BUDGET CUTS

I hope you're sitting down reading this because here is a short list of some of the proposed "extreme" cuts that the GOP House of Representatives would like to cut.  Read to the

end.

• Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.
• Save America's Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.
• International Fund for Ireland . $17 million annual savings.
• Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.
• National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.
• National Endowment for the Humanities.  $167.5 million annual savings.
• Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.
• Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.
• Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress) , authored by Rep.
• McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.
• U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.
• Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.
• Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.
• John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.
• Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.
• Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings
• Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings Trim
• Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.
• Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.
• Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.
• Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.
• Department of Energy Grants to States  for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.
• Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.
• New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.
• Exchange Programs for Alaska , Natives Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical  Trading Partners in Massachusetts . $9 million annual savings
• Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings. Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.
• Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.
• Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.
• Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.
• Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.
• FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.
• Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.
• Economic Assistance to Egypt . $250 million annually.
• U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.
• General Assistance to District of Columbia . $210 million annual savings.
• Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.
• Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.
• No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.
• End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services. Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act.
• More than $1 billion annually.
• IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.
• Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total

 

Some savings...add up the totals...there there are these proposals for the next ten years.

• Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten
• years.
• Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.
• Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress. Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.
• Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
• Change. $12.5 million annual savings
• Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.
• USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.
• Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). $93 million annual savings.
• Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.
• Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.
• Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings..
• HUD Ph.D. Program. Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.

TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years

 

But the real question is just what were these items doing in the budget in the first place?  We're out of other people's money and it's time to pay as we go.  What we need to do is return to the 2006 budget, the one that had $150 million or so deficit and cut that by  30% across the board.  Eliminate several departments...and eliminate bureaus, offices and departments that duplicate their efforts. 

 

The Real Cost Of Illegal Immigrants

This is submitted by a teacher in Southern California, who asked for anonymity...to protect her job.  Furthermore, more than 900 teachers were recently laid off from the Los Angeles Unified School District. They are $650,000,000 over budget. These figures should make everyone stop and think about how the money there is spend, be you Democrat, Republican or Independent

"As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of: I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels

Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park , etc.. where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools.

Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program.When I say free breakfast, I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll -- but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten.  (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)

I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones.The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls(some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)

I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing

funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already substantial. I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center, half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America ...(OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)

I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the country less than 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them "Putas" (whores ) and throwing things, that the teachers were in tears.

Free medical, free education, free food, day care, etc, etc, etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled not only to be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements?

To those who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs.

Higher insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases etc., etc, etc. For me, I'll pay more for tomatoes.

Americans, We need to wake up. The guest worker program will be a disaster because we won't have the guts to enforce it. Does anyone in their right mind really think they will voluntarily leave and return?

It does, however, have everything to do with culture: A third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate, and anAmerican culture that has become so weak and worried about"political correctness " that we don't have the will to do anything about it.

If this makes your blood boil, as it did mine, forward this to everyone you know including your Congressmen and Senators.

CHEAP LABOR? Isn't that what the whole immigration issue is about? Business doesn't want to pay a decent wage.  Consumers don't want expensive produce. Government will tell you Americans don't want the jobs. But the bottom line is cheap labor. The phrase "cheap labor" is a myth , a farce, and a lie. There is no such thing as "cheap labor."

• Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children,

• He takes a job for $5.00 or 6.00/hour. At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return,  he gets an "earned income credit" of up to $3,200 free.

• He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent.
• He qualifies for food stamps..
• He qualifies for free (no deductible), no co-pay) health care.
• His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.
• He requires bilingual teachers and books.
• He qualifies for relief from high energy bills...
• If they are or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI. Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare. All of this is at (our) taxpayer's expense .
• He doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance.

Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed material. He and his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits.

Working Americans are lucky to have $5.00 or $6.00/hour left after paying their bills AND his.
The American taxpayers also pay for increased crime, graffiti and trash clean-up. Cheap labor? YEAH RIGHT! Wake up people!

THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS WE SHOULD BE ADDRESSING TO THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES FOR EITHER PARTY. 'AND WHEN THEY LIE TO US AND DON'T DO AS THEY SAY, WE SHOULD REPLACE THEM AT ONCE!'

This kind of this can be found at EVERY level of government.  The federal government has dozens of programs that overlap, and none of which operate at any level of efficiency.  I think that the time has come to force our governments to start thinking like business, instead of working on someone else's dime...the taxpayers are waking up and beginning to demand accountability. 

Storm Warning

Over the past couple of days, the ratings agency Stardard & Poor's has warned that they will down-grade the US bond rating from AAA...if this does in fact occur (and I see no reason for it not to, with the moribund stupidity of our ruling class thinking that they can spend without consequences) then it will cost vastly more for America to borrow money to pay for government services...The Wall Street Journal's editorial says,

Chief White House economist Austan Goolsbee declared that S&P had made a “political judgment,” and we’d have to agree, though probably not for the same reasons. The bulk of S&P’s analysis is taken up with repeatedly citing what it sees as next-to-no chance that Washington will do anything significant on deficit reduction this year or next.


“The outlook reflects our view of the increased risk that the political negotiations over when and how to address both the medium- and long-term challenges will persist until at least after the national elections in 2012,” said the credit rating outfit. S&P’s announcement is almost wholly a political analysis of the budget outlook.

There is only one reason the rating agency could suddenly have turned this dark on politics in Washington: President Obama’s speech at George Washington University last Wednesday. Mr. Obama’s “fiscal policy” speech may have sent progressive pundits cart-wheeling, but its political effect was to poison the prospect for budget negotiations.

Think about that.  It willl cost much more to fund our government.  Yet, politicians in DC are arguing over cutting less than .35% out of this year's budget.  The Democrats are calling it extreme cuts, while those of o the GOP leadership are calling them "historic."  Both sides are leading us to disaster...the deck chairs have been rearranged enough, it's time to completely balance the budget and stop spending money we don't have.

Don Surber put's it bluntly;

President Obama is a fool. He has been given everything in life and never had to earn it and so he is ignorant about how the financial world operates — and is blissfully incurious about the subject.  He sees business life in cartoonish stereotypes that date to the 1890s. Oh those grand industrialists with their [broken sentence??] He T-totally misjudged the economy in 2009. At a time when smart people would have reined the government in and quit printing money, he went full Keynesian.  Rather than put people back to work, he gave them a federally paid two-year vacation through an extension of unemployment benefits to 99 weeks. Unemployment is earned for 26 weeks. That’s what unemployment insuranc buys. After that it is welfare. Now we have this chump ignoring the reality of the inflation and stagflation he has unleashed upon the Republic. His partisan budget speech was an embarrassment to his supporters and an insult to the American People who in last November’s referendum on Obamanomics overwhelmingly said NO!  Republican gains in Congress were historic, a rebuke of this president’s policies. In January, he piously called for civility. In April, he acted as if he were a ward healer in Chicago. Maybe that is his true aptitude.

That is the state of our leadership.  They are leaderless and floundering with a clue as to what to do.

Will history repeat itself?

By

JP Bender

Thirty years ago—on Aug. 3, 1981—workers in the union know as the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), walked off the job. Their demands included seeking a shorter workweek, additional pay increases, improved working conditions and better safety for air travelers. This was all done in the name of collective bargaining. The union defied an ultimatum by the newly elected President Ronald Reagan to return to work.

The union members rallied, demonstrated and had the backing of the liberal democrats. Forty-eight hours later, Reagan fired 11,359 striking air traffic controllers.

Union leaders and members were arrested, jailed and fined. PATCO’s $3.5 million strike fund was frozen, the strike was broken and eventually the government decertified the union.

In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R), faces a similar situation with public employees, taking to the streets, challenging his proposals for lower wages, increased contributions of retirement funds and the elimination of collective bargaining. The state of Wisconsin, like 30 other states, and the federal government too, faces financial ruin in the face of a depressed economy and budget shortfalls.

Protesters are pledging to remain in the Wisconsin Capitol while Senate Democrats are committed to staying out of state until a compromise can be found with Gov. Walker on collective bargaining rights for public sector employees.

The Republican governor said that while the state enjoys a lower-than-average unemployment rate -- about 7.5 percent compared to 9 percent nationally -- about 5,000-6,000 state workers and 5,000-6,000 local government workers will find their jobs on the chopping block as the state looks to close a $3.6 billion biennial budget gap.

Under the governor's proposal, unions still could represent workers, but they could not force employees to pay dues and would have to hold annual votes to stay organized. Only wages below the Consumer Price Index would be subject to collective bargaining, anything higher would have to be approved by referendum.

If the situation cannot be resolved, more than 14,000 state employees could be fired.

Balancing The Budget...

Here's a video on how to balance the budget without increasing taxes...

Democratic Leadership In Congress Refuse to Pass a Budget Before Nov Elections

In an effort to give cover to those Congressmen and Senators who are locked into difficult reelection races, the Democratic leadership of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House and Hary Reid, Senate Majority Leader, have chosen not to pass a budget this year.  Instead they have decided that a “budget enforcement resolution” rather than a traditional budget resolution.  This half measure was chosen so that members wouldn't have to justify votes for yet another record deficit and spending bill. 

The enforcement resolution is being used instead of a full-fledged budget resolution because rank-and-file Democrats did not want to vote for a budget resolution that would show large deficits, particularly in an election year marked by worries about the nation’s fiscal solvency.

This is why we as a nation must not reelect any incumbents this fall.  By doing so, we can send a strong message that continuing to do "business as usual" will not longer be tolerated. 

The budget document, however, doesn’t say what policies Congress should enact to reach that out-year goal, something past budget resolutions have done. Instead, it relies on the White House fiscal commission, a bipartisan panel looking at tax, spending and entitlement policies, to come up with a plan to reach their target by 2015.  This year’s deficit is projected by the Congressional Budget Office to be $1.5 trillion, or 10 percent of gross domestic product. A budget balanced except for payments on the debt is about 3 percent of GDP.

The president's "bipartisan panel" is widely viewed by most Americans as a cover to justify a round massive tax increases that would "spread the wealth around.'




The founding fathers of the US Constitution never envisioned professional legislators who sat in Congress for decades, but would instead have "citizen legislators" who would to to the capital, do what needed to be done...then return home and resume their lives.  What we have now, is a class of professional politicians who find it very easy to spend someone else's money by the bucketfull and when faced with the possibility of not being reelected because record spending and deficits, have chosen to defer passing a budget.

“Facing a record deficit and a tidal wave of debt, House Democrats decided it was politically inconvenient to put forward a budget and account for their fiscal recklessness,” said Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), the top Republican on the House Budget Committee. “With no priorities and no restraints, the spending, taxing, and borrowing will continue unchecked for the coming fiscal year.”

Remember November and RE-ELECT NO ONE!

Obama's 10 Year Deficit to Top $9.8 Trillion Dollars!

The Congressional Budget Office has released it's analysis of the future of Mr. Obama's planned budgets.  The CBO says that his budgets will produce deficits that are much, much larger than what the Obama Administration says will arise.  The total will  reach almost $10,000,000,000,000.00.  That figure is as much larger as last years budget deficit was in total.  

The agency says its future-year predictions of tax revenues are more pessimistic than the administration's. That's because CBO projects slightly slower economic growth than the White House.  The deficit picture has turned alarmingly worse since the recession that started at the end of 2007, never dipping below 4 percent of the size of the economy over the next decade. Economists say that deficits of that size are unsustainable and could put upward pressure on interest rates, crowd out private investment in the economy and ultimately erode the nation's standard of living.

A deficit that large, every single year for the next ten years will double the size of the national debt.  That is unsustainable by any measure, and will cause this country to have a budget crisis of epic proportions.  It's time to get our political "elites" attention and let them know that we will not have spending like this any more. 

It's well past time for a a balanced budget amendment  be added to the Constitution.  This Congress has made a mockery of PayGo legislation that can easily be side stepped by labelling it as an "emergency" provision.  Thus cuts don't have to be made elsewhere in order to make up for that specific bill. 

Vote smart, relect no one.