THE DEFICIT

[Hoosier Hillbilly]

The Super Congress’ Smartest Move: Do Nothing At All
Obama knew this, he's got a plan & the 'devel is in the details'!


The much heralded Joint Select Committee on Deficit Spending, also known as the “Super Congress” or “Super Committee”, is meeting this month to discuss a potential debt deal to stave off the continued an increasingly desperate reliance that our federal government has to spending. Created as part of the compromise necessary for passage of the Budget Control Act of 2011, the Super Congress is comprised of six Republicans and six Democrats from both the House and Senate and is charged with making a recommendation to the Congress regarding where the promised $1.5 billion in spending cuts will be made.

The Democrat members of the Super Congress are Sen. Patty Murray (WA), Sen. Max Baucus (MT), Sen. John Kerry (MA), Rep. Xavier Becerra (CA), Rep. Jim Clyburn (SC), and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (MD). The Republican members are Sen. John Kyl (AZ), Sen. Rob Portman (OH), Sen. Pat Toomey (PA), Rep. Jeb Hensarling (TX), Rep. Fred Upton (MI), and Rep. Dave Camp (MI). While only one member from either side would need to defect to provide a majority, Democrats have steadfastly sworn to refuse any cuts to entitlement programs, while Republicans have similarly sworn against tax increases.

This mutual stubbornness is presumably the reason the Super Committee has opted to hold session behind closed doors. No elected representative is willing to cede ground in front of the watchful eye of the press or, worse, the voters. When the elected officials of our nation are trying to hide their actions from voters because they believe that those actions will be unpopular, then we know that those officials have forgotten some very important American principles of government.

But the real question is what kind of plan the Super Congress will eventually present to Congress. Historically, budget summits such as this have resulted in a compromise consisting of immediate tax cuts, offset by promised spending cuts over a set period of time. (In fact, the $1.5 trillion in cuts that the committee is discussing has already been promised to occur over ten years.) Not only is this not actually a reduction of spending or deficit, this promise is based on the completely false premise that the current Congress can make promises on behalf of future Congresses. As we saw after the 1990 Andrews Air Force Base Budget Summit, President Bush was convinced to break his campaign promise of “No New Taxes” in exchange for a promise of spending cuts that never materialized. In fact, the Democratic Congress used the tax hikes to actually increase spending, expanding the deficit even further. This underhanded political maneuver should have come as no surprise to anyone who recalled the earlier budget swindle wherein President Ronald Reagan was convinced by Speaker Tip O’Neill to agree to tax hikes in exchange for three dollars of spending cuts for every dollar of spending increases. After leaving office, President Reagan joked on occasion that he was still waiting for his three dollars of cuts.

So what we can expect from the Super Congress is a compromise that includes some tax increases balanced with some spending cuts that will be spread over the next decade or two and which will ultimately never materialize. In a previous post (The Fundamental Failures of the “Balanced Approach”) I’ve explained at great length why this balanced approach is flawed and will be, ultimately, unsuccessful.

But there is a saving grace. If the committee is unwilling or unable to reach an agreement by the November 23, there is an automatic “trigger” in place that would cut $1.4 trillion from the federal budget. While these cuts would not take place in the largest entitlement programs, where they’re needed most, but rather from defense and other domestic programs, they would be a huge step in the right direction. They wouldn’t immediate, either, (occurring over the next ten years) but they would be a completely spending-side solution, rather than the weak and ultimately ineffective plan that will come from the Super Congress otherwise. Since our deficit problems come not from a lack of revenue but, rather, an over abundance of spending, this would be the most appropriate measure given the options.

It’s somewhat telling that the best thing that the Super Congress can do to improve the situation of our nation and its citizen is to do nothing at all.

[Hoosier Hillbilly]

It appears that the supercommittee isn’t any more super than the weak-kneed Congress that created it in the first place. With the deadline fast approaching for the group of twelve to agree on how to cut/raise $1.2 trillion, the likelihood is they won’t agree on anything except a cowardly formula for kicking the can down the road, if they can even agree on that. If they come up empty, an equal likelihood, Congress is already starting to signal that it might find ways to spare the defense budget the automatic cuts that are supposed to take place without an agreement, and you can be sure the other cuts will also be on the block, meaning the whole thing was an exercise in futility, the one thing this Congress has excelled at. I find myself in the awkward position of praising Newt Gingrich, of all people, who’s the only one of the presidential candidates, Republican or Democratic, with the courage to ridicule both parties for the creation of this Frankenstein’s monster, and for their failure to do the jobs they were elected to perform. If he’s the lone voice of sanity, we are in deep, deep shit.
But I'd vote for anyone before I'd vote for Obama again(PERIOD)

[Hoosier Hillbilly]

Patriotic Millionaire Robert Johnson, former chief economist of the U.S Senate banking committee, said that the current economic system is not broken, but it is "working on behalf of those who designed it in their favor."

"America is no longer based on markets and capitalism, instead our economy is designed as 'socialism for the rich' – it is designed to ensure that the wealthiest people take all of the gains, while regular Americans cover any losses," he said at a press conference this afternoon in Washington, D.C.

"It's a Las Vegas economy where regular Americans put their money on the table and the richest 1 percent own the house," he said. "And if the 1 percent happen to lose money, the 99 percent bails them out – covers their losses and then stands by watching while the house does it all over again."

[Hoosier Hillbilly]

You don't have to look hard or far to see enough waste in gov to understand how "WE" got so deep in debt. Taxpayer dollars are wasted by the billions on a daily basis. It's like gov don't give a sh*t, in fact ( they don't).
The Super Committee can not come to any decisions to cut a couple trillion on the budget, that's pure bull dung. All they'd have to do is just dig into all the waste in gov, they wouldn't have to cut any important budgets. There's money being thrown everywhere by gov without any follow up or monitoring to see who gets it and what it went for "WE" all know that.
I do agree that the rich should have some loopholes closed that makes them pay their fair share. [[ AND! ]] I do think the tax burden on the middle class is excessive. If you made a close examination of total income/household you'd find that 1/2 of it goes for taxes of some sort or kind! ((( maybe more )))
If it interest you @ all; use the website below to see just a few of the ways our gov waste 'our' tax dollars...

www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/finding-more-flaws-in-huds-accounting-of-home-program/2011/10/13/gIQAkTlctM_story.html

[Hoosier Hillbilly]

United States Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction
SUPER Committee

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction,[1] colloquially referred to as the Supercommittee, is a joint select committee of the United States Congress, created by the Budget Control Act of 2011 on August 2, 2011. The act was intended to prevent the rapid process of sovereign default that would have resulted from the 2011 United States debt-ceiling crisis,[2] and has been interpreted as a reaction to frustration over prolonged partisan political disputes during an uncertain economy struggling to recover from the late-2000s recession.[3]

Demonstrating from a practical common sense kind of reasoning when you consider who selected the committee is was predetermined what was going to happen!
Reid, Pelosi,Boehner, & McConnell
Put those 4 in a room and don't let them out until they have determined a way to cut 4 trillion from the budget - that's what I say ... "&" then Obama will veto it!!! LOL

[Hoosier Hillbilly]

www.rd.com/money/the-government-is-wasting-your-tax-dollars/
They did it "WE" didn't they should pay it back not "US"!
no retirement
no expense account
no-free=rides-of-any-kind!
Ammentment # 28
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because we think the government should be held to at least the same standards as a publicly traded company, and because as taxpayers, we’re America’s shareholders, we performed an audit of sorts of the federal books. We’re not economists, but we do have common sense. We tried to be apolitical and got help from Congressional staffers from both parties, as well as various watchdog groups and agencies (see list*). In the end, we found that the federal government wastes nearly $1 trillion every year.

That’s roughly equal to the amount collected annually by the Internal Revenue Service in personal income taxes. Put another way, it’s also equal to about one-third of the country’s $2.9 trillion total annual budget. And reclaiming that lost trillion could help wipe out the country’s annual budget deficit, improve education, and provide health insurance for those who don’t have it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OMB Watch, Tax Payers for Common Sense, Citizens Against Government Waste, Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation, Government Accountability Office

[Hoosier Hillbilly]

How quaint; China is describing "US" as the debt-ridden developed world.
They think we're picking on them ( Obama that is );
is that called bitting the hand that feeds you "OR"
preparing for the 'worse'?
SCARES "ME":!!!!

[Hoosier Hillbilly]

It never ceases to fasinate me:

Life on Mars? Curiosity will find it

Do you realize that's probably 1/2 'our' national debt heading for another planet to pick up a little dirt and come back home?
"WE"ve got a stalled gov, high unemployment, a debt that will never be payed, living conditions for 99% of "US" going downhill fast and DOD playing with expensive toys, excuse me NASA!

I think that's where the "NEW" gov is going to send "US"...pun
...you can apply 'all kinds' of ridiculous statements to that one.
will that be China?
is Obama going too?
do "WE" need to pack bags
will there be a charge if "WE" do?
they got the money to do that?
= 'i' could go for ever on this one=
but 'i'd rather hear some of yours__________________________

[Cyberman]

Nov 26, 2011 7:31:53 GMT -5 Hoosier Hillbilly said:

It never ceases to fasinate me:

Life on Mars? Curiosity will find it

Do you realize that's probably 1/2 'our' national debt heading for another planet to pick up a little dirt and come back home?
"WE"ve got a stalled gov, high unemployment, a debt that will never be payed, living conditions for 99% of "US" going downhill fast and DOD playing with expensive toys, excuse me NASA!

I think that's where the "NEW" gov is going to send "US"...pun
...you can apply 'all kinds' of ridiculous statements to that one.
will that be China?
is Obama going too?
do "WE" need to pack bags
will there be a charge if "WE" do?
they got the money to do that?
= 'i' could go for ever on this one=
but 'i'd rather hear some of yours__________________________

Let's see if NASA has ever benefited society.
1978: Teflon-coated fiberglass developed in the 1970s as a new fabric for astronaut spacesuits has been used as a permanent roofing material for buildings and stadiums worldwide. (By the way, contrary to urban myth, NASA did not invent Teflon.)

1982: Astronauts working on the lunar surface wore liquid-cooled garments under their space suits to protect them from temperatures approaching 250 degrees Fahrenheit. These garments, further developed and refined by NASA’s Johnson Space Center, are among the agency’s most widely used spinoffs, with adaptations for portable cooling systems for treatment of medical ailments such as burning limb syndrome, multiple sclerosis, spinal injuries and sports injuries.

1986: A joint National Bureau of Standards/NASA project directed at the Johnson Space Center resulted in a lightweight breathing system for firefighters. Now widely used in breathing apparatuses, the NASA technology is credited with significant reductions in inhalation injuries to the people who protect us.

1991: Tapping three separate NASA-developed technologies in the design and testing of its school bus chassis, a Chicago-based company was able to create a safer, more reliable, advanced chassis, which now has a large market share for this form of transportation.

1994: Relying on technologies created for servicing spacecraft, a Santa Barbara-based company developed a mechanical arm that allows surgeons to operate three instruments simultaneously, while performing laparoscopic surgery. In 2001, the first complete robotic surgical operation proved successful, when a team of doctors in New York removed the gallbladder of a woman in France using the Computer Motion equipment.

1995: Dr. Michael DeBakey of the Baylor College of Medicine teamed up with Johnson Space Center engineer David Saucier to develop an artificial heart pump – based on the design of NASA’s space shuttle main engine fuel pumps – that supplements the heart’s pumping capacity in the left ventricle. Later, a team at Ames Research Center modeled the blood flow, and improved the design to avoid harm to blood cells. The DeBakey Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) can maintain the heart in a stable condition in patients requiring a transplant until a donor is found, which can range from one month to a year. Sometimes, permanent implantation of the LVAD can negate the need for a transplant. Bernard Rosenbaum, a Johnson Space Center propulsion engineer who worked with the DeBakey-Saucier group said, “I came to NASA in the early 1960s as we worked to land men on the moon, and I never dreamed I would also become part of an effort that could help people’s lives. We were energized and excited to do whatever it took to make it work.”

2000: NASA’s “Software of the Year” award went to Internet-based Global Differential GPS (IGDG), a C-language package that provides an end-to-end system capability for GPS-based real-time positioning and orbit determination. Developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the software is being used to operate and control real-time GPS data streaming from NASA’s Global GPS Network. The Federal Aviation Administration has adopted the software’s use into the Wide Area Augmentation System program that provides pilots in U.S. airspace with real-time, meter-level accurate knowledge of their positions.

2000: Three Small Business Innovation Research contracts with NASA’s Langley Research Center resulted in a new, low cost ballistic parachute system that lowers an entire aircraft to the ground in the event of an emergency. These parachutes, now in use for civilian and military aircraft, can provide a safe landing for pilots and passengers in the event of engine failure, midair collision, pilot disorientation or incapacitation, unrecovered spin, extreme icing and fuel exhaustion. To date, the parachute system is credited with saving more than 200 lives.

2005: Two NASA Kennedy Space Center scientists and three faculty members from the University of Central Florida teamed up to develop NASA’s Government and Commercial Invention of the Year for 2005, the Emulsified Zero-Valent Iron (EZVI) Technology. Designed to address the need to clean up the ground of the historic Launch Complex 34 at KSC that was polluted with chlorinated solvents used to clean Apollo rocket parts, the EZVI technology provides a cost-effective and efficient cleanup solution to underground pollution that poses a contamination threat to fresh water sources in the area. This technology has potential use for the cleanup of environmental contamination at thousands of Department of Energy, Department of Defense, NASA and private industry facilities throughout the country.
www.nasa.gov/50th/50th_magazine/benefits.html

Just a few.
What about....
Those of us enjoying laptop computers, surfing a cyber realm.
Those of us enjoying the use of cellular "smart-phones" phones with which one can talk without incurring outrageous long-distance telephone bills.
Compare the past Apollo mission expenses to the past expenses of the now retired Shuttle Fleet.

How many people is NASA responsible for keeping employed?
Scientists, Engineers, Truck Drivers, Chemists, not to mention manufacturing jobs all across this great nation?

Not everything I listed is courtesy of NASA. I was just rambling.
Seriously speaking, if the human species is going to survive it is advisable to seek out new frontiers to colonize.

We are a curious species, are we?
:-)

[Hoosier Hillbilly]

The "LAST RESORT" has arrived.






Coordinated global bank intervention in the euro crisis is a defining moment




By Benedict Brogan November 30th, 2011




Everyone is scrambling to understand the significance of this surprise announcement – latest on our live blog – from the major central banks, namely that they are making unlimited amounts of cheap dollars available to troubled institutions. It looks like they have decided to tell the markets that no banks will be allowed to fail, by offering themselves as a sort of super-guarantor, a global bank of last resort. There's a big sigh of relief going round the bourses. London, Frankfurt, Paris etc bounced up on the news. New York has opened up nearly 3pc, the FTSE is up by more than 3pc (and by more than 7pc over the week). In addition to the Fed, ECB, Japan, Canada and Switzerland, the Chinese seem to be in on it as well. This may prove to be the major development of the day; it's certainly one of the big moments of the crisis.

What do we make of the geo-politics of it? It is tempting to conclude that the Americans have organised a whip-round to bail out the financial system out of frustration at the failure of the EU to act. There is a whiff of frustration in the way it has been put together, as if the institutions have decided that there's no point waiting for the Germans to wake up and smell the coffee (btw someone explained to me that a prime reason for Germany's paralysis is that it has no banking industry worth mentioning, and therefore has no understanding of modern financial markets). This is clearly an expression of the frustration of institutions at the weakness of politicians, in Europe but also in the US. When the post mortem comes, there will have to be some searching questions asked about the political inadequacies of countries we usually hold up as smoothly functioning democracies. And Europe may want to ask itself why, once again, it has had to be rescued by the almighty greenback.

I hope I'm wrong, I see it taking a couple days to sink in, what's just happened, then Wall Street will fall the 400pts it just gained.

To parallel the significance of this action I'll use the housing market; The home owner is told he will be refinanced for the total amount of his loan at a lower rate which he can pay but the value of the property is only 1/2 of that amount.
What's the home owner going to do? He has to have a place to live, but he'd have extra money if he just walked away. What's the finanice company going to do if he walks away?
Two wrongs don't make a right - both loose!

[Hoosier Hillbilly]

Does this sound to you like our gov is worried about how to pay off the deficit or does it sound more like business as usual?


WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a weekend deadline to avoid a government shutdown, a combative Congress appears on track to advance a massive $1 trillion-plus yearend spending package that curbs agency budgets but drops many policy provisions sought by GOP conservatives.

Lawmakers reached a tentative agreement Monday on the measure. It chips away at the Pentagon budget, foreign aid and environmental spending but boosts funding for veterans programs and modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

The measure generally pleases environmentalists, who succeeded in stopping industry forces from blocking new clean air rules and a new clean water regulation opposed by mountaintop removal mining interests. House Republicans appeared likely to win concessions that would roll back administration efforts to ease restrictions on Cuban immigrants on traveling to the island and sending cash back to family members there.

On spending, the measure implements this summer's hard-fought budget pact between President Barack Obama and Republican leaders. That deal essentially freezes agency budgets, on average, at levels for the recently completed budget year that were approved back in April.

Drafted behind closed doors, the proposed bill would provide $115 billion (( does that seem like a lot of money considering it's already cost "U" trillions )) for overseas security operations in Afghanistan and Iraq but give the Pentagon just a 1 percent boost in annual spending not directly related to the wars. The Environmental Protection Agency's budget would be cut by 3.5 percent((wonder what their budget is and how 'well' they spend it?)). Foreign aid spending would drop and House lawmakers ((congress )) would absorb a 6 percent cut to their office budgets.
(( which are??? ))
The bill also covers money for combating AIDS and famine in Africa, patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border, operating national parks and boosting veterans' health care.
(( Yew! I'm sure all that will be well spent ))
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said bargainers had struck an agreement but would not formally unveil it until Tuesday. Other lawmakers said some issues remain to be finalized.

A House vote is expected Thursday and the Senate is likely to follow in time to meet a midnight Friday deadline before a stopgap funding measure expires.

The generally smooth, businesslike negotiations on the omnibus spending bill contrast with the ongoing partisan brawl over Obama's demand that Congress extend jobless benefits and a cut in the Social Security payroll tax. The House is slated to vote on a GOP-friendly version of the payroll tax cut Tuesday; negotiations with the Democratic-controlled Senate on a compromise measure have yet to begin.

The delay into Tuesday on the spending measure stemmed in large part from displeasure on the part of Senate Democratic leaders, upset about the hard line taken by Republicans on the payroll tax cut measure. Democrats are seeking to ensure both the spending measure and the payroll tax bill pass before Congress adjourns for the year.
(( They're more worried about not missing Santa Clause than they are this country ))

"They're connected politically. We need to do it all before we go home," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Rogers was pushing until the end to block clean water rules opposed by mining companies that blast the tops off mountains, to no avail. Top Appropriations Committee Democrat Norm Dicks of Washington, when asked if the mountaintop mining rider was still a concern, said, "It would be if it were in" the final legislation.

Dicks also predicted failure for several GOP attempts to block the EPA's authority to issue greenhouse gas regulations and new limits on hazardous emissions under the Clean Air Act.

House GOP leaders pressed riders to block the Obama administration's 2009 policy lifting restrictions on travel and money transfers by Cuban-Americans to families remaining in Cuba, and some Democrats backing the administration policy seemed resigned to defeat.

On spending, the measure generally consists of relatively small adjustments to thousands of individual programs. Agencies like the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement will get a boost within the Homeland Security Department, while GOP defense hawks won additional funding to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal. The troubled, over-budget, next-generation F-35 fighter plane program would be largely protected.
(( that's so "WE" can 'supposedly' sell some to Iraq ))
Democrats won a modest increase in funding for schools with large numbers of disadvantaged students
(( Yew! that's not important ))

[Hoosier Hillbilly]

www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_19562076


SEC charges ex-Fannie, Freddie CEOs with fraud
By Derek Kravitz





WASHINGTON -- Two former CEOs at mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Friday became the highest-profile individuals to be charged in connection with the 2008 financial crisis.

In a lawsuit filed in New York, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil fraud charges against six former executives at the two firms, including former Fannie CEO Daniel Mudd and former Freddie CEO Richard Syron.

The executives were accused of understating the level of high-risk subprime mortgages that Fannie and Freddie held just before the housing bubble burst.

"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives told the world that their subprime exposure was substantially smaller than it really was," said Robert Khuzami, SEC's enforcement director.

Khuzami noted that huge losses on their subprime loans eventually pushed the two companies to the brink of failure and forced the government to take them over.

The charges brought Friday follow widespread criticism of federal authorities for not holding top executives accountable for the recklessness that triggered the 2008 crisis.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Housing bubble fallout



Executives charged: Two former CEOs at mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and four other executives, were charged with civil fraud, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday. They are the highest-profile individuals to be charged in connection with the 2008 financial crisis.


Subprime loans: The executives were accused of understating the level of high-risk subprime mortgages that Fannie and Freddie held just before the housing bubble burst.


Criminal charges?: The Justice Department began investigating the firms three years ago but many legal experts say they don't expect the six executives to face criminal charges.

IMPO...In my personal opinion Bush & Barny should be tried right along with them!
"&" Newt-ity just wants to be president so he can pardon all of them.

[Hoosier Hillbilly]

=*= Let's take a look @ all the monstrosities of this one!=*=

Why a millionaire wants autoworkers to take a pay cut ` `[[why now]]

.By Justin Hyde | Motoramic – 12 hours ago.. .

The former head "CZAR" of the Obama administration's auto task force says he should have pushed the United Auto Workers for steeper sacrifices in the General Motors bailout, including wage cuts. The people earning $9 a hour in a suburban Detroit GM plant would disagree.

Former auto czar and wealthy Wall Street financier Steven Rattner told a luncheon in Detroit on Thursday that while the $50 billion GM bailout was successful [[For who-are you living any better- it was your money that did it!]], "we should have asked the UAW to do a ((bit)) more. We did not ask any UAW member to take a cut in their pay." He also said that "friends on Wall Street" were concerned by GM's earnings and communications with the market, pushing the stock down to a level that would lose the goverment $14 billion if it sold its shares today. [[What about the share holders - how'd they come out in this?]]

Meanwhile, at General Motors' Orion Township, Mich., plant about 45 minutes away from where Rattner spoke, there are three tiers of hourly workers. Roughly 900 workers at the top tier, the most senior UAW [[ What is the largest-richest union in the "US"?]]
=*= What did the bailout cost them?=*=
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` &
=*= what part did they play in GM going broke to begin with =*=
workers, make $29 an hour [[$29x40 hours x 52 weeks = $60,320/yr...uneducated hourly workers]], a rate unchanged since 2008. Another 500 or so UAW workers are paid about $16 an hour [[$16 x 40 x 52 = $33,280]] — a rate, adjusted for inflation, equal to the famed $5 a day Henry Ford started paying his workers in 1914.
** I ask; does this sound logical and reasonable to you?
"sarcasm" how'd they ever get in this situation to begin with
why you can't afford a new Chevrolet

And at the bottom scale are 200-odd workers [[ -ones 'we' can identify with]] technically employed by an outside supplier but who work in the plant moving parts to the assembly line [[ *the worker ants - doing the tuff stuff * ]], jobs once done by GM workers paid $29 an hour. The contractors' pay: $9 an hour with no health care, a rate which over a year's work would leave them below the poverty level for a family of four.

CONCLUSION:
....So is this how {large corporations & unions operate?}