Government Spending

Scary story of the day: California may be broke in two months. According to the AP: California's chief financial officer warned Monday that the state would run out of money in about two months as hopes of a Christmas budget compromise melted into political finger-pointing by the end of the day.   Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began the day on a cheerful note, suggesting that ... read more

Get ready for bigger government.   Much bigger. President-Elect Barack Obama today give his weekly radio address.  It was primarily aimed at the economy (and strangely silent on Israel/Gaza) and again discussed the massive government growth plan that is coming down the pike. Here is the key paragraph: That’s why we need an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that not only creates ... read more

The economy is sick and only big government has the medicine. That was the primary message in a economy-focused speech today by Barack Obama.   It was a speech perhaps written to try and instill consumer confidence, though the message came through as one more of economic fear that will lead us to accept tax increases and bigger government.   You would've thought the President-elect ... read more

Here come the jobs.   And they rely on two big things: construction and a consumer turnaround. This weekend President-elect Barack Obama unveiled more specifics about his proposed plan to create 3.5 million jobs over the next two years.  That is an ambitious goal and has understandably faced skepticism, especially without specifics on how this would happen.     We now have a more ... read more

The President doesn't want to "reward failure" at banks who need to be bailed out by taxpayers and who take taxpayer money by capping executive compensation at those banks going forward. Fine.  No doubt most in America would agree with that move (even though it will make it nearly impossible to find anyone who would want to take these jobs, now some of the most important in ... read more

In his address to Congress Tuesday, the President used the term "saved" to discuss money his team has purportedly found to cut from the budget.   Nine days later the President is changing his wording, and some in Washington reluctantly agree that there isn't much saving in these "savings." Here is the direct quote from the President on Tuesday:  "My administration has also begun to go ... read more

Ronald Reagan said the nine most frightening words in America are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Perhaps we could add a few words to that famous phrase now to: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help ... solve the problems I helped create." Big government right now believes they are the answer to the economic problem.   While Congress itself isn't the only party ... read more

The official word from America's top financial cop is that our nation is facing a very simple 50/50 proposition:  stop massive government spending or risk going broke. While the passing of the King of Pop grabs the headlines,  something far more shocking came out of Washington last night in the form of the latest long-term budget outlook from the Congressional Budget Office. At more than ... read more

Stories I'm reading this Tuesday: Home prices (again) fall but less than expected Graphic above shows fewer plan to buy a home Administration pushing harder for mortgage modifications eMac on why GE Capital needs more money CFTC wants to rein in oil traders Martin Feldstein on why health care proposal is bad Is your Bank of America branch going to close? read more