Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

EPChe: An Expensive, Oppressive Agency Gets a Symbol


Tuesday September 25th, 2012   •   Posted by Lloyd Billingsley at 9:25am PDT   •   14 Comments

Susie Goldring, a �management analyst� with the Environmental Protection Agency, recently decided her co-workers needed catch-up on Hispanic culture. So she put together a fact sheet and tacked on a photo of a Che Guevara mural and his slogan, �Hasta la victoria siempre.� When the Che hit the fan, Goldring said she had no…
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The Multiplier for U.S. Debt Spending


Sunday September 23rd, 2012   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 12:42pm PDT   •   4 Comments

How much economic growth does the U.S. get for every new dollar it borrows? That’s an important question to answer and really, it all comes down to what’s called the multiplier, which can be described as the value of extra economic activity that is generated for every new dollar that is spent, with a…
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America’s Doctor?


Friday September 21st, 2012   •   Posted by Lloyd Billingsley at 10:45am PDT   •   1 Comment

In the latest campaign in the battle over government monopoly health care, what some call �socialized medicine,� one potentially strategic player has been missing in action. That would be Regina M. Benjamin, MD, the 18th Surgeon General of the United States. That office began in 1798 with the U.S. Marine Hospital Service, launched to…
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U.S. Debt Bigger than GDP


Thursday September 20th, 2012   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 6:15am PDT   •   5 Comments

Terrence Jeffrey of CNSNews.com reports: According to the most recent official estimate by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Gross Domestic Product for 2012 will be $15.6061 trillion–or about $440.5 billion less than the $16.0466 in debt that the federal government had accumulated as of the close of business on Monday. In other…
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Why Feds Won’t Sell GM Stock


Wednesday September 19th, 2012   •   Posted by Lloyd Billingsley at 9:21am PDT   •   8 Comments

The U.S. Treasury Department has invested $50 billion in the General Motors bailout and now owns 26.5 percent of GM stock, about 200 million shares and more than one-fourth of the company. GM was happy to get the taxpayer dough but now wants the government to sell its stock. Trouble is, the government won�t…
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Financial Crisis and Leviathan


Monday September 17th, 2012   •   Posted by Lloyd Billingsley at 2:54pm PDT   •   2 Comments

On a recent C-SPAN show, Richard Cordray, director of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,� (CFPB) confirmed that the new federal agency that hasn�t done much in its first 14 months except expand an already bloated and wasteful government during a recession. The CFPB is the result of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform…
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Who Owns the U.S. National Debt? Summer 2012 Edition


Sunday September 16th, 2012   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 11:14am PDT   •   9 Comments

Through 30 June 2012, the U.S. government had racked up some $15.855 trillion in debt. The chart below shows to whom most of it was owed: Although the United States’ total public debt outstanding has now exceeded 16 trillion dollars, at least as of 31 August 2012, the relative percentages for the major holders…
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Stumping for Waste: Amtrak Subsidies Become a Campaign Issue


Wednesday September 12th, 2012   •   Posted by Lloyd Billingsley at 10:05am PDT   •   7 Comments

Last year 30 million passengers road Amtrak, which on September 10� announced monthly ridership records for the last 11 months. That should come as no surprise with gasoline above $4 a gallon in much of the country. But Amtrak bosses, doubtless looking for more federal handouts, left out a few realities. Last year Amtrak…
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An Inside Look at the U.S. Debt Ceiling Crisis of 2011


Tuesday September 11th, 2012   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 6:22am PDT   •   4 Comments

Bob Woodward has a new book out, The Price of Politics (review), taking an inside look at the U.S. debt crisis from the summer of 2011, where the federal government came within just $5 billion, or just half a day’s worth of its typical spending, of defaulting on its debt payments. While much of…
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Government Needs Volte-Face on Electric Car Incentives


Monday September 10th, 2012   •   Posted by Lloyd Billingsley at 10:51am PDT   •   8 Comments

Electric cars have been around for more than 100 years but now the federal government �incentivizes� them, as politicians like to say. Electric vehicles (EVs) purchased in 2010 or after may be eligible for a federal income tax credit of up to $7,500. (The credit amount varies based on the capacity of the battery.)…
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