Category Archives: Economy and Debt

May 18, 2012

How California’s budget blunders led to my divorce from the Golden State by Chuck DeVore

Posted on May 18, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

My divorce from California was long in the making: call it a case of irreconcilable differences. I constantly warned that the nation’s biggest state was spending too much, that its meddlesome regulatory climate was choking off job creation, and that its “green” energy policies were driving out manufacturing. I was called a nag and ignored. Concerned for my family’s financial viability, we packed up and left for greener pastures.


Governor Jerry Brown

Over the weekend California Governor Jerry Brown announced the grim news that the Golden State’s budget deficit had almost doubled to $16 billion – more than 17 percent of the new budget year’s $92.6 billion spending plan.

Immediately, protesters descended on the state Capitol to demand more welfare spending in a state that already hosts one-third of all of America’s welfare recipients.

As a California state lawmaker for six years, this cycle is all too familiar. The liberals who run California tax more, spend more, regulate more, and drive up the cost of doing business, and then are shocked when tax revenue plunges as productive taxpayers leave the state.

For 13 years, before being elected in 2004, I worked as an executive in California’s once-vibrant aerospace industry.

Last September, Northrup Grumman, the last major aerospace company headquartered in California, picked up its operations and tax base and moved to Virginia.

Three months later, I left too, heading to low-tax, liberty-loving Texas.

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Posted in Economy and Debt, Government

May 17, 2012

California nightmare by Ted Nugent

Posted on May 17, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

This isn’t California dreamin’ but rather an American nightmare. It’s a blinding statement of the obvious, but California’s financial nightmare (and the nation’s) is a terminal addiction to bloated and expensive government completely out of control, with zero accountability.

Will the last American left in California please turn out the lights? And don’t let the door slam you in the behind. California isn’t going broke. It’s already broke and is $16 billion in the hole. With businesses leaving the state in record numbers because of punitive taxes and bizarre overregulation, the only way forward is to either raise taxes or severely cut benefits. Raising taxes is the mantra of liberals, and California is awash with liberal politicians.

In addition to business-killing taxes and regulations, California has the third-highest state income tax in the nation, the nation’s highest sales tax and the highest gas taxes in America.

Get this: Roughly half of California’s income taxes are paid by just 1 percent of California’s residents. It’s no wonder the most productive people are leaving the state each year as more bloodsuckers move in.

If that isn’t bad enough, California has one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates; its health care system is on the verge of collapse, with dozens of hospitals closing over the past decade; crime is rampant in California’s cities; its public employees are paid staggering amounts of money compared to ordinary Californians; and massive numbers of illegal aliens continue to invade the state.

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Posted in Business, Economy and Debt, Infrastructure, Ted Nugent

May 16, 2012

Sen. Coburn’s Dark Warning: U.S. Will Face a ‘Financial Meltdown’ in 2-5 Years

Posted on May 16, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

“Everybody to stand up and say, ‘deal’s off, we’re going to fix the country. We know we’re all going to get fired. It’s okay, let’s go do it.’ That’s the honorable thing except we don’t have much honor here because people are refusing to address the very real problems that will undermine the core values of this country,” Sen. Coburn said.


Senator Tom Coburn

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) believes that unless the U.S. gets its fiscal house in order, the financial and economic repercussions will be severe.

“How long do you think before the United States has a financial meltdown?” the Daily Caller’s Nicholas Ballasy asks.

“Two to five years,” Sen. Coburn responds without hesitating.

“Think about what will happen to us. We have $16 trillion worth of debt right now and we’re paying less than 2 percent on that debt — that’s 4 percentage points less than our historical average for our debt,” he said, adding that he is confident interest rates will “come back up.”

“In 2022, less than 10 years from now, unless we make major changes that everybody’s saying they know has to be made but none of the politicians have the courage to make, the entire federal budget will be made of only three things: interest, Medicare and Social Security, nothing else,” he added.

Watch Sen. Coburn’s interview with the Daily Caller:

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Posted in Economy and Debt

May 15, 2012

Feds’ intrusions into U.S. farms and families by Chuck Norris

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

Let’s get real, folks! How far do the feds have to mingle in our manure before we say enough is enough? How far do we have to slide down the slippery slope of socialism before the descent becomes irreversible? Before we say, “Welcome to Greece!”

With Mother’s Day right at our back, I want to address one of the most extreme overreaches by the federal government into American homes that I’ve seen in a long time. Then I want to call on my own 91-year-old mother, who was raised in rural Oklahoma and worked in cotton fields with her family during the Great Depression, to help set straight the rural farm and child labor record.

After a national decry by American farmers (and all of us who support them), the Obama administration has just shelved its plan to severely restrict family members under the age of 16 from working on family farms. But mark my words, as the feds often do, they’re merely regrouping to march again on those great American homesteads.

The very words of the Department of Labor, or DOL, “withdrawal” statement read: “…the Department of Labor is announcing today the withdrawal of the proposed rule dealing with children under the age of 16 who work in agricultural vocations. … To be clear, this regulation will not be pursued for the duration of the Obama administration.”

“… not be pursued for the duration of the Obama administration”?

So, until November 2012, right?

Kudos to the bipartisan group of 98 senators and members of the House who sent letters protesting to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis about this rule that would have severely limited teenagers and younger children from learning the family trade, not to mention undermine the very business fabric of rural America. It might sound legislatively crazy if it weren’t coming from one of the most overextended federal governments in the history of the U.S.

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Posted in Chuck Norris, Culture, Democrats/Progressives, Economy and Debt, Government, Radicals

May 14, 2012

High earners say au revoir to France

Posted on May 14, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

But now the floodgates are creaking open. Estate agents report a spike in interest over the past few weeks as Hollande’s victory seemed certain, with people specifically citing the election as a reason to start looking.


President elect Francois Hollande plans to implement a 75pc tax rate on earnings over €1m (£800,000), on top of a 45pc rate for people making €150,000 or more.

The annual mass exodus from the French capital sees the city’s inhabitants while away the August heat in the countryside.

But this week many of the biggest earners across the Channel have been mulling a départ which could be rather more permanent.

The toppling of Nicolas Sarkozy by François Hollande, the first socialist president to lead the country in 17 years, has sent ripples of fear through the wealthier arrondissements of Paris.

Their new president may block the eurozone austerity advocated by Germany’s Angela Merkel, but he is not opposed to his richer citizens feeling the squeeze.

Mr Hollande plans to implement a 75pc tax rate on earnings over €1m (£800,000), on top of a 45pc rate for people making €150,000 or more. He is also expected to raise “wealth taxes” on property assets and end his predecessor’s tax incentives to lure bankers back home.

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Posted in Economy and Debt, Elections, Europe

Texas teachers’ pension fund invests in casinos, loses $99 million

Posted on May 14, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

Like many pension plans, TRS faces a widening gap between assets and long-term obligations, a result of market volatility, tight state budgets and a rising tide of retirees. Last year, this unfunded liability reached $24 billion and forced the teacher fund to continue a decade long freeze on increases in benefit payments.

s public investments go, this one looked like a roll of the dice.

But the Teacher Retirement System of Texas wanted a big win, so it put $100 million into the buyout of a Las Vegas gaming company called Station Casinos.

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Posted in Economy and Debt, Education, Entitlements, Tax

Shortfall in California’s Budget Swells to $16 Billion

Posted on May 14, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

LOS ANGELES — The state budget shortfall in California has increased dramatically in the last six months, forcing state officials to assemble a series of new spending cuts that are likely to mean further reductions to schools, health care and other social programs already battered by nearly five years of budget retrenchment, state officials announced on Saturday.

Gov. Jerry Brown, disclosing the development in a video posted on YouTube, said that California’s shortfall was now projected to be $16 billion, up from $9.2 billion in January. Mr. Brown said that he would propose a revised budget on Monday to deal with it.

“We are now facing a $16 billion hole, not the $9 billion we thought in January,” Mr. Brown said. “This means we will have to go much further and make cuts far greater than I asked for at the beginning of the year.”

Mr. Brown disclosed the news in a video that had all the trappings of a campaign announcement. In it, he aggressively accounted for the steps he said he had taken to try to scale back a $26 billion deficit he found upon taking office. And he urged viewers to back an initiative he is putting on the November ballot that would increase sales taxes by 0.25 percent and impose an income tax surcharge on wealthy Californians to try to stave off more cuts.

State officials said Mr. Brown’s proposal would include a package of immediate cuts, as well as others that would be triggered only if voters failed to approve his tax plan. The sales tax increase would expire after four years, while the income tax surcharge would last for seven years.

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Posted in Debt, Economy and Debt, Government

May 13, 2012

Video: American Baby Factories

Posted on May 13, 2012 by ifnm| 1 Comment

“This is what the American welfare system has turned in to: an army of scammers dragging America into bankruptcy. The welfare mentality and system is by far the greatest threat to our economy.” Wild Bill for America


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Posted in Economy and Debt, Entitlements, Government

Mothers forced to sell their children: The distressing human toll of Greece’s Euro meltdown

Posted on May 13, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

‘I cannot count the number of doorbells I have rung of government departments, asking officials to help me and my family. They make promises but do nothing. They have no money either. Our country is in crisis.’


Effects of austerity: Juliana Tsivra with her mother Maria. Maria used to work in a bakery but lost her job more than a year ago

The economic crisis across Europe has perhaps been most keenly felt in Greece, where people have taken to the streets in violent and emotional protests against the austeriy measures imposed on the nation.

In this heartbreaking dispatch from the streets of Athens, SUE REID finds mothers who have been forced to sell their own children in the battle for survival.

Once a month, usually on a Saturday, Kasiani Papadopoulou packs a bag with children’s presents and takes the bus from her one-bedroom flat in a dusty suburb of Athens up into the cool hills outside the Greek capital that overlook the sea.

The 20-mile journey is an emotional one for her, but she would not stop making it for anything in the world.

A young widow of 30, she travels to see her two daughters and son — aged 14, 13 and 12. Kasiani was forced to give them away a year ago when her money ran out and she was unable to pay for their food, her rent or send them to school with shoes or books.

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Posted in Bubbles, Economy and Debt, Europe

May 9, 2012

‘Wake up Young People!’: CNBC’s Santelli Delivers Stern Warning to those 27 and Under (Video)

Posted on May 9, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

“The jobs outlook in the U.S. isn’t very good,” Santelli said, “And it’s really about young people. Look at the unemployment rate among the young and you realize jobs are really most important to them. Why? Because young people, and as a voting bloc, all of you people out there — about 27 or younger — I just want you to understand they lay of the land: your generation, and the generations to follow you that aren’t born yet, are paying for a meal that previous generations like mine have eaten. We’re sending you the check.”


Rick Santelli

Rick Santelli, the man commonly credited with starting the Tea Party movement, took time during CNBC’s “Santelli Exchange” to discuss his thoughts on the U.S. national debt, student loans, and the implications of the recent Greek and French elections.

“Sometimes the math just doesn’t add up,” Santelli said, “But even more than the math, the lesson from Europe and the elections this weekend is simple: nobody is going to volunteer for austerity.”

“Austerity,” of course, refers to the method of dealing with massive amounts of debt through harsh budget cuts and major slashes in public spending; it’s dealing with “past due bills,” as Santelli puts it.

“In this country, the minute you’re born, according to the debt clock, you have about a $50,000 dollar debt — the minute you’re born,” Santelli continued.

“Now that’s per individual…if you’re a taxpayer, it’s closer to $138,000 per head. Now let’s look at what everybody wants to talk about,” Santelli said while circling the word “growth” on his dry erase board.

“Growth…is definitely something that’s in the windshield while austerity is in the rearview mirror.”

Watch Santelli discuss jobs, student loans, and austerity (via CNBC):


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Posted in Economy and Debt, Government, Tax, Tea Parties