News Blog for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & the USA. Upholding the rights granted by God & guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, traditional family values, "republican" principles / ideals, transparent & limited "smaller" government, free markets, lower taxes, due process of law, liberty & individual freedom. Content approval rests with the ARRA News Service Editor. Opinions are those of the authors. While varied positions are reported, beliefs & principles remain fixed. No revenue is generated for or by this "Blog" - no paid ads - no payments for articles.Fair Use Doctrine is posted & used. Blogger/Editor/Founder: Bill Smith, Ph.D. [aka: OzarkGuru & 2010 AFP National Blogger of the Year] Contact: editor@arranewsservice.com (Pub. Since July, 2006)Home PageFollow @arra
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Harry Reid Acts Like Mafia Consigliere - Requests Payments for His Campaign
Politico is reporting a story which illustrates just how corrupt and brazen some progressive politicians are. Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is flexing his power as the Progressive Mafia Consigliere (under Progressive Mob Boss Obama). After threatening Wall Street with progressive socialist reform, Reid hits up Wall Street for contributions (payments) to his campaign. Consigliere Reid makes it clear that he will remember as he and his minions extends invitations to Wall Street firms. His suggestive message is clear - Pay me now or I will make you pay more later. Wall Street is being approached by more than one member of the Progressive Mafia, It is also being threatened by an Obama's lieutenant who threatens to "break up large Wall Street banks."
------------- Eamon Javers, Politico reports: On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accused Republicans of “making love to Wall Street” during the financial regulatory reform debate. But just a day earlier, at least one Wall Street firm received a request to contribute $2,500 to Harry Reid’s re-election campaign.
An invitation to the fundraiser, sent to a Wall Street firm, was obtained by POLITICO.
Reid and Republicans have been trading charges about cozying up to Wall Street for weeks, with Reid going after his Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell for meeting with Wall Street execs and McConnell returning fire about a Reid fundraiser in New York.
But Reid’s spokesman Jim Manley said Reid isn’t “taking money from Wall Street PACs right now.” He explained that Reid’s campaign has a very large mailing list, and “just because they receive an invite it doesn’t mean they are being solicited.” [Yea we hear you - wink, wink.]
The invitation shows that the event, billed as a “pre-primary breakfast,” is hosted by Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and 14 other Democratic senators. The 7:45 a.m. session on May 19th will be held at the Liaison Hotel on New Jersey Avenue, just two blocks from the Capitol building.
The invitation requests donations of $2,500 from political action committee (PAC) “co-hosts,” and $1,000 from individual “co-hosts,” who would receive “priority seating.” General seating is offered for $1,000 per PAC guest or $500 per individual.
The invitation asks that checks be made to “Friends for Harry Reid.”
On the same day as the Reid event, lobbyist Lee Weingart of the LNE Group will be hosting a $1,000 per person evening reception at his lobbying firm for Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. [Even Reid's lieutenants are asking for payments.]
An invitation to that event, too, was sent to a Wall Street firm. Brown is a co-sponsor of a measure that would break up large Wall Street banks — an idea that is extremely unpopular among Wall Street executives. “Senator Brown’s views are well known,” said Brown’s spokeswoman, Meghan Dubyak. “People who choose to support him know full well where he stands.” Weingart didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Tags:Politico, Harry Reid, corruption, progressive, Mafia, progressive mafia, Consigliere, kickbacks, campaign, contributionsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Health Reform Law Swamping U.S. Businesses With New Tax Paperwork
New Law Will “Swamp U.S. Businesses With A Flood Of New Tax Paperwork,” While “Companies Are Examining … Dumping The Health Care Coverage They Provide To Their Workers”
“Internal Documents Recently Reviewed By Fortune, Originally Requested By Congress, Show What The [Health] Bill's Critics Predicted, And What Its Champions Dreaded: Many Large Companies Are Examining A Course That Was Heretofore Unthinkable, Dumping The Health Care Coverage They Provide To Their Workers In Exchange For Paying Penalty Fees To The Government.That Would Dismantle The Employer-Based System That Has Reigned Since World War II.” “(“Documents Reveal AT&T, Verizon, Others, Thought About Dropping Employer-Sponsored Benefits,” Fortune, 5/6/10)
“An All-But-Overlooked Provision Of The Health Reform Law Is Threatening To Swamp U.S. Businesses With A Flood Of New Tax Paperwork. Section 9006 of the health care bill -- just a few lines buried in the 2,409-page document -- mandates that beginning in 2012 all companies will have to issue 1099 tax forms not just to contract workers but to any individual or corporation from which they buy more than $600 in goods or services in a tax year. The stealth change radically alters the nature of 1099s and means businesses will have to issue millions of new tax documents each year.” (“Health Care Law’s Massive, Hidden Tax Change,” CNNMoney, 5/5/10) Tags:healthcare law, tax paperwork, hidden provisions, businesses, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Michael Ramirez: H/T Blogs for BordersTags:Glenn Foden, Michael Ramirez, political cartoon, Barack Obama, immigration policy, illegal aliens, ArizonaTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:Gary McCoy, political cartoon, Barack Obama, immigration policy, illegal aliens, new voters, benefitsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: The Left has always pined for an America that was more like Europe. Liberal politicians like John Kerry and Barack Obama are more popular there than they are in their home country because their policy proposals resemble the socialist agendas that most of Europe long ago embraced.
But socialist policies have resulted in a Europe that’s been far less than resilient to the economic crisis. Many of the over-spending, over-borrowing and over-expanding European Union governments are heading towards financial bankruptcy and utter collapse. And yet, Obama and his allies still insist on remaking America in Europe’s crumbling image.
Europe’s fiscal chaos is an affirmation of Thomas Jefferson’s axiom that “a government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.”
The violence in Greece this week is the inevitable result of too much government. But Greece is not alone. Many other E.U. countries are on the verge of default. And given the Obama administration’s socialist impulses, its addiction to spending and its unflinching devotion to unions, there’s no reason to think a Greek tragedy could not happen here too.
The extent of the Greek government’s paternalism is hard to understate. Most Greeks are on some kind of government pension, disability or government benefit. Many citizens are given lavish government-guaranteed bonuses and retire in their early fifties. Government entitlements have reached a breaking point as the national fertility rate is just 1.3 children per woman, resulting in a society without enough workers to pay for the leisure of their retired progenitors. The government’s national debt is larger than its yearly economic output, and millions of people cheat on their taxes.
In order to avoid financial default, the Greek government agreed this week to “austerity measures.” The government will receive $160 billion in loans over the next three years from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. In return, Greeks will have to undertake a number of reforms.
The retirement age will rise to 60 for government workers, whose salaries will be frozen for three years. And they will no longer collect yearly bonuses that amounted to two months’ pay. Other reforms include higher taxes and cuts in government spending. As you might expect, the Greek unions are not happy. The unions organized a one-day nationwide strike that brought much of the country to a standstill (more lost productivity), and union officials said union-affiliated protesters alone totaled more than 60,000.
The protests quickly turned violent as hundreds of leftists smashed windows of stores and fast food restaurants. Police were attacked; cars were set on fire; Molotov cocktails were thrown; and three people died when a bank was fire bombed. The scene produced all the rage and lawlessness we’ve come to expect when Leftists don’t get their way. Greece is on the verge of total economic and political collapse, but there’s little reason to think the chaos won’t engulf other financially troubled European countries. Analysts worry that Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy may face similar crises.
The question for America is whether we want the New World to follow in the Old World’s stumbling footsteps. America’s chronic deficits and exploding debt leave us vulnerable to some of the same problems that many European countries are experiencing. While the U.S. dollar is still relatively strong, we have suffered from too much spending, too many taxes, too much welfare and too much regulation.
Our deficit is more than 10 percent of GDP, and within a decade our debt-to-GDP ratio will be an unsustainable 90 percent. Our unfunded liabilities exceed $100 trillion. Liberal politicians, beholden to the unions, have made promises to public employees that they simply cannot keep.
Liberals like to blame America’s economic problems on capitalism and Wall Street bankers. But the real problem is the irresponsible spending of politicians. And it will only get worse with the $10 trillion deficits that the Obama administration is projected to produce. The U.S. budget deficit for fiscal year 2010, which ends September 30th, is projected to hit an all-time high of $1.6 trillion.
The inevitable outcome of the Obama administration’s incontinent spending (which even it admits is “unsustainable”) will be either bankruptcy or austerity that could produce the type of chaos and leftwing, union-led violence we are seeing in Greece.
The left and its media allies constantly tell us that talk radio and Tea Party activists encourage hostility and foment violence among Americans who are unhappy with our over-indulgent government. But the situations in Greece and across Europe suggest something quite different. Our real concern should be the U.S. government’s devotion to socialist policies which could result in left-wing violence when such policies inevitably fail.
Capitalism did not push much of Europe to the brink of fiscal collapse. The socialist expansion of government and its stranglehold on industry choked Greece’s economy. The violence that erupted in the streets occurred when workers accustomed to their government handouts were told that it could not continue.
The present collapses in Europe should be a cautionary tale for the Obama Administration who has yet to find a problem that they wouldn’t solve with more government spending and larger federal programs. It’s time they learned what the floundering leaders of Europe refuse to admit; Big government is the problem, not the solution. Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families. He submitted the above in an email to the ARRA News Service Editor which also appears in Human Events. Bauer was a former Republican presidential candidate and served as President Ronald Reagan’s domestic policy adviser. Tags:Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, Greece, Europe, socialism, socialist agendaTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Andrew Klavan / Pajamas Media: Brought to you by the people who brought you the Financial Crisis! Barack Obama, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank are finally going to take on Wall Street fat cats and their unsavory political cronies Barack Obama, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. What's that mean for us? Government-Run Comedy and Joke Welfare.
Tags:Andrew Klavan, Pajamas Media, video. financial crisis, financial regulation, bailout, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Wall Street, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, financial reform, mortgages, Goldman SachsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington, D.C. - May 7, 2010 - Dems Track Record of False Promises & Lies
The Senate resumed consideration of S. 3217, the Dodd financial regulation bill. No votes are scheduled today. Yesterday, 57 Democrats voted to kill an amendment to the bill from Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Dick Shelby (R-AL) which would have restricted the reach of the consumer protection agency that Democrats create in the bill. Sen. McConnell described the agency as being "more about using this crisis as an opportunity to slip a vast new European-style regulatory bureaucracy past the American people than it is about holding Wall Street accountable."
Also yesterday the Senate voted 33-61 to reject an amendment from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to break up big banks. Prior to that vote, the Senate voted 35-59 to reject an amendment from Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) to the Brown amendment which would have applied the size restrictions to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Once again this week, Americans have seen how poorly the rhetoric of President Obama and Democrats in Congress matches up with reality. On unemployment and health care, Democrats’ promises have rung hollow and it’s apparent to anyone who read the news this week.
Today, the AP reports that 290,000 jobs were added over the last month, but that the unemployment rate also rose to 9.9% as many Americans continue to struggle to find work. It’s now been about 15 months since Democrats passed their $862 billion stimulus bill and unemployment continues to hover near 10%, even though key White House economic advisors predicted that the “unemployment rate with … the recovery plan [stimulus],” would not exceed 8%. In fact, according to the graph that accompanied the Obama administration’s predictions about a stimulus bill, the unemployment rate is almost 1% higher than White House estimates of where unemployment would be if Congress had done nothing.
House Republican Leaders John Boehner (R-OH) responded to the above unemployment figures: "A 9.9 percent unemployment rate is a harsh reminder that families and small businesses continue to ask ‘where are the jobs?’ Positive job growth is always welcome news, but this rising and painfully high unemployment rate is a far cry from President Obama’s promise that the trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ would keep joblessness from rising above eight percent. It has not, and millions have lost their jobs while Washington Democrats continue to push job-killing policies that pile more debt onto the backs of our kids and grandkids These misguided policies include a massive government takeover of health care, a Wall Street bailout bill, a value-added tax, a gas tax, and a government takeover of the Internet, all of which will kill jobs. Washington Democrats have no coherent agenda to create jobs, and no interest in doing anything but continue to spend money we don’t have on ‘stimulus’ programs that don’t work. Our economy will ultimately recover, but it will do so because of the hard work and entrepreneurship of the American people, not more wasteful Washington spending. Republicans have proposed better solutions to cut spending now and help put people back to work."
Obama and congressional Democrats also made assurances that their $2.6 trillion takeover of health care would not affect the insurance coverage most Americans currently have and like. The president said for months that “if you like your [health insurance] plan, you can keep your plan,” ignoring the fact that CBO and others predicted otherwise. But yesterday, Fortune Magazine reported, “Internal documents recently reviewed by Fortune, originally requested by Congress, show what the [health care] bill’s critics predicted, and what its champions dreaded: many large companies are examining a course that was heretofore unthinkable, dumping the health care coverage they provide to their workers in exchange for paying penalty fees to the government.” And of course, as Fortune pointed out, “It would also seem to contradict President Obama’s statements that Americans who like their current plans could keep them.”
Now we’re hearing from Democrats that their financial regulation legislation poses no danger of regulatory overreach to Main Street businesses that had nothing to do with the financial collapse. In fact, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) said on the floor yesterday, “This bill covers only financial products and financial services. That dentists and butchers and retailers on the street are going to be affected by this is a complete myth, totally so, and the provisions of the bill couldn’t be more clear about it. There are no new regulations.” Yet letters from business groups across the country representing a wide variety of employers and business owners said they opposed the Dodd language in the bill and supported a Republican amendment that Democrats voted down, which would have, in the words of the National Federation for Independent Business, “turn[ed] the focus of the creation of a new regulator toward financial services companies and away from small businesses.”
So given what Americans have seen over the last year, and just in the last few days of the track record of Democrat promises and assurances about the impact of their ill-conceived legislation, is there good evidence that what they’re claiming about their financial regulation bill is more accurate? Let's not be too rhetorical - the answer is Hell NO! The Dems track record of promises has proven false and full of prevarications (Lies). Tags:Washington, D.C., US Senate, US House, US Congress, Dodd Bill, financial regulation, Democrats, false promises, liesTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Government debt is literally destroying the country of Greece. The scenes coming out of that nation, which has contributed so much to Western Civilization, are very disturbing. Mobs are rioting in the streets. Communists seized the Acropolis and are urging revolution throughout Europe. A bank was firebombed and three people inside were killed. Welcome to the slippery slope of socialism.
The same brew of income redistribution, Big Government, powerful unions, class warfare, demonization of achievement, promises of entitlement and unsustainable spending is at work in Greece, much of Europe and even in America. Unions are the driving force behind the violence and unrest in Greece, shutting down schools and hospitals, just as unions here are being used to rough up Tea Party activists. The inevitable end is always the same – economic collapse and/or revolution. You’re seeing it now in Greece. Spain may well be next. American markets are in turmoil today with the DOW down nearly 1,000 points at one time, but rallying as I write.
The problem is spending. Years of socialist spending has driven Greece to the brink of an abyss. Government spending in Greece now accounts for 108% of the country’s economic output. That’s called “living beyond your means.” There just isn’t enough money available to pay for all the Left’s radical demands, and the Left seems incapable of rational debate. Just as reasonable opposition to Obama’s spending is answered with charges of racism, responsible calls for “austerity measures” in Greece have been answered with violence.
If we don’t stop the socialists here, it could happen in America too. That’s not hyperbole, friends. USA Today’s editorial board is sounding the alarm against “excessive federal borrowing” and unfunded liabilities for existing entitlement programs, not to mention ObamaCare, which hasn’t even started yet.
Meanwhile, Here At Home You may be saying, "But this is America, free market capitalism is an ingrained way of life here." That may have been true for previous generations, but we’re losing it. The current occupant of the White House is an admitted advocate of "spreading the wealth around." He won thanks in part to the overwhelming support of young adults, many of whom graduate high school and college without a basic understanding of America’s history and fundamental economics.
I think the evidence is overwhelming (from his public affiliations and his policy initiatives) that Barack Obama is not the free market advocate he claims to be. And many of his key officials have expressed radical ideas like “de-developing” the United States.
Another close associate of the president has chimed in with his thoughts on social justice. The Reverend Al Sharpton, who knows something about creating civil unrest, said that he’s working with Barack Obama to achieve Martin Luther King’s "dream" of equality. But, just to be clear, Rev. Sharpton tells us that the dream was "not to put one black family in the White House. The dream was to make everything equal in everybody’s house. President Obama being in the White House can help us get there." You can watch it here
It can't be clearer than that. Social justice equals socialism and Barack Obama’s policies "can help us get there." That's coming from Obama’s ally Al Sharpton, not me. Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families. He submitted the above in an email to the ARRA News Service Editor. Bauer was a former Republican presidential candidate and served as President Ronald Reagan’s domestic policy adviser. Tags:Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, Washington D.C., Greece, United States, economyTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
PBS: As part of a look at how both political parties are connecting with constituents on the Web, Ray Suarez reports on how Republicans and their allies are looking to harness new media in advance of this year's elections.
Tags:GOP, Republicans, social media, conservatives, Washington, D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him. Nahum 1:7
Lord,
We are thankful for the abundant blessings You have bestowed on America. Our forefathers looked to You as Protector, Provider, and the Promise of hope. But we have wandered far from that firm foundation. May we repent for turning our backs on Your faithfulness.
We pray that this great nation will be restored by Your forgiveness.
From bondage, You grant freedom.
Through Your own sacrifice, You offer salvation.
From the state of despair, You offer peace.
From the bounties of Heaven, You have blessed – not because of our goodness – but by Your grace.
You have given us freedom to worship You in spirit and in truth as Your holy Word instructs. May our lives honor You in word and deed. May our nation acknowledge that all good things come from the Father above.
Help us to pray earnestly for our president and leaders who govern, that they will humble themselves and seek Your guidance so that everything we do will shine the light of Your glory in a darkened world.
May our prayers as a people and a nation be heard and blessed for such a time as this. We make this plea in faith, believing in the mighty name of Jesus our Lord.
Amen. [From the National Day of Prayer organization]
Tags:Pray, Prayer, United States, National Day of PrayerTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington, D.C. - May 6, 2010 - In Summary, The Dodd Bill Sucks Less Today!
The Senate resumed consideration of S. 3217, the Dodd financial regulation bill. Votes on amendments are expected throughout the day. This morning, the Senate voted 98-0 to adopt an amendment from Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Jon Tester (D-MT) that requires large banks to pay more into the FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund. Yesterday, the Senate voted 93-5 to adopt the Dodd-Shelby compromise amendment to remove the $50 billion bailout fund from the bill and ensure that taxpayers won’t be on the hook for failed banks and investment firms. They also voted 96-1 to approve an amendment from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), which declares that taxpayers shouldn’t be responsible for paying for new bailouts. The voters in California must be tweaking Boxer's lately. Note, the words "taxpayers shouldn't be responsible" doesn't mean that taxpayers don't pay. Folks those without money aren't paying the bills.
The Washington Post reports today, “In a rare show of bipartisanship, the Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the financial regulatory bill aimed at ensuring that taxpayers never again be on the hook for bailing out collapsed banks and investment firms. The 93 to 5 vote brought together senators as diverse as ultra-liberal Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) and Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), the conservative who co-wrote the amendment with Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate banking committee. . . . Their deal . . . centered on a portion of the bill aimed at giving the government power to wind down large, troubled firms without putting taxpayer money at risk. The heart of the agreement was Dodd’s willingness to drop a proposed $50 billion fund, which would be filled upfront by the financial industry, that would cover the cost of closing down failing firms. Republicans had criticized the provision as a ‘bailout fund’ that could encourage financial firms to act recklessly, knowing the fund was in place.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell noted, “While some said the Dodd bill did not allow for bailouts, this bipartisan agreement improves the bill by limiting loopholes and seeks to make sure investors, not taxpayers, are on the hook when a Wall Street bank fails. Thanks to the efforts of the entire Republican Conference over the previous weeks, Sens. Dodd and Shelby had the time to address the concerns raised by members on both sides about flaws in this section of the bill.”
Fifty-seven Democrats voted for the Dodd-Shelby amendment yesterday, yet Democrat leaders had just spent weeks attacking Republicans for explaining that the original version of the Dodd financial regulation bill could perpetuate bailouts. In his weekly address, President Obama said that Sen. McConnell “made the cynical and deceptive assertion that reform would somehow enable future bailouts – when he knows that it would do just the opposite.” He later declared that it’s “not legitimate” “to suggest that somehow the legislation being proposed is going to encourage future taxpayer bailouts.”
Meanwhile, Senate Democrat leaders held press conferences to denounce Republican criticism of the bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “There is no question in my mind that the statements we’ve just seen here are untrue.” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) went even further, proclaiming, “These lies are not taking hold.” And Dodd said on the Senate floor that to “suggest that somehow what we have done here is to perpetuate ‘too big to fail’ is poppycock.”
But today, after Reid, Schumer and Dodd all voted for the amendment eliminating taxpayer liability for bailouts, Dodd said, “We’ve resolved, I believe, to virtually all of our satisfaction the too big to fail argument. We did that yesterday and I again thank my colleagues, particularly Senator Shelby and others, for helping us work through that to come to a conclusion that ends the debate as to whether or not the bill before us ends too big to fail.”
Indeed, the Dodd-Shelby amendment seems to have done that. But had it not been for Republicans, not only would there not have been a debate, the language would never have been fixed. Once again, Republicans have been proven right for their concerns about hastily drafted Democrat legislation. Unlike on the health care bill, Democrats were willing to join with Republicans to fix a major problem with the Dodd bill. They should do the same with the serious problems in the consumer protection agency provisions that remain in the bill that could harm small businesses.
Following my prior days rating system, we might agree that the Dodd Bill sucks less today! As previously identified, there are lots of special interest loopholes in this in Wall Street bailout bill. Tags:Washington, D.C., US Senate, US Congress, Dodd Bill, financial regulationTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Top 10 Special-Interest Loopholes in Wall Street Bailout Bill
GOP Leader Blog: The White House rolled out a little-noticed list of “Top 10 Most Wanted Lobbyist Loopholes” yesterday, but . . . conveniently left out a number of loopholes the White House has strongly supported - some backed by key campaign contributors like mega-billionaire Obama supporter George Soros, who reaped untold fortunes by betting against the U.S. economy and then bragged about it to a foreign newspaper ("I’m having a very good crisis," Soros was quoted . . . in 2009, in reference to the profits he made from the financial meltdown).
In truth, much like the backroom deal-laden health care law President Obama and the Democratic Congress forced upon a nation that didn’t want it, President Obama’s Wall Street bailout bill contains a host of special-interest carve-outs and loopholes designed to favor Democrats’ most powerful campaign contributors, bureaucrats, and political allies. Here are some noteworthy examples:
1. The Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Loophole. The White House-backed bill fails to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government mortgage companies that sparked the financial meltdown after evading even the most modest reforms thanks to their friends in the Democratic Party. For years, Republicans consistently raised red flags about Fannie and Freddie’s financial condition and proposed responsible reforms only to be thwarted by Democrats with deep political ties to the worst offenders.
2. The Soros Loophole for Hedge Funds. The White House-backed bill conveniently exempts hedge funds from the Volcker Rule that establishes investment restrictions on depository institutions, the tax imposed on banks and the massive new regulatory structure being imposed on other financial firms. It should come as no surprise that - as The Hill reports - "hedge funds donate big to Democrats." Chief among those contributors is big Obama supporter George Soros, one of the top 25 richest hedge fund managers.
3. The Bailout Loopholes. The White House-backed bill would - with or without the $50 billion bailout slush fund - empower the federal government to provide Wall Street with permanent bailouts, courtesy of American taxpayers. Under the Dodd bill, the nation’s largest financial firms - including Goldman Sachs, President Obama’s top Wall Street ally - would be eligible for special treatment at the highest levels of government, including resolution authorities and resources unavailable to smaller financial firms. As Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) recently said, "The Dodd bill has unlimited executive bailout authority. … The bill contains permanent, unlimited bailout authority."
4. The Job-Killer Loophole. The White House-backed bill undermines small businesses, costing jobs and undermining our economy at a time when we can least afford it. As the NFIB states in an April 26 letter: "Many small business retailers and merchants - such as medical professionals, hardware, electronics, and jewelry stores - struggling through the current economic climate would be subject to these new regulations. … Addressing problems in the financial services sector makes sense, but such regulations should not overreach to include small business or leave small business owners paying for the excess of companies deemed too big to fail." With unemployment hovering near 10 percent, the last thing the economy needs now is new layers of bureaucracy and red tape that restrict financial products and discourage economic growth.
5. The Trial Lawyers’ Loophole. The White House-backed bill is riddled with loopholes that will soon become a favorite tool of class action and consumer protection trial lawyers. Is it any wonder why trial lawyers give so much money to Democrats?
6. The Bureaucrats’ Loophole. The White House-backed bill lets the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) off the hook. From Forbes: "The Dodd bill fails to address the glaring weaknesses at the Securities and Exchange Commission that played a central role in creating the financial panic of 2007-2009. Nor does the bill address the SEC’s failure to properly oversee the Financial Accounting Standards Board, whose rulings allowed trillions of dollars of securitized loans to be removed from bank balance sheets and capital requirements and whose mark-to-market accounting rules senselessly wiped out hundreds of billions of dollars of bank capital and panicked the financial markets." (”Obama’s Financial Reform Weak and Ineffective,” Bill Isaac, Forbes, April 22, 2010)
7. The Foreign Bank Loophole. The White House-backed bill exempts foreign-based firms from the Volcker Rule. As a result, as Nomi Prins notes in this column, "European banks could thus expand their private equity and hedge-fund game on our soil, thereby spreading globalized risk."
8. The "Credit Rating Agencies" Loophole. The White House-backed bill doesn’t fix the very serious problem with credit rating agencies. From liberal columnist Paul Krugman: "No, the e-mail messages you should be focusing on are the ones from employees at the credit rating agencies, which bestowed AAA ratings on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of dubious assets, nearly all of which have since turned out to be toxic waste. And no, that’s not hyperbole: of AAA-rated subprime-mortgage-backed securities issued in 2006, 93 percent - 93 percent! - have now been downgraded to junk status. What those e-mails reveal is a deeply corrupt system. And it’s a system that financial reform, as currently proposed, wouldn’t fix." ("Berating the Raters," Paul Krugman, New York Times, April 26, 2010)
9. The Backroom Deal Loopholes. The White House-backed bill literally carves out certain groups from being subject to regulation by the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Who is carved out? Trial lawyers, entities (allegedly) regulated by the SEC, manufactured home retailers, and a mish-mash of more. There appear to be no principles that guide who is covered and who is not.
10. The GM/Chrysler TARP Loophole.The White House has backed a proposal to impose a TARP tax on large financial firms that received TARP money, but it specifically excludes GM and Chrysler - both of which received taxpayer money from TARP. Even Treasury Secretary Geithner admitted yesterday that “It’s not going to seem fair to everyone, and there’s no perfectly fair approach,” according to Congressional Quarterly. Tags:Washington, D.C., White House, top 10, US House, US Congress, Dodd Bill, financial regulation, Wall Street, bailout, special-interest, loopholesTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Cut Spending Now to Create Jobs -- Bring Some Sanity Back to Washington
GOP Leader: “It’s time to get serious about job creation in America because all we’ve gotten out of this ‘stimulus’ bill is a big pile of debt on the backs of our kids and grandkids.”
WASHINGTON, DC – At the weekly GOP leadership press conference this morning, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) commented on Washington Democrats’ out-of-control spending that is hurting America’s economy and slowing the creation of new jobs. In his remarks, Boehner highlighted a letter he and Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) sent to the President yesterday urging him to use his authority under the law to force Congress to vote on spending cuts:
“The American people are asking around the country, ‘where are the jobs?’ and we see Democrats here in Washington on autopilot. Yesterday, the Democrat leadership met with the same group of economists who they met with prior to putting the ‘stimulus’ bill together. This is the group that gave us the result of higher unemployment, no job creation. And I’m going to remind you one more time: when the President signed the bill he said that unemployment would not exceed eight percent, now we have unemployment near 10 percent. He said that the ‘stimulus’ bill would create jobs immediately and yet, over three million Americans have lost their jobs since this bill was signed into law.
“It’s time to get serious about job creation in America because all we’ve gotten out of this ‘stimulus’ bill is a big pile of debt on the backs of our kids and grandkids. The President says, ‘well, we’ll start talking about cutting spending somewhere down the road.’ Eric Cantor and I sent to the President back in February a letter asking him to use his rescission authority to send cuts up here, so we can begin to cut spending now. We have not received a response from the President. So, Eric and I yesterday sent the President another letter, asking him if he would send up to the House rescission. Let’s begin the cutting and bring some sanity back to Washington. The sooner we do it, the better off the American people will be and, more importantly, the better off our kids and grandkids will be.” Tags:John Boehner, US House, jobs, sanity, reduce federal spendingTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Republican Senators: As businesses express their concerns about the Democrats' financial regulation bill, Republicans are working to make sure that any legislation passed by the Senate protects Main Street and ensures that small banks and small businesses will not be hit with burdensome new regulations. Tags:finance reform, regulation, Goldman Sachs, Wall Street, Main Street, Republican Senators, banks, derivatives, news, dentist, orthodontist, economy, politics, government, small business, jobs, Harley-Davidson, Snickers, beer, community banks, Richard Shelby, Orrin Hatch, Mitch McConnell, Lamar Alexander, Jim DeMint, Kit Bond, Pat Roberts, Jim Bunning, Saxby Chambliss, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Judd Gregg, MSNBC, Morning Joe, financial, GOPTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Obama Administration “Slow to Respond” to Oil Spill in Gulf
Bill Smith, Editor: The Obama Administration was "extremely" slow in responding to help mitigate and to resolve the recent "oil spill" in the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, it is not an oil spill but is instead gushers of uncontrolled oil created by an accident (e.g., we hope it was an accident). It is as if the Obama Administration couldn't let another crisis go to waste - another opportunity for an incident to be used for future advantage.
We all noted the Obama Administration's quick response to help Haiti by committing our money, military and other resources. However in the same Gulf of Mexico, the Obama Administration has been neglectful in responding quickly to help America. Makes one wonder what in the world the people in the White House are "smoking" or watching on their monitors.
Accidents and tragedies do happen! But, the Obama administration's failure to react quickly and responsibly to help a company overwhelmed by a major crisis situation and thus, our country is beyond comprehension. The administration's inaction (or to be nice, their delayed action) may lead to deaths, to an environmentally nightmare for the coastal areas of our country and other countries, and to Americans facing higher prices at the gas pumps and for goods and services.
Image if this situation had happened during the Bush administration; the liberals would have been all over the administration. But setting this point aside, Mr. Obama has in the past on far lesser things of importance quoted former President Harry Truman by saying the "Buck stops here!" Well, Mr. President, it indeed stops this time with you and your administration.
Today, U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, delivered the following remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives. Let's hope Congress will indeed follow up on the administration's failure to act responsibly in this crisis situation. But remember, as long as Congress is controlled by the Democrats, it is doubtful that they provide oversight of the Obama Administration. Barack Obama and his cronies are already raising money for Reid, Pelosi and others in hopes of maintaining the "status quo." In November 2010, it is critical for American voters to restore needed checks and balances to the Federal Government.
"The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an ongoing tragedy, and the American people deserve action to protect our Gulf and they deserve answers.
The American people deserve to know what happened on April 20th, and Congress should investigate it thoroughly. The American people deserve to know why the administration was slow to respond, why necessary equipment was not immediately on hand in the area and why the president did not fully deploy cabinet-level federal officials until he spoke at the White House on April 28th.
Lastly, the American people deserve answers for a pathway toward energy independence. There would be those in this country who would exploit this ongoing disaster to deny the American people more access to American oil that but the American people know better. The pathway toward energy independence is environmentally responsible expansion of domestic drilling for oil and natural gas. It's more wind and solar and nuclear and more conservation.
Republicans are determined to get the American people the answers about what happened on April 20th, about the slow federal response and to give the American people answers and a pathway toward energy independence that uses ‘all of the above.’"
Tags:drilling rig accident, oil spill, Gulf of Mexico, Obama Administration, Barack Obama, slow response, economic disaster, environmental disaster, Mike Pence, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington, D.C. - May 5, 2010 - In Summary, The Dodd Bill Still Sucks!
As senators prepare to vote on amendment to the Democrats’ financial regulation bill over the next couple of days, news stories continue to point out numerous problems with the bill that need to be fixed.
The AP notes today that Democrats have “agreed to jettison a $50 billion fund to liquidate large, failing firms” from the bill, which is being offered by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT). The AP story also points out, “In their willingness to drop the $50 billion fund, Senate Democrats on Tuesday abandoned a provision that Republicans attacked repeatedly as a perpetual Wall Street bailout-in-waiting. The Obama administration also did not support the fund, which would have been financed by an assessment on large financial institutions.”
Prior to this agreement, Democrats were adamant that bailout provisions were not included in the bill. President Obama declared last week, “[W]hat’s not legitimate is to suggest that somehow the legislation being proposed is going to encourage future taxpayer bailouts, as some have claimed.” Despite these assertions, various experts, the CBO, and other Democrats all disagreed on the bailout issue.
Even The New York Times editors acknowledge that the Dodd bill needs work in their editorial today: “One of the most divisive issues in the Senate bill is a provision that could force big banks to spin off their lucrative derivative dealings. The provision was added to the bill late in the game, without hearings. Opponents fear that it would push derivatives deals into hedge funds or other entities that would be harder to regulate. Supporters say that the bill would adequately regulate derivative dealers wherever they are. The Senate debate, and hearings that can be scheduled before the House and Senate produce final legislation, can help settle the issue.”
The derivatives issue is the very thing that prompted FDIC chair Sheila Bair to write a letter to senators explaining the problems in the current Democrat proposal. As The Washington Post reported yesterday, “‘If all derivatives market-making activities were moved outside of bank holding companies, most of the activity would no doubt continue, but in less regulated and more highly leveraged venues,’ Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila C. Bair wrote in a recent letter to lawmakers. She said that [Democrat Sen. Blanche] Lincoln's measure could push $294 trillion worth of derivatives deals beyond the reach of regulators. If some FDIC-insured banks simply transferred this type of business to affiliated firms, it could still pose a danger because the affiliates would not be required to set aside as much capital as banks to cover losses from derivatives trading, Bair said.”
And The Wall Street Journal reports today, “Republicans have complained for months that the Obama administration’s financial overhaul push doesn’t include any resolution to the government’s expensive conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Now, three Republicans plan to offer an amendment during the floor debate that would force Democrats to take a politically difficult vote on what to do with the companies. Sens. John McCain (R., Ariz.), Richard Shelby (R., Ala.), and Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) plan to offer an amendment in the coming days that would force the government to end its conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after a transition period and make the firms operate ‘without government subsidies’ in the future.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid keeps insisting, “We have a very good bill on the floor.” But even Democrats acknowledge that “There are parts that need to be tightened,” as Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said recently. And a series of news stories over the last couple of weeks has highlighted serious problems with the bill, especially regulatory overreach harming Main St. businesses and the complete lack of provisions addressing the problems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In summary, the Dodd Bill Still Sucks! Tags:Washington, D.C., US Senate, US Congress, Dodd Bill, financial regulationTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Maybe the following news is one of the reason that President Obama is willing to back Sen. Blanche Lincoln for re-election! Also, it appears she is desperate for the Arkansas Hispanic votes. Wonder how many illegals in Arkansas are slipping into the polling places because of motor voter registration?
On May 3, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) became a cosponsor of the DREAM Act Amnesty. The DREAM Act would amnesty illegal alien children (the DREAM Act classifies illegal alien children as those under 35 years of age) who have completed a few simple tasks. Once these illegal aliens are amnestied, they will have the ability to sponsor their immediate relatives (many of whom may already be in the United States illegally), essentially creating a giant rolling amnesty. Currently, there are at least 2 million illegal aliens who could easily qualify for this amnesty. [Copy of the Bill]
How could Sen. Lincoln decide to support a mass amnesty when 15 million Americans are unemployed?
Since Sen. Blanche Lincoln seems to not be available for phone calls except for calls from Obama and Reid and of course donors, and her staff really doesn't care to listen to long comments, below are comments prepared by NumbersUSA for her to read - if by chance her staff clips this post.
I am disappointed and outraged that Sen. Lincoln has decided to support the DREAM Act amnesty. The DREAM Act would amnesty illegal alien children (the DREAM Act classifies illegal alien children as those under 35 years of age) who have completed a few simple tasks (also, the United States would have to PROVE that the illegal alien was lying in order to deny him/her the DREAM amnesty -- we both know the government will not take the time to do this). Once these illegal aliens are amnestied, they will have the ability to sponsor their immediate relatives (many of whom may already be in the United States illegally), essentially creating a giant rolling amnesty. Currently, there are at least 2 million illegal aliens who could easily qualify for this amnesty. How does this help unemployed Americans and Arkansans?
Before even considering passing the DREAM amnesty, you and your Congressional colleagues need to close the chain migration loophole that will allow genuine lawbreakers to remain in the United States permanently. The main argument for the DREAM amnesty is that children should not be responsible for the sins of their parents. If this is truly the case, then those "children" (those illegal aliens under the age of 35) amnestied by the DREAM Act should not be allowed to attain legal permanent residence or amnesty for their illegal alien parents (the people who are supposed to be held responsible for violating America's laws). The DREAM Act is simply an excuse to amnesty America's 12-18 million illegal aliens.
Be sure to let Sen Lincoln know what you think of her supporting Amnesty for Illegals.
Tags:Blanche Lincoln illegal aliens, amnesty, Dream Act, Election 2010 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Six Reasons Why the Capital Gains Tax Should Be Abolished
Dan Mitchell: The correct capital gains tax rate is zero because there should be no double taxation of income that is saved and invested. This is why all pro-growth tax reform plans, such as the flat tax and national sales tax, eliminate the capital gains tax. Unfortunately, the President wants to boost the official capital gains tax rate to 20 percent, and that is in addition to the higher tax rate on capital gains included in the government-run healthcare legislation. [Video] Tags:capital gains tax, Flat tax, Fairtax, freedom, prosperity competition, reform, bloated spending, Obama Administration, Obama stimulus, government, Dan Mitchell, CATO Institute, Center for Freedom & ProsperityTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
AOL: The results of CQ Press's annual Crime State Rankings for 2009 reveal some surprises. Nevada for the sixth consecutive year tops the rankings as the nation's Most Dangerous State. The y were 1st in the nation in Robbery and Motor Vehicle Theft with rankings of 6th in murder, 7th in rape, and 8th in both assault and burglary.
Louisiana was ranked 2nd as Most Dangerous State but is ranked 1st in murders and New Orleans is ranked the #1 most dangerous city in the United States. South Carolina has lost some of its hospitality and is ranked 3rd nationally but is ranked 1st in assaults. Then in order is New Mexico, Florida, Tennessee, Alaska, Arizona, Maryland, and Michigan is 10th.
Arkansas ranks 11th as most dangerous state with it being ranked in the top 10 of four of the six crime categories. In the major crime areas, Arkansas ranks 10th in assaults, 2nd in burglary, 10th in murder, 33rd in motor vehicle theft, 4th in Rape, and 24th in Robbery.
As for the safest states most are in the coldest sections of the U.S. The top three safest states are New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. Tags:states, dangerous states, safest states, Nevada, Louisiana, South Carolina, Mexico, Florida, Tennessee, Alaska, Arizona, Maryland, Michigan, Arkansas, safest states, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, dangerous cities, New Orleans, AOL, CQ PressTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Willam Warren: Tags:William Warren, political cartoon. Obama Administration, incompetence, another spill, Net Right DailyTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington, D.C. - May 4, 2010 - More Flaws In Dodd Bill: In Summary, It Sucks!
Because the Democrats won't let go of trying to control all aspects of America, the Senate continues consideration of S. 3217, the Dodd financial regulation bill. Votes on amendments are expected today. Pending to the bill is the first Democrat amendment from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), which is designed to prevent taxpayers from being on the hook for more bailouts. Democrats had previously spent two weeks claiming bailouts were not in the bill.
Speaking on the floor yesterday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “I’ll just note as we continue this debate [on the Dodd financial regulation bill] that a consensus seems to be emerging among the experts and the public about two things: first, that it would be deeply irresponsible to rush a piece of legislation this far-reaching without fully understanding its potential impact on ordinary Americans who had nothing to do with the financial crisis. Second, any bill that comes out of the Senate must actually address the core problems that led to the crisis.” Unfortuantely, neither of these relevant point have stopped the Democrats on their other bills. And yet every other day, it seems, a new story surfaces about how the Dodd bill either doesn’t fix the core problem or overreaches to adversely affect Main St. businesses in trying to regulate Wall St.
The AP reports today, “A Senate [Democrat] measure advertised as protecting taxpayers from another Wall Street bailout would still leave them fronting the money if the government moves to liquidate a big failing company like insurance giant AIG. Taxpayers could end up putting up billions of dollars to cover the costs of dealing with such a firm and be able to recoup that money only over a period of five years, under the Senate's sweeping overhaul of financial regulations.”
Of course, Democrats asserted for weeks that any suggestion that their bill allowed more bailouts was dishonest. They all but accused Republicans of being liars when it was pointed out that the Dodd bill perpetuates bailouts and doesn’t end “too big to fail.” President Obama said last week, “[W]hat’s not legitimate is to suggest that somehow the legislation being proposed is going to encourage future taxpayer bailouts, as some have claimed.” Sen. Dodd himself said, “[O]ur bill stops bailouts by literally eliminating any possibility for the government of the United States to bail these firms out.”
But many other problems with the Dodd bill are coming to light. According to The Washington Post, “A dramatic proposal that could force banks to spin off their derivatives businesses, potentially costing them billions of dollars in revenue, has run into opposition on multiple fronts as the Senate prepares to take up legislation to remake financial regulations. Obama administration officials, industry groups, banking regulators and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have taken aim at the measure proposed by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), chairman of the Senate agriculture committee. Their main objection: If a central goal of regulatory overhaul is to make financial markets more transparent and accountable, Lincoln's provision would have the opposite effect. Barring banks from trading in derivatives would force those lucrative business into corners of the market where there's even less oversight, critics warn.”
Beyond the financial provisions of the bill, there are serious concerns that regulations intended to rein in Wall Street are so far-reaching and overbearing that they will affect many businesses that had nothing to do with the financial crisis. Last night, The Hill reported, “Dentists are warning they may become unintended targets of legislation designed to overhaul Wall Street. Lawmakers and lobbyists have clashed for more than a year over whether a new consumer financial protection office would cover industries and companies that had nothing to do with the financial crisis of 2008. . . . Dentists could fall under the Senate financial bill because they often allow patients to pay in installments, [American Dental Association managing director of government affairs Michael] Graham said. According to a 2009 ADA survey, roughly half of dentists offer this type of billing for three or four months.” And even some Democrats are raising the same concerns. According to The Hill, “Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee, told Dodd it was ‘more than likely’ that small healthcare practices, including dentists and physicians, would fall under the scope of the new regulator.”
by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Every American feels terribly about the news coming from the Gulf Coast. Eleven men are presumed dead and their families and friends are grieving. You don’t have to be an environmental extremist to be concerned about the damage done by the Deepwater Horizon spill – not only to the ecology of the region, but to the countless hardworking families who depend on various industries connected to fishing, seafood, tourism, etc.
As always, Big Media is offering very little context, so we’ll provide the service that journalists should be. First, it should be noted that there are 4,000 oil and natural gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The last major incident in the Gulf was 1979 – 31 years ago. That safety record is remarkable, especially when you consider how these platforms stood up to 200 mile-per-hour winds from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
The Gulf of Mexico supplies 25% of all U.S. domestic oil production and 15% of natural gas production. If we ordered a shut down of drilling in the Gulf, gas prices would skyrocket and the economy would teeter on the brink because there’s no easy substitute for that oil. The folks trying to exploit this situation for a “green agenda” are engaged in demagoguery. We are an oil-based economy – a fact that is not going to change any time soon. Just consider this fact: All the assets being brought to bear in this containment and clean-up effort – aircraft for surveillance and chemical sprays, boats stringing barriers near sensitive areas – they all run on oil and gas.
By the way, Barack Obama waited 11 days before he visited the region. Can you imagine if his name was “Bush” and what we would be hearing from the media about the out-of-touch president who didn’t care enough to make every federal resource available? Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families. He submitted the above in an email to the ARRA News Service Editor. Bauer was a former Republican presidential candidate and served as President Ronald Reagan’s domestic policy adviser. Tags:Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, Gulf Coast, Oil spill, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Believe it or Not, There’s Plenty of Food for Everyone
The Population Research Institute (PRI) has just released the third video in its YouTube cartoon series, designed to refute the idea of overpopulation with science–and stick figures. To date the series has garnered well over 200,000 views on YouTube, and has made PRI one of the more popular non-profit channels on the video channel.
This latest video is available by visiting PRI’s web site OverPopulationIsaMyth.com. Colin Mason, Director of Media Production at PRI. “The site retains the aesthetic of the videos, while getting into a little more detail of the science itself.” . Just under two minutes long, the video uses data from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Food Program to explain world hunger and reveal how overpopulation is not causing it. All this, while at the same time remaining simple, humorous and most importantly–geek-friendly.
“We’re excited to offer another great installment of our highly popular YouTube series,” says Steven Mosher, PRI’s president. “We can
help educate young and old alike through this online video medium in the
blessings of people, and do an end run around the outdated theory of overpopulation. All of our content is down loadable. We think this could be a valuable resource for students and teachers especially, who may feel alone defending a sometimes unpopular position.”
Dr. Bill Smith, Editor, ARRA News Service is a contributing member at Fort Hard Knox. Readers seeking to be more active via the Internet and needing tech tips should drop by FortHardKnox(FHK). Tags:food, hunger population, Population Research Institute, Fort Hard KnoxTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Vote - Primary Voting Across The Country Has Begun
Across the country, States are gearing up for early voting for primary elections or for their various caucus to meet. Be involved! It is time for "We the People" to exercise our initial voices via the ballot boxes and through the various caucus groups. Today, in Arkansas, early voting polls opened at 8:00 a.m.
Although the November 2010 elections are critical; so is putting forth the best conservative candidate to take on the progressive liberal socialistic agenda of the Democrat candidates. And, 2010 is definitely a significant political year for the Arkansas Republicans and the Republican Party of Arkansas. Arkansas as a bell weather state for the November 2010 elections. Arkansas Conservatives via the Republican Party have the opportunity with the "right" candidate (and there are numerous good candidates running) to gain a US Senate seat, to retain its present Congressional Seat, and gain two and maybe three of the other U.S. Congressional seats. In addition, numerous primary races for the State legislature and local county government, signal a shift in Arkansas to a more conservative voice from the local through the state government. Like the majority of people in the United States, the people of Arkansas are tired of big bloated tax laden government at all levels. And they are very tired of elected officials who support big government and ignore or fail fail to listen to the majority of their constituents.
Republican Party of Arkansas Chairman Doyle Webb is predicting that "[I]n 2010 more Republican voters will turn out to vote early than in any previous year Arkansas has seen,” Webb says. “With a U.S. Senate primary as well as primaries in all four congressional districts, the people of Arkansas are eager and ready to paint Arkansas red. We encourage all citizens to vote early and vote now. At the party, we’ve been vigorously using social media and our online newsletter to educate and energize Arkansans for the Primary. I’m also appearing on several radio stations around the state to talk about the importance of voting.”
Election day for the Republican primary is set for May 18. “It’s time for Arkansans to make a clear choice for the conservative they wish to represent them in November,” Webb says. “It’s time for real change in Arkansas.” Tags:early voting, primary, election, 2010 elections, ArkansasTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington, D.C. - May 3, 2010 - Economic Experts Agree That Omission of Reforms for Fannie & Freddie Is Outrageous
The Senate resumes consideration of S. 3217, the Dodd financial regulation bill. No votes are scheduled for today. Pending to the bill is the first Democrat amendment from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), which is designed to prevent taxpayers from being on the hook for more bailouts. Democrats had previously spent two weeks claiming bailouts were not in the bill.
As the Senate begins floor consideration of Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) financial regulation bill this week, more and more questions are arising as to whether the bill adequately addresses problems with the financial system. Republicans have been warning for weeks that the bill won’t end “too big to fail,” could vastly expand government regulation into unintended areas, and doesn’t tackle the problems of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Today, The New York Times reports that a number of economic experts share the same concerns.
The Times writes, “[S]everal prominent experts say that the legislation does not even address the right problems, leaving the financial system vulnerable to another major crisis. Some point to specific issues left largely untouched, like the instability of capital markets that provide money for lenders, or the government’s role in the housing market, including the future of the housing finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Others simply argue that it is premature to pass sweeping legislation while so much about the crisis remains unclear and so many inquiries are in progress.” The Times further notes, “Senate Republicans echoed some of these concerns as they delayed debate on the legislation last week.”
According to the NYT, “Gary B. Gorton, a finance professor at Yale, said the financial system would remain vulnerable to panics because the legislation would not improve the reliability of the markets where lenders get money, by issuing short-term debt called commercial paper or loans called repurchase agreements or ‘repos.’”
Further, “Lawrence J. White, a finance professor at New York University, said it made no sense to overhaul financial regulation without addressing the future of federal housing policy. He said he was trying to find the strongest possible words to describe the omission of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the legislation. ‘It’s outrageous,’ he finally said.”
And MIT finance professor Andrew W. Lo told The Times, “Until we understand what the causes were, we may be implementing ineffective and even counterproductive reforms . . . . I understand the need for something to be done. But what I expect from political leaders is for them to demonstrate leadership in telling the public that we need to proceed about this in a much more deliberate and rational and thoughtful way.”
Meanwhile, FDIC Chair Sheila Bair expressed concerns about another provision in the Dodd bill. According to The Wall Street Journal, “Bair has urged lawmakers to scrap a controversial Senate plan that would force banks to spin off their derivatives businesses, saying it could destabilize banks and drive risk into unregulated parts of the financial sector. Coming from the head of the agency in charge of protecting deposits in the U.S. banking system, Ms. Bair's comments could command attention, particularly because she has often been critical of big banks, and has called for curbs on their activities. In this case, however, she's suggesting proposed curbs might go too far.”
The WSJ points out, “In her Friday letter, addressed to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D., Ark.) and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.), Ms. Bair said the bill could force $294 trillion in derivatives contracts outside of federally regulated banks and into companies such as hedge funds and foreign banks ‘beyond the reach of federal regulation.’ Republicans have been very critical of the provision, and Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) last week said that the legislation would chase the derivatives industry overseas and into dark corners.”
Though Democrats are in a rush to pass a bill to rein in Wall Street, it’s clear that they haven’t taken the time to consider the practical effects of what they’re proposing while at the same time they’ve completely ignored other problems such as Fannie and Freddie and may be creating new ones such as driving derivatives contracts overseas. The Dodd bill is not even close to ready for primetime. It needs significant changes during floor debate. Tags:Washington, D.C., US Senate, US Congress, Dodd Bill, financial regulationTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: The Left has always pined for an America that was more like Europe. Liberal politicians like John Kerry and Barack Obama are more popular there than they are in their home country because their policy proposals resemble the socialist agendas that most of Europe long ago embraced.
