, would be the end of economic freedom as we know it, because the federal government would then have the power to tax all aspects of our lives. Until Washington can restrain spending, we should not entrust it with the power to create a brand new tax.

by Brian Darling