There is a conspiracy but it's not what you think

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) revealed that some members of his party opposed expanding background checks for gun sales recently because they didn't want to "be seen helping the president."

Who Really Bankrupted America?

In January 2001, with the budget balanced and clear sailing ahead, the Congressional Budget Office forecast ever-larger annual surpluses indefinitely. The outlook was so rosy, the CBO said, that Washington would have enough money by the end of the decade to pay off everything it owed.

Now, instead of tending a nest egg of more than $2 trillion, the federal government expects to owe more than $10 trillion to outside investors by the end of this year. The national debt is larger, as a percentage of the economy, than at any time in U.S. history except for the period shortly after World War II.

Polls show that a large majority of Americans blame wasteful or unnecessary federal programs for the nation’s budget problems. But routine increases in defense and domestic spending account for only about 15 percent of the financial deterioration, according to a new analysis of CBO (Congressional Budget Office) data.

The biggest culprit, by far, has been an erosion of tax revenue triggered largely by two recessions and multiple rounds of tax cuts. Together, the economy and the tax bills enacted under former president George W. Bush, and to a lesser extent by President Obama, wiped out $6.3 trillion in anticipated revenue. That’s nearly half of the $12.7 trillion swing from projected surpluses to real debt. Federal tax collections now stand at their lowest level as a percentage of the economy in 60 years.

Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus, a favorite target of Republicans who blame Democrats for the mounting debt, has added $719 billion — 6 percent of the total shift, according to the new analysis of CBO data by the nonprofit Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative. All told, Obama-era choices account for about $1.7 trillion in new debt, according to a separate Washington Post analysis of CBO data over the past decade. Bush-era policies, meanwhile, account for more than $7 trillion and are a major contributor to the trillion-dollar annual budget deficits that are dominating the political debate.

Lori Montgomery The Washington Post

Trickle Down Tales

Reality Behind the Debt Crisis

I stopped writing about politics because it was driving me crazy. I decided to bury my head in the sand for a while. That is until I heard about the 39 riders on the the Boehner plan to raise the Debt Ceiling. The Bill was intended to a limited increase in the Debt Ceiling and we would have the whole fight again in a few months. The 39 riders were all about destroying regulation, environmental regulation. De-funding the EPA and gutting the Endangered Species Act are prime Republican targets. If the current class of Republicans and Tea Baggers had their way we would return to the pre-progressive Oligarchy when the wealthiest Americans owned everything, child labor laws did not exist, the environment was pillaged and plundered, factories were death traps, and the food was not fit for human consumption. Why would that be? Because regulation is really there to help the poorest and weakest of our society. The bottom 90% benefit the most from governmental protection. If we want a vision of the Republican Plan we need only to look at China with its lung searing pollution, toxic products and toys, unregulated building codes, and lack of personal liberty.

Yes the Republicans want to unfetter industry, the job creators, but they also want to tell you what you can do with your own body and tell you who you can love.

The Republicans always paint Democrats as tax and spend liberals but a quick search of the debt accumulated in my lifetime reveals the most fiscally prudent Presidents have been Johnson, Nixon and Clinton and the most fiscally reckless have been Ford, Reagan, and both Bushes. I left our Carter because he's somewhere in the middle and I left out Obama because were are only part way through his first term. George W. Bush raised the National Debt from 5.7 Trillion to 10.6 Trillion doubling it in 8 years. Under Bush Senior the Debt nearly doubled from 2.6 to 4.1 Trillion. Under Reagen the National Debt went from 900 Billion to 2.7 Trillion increasing by two thirds. Yes the debt has risen under all of the last 9 presidents but Clinton and Johnson were the best at keeping it under control.

If you want to believe the Republican lies and let the gut all environmental protection then go ahead... I'm looking to move to Canada.

Stop Robo Calls

Robo Calls are annoying and the are perfectly legal. Even if you signed up for the Colorado and National Do Not Call list politicians and their proxies can still Robo Call your cell phone. What can you do?

1. If you get a Robo Call hang up and try to call the number back and voice your disapproval. Sometime you get a live person and sometimes you can leave a message.
2. Contact your state representative. In Colorado you can try this link: http://comaps.org/allsearch_old.html
3. Contact the DNC and RNC and voice your disapproval

I'm all for free speech but it stops with my phone.

One Day for Design

Check it out:
One Day for Design

Why Will the Government Shut Down?

Culture Wars. Here is a partial list of the riders attached to the funding extension:

• Prohibits the Federal Reserve from transferring more than $80 million to the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Basically killing the program
• Prohibits funding for the EPA to change a rule regulating water. Can you say arsenic in the water?
• Prohibits the District of Columbia from using its own, non-federal funds to pay for abortions beyond the very limited circumstances in which federal funds are currently available (in circumstances of rape or incest and to save the life of a pregnant woman). Really?
• Prohibits funds to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., or any of its affiliates.
• Prohibits funding for needle-exchange programs.
• Prohibits the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from collecting information on multiple sales of rifles or shotguns to the same person. Preparing for the revolution are we?
• Prohibits funding for the Sustainable Communities Initiative. Who cares about sustainability? Fuck it.
• Blocks funds for the Federal Communications Commission to institute Net Neutrality rules. Because Comcast has your best interests at heart...
• Prohibits Recovery Act funds for signage. Now that's just douchey