President Barack Obama proposes to pay for his $447 billion jobs bill mainly by limiting tax deductions for wealthy Americans. Unfortunately, if enacted, this policy will likely dampen charitable giving and further shift perceived responsibility for social welfare from individual donors to the state. The President’s plan calls for lowering the rate at which wealthy taxpayers can take itemized deductions—from the current rate of 35 percent down to 28 percent, beginning in 2013. The change would affect individuals making more than $200,000 (and families making more than $250,000) per year. …
President Obama’s plan for turning America around is big on new spending, with insincere promises of budget cuts to come later. In particular, the President called on Congress to spend an additional $5 billion on federal subsidies for the salaries of local police officers and firefighters. The additional $5 billion would be allocated to the “hiring” grant program operated by Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program administered by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). We’ve seen this playbook before. In …
One day after solar company Solyndra closed its doors, two U.S. congressman are asking the White House for all documents related to the federal government’s $535 million loan guarantee. The probe also seeks correspondence between administration officials and the company’s investors, seeking to uncover if the White House engaged in cronyism to reward a major campaign donor. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) was pursuing an investigation of the Department of Energy’s $535 million loan long before Solyndra announced plans to file for bankruptcy. Now, using his perch as chairman of the House …
Forget entrepreneurs, captains of industry, inventors, and scientists. According to Obama Energy Secretary Steven Chu, we have the U.S. government to thank for all the wonders of technology. In a speech yesterday at Senator Harry Reid’s National Clean Energy Summit, Chu showed America his true colors–and the philosophical bent of the Department of Energy under the Obama Administration–when he delivered a speech praising government’s involvement in the growth of technologies (even helping airplanes get off the ground). In Chu’s words (which you can watch at the 30:50 mark, above): So the …
The President has publicly stated his intent to roll out a new expensive stimulus plan this fall. That plan is expected to contain hundreds of billions in new debt obligations to you, the taxpayer. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) has a better idea. He wrote a letter today to President Obama that identifies an effective means to stimulate growth. Reduce regulations that are a hidden tax on all Americans and killing private enterprise. Reducing the regulatory burden on the economy will spur economic growth. Speaker Boehner writes in …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. The Politicized Hiring of Eric Holder’s Employment Section – Hans A. von Spakovsky, Pajamas Media Energy States Lead in Job Creation, Financial States Struggle – Dennis Jacobe, Gallup Did health law bring economic doldrums? – James Sherk, McClatchy Ag. Secretary Says Food Stamp Program Is Stimulus – Stephanie Samuel, Christian Post Seattle’s ‘green jobs’ program a bust – Vanessa Ho, Post-Intelligencer No Child Left Behind by Executive Overreach – Lindsey Burke, …
The concept of a Keynesian stimulus never seems to tire among politicians eager to grow the economy artificially by spending other people’s money. Recently, Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack encouraged expanding SNAP, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program aimed to help the poor, as a way to stimulate the economy. “Every dollar of SNAP benefits generates $1.84 in the economy in terms of economic activity. If people are able to buy a little more in the grocery store, someone has to stock it, package it, shelve it, process it, ship …
You might think that a White House press briefing would be the one place where it’s safe to ask the Obama Administration a question about its economic policy. Well, think again, especially if you’re questioning the underlying premise of the Administration’s economic philosophy. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal’s Laura Meckler asked White House press secretary Jay Carney, “I understand why extending unemployment insurance provides relief to people who need it, but how does that create jobs?” Meckler’s question was met with a condescending response, as well as a flawed …
The latest unemployment numbers, released Friday, showed that the economy created a net 18,000 jobs in June, far below the roughly 150,000 needed to keep pace with new job market entrants. The unemployment rate ticked up to 9.2 percent. Since President Obama had not yet been asked directly about June’s unemployment numbers, it was inevitable that the topic be raised in his Monday press conference on the stalled debt limit negotiations with congressional Republicans. But if the president has learned anything from the apparent failure of his policies to spur …
President Obama’s defenders are taking to the airwaves to rebut the charge that his actions have caused the dire employment figure we see today. The rebuttals mirror those the President is making, and they sure don’t lack in audacity. Some of the president’s enablers, for example, continue to claim that the unemployment rate is the fault of George W. Bush (even though it has been steadily rising two and a half years after Mr. Bush left office). Others say it is the structural result of deindustrialization. A third excuse making …
