ALG - 1.3 million drop off extended unemployment benefits in past year, become permanently unemployed

Aug. 23, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement responding to a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report showing that extended unemployment benefits are running out:

"In the past year, Congress' extended unemployment benefits welfare scheme ran out for 1.3 million people. And there is still no work to be found for them. They have become permanently unemployed. Since Obama took office, the labor force participation rate has dropped from 65.7 percent to 63.7 percent, with about 4.8 million people who have dropped out and simply stopped looking for work.

"The data is simply devastating. The number of people employed has only grown by 2.7 million in the past year, not even coming close to keeping up with the growth of the noninstitutional population has grown by 3.6 million. Meanwhile, the number of people not in the labor force has grown by 2 million — in a single year! Since the beginning of 2008, a net 4.1 million jobs have been lost while the employable population grew by 10.7 million!

"The establishment's hope was that by priming the pump with more than $3 trillion of monetary and fiscal 'stimulus' at the beginning of the recession, and ramping up the welfare apparatus in the near-term, eventually, a robust recovery would ensue, and the temporary measures could be repealed. But the government did nothing to make it more cost-effective to do business here in America, to encourage investment here. So, now we're just floating along, no real growth recovery, and certainly no recovery in the jobs market.

"New college graduates cannot find work, those who lost their jobs in the recession still cannot find work 4 years later, and the government's tepid support programs and 'stimulus' did nothing to turn the economy around. We're dead in the water, no matter what the happy talkers say."

View online here: http://getliberty.org/1-3-million-drop-off-extended-unemployment-benefits-in-past-year-become-permanently-unemployed/

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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.

CEI Today: Fighting cap-n-tax again, $14 billion in gov't waste, and TSA body scanners

CARBON TAX...AGAIN?! - MARLO LEWIS

Globalwarming.org: More on the Carbon Tax Cabal

Concerning the “Price Carbon Campaign/Lame Duck Initiative” meeting of center-right and ‘progressive’ pols, wonks, and activists yesterday at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), herewith a few additional thoughts.

Today’s Greenwire quotes AEI economic policy director Kevin Hassett saying that AEI was just playing host and the meeting was just information sharing. Well, okay, let’s assume he experienced it that way, but what about the ‘progressives’ who set the agenda? They must really be into sharing, because this was their fifth meeting. Whatever the AEI folks thought the event was about, the agenda clearly outlines a strategy meeting to develop the PR/legislative campaign to promote and enact carbon taxes. > View the full commentary on Globalwarming.org

> Interview Marlo Lewis

> See related: AEI Hosts Fifth Secret Meeting to Promote Carbon Tax

 

GOV'T WASTE - HANS BADER Openmarket.org: $14 Billion More in Improper Government Payments As CNN notes, federal and state governments overpaid unemployment benefits by $14 billion in 2011 — or approximately 11 percent of all benefits paid. The overpaid benefits went mostly to ineligible people, like those who had dropped out of the job hunt, quit voluntarily, or filed unemployment claims after returning to work.  Not only was there fraud on a vast scale, but governments completely failed to detect it. Indiana made more “improper payments” than proper ones. The only federal program with more improper payments than unemployment insurance was the  School Lunch Program. > Read the full commentary on Openmarket.org Interview Hans Bader

TSA FULL-BODY IMAGING - MARC SCRIBNER Openmarket.org: Sign A Petition Requiring The Transportation Security Administration To Follow The Law! Over at the White House’s “We the People” site, a petition rapidly gathering signatures that demands that the Transportation Security Administration abide by a court order from last year requiring it to open a notice-and-comment rulemaking on the full-body imaging machines now commonplace in American airports.  > Read the full commentary on Openmarket.org >Interview Marc Scribner

Also featuring... CEI Podcast for July 12, 2012: Who to Blame for DC’s Power Outage Ryan Radia on CNBC's Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo on July 11, 2012 discussing Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions. Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZNhRPDaE-k

You're invited! JULY 19 EVENT Risky Science at the EPA: Exploring Alternatives for EPA Risk Assessment A Roundtable Discussion Sponsored by The Competitive Enterprise Institute Featured Speaker: Nandan Kenkeremath, former Senior Counsel, House Energy and Commerce Committee Kenkeremath will launch the discussion with a presentation on how EPA can improve the scientific basis of its risk assessment process by incorporating a wider range of probabilities, weigh-of-evidence measures, and best available science.  July 19, 2012 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM Location: The Competitive Enterprise Institute 1899 L Street, N.W., 12th Floor Washington, D.C. 20036 Lunch provided Please RSVP to Angela at alogomasini@cei.org

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.

NH GOP - ABUSE OF PUBLIC TRUST: Democrat Reardon "Manipulated System" to Benefit Family Member

Hassan & Cilley Should Rebuke This Dishonest Pattern of Behavior

Concord, NH – Despite promises to be fair, honest and transparent, New Hampshire Democrats once again prove that crony nepotism is a driving force in their government.  The Nashua Telegraph reports today that “Employment Security Commissioner Tara Reardon had her daughter hired for a part-time summer job and ordered a subordinate to lay her off so she could collect unemployment benefits. . . . In the complaint, two co-workers charged Reardon with violating the state’s anti-nepotism law and executive branch ethics rules.”

“Maggie Hassan and Jackie Cilley say they represent the party that looks out for the middle class, but the reality is that they remain the party that curries favors and cares so little about taxpayer dollars that they believe it’s okay to break the rules for family and give handouts,” said New Hampshire Republican State Committee Chairman Wayne MacDonald.  “Maggie and Jackie should show some leadership and rebuke this dishonest behavior because this scam is a slap in the face to the tens of thousands of Granite Staters who are unemployed and have been looking for a job for months.”

The Telegraph report is based on a whistleblower complaint which says people were directed to keep Reardon’s dishonest plan in “complete secrecy.”  Reardon’s scheme to manipulate the system and abuse taxpayer dollars to her family’s benefit has left in its wake a list of questions for other New Hampshire Democrats to answer.  This seems to be a pattern at the Commission, as the Telegraph also reports: “At issue is whether Reardon and [Darrell] Gates violated the anti-nepotism law by directing subordinates to process both daughters as layoffs when the original personnel plan was Kelsey Gates would be fired and Whitney Flanders would quit at the end of her summer internship.”

Lee Nyquist is the chairman of the Unemployment Compensation Advisory Council and a Democrat candidate for the district nine state Senate seat.

“This gets to more than crony nepotism.  It also gets to the heart of the Democrat Party which continues to demonstrate a complete lack of responsibility with taxpayer dollars,” Chairman MacDonald added.  “But, more to the point, who else knew about this and when?  Chairman Nyquist has a responsibility to ask tough questions and hold government accountable.  The people of New Hampshire deserve to know more about this scam, and Chairman Nyquist should say one way or another if he knew about it, what he knew and when.”

To read Kevin Landrigan’s full report in today’s Nashua Telegraph, click here: http://is.gd/tYLqex

ALG blasts House passage of payroll tax holiday, unemployment extensions

Feb. 17, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement condemning House adoption of a deal to extend the payroll tax holiday, unemployment benefits, and the "doc fix" for another year without paying for it:

"This legislation the House has passed will add $165 billion to the debt over the next three years. This is simply inexcusable. They are promising partial pay-for's down the road, such that the ten year cost will supposedly be brought down to $89 billion. That's still too much. Republicans took a majority in the House promising to reduce the debt. This bill speeds up the bankruptcy of Social Security, adds significantly to the debt, and betrays the voters who demanded fiscal responsibility in 2010.

"The economy is beleaguered by excessive debt, both public and private, and we will not work our way out of this malaise with yet more debt. This legislation is counterproductive and denies the growing body of evidence that too much debt has become severely detrimental to economic growth. The spenders in Washington, D.C. are completely clueless to what ails our economy. We need new leadership."

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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: 'No deal is better than a bad deal' on payroll tax holiday, unemployment benefits extensions

Feb. 16, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement responding to a deal to extend the payroll tax holiday, unemployment benefits, and the "doc fix" for another year without paying for it:

"This is a severe disappointment. This is a deal that will hasten the bankruptcy of Social Security, add over $100 billion to the debt, and dispirit the base of voters who swept Republicans into a majority in the House in 2010. When critics claim there is little difference between the two parties, this is what they're talking about. This is a win for none other than the political class in Washington, D.C. The American people once again lack representation. Who's looking out for the interests of the taxpayer?

"Now it is up to individual members of the House and Senate to oppose and hopefully defeat this bill despite the position of party leadership. No deal is better than a bad deal."

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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.