Our Big Fat Government

      It's Time For A Federal Diet

Our federal government has grown too big for it's britches.

This summer, our national debt reached the tipping point, placing the United States on the road not unlike that of Greece, Ireland, Spain and Italy. We are now a debtor nation.

"Debt as of July 31 totaled $14.342 trillion. That was made up of $9.756 trillion held by the public and $4.587 trillion the U.S. government owes itself (intergovernmental borrowing, largely from the Social Security and Medicare trust funds to the general fund). GDP—the value of all of the goods and services produced in the United States—in 2010 was $14.5265 trillion. With the Treasury’s additional borrowings of $238 billion so far in August, the total of all debt outstanding has now increased to $14.5807. That’s $54.2 billion more than average 2010 U.S. GDP, the last year for which we have final estimates on GDP from the U.S. Department of Commerce."

As I write this our national debt is $14,685,462, 200,507. The debt per US Citizen is $47,408, and the debt per American Tax Payer is $131,055. And it is growing exponentially as I write this blog. Our government spends a staggering $3,000,000 a minute. "When Barack Obama took the oath of office twice on Jan. 20, 2009, CBS' amazing number cruncher Mark Knoller reports, the national debt was $10,626,000,000,000."

To place our debt in perspective from the same link, ..."Numbers with that many digits are hard to grasp, even for a Harvard head. So, let's put it another way:

One billion seconds ago Bill Clinton was nearing the end of his two terms and George W. Bush's baseball collection was still on the shelves in the Austin governor's office.

The nation's debt increased $4.9 trillion under President Bush too, btw. But it took him 2,648 days to do it. Obama will surpass that sum during this term.

Now, how to portray a trillion, or 1,000 billions. One trillion seconds ago much of North America was still covered by ice sheets hundreds of feet thick..."

If you would like to take a look at your specific government cost, there is a calculator found here, and you can calculate your portiom of future federal spending, your estimated share of future federal taxes, and what they could have been worth.

This site is an amazing interactive government spending site and has statistics on Federal Spending data with statistics beginning in 1792. This is a tool that every person interested in what we spend and details should bookmark.

While compiling links for this blog, I spent countless hours searching for an official site that would list exactly how many government offices and agencies you and I pay to staff. Countless searches, I thought surely there should be a simple list provided by the US Government, the only official one that I found was an A-Z listing of all government agencies, with Municipal, County, State and Federal Government offices all listed together. However one very ambitious blogger has accumulated a more than exhaustive detailed list of Federal Government Agencies and it can be found here.

This CATO Institute Study is a Department by Department and reviews cost savings and ways to downsize the Federal Government.

This study by CATO Institute reviews the cost of federal employees, and the disparity between federal employment salaries wages and benefits and those of the private sector. "...With projections of huge federal deficits for years to come, policymakers should scour the budget looking for places to cut spending. One area to find savings is the generous compensation paid to the federal government's 2.1 million civilian workers1 Total wages and benefits paid to executive branch civilians amounted to $230 billion in 2010, indicating that compensation is a major federal expense that can be trimmed.2


During the last decade, compensation of federal employees rose much faster than compensation of private-sector employees. As a consequence, the average federal civilian worker now earns twice as much in wages and benefits as the average worker in the U.S. private sector.3 A recent job-to-job comparison found that federal workers earned higher wages than did private-sector workers in four-fifths of the occupations examined.4..."

Our nations credit has been downgraded by Standard and Poors as a result of unprecedented spending by the 110th and 111th Congresses due to the lack of our federal government having a balanced budget, or a budget at all. Standard and Poors stated “...political brinkmanship” in the debate over the debt had made the U.S. government’s ability to manage its finances “less stable, less effective and less predictable.” It said the bipartisan agreement reached this week to find at least $2.1 trillion in budget savings “fell short” of what was necessary to tame the nation’s debt over time and predicted that leaders would not be likely to achieve more savings in the future."

The budget presented to the Senate by President Obama failed in the US Senate by a vote of 97-0 Both Paul Ryan's budget, (which failed in the Senate 47-50) and Connie Mack's One Cent Solution would have prevented our nation suffering a down grade.

In March of 2010 the GAO (General Accounting Office) published a limited study of reviewing duplication of services programs and subsidies of the Federal Government, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

In this overview from the Wall Street Journal, Damien Paletta has pointed out the duplication of subsidies and programs:

1. Food safety: 15 agencies are involved in implementing numerous federal laws.


2. Defense: Numerous redundancies in the purchasing of tactical wheeled vehicles, procurement, and medical costs.


3. Economic development: 80 different programs spread across numerous agencies, often with similar goals.


4. Surface transportation: More than 100 programs run by five divisions within the Department of Transportation deal with surface transportation.


5. Energy: Eliminating duplicative federal efforts to increase ethanol production could save $5.7 billion each year.


6. Government information technology: 24 federal agencies deal with information technology.


7. Health: The Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs could work together – instead of separately – to modernize their electronic health records systems.


8. Homelessness: More than 20 federal programs deal with homelessness.


9. Transportation Security Administration: Assessments of commercial trucking overlap with another federal agency.


10. Teachers: 82 programs that deal with teacher quality, spread across multiple agencies.


11. Financial literacy: 56 programs dealing with financial literacy.


12. Job training: 44 employment and training programs.

This link from National Review Online says, ''...in Economic Policy Journal, economists Yann Algan, Pierre Cahuc, and Andre Zylberberg looked at the impact of public employment on overall labor-market performance. The authors use data for a sample of OECD countries from 1960 to 2000, and they find that, on average, the creation of 100 public jobs eliminated about 150 private-sector jobs, decreased overall labor-market participation slightly, and increased by about 33 the number of unemployed workers..."

Here is the link, from the introduction to the abstract (all that you can see without paying, or special access to the site, and the introduction to the study: "We explore the consequences of public employment for labour market performance. Theory suggests that public employment may not only crowd out private employment, but also increase overall unemployment if, by offering attractive working conditions, it draws additional individuals into the labour force. Empirical evidence from a sample of OECD countries in the 1960-2000 period suggests that, on average, creation of 100 public jobs may have eliminated about 150 private sector jobs, slightly decreased labour market participation, and increased by about 33 the number of unemployed workers. Theoretical considerations and empirical evidence, however, suggest that the crowding out effect of public jobs on private jobs is only significant in countries where public production is highly substitutable to private activities and the public sector offers more attractive wages and/or other benefits than the private labour market."

The Federal Government employs whose wages and benefits exceed those of the private sector,
and few if any are ever terminated. ..."Death — rather than poor performance, misconduct or layoffs — is the primary threat to job security at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of Management and Budget and a dozen other federal operations.


The federal government fired 0.55% of its workers in the budget year that ended Sept. 30 — 11,668 employees in its 2.1 million workforce. Research shows that the private sector fires about 3% of workers annually for poor performance, says John Palguta, former research chief at the federal Merit Systems Protection Board, which handles federal firing disputes..."

It is obvious we are not going to begin to fix this nation's fiscal nightmare until we address the size and scope of our Federal Government. It is well past time to make our Federal Government smaller and leaner.All efforts to address the necessary elimination of government agencies that have outlived their original mandate, elimination of programs will produce a deafening roar from the left, and much kicking and screaming.

It is doubtful that the Super Committee will have the courage to address the issues.

Until our leadership seriously addresses entitlements, and making the Federal Government smaller and start privatizing and eliminate huge government bureaucracies, force agencies to write a budget like private industry and produce a balance budget, nothing will change.

It is time for the government to live within it's means. We must hold our government fiscally accountable and it is 235 years past the time for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.

Tilting Wind Turbines & Preening In Solar Panels

21st Century Energy Nonsense

In 2010 Wind turbine energy accounted for 2% of total U.S. electricity generation. Further, nearly all of the components to build a wind turbine are produced off shore and imported adding to our Trade Deficit.  Wind turbine energy is a small fraction of the Nation's total electricity production, it had a market share of the annual electricity use of about 8.7 million households.

The collapse of Solyndra, a solar panel maker, the corporation in large financed of more than $500 million in stimulus dollars should give all Americans pause and concern for altruistic 'Green Energy' Programs.   A lengthy article regarding the impact of 'solar farms in the Mohave desert explains the big green debate about building a solar farm in the fragile and unique ecosystem. Little is known about either the  environmental impact of both technologies lag and both are not practical for mass electrical generation production.  Both wind turbines and solar farms also share an unproven return on investment for capital expenditure.

Stubbornly President Obama  and his administration continue to defend Solyndra and green energy ."President Barack Obama is standing by his support for renewable energy after Solyndra Inc., a maker of solar panels that received a $535 million U.S. shut its doors, a White House spokesman said."  From the same article, "Solyndra suspended operations and plans to file for bankruptcy reorganization because it couldn’t compete with larger rivals, the closely held company said in a statement yesterday.


SpectraWatt Inc., a solar company backed by units of Intel Corp. (INTC) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), filed for bankruptcy protection Aug. 19, and Evergreen Solar Inc. (ESLR) did so Aug. 15".

Could the $535 million dollar Solyndra boondoggle, be the Obama Administration's Tea Pot Dome or Enron scandal Kaiser head of Solyndra was a donation bundler for the Obama campaign?
   
The first Oil embargo was in 1973.  In 1973, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $.39 (cents) a gallon.

In the following 38 years one would think that at some point our leadership in Washington DC would have developed a rational and sound National Energy Policy. Not having a sound Energy Policy is a threat to not only our nation's economic well being but also our national security.

Shockingly since 1973 one Administration after another has acted as if the United States is without natural resources, when the reverse is true.

The Environmental Movement has made matters even worse. Pressure from envirofascist drives the policies written by bureaucrats at the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Interior and the Department of Energy.  For nearly four decades sound energy policy has been throttled by the Environmental Movement and since Obama's election it has hit a new stride, with the EPA's recent Environmental Justice Memorandum of Understanding.

Every sound energy model in the United States is under hostile attack by envirofascist, the oil industry attacked, the coal industry under threat,  so is this nation's nuclear industry, and hydro electric energy are all under duress, and the lack of any development of new electrical infrastructure in these areas are crippling this nation.

Here is a brief overview of where we stand in regards to this nation's energy policies:

Oil, Natural Gas, and Refinery Development:

The Institute for Analysis of Global Security says : "Our dependency on oil from countries that are either politically unstable or at odds with the U.S. subjects the American economy to occasional supply disruptions, price hikes, and loss of wealth, which, according to a study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy, have cost us more than $7 trillion present value dollars over the last 30 years. That is more than the cumulative cost of all of the wars fought by the U.S. since the Revolutionary War. The transfer of wealth to oil-producing countries - $1.16 trillion over the past thirty years - significantly increased our trade deficit. The Department of Energy estimates that each $1 billion of trade deficit costs America 27,000 jobs. Oil imports account for almost one-third of the total U.S. deficit and, hence, are a major contributor to unemployment."

A synopsis of the hidden cost of importing foreign oil in this IAGS Report are reflected here:

NDCF REPORT: THE HIDDEN COST OF IMPORTED OIL

The National Defense Council Foundation (NDCF), an Alexandria, Virginia-based research and educational institution has completed its year-long analysis of the “hidden cost” of imported oil. The NDCF project represents the most comprehensive investigation of the military and economic penalty our undue dependence on imported oil exacts from the U.S. economy. Included in this economic toll are:

· Almost $49.1 billion in annual defense outlays to maintain the capability to defend the flow of   Persian  Gulf Oil – the equivalent of adding $1.17 to the price of a gallon of gasoline;

· The loss of 828,400 jobs in the U.S. economy;

· The loss of $159.9 billion in GNP annually;

· The loss of $13.4 billion in federal and state revenues annually;

· Total economic penalties of from $297.2 to $304.9 billion annually.


If reflected at the gasoline pump, these “hidden costs” would raise the price of a gallon of gasoline to over $5.28, a fill-up would be over $105.

One striking figure was the cost of the periodic oil shocks the U.S. has experienced over the past three decades which NDCF estimates at from over $2.2 Trillion to almost $2.5 Trillion.


Prior to completion the study underwent an exhaustive peer review by a panel comprised of seventeen individuals with a broad range of expertise including representatives from government, industry and major environmental organizations.

In addition to detailing the costs of America’s import dependence, the NDCF report also outlines the benefits of shifting the U.S. transportation sector to non-petroleum derived fuels."

This article from Real Clear Energy, should outrage every American consumer at the lack of a sound policy to drill for and use our own oil and natural gas policies:"But the United States isn’t running out of oil, it’s running out of access. There are many promising sources of crude oil in the U.S., but the vast majority of them are off limits to exploration and production. The exact size of this resource is unknown because companies are not allowed to do the necessary work to find out where the oil is and how much of it there is. Preliminary work by government agencies, however, suggests that the resources could be quite large.


The Department of the Interior estimates that the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) contains 86 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil resources. However, about 97% of the OCS is not under lease, preventing any exploration or production of oil and gas.

Onshore federal lands contain an estimated 24.2 billion barrels of undiscovered technically recoverable oil resources. But like our offshore resources, the vast majority of these onshore oil resources are unavailable for exploration and production.

The United States has massive unconventional crude oil reserves. Government estimates point to U.S. oil shale and oil sands resources exceeding 2 trillion barrels, larger than total proven global reserves of conventional oil. The global supply picture, and U.S. competitiveness for that matter, could improve if even a small fraction of these resources can be tapped economically..."

..."The United States is blessed with vast oil resources, dynamic capital markets, and a culture of innovation that sustains our global leadership. These assets, however, are not being developed or used to their full potential. What are we waiting for?"

This link is the has a chart which shows the most recent data for oil imports.

The story for Refineries is even worse, it has been decades since any new refineries have been built. Thanks to american ingenuity and hard work by American Oil companies,  refineries have made vast improvements to increase capacity ,

..."While the number of operating refineries has fallen from 254 in 1982 to 137 in 2011, the operating capacity of today's 137 facilities is over 830,000 barrels per day more than it was in 1982. Basically, while we've watched 117 refineries close, capacity has risen. (The Energy Information Administration's earliest records date to 1982.)



Moreover, since 1985, when refinery capacity hit a low of 14.7 million barrels per day, we've seen over three million barrels of capacity added, or the equivalent to 23 average modern day facilities. A stark contrast to the misleading tidbit about having no new refineries built since the 1970's. So while we haven't seen new refineries open in new locations, we have virtually added the capacity of 23 of today's average size facilities—and that is nothing to scoff at..."

No new licenses have been granted to build a new refinery in the United States since 1976. Refineries are hard pushed to keep up with all of the different mixes, and seasonal adjustments, which causes spikes in the price at the pump annually. (I can no longer find the link but I recall reading refineries need to make over 200 different gasoline and diesel mixes for both regional and seasonal clean air requirements.) A rational and reasonable refining choice would be to pick the most stringent 4 or so requirements and use those.

Our hydro electric generation is under the same stresses as the oil and gas industry along with the nuclear energy industry.  Applications for permits for new facilities are snarled at various licensing agencies, who either fully block or stall or insist on years long environmental impact studies.  The EPA has new regulations which have the intended impact of shutting down coal fired electrical production in the United States. However today, under pressure form the 112th Congress Obama has backed of the most recent EJ MOU .

Our non existent energy policy is negatively impacting American employment, driving up the cost of doing business and leaving the United States in a very precarious position.  You cannot be a strong a 21st Century nation without a sound energy policy.  Even with the United States economy in freefall the Obama Administration is considereing more costly crippling regulations and interference in energy production. 
The United States is in dire economic trouble our deficits are soaring and we stand at the precipice of economic collapse.

If now now, when will our elected officials have the resolve to address this nation's pressing energy needs.

Strangled By Regulatory Environmental Justice

The Paradigm of Environmental Justice


  
The Environmental Protection Agency has a new directive along with many other US Government agencies.


In a news release from August 4, 2011 the  EPA  announced, "Obama Administration Advances Efforts to Protect Health of U.S. Communities Overburdened by Pollution / Federal Agencies Sign Environmental Justice Memorandum of Understanding"


The news release ends with this paragraph, "...The following agencies signed the EJ MOU: Environmental Protection Agency; White House Council on Environmental Quality; Department of Health and Human Services; Department of Justice; Department of Agriculture; Department of Commerce; Department of Defense; Department of Education; Department of Energy; Department of Homeland Security; Department of Housing and Urban Development; Department of Interior; Department of Labor; Department of Transportation; Department of Veterans Affairs; General Services Administration; and Small Business Administration."


The above list of agencies is a signal for all Agencies that are, as I write this blog, all of these agencies are busy writing more regulations to insure that they are following, writing, and actively engaged in producing 1,000's of pages of more Federal Regulations to expand the the Paradigm of Environmental Justice that Obama and his administration are pursuing.


Here is where you can read the EJ MOU.

If you are not aware of the definition of Environmental Justice it can be found on this page of the Environmental Protection Agency, just down from the top right hand corner, and it states, "Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EPA has this goal for all communities and persons across this Nation. It will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work."


The above link and all of it's associated links should terrify you with the intent of the Obama Administration through regulation to control every aspect of the Economy.  It is the intent of the Obama Administration, to throttle United States growth,  undermine your freedom, by crippling the pursuit of happiness of every American.


This is an important study that every Patriot should not only read but have as a bookmark:
Ten Thousand Commandments

An Annual Snapshot
of the Federal Regulatory State
2011 Edition by Clyde Wayne Crews Jr.


Here are the introductory bullets to this outstanding snapshot of Regulatory implications from Ten Thousand Commandments,


• An evaluation of the U.S. federal regulatory enterprise by economists Nicole V. Crain and W. Mark Crain finds annual regulatory compliance costs hit $1.752 trillion in 2008.
• Given 2010’s actual government spending or outlays of $3.456 trillion, the regulatory “hidden tax” stands at an unprecedented 50.7 percent of the level of federal spending itself.
• The dramatic reality that regulations and deficits now each greatly exceed $1 trillion a year is an unsettling new development for the United States. In 2008, regulatory costs were more than double that year’s $459 billion budget deficit. However, the deficit spending surge to more than $1 trillion since 2009 has catapulted the deficit to a level approaching the costs of regulation.
• Government spending’s relationship to government regulation bears scrutiny. Unchecked government outlays and deficit spending translate, in later years, into greater regulation as well. We are seeing that expansion happen now.
• Regulatory costs exceed all 2008 corporate pretax profits of $1.463 trillion.
• Regulatory costs dwarf corporate income taxes of $157 billion.
• Regulatory costs tower over the estimated 2010 individual income taxes of $936 billion by 87 percent—nearly double the level.
• Regulatory costs of $1.752 trillion absorb 11.9 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), estimated at $14.649 trillion in 2010.
• Combining regulatory costs with federal FY 2010 outlays of $3.456 trillion reveals a federal government whose share of the entire economy now reaches 35.5 percent.
• The Weidenbaum Center at Washington University in St. Louis and the Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., jointly estimate that agencies spent $55.4 billion (on budget) to administer and police the regulatory enterprise. Adding the $1.752 trillion in off-budget compliance costs brings the total regulatory burden to $1.8 trillion.
• The 2010 Federal Register stands at an all-time record-high 81,405 pages.
• Federal Register pages devoted specifically to final rules rose by 20 percent, from 20,782 in 2009 to 24,914.
• In 2010, agencies issued 3,573 final rules, compared with 3,503 in 2009.
• Notably, the number of proposed rules increased even more than the number of final rules, from 2,044 in 2009 to 2,439 in 2010, an increase of 19.3 percent.
• The annual outflow of roughly 4,000 final rules has meant that nearly 38,700 rules have been issued since 2001.
• While regulatory agencies issued 3,573 final rules in 2010, Congress passed and the president signed into law a comparatively few 217 bills. Considerable lawmaking power is delegated to unelected bureaucrats at agencies.
• According to the 2010 “Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions” in the Federal Register, which lists federal regulatory actions at various stages of implementation, 58 federal departments, agencies, and commissions have 4,225 regulations in play at various stages of implementation, an increase of 4.5 percent.
• Of the 4,225 regulations now in the pipeline, 224 are “economically significant” rules wielding at least $100 million in economic impact. Assuming those rulemakings are primarily regulatory (even if some are deregulatory) and cost only $100 million rather than multiples of that figure, that number implies roughly $22 billion yearly in future offbudget regulatory effects.
• “Economically significant” rules increased by 22 percent over 2009’s 184 rules. The count had increased by 2 percent between 2008 and 2009, following 13- and 14-percent increases in the prior two years.
• Of the 4,226 regulations now in the works, 845 affect small business, an 11.5-increase over 758 in 2009.
• High federal budgetary spending now likely implies higher future regulatory costs as well.
• The number of final “major rule” reports issued by agencies and reviewed by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has surged. The 99 rules of 2010 represent the highest number since this tabulation began. Five years ago, there were 56 such reports.
• The five most active rule-producing agencies—the departments of the Treasury, Health and Human Services, Commerce, and Agriculture, along with the Environmental Protection Agency— account for 1,820 rules, or 43 percent of all rules in the Unified Agenda pipeline.


If you are wondering why this nation is in a recession, (I believe the beginning of a depression) and the austerity we all face, the lack of jobs, the lack of manufacturing, the answer is that this nation, our freedom and economic well being are under attack by Regulators.


Under Obama, not only Cabinet Secretaries, but CZARS (outside of legislative overview) are busy throttling this nation's economy, and actively undermining the United States.


It is the intent of every agency through policy to add revenue by Regulation.


With the alarming number of Regulations waiting for Congressional Approval, it would take a staff of thousands to brief our Congressional and Senate leadership for our elected officials to be fully informed adequately to the breadth of interference in United States commerce and financial well being.


Congress and not unelected bureaucrats should be writing US coded law.

This level of interference in commerce and the pursuit of happiness is not what the Founders of this Great Republic had in mind.

           =======================================================

****Addendum  I am adding this link from National Review Online  Written by Andrew Stiles, what the Republican controlled house will roll out to stop 10 job killing Regulations when they return in September.  While it is a drop in the bucket, it is a start.  I do not expect if they pass any of these items (and it could either be piecemeal or all in one bill, that Senator Harry Reid will ever allow it to the Senate Floor. Senator Reid will simply call a vote to table this agenda.  Nothing will improve or change for America and Jobs and the outrageous cost of uber-regulation, until we control the Senate and the Presidency.

Post Industrial America~ Where The Jobs Went

              The Devastating Truth


Add caption



The Trillion Dollar Gorilla in the room NO ONE in elected office will discuss, is about the failure of our Foreign Trade Policy and how it has fed our financial crisis, and how it has hastened the slow death of our
manufacturing sector.

Our Foreign Trade Policy, much like a cancer, has been killing the manufacturing sector and bleeding American jobs since the late 1940s.

The losses in manufacturing and jobs, are a direct result of businesses determining to flee offshore from high taxes, massive regulation, and wages at pennies on the dollar by our trading partners. The flight of manufacturing has devastated communities, impacted our revenue base and left million of Americans underemployed or terminally unemployed. The loss of our manufacturing sector is an existential threat to this Republic.

American industry, particularly the manufacturing sector has been in an offshore flight for decades.

America is on the brink of collapse, and Obama's only idea is to raise taxes to fix the revenue problem a result of a decline in manufacturing and the loss of jobs, and propose more infrastructure expenditures. And spend and borrow more money.  His agenda never addresses the systemic problems that have been created by Federal Government policy, law, regulations, fees and obstacles.  These obstacles set by the government and bureaucrats that make walking away from investment with factories in America by business less attractive than operating a business in a Communist society.  It cost less to manufacture and actually drives more money to the bottom line of business owners and corporations to ship millions of containers filled with goods across the vast expanse of the Pacific ocean than to conduct business in the United States.

Everyone elected official has avoided addressing the lousy trade agreements negotiated by officials only looking for a deal, with little concern about the nation breaking details which have  been signed by previous adminsitrations, and ]passed by previous Senates.  Many of these Trade Agreements are policies looking for friends where the enemy sleeps. At the same time in every instant trading away jobs and manufacturing for a partner who not only cannot dance and the tune and tempo are not made in America.

The Marshall Plan cost American Tax payers 22.4 billion US dollars  from 1947-1951.  Since 1947 and GATT (General Agreement on Tariff and Trade 1947, the precursor to both the WTO (World Trade Oganization and UN) America has signed one after another poorly negotiated Trade Treaty.  Current Renewal of treaties that the Obama Administration are reviewing can be found here .  Every one of these Treaties support an upside down unequal tariff basis and unfair economic practices by partner countries which leaves US manufacturers and products subject to discriminatory manufacturing practices, wages, and inbound tariffs with all of our trading partners.  A review of the what the Obama Administration may do regarding these polices can be found also here .

The argument being used by Obama to increase taxes and raise revenues with regards to this nation's national debt is a rouse, one that avoids the real discussion America should be having.

The discussion, "What happened to our Manufacturing Base and why we have lost millions and millions of private sector jobs".  Cannot be found anywhere in the American political dialogue.  The losses our economy have suffered have not only impacted our GDP, national employment and have placed America at risk.

Government policies under both parties have cost America millions and millions of jobs.

Free Trade is an oxymoron.  There is no Free Trade.  Not one agreement the United States has signed since GATT in 1947 has been anywhere near close to Free, or fair, or created any equal trading partners.  In every instance our trading partners ecomomy and standard of living has increased while ours has steadily declined.

After looking at dozens of sites it is obvious that administrations from both parties have willingly signed Trade Agreements that disadvantaged US made products and exports to all of our partners. 

One trade policy after another in support of globalization, combined with miles and miles of regulations, (at a cost of 1.7 trillion to US business ) and crony tax rates are the culprits.  Investors seeking and finding large profit margins, a result of pennies on the dollar labor and little if any regulation, while nice for share  holders is  BAD for American jobs.  Our tax code supports undermining our manufacturing and the flight offshore in support of Foreign policy is filled with loopholes that encourage offshore development in  60,000 page US tax code filled with Crony Tax breaks.

This information should give every American cause for real concern for this Republics recovery in both the long and short term   "...Manufacturing employment dropped to 11.7 million in October 2009, a loss of 5.5 million or 32 percent of all manufacturing jobs since October 2000. The last time fewer than 12 million people worked in the manufacturing sector was in 1941. In October 2009, more people were officially unemployed (15.7 million) than were working in manufacturing..."

This same above linked article further lists the damage and sectors devastated by Trade Agreements and flight of offshore manufacturing and jobs to nation's who if not our foes have barricades in tariffs to United States made products.

I urge you to read the article I have used as reference from American Prospect.

"...Long before the banking collapse of 2008, such important U.S. industries as machine tools, consumer electronics, auto parts, appliances, furniture, telecommunications equipment, and many others that had once dominated the global marketplace suffered their own economic collapse. Manufacturing employment dropped to 11.7 million in October 2009, a loss of 5.5 million or 32 percent of all manufacturing jobs since October 2000. The last time fewer than 12 million people worked in the manufacturing sector was in 1941. In October 2009, more people were officially unemployed (15.7 million) than were working in manufacturing..."

Here is the list from this site that the once great U.S. economy is being gutted, neutered, defanged, declawed and deindustrialized....

•  1) The U.S. trade deficit with the rest of the world rose to 497.8 billion dollars in 2010. That represented a 32.8% increase from 2009.
• 2) The U.S. trade deficit with China rose to an all-time record of 273.1 billion dollars in 2010. This is the largest trade deficit that one nation has had with another nation in the history of the world. 
• 3) The U.S. trade deficit with China in 2010 was 27 times larger than it was back in 1990. 
• 4) In the years since 1975, the United States had run a total trade deficit of 7.5 trillion dollars with the rest of the world.
• 5) The United States spends more than 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one dollar that China spends on goods and services from the United States.
• 6) In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of all U.S. economic output. In 2008, it represented only 11.5 percent and it continues to fall. 
• 7) The number of net jobs gained by the U.S. economy during this past decade was smaller than during any other decade since World War 2. 
• 8) The Bureau of Labor Statistics originally predicted that the U.S. economy would create approximately 22 million jobs during the decade of the 2000s, but it turns out that the U.S. economy only produced about 7 million jobs during that time period. 
• 9) Japan now manufactures about 5 million more automobiles than the United States does. 
• 10) China has now become the world's largest exporter of high technology products. 
• 11) Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975. 
• 12) The United States now has 10 percent fewer "middle class jobs" than it did just ten years ago. 
• 13) According to Tax Notes, between 1999 and 2008 employment at the foreign affiliates of U.S. parent companies increased an astounding 30 percent to 10.1 million. During that exact same time period, U.S. employment at American multinational corporations declined 8 percent to 21.1 million. 
• 14) Back in 1970, 25 percent of all jobs in the United States were manufacturing jobs. Today, only 9 percent of the jobs in the United States are manufacturing jobs. 
• 15) Back in 1998, the United States had 25 percent of the world’s high-tech export market and China had just 10 percent. Ten years later, the United States had less than 15 percent and China's share had soared to 20 percent. 
• 16) The number of Americans that have become so discouraged that they have given up searching for work completely now stands at an all-time high. 
• 17) Half of all American workers now earn $505 or less per week. 
• 18) The United States has lost a staggering 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000. 
• 19) Since 2001, over 42,000 U.S. factories have closed down for good. 
• 20) In 2008, 1.2 billion cellphones were sold worldwide. So how many of them were manufactured inside the United States? Zero. 
• 21) Ten years ago, the "employment rate" in the United States was about 64%. Since then it has been constantly declining and now the "employment rate" in the United States is only about 58%. So where did all of those jobs go? 

The world is changing.

We are bleeding national wealth at a pace that is almost unimaginable."

The sad reality is that any jobs created in any state coaxed from one state to another is just moving the deck chairs on the Titanic.

The government is the only one that can create or save fake jobs (The Obama unemplyment fable) because it is the only part of the US Economy that has not been regulated away or closed down or shipped operating the Federal Goverment offshore. Once you take a serious look at globalization, our trade agreements and unbound regulation you can understand why the Democrats say Unemployment Compensation is creating jobs.

This is more than a nighmare it is an economic disaster, it is an existential threat every bit as damaging as a nuclear attack.

============================================================

ADDENDUM 09/05/2011

While doing research for other articles I found this site, after this article was published.


Please take a few moments to look at America Wake Up. ''AmericaWakeup.net is dedicated to providing factual data on the current economic condition of the United States. The data provided on this Web site relays the number of U.S. companies being sold to foreign interests, the percentage of annual consumption spent on imports, the percentage of U.S. Corporations owned by foreign entities and foreign financing of U.S. government debt.


Each year the U.S. operates with a multi-billion dollar budget deficit. The U.S.' out-of-control spending and excessive tax breaks have led to the country being over 14 trillion dollars in the red. In order to finance its operations, the U.S. must borrow money from its economic competitors through the sale of Treasury Bonds.

The U.S. annually imports billions of dollars worth of foreign-made goods. Importing more than we export equates to lost industries and jobs in the U.S. Through Free Trade Agreements the U.S. has facilitated the exportation of American production to the lowest wage countries, resulting in the loss of American jobs, skills and wealth.

As jobs have fled the country, so too has ownership of American corporations. Over the past several decades thousands of American companies have been purchased by overseas conglomerates. These companies once produced wealth and innovation within the United States, but now the wealth, profits, and innovations flow out of the U.S. Through the purchase of important and strategic American corporations, and from insourced intrusion into the American domestic markets, foreign-based companies have built up a huge influence over entire industries.

According to data collected from the Internal Revenue Service certain industries have become completely monopolized by interests overseas...".

9/06/2011

I just received this link from a Twitter Friend, According to Forbes "Last week, the federal government reported that the U.S. trade deficit grew by 33 percent in 2010 to nearly half a trillion dollars. Most of the gap resulted from an imbalance in trade with China, which shipped $365 billion in goods to America but only bought $92 billion in U.S. goods. The resulting U.S. deficit of $273 billion in bilateral trade with Beijing reflects a persistent feature of the Sino-American relationship since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Over the last ten years, China has mounted the biggest challenge to the U.S. manufacturing sector ever seen, threatening producers of steel, chemicals, glass, paper, drugs and any number of other items with prices they cannot match. Not coincidentally, the United States has lost an average of 50,000 manufacturing jobs every month during the same period..."

Strawman Of 58 Million Not An Opponent To Be Vilified

Democrats and the mainstream media have decided to make a Strawman of the Tea Party.


Targeting The Tea Party is a bad choice for Democratic leaders and the Mainstream Media to haven chosen as a whipping post, or a target for slander. 

Democrats despicable name calling and bullying  will not rescue the Democrats in the 2012 elections.

Foolishly Democrats have taken on a massive active well informed voter block of Constitutional supporting traditional Americans who want the Federal Government to live within it's means.

There is no titular head or main spokesperson of the Tea Party.  The Tea Party is populated by millions and millions of focused active voters who are actively working to vette candidates, clean up voter rolls, register voters, and are willing to participate in Money Bombs, donating money in small amounts to candidates who share the ideals of limited government founded in the Constitution.

Democrats and the Mainstream Media, Pundits on the left and Hollywood have chosen to vilify a group of Americans who are estimated to be  in a Weekly Standard article,  an estimated 58 million strong. Jay Cost says,  "While there are Tea Party meet-ups, marches onWashington, and even groups claiming to speak for the Tea Party as a whole (including a congressional caucus), it is nevertheless hard to think of the Tea Party as a literal party. After all, the actual number of people affiliated with any of these activities is a pittance compared to the 25 percent or so of American adults who consider themselves “Tea Partiers.” We’re talking about roughly 58 million people nationwide, more than the number who voted for Ronald Reagan in 1984."

Tea Party Activist insist on reigning in government spending,   repealing Obama Care, lower taxes and reigning in massive job killing government regulation.  Tea Party Activist insist that our government at every level enforce Immigration laws.

If Democrats had been as smart as they claim to be, they would have accepted Paul Ryan's Budget, Cut Cap and Balance, which would have prevented the loss of theTriple AAA rating of the United States.

John Kerry, in a disgusting appearance on national news has shown he supports this hateful divide and conquer mentality of the left, if the Tea Party had been the Communist Viet Cong he would have loved us, I recall his meetings in Paris with the Viet Cong during the Paris Peace talks with the North Vietnamese.

I say to the Democrats, Pundits on the Left, and the Mainstream Media, thank you for your recruiting efforts that grow our ranks.

Look at the Tea Party election results from 2010, and in the Wisconsin Recall Elections.

If those of you on the left are foolish enough to think that hard working Americans who pay their taxes are not going to hand you and the Obama Administration, 22 Democratic Senators and countless Democratic Congressmen a colossal loss in the 2012 General Election you are more than foolish.

American Citizens have had enough.  We demand a smaller fiscally responsible Government.

Democrats should fear our votes.  We intend to use them.  We are Coming (again), Can You hear us now?

100 Reasons To Call Me A Tea Partier!




A montage of pictures from the 9/12/2009 March on the Capitol

  1.  I am a Tea Partier, because I believe our Founding Documents were inspired by God, and that those rights are God given.

 2.  I am a Tea Partier because I uphold and defend The United States Constitution.

 3.  I am a Tea Partier because we are Taxed Enough Already

 4.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe our elected officials should be held accountable for their policies, votes.

 5.  I am a Tea Partier because I like to sing the National Anthem, and I stand when it is played.

 6.  I am a Tea Partier because I like to say the Pledge of Allegiance, and I stand and place my hand on my heart when I pledge my allegiance.

 7.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe in the limited government outlined by the US Constitution.

 8.  I am a Tea Partier because I accept my First Amendment Responsibility and Obligation.

 9.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe an engaged and informed voter protects against Government Abuses.

10.  I am a Tea Partier because my fellow Patriots help me to stay informed.

11.  I am a Tea Partier because I demand our Government live within it's means.

12.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe this Republic is Over Regulated.

13.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe this Republic needs Entitlement Reform.

14.  I am a Tea Partier because I insist that Obama Care be repealed or overturned by the United States Supreme Court.

15.  I am a Tea Partier because I insist that the Dodd Frank Bill be repealed or overturned by the United States Supreme Court.

16.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that ALL US coded laws should be enforced at every Government level, Local, County, State and Federal.
 
18.  I am a Tea Partier because I support our Troops.
 
19.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe in Free Speech.
 
20.  I am a Tea Partier because the Main Stream Media is biased.
 
21.  I am a Tea Partier because I think an armed citizen is a good thing.
 
21.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe in Freedom of Religion.
 
22.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that our elected officials should read the bills they pass.
 
23.  I am a Tea Partier because I do not believe in Deficit Spending.
 
24.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe we should drill here drill now immediately.
 
25.  I am a Tea Partier because I think that the TSA should be eliminated.
 
26.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe in a robust National Defense.
 
27.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that Keynesian Economics is a failed Economic Model.
 
28.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe like Ronald Reagan in the shining city on the hill.
 
29.  I am a Tea Partier because I refuse to have our legacy be a crushing indebtedness for future generations to inherit as a result of fiscally irresponsible leadership by Democrats.
 
30.  I am a Tea Partier because I have a solemn obligation to those who have given their all that I do with a ballot what our nation has asked those in our Armed Forces to do with a bullet.
 
31.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe we should end the IRS and have a Flat Tax.
 
32.  I am a Tear Partier because I support the Connie Mack One Cent Solution.
 
33.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe the Senate should produce a Budget.
 
34.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe in a Balanced Budget Amendment.
 
35.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe Affirmative Action is bad for America.
 
36.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that an intact family is the building block of a healthy society.
 
37.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that elected officials who violate their oath of office should lose their retirement benefits.
 
38.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that elected officials who break their oath of office should be prosecuted.
 
39.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that every candidate should have full disclosure of birth records, college records, service records and tax records and that those records be a matter of public record.
 
40.  I am a Tea Partier because I am against the Federal Government suing states that have modeled Immigration Bills after coded US laws on the books.
 
41.  I am a Tea Partier because I celebrate  Easter, Memorial Day, the 4th of July, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
 
42.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that signing onto UN policy driven by despots, thugs and Communists is bad foreign policy.
 
43.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that TARP was a bad unexplained crisis, and that all TARP funds should be paid back.
 
44.  I am a Tea Partier because I did not support the 2nd Stimulus.
 
45.  I am a Tea Partier because I did not support the GM & Chrysler Bailouts.
 
46.  I am a Tea Partier and I do not believe Geithner, a Tax cheat should be Secretary of the Treasury.
 
47.  I am a Tea Partier because I do not support the appointment of CZARS who write policy outside of Legislative Oversight.
 
48.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe Eric Holder should resign.
 
49.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that Operation Gun Runner broke US laws.
 
50.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that Carole Ann Browner should resign.
 
51.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that Lisa Jackson should resign.
 
52.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe Ken Salazar should resign.
 
53.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that Stephen Chu should resign.
 
54.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that Sonja Sotomayor should never have won appointment to the United States Supreme Court.
 
55.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe Elena Kagan should not have been appointed to the Supreme Court.
 
56.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that the President of the United States should only bow when he is in prayer.
 
57.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe it is dangerous fiscal policy for our enemies to hold our debt.
 
58.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that Nidal Hassan should have been condemned by a Military Court Marshall and sentenced to Death by a Firing Squad.
 
59.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that is 11 years past time to bring the perpetrators of the attack on the USS Cole to Justice and they be tried by a Military Tribunal.
 
60.  I am a Tea Partier and I support the US war on Terrorism.
 
61.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that no enemy combatant should be given US Miranda Rights.
 
62.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that the Underwear bomber should be tried by a Military Tribunal.
 
63.  I am a Tea Partier because I support Israel.
 
64.  I am a Tea Partier because I support Enhanced Interrogation Techniques for Enemy Combatants.
 
65.  I am a Tea Partier and I believe we should not be bombing Libya.
 
66.  I am a Tea Partier because I think that Eric Holder should have prosecuted the New Black Panther Party for Voter Intimidation in Philadelphia in the 2008 Presidential Election.
 
67.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe Janet Napalitano should seal the border.
 
68.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe the US Federal Government should be subject to Sunshine Laws with the exception of our national security.
 
69.  I am a Tea Partier because I support Darrel Issa's Committee Investigation of Operation GunRunner.
 
70.  I am a Tea Party because I believe that God should be part of a funeral service at National Cemeteries if the family so wishes.
 
71.  I am a Tea Partier because I am offended by Obama's Ramadan Addresses.
 
72.  I am a Tea Partier because I do not support registered Socialist and Registered Communist holding public office.
 
73.  I am a Tea Partier because I do not support the Federal Government awarding Grants to Universities & Colleges, whether they are Private or State Or County Institutions.
 
74.  I am a Tea Partier because I am opposed to Federal, State, County or Municipal Unions.
 
75.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that Republicans should stand on Principle.
 
76.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe we should not be trading jobs, and manufacturing to buy allies.
 
77.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe in Free Markets.
 
78.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that what my local municipality can do the county should not, what my county can do the state should not, and what my state can do the Federal Government should not.
 
79.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe in Right to Work Laws.
 
80.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that DADT is bad policy for the Military.
 
81.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe that the DOMA laws should be enforced.
 
82.  I am a Tea Partier because I do not believe that our taxes should be used for PBS.
 
83.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe the Federal Government is too large.
 
84.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe the United States Government should not be restoring mosques around the world.
 
85.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe in the Right To Life and I am against abortion.

86.  I am a Tea Partier because I believe every voter should show a picture ID and their voter registration card.

87.   I am a Tea Partier because I believe all illegal aliens should be sent back to their country of origin.

88.   I am a Tea Partier because I do not engage in politically correct discourse.

89.   I am a Tea Partier because I believe in profiling.

90.   I am a Tea Partier because I believe our nation is under threat from those who would do us harm, which includes Progressives, Islamic Terrorism and those who find our Constitution fatally flawed.

91.   I am a Tea Partier because I believe that Iran is a threat to this nation.

92.   I am a Tea Partier because I proudly wave old glory.

93.   I am a Tea Partier because I believe I have a responsibility to actively participate in my First Amendment responsibility to address our elected officials to address my opposition to their policies.

94.   I am a Tea Partier because I believe in protecting the founding ideals of this Republic.

95.   I am a Tea Partier because I believe in traditional American values.

96.   I am a Tea Partier because I believe in personal responsibility.

97.   I am a Tea Partier because I believe our government has strayed from it's founding principles.

98.   I am a Tea Partier because I believe this nation is the worlds last best hope.

99.   I am a Tea Partier because I believe in American Excellence and Exceptionalism

100.   I am a Tea Partier because my participation in the Tea Party drives the Mainstream Media, Pundits on the left, Democrats, Progressives and socialist crazy!

Election night November 8, 2010

US Milestone Debt is now 100% of GDP

August 4th, 2011 the United States Debt surpassed 100% of GDP

Two days after President Obama the biggest spender in US History signed the bill which was passed by the Senate on August 1, 2011 adding an additional 2.4 trillion to our massive debt, and today $239 billion  60% of funding approved on Tuesday vanished in to the black hole of United States Debt.

The last time US debt was greater than this nation's Gross Domestic Product, was in 1947, after WW II.

Years of bad Foreign Trade Agreements that encouraged the flight of both manufacturing and jobs offshore. The highest Corporate Taxes in the world have contributed to nation crushing manufacturing and unemployment.  Years of of unelected bureaucrats have written  miles of red tape (in July of 2011 9.5 Billion more) enough to send Astronauts far from earth in interstellar adventure

Instead of addressing and freezing and cutting spending which would have been a fiscally sound decision that would have placed this nation on a path to pay off our debt, our elected officials denied reality and Americans got another big bad deal .

When Obama took office, unemployment was 7.8%, now it's 9.2%, up 18% from when he took office.

If your stomach has not turned enough already,  This Government Cost Calculator will show you based on your income the price of the fiscal insanity that has been practiced by our elected officials.

This nation has the highest Corporate Taxes in the world.

We have the most regulated manufacturing base in the world.

Our leaders since Eisenhower have signed bad really bad trade agreements. 

Our leaders have consistently since 1974 have flatly ignored, refused, denied exploiting our own natural resources.

And here are the rest of today's happy numbers

Indices Currencies World
DJIA -512.76 -4.31% 11383.68

S&P 500 -60.27 -4.78% 1200.07

NASDAQ -136.68 -5.08% 2556.39

RUSS2KG EOD -28.52 -6.42% 415.49

10yr Treasury -1.18 -4.58% 24.58

The real tragedy is all of this was avoidable.  We have spent beyond our means.  We have taxed and regulated business and little is left of the powerhouse economy that I grew up enjoying. 

Worse, our elected officials lack both the political will and courage to make the necessary changes to improve America and turn things around.

Our elected officials refuse to balance our nations budget, refuse to address entitlements to make them solvent (not Republicans but Democrats) refuse to overhaul a punishing chrony tax system, refuse to stop spending, refuse to stop regulating and smothering business, refuse to use our resources, and refuse to enforce our laws.

God Help Us, we are looking into the abyss.