Government Spending Is Ruining Families

The economic picture in the United States gets worse with each passing day of the Obama administration, and families are especially hard-hit.  While the damage is already devastating, the ramifications will continue wreaking havoc on today's children when they are adults starting their own families.

Comedians refer back to President Obama's 2008 campaign theme, "Hope and Change," declaring that most of us can only hope to have some change left after paying bills.  A survey of 1,100 Americans taken in October 2012 showed that 41 percent of respondents did not have more than $500 in savings at the time of the survey, which included "dual-income earners with ... big mortgages and big credit card bills."  Further, 54 percent had no savings plan, and 45 percent thought they would never be able to save money. 

The picture did not look any better in June 2013, when a survey of 1,000 adults found that 76 percent are living paycheck-to-paycheck.  Half of those surveyed had less than a three-month cushion in savings, and 27 percent had no savings at all.

It's even worse for the federal government.  Just click on the Debt Clock to see profligate spending in real time.  The U.S. national debt is just shy of $17 trillion!  That amounts to a debt per citizen of $53,431 -- that means every man, woman and child who is a United States citizen would need to pay that much money each to retire our current national debt.  The debt per taxpayer is a whopping $148,091.

What was the national debt when President Obama took office?  According to Mark Knoller, White House correspondent for CBS News, it was $10.626 trillion.  Mr. Knoller pointed out in March 2012, "The Debt rose $4.899 trillion during the two terms of the Bush presidency. It has now gone up $4.939 trillion since President Obama took office."  In the first three years and two months of Obama's presidency, he increased the debt more than the entire eight years of President Bush's presidency.  In March 2012, it was $15.566 trillion, and it now stands at $16.901 trillion and is estimated to top $20 trillion by the time Obama leaves office in 2016 -- an 87-percent increase in his two terms.

Via: American Thinker

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Thursday Cable News Ratings: MSNBC’s Ed Schultz #3 in Demo At New Time

Thursday night, during his first week back on weekdays at 5pm, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz was #3 in the 25-54 demo with 130K viewers. Fox’s The Five was #1 at 5pm with 327K and CNN’s The Situation Room withWolf Blitzer was #2 with 143K.

In total viewers, The Five was #1 with 1.883M, Schultz was second with 613K and Blitzer was third with 546K.

Here are the rest of your Thursday ratings:

TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD)
6 – 9 am	Fox & Friends  235	New Day  119	Morning Joe  150	Express  90
5 pm	The Five  327	Blitzer  143	Schultz  130	Express  35
6 pm	Baier  293	Blitzer  140	Sharpton  146	Express  51
7 pm	Smith  280	Burnett  122	Matthews  163	Velez-Mitchell  49
8 pm	O’Reilly  416	Cooper  163	Hayes  178	Grace  96
9 pm	Hannity  376	Morgan  147	Maddow  207	Dr. Drew  125
10 pm	Van Susteren  262	Cooper  151	O’Donnell  195	Velez-Mitchell  117
11 pm	O’Reilly  253	Burnett  137	Hayes  123	Showbiz  95
PRIME TIME	351	154	193	112
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)
6 – 9 am	Fox & Friends  1.089	New Day  362	Morning Joe  418	Express  209
5 pm	The Five  1.883	Blitzer  546	Schultz  613	Express  184
6 pm	Baier  1.804	Blitzer  482	Sharpton  624	Express  161
7 pm	Smith  1.544	Burnett  416	Matthews  799	Velez-Mitchell  149
8 pm	O’Reilly  2.583	Cooper  575	Hayes  678	Grace  221
9 pm	Hannity  1.887	Morgan  723	Maddow  727	Dr. Drew  338
10 pm	Van Susteren  1.470	Cooper  551	O’Donnell  555	Velez-Mitchell  245
11 pm	O’Reilly  1.180	Burnett  429	Hayes  361	Showbiz  215
PRIME TIME	1.983	616	653	268
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data

*Please note that the daily ratings report now contains figures for the 6-9am morning shows.

Via: Mediaite.com

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Another Black Teen Having A “Hard Day” Arrested For Stabbing 22 Year Old White Man To Death

Clearwater Police announced the arrest of 16-year-old Mychal King on Thursday.  He is accused in the January murder of Jason Taylor Paul, the city's first homicide of 2013.

 

Police said King admitted to killing Paul for no reason other than he had a hard day with his family that night of January 6, and "just wanted to kill the first person he saw."

 

Police say 22-year-old Jason Taylor Paul was stabbed multiple times while riding his bike home from work late.

 

Jason's parents, John and Renee Langfritz had been distraught since the news of Paul's death, and desperate for closure, even offering a $10,000 reward for information.

 

Renee described her son as an intelligent, loving, funny man. She said his sudden loss has left a hole in the hearts of everyone who knew him. 

 

"This coward, truly a coward, who would leave a young innocent man to die alone in the dark in the middle of the street, must be caught," she said at the time.

 

King will be charged with 1st Degree Murder.  Detectives say he has a long criminal history and was already in jail on other charges

Via: Weasel Zippers

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Cornel West Attacks Al Sharpton: ‘Bonafide House Negro of the Obama Plantation’

Public intellectual Cornel West tore into many of this week’s speeches surrounding the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s “I Have a Dream” speech, accusing everyone from President Obama to Rev. Al Sharpton of “sanitizing” Dr. King’s vision.

“Brother Martin himself, I think, would’ve been turning over in his grave,” West said of the event. “[King would have wanted] people to talk about Wall Street criminality, he wants people to talk about war crimes, or drones dropping bombs on innocent people,” he asserted.

“Instead,” he lamented, “we saw the coronation of the bonafide house negro of the Barack Obama plantation, our dear brother Al Sharpton.” West went further declaring that Sharpton’s decline was “supported by [MSNBC analyst] Michael Dyson and others who’ve prostituted themselves in a very ugly and vicious way.”

West and Tavis Smiley both lamented that black leadership has become “so sold-out” so as not to have the courage to be a “bull in the china shop,” break rank, and talk about “racism, poverty, and militarism” at an otherwise “bought-out” event.

This is not the first time West has referred to Sharpton as being “on the Obama plantation.” The radio host made the same claim in July when he felt Sharpton did not advocate hard enough for a Department of Justice “civil rights” prosecution against the recently-acquitted George Zimmerman.

Listen below, via PRI:

Via: Mediaite.com

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Weekly White House Address, Saturday August 31, 2013

President Barack Obama intends to publish a weekly video address every Saturday morning of his presidency.

• Weekly Address: Commemorating Labor Day

  President Obama discusses Labor Day and reflects on the contributions of the working men and women in our country.
  Via: White House

Weekly Republican Address: Rep. Fitzpatrick: President's Policies, Obamacare Damaging Workforce

President Barack Obama and Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick agreed in weekly addresses on Saturday -- themed for the Labor Day holiday -- that America's workforce isn't where it should be.

But while the president said his administration's policies are helping the economy and workforce rebound, Fitzpatrick, in the weekly GOP address, said those policies are what is hurting workers. 



"Nearly five years into the Obama presidency, the workers who drive our economy see nothing but roadblocks coming out of Washington," said Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican. "But the president is still pushing more of the same tax hikes and ‘stimulus’-style policies that have left us with weak job growth, high prices, and stagnant paychecks. Again we have to ask: why?"

And Obama, in his weekly radio address, agreed that "any working family will tell you, we’re not where we need to be."

The president said that for more than a decade, "working Americans have seen their wages and incomes stagnate, even as corporate profits soar and the pay of a fortunate few explodes. For even longer than that, inequality has steadily risen; the journey of upward mobility has become harder."

The president said that he's been laying out his ideas for rebuilding the middle class, including "more chances for folks to earn their way into the middle class as long as they’re willing to work for it."

But Fitzpatrick said that nearly five years into Obama's presidency, workers are seeing nothing but roadblocks -- especially Obamacare -- coming out of Washington.

Via: Newsmax

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Obama says US has 'obligation' to act on Syria, cites intel findings

President Obama signaled Friday that the U.S. could act alone to punish Syria for a chemical weapons attack last week, saying the nation has an "obligation as a leader in the world" to hold rogue regimes to account for breaching the rules of war. 

Facing rising skepticism in Congress and abroad, the president and top Cabinet officials tried to make a robust case for intervention on Friday -- releasing an intelligence report showing "high confidence" the Assad regime carried out the strike and arguing that responding would be in the U.S. interest. 

"This kind of attack is a challenge to the world," Obama said, adding: "A lot of people think something should be done, but nobody wants to do it." 

He said his preference would be to form an international coalition to respond, but "we don't want the world to be paralyzed." Obama said he hasn't yet made a decision, but is considering a "limited, narrow act" to send a message to Syria and others about the use of chemical weapons. 

The comments put in stark terms the Obama administration's position on the possibility of a military response -- and particularly a missile strike -- despite fraying international support. 

The administration so far has failed to win over the U.N. Security Council, and British lawmakers on Thursday voted to reject any participation in a military strike. Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, though, indicated they were prepared to move forward and downplayed the importance of U.N. authorization.

Via: Fox News Politics

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Russia sharply steps up criticism of U.S. over Syria

MOSCOW – Russia dramatically escalated its denunciations of American threats to attack Syrian military targets on Saturday, as President Vladimir Putin called the arguments about chemical weapons that underlie the U.S. case “utter nonsense.”

The Foreign Ministry said a U.S. attack would be a “gross violation” of international law.
Speaking out for the first time since an alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus on Aug. 21, Putin called on President Obama to find a nonviolent way out of the crisis.

“I would like to address Obama as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate: Before using force in Syria, it would be good to think about future casualties,” Putin told Russian news agencies in Vladivostok during a tour of the country’s flood-stricken Far East.

“Russia is urging you to think twice before making a decision on an operation in Syria,” he said.
Next week’s Group of 20 economic summit in St. Petersburg would be a good forum for discussing the Syrian issue, he said, “so why not take advantage of it?”

The White House argued Friday that intelligence shows more than 1,400 people died from exposure to chemical weapons in an attack carried out by the Syrian military.

Putin said he was sure the attack was the work of rebels trying to provoke international — and especially American — involvement in the Syrian conflict. The regime of Bashar al-Assad, he said, would have had no reason to use chemical weapons at a time when it had gained the upper hand in the fighting.

“While the Syrian army is on the offensive, saying that it is the Syrian government that used chemical weapons is utter nonsense,” Putin said.

Via: Washington Post

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President Obama gears up for major new Obamacare push

Three years after signing Obamacare into law, President Barack Obama finally looks eager to talk about it.

The White House is mapping out a strategy to deploy the president, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden in what will be their most coordinated effort yet to sell Obamacare, senior administration officials said.

A burst of activity will coincide with the October opening of the insurance marketplaces, but the West Wing views this next phase as something more akin to a political campaign’s push for early votes. Over the six-month enrollment period, the White House will use the Obamas and Bidens strategically, tracking the turnout for the exchanges in key states and sending them into weak markets to boost numbers.

(PHOTOS: 25 unforgettable Obamacare quotes)

Obama’s deepening engagement stands in contrast to his arms-length treatment of the law since the legislative fight, bruising and endless, drew to a close in 2010. He moved onto other priorities — and only rarely, if not reluctantly, looked back.

But in the last month alone, Obama has plugged the new health benefits on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” convened a videoconference with state health officials from the Situation Room, devoted a weekly address to the law and tweeted about it with Katy Perry, who boasts 41 million followers.

Via: Politico

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