Recently in Government Oversight Category

The Justice Department's Antitrust Division approved the merger between XM and Sirius Satellite Radio companies.

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Quote of the Day:

"..the Bill of Rights does not come from the people and is not subject to change by majorities. It comes from the nature of things. It declares the inalienable rights of man not only against all government but also against the people collectively."
-- Walter Lippmann

Subject: Ron Paul's "American Freedom Agenda Act"

Please ask your Congressperson and your two Senators to co-sponsor Ron Paul's "American Freedom Agenda Act."

This bill would . . .

• Repeal the "Military Commissions Act of 2007" and thereby restore the ancient right of habeas corpus and end legally sanctioned torture by U.S. government agents
• Give Congress standing in court to challenge the President's use of "signing statements" as a means to avoid executing the nation's laws
• Make it illegal for government agents to kidnap people and send them abroad to be tortured by foreign governments
• Provide legal protection to journalists who expose wrong-doing by the Federal government
• Prohibit the use of secret evidence to label groups or individuals as terrorists for the purpose of criminal or civil sanctions

This one simple 3-page bill will . . .

• Restore basic Constitutional protections
• Empower Americans to support human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in the world at large free from the stink of hypocrisy
• Protect Americans and American soldiers from blowback by foreign powers in retaliation for our government's transgression of America's most hallowed principles

DC Downsizers have so far sent 22,158 messages to Congress in support of this bill, but we need to do more. You can send your message here.

Please also consider advancing the work of Downsize DC by starting a monthly pledge. You can do so here.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h
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http://www.DownsizeDC.org is sponsored by DownsizeDC.org, Inc. -- a non-profit educational organization promoting the ideas of individual liberty, personal responsibility, free markets, and small government.

The federal government has made a lot of promises in your name. It has committed you to pay most of the health care costs of the elderly (Medicare), and to provide them with a small stipend (Social Security). It has also borrowed trillions of dollars, to pay current expenses, that your children and grandchildren will have to repay. Unfortunately, future revenues will be insufficient to fulfill these promises.

The Government Accountability Office estimates the future shortfall in funding at $53.3 trillion. Other experts say the number is almost certainly higher. This means that every full-time worker owes a staggering $440,000, courtesy of government excess.
Eventually, that debt must be paid, either in higher taxes, or in reduced benefits. These numbers represent a looming crisis of staggering proportions.  

What can be done?

Can the politicians raise taxes to cover the shortfall? The answer is no. The Government Accountability Office estimates that federal taxes would have to double in order to do the job. Can you afford to double your taxes? Could you afford to pay $440,000 in government debts, even if you had two decades to do it?

Would massively higher taxes even work? The answer is no. Higher taxes don't necessarily result in higher revenues to the government. Increased taxes always lead to increased tax avoidance, a decreased incentive to work and invest, and fewer dollars available to capital markets. The result can be less revenue rather than more.
Can we grow our way out of the problem? The answer is again no. The Government Accountability Office estimates the economy would have to grow at a double digit rate for the next 75 years!, but . . .

In the real world our economic growth is only in the low single digits, and even this rate of growth may be hard to sustain as the weight of rising government expenditures takes more and more resources from the productive economy.

Indeed, the current debt estimate of $53.3 trillion already takes economic growth into account. If the rate of growth should prove lower than expected then the real size of the unfunded liabilities will be even higher. Those who look to economic growth to magically cure this problem are whistling past the graveyard.

What about benefit cuts for Medicare and Social Security? This might help the government balance its books, but at the cost of breaking government promises and pushing expenses back on the elderly.

What about borrowing? Can the politicians borrow their way out of this mess? Alas, no. Moody, the credit rating service, has already issued a warning that the federal government's credit rating will be lowered if doesn't reduce its debt burden. Practically speaking, a lower credit rating means higher interest rates on federal government debt. And that means more and more of your taxes will go to pay the interest on that debt -- making BOTH the inevitable tax increases and benefit cuts more painful. 

Meanwhile, the politicians continue to run deficits year after year, in spite of the looming financial crisis. More debt means more interest charges. Interest payments will already consume nearly one dollar out of every four you pay in personal income taxes this year.
One sure way to improve things would be to . . .

• Cut government spending now
• Stop running deficits now
• Start paying off the government debt now
• And thereby reduce what we will owe in future interest payments

It's time to stop whistling past the graveyard. It's time to start facing facts, which means we must start cutting government spending, now! Downsize DC! Please send Congress a message. Make Congress aware that you're aware of the government's dire financial plight. Tell them you want reduced spending now, a balanced budget now, and debt retirement, starting now.

You can send your message here.

In order to rescue the economy Congress has agreed on a stimulus package that includes rebates of $600-$1200. As the video points out, economists predict that the plan will do little to stop a recession.

I'm certainly not an economist but I tend to agree. Unfortunately people that earn $75000 or more get their rebate cut anyway, which means that most of the folks getting the rebate will be people that might not be quite as responsible with their money in the first place and although it will get spent, as Congress wants (I would save it) it will end up costing the Federal deficit more than it's going to help.

It's just another example of the whining mommy state we have become. When you scrape your knee mommy comes to bandage it and take care of you and people seem to expect the same kind of reaction from our governmenr. WE are the ones that need to be fixing the government, not the other way around.

Cross-Posted from Shadowscope.

We already know from his record as Mayor of New York that he supports illegal aliens, why should I be surprised at that?

I don't get to RedState very often. Like the seriously left wing sites such as KOS 90% of the stuff there is bullshit and extremely one-sided. I can judge the issues for myself without having it spoon fed to me like most of the extremely political sites like to do. Just watch. 90% of the people that hang out on a regular basis at Daily KOS, Redstate or Michelle Malkin's site for instance will just regurgitate verbatim what they have read and hear without bothering to listen to opposing arguments. That's cool, but arguing with those people is useless and pointless.

Anyway, the article I came across wasn't even about Rudy Giuliani. It was really just a short blurb stating the fact that the Flat Tax has four sponsors in congress, whereas the Fairtax has 57. That makes sense to me because the Fairtax taxes everyone including illegal income generated by drug dealers, criminals, and illegal aliens. The Flat Tax only taxes those that are already paying taxes which includes none of the above.

What I found more interesting that the article itself is the comments. They are very polarized on the issue but there are some really good points made. Go check them out and if you are sick of paying taxes visit Fairtax.org as well.

Friday the House of Representatives approved a controversial bill that makes some serious changes in the way that patents are handled. In addition to changing the fact that patents are handed to the first person to file an application rather than the first to develop a technology or innovation it also limits the amount of damages that can be awarded in the case of Patent infringement.

link

A group of Attorneys General said this past week that the consent decree that settled the antitrust case against Microsoft has not reduced the company's monopoly. The federal government disagrees and in a periodic review of the case the Justice Department says that Microsoft has lived up to the decree restricting it's conduct. The Justice Department also says that the 2002 settlement had succeeded in promoting competition.

President Bush outlined a plan today that won't do any good for real estate speculators but may help out people that could lose their homes. Of course it really means nothing but puts the ball in Congress' court whom he called upon to pass legislation to help credit worthy homeowners under distress.


My question is this...Who decides who is credit worthy? The Federal Government? The same Federal Government that can't balance it's budget or pay the bills that it owes? Give me a break.