Recent reports underscore the economic failures of the Obama administration
State
and local governments, already struggling, are further harmed by shrinking
federal funding
Christopher
Rugaber of the Associated Press: “U.S.
states face long-term budget burdens that are already limiting their ability to
pay for basic services such as law enforcement, local schools and
transportation, a report released Tuesday said.
Aging populations and rising health care costs are inflating Medicaid
and pension expenses. At the same time, revenue from sales and gas taxes is
shrinking. And grants from the federal government, which provide about a third
of state revenue, are likely to shrink, the report said. Those challenges are made worse by a lack of
planning by many states and the repeated use of one-time accounting gimmicks to
cut costs, the report added.”
Bernanke
is not optimistic
Martin
Crutsinger of the Associated Press: “Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke sketched a bleak picture of the U.S. economy Tuesday — and warned it
will darken further if Congress
doesn’t reach agreement soon to avert a budget crisis…The economy’s challenges
go beyond the budget impasse, Bernanke said. Lawmakers must also produce a
long-term plan to shrink federal budget deficits. Otherwise, he said the United
States could eventually suffer a financial crisis marked by rising interest
rates. Consumers and businesses would have to pay more for mortgages and many
other kinds of loans. ‘It would be very
costly to our economy,’ Bernanke said.”
Raising
taxes won’t fix the problem
Diana
Furchtgott-Roth of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research: “…the Census Bureau and the International Monetary Fund both announced
different signs of a weakening economy. Retail sales, the government's measure
of consumer spending, declined in June for the third month in a row by 0.5
percent. Economists had forecast an increase of 0.2 percent. And the IMF
revised its global growth forecast for 2013 down to 3.9 percent from its
previous forecast of 4.1 percent… A tax increase, whether it takes effect in
2013 or 2014, would be the wrong way to help America recover from the
recession, because higher taxes would further harm our slow rate of economic
growth. They could tip the U.S. economy into another recession and discourage
employers from hiring.”
Four
years ago, Obama had no economic track record. Now, unfortunately, he has one, and we continue to pay for giving him
the opportunity.
Are we smart enough to
connect the dots?
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