Poli-marketing

Politicking equals meeting voters’ perceptions in order to stay in power. This has nothing to do with satisfying real needs and everything to do with controlling the way things are perceived by the voter.
It is also issue– and ideology– based, meaning that the politician says what people think he or she wants to say. This [...]

Bill nixes hiring checks

“It is ludicrous that politicians in Washington made zero effort to eliminate any wasteful Washington spending to pay for this enormous spending bill,” said [Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican,] who regularly demands that pet projects be cut from spending bills.
On the immigration issue, Democrats removed from the final bill a House-adopted provision that [...]

Federal obligations exceed world GDP

As the Obama administration pushes through Congress its $800 billion deficit-spending economic stimulus plan, the American public is largely unaware that the true deficit of the federal government already is measured in trillions of dollars, and in fact its $65.5 trillion in total obligations exceeds the gross domestic product of the world.
Now here’s a recipe [...]

Stimulus Britannica

Simply scandalous.

Staffers don’t have stimulus bill, lobbyists do

Capitol Hill staffers expressing frustration that they can’t get a copy of the stimulus bill agreed to last night at a price of $789 billion. What’s more, staffers are complaining about who does have a copy: K Street lobbyists.
via Congressional Offices Don’t Have the Stimulus Bill, Lobbyists Do – Washington Whispers (usnews.com).
The Dem leadership has [...]

Stimulate? Economists say no

The compromise economic stimulus plan agreed to by negotiators from the House of Representatives and the Senate is short on incentives to get consumers spending again and long on social goals that won’t stimulate economic activity, according to a range of respected economists.
via McClatchy Washington Bureau | 02/12/2009 | Will the stimulus actually stimulate? Economists [...]

Faster than the speed of light.

Less than 48 hours elapsed between the time the text of the compromise became available for public examination late Saturday evening and yesterday’s 61-37 vote for passage. At that rate, the Senate effectively was spending about $300 million every minute while considering the compromise, and allowing taxpayers a scandalously brief opportunity to discover how the [...]

President P. T. Barnum

Barack Obama, …the first man to ever assume the highest office in the land without one whit of experience other than running for office and beguiling a public begging to be beguiled.
via American Thinker: Murphy’s Law, the Peter Principle and Barack Obama.

Apathetic Americans?

Who does care, Sen. Schumer?

What change.

The national conversation on the economy is frozen, and has been for a while. Republicans say tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. Democrats say spend, new programs, more money. You can’t spend enough for the Democratic base, or cut taxes enough for the Republican. But in a time when all the grown-ups of America know [...]