Economy

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Meese: Balanced Budget Amendment Will Backfire Unless It Curbs Spending, Taxes, Courts

CNS News

Edwin Meese, who served as attorney general under President Ronald Reagan, told CNSNews.com on Friday that adding a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution will backfire unless the amendment caps federal spending, requires supermajorities in Congress to raise taxes and restricts the ability of judges to preempt the elected branches in determining federal taxing and spending laws.

“A weak Balanced Budget Amendment--without certain safeguards and protections against excessive taxation and excessive spending--would be worse than the situation we have at the present time,” Meese said in a videotaped interview at the Heritage Foundation.

Gov't can't function like 'venture capital company'

OneNewsNow

An advocate for free enterprise says the Department of Energy's loan to an electric car company amounts to more crony capitalism.

The $529-million loan to Fisker Automotive was announced in 2009. According to Tom Borelli of The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), Fisker Automotive has ties to the Obama administration, just like solar-panel maker Solyndra.

"With Fisker, what we have is the Department of Energy loan that was given -- while Obama was president -- to Fisker Automotive. And some of the backers of Fisker Automotive are none other than Al Gore, former vice president and climate scare-monger, and John Doerr, who's on President Obama's economic advisory panel," Borelli reports.

U.S. Gov't Financial Regulators Earn Tax-Funded Salaries of $225,000-Plus

CNS News

Federal employees at several financial regulatory agencies – including the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) – are earning six-figure salaries and taking home bonuses up to $5,000, according to federal records obtained by Judicial Watch. At least 228 such regulators make $225,000 a year.

In comparison, members of Congress make $174,000 a year; the Speaker of the House makes $223,500; and the majority and minority leaders pull in $193,400 a year.

Vatican calls for global authority on economy, raps “idolatry of the market”

Reuters

The Vatican called on Monday for the establishment of a “global public authority” and a “central world bank” to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises. The document from the Vatican’s Justice and Peace department should please the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrators and similar movements around the world who have protested against the economic downturn.

Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland

ABC News

With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.

Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department's $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the job of assembling the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car has been outsourced to Finland.

Pros, cons of Cain's 9-9-9 plan

OneNewsNow

A financial investments expert is sharing his thoughts on Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan.

Herman Cain (New Voice, Inc.)The GOP presidential candidate's economic proposal was a hot topic of discussion during Tuesday night's debate in Las Vegas -- and has been since the longshot moved in the "top tier" of presidential contenders. The plan calls for a nine-percent flat business tax, a nine-percent flat individual tax, and a nine-percent national sales tax.

Cain's website says it "taxes the broadest possible base at the lowest possible rates" and is "neutral with respect to savings and consumption, capital and labor, imports and exports, and whether companies pay dividends or retain earnings."

Dan Celia of Financial Issues Stewardship Ministries says he likes the idea of flat business and individual taxes but is not sold on the idea of the national sales tax.

Energy Dept Should Have Sought Legal Opinion on Solyndra Loan, Treasury Official Tells Congress

CNS News

Treasury Department officials said they could not recall another time the government put the interest of private investors in front of those of taxpayers before the loan restructuring for the bankrupt but politically connected solar panel firm Solyndra.

Further, one department official told a House panel that the restructuring of the $535 million loan should have been reviewed by the Justice Department.

Calif. Dems in Congress Want Obama to Refinance All Mortgages Held by Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac

CNS News

Saying they are unhappy with how President Obama has responded to the mortgage crisis, Democrats who represent California in Congress want the president to push the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) to refinance all mortgages currently owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to take advantage of historically low market rates.

Who's behind the Wall St. protests?

Reuters

Anti-Wall Street protesters say the rich are getting richer while average Americans suffer, but the group that started it all may have benefited indirectly from the largesse of one of the world's richest men.

There has been much speculation over who is financing the disparate protest, which has spread to cities across America and lasted nearly four weeks. One name that keeps coming up is investor George Soros, who in September debuted in the top 10 list of wealthiest Americans. Conservative critics contend the movement is a Trojan horse for a secret Soros agenda.

Soros and the protesters deny any connection. But Reuters did find indirect financial links between Soros and Adbusters, an anti-capitalist group in Canada which started the protests with an inventive marketing campaign aimed at sparking an Arab Spring type uprising against Wall Street. Moreover, Soros and the protesters share some ideological ground.

Cain: 'Why Don't You Move the Demonstrations to the White House?'

CNS News

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain called for the Occupy Wall Street protestors to relocate to the White House, in remarks he made Friday at the Family Research Council’s annual Values Voter Summit, in Washington, D.C.

“When a reporter asked me the other day: Well, what do you think about those demonstrations up on Wall Street? I said, first of all, Wall Street didn’t write these failed economic policies, the White House did,” said Cain.

He then added: “Why don’t you move the demonstrations to the White House?”

Senate Expected to Nix Obama's 'Jobs' Bill Tuesday; Even Some Dems Voting No

Associated Press

President Barack Obama's jobs bill, facing a critical test in the Senate, appears likely to fail because Republicans oppose its spending components and its tax surcharge on millionaires.

4 Obama has been waging a campaign-style effort to rally public support behind the $447 billion measure, which was expected to be the subject of a Senate vote Tuesday. The plan combines payroll tax cuts for workers and businesses with $175 billion in spending on roads, school repairs and other infrastructure, as well as unemployment assistance and help to local governments to avoid layoffs of teachers, firefighters and police officers.

World facing worst financial crisis in history, Bank of England Governor says

The Telegraph

The world is facing the worst financial crisis since at least the 1930s “if not ever”, the Governor of the Bank of England said last night.

Sir Mervyn King was speaking after the decision by the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee to put £75billion of newly created money into the economy in a desperate effort to stave off a new credit crisis and a UK recession.

House Majority Leader Cantor: Obama’s Jobs Package is Dead

CNS News

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that President Barack Obama’s $447-billion American Jobs Act was dead, adding that Obama’s “all or nothing” approach would not work.

At a Capitol Hill briefing on Monday, a reporter asked Cantor whether the "jobs package as a package [was] dead?"

Cantor said, "yes," and shortly thereafter said, “It seems as if the president is in full campaign mode. The president continues to say ‘pass my bill in its entirety.’ As I’ve said from the outset, this all-or-nothing approach is just not acceptable

Obama admin approves 2 solar loans worth $1B

Associated Press

The Energy Department on Wednesday approved two loan guarantees worth more than $1 billion for solar energy projects in Nevada and Arizona, two days before the expiration date of a program that has become a rallying cry for Republican critics of the Obama administration's green energy program.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the department has completed a $737 million loan guarantee to Tonopah Solar Energy for a 110 megawatt solar tower on federal land near Tonopah, Nev., and a $337 million guarantee for Mesquite Solar 1 to develop a 150 megawatt solar plant near Phoenix.

The loans were approved under the same program that paid for a $528 million loan to Solyndra Inc., a California solar panel maker that went bankrupt after receiving the money and laid off 1,100 workers. Solyndra is under investigation by the FBI and is the focal point of House hearings on the program.

Bullet 333Barry Asmus, Senior Economist, National Center for Policy Analysis
Bullet 333David Bossie, President, Citizens United
Bullet 333Dan Celia, Host, "Financial Issues Live" Radio Program
Bullet 333Phil Clements, Managing Director, Center for Christian Business Ethics Today, LLC.
Bullet 333Chuck Colson, Prison Fellowship
Bullet 333Ward Connerly, Author/Founder and Chairman, American Civil Rights Institute
Bullet 333Tom DeLay, Former House Majority Leader, United States House of Representatives
Bullet 333William Devlin, National President, Redeem The Vote
Bullet 333Chuck Donovan, Senior Research Fellow-DeVos Center for Religion a, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333James Edwards, Cofounder, Olive, Edwards, & Cooper, LLC
Bullet 333Steve Elliott, President, Grassfire.org
Bullet 333Joseph Farah, CEO, Founder, WorldNetDaily
Bullet 333Frank Gaffney, Founder and President , Center for Security Policy
Bullet 333James Gelfand, Senior Manager of Health Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Bullet 333Lou Giuliano, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (r, ITT Corporation
Bullet 333Rick Green, President, Torch of Freedom Foundation
Bullet 333Colin Hanna, Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring USA
Bullet 333Lowman Henry, Chairman & CEO, Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research, Inc.
Bullet 333Larry Hunter, President, The Social Security Institute
Bullet 333Phillip Kim, Assistant Professor of Management and Human Resour, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business
Bullet 333Cliff Kincaid, President, America's Survival, Inc.
Bullet 333Jennifer Marshall, Director of Domestic Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Gary Marx, Executive Director, Judicial Confirmation Network
Bullet 333Ryan Messmore, William E. Simon fellow in Religion and a Free Soc, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Joe Murray, Columnist, The Bulletin
Bullet 333Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR)
Bullet 333Phyllis Schlafly, President and Founder, Eagle Forum
Bullet 333Chuck Stetson, Co-founder and Managing Director, PEI Funds
Bullet 333Tony Strickland, Taxpayer Advocate
Bullet 333Lorianne Updike, President & Executive Director, The Constitutional Sources Project
Bullet 333John Weiser, Board Member, Westminster Theological Seminary , In Medias Res

Following Israel's 'economic miracle'

OneNewsNow

the White House and Congress are serious about creating jobs and reviving the economy, one senior fellow suggests that the U.S. look to Israel for examples.

Dan Senor is an adjunct senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and co-author of Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle. He tells OneNewsNow a number of examples show why Israel is the model for success, namely its civilian research and development -- an area touted time and again by President Barack Obama.

"Israel has engaged in an aggressive campaign of privatization, of decentralization on the tech part of its economy," Senor notes. "It has brought down corporate tax rates; it has now one of the lowest unemployment rates as a result [and] one of the strongest currencies."

Auto Dealers: Obama’s ‘Flawed’ Fuel Economy Plan Will Hurt Consumers, Car Quality

CNS News

The nation’s auto dealers gathered in Washington, D.C., this week, in part to lobby for less government regulations on the industry, including fuel economy mandates they say will cost consumers.

In a handout – “A Flawed Fuel Economy Structure Produces a Flawed Result” – distributed at the conference, details of those costs – based on the government’s own estimates – were summarized.

The cost of an average vehicle, for example, will increase by more than $3,000 in 2025 because of fuel economy and global warming vehicle mandates enacted by the Obama administration, according to the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Bailey Wood, director of legislative affairs and communications with the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), discussed the handout with CNSNews.com and called $3,000 a “softball estimate.” Wood said the Center for Automotive Research puts the cost increase to comply with fuel economy standards at as much as $10,000 per vehicle.

Bullet 333Barry Asmus, Senior Economist, National Center for Policy Analysis
Bullet 333David Bossie, President, Citizens United
Bullet 333Dan Celia, Host, "Financial Issues Live" Radio Program
Bullet 333Phil Clements, Managing Director, Center for Christian Business Ethics Today, LLC.
Bullet 333Chuck Colson, Prison Fellowship
Bullet 333Ward Connerly, Author/Founder and Chairman, American Civil Rights Institute
Bullet 333Tom DeLay, Former House Majority Leader, United States House of Representatives
Bullet 333William Devlin, National President, Redeem The Vote
Bullet 333Chuck Donovan, Senior Research Fellow-DeVos Center for Religion a, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333James Edwards, Cofounder, Olive, Edwards, & Cooper, LLC
Bullet 333Steve Elliott, President, Grassfire.org
Bullet 333Joseph Farah, CEO, Founder, WorldNetDaily
Bullet 333Frank Gaffney, Founder and President , Center for Security Policy
Bullet 333James Gelfand, Senior Manager of Health Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Bullet 333Lou Giuliano, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (r, ITT Corporation
Bullet 333Rick Green, President, Torch of Freedom Foundation
Bullet 333Colin Hanna, Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring USA
Bullet 333Lowman Henry, Chairman & CEO, Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research, Inc.
Bullet 333Larry Hunter, President, The Social Security Institute
Bullet 333Phillip Kim, Assistant Professor of Management and Human Resour, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business
Bullet 333Cliff Kincaid, President, America's Survival, Inc.
Bullet 333Jennifer Marshall, Director of Domestic Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Gary Marx, Executive Director, Judicial Confirmation Network
Bullet 333Ryan Messmore, William E. Simon fellow in Religion and a Free Soc, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Joe Murray, Columnist, The Bulletin
Bullet 333Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR)
Bullet 333Phyllis Schlafly, President and Founder, Eagle Forum
Bullet 333Chuck Stetson, Co-founder and Managing Director, PEI Funds
Bullet 333Tony Strickland, Taxpayer Advocate
Bullet 333Lorianne Updike, President & Executive Director, The Constitutional Sources Project
Bullet 333John Weiser, Board Member, Westminster Theological Seminary , In Medias Res

Obama Predicts: His Plan Will Cost $235,263 Per Job

CNS News

President Barack Obama said at a fundraiser held in a private residence in Washington, D.C., on Thursday evening that the $447 billion American Jobs Act he has proposed will create 1.9 million American jobs—which works out to a cost of about $235,263 per job.

“It’s estimated that the American Jobs Act would add two percentage points to the GDP, and add as many as 1.9 million jobs, and bring the unemployment rate down by a full percentage point,” Obama said, according to the official White House transcript of his remarks.

Obama did not say who made the estimate in question, but his remarks mirrored the conclusions of an analysis made by Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. “The plan would add 2 percentage points to GDP growth next year, add 1.9 million jobs, and cut the unemployment rate by a percentage point,” Zandi wrote.

U.N. Reform Advocate Questions What U.S. Is Getting for Its $7B Contribution

CNS News

House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen acknowledged Tuesday that legislation aimed at making U.S. funding to the United Nations contingent on reforms lacks bipartisan support but said it was important to make a stand for “the principles that we believe in.”

As she prepares to mark up her bill in committee, Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) faces mounting opposition from the Obama administration and advocacy groups supportive of deeper U.S. engagement with the U.N.

The U.N. Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act (H.R. 2829) also lacks the support of a single House Democrat. The number of co-sponsors has climbed from 57 on Aug. 30 – the day the bill was introduced – to 74 as of Tuesday; all 74 are Republicans.

Obama-backed solar firm collapses after big federal loan guarantee

iwatchnews.org

Solyndra Inc., a renewable energy firm that became a darling of the Obama Administration, shut the doors of its California headquarters Wednesday, raising fresh questions from critics about political favoritism and wasted money in the federal loan program.

The manufacturer of rooftop solar panels opened its doors in 2005, and in 2009 became the first recipient of an Obama administration energy loan guarantee – a $535 million federal commitment that helped minimize the risk to venture capital firms backing the solar start-up. Obama visited the factory last year to herald its future.

“The promise of clean energy isn’t just an article of faith — not anymore,” Obama told Solyndra workers then. “The future is here.”

The government loan guarantee was supposed to spur 1,000 fulltime jobs once Solyndra’s solar plant was fully operating. Instead, the company announced Wednesday it intends to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and that 1,100 full and part time employees had been laid off “effective immediately,” without severance. Some said they no longer have health insurance, either.

Republicans Remind Obama: Democrats Are Blocking House-Passed Jobs Bills

CNS News

Republican leaders are reminding President Obama that the House of Representatives has passed more than a dozen "pro-growth" measures to spur job creation, but with one exception, Senate Democrats have refused to consider any of those bills.

In a letter to the president on Tuesday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) listed all the House-passed "jobs" bills that are now languishing in the Senate. They include a bill to reduce the regulatory burdens on farmers and small business owners; a bill to block a "job-destroying national energy tax," and a bill to boost offshore energy production.

Boehner and Cantor also outlined "potential opportunities for Congress and the White House to work together" on job-creation.

Bullet 333Barry Asmus, Senior Economist, National Center for Policy Analysis
Bullet 333David Bossie, President, Citizens United
Bullet 333Dan Celia, Host, "Financial Issues Live" Radio Program
Bullet 333Phil Clements, Managing Director, Center for Christian Business Ethics Today, LLC.
Bullet 333Chuck Colson, Prison Fellowship
Bullet 333Ward Connerly, Author/Founder and Chairman, American Civil Rights Institute
Bullet 333Tom DeLay, Former House Majority Leader, United States House of Representatives
Bullet 333William Devlin, National President, Redeem The Vote
Bullet 333Chuck Donovan, Senior Research Fellow-DeVos Center for Religion a, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333James Edwards, Cofounder, Olive, Edwards, & Cooper, LLC
Bullet 333Steve Elliott, President, Grassfire.org
Bullet 333Joseph Farah, CEO, Founder, WorldNetDaily
Bullet 333Frank Gaffney, Founder and President , Center for Security Policy
Bullet 333James Gelfand, Senior Manager of Health Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Bullet 333Lou Giuliano, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (r, ITT Corporation
Bullet 333Rick Green, President, Torch of Freedom Foundation
Bullet 333Colin Hanna, Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring USA
Bullet 333Lowman Henry, Chairman & CEO, Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research, Inc.
Bullet 333Larry Hunter, President, The Social Security Institute
Bullet 333Phillip Kim, Assistant Professor of Management and Human Resour, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business
Bullet 333Cliff Kincaid, President, America's Survival, Inc.
Bullet 333Jennifer Marshall, Director of Domestic Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Gary Marx, Executive Director, Judicial Confirmation Network
Bullet 333Ryan Messmore, William E. Simon fellow in Religion and a Free Soc, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Joe Murray, Columnist, The Bulletin
Bullet 333Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR)
Bullet 333Phyllis Schlafly, President and Founder, Eagle Forum
Bullet 333Chuck Stetson, Co-founder and Managing Director, PEI Funds
Bullet 333Tony Strickland, Taxpayer Advocate
Bullet 333Lorianne Updike, President & Executive Director, The Constitutional Sources Project
Bullet 333John Weiser, Board Member, Westminster Theological Seminary , In Medias Res
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