The $600,000 toad statue your tax dollars paid for and you will never see in person
The $600,000 toad statue your tax dollars paid for and you will never see in person.
Tag: budget
Deal reached on Defense authorization bill that had included language allowing the military to hold U.S. citizen indefinitely
A deal has been reached on a Department of Defense authorization bill that had included language allowing the military to hold U.S. citizens indefinitely without charge, both in and outside the U.S.
Not surprisingly for a modern journalist (who routinely miss the lead in their own stories), this article really doesn’t tell us whether that language is still in effect.
Why Washington is shocked, shocked by Newt Gingrich’s rise over Mitt Romney
Why Washington is shocked, shocked by Newt Gingrich’s rise over Mitt Romney.
Look, Gingrich is by far not a perfect candidate. He has clearly taken positions in the last few years that made my socks roll up and down in horror. And when he was Speaker there were times I thought he was too willing to agree to bad deals.
Yet, he did mastermind the first Republican takeover of Congress in forty years. Yet, when he was Speaker the federal budget was brought under control, producing surpluses for four years in a row.
Finally, unlike every other Republican candidate for President since Reagan, Gingrich can debate. He not only knows how to articulate conservative ideals, he has shown himself capable of effectively pointing out liberal foolishness. In the Presidential debates to come, the country needs that as it will give strength to the conservative candidates running for the House and Senate. And that is where we really need victories. If we get a Congress that is willing to seriously cut the federal budget, it won’t matter that much who is President.
A new poll shows a record high anti-incumbent sentiment toward Congress
Good news: A new poll shows a record high anti-incumbent sentiment toward Congress.
Electric car company shuts down
For once, the taxpayer doesn’t get screwed: The electric car company Aptera has shut down due to lack of interest from investors and the lack of a loan from the government.
The California company was counting on a federal loan – and private investments to match the loan – so that it could start producing its very first electric vehicle. Aptera said it was close to securing a $150 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, but it couldn’t line up the private dollars necessary to complete the loan application process.
More budget battles in Europe over $16 billion fusion reactor project
The budget battles continue in Europe over funding a $16 billion fusion reactor project.
Now the three statutory bodies of the European Union have agreed to cobble together €360 million from anticipated unspent funds in the still-to-be-decided 2013 budget. Another €840 million will be found by shifting money from 2012 and 2013 budget lines for farm and fishing subsidies, rural development, and environment, into the ones covering research. The remaining €100 million had already been allocated to ITER in the 2012 budget.
Sounds to me as if this whole thing has feet of clay, and is going to fall apart long before completion.
Despite earmark ban, some lawmakers continue to try to give money to hundreds of pet projects
The efforts to resurrect spending on pet projects reveal the tenuous nature of current reform efforts. Two senators have publicly called out their colleagues and will introduce legislation Wednesday that would ban earmarking with the force of law. “I have heard too many appropriators say informally that they are very hopeful that we can get back to earmarking in the future with few restrictions,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who is co-authoring the bill with Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.). “That has come out of the mouths of Democrats and Republicans.”
What I glean from this article is that a good number of legislators are still trying to sneak in their earmarks, but that they are finding it increasingly difficult. Unfortunately, it also appears that too many of them are still succeeding.
Video: The competing worldviews of the Tea Party and OWS
A fascinating short video: The competing worldviews of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street.
Outcry over possible cuts to the European Union’s science budget
Running out of other people’s money: Shortages in the European Union’s science budget is prompting proposed cuts, which in turn is sparking outrage.
“What the hell are we paying you for?”
Chris Christie to Barack Obama: “What the hell are we paying you for?”
This is so good, so honest and to the point, that it deserves to be embedded everywhere.
Shilling for climate cash
The international development agency Oxfam is screaming disaster..
This year’s food shortages and famine are a sign of what’s to come if the world doesn’t get climate change under control, Oxfam is warning. The international development agency made a call for action the day before the UN kicks off its annual climate change conference in Durban, South Africa. . . .
» Read more
Building Boeing’s CST-100 manned capsule, the smart way
Building Boeing’s CST-100 manned capsule, the smart way.
From pressure seals used on the international space station to rendezvous and docking sensors developed for the Pentagon’s Orbital Express experiment, Boeing is drawing heavily on heritage space and aviation programs for its proposed CST-100 commercial human spacecraft.
Cheaper also.
Gingrich’s presidential campaign has gotten him no endorsements from Republican lawmakers
Gingrich’s presidential campaign has gotten him no endorsements from Republican lawmakers.
Considering how incompetent these Republicans have been in getting the federal budget under control, and considering that the last time the budget was balanced was during Gingrich’s reign as speaker in the 1990s, I would consider their lack of support as the best endorsement Gingrich could get. We need real change in DC. The status quo has left us on the verge of economic collapse and bankruptcy.
You see, they aren’t really cuts; they are a slowdown in the budget increases.
The truth about the “automatic budget cuts” that are going to be imposed by the failure of the supercommittee: “They aren’t really cuts; they are a slowdown in the budget increases.”
And journalists should therefore stop calling them “budget cuts.”
Supercommittee gives up
The day of reckoning looms: The Congressional supercommittee has given up. The perspective of one member of the committee can be read here. Key quote:
The Congressional Budget Office, the Medicare trustees, and the Government Accountability Office have each repeatedly said that our health-care entitlements are unsustainable. Committee Democrats offered modest adjustments to these programs, but they were far from sufficient to meet the challenge. And even their modest changes were made contingent upon a minimum of $1 trillion in higher taxes—a move sure to stifle job creation during the worst economy in recent memory.
Even if Republicans agreed to every tax increase desired by the president, our national debt would continue to grow uncontrollably. Controlling spending is therefore a crucial challenge. The other is economic growth and job creation, which would produce the necessary revenue to fund our priorities. [emphasis mine]
This needs repeating: regardless of whether you think we should raise taxes in this situation, no tax increase can eliminate the deficit. The problem is out-of-control spending that needs to be seriously curbed.
Some historical context in discussing the federal debt
Some historical context in discussing the federal debt.
When Bill Clinton was president, the national debt rose by an annual average of $193 billion; when the profligate George W. Bush was in the White House, the yearly debt increases averaged $612 billion. On Obama’s watch, by contrast, the federal debt has been skyrocketing by more than $1.5 trillion per year. It took 40 presidents and nearly two centuries, from George Washington to Ronald Reagan , for the US government to accumulate $1.5 trillion in indebtedness. The 44th president – aided and abetted by Congress – enlarges the federal debt by that amount every 12 months.
Testimony at a House hearing yesterday suggests OMB plans to end NASA’s planetary program are true
Testimony at a House hearing yesterday, including the refusal of an OMB representative to appear, lend weight to the rumors that OMB plans to end NASA’s planetary program.
Congress has slashed the budget of John Holdren’s White House Science Office
The Senate/House final deal for the White House Science Office has slashed its budget by one third.
Frustrated that White House officials [i.e. John Holdren] have ignored congressional language curtailing scientific collaborations with China, legislators have decided to get their attention through a 32% cut in the tiny budget of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
See this story for more background.
NASA extends Messenger mission at Mercury one year
No surprise here: NASA has extended the Messenger mission at Mercury for one more year.
NASA budget compromise
Congress has come up with a NASA budget compromise. More details here.
Overall, the NASA budget is cut by about a half billion dollars, the total matching what the agency got in 2009. The key figures are $406 million for commercial manned space, $3 billion for NASA’s in-house heavy-lift rocket and capsule, and $529 million to finish the Webb telescope.
I predict that the $3 billion will be a waste of money, the project getting cancelled before completion.