It’s remarkable how this President hasn’t learned a thing since November. State houses turned from blue to red throughout the country, due in large part to government spending. But what does this President propose? More spending!
Another stimulus….cough, I mean “infrastructure investing.” Here he is yesterday speaking to the nations Governors.
Those of you who are in this room obviously are on the front lines of this budget debate. As the Recovery Act funds that saw through many states over the last two years are phasing out — and it is undeniable that the Recovery Act helped every single state represented in this room manage your budgets, whether you admit it or not — you face some very tough choices at this point on everything from schools to prisons to pensions.
~~~Now, as we begin to get our budgets under control, the other thing we can’t do is sacrifice our future. Even as we cut back on those things that don’t add to growth or opportunity for our people, we have to keep investing in those things that are absolutely necessary to America’s success — education, innovation, infrastructure.
~~~The third way that we need to invest is in our infrastructure — everything from new roads and bridges to high-speed rail and high-speed Internet — projects that create hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs. And I know that in some of your states, infrastructure projects have garnered controversy. Sometimes they’ve gotten caught up in partisan politics.
Oh boy, he has the gall to say that it’s undeniable the last stimulus worked? All it did was put off the pain for another year. He even admits in the video that the last stimulus “helped manage your budgets.” Yup, it allowed governments operating in the red to continue operating in the red. There were no “shovel-ready” projects. It DIDN’T create any public sector jobs.
This new stimulus that he is proposing won’t do any of that either. Infrastructure spending won’t create any new jobs and with unemployment at 10% we need something to create jobs.
We are 14 trillion dollars in debt and running at a 1.5 trillion dollar deficit this year alone. Gas prices are surging to 4+ dollars a gallon and the price of staples has skyrocketed….and he wants MORE spending!
If you’re gonna spend…drill baby drill! How about making us less dependent on foreign oil. How about nuclear energy. But noooooo. He wants to spend more on “education, innovation, infrastructure”…meaning unions, high-speed railroads, and “shovel-ready” projects.
He learned nothing from November.
Hopefully the Republican contenders for the Presidency doesn’t let the public forget that this spending HAS kicked the can down the road and made us worse off.
See author page
Obama made it possible to ”kick the can down the road,” of dealing with the budget issues we see now.
And he has the gall to call that ”helping.”
I remember Sarah Palin and a few others pointing out the temporary nature of this unwise use of taxpayer money.
But Obama’s rosiest (and even his most dire projections) showed the recession ending by now.
Obama didn’t have private sector ”shovel ready jobs.”
Instead he used $878 BILLION to reward his union buddies.
And then the naturally resiliant economy refused to recover for him on schedule.
Well, LOL!
I was bummed when they cut the Q&A section of the event on the news channels. Or how is it even CNN put it? “the cameras have gone dark”. Gee… wonder why. Unlike the rare press conferences, when Obama answers five questions/20 minutes each, did they have a blackout on the Governor’s Q&A deliberately?
I’d rather skip the nose in the air speech, and get right to the nitty gritty of Governor’s questions. Oh to be a fly on the wall for that one….
Added: for those that want the entire speech in it’s full glory (ick…), the transcript is here. There’s also a video version, but frankly I’m so tired of seeing that face on a daily basis.
I don’t understand??!! You guys actually mean that Spendulus Maximus is wanting to spend MORE??!!
The hell you say??!!!
/sarc off
Okay, it is moments like these that just keep reminding me that the more this idiot talks, the more the Tea Party grows.
And I agree with you Mata, the anointed one is definitely overexposed.
Obama’s objective is the total economic collapse of the U.S., the more he destroys, the more he gets to “fix”, thereby ” fundamentally transforming America” into the Marxist state that he desires.
I think the last elections made the Obama machine very nervous. They did not think that the American people would revolt against his socialist agenda. So now he has to speed up the agenda and try to wreck things as much as possible before the next election. In spite of the lame street media not reporting the factual news, Americans are getting fed up with this march to the left and the next election may spell doom(temporarily) to their agenda. He is proposing more spending. He is telling governors to back off the public unions and to come up with something better than his massive federal takeover of the health industry. This populist machine has the blinders on and is running full steam ahead. He will try to spend us into a massive economic catastrophy so he can sweep in and take more of our liberties to “help” us.
What parts of “vote buying”, “money laundering” and deliberate destruction of free enterprise do you not understand?
At Sunshine Review, for Wisconsin’s budget, you’ll see that the 2009-11 budget was balanced with over $2 billion in one time stimulus funds. That almost guaranteed that the 2011-13 would start with a defecit of $2 billion.
Obama desperately needs another stimulus so that the states can once again use a one-time influx to keep their PEU’s happy for the 2012 elections.
Obviously We have not run out of OPM yet. (Other Peoples Money)
The Free Ice Cream continues. (BORROWED STIMULUS MONEY)
Between this financial wizard in the White House and Thieves like THIS in Congress, is it any wonder the country feels no one has controls of the rudder well in hand?
When all is said and done, it will be interesting to see how the posters on this board treat the liberal Republican House when they, like Pelosi, pass a budget which is $1 Trillion + in the hole.
@Ivan:
I doesn’t look like Dems will let an entire year long budget pass.
But Republicans had the help of 100 Dems in the House when they passed a two week extension that cut $4 billion off last years’ spending levels.
Keep up that pace and we have cut $104 billion from the years’ budget.
Pelosi didn’t even want to see the 1st $4 billion in cuts!
So, this is a victory, of sorts.
And it gets us where the Republicans promised to get us.
Heh!
BTW, again, the Dems opt for more uncertainty in the gov’t programs, thus more uncertainty in business.
When ever there is a lot of uncertainty in the private economy there is a lack of growth, bad for the recovery.
Dems need to come to the table for a full years’ budget.
And NOT one that simply locks in Obama’s HUGE past spending ways.
Heh again!
@Nan G: $4 Billion is chump change given we’re talking $1.6 Trillion.
That is my point. It’s just window dressing for the Republicans. They are as irresponsible as the Democrats, as I predicted.
@Ivan: I just read an interview with Rand Paul and he says the Republicans will be putting out a plan to balance the budget in 5 years and will put forth a Balanced Budget Amendment. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope the wishy-washy, status quo ones don’t get their way and help the dems shoot it down again. Had the BBA succeeded the last time, we wouldn’t be in the financial mess we are in today.
One of the “fiscally responsible” spending cuts republicans have passed for 2011 is a $600 million reduction in the Internal Revenue Service’s tax compliance and enforcement budget. They apparently figure it helps to reduce deficits if the IRS doesn’t go after tax cheats.
For every $1 that the IRS spends enforcing tax compliance, the U.S. Treasury gains $10 in revenue that would be lost to non-compliance. The $600 million IRS operating budget cut for 2011 will result in several billions of dollars in lost federal revenue. The people who ultimately make up for what the cheats don’t pay are honest, law-abiding taxpayers.
Republicans are hoping to make even larger cuts to the IRS budget in 2012.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/gop-looks-cut-irs-budget-despite-returns#
@Greg:
I was going to delve deep into this topic, Greg, but then I figured, “what’s the use?” You already favor bigger and bigger government and more, and more spending, even as the deficits and debt spiral out of control. Typically liberal in that you denounce any effort, no matter how small, to reign in government spending. Obama has already, in just two years, increased the IRS budget by $1.2 Billion dollars, yet you seem to think that isn’t enough. Are they gonna hire thousands more IRS agents to roam the country like some sort of ‘goon squad’?
Maybe, instead of continually adding to the tens of thousands of pages in the United States tax code, they should go back to “Keep It Simple Stupid” and simplify the coding so that the majority of tax “cheats” who make the honest mistakes won’t make them anymore. Then, instead of having to employ thousands of IRS employees, that particular bureau could be much smaller than it is.
Of course, that means a smaller, more efficient government service, and as a liberal, you cannot have that. Can you?
Blinded by ideology and set in his leftist beliefs, one should not expect anything other than redistribution of wealth that in turn leads to huge deficit spending. Can’t wait for the “five Year Plans” to materialize out of thin air.
Dear Greg,
It’s a useless exercise I know, but I’ll TRY to educate yet another liberal. The 600 million for the IRS was for implementation of HusseinCare, not simply for the chasing down of tax cheats. As the law has been declared Unconstitutional, the money would be wasted, as usual, by leftists like yourself.
@Oldpuppymax:
Don’t you love how judge Vinson schooled Obama?
He stayed his own decision to impliment ObamaCare BUT only for 7 days.
IF Obama has NOT appealed his case against the Vinson decision to either the Appelate Court or the Supreme Court within that time ObamaCare is DEAD!
Heh!
This forces the Department of Justice to expedite the appeals process, which they were clearly hoping to avoid!
The White House asked for a clarification.
They got a trip to the woodshed instead, and a very short time frame to stop the halt to ObamaCare that Vinson’s ruling creates.
An article:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/50596.html
The ruling:
http://www.politico.com/static/PPM187_vinson.html
Dear Nan G,
Judge Vinson should have imposed the injunction TODAY! He is giving the Hussein regime another week to continue the implementation of an UNCONSTITUTIONAL LAW!!!! Personally, I think the judge is a wimp. If the law is unconstitutional, don’t give the White House thugs another 7 days to impose it on the American public and spend countless dollars doing so. Write the injunction and do everything possible to arrest anyone who does not obey it.
The most recent estimate for the annual federal tax gap–that is, the amount of federal revenue that is lost each year owing to non-compliance–is $345 billion.
There are around 130 million taxpayers in the United States. Do some division. The result suggests that every taxpayer’s share of the gap is $2,653 per year.
Of course, it’s only honest taxpayer who actually take that particular hit. Those who evade taxes keep their money, meaning that the non-compliant shift an additional burden of more than $2,653 per year to each honest taxpayer.
Why wouldn’t any honest, taxpaying citizen want a larger IRS enforcement budget? Whatever the tax rules are, Americans have every right to demand that they be applied in an even-handed fashion. Honest taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to bear the burden of some deadbeat tax dodger’s dishonesty.
Update on Reducing the Federal Tax Gap and Improving Voluntary Compliance, 2009
The Tax Gap
(Note the graph on page 6, which indicates that 2/3 of the revenue lost is due to non-compliance on the part of individuals.)
Understanding the Federal Tax Gap, an article that appeared in 2010.
@Oldpuppymax, #17:
Annual revenue losses running into hundreds of billions of dollars go back years. Note how many far back some of the data in the sources linked in post #20 go. The scale of losses owing to individual non-compliance was clearly stated in 2001, but nothing was done. The damage is cumulative–both to honest taxpayers in the form of a shifting of the tax burden, and to the national debt.
I understand that republicans want to totally destroy Health Care Reform. Perhaps they should confine their efforts to precision bombing, rather than carpet bombing anything and everything remotely connected to it. Their bull-in-the-china-shop approach to almost everything threatens to do a tremendous amount of collateral damage.
Pardon me, but you really are a negative, despicable little sheeeeet, Greg. Only such a snake in the grass would assume the errors, which the IRS *specifically says* is related mostly to individual errors of income reporting on business activities, is because those people are deadbeats.
Here’s a brainfart for you to absorb… think the complexity of the tax code and reporting requirements has something to do with it, as opposed to your low opinion of Americans in general?
Even the heartless IRS gives humans more credit than you, if you’d read past what you want to see in your own links. i.e. on pg 32-33 of your own link:
But you, in your infinite wisdom, just know what the IRS doesn’t… that everyone with tax errors on business reported income is a deadbeat American.
I repeat, you are one despicable little sheeeeeethead.
Then you say this:
Really? Again you’re flat out wrong on your snap judgements and talking points.
That report was from 2005. Doing “nothing”?
@MataHarley, #22:
I have a high opinon of Americans in general, but a low opinion of dishonesty. There are honest errors, but for some odd reason “errors” seem to result in a net loss of some $345 billion per year. I haven’t run across too many articles yet exposing the shocking scale of federal tax overpayment.
I suspect many people who chronically underpay their taxes have had a sense at various points that they might be conveniently “overlooking” something, or making a somewhat questionable interpretation. We do all have this wonderful capacity for rationalization. It probably becomes all that much easier when a person takes the attitude that all taxes are theft to begin with.
Let’s try again, Greg… because ye doth protest much, and yet maneuver back to the “deadbeat” theory as the majority because of lack of “overpayments”. I will repeat this slowly…. do you think the complexity of the tax codes has much to do with the fact there are not the overpayments ye seek?
The IRS code is rife with tax credits, write offs and other complexities. Not to mention, it really takes an astute CPA just to come up with a correct basis to determine state and federal capital gains revenues due – all of which generally requires historical records on depreciation taken over the years, improvements (if real estate) or assets poured into the business asset in question, etc. This is where most begin with their errors… find the basis, as the IRS notes.
Using the reality of perhaps accounting and business income/revenues on assets that are obviously out of your realm of knowledge, it’s quite simple to understand why there’s little overpayment of taxes. That would require a filer to now figure a basis at whole price, and apply none of the , costs, credits or other tax code perks.
And yes, as far as I’m concerned, taxes are theft. But I pay my taxes… and for that I have grumbling rights. However, unlike you, I don’t see those with filing errors as deadbeats. And until you can come up with statistics that don’t exist, supporting your notion that the bulk of the gap errors are indeed because of deadbeat Americans, you remain in the despicable sheeeeeet column.
@Greg:
Somehow, I very much doubt that statement. You have painted a picture of those who mis-report on their taxes as being tax cheats.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/20110218/pl_dailycaller/whydoesamericaneed4182newirsworkersobamaputitinhisbudgetbutdidntsaywhatthegoonsquadwoulddo_1
Even tax professionals believe the overwhelming majority of tax violations are innocent and due mainly to the burdensome tax code.
I realize that your recent experience with tax “cheats” has come from the Obama admin, with Geithner, Daschle, Killefer and others, but I thought you liberals defended their “cheating” by calling them innocent mistakes.
Or is this another case of liberal hypocrisy, where unless you are a democrat party big-wig, your innocent mistakes are to be prosecuted as all-out tax evasion?
That is something that you display here on FA daily. Obama first year deficit tripled Bush’s last year deficit, had nearly the same amount in year two, and in year three will most likely quadruple Bush’s worst year. Spending other people’s money is more than habit for democrats. It’s a damn religion, and they all use that rationalization you mentioned to talk themselves into spending even more. When is enough, enough, Greg? When the government raking in nearly all, or all of the wealth that people create?
You are showing yourself to be nothing more than a pure socialist at heart, Greg. Your arguments are trending towards the taking of everything from everyone and letting government decide who gets what.
You need to seriously ask yourself how and why you have strayed so far from the beliefs and actions of the founding fathers, and whether or not that is truly a good thing.
I am in awe at your “zinger” comment, johngalt…. :0)
@MataHarley:
I can only call them like they are, Mata.
@MataHarley: Wow! I love to watch you school the libtards. In fact, watching you tear down Greggie is the most fun I’ve had with my clothes on in a long time!
Yeeehaaw!!
@Greg: You said:
You are quite right about this one, Greggie. You exercise your capacity for rationalization every time you comment here at FA.
Tell me, when Geither, Daschle, and the rest of Obie’s appointees were caught not paying their taxes, did you say that it was due to mistakes? Just wondering…
When The Anointed One spent more money than any other president in history, did you rationalize that it would “stimulate” the economy?
When Obie called the Tea Party folks racists, did you rationalize that he was correct?
Gee Greggie, looks like that rationalization thing comes in handy for you lefties… 😛
Greg,
Remarkable how liberals always refer to tax dollars not confiscated by the federal government as “revenue losses .’ The left will NEVER understand that it is NOT THE GOVERNMENT”S MONEY!!! It belongs to the taxpayers…the American people.