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from Zero Hedge: Back in 2012, amid “intense pressure from Obama” including an appeal for its passage in his 2012 State of the Union address, Congress passed theStop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act (with 96-3 theatrical votes in the Senate, and 417-2 even more theatrical votes in the House) – a bill prohibiting the use of non-public information for private profit, including insider trading by members of Congress and other government employees. [...] The House on Friday rejected a Democratic push to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10, shooting down one of President Obama’s priorities from his State of the Union speech. The 233-184 defeat also exposed divisions within the Democratic Party. Where Mr. Obama called for a hike from the current $7.25 to $9 an hour, congressional Democrats pushed for a $10.10 rate. But they couldn’t muster unity even within their own ranks. [...] The House voted Friday to freeze the pay of federal workers for the third year in a row over the objections of congressional Democrats and the Obama administration. Members voted 261-154 in favor of the bill, which would also lock in a pay freeze for members of Congress. It exempts people serving in the military. The bill won significant support from Democrats — 43 voted for it — while 10 Republicans voted [...] “President Obama, congressional Democrats and even some Republicans plan to push new gun-control legislation in the 113th Congress, but defenders of the Second Amendment fear Obama is poised to enact the restrictions through the Executive Branch if Congress is not cooperative. John M. Snyder heads GunRightsPolicies.org and has worked for organizations from the National Rifle Association to the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and [...]  Morici: Tax Hikes on Rich Won’t Solve Fiscal Woes, Depression Possible The Obama administration’s plans to hike taxes on the wealthiest 2 percent of the population will do little to solve the country’s fiscal imbalances and do nothing to avoid economic depression that looms large for the economy, said Peter Morici, a professor at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. One solution championed by congressional Democrats [...] The billionaire George Soros is committing $1 million to Priorities USA Action, the “super PAC” supporting President Obama, two people with knowledge of the decision said Thursday, a significant donation that could help spur further contributions to the group in the closing weeks of the election. A longtime political adviser to Mr. Soros, Michael Vachon, made the announcement at a luncheon on Thursday hosted by the Democracy Alliance, a group of [...] In a letter to the Senate, Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) acting director Edward DeMarco announced that the agency will not forgive principals for underwater borrowers under the Home Affordable Modification Program- Principle Reduction Alternative (HAMP-PRA). The decision comes after the Treasury department agreed to offer incentive payments for principal write downs. The policy has been pushed by the White House and Congressional Democrats as a way to provide some relief to [...] While the individual mandate tax gets most of the attention, the ObamaCare law actually contains 20 new or higher taxes on the American people. These taxes are gradually phased in over the years 2010 (with its 10 percent “tanning tax”) to 2018 (when the tax on comprehensive health insurance plans kicks in.) Six months from now, in January 2013, five major ObamaCare taxes will come into force: 1. The ObamaCare Medical Device [...] Kurt Nimmo The Congressional Progressive Caucus has announced it will introduce legislation designed to strip Americans of the right to defend themselves. Called “Stop Shoot First Laws,” the amendment to the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill under consideration in the House would deny states federal funding allocated under section 505 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 if they continue to allow citizens to defend [...] House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday endorsed a movement announced by other congressional Democrats on Wednesday to ratify an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would allow Congress to regulate political speech when it is engaged in by corporations as opposed to individuals. The First Amendment says in part: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…” Television and radio networks, newspapers, publishing houses, [...] By Paul Farhi, Wednesday, March 28, 6:41 PM The dark clouds hanging over Rush Limbaugh appear to be lifting. Exactly one month after the conservative radio host sparked outrage by calling Georgetown law-school student Sandra Fluke “a slut” and “a prostitute” in a three-day diatribe, stations are standing by him, advertisers are trickling back to his program and the news media have moved on. Liberal groups that organized petitions and boycotts against Limbaugh say that they intend to keep up [...] Two years after congressional Democrats squeezed out enough votes to pass President Obama’s health care overhaul, confusion still reigns among the states, insurers and average Americans struggling to comply with the hundreds of pages in the law. Some states say they can’t move forward until the government issues more rules to clarify exactly what kinds of services need to be covered, while other states dispute that, saying enough information is available [...] From Reuters: Warren Buffett is willing to put his money where his mouth is, if only congressional Republicans would join him. The American billionaire investor, in the new issue of Time magazine, says he would donate $1 to paying down the national debt for every dollar donated by a Republican in Congress. The only exception is Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell – for whom Buffett said he would go $3-to-$1. The idea stems [...] by Samantha Stainburn The Internal Revenue Service has revealed that it audited 12.5 percent of taxpayers earning $1 million or more in fiscal 2011, up from 8 percent in 2010 and 6 percent in 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported. That’s the highest-ever audit rate for millionaires. Taxpayers earning $200,000 or more also attracted a smidge more attention from the IRS, which audited 4 percent of them, up from 3 percent in [...] President Obama will kick off a three-day bus trip through small towns in politically competitive North Carolina and Virginia Monday, but White House officials insist the trip is about jobs, not votes. So much so, in fact, that they convened a conference call Sunday to reiterate that point several times, pointing out that the trip is fully on the taxpayers’ dime, not the president’s re-election campaign’s. ‘The [...] ???From NJ: One of the Democratic party’s leading pollsters released a survey of 60 Republican-held battleground districts today painting an ominous picture for Congressional Democrats in 2012. The poll shows Democratic House candidates faring worse than they did in the 2010 midterms, being dragged down by an unpopular president who would lose to both Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. Pollster Stan Greenberg released the [...] Eric W. Dolan Texas Congressman Ron Paul’s latest television advertisement lumps his Republicans rivals together with Democrats and claims he is the only GOP presidential candidate that can defeat President Barack Obama in 2012. The 1-minuted ad, called “The One,” will air in Iowa and New Hampshire. A campaign spokesman said the ad cost at least six figures. “It’s the story of a lost city, lost opportunity, lost [...] WASHINGTON — House Republicans, feeling they have scored significant fiscal victories, are moving on to an even bigger challenge: persuading voters, state legislatures and Democrats to alter the Constitution with a balanced budget amendment. In a meeting with his conference on Monday, Speaker John A. Boehner told members that the best thing they could do during the August recess was to sell their constituents on the [...] For all the drama, the compromise achieves little in the short term and only delays what most see as the country’s key financial decision: whether to raise taxes or reduce Medicare. Vice President Joe Biden arrives at the Senate to help finalize the debt deal. [...] In an interview with CNBC, the former central bank chief described himself as a “small government, free-market economist” who nonetheless believes that in order to raise revenue and close the debt gap, 1990s-era taxes must be reinstituted. It’s a measure, he said, of how serious the problem has become. “The fact that I am in favor of going back to the Clinton tax structure is merely [...] From WSJ: Do President Obama and Democrats want to cut spending? There’s not much evidence they do. They have acquiesced to some cuts—but only under political duress. The importance of the spending issue escalated last Thursday with the start of budget negotiations between Democrats and Republicans under the direction of Vice President Joe Biden. The 2012 budget, an increase in the debt limit, and long-term reform of entitlements are all on the [...] Bush said it would cost $50 to $60 billion. We are now pushing $1-trillion. Per CNN:
“He said it could — could — be $60 billion,” Duffy said. “It is impossible to know what any military campaign would ultimately cost. The only cost estimate we know of in this arena is the Persian Gulf War, and that was a $60 billion event.” Duffy also was careful to caution that President Bush had not [...] Debt, debt and more mounting debt is plaguing countries around the globe. In this U.S., states across the country face a collective $125 billion shortfall for fiscal 2012, while Congress is facing a budget gap nearly 10 times that size. PIMCO founder Bill Gross — one of the world’s largest mutual funds managers, who focuses mostly on bonds — has previously said that if the United States were a corporation, [...] By Sam Youngman, The Hill Skyrocketing oil prices are creating new political risks for President Obama, who is considering tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to relieve drivers suffering at the pump. Republicans, sensing a winning issue, pounced Monday by announcing new hearings on gas prices and warning that tapping the reserves would provide only temporary help to consumers struggling with high gas prices. Policies backed by the administration [...] |
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