The House GOP Authors A Jobs Recovery — Charles Kadlec, Forbes.com

“Speaker of the House John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and their fellow House Republicans should claim credit for this jobs recovery. It never would have happened had they not stopped the counter-productive fiscal policies of the Obama Administration — starting with blocking the job killing increase in personal income tax rates that otherwise would have taken place on January 1, 2011, and then last fall refusing to vote for yet another round of wasteful “stimulus” spending and money losing investments in “green jobs.”

“Remember last August when the Administration charged that the House Republican show-down over increasing the federal government’s debt limit without meaningful spending reductions threatened the recovery and Vice President Joe Biden called opponents of an increase in the debt limit “terrorists”? And then how the President last fall demanded House Republicans pass “now” $400 billion in new stimulus spending, relabeled a “jobs bill,” or be held accountable for the coming slow-down in economic growth?

“Well, here is what putting a stop to Obamanomics has produced: The strongest six months of employment growth since the President took office.” Read more

Categories:     Tags: Charles Kadlec, Eric Cantor, Federal Spending, Jobs, John Boehner

Cutting Through The Spin:  What Obama’s Budget Reveals — Charles Kadlec, Forbes.com

A focus on President Barack Obama’s “Proposed Budget” and comparing all projects to 2011 actual data led to  four observations.

1)  The President’s budget calls for increasing federal spending by a total of $11 trillion over the next 11 years.

2)  The future has arrived. Entitlements and interest expense on the debt are putting the squeeze on all other functions of government.

3)  The Obama Administration’s failed economic policies are at the heart of today’s fiscal imbalance.

4)  The alternative to austerity, self-defeating tax increases and cuts to Social Security and Medicare programs is a bold program for economic growth.

The key elements of such a program would be monetary reform, tax reform, regulatory reform and free trade.

More than any other single document, the Obama Budget reveals that nothing short of such a bold growth platform designed to generate substantial additional revenue by freeing the private sector to rapidly create jobs and increase incomes will be capable of restoring balance to the federal government’s financial affairs.

The only catch: more than a handful of individuals may get rich in the process.

Categories:     Tags: Charles Kadlec, Federal Budget, Federal Spending, Monetary Policy, Regulatory Burden, Tax policy, Trade Policy

Government Debt Simplified — Engage America video

It is easy for our eyes to glaze over when we hear politicians and pundits debate the size of the Federal Deficit and the Government’s Debt.  A $15 trillion anything is so big as to boggle the mind.

So, here it is in terms of a family budget.

• The family income is $23,000 a year.
• This year, the family plans to spend $36,000.
• That will increase its debt by $15,000.
• Not to worry, since this added borrowing comes on top of its existing outstanding debts of $153,000.
• In a moment of financial rectitude and sacrifice, the family agrees to reduce its spending by $230 — next year!

Such recklessness would undermine the family’s financial security.

When perpetrated by the Federal level, it is an attack on our liberty.

Categories:     Tags: Big Government, Budget Deficit, Economic Liberty, Engage America, Federal Spending

To Restore Prosperity, We Must Increase Economic Freedom — Charles Kadlec, Forbes.com

Economic freedom in the United States is in decline. The consequences include the worst recovery since the Great Depression and a growing fear of big government among a majority of independents and, shockingly, a near majority of Democrats.

Total government spending now exceeds 40% of GDP. Federal regulations now cost the private sector an astounding $1.7 trillion per year, or 12% of total output. That means that the governing elite now control more than 50% of the income produced by the American people to spend and distribute as they and lobbyists for powerful political and economic interests see fit.

As a result the U.S. has fallen to 10th place, its lowest rank on the Index of Economic Freedom, since the inception of the Index in 1995, down from fifth place in 2007. Moreover, the scheduled 2013 increase in tax rates and regulatory burdens means the U.S. is on course to drop to new lows in the years ahead. Read more

Categories:     Tags: Big Government, Charles Kadlec, Economic Liberty, Federal Spending, Index of Economic Freedom, Regulatory Burden

Less Stimulus, More Jobs — Charles Kadlec, Forbes.com

Last August, we were told the Republican fight over increasing the debt limit was hurting the economy.  Then, in September, PresidentBarack Obama called a joint session of Congress and insisted Congress pass his “jobs bill now.”   Apologists for big government warned failure to approve another $400 billion in stimulus spending threatened a double dip recession. But the Senate and the House refused to approve any more stimulus spending.

Finally, the Federal Reserve’s efforts to boost the economy through “Quantitative Easing” ended in June, and the dollar strengthened in the last half of the year.

The result produced by this lack of fiscal and monetary stimulus?  The best job growth since employment bottomed in February 2010.

Categories:     Tags: Charles Kadlec, Economic Liberty, Federal Spending, Jobs, Monetary Policy, Stimulus

Budget Collapse:  Too Much Free Money — Lewis Lehrman, The American Spectator

“A look at the current Federal Reserve Balance Sheet shows that the Fed has created about $1.7 trillion of new credit (money) with which to purchase Treasury debt. Foreign central banks have created about $2.7 trillion of new credit to purchase U.S. Treasury bonds. This global, electronic, money-printing exercise has financed almost 30% of the total direct debt of the U.S. Treasury.”

Categories:     Tags: Budget Deficit, Federal Spending, Gold Standard, Lewis Lehrman, Monetary Policy