Research

This past week, we’ve been warning you about the devastating consequences of President Obama’s binge spending, from our credit rating being threatened to higher costs on our debt. Despite the Obama administration’s insistence that our credit rating will stay intact, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board reminds us that credit downgrades can happen to countries:

President Obama's proposed $3.83 trillion budget for the coming fiscal year would borrow 42 cents of every $1 spent. The federal deficit is expected to rise this year to 10.6 percent of gross domestic product, its highest level since 1946. And the fiscal future looks even dimmer … A credit downgrade can, and does, happen. Credit problems in Portugal and Greece have forced those nations to cut back drastically on government programs, leading to public unrest.

But The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board notes that there even warning signs here at home: Obama could’ve learned the lessons of states like New Jersey and ... more

Last Saturday, we told you how President Obama’s recess appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board was a bailout to his union paymasters, with more job-killing bailouts to come. The bailout continued today when the White House Office of Management and Budget issued new guidance that proposes to grow the number of unionized government jobs by broadening the “the definition of jobs that should be performed by government workers instead of private contractors.” Here is the reasoning:

The proposed guidance is built around the general principle that the more critical a function is, the greater the need for internal capability to maintain control of the agency’s mission and operations. This is most obviously the case where the function is critical to achievement of the agency’s core mission, but even for functions that may not be viewed as critical, such as functions that are not directly involved in performing the core mission, the agency may determine that the ... more

Today, Obama will meet with labor leaders, CEOs, small business owners, and policy experts to discuss workplace flexibility because “[m]illions of women and men across the country struggle to balance the demands of their jobs and the needs of their families.” The first discussion item should be repealing and replacing the government-run health care experiment he just signed into law, because its new mandates and taxes reduce flexibility for businesses, families, and states.

To learn more, take a look at our Research Briefing, “No Flexibility.” To see how businesses are reacting, take a look at our Health Care Pulse Check, “Job Creators Planning Layoffs.”

The Obama administration has announced that they are preparing to sell off their 27% stake in Citigroup over the course of the next year. As The New York Times reports, the federal treasury stands to make a healthy profit from their bailout of the banking giant:

The Treasury said Monday that it planned to sell its 7.7 billion common shares in Citigroup over the course of 2010 … The government would earn a profit of about $8 billion if it were to sell its entire stake today. That would be on top of $8.1 billion in interest payments and other fees it has already collected, making Citigroup one of the government's most lucrative investments of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The federal treasury has made a $5 billion profit from funds paid back by bailed out banks. And this revelation flies in the face of President Obama’s justification for a new “bank tax” on the nation’s financial industry:

“The president has talked on a number of occasions about ensuring that the money that ... more

Democrats are turning to Chicago-style threats to defend their government-run health care bill. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent letters to CEOs of companies who told investors about the new costs they’ll accrue because of the Democrats’ takeover of the health care industry. In addition to a year worth of documentation, Waxman also wants the CEOs to come to Washington D.C. so they can be grilled by his committee. Since Waxman and the rest of the Democrat leadership has spent the last year on a disinformation campaign suggesting their government takeover will lower costs, they’re understandably upset at getting publicly called out.

But these companies have to do it, because publicly-traded corporations can’t quote empty promises from Democrats when dealing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s why AT&T submitted this report in accordance with securities law:

On March 23, 2010, the President signed into law comprehensive health care ... more

That is what Foreign Policy’s The Cable asked President Obama’s Assistant Secretary Of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley – and his answer sure was surprising:

I think the next 30 years will be defined in terms of how we manage the environment and whether we are prepared to reduce the release of greenhouse gases, reduce our use of fossil fuels and increase alternative sources of energy.

So according to the Obama administration, global warming poses a greater threat than international terrorist organization or rogue state such as Iran and North Korea acquiring nuclear weapons.  But should we really be surprised? This is the same administration that read Miranda rights to an international terrorist after only 50 minutes of interrogation, an administration that treats terrorists as common criminals by granting them civilian court trials in New York City, and an administration that fails to effectively confront Iran over its nuclear program.

Instead, his most important foreign ... more

On Saturday, President Obama made 15 recess appointments, including one for Craig Becker, a lawyer for both the SEIU and AFL-CIO, to the National Labor Relations Board. Never mind that Becker has made it clear through his writings and statements that he would be the union bosses’ man on the NLRB. Back in 2005, Obama said that recess appointments were the “wrong thing to do” and that recess appointees are “damaged goods” and “have less credibility.”

But the hypocrisy doesn’t end there. President Obama said the following when defending his recess appointments:

The United States Senate has the responsibility to approve or disapprove of my nominees … I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government.

Here’s the thing, Mr. President: the United States Senate did disapprove of Craig Becker, with Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) saying that he would bring “an aggressive personal agenda to the NLRB.” And while Obama’s recess appointments of Craig ... more

Yesterday, we highlighted the fact that the government had a hard time selling treasuries this week, as investors have become increasingly worried about our debt.  As a result, the yield on treasuries was raised which Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan called a “canary in the mine,” warning that there may be additional hikes in interest rates.  Bloomberg reports:

Higher yields reflect investor concerns over “this huge overhang of federal debt which we have never seen before,” Greenspan said in an interview today on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt.” “I’m very much concerned about the fiscal situation,” said Greenspan …  An increase in long-term interest rates “will make the housing recovery very difficult to implement and put a dampening on capital investment as well.”

This week Pelosi pushed Obama’s government-run health care bill through the House, which is already causing disastrous effects on businesses and threatening the jobs of many ... more

President Obama and Nancy Pelosi’s Congressional Democrats decided not to listen to Americans. Instead of heeding their constituents’ advice to work with Republicans on common-sense reforms to our health care system, they decided to shove through their government takeover of health care. Now that Obama’s government-run health care experiment is the law of the land, Americans are calling for Republicans to fight against it. Republican leaders are offering their ideas on how best to repeal the bill and replace it with true reform. Here’s a quick look at what they are saying:  

• Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana wrote “the overall direction of the bill is to empower government, not patients.”
• Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana warns ObamaCare will inevitably lead to state tax increases, pushes tax credits to buy health insurance.
• Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana says ObamaCare turns it’s back on the tradition of “limited government,” should be replaced with “common-sense market solutions.”
• Rep. ... more
  
  

“"Unlike Congress, we don't get to borrow from the Chinese," Florida State Senator J.D. Alexander said yesterday in his explanation of the tough choices legislators in the Sunshine State have to make in that state’s forthcoming budget.  And while he is right about Congress, this morning’s Wall Street Journal makes clear that the cost of borrowing time and money from the Chinese is going up.  The government had trouble selling our debt to finance President Obama and the Democrat Congress’ binge spending this week because demand, especially from foreign investors, was weak. 

One economist noted that the low demand for treasuries is because investors are worried about the high deficits we are facing now:

While this could be just ‘noise’ in the markets, ‘I think it involves a greater, long-term concern about deficits in the U.S. last 10 or 20 years, about Social Security being in a deficit,’ said Brian Fabbri, chief economist North America at BNP Paribas. ‘And all of the concerns about ... more