Economy, Taxes and the Deficit
Spending Madness - John Fund blasts
the Bush administration for not cutting nonessential domestic
spending (like highway pork projects) in light of the huge
costs of Katrina
spending and the war in Iraq. He
points to FDR and Truman as presidents who made the tough
decisions. It's another example of Bush's careless approach to
federal spending,
American Business Blog - Economy
This business blog follows all the battles to revive the US economy.
LATEST NEWS:
Budget balloons after Bush leaves office (WP)
CBO projects record federal deficit of $442 billion (AP)
Why companies pay less (Washington Post)
Bush administration finally appoints manufacturing czar, and now reconsiders appointee who moved factory jobs to China (MSNBC)
U.S. companies increasing use of foreign subsidiaries to reduce corporate taxes (Boston Globe)
Greenspan warns against deficits (CNN)
Bush administration forecasts on job growth and deficits have consistently been overly optimistic (Washington Post)
Democrats will use budget deficit to attack Bush and GOP on credibility (USA Today)
Bush and his economic advisor assailed for stance on 'offshoring' jobs (Washington Post)
With budget, Bush reaches back to his conservative base (Washington Post)
COMMENTARY:
The GOP congress will not curb spending, but Bob Novak explains how freshman Senator Tom Coburn is not playing ball with his fellow Senators on pork spending. Coburn can come across as a nut on social issues, but he might be one of the few voices of fiscal sanity in Washington.
FactCheck.org analyzes increases in discretionary spending under Bush and how statements from Bush and the Administration are misleading.
Timothy Noah in Slate details how Bush is having more trouble with the truth as he tries to defend federal spending under his watch.
Former Congressman John Kasich laments today's huge budget deficits, and offers suggestions on how to restore budget sanity.
Mort Zuckerman of U.S. News lays out a scathing indictment of the out-of-control spending and deficits produced by the Bush Administration and the Republican congress.
The Wall Street Journal's Editorial Board rips the GOP for spending like drunken sailors and not being honest with the public about the real percentage increases in government spending under Bush.
Quotes:
"The Republican Congress is spending at twice the rate as under Bill Clinton, and President Bush has yet to issue a single veto. I complained about profligate spending during the Clinton years but never thought I'd have to do so with a Republican in the White House and Republicans controlling the Congress." - Paul M. Weyrich, national chairman of Coalitions for America
"I've never known a sailor, drunk or sober, with the imagination this Congress has." - John McCain, criticizing the Republican congress for out-of-control spending.
3/15/10
HIGH COST LOANS: In the wake of the sub-prime lending crisis, many families had to turn to desperate measures to manage their finances. For many, payday loans may have saved them, but at what cost? Those loans tend to be very high interest and can be costly if not used intelligently in emergency-only situations.
2/8/04
COST CONTROL: Why should we believe anything this administration says about costs when they never get anything right? We learned yesterday that the costs for the Medicare drug bill are now estimated to be $1.2 trillion, three times the estimates made by Bush's team at the time it was passed. At least one congressman is asking tough questions about one aspect of the bill - why are taxpayers subsidizing the use of Viagra and similar drugs? Frankly, it's a great question. If we're having trouble paying for critical care for so many Americans, do we really need to be allocating resources to these types of lifestyle drugs?
2/7/04
HIDE AND SEEK BUDGET: Team Bush is pounding his chest over the spending cuts he's proposing in his new budget, but the reliance on funny math continues. Bush's new budget does not include costs for the Iraq War, the necessary fix in the Alternative Minimum Tax supported by both parties or his proposed Social Security reforms. Basically, it's a joke. Also, the Bush administration ended the practice of 10-year projections and now only gives 5-year projections. The reason for this was explained by Senator Kent Conrad - Bush's tax cuts kick in after the fifth year, so that the temporary decrease in the deficit claimed by Bush evaporates after the fifth year when the deficit explodes. So, his five-year projections are bogus because of the costs he leaves out, and even if they were accurate, they're misleading because the deficit will explode again after five years as a result of his tax cuts. If any CEO signed of on financials like this, they would be joining the Enron crooks in prison. What a mess.
CREDIBILITY DEFICIT: Now that the election is over, real conservatives can resume their honest assessments of the Bush Administration. In The Weekly Standard, Irwin M. Stelzer points out how Bush's economic team has little credibility, and that letting Karl Rove continue to set economic policy is a big mistake.
Comments, questions and suggestions can be sent to Gerardo Orlando at editor@orlandoreport.com.
Back to The Orlando Report home page.