The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, in a harsh attack on the Obama administration Monday, accused the president of viewing American military power as a negative force in the world, and planning to “gut” defense spending through the congressional deficit-reduction committee. “It is my suspicion that the White House and congressional Democrats” designed [...]
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Social Security was long known as the “third rail” of American politics — touch it and die. But now one politician is not just touching it, but grabbing it with both hands and giving it a long-overdue yank. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has set the conservative cat among the New Deal pigeons with his increasingly blunt assessments [...]
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The ranks of America’s poor swelled to almost 1 in 6 people last year, reaching a new high as long-term unemployment left millions of Americans struggling and out of work. The number of uninsured edged up to 49.9 million, the biggest in more than two decades. The Census Bureau’s annual report released Tuesday offers a [...]
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A conservative black activist with Project 21 says President Barack Obama’s proposal to create more American jobs presents nothing more than increased spending and taxes. Obama’s plan, which some early estimates suggest will cost upwards of $447 billion, would extend unemployment benefits past the current 99-week maximum, extend the payroll tax cut, pay out hiring [...]
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The Greek government is prepared to lean on property owners as the nation faces default and anti-austerity demonstrations once again turn violent. A new tax will be imposed on monthly electric bills and would average about €4 per square meter and range between 50 cents and €10 depending on the neighborhood, according to the Wall Street Journal. [...]
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When Texas Governor Rick Perry in the Republican debate at the President Reagan Library described Social Security as a “Ponzi Scheme”; Perry hoped the media would hyper-ventilate and scream that his political career was over. Back in 1982, Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill legendarily damaged the President’s and the Republican’s popularity by spinning [...]
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U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock reacted to President Obama’s address to Congress regarding his $450 billion American Jobs Act last evening. President Obama proposed more government spending coupled with tax cuts for small employers and individual employees. “At some point, the President and his allies in Congress must learn that spending money to stimulate the [...]
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The dismal state of the economy is the main reason many companies are reluctant to hire workers, and few executives are saying that President Obama’s jobs plan — while welcome — will change their minds any time soon. That sentiment was echoed across numerous industries by executives in companies big and small on Friday, underscoring the challenge [...]
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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Friday morning that Democrats should not expect the House to accept President Obama’s proposed American Jobs Act in its entirety. Cantor said the House is instead likely to make Obama’s bill a starting point for negotiations on how best to promote job growth. “Insisting that this body and [...]
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Unbeknownst to most Americans listening to 2012 campaign rhetoric, what’s being pitched is “free-market socialism.” An oxymoron? Not exactly. “Free-market socialism,” a version of “market socialism,” is so named because it does not involve planners, as most of us understand that word. It is, in essence, a kinder and gentler form of highly regulated enterprise that nevertheless steers [...]
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Other than the affected, urgent tone, and the repeated refrain, “You should pass this jobs plan right away,” there wasn’t much that was new about Obama’s much anticipated “jobs speech.” He blamed a “political crisis” for making the economy worse. He used “poignant” examples of suffering and need, in order to appeal to his audience’s emotions. He [...]
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While demanding bipartisan support for a $447-billion jobs bill, President Barack Obama questioned whether Republicans want a “race to the bottom” and would allow children to be exposed to mercury. “The people of this country work hard to meet their responsibilities. The question tonight is whether we’ll meet ours. The question is whether, in the [...]
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Ranks of working poor at highest level since the 1960s Washington — Working-age America is the new face of poverty. Counting adults 18-64 who were laid off in the recent recession as well as single 20-somethings still looking for jobs, the new working-age poor represent nearly 3 out of 5 poor people — a switch from [...]
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The weather outside wasn’t the only storm enveloping Capitol Hill on Thursday night. Inside the House chamber, a confrontational President Barack Obama presented his $450 billion American Jobs Act to a joint session of Congress. He caught lawmakers off guard by announcing his intent to release a plan to reduce the deficit on September 19. Considered to be [...]
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My mother’s mother revered Franklin Roosevelt. She voted for him four times, and firmly defended him decades later, when I tried to convince her that FDR was not the haloed saint she imagined. “It’s because of Roosevelt that I’m getting $800 in Social Security every month,” she’d tell me. Actually, I’d reply, it was because [...]
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