Monday, August 12, 2013

U.S. posts $98 billion budget deficit in July

Reuters) - The United States ran a budget deficit in July, although government revenues increased from a year earlier due to tax hikes and a strengtheningeconomy, a report from the Treasury showed on Monday.
The U.S. government spent $98 billion more than it took in last month, with the deficit driven by spending on healthcare programs, pensions for the elderly and the military.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected deficit of $96 billion.
The United States customarily runs deficits in July as there are few tax deadlines during the month.
The country has run full-year budget deficits continuously since 2001, and the amount of red ink has grown immensely since 2009 when a surge in unemployment fueled higher spending on the social safety net.
But this year, the deficit appears on track to narrow substantially.
One major reason is that Washington ratcheted austerity efforts by raising tax rates, which has helped tax receipts. It has also slashed the federal budget, although in July total spending rose to $298 billion from $254 billion in the same month of 2012.
Another factor that has been leading to a lower deficit is the steam that appears to be gathering in the U.S. economy. That is also lifting tax receipts, which rose to $200 billion in July from $185 billion in July 2012.

So far in the current fiscal year, which began in October, the federal government has run $607 billion into the red, a narrowing from the $974 billion deficit chalked up in the same 10 months of fiscal year 2012.

Odds Strong on GOP Keeping House Control in 2014

Image: Odds Strong on GOP Keeping House Control in 2014For all the reports of national Democrats drawing targets on enough Republican-held seats to recapture control of the House in 2014, the odds are strong that Republicans will hold on to their majority in the last mid-term election of the Obama administration.

The arithmetic favors the Republicans in the upcoming campaign, in which voters decide the fate of all 435 House members.

The current make-up of the House is 233 Republicans, 200 Democrats, and two vacancies. Upcoming special elections to fill the vacancies in Alabama and Massachusetts will almost give one seat to each party.

Democratic strategists frequently speak of "the magic 17" —the number of districts carried by President Barack Obama in 2012 in which voters also sent a Republican to the House. Victories in all 17 districts by Democratic candidates would mean a recapture of the Democratic majority in the House, with 218 seats to 217 for the Republicans.

In a memo marked "Please Do Not Share This List With the Press" but obtained by Roll Call last week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee named the 17 Republican-held seats they are targeting. Among those on the list were such narrow 2012 winners as Republican Reps. Mike Coffman of Colorado, Lee Terry of Nebraska, and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. 

But this strategy depends on Democrats winning everything they target and Republicans picking up nothing. That means, as House editor David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report said, "There's basically no margin of error for House Democrats."

Via: Newsmax


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MUST SEE VIDEO:Lois Lerner in recently uncovered video: We were under pressure to stop political donations from 501(c)(4) groups

It’s no wonder that Lois Lerner wants immunity in exchange for her testimony. After all, people that have done nothing wrong, don’t need immunity. That being said, a video of Lerner from 2010 seems to shed a little more light on the reason why she and others in the IRS targeted the Tea Party.
From Breitbart:
Newly uncovered video shows Lois Lerner discussing the political pressure that swirled around the IRS in 2010. Lerner says “everyone” was “screaming at” the IRS to stop the flood of money pouring into the 2010 elections through 501(c)(4) groups as a result of Citizens United.
Lerner spoke to a small group at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy on October 19, 2010, just two weeks before the wave election that brought the Tea Party and Republicans significant gains in Congress. During her appearance Lerner was asked about the flow of money from corporations to 501(c)(4) groups. "Everyone is up in arms because they don’t like it" Lerner replied, adding "Federal Election Commission can’t do anything about it; they want the IRS to fix the problem."
Lerner goes on to outline the fact that 501(c)(4) organizations have the right to do “an ad that says vote for Joe Blow” so long as their primary activity is social welfare. However Lerner again emphasizes the political pressure the IRS was under at the time saying, "So everybody is screaming at us right now ‘Fix it now before the election. Can’t you see how much these people are spending?’" Lerner concludes by saying she won’t know if organizations have gone too far in campaigning until she looks at their “990s next year.”
Here’s the video:
Let’s go over the timeline here:
  • January 21, 2010: The SCOTUS hands down the Citizens United ruling.
  • October 19, 2010: Lois Lerner is on tape describing the intense amount of pressure put on the IRS by the Federal Elections Commission and others to “fix the problem” of private, non-profit companies donating to candidates and elections.
  • November 2nd, 2010: The 2010 midterm elections bring historic gains for the GOP, around 700 seats nationwide.
Look, let’s not kid ourselves. The Democrats took a shellacking in the 2010 midterms because of the passage of Obamacare. Sure, there may have been other factors at play but that’s the big one. To blame the midterms on Citizens United is just plain silly. And while the leftists at the IRS had already been targeting conservative groups based solely on their ideology since well before Citizens United, the fact remains that, in their minds, Citizens United was the culprit. And after the huge 2010 midterm losses, something had to be done.
I believe that’s what detectives call a “motive.



OP-ED: Obama: Build up middle class, America

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been talking about what we need to do to secure a better bargain for middle-class families in Boston and all across the country — to make sure that anyone who works hard can get ahead in the 21st century economy.

As a nation, we’ve fought our way back from the worst recession of our lifetimes and begun to lay a new foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth. Today, our businesses have created 7.3 million new jobs over the last 41 months. We now sell more products made in America to the rest of the world than ever before. Health care costs are growing at the slowest rate in 50 years, and our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years.

But as any middle-class family will tell you, we’re not where we need to be yet. Even before the crisis hit, we were living through a decade where a few at the top were doing better and better, while most families were working harder and harder just to get by.

Reversing this trend must be Washington’s highest priority. It’s certainly mine. But too often in the past two years, Washington has taken its eye off the ball, allowing an endless parade of political posturing and phony scandals to distract from growing the economy and the middle class.

That’s why I’m laying out my ideas for how we can build on the cornerstones of what it means to be middle class in America. A good education. A home of your own. Health care when you get sick. A secure retirement even if you’re not rich. And the most important cornerstone of all: a good job in a durable, growing industry.

When it comes to creating more good jobs that pay decent wages, the problem is not a lack of ideas. Independent economists, business owners and people from both parties agree on what we have to do. I proposed many of these ideas two years ago in the American Jobs Act, and put forward even more this week — to create more jobs in manufacturing, in wind, solar, and natural gas, and in an area that offers one of the best ways to put more people back to work right now and grow our economy for the long run: rebuilding America’s infrastructure.




[VIDEO] Clyburn on Obamacare: ‘We Fully Expect to Run on It, and We Expect to Win on It’

clyburn(CNSNews.com) -- Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Democrats “will be running on Obamacare in 2014”  as an issue and that “we expect to win on it.”

On CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday,  Clyburn was asked by host Candy Crowley, “Do you think in the end that Obamacare is going to be a net plus, not ten years from now or five years from now, but next year when Democrats most need a healthy economy and an Obamacare that is working reasonably smoothly?”

Clyburn said,  “Absolutely, I believe that. The fact of the matter is we will be running on Obamacare in 2014. In fact, we set it up to run on it in 2014. All that you’re talking about now kicks in as of January 1, 2014. We will start doing the exchanges on October 1, 2013.

He continued, “We fully expect to run on it, and we expect to win on it. The American people will be the winners and that's what my Republican colleagues are getting in these town hall meetings during the month of August. This is a big, big difference.”

Clyburn was later asked, “[I]s that not true that a major part of Obamacare was canceled for fear that what's going to happen is businesses will cut back and they will have part-time workers as opposed to full-time workers?”

Clyburn said,  “We are going to tweak this. It's a very complicated piece of legislation. We know that a lot of people who are in business do not understand the tax subsidies that come along with this and when they understand it, they see it as a big benefit. And we don't talk about the tax subsidies. We don't talk about the real good things about the bill.

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[VIDEO] Sen. Harkin on Illegals: ‘I Just Don’t Classify Them as Criminals’

"IF THEY COMMITTED A CRIMINAL ACT THEY ARE CRIMINALS.  IT IS THAT SIMPLE SENATOR"

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), a federal lawmaker,  said he separates illegal aliens from criminals even though “it’s obvious that they broke the laws and did things that were criminal and they shouldn’t.”
At an Aug. 2 immigration forum in Ames, Iowa, Harkin explained his reasoning.
I separate out people who came here illegally from people who are criminals," he said.  "Now it’s obvious that they broke laws and did things that were criminal and they shouldn’t."
“But I’m just saying simply because they came here to work – to provide for their family. They’ve broken no laws other than coming here illegally,” Harkin continued. “They’re here illegally – that’s true. And they need to go through all the hoops we put in the bill. But I just don’t classify them as criminals.”
Harkin attended the event along with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to promote the Senate immigration bill. Durbin is the one of the “Gang of Eight” senators who wrote the current Senate immigration reform measure.


[VIDEO] Ted Cruz’s Father: ‘Obamacare Is Going to Destroy the Elderly’

AP ted cruz lt 130811 16x9 608 Ted Cruzs Father: Obamacare Is Going to Destroy the ElderlyAMES, Iowa — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is the subject of endless 2016 presidential speculation, and if he does decide to run, he’s already learned one important lesson.
“You all had the opportunity earlier this afternoon to get to know my father. And as you saw, my dad is very soft spoken,” Cruz joked during a speech in Iowa this weekend. “I will confess, I am today violating what has been a cardinal rule, which is never, ever, ever follow my father at the podium.”

Here’s a clip of Cruz’s rousing address:
Cruz and his father, Rafael, a Texas pastor, both addressed a gathering of Christian conservatives in Ames, Iowa on Saturday, and the elder Cruz — speaking without notes — recounted his imprisonment and torture in Cuba during the 1950′s and subsequent immigration to the United States.
“A young charismatic leader rose up, talking about hope and change,” Rafael Cruz said in a veiled reference to President Obama’s 2008 campaign themes. “His name was Fidel Castro.”
For nearly 20 minutes, the pastor regaled the audience with a fiery pro-Christian, anti-Obama speech that drew a boisterous standing ovation from the crowd at an annual summit organized by the Family Leader, an Iowa-based conservative group.
“This administration has both their hands in your pocket,” the 74-year-old Cruz said. “They’re going to take everything you have.”
Near the end of his speech, he declared: “Obamacare is going to destroy the elderly by denying care, by even perhaps denying treatment to people who are in catastrophic circumstances.”
If his son, a first-term U.S. Senator, does decide to run for president, it’s clear that his father will be an impressive surrogate on the campaign trail. Cruz is no stranger to the media limelight, and he has been taking on a more public role as his son’s star has risen.
In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network last month, Cruz called his son “gifted above any man that I know.”
“God has destined you for greatness,” he said of the senator.
And Rafael Cruz is about to get a lot more attention soon.  Later this month, he will embark on a “Defund Obamacare Tour” organized by the Heritage Foundation, which will take him to cities across the country between Aug. 19 and Aug. 29.

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