Free Talk Live

President Obama on Wednesday advocated increasing federal tax breaks for automobiles that run on electricity or natural gas, plus spending $1 billion to finance recharging stations for electric vehicles in 15 cities, plus $650 million to make electric cars more appealing to consumers. Maybe he forgot that his own budget projects that the federal debt (now at $15 trillion) will increase to $25 trillion in the next decade.

Unanimous: Obama Budget Defeated 414-0

In a rare instance of bipartisanship, President Barack Obama's reckless $3.6 trillion budget for next year was defeated 414-0 late last night on the House Floor.

Republicans said Democrats were afraid to vote for Obama's proposed tax increases and extra spending for energy and welfare. Democrats said Republicans had forced a vote on a version of Obama's budget that contained only its numbers, not the policies he would use to achieve them.

Wow! We’ll soon cross Sixteen Trillion Dollars in Federal Debt! S-i-x-t-e-e-n T-r-i-l-l-i-o-n D-o-l-l-a-r-s. That’s a lot of vote buying even for Washington. Is this ruin? Have we indentured our children into servitude? Solomon warned borrowers will be slaves to their lenders. Add $120 plus trillion in unfunded forthcoming liabilities and, well, we’re doomed.

At least someone in America isn't feeling a credit squeeze: Uncle Sam. This week Congress will vote to raise the national debt ceiling by nearly $2 trillion, to a total of $14 trillion. In this economy, everyone de-leverages except government.

The fiscal 2011 funding bill roundly hailed for its "historic" spending cuts actually raised government spending by more than $3 billion, according to a new report.The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded Monday evening, "Total discretionary outlays in 2011 will be $3.2 billion higher as a result of the legislation, CBO estimates—an increase of $7.5 billion for defense programs, partially offset by a net reduction of $4.4 billion in other spending."

Title says "Cash for Clunkers under budget with 690,000 sales" but one paragraph says "It proved far more popular than lawmakers originally thought. Congress added another $2 billion to the original $1 billion budget when the first pot of money nearly ran out in a week. The extra money was supposed to last through Labor Day, but the funding only lasted about a month."

In other words, it was over budget before it was under budget after they made the budget larger, and even then, it was canceled just enough earlier than planned to keep it from consuming even the second "budget."

GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry is proposing a flat income tax rate of 20%, personal retirement accounts for younger people and a balanced federal budget by 2020 as part of a sweeping economic plan he unveiled today.

Privatizing nearly every aspect of governmental services except police and fire (and not falling into the debt trap of budget busting pension plans) has taken a city budget from high debt to a surplus - and improved the quality of life and lowered property as well. Exactly what the Libertarian philosophy predicts.

Bowing to growing budget concerns and months of Republican political pressure on federal pay and benefits, President Obama today announced he would stop pay increases for most of the two million people who work for the federal government.