ALG - International Monetary Fund demands U.S. 'repeal the sequester'

June 17, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement in response to a call from International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director Christine Lagarde for Congress to "repeal the sequester" because she says "the effect of the sequester and deficit reduction more generally are already affecting the economy… [by] shav[ing] 1.25 to 1.75 percentage points of growth":

"Lagarde's complaint that spending cuts lower GDP is simultaneously accurate and misleading, as government spending is proportionately included in the measure of the GDP. This is a bias of the first order in favor of government spending, because when government grows faster than the private sector, it appears to boost GDP and when spending is reduced, GDP appears to slow down. This is an illusion.

"The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports real growth annualized in the first quarter was 2.4 percent, but if government spending is excluded from the measure, the private sector grew by more like 4 percent. By that measure, the private sector is doing just fine even with sequestration.

"Moreover, it is only because of sequestration that S&P has been able to upgrade its outlook on the $16.7 trillion U.S. national debt from negative to stable. It is particularly insulting to taxpayers for the IMF to demand the sequester be repealed at the same time the Obama Administration has also asked for a $65 billion increase in the U.S. quota to the IMF. If anything, this is just one more reason the U.S. should defund the IMF in full."

To view online: http://getliberty.org/international-monetary-fund-demands-u-s-repeal-the-sequester/

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Americans for Limited Government is a non-partisan, nationwide network committed to advancing free market reforms, private property rights and core American liberties. For more information on ALG please call us at 703-383-0880 or visit our website at www.GetLiberty.org.

ALG's Daily Grind - U.S. lends $35 billion through IMF foreign aid slush fund

April 30, 2013

Editorial: U.S. lends $35 billion through IMF foreign aid slush fund

Total represents more than 24 percent of the agency's $145.4 billion of outstanding loans. Well above its 17.7 percent quota, the U.S. is funding a disproportionate share of IMF loans.

Cartoon: Obama's cleaver

The White House wants to make certain you feel sequester, even if it is not necessary.

Church of Global Warming feels the heat

Seventeen straight years of climate stability will straighten even the most ardent true believers hockey stick.

UK Telegraph: Cyprus parliament to vote on savings deposit tax again

"While Cypriot finance minister Harris Georgiades last week voiced confidence that the island's fractious parliament will approve the deal, the vote is likely to put the bail-out on a knife-edge as nearly half of the 56-member house is considered likely to oppose or abstain."

US House Republicans - EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Obama's Jet-Lagged Leadership

Good afternoon-

When the sequester first took effect, the Democrats who run Washington said they would only replace it with tax hikes – not smarter spending cuts.  Then, earlier this week, as thousands of Americans waited on the runway because of the FAA’s manufactured flight delay crisis, Harry Reid dropped legislation to replace the sequester with phony savings – not actual spending reductions.  But today, Democrats joined Republicans to adopt our targeted “cut this, not that” approach to cut wasteful spending.

Please watch and share this video first for blogs to recap this week’s complete capitulation by the Democratic majority in DC:

WATCH OBAMA’S JET-LAGGED LEADERSHIP HERE

Looks like Democrats have canceled their plans for tax hikes and phony savings and cleared the American people for landing.

AFP - No more politics with our planes!

You’ve heard about or perhaps even experienced long delays at airports over the last few days. President Obama and his appointees at the Department of Transportation were blaming the delays on those dastardly “sequester” cuts from a couple of months ago.

They argued that cutting two cents out of every dollar of government spending meant they had no choice but to blindly furlough crucial air traffic controllers, leaving millions of Americans delayed and waiting in long lines at airports.

But that just isn’t the truth, and the American people knew it. Yesterday Americans for Prosperity activists gathered at Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport and D.C.’s Reagan International Airport to call out President Obama for “playing politics with our planes.”

It’s great to see how quickly your activism made a difference! Late last night and early this morning Congress authorized the Department of Transportation to prioritize spending at the FAA and eliminate controller furloughs and needless delays. They didn’t spend one extra dollar, but just got a little smarter with how they allocated the money they were given. 

Under a little scrutiny, the narrative from the White House, which claimed there was no way to avoid flight delays, collapsed like a house of cards. Just consider this the next time a friend or family member complains about the common sense sequester spending cuts: 

• The FAA received more money this year than President Obama requested in his budget.

• The FAA bureaucracy now spends $500 million on middle men consultants. Instead of cutting non-essential consultants, President Obama chose to furlough air traffic controllers.
• A recent study by Bloomberg found that the FAA was actually overstaffed at many airports, and could easily handle the effects of the sequester without causing flight delays. 

Like a child throwing a temper tantrum, the President has used every tactic at his disposal to make the common sense sequester cuts hurt and inconvenience Americans; from canceling White House Tours to massive delays at airports. 

He’s trying to self-fulfill his own dire warnings of doom and gloom, rather than show leadership by managing the budget properly and shifting the sequester cuts to eliminate wasteful or non-essential spending. All of this was designed to force Republicans to end the sequester.

Yesterday the American people called Obama’s bluff. We know that the truth about the sequester cuts – they’re modest and absolutely necessary to rein-in government overspending and waste.

It’s important to be on the lookout for the next time President Obama tries to use federal agencies that are supposed to serve American citizens to instead punish them for demanding fiscal responsibility.

Sincerely,

Tim

PS: Ever wonder how different the government is from a small business? Imagine a business having to cut 2% of its budget (which happens every day given the tough economic times). Would that business choose to cut funding for its core services? If it did, it’d be out of business pretty fast!

ALG's Daily Grind - Obama's pathway to gun confiscation

April 4, 2013

Obama's pathway to gun confiscation

The new national background check proposal that career anti-gun ownership Senator Charles Schumer is attempting to shepherd through Congress would eliminate the destruction of background check records, in effect creating a national database of gun owners.

Sequester: 1 month later

It's been a month since the sequester spending cuts kicked in and — shockingly — America has survived against the longest of odds.

Did Fed perjury net Bank of America a $7 billion bailout?

New York Fed employee reverses testimony in case over Bank of America's Countrywide losses.

Mitchell: Apparently Learning Nothing from the Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac Disaster, the Obama Administration Wants to Subsidize Banks to Make More Dodgy Loans

"The Obama Administration is proposing to once again put the economy at risk by subsidizing banks to give mortgages to people with poor credit."