26 May 2012

Off-Budget! Off-Budget! Off-Budget!

Music to Read By:

A Song For Progs...

Say

I Say

I want candy

hey

Off-budget! Unfunded! Blah, Blah, Blah!

Remember when Democrats were screaming about how Bush was keeping the war costs off-budget? It was a treasonable offence!

Who would have thought that it would be a Democrat, Barack Obama, who would have the two largest off-budget expense amounts in the history of the country?

FY2001

(OFF-BUDGET)……………………………………………………………………………………358,158

FY2002

(OFF-BUDGET)………………………………………...…………………………………………366,993

FY2003

(OFF-BUDGET)…………………………………...………………………………………………382,254

FY2004

(OFF-BUDGET)…………………………………………………….......………………………...397,225

FY 2005

(OFF-BUDGET).…………………………………………………………………………………..427,101

FY2006

(OFF-BUDGET)...………………………………………………………………………………...451,905

FY2007

(OFF-BUDGET)...………………………………………………………………………………...467,050

FY2008

(OFF-BUDGET)...………………………………………………………………………………..501,477

FY2009

(OFF-BUDGET)…………………………………………………………………………………..519,850

FY2010

(OFF-BUDGET).………………………………………………………………………………….582,713

FY2011

(OFF-BUDGET).…………………………………………………………………………………..956,455

Sources:

http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1001.pdf

http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1002.pdf

http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1003.pdf

http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1004.pdf

http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1005.pdf

http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1006.pdf

http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1007.pdf

http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1008.pdf

http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1009.pdf

http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1010.pdf

http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1011.pdf

I want Candy-Good Charlotte

Hey
Hey
Hey
Hey
I know a girl who's tough but sweet
she's so fine she can't be beat
she's got everything that I desire
she sets the summer sun on fire

(chorus)
I want candy!
I want candy!
I want candy!
I want candy!

Go to see her when the sun goes down
there ain't no finer girl in town
you're my girl you're what the Dr ordered
candy so sweet to make my mouth water

waset???

i want candy
i want candy
i want candy
i want candy
hey
hey
hey

i want candy
i want candy

candy on the beach there's nothin better
but i like candy when it's wrapped in leather
someday soon i'll make her mine
and then i'll have candy all the time
say
i say
i want candy
i want candy
i want candy
i want candy
hey
hey
hey
hey
hey

Do Democrats, Who Voted For Uncommitted/Felons/Unknown Lawyers, Have Eyes For Romney? The Answer May Surprise You.

Music to read by:

Oh but ain't that America for you and me.
Ain't that America something to see baby
Ain't that America home of the free
Little pinks houses for you and me.

By Jon Cohen and Karen Tumulty

In an election year in which the economy ranks as Americans’ top concern, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney holds significant advantages over President Obama among white voters who are struggling financially and buffeted by job loss, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Asked which candidate would do more to advance their families’ economic interests, middle-class white voters who say they are struggling to maintain their financial positions chose Romney over Obama by a large margin — 58 percent to 32 percent.

The former Massachusetts governor has a similar advantage on this question among white voters who have lost a job in recent years, or who have seen a family member or close friend face unemployment.

Nonwhite voters, struggling or not, give Obama huge leads over Romney when it comes to looking after their families’ financial interests.

The results underscore a continuing challenge for Obama and the Democratic Party with white voters, and particularly those without college degrees — who, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are significantly more likely to be unemployed than those with higher education.

Indeed, among whites who described themselves as struggling to maintain their economic footing — regardless of their current class — nearly seven in 10 lacked a college diploma. And although they lean more Republican than the population in general, it is a group that neither party can ignore. In the new poll, 31 percent of these voters described themselves as Republicans, 27 percent as Democrats.

In 2008, Obama lost whites without college degrees by a big margin, 58 percent to 40 percent, according to the national exit poll. That performance among such voters was similar to John F. Kerry’s in 2004 and Al Gore’s in 2000.

“Democrats are very likely to lose those voters” again this year, said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster. “The question is by how much.”

One factor that may help the president is that, in the 14 or fewer swing states likely to determine the outcome of the election, unemployment rates have dropped more sharply than they have for the nation as a whole.

But the extended economic hardship many Americans are facing — across racial and partisan lines — makes those who are vulnerable a particularly important target group for both campaigns.

The president’s reelection team is attempting to portray Romney as out of touch with and unsympathetic to the anxieties of middle-class Americans. A much-talked-about Obama campaign advertisement airing in Ohio depicts Bain Capital, a private-equity firm that Romney founded, as a “vampire” that sucked the last financial lifeblood of failing companies at the expense of their workers.

All of the people featured in the ad criticizing Bain appear to be white.

The spot, however, has brought criticism from within the president’s party, including from Edward G. Rendell, a former Pennsylvania governor and Democratic Party chairman. They have expressed concern that the tone of the attack will make the party appear to be opposed to the private-equity industry, which is an important player in the national economy and a major source of campaign contributions.

Romney, meanwhile, portrays the president as out of his depth on economic issues. And in the Republican’s current advertising campaign, he highlights steps he would take as president to roll back policies that the Obama administration has put into place.

In the poll, Americans overall reported widespread economic pain, with more than seven in 10 saying they have been affected directly or indirectly by unemployment in the past few years. Four in 10 report struggling to maintain their socioeconomic status, with about one in five saying they are in the middle class and straining to stay there.

Fifty percent of all voters say Obama would do more to advance the interests of the middle class more generally, and 44 percent say so of Romney.

On that question, Obama has an advantage of 53 percent to 41 percent among those who think their foothold in the middle class is relatively secure, while the two candidates divide about equally among those struggling to stay there.

That overall parity, as has been the case in the past, disguises a vast racial divide.

Among white voters trying to stay in the middle class, Romney is considered the better candidate for that group by a 20-point margin; Obama is preferred by better than 3 to 1 among middle-class nonwhite voters, regardless of their sense of security.

Whites and nonwhites — as well as voters across party lines — agree that Romney would do more than Obama to advocate for the economic interests of wealthy Americans.

By a 23-point margin, voters say it’s Romney, not Obama, who would do more to advance the interests of Wall Street.

As for the new federal regulations for banks and other financial institutions put in place during the current administration, few voters — about one in four — say they have struck the right balance. About 25 percent of all voters say the regulations “go too far,” while 39 percent say “not far enough.” Most Democrats say the new rules are not sufficiently tough; among Republicans, twice as many say they are unnecessarily restrictive compared with those saying they are too lenient. Independents tilt in the “not far enough” direction.

The telephone poll was conducted May 17 to 20 among a random national sample of 1,004 adults. The margin of sampling error for the full poll is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. The margin is four points for the sample of 874 registered voters.

Polling analyst Scott Clement and polling manager Peyton M. Craighill contributed to this report.

Little Pink Houses by John Cougar Mellenkamp

There's a black man, with a black cat
Living in a black neighbourhood.
He's got an interstate running through his front yard
Ya know he thinks, he's got it so good.
And there's a women, in the kitchen
Cleaning up the evenin' slop.
And he looks at her and says
'Hey darlin' I remember when you could stop a clock.'

CHORUS

Oh but ain't that America for you and me.
Ain't that America something to see baby
Ain't that America home of the free
Little pinks houses for you and me.

There's a young man, in a t-shirt
Listenin' to a rock n roll station.
He's got greasy hair, greasy smile
He says, "Lord this must be my destination."
'Cause they told me when I was younger
"Boy you're gonna be president."
But just like everything else those old crazy dreams
Just kinda came and went.

REPEAT CHORUS

Well there's people and more people
What do they know know know
Go to work in some high rise
And vacation down at the Gulf of Mexico
Ooh yeah
And ther's winners and there's losers
But they ain't no big deal
'Cause the simple man baby pays for the thrills, the bills,
the pills that kill

Does Obama Really Want To Put His "Public Equity" Record Up Against Mitt Romney's "Private Equity" Record? Really? Damn, He Sure Is Stupid.

Music to read by:

I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter

For those that think Romney's 22% failure rate at Bain is scandalous, we've decided to give you Epic Fail as only The Smartest Man in the World can deliver it.

By Marc A. Thiessen

Despite a growing backlash from his fellow Democrats, President Obama has doubled down on his attacks on Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital. But the strategy could backfire in ways Obama did not anticipate. After all, if Romney’s record in private equity is fair game, then so is Obama’s record in public equity — and that record is not pretty.

Since taking office, Obama has invested billions of taxpayer dollars in private businesses, including as part of his stimulus spending bill. Many of those investments have turned out to be unmitigated disasters — leaving in their wake bankruptcies, layoffs, criminal investigations and taxpayers on the hook for billions. Consider just a few examples of Obama’s public equity failures:

● Raser Technologies. In 2010, the Obama administration gave Raser a $33 million taxpayer-funded grant to build a power plant in Beaver Creek, Utah. According to the Wall Street Journal, after burning through our tax dollars, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012. The plant now has fewer than 10 employees, and Raser owes $1.5 million in back taxes.

● ECOtality. The Obama administration gave ECOtality $126.2 million in taxpayer money in 2009 for, among other things, the installation of 14,000 electric car chargers in five states. Obama even hosted the company’s president, Don Karner, in the first lady’s box during the 2010 State of the Union address as an example of a stimulus success story. According to ECOtality’s own SEC filings, the company has since incurred more than $45 million in losses and has told the federal government, “We may not achieve or sustain profitability on a quarterly or annual basis in the future.”

Worse, according to CBS News the company is “under investigation for insider trading,” and Karner has been subpoenaed “for any and all documentation surrounding the public announcement of the first Department of Energy grant to the company.”

● Nevada Geothermal Power (NGP). The Obama administration gave NGP a $98.5 million taxpayer loan guarantee in 2010. The New York Times reported last October that the company is in “financial turmoil” and that “[a]fter a series of technical missteps that are draining Nevada Geothermal’s cash reserves, its own auditor concluded in a filing released last week that there was ‘significant doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.’ ”

● First Solar. The Obama administration provided First Solar with more than $3 billion in loan guarantees for power plants in Arizona and California. According to a Bloomberg Businessweek report last week, the company “fell to a record low in Nasdaq Stock Market trading May 4 after reporting $401 million in restructuring costs tied to firing 30 percent of its workforce.”

● Abound Solar, Inc. The Obama administration gave Abound Solar a $400 million loan guarantee to build photovoltaic panel factories. According to Forbes, in February the company halted production and laid off 180 employees.

● Beacon Power. The Obama administration gave Beacon — a green-energy storage company — a $43 million loan guarantee. According to CBS News, at the time of the loan, “Standard and Poor’s had confidentially given the project a dismal outlook of ‘CCC-plus.’ ” In the fall of 2011, Beacon received a delisting notice from Nasdaq and filed for bankruptcy.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. A company called SunPower got a $1.2 billion loan guarantee from the Obama administration, and as of January, the company owed more than it was worth. Brightsource got a $1.6 billion loan guarantee and posted a string of net losses totaling $177 million. And, of course, let’s not forget Solyndra — the solar panel manufacturer that received $535 million in taxpayer-funded loan guarantees and went bankrupt, leaving taxpayers on the hook.

Amazingly, Obama has declared that all the projects received funding “based solely on their merits.” But as Hoover Institution scholar Peter Schweizer reported in his book, “Throw Them All Out,” fully 71 percent of the Obama Energy Department’s grants and loans went to “individuals who were bundlers, members of Obama’s National Finance Committee, or large donors to the Democratic Party.” Collectively, these Obama cronies raised $457,834 for his campaign, and they were in turn approved for grants or loans of nearly $11.35 billion. Obama said this week it’s not the president’s job “to make a lot of money for investors.” Well, he sure seems to have made a lot of (taxpayer) money for investors in his political machine.

All that cronyism and corruption is catching up with the administration. According to Politico, “The Energy Department’s inspector general has launched more than 100 criminal investigations” related to the department’s green-energy programs.

Now the man who made Solyndra a household name says Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital “is what this campaign is going to be about.” Good luck with that, Mr. President. If Obama wants to attack Romney’s alleged private equity failures as chief executive of Bain, he’d better be ready to defend his own massive public equity failures as chief executive of the United States.

In The End - Linkin Park

It starts with one thing
I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind
I designed this rhyme
To explain in due time
All I know
Time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day
The clock ticks life away

It's so unreal
Didn't look out below
Watch the time go right out the window
Trying to hold on, but you didn't even know
Wasted it all just to watch you go
I kept everything inside
And even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me
Will eventually be a memory of a time when

I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter

One thing, I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try,
Keep that in mind
I designed this rhyme,
To remind myself of a time when
I tried so hard
In spite of the way you were mocking me
Acting like I was part of your property
Remembering all the times you fought with me
I'm surprised it got so
Things aren't the way they were before
You wouldn't even recognize me anymore
Not that you knew me back then
But it all comes back to me in the end
You kept everything inside
And even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when

I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter

I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know
I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know

I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter

25 May 2012

Uncle Sam Wants Your Money: Total Governmental Expenditures By Major Categories of Expenditures From 1948–2011

M2RB:

And he said,

"Boy, you'd better move real slow

And gimme your money please"

He said, "Gimme your money please"

Wasn't that strange

Wasn't that strange indeed Wasn't that strange

Wasn't that strange indeed

He said, "Gimme your money please"

He said, "Gimme your money please"

TOTAL GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES BY MAJOR CATEGORY OF EXPENDITURE: 1948–2011
(in billions of dollars)
Fiscal Year	Total Government	Defense and International	Net Interest	Federal Payments For Individuals		Other Federal	State and Local From Own Sources (Except Net Interest)
Fiscal Year	Total Government	Defense and International	Net Interest	Social Security and Medicare	Other	Other Federal	State and Local From Own Sources (Except Net Interest)
1948	44.0	13.7	4.5	0.5	8.5	2.7	14.0
1949	55.5	19.2	4.7	0.6	9.5	5.0	16.5
1950	62.0	18.4	5.0	0.7	12.9	5.7	19.2
1951	66.4	27.2	4.9	1.5	8.8	3.4	20.7
1952	90.1	48.8	5.0	2.0	8.9	3.4	22.2
1953	99.7	54.9	5.5	2.6	8.3	5.1	23.3
1954	96.7	50.9	5.2	3.3	9.3	2.6	25.5
1955	97.6	45.0	5.3	4.3	10.0	4.3	28.7
1956	102.2	44.9	5.6	5.4	9.8	5.4	31.1
1957	111.4	48.6	6.0	6.5	10.5	5.6	34.2
1958	120.8	50.2	6.3	8.0	12.9	5.7	37.7
1959	134.0	52.2	6.6	9.5	13.2	11.4	41.0
1960	135.8	51.1	7.9	11.4	12.8	10.0	42.6
1961	145.1	52.8	7.7	12.2	15.3	10.7	46.4
1962	157.9	58.0	8.2	14.0	14.9	13.0	49.8
1963	165.7	58.7	9.1	15.5	15.5	13.9	53.1
1964	177.7	59.7	9.7	16.2	16.0	18.4	57.7
1965	181.9	55.9	10.0	17.1	16.0	20.6	62.3
1966	204.2	63.7	10.8	20.3	16.8	24.4	68.3
1967	234.2	77.0	11.5	24.5	18.7	27.0	75.5
1968	263.5	87.2	12.5	28.4	21.4	30.0	83.9
1969	279.7	87.1	13.8	33.0	24.2	26.6	94.9
1970	298.3	86.0	15.2	36.4	28.4	30.4	101.9
1971	325.4	83.0	16.3	42.6	38.0	31.7	113.8
1972	354.1	84.0	17.8	47.7	45.3	38.2	121.0
1973	376.2	80.8	19.7	57.2	47.5	42.8	128.2
1974	416.5	85.1	22.6	65.7	54.7	42.4	146.0
1975	499.8	93.6	23.9	77.7	76.2	61.6	166.8
1976	556.8	96.1	29.1	89.6	91.0	68.4	182.6
TQ	146.2	24.7	7.9	24.0	21.5	18.8	49.3
1977	607.5	103.6	33.4	104.5	92.5	78.7	194.7
1978	670.6	112.0	37.6	116.7	95.0	99.5	209.7
1979	738.4	123.8	42.4	130.8	103.1	103.8	234.6
1980	853.5	146.7	49.5	151.0	127.5	113.2	265.6
1981	963.8	170.6	63.5	179.1	146.1	113.6	290.9
1982	1,058.0	197.6	78.9	203.1	155.3	104.8	318.4
1983	1,145.9	221.8	84.9	224.0	172.9	99.9	342.4
1984	1,215.5	243.3	106.0	237.0	164.8	95.6	368.8
1985	1,347.4	268.9	120.8	256.1	171.9	120.0	409.7
1986	1,429.3	287.5	122.4	270.7	181.2	114.9	452.5
1987	1,486.6	293.6	129.9	285.0	186.9	99.8	491.3
1988	1,582.2	300.8	145.7	302.5	199.0	110.3	523.9
1989	1,699.3	313.1	160.5	324.4	212.8	124.4	564.1
1990	1,862.2	313.1	176.5	353.8	231.8	170.0	617.1
1991	1,983.9	289.1	190.8	380.7	271.2	188.7	663.3
1992	2,082.8	314.4	200.1	414.3	315.3	138.1	700.5
1993	2,137.1	308.3	201.7	444.8	340.0	117.6	724.7
1994	2,220.5	298.7	206.5	476.2	348.4	135.5	755.2
1995	2,317.9	288.5	233.3	510.1	367.1	117.9	801.0
1996	2,390.8	279.2	241.0	538.1	374.5	127.7	830.3
1997	2,475.3	285.7	243.1	569.4	384.2	117.8	875.1
1998	2,558.0	281.2	238.9	586.2	395.3	148.7	907.8
1999	2,671.4	290.0	226.7	595.2	406.2	180.7	972.6
2000	2,830.5	311.6	215.1	621.0	433.2	200.2	1,049.4
2001	2,982.8	321.2	204.2	666.1	462.0	207.4	1,121.9
2002	3,208.4	370.8	180.2	704.6	536.7	227.9	1,188.2
2003	3,432.6	425.9	172.1	743.3	588.2	249.4	1,253.6
2004	3,610.1	482.7	180.5	787.2	609.9	252.8	1,297.0
2005	3,860.0	529.9	197.1	851.9	637.8	268.3	1,374.9
2006	4,118.5	551.3	231.1	924.5	667.1	285.6	1,458.9
2007	4,289.5	579.8	236.4	1,015.8	673.1	222.9	1,561.6
2008	4,671.8	644.9	264.1	1,066.1	758.1	260.7	1,677.8
2009	5,169.9	698.6	212.9	1,174.6	917.9	539.7	1,626.3
2010	5,077.7	738.8	229.3	1,219.3	1,065.7	236.3	1,588.4
2011	5,294.3	751.3	271.7	1,282.5	1,061.2	278.1	1,649.5


Give Me Your Money Please By B.T.O
I was walking on down the alley When a face I've never seen Came so from deep in the darkness And his mouth came on real mean And I saw that he'd been liquored And he staggered up to, you know, he staggered up to his feet And he said, "Boy, you'd better move real slow And gimme your money please" He said, "Gimme your money please" Wasn't that strange Wasn't that strange indeed Wasn't that strange Wasn't that strange indeed He said, "Gimme your money please" He said, "Gimme your money please" Being born and raised in New York There ain't nothing you won't see 'Cause the streets are filled with bad goings-on And you know that's no place to be But my car broke down in the evening You know it just stopped stone cold Stopped stone cold in the street And a dirty mean man with a shot glass eye He said, "Gimme your money please" He said, "Gimme your money please" Wasn't that strange Wasn't that strange indeed Wasn't that strange Wasn't that strange indeed He said, "Gimme your money please" He said, "Gimme your money please" Being born and raised in New York There ain't nothing you won't see 'Cause the streets are filled with bad goings-on And you know that's no place to be But my car broke down in the evening You know it just stopped stone cold Stopped stone cold in the street And a dirty mean man with a shotgun in his hand He said, "Gimme your money please" He said, "Gimme your money please" Wasn't that strange Wasn't that strange indeed Wasn't that strange Wasn't that strange indeed He said, "Gimme your money please" He said, "Gimme your money please" He said, "Gimme your money please" He said, "Gimme your money please"