Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Private Interests and Public Money

One of the extraordinary developments in the current presidential campaign is that the front runners on both the Democrat and the Republican side are emphasizing their opposition to the "special interests". Given that the world is rapidly becoming a more dangerous place, and that our unemployment rate (when we include those who have dropped out of the official statistics) is so high, one would expect this issue to be on the back burner.
A central belief of Bernie Sanders, who is running a surprisingly effective campaign, is that our economy is rigged by the wealthy, in such a way that the average person gets short-changed. As Bernie's website puts it: “We are talking about a rapid movement in this country toward a political system in which a handful of very wealthy people and special interests will determine who gets elected or who does not get elected.”
On the Republican side, Donald Trump claims his political rivals are indebted to special interest groups, whereas he, a billionaire, doesn’t need to take money from anyone.
Hillary Clinton will not be outdone: “We have to end the flood of secret, unaccountable money that is distorting our elections, corrupting our political system, and drowning out the voices of too many everyday Americans."

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/02/private_interests_and_public_money.html#ixzz3z6pkosPh

Paul Ryan Hosts Budget Meeting With House Freedom Caucus. It Didn't Go Well.

With the House Republican budget facing increasingly long odds, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) met with more than 25 members of the Freedom Caucus late Tuesday to try to persuade the conservative group to support the 2017 spending plan.
Over beer, chips, soda and, according to one caucus member who asked to remain anonymous to discuss the private meeting, "all the normal kinds of bagged munchies that you’re not supposed to eat," Ryan hosted caucus members around a large conference table in his office to tell them that, if Republicans want to pass appropriations bills this year, they have to accept the budget number that leaders from both parties agreed to at the end of October.
"There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that I’ll vote for that," caucus member Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) told The Huffington Post after the meeting.
Brooks wouldn't go into details about the meeting, but made clear he was unmoved by Ryan's arguments. Brooks said the government is on a fiscally unsustainable path, and Congress hasn't helped with Republicans and Democrats agreeing in October to raise the 2017 budget caps by $30 billion.
Brooks said Republicans have to get serious about debt-reduction. The deficit is increasing for the first time since 2009 and the Congressional Budget Office projects spending will outpace revenue by $1.4 trillion in 2026.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paul-ryan-budget-freedom-caucus_us_56b17510e4b01d80b244871a?

Warren: Congress should reject Obama trade deal

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is pushing her Senate colleagues to reject an Asia-Pacific trade deal that's considered a key pillar of President Obama's second term.

"I hope Congress will use its constitutional authority to stop this deal before it makes things even worse and even more dangerous for America's hardest-working families," Warren said Tuesday.

Warren's comments come as the countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership are expected to sign the agreement Thursday.

The Massachusetts lawmaker was one of 38 senators who voted against a bill last year allowing the president to "fast-track" trade agreements through Congress on a simple majority vote, with senators unable to amend the deals.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/267991-warren-congress-should-reject-obama-trade-deal

Hillary's Emails Contain Names of Undercover CIA Spies

U.S. intelligence officials say "top-secret" emails Hillary Clinton kept on her private email server when she headed the State Department include the real names of CIA spies serving undercover overseas — a violation of federal law that has put the agents in harm's way, The Observer reports.

And, The Observer's John Schindler writes, those emails also include the names of foreigners on the CIA payroll, possibly endangering their lives.

"At a minimum, valuable covers have been blown, careers have been ruined, and lives have been put at serious risk. Our spies' greatest concern now is what's still in Hillary's emails that investigators have yet to find," Schindler, a former National Security Agency analyst, says in his report.

He also quotes a senior intelligence community official as saying the security breach is a "death sentence."

"If we're lucky, only [foreign] agents, not our officers, will get killed because of this," the official says.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/us-officials-hillary-emails/2016/02/02/id/712417/#ixzz3z6n0YSiH

Stunning Breakthrough for Solar Makes Final Nail in Oil's Coffin

You'd think the price of U.S. oil falling below $30 a barrel for the first time in more than a decade would be bad news for "green" energy.

With oil and gas so cheap, why would anyone pay for more expensive, less efficient fuel sources?
If you thought that, you'd be wrong. And you be wrong for ignoring three factors: technology, politics, and emotion.
The U.S. solar industry added 35,000 jobs in 2015, bringing the total to more than 200,000.
Falling oil prices make exploration and production of oil less profitable.
More efficient solar panels make that technology more attractive to consumers and the businesses serving them, thus driving adoption—and employment.
Solar-panel technology improvements have been on a Moore's Law-like curve for years but only now are getting to the point where the technology is commercially viable.

http://moneymorning.com/ext/articles/new-fuel/solar-final-nail-in-oil-coffin.php?iris=462966&ad=zb9b-sbfnioc-pa4

19,000,000,000,000 Reasons America Is in Deep Trouble

On Monday the U.S. national debt hit a new record: $19,012,827,698,418. This is the first time the national debt has ever exceeded $19 trillion. That’s more than $58,000 for each person who lives in the United States today (including children).

The main culprit behind the rising debt is growing federal spending—especially among Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare.

Traditionally, Congress has set a limit for how much debt the United States may take on, known simply as the debt limit. But rather than put a higher limit on the debt, lawmakers and the president have repeatedly suspended the debt limit, most recently in November of last year through March 15, 2017. During a debt limit suspension, the Department of Treasury is authorized to borrow however much is needed to pay all federal obligations that come due. This means there is basically no limit on debt the U.S. may take on.

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will host a hearing on “Unsustainable Federal Spending and the Debt Limit.” I’ll be among the witnesses, together with my colleagues Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute and Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center.

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/19000000000000-reasons-america-deep-trouble-15093

5 Reasons Ted Cruz Is Even More Dangerous Than Donald Trump

ive reasons Ted Cruz is even more dangerous than Donald Trump.

He’s more fanatical. Trump is a bully and bigot but doesn’t hew to any sharp ideological line. Cruz is a fierce ideologue: He denies the existence of man-made climate change, rejects same-sex marriage, wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service, believes the 2nd amendment guarantees everyone a right to guns, doesn’t believe in a constitutional divide between church and state, favors the death penalty, opposes international agreements, embraces a confrontational foreign policy, rejects immigration reform, demands the repeal of “every blessed word of Obamacare,” and takes a strict “originalist” view of the meaning of the Constitution.

Cruz is a true believer. Trump has no firm principles except making money, getting attention, and gaining power. But Cruz really does detest the federal government, and has spent much of his life embracing radical right economic and political views. When Cruz said “we are facing what I consider to be the epic battle of our generation,” he wasn’t referring to jihadist terrorism but to Obamacare.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/34762-5-reasons-ted-cruz-is-even-more-dangerous-than-donald-trump