The AP reports, you decide: WASHINGTON – Barack Obama’s optimistic campaign rhetoric has crashed headlong into the stark reality of governing. In office two months, he has backpedaled on an array of issues, gingerly shifting positions as circumstances dictate while ducking for political cover to avoid undercutting his credibility and authority. That’s happened on the Iraq troop withdrawal timeline, on lobbyists in his administration and on money for lawmakers’ pet projects.
Speaking to House Democrats at their Kingsmill Resort & Spa retreat last month, President Barack Obama defended his economic stimulus plan, claiming: “[We] are not going to get relief by turning back to the same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin. … If you’re headed for a cliff, you’ve got to change direction.” Our public policy definitely needs a change in direction. But the Obama Administration’s budget is not a change in direction. Instead, it is a foot …
When President Barack Obama introduced Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) as his nominee for Commerce Secretary, Obama said of Gregg: “He shares my deep-seated commitment to guaranteeing that our children inherit a future they can afford.” After yesterday’s Senate Budget Committee hearing, we now know why Gregg eventually decided he could not in good faith join the Administration. Referring to the president’s fiscal 2010 budget proposal, Gregg told Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner: “This budget, as it’s presently constructed, pass[es] on to our children a nation which they will not be able …
The Financial Times makes a valiant effort to curb wild talk about China dumping U.S. Treasury bonds. Luo Ping of the China Bank Regulatory Commission may use strong language – “we hate you guys” — but he has a better grip on the PRC’s options than much of the American press or, for that matter, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Luo makes explicit that the size of China’s trade surplus with the U.S. and the balance of payments system Beijing has staunchly defended leave it no choice but to buy treasuries. …
A little while ago, Vice President Joe Biden had the audacity to say, “Every economist, as I’ve said, from conservative to liberal, acknowledges that direct government spending on a direct program now is the best way to infuse economic growth and create jobs.” Well, the McClatchy wire carried this headline today: “Will the stimulus actually stimulate? Economists say no.” From the story: “I think (doing) nothing would have been better,” said Ed Yardeni, an investment analyst who’s usually an optimist, in an interview with McClatchy. He argued that the plan fails to provide …
While campaigning for passage of his economic stimulus plan at the Caterpillar, Inc. plant in East Peoria, Illinois, yesterday President Barack Obama again claimed that “if Congress passes our plan, this company will be able to rehire some of the folks who were just laid off.” But after the President had hopped back in his motorcade, ABC News asked Caterpillar CEO Jim Owens if what the President said was true: “I think realistically no. The truth is we’re going to have more layoffs before we start hiring again.” Owens is …
“First of all, when I hear that from folks who presided over a doubling of the national debt, then, you know, I just want them to not engage in some revisionist history.” – President Barack Obama, February 9, 2009 President Barack Obama has recently begun denigrating Republican attempts to pare back the bloated “stimulus” bill by asserting that a party which oversaw a large increase in the national debt has no business lecturing anyone on fiscal responsibility. It is true that, between 2002 and 2009, the budgets largely shaped by …
In a study released this morning, Heritage senior fellow Robert Rector pegged the honest cost of the House economic stimulus plan at $1.34 trillion, not the $816 billion that has been reported. Rector reasoned: The recently passed U.S. House of Representatives stimulus bill contains $816 billion in new spending and tax cuts. Of this sum, $264 billion (32 percent) is new means-tested welfare spending. … But this welfare spending is only the tip of the iceberg. The bill sets in motion another $523 billion in new welfare spending that is …
Last Friday we warned you about some family planning provisions tucked away in the House stimulus bill. Some conservative lawmakers then took up the issue on the Sunday shows, and the provisions quickly became a symbol of how completely unrelated to “economic stimulus” the House bill really is. Being the savvy political operator he is, President Barack Obama has now instructed House Democrats to remove that one provision. But, like much of Obama’s presidency so far, this was a completely symbolic move. The family planning provisions are just one small …
Before President Bush took office, the federal government took in $2 trillion in revenue in 2000. As Bush leaves office, the federal government is expected to take in $2.4 trillion in 2009. In other words, after eight years under President Bush, the federal government is taking in $400 billion more a year in revenue. So why did Congressional Budget Office project a $1.4 trillion deficit for the 2009 budget? Massive spending increases. In 2000, the federal government spent just $1.8 trillion. Now the CBO estimates that the feds will spend …
