Tag Archives: Herbert Hoover

February 17, 2013 · 8:21 AM

Why Americans hate Congress

The Week

Congress justified its absurdly low approval rating this week as Senate Republicans blocked the nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary. 

Hagel, who is perfectly qualified for the post, made the unforgivable mistake of disagreeing with his former colleagues while he was still in the Senate.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) candidly told Fox News that Hagel had committed the sin of saying President Bush was “the worst president since Herbert Hoover” and that the escalation in Iraq “was the worst blunder since the Vietnam War.”

But Hagel’s biggest mistake was that he was very “anti his own party, and people don’t forget that.”

Democrats then postured for political purposes, and according to the New York Times, “decided to press ahead and require Republicans to record a vote against Mr. Hagel, allowing Democrats to accuse them of a new level of obstructionism.”

To end the pitiful week, lawmakers then left for a 10-day recess.

As Ron Fournier points out, “In addition to an empty seat at the Pentagon, the unfinished business in Washington is staggering: Billions of dollars of haphazard cuts due to automatically take effect, immigration reform, gun control, climate change, and millions of Americans left behind in a wrenching economic transition. If you took 10 days off with this much work undone, you’d be fired.”

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December 27, 2012 · 3:03 AM

The Battle Over The Obama Presidential Library: Chicago and Honolulu Both Want In

My preference would be Hawaii, but common sense says Obama’s Presidential Library will be in Chicago where he started  his political career.

Political Wire

Chicago Tribune: “Though Obama has not commented publicly about his plans for a library, every president since Herbert Hoover has established an archive in his home state to house papers from his White House tenure. That means the race could come down to Chicago — the city Obama most recently called home — and Honolulu — the city where he was born.”

“If Chicago is selected, the next hurdle would be to determine where the facility would be built. An Obama library likely would not open before the end of the decade, but already it is a hot commodity because of the prestige and economic vitality it would bring to the community.”

Rachel Maddow Describes Obama’s Accomplishments:

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May 23, 2012 · 6:15 PM

Obama spending binge never happened!

Apparently, when it comes to spending,  President Obama is our most frugal president since the Reagan administration.   However, Mitt Romney and Fox News are saying just the opposite.

Remember this:

Lies!

Market Watch

Of all the falsehoods told about President Barack Obama, the biggest whopper is the one about his reckless spending spree.

As would-be president Mitt Romney tells it: “I will lead us out of this debt and spending inferno.”

Almost everyone believes that Obama has presided over a massive increase in federal spending, an “inferno” of spending that threatens our jobs, our businesses and our children’s future. Even Democrats seem to think it’s true.

Government spending under Obama, including his signature stimulus bill, is rising at a 1.4% annualized pace — slower than at any time in nearly 60 years.

But it didn’t happen. Although there was a big stimulus bill under Obama, federal spending is rising at the slowest pace since Dwight Eisenhower brought the Korean War to an end in the 1950s.

Even hapless Herbert Hoover managed to increase spending more than Obama has.

Here are the facts, according to the official government statistics:

• In the 2009 fiscal year — the last of George W. Bush’s presidency — federal spending rose by 17.9% from $2.98 trillion to $3.52 trillion. Check the official numbers at the Office of Management and Budget.

• In fiscal 2010 — the first budget under Obama — spending fell 1.8% to $3.46 trillion.

• In fiscal 2011, spending rose 4.3% to $3.60 trillion.

• In fiscal 2012, spending is set to rise 0.7% to $3.63 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of the budget that was agreed to last August.

• Finally in fiscal 2013 — the final budget of Obama’s term — spending is scheduled to fall 1.3% to $3.58 trillion.

Read the CBO’s latest budget outlook.

 

Since then, spending growth has been relatively flat.

Over Obama’s four budget years, federal spending is on track to rise from $3.52 trillion

The big surge in federal spending happened in fiscal 2009, before Obama took of to $3.58 trillion, an annualized increase of just 0.4%.

There has been no huge increase in spending under the current president, despite what you hear.

Why do people think Obama has spent like a drunken sailor? It’s in part because of a fundamental misunderstanding of the federal budget.

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