Tomorrow (Tuesday), the Senate Republican caucus will meet in Washington to organize itself for the upcoming Congress.  More importantly, they will be debating new rules.

Senator Jim DeMint and others are pushing for a rule to BAN EARMARKS for Republicans – and he needs your help.

Currently, there are about a dozen senators that support the ban, but that’s not enough.

All conservatives should contact their Republican senators and let them know that you support the ban on earmarks.  Let them know that it is important for Republicans to set an example of fiscal responsibility and transparency.

It’s important that you contact them as soon as possible.

Call them, email them – or click here and send them an online fax.  You can even use our fax portal to send a note to all Republicans at once if you like.

Again, the meeting is next Tuesday, so contact them soon.

If any politician in America deserves the do a little bit of a happy dance in the end-zone, it's New Jersey's new Governor Chris Christie, whose state legislature just passed his spending slashing budget.

How much spending did he cut?  Only about a third of it.  Yes, a THIRD.  As in by closing an eleven BILLION dollar budget gap, WITHOUT raising taxes.

Of course it hasn't been easy, as we've noted before, he's been attacked with multi-million dollar ad campaigns by his opposition, but he stuck with it and told people the truth in a way that was easy to understand..and made it obvious that something had to be done.

But after this big win, what does he do?  He proposes to slash property taxes!

Now if we could just get a few more Republican Governors to do the same...

Congrats Governor Christie. 

(Here's the link to his video)

Despite the fact that the teacher's unions have spent millions to buy TV ads attacking his budget cuts, the latest public opinion poll shows Chris Christie's strong medicine has won over a majority of New Jersey residents.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely New Jersey Voters shows that 51% approve of how the new Republican governor is doing his job, while 45% disapprove. This includes 33% who Strongly Approve and 31% who Strongly Disapprove.

These findings mark little, if any, change from mid-April.

Forty-six percent (46%) of Garden State voters give Christie good or excellent marks for his handling of the budget crisis. Thirty-six percent (36%) rate his performance in this area as poor.

Christie has been battling the Democratic-controlled legislature and the state’s powerful public employee unions over his proposed $29.3 billion budget, which includes substantial spending cuts in several areas. ...

Again, this is AFTER the unions have spent millions on ads fighting his cuts, which probably means a few things: 1) his "we're out of money" message is getting through and 2) people are just fed up with greedy unions.  read more »

In case you missed the news earlier this year, government workers...(aka: taxpyayer's employees) now comprise the majority of union membership in America.

And then there's the fact that, despite the recession and cutbacks in the private sector, government employment...(aka: the majority of union members) is the only sector of the economy that has grown lately.  Of course, given that most of the "stimulus" was an excuse to bailout unionized bureaucrats working for state governments that are going broke, this comes as no surprse.

I think another fact that needs to be pointed out about the stimulus that I haven't seen elsewhere is that, by bailing out these state governments and keeping them from making the necessary cuts to balance their books, the federal government prevented the states from doing what the private sector does in such circumstances in every business cycle: get more efficient. 

In other words, they identfy waste, mismanagement, rudundancies and anything else they can live without after taking a hard look at things.  They get leaner...but usually maintain or even increase productivity.  Meaning they do more with less.  And when the business cycle improves, they're even more productive and competitive.

But not government.  Or unions.  They have a vested interest in growing and consuming more of available resources.  Which is why they go so well together.  read more »

As hard (or not) as it may be to believe, the Democrats in Congress are working on yet another bailout.  Given how the American people seem to be growing more and more upset with the level of federal spending, you might find that a little surprise, especially since we're getting closer and closer to a mid-term election where recent polls continue to show the Dems in big trouble.

But you probably wouldn't be surprised when you consider just "who" the bailout is for.  That's because this big early Christmas present is for the labor unions.  You know, those guys who spent over 100 million (that they admit to) helping Obama get in the White House...and the same guys that the Democrats desperately need to be in high gear for them come November.

In other words, it's payback time (again) for the unions.

(Via FOX News)

A Democratic senator is introducing legislation for a bailout of troubled union pension funds.  If passed, the bill could put another $165 billion in liabilities on the shoulders of American taxpayers.

The bill, which would put the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation behind struggling pensions for union workers, is being introduced by Senator Bob Casey, (D-Pa.), who says it will save jobs and help people.

As FOX Business Network’s Gerri Willis reported Monday, these pensions are in bad shape; as of 2006, well before the market dropped and recession began, only 6% of these funds were doing well.

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Margaret Thatcher once said that, “the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money”.  One could easily add that another problem is that the other people eventually want to get paid back.

It’s a problem that is becoming more real with each passing day.  As the interest on that borrowed money consumes more of our nation’s economy, our options and our future will be increasingly limited.  The result is a threat to our individual freedoms and economic liberty, and eventually even our national security.

In the last fiscal year federal spending was almost twenty-five percent of GDP, and we now have the biggest annual budget deficit since World War II, (over one and a half trillion).  Annual federal government spending in on pace to exceed forty percent of GDP within our children’s lifetimes, and our national debt, (the total of all annual deficits), will triple by 2020.  read more »

There was a truly incredible column today from the NY Times resident liberal economist Paul Krugman explaining how people in the US need not worry about becoming like Greece.  “We’re not Greece”, he says, which turns out to be the most accurate statement in his entire column.

He then goes on to blame our current financial problems on everything except the bloated spending that put us in the situation we’re currently in.

Of course he gives no thoughtful discussion at all of whether we may actually be spending too much money…rather focusing on our not paying enough taxes.  And then blames that on conservatives.

...bear in mind, also, that taxes have lagged behind spending partly thanks to a deliberate political strategy, that of “starve the beast”: conservatives have deliberately deprived the government of revenue in an attempt to force the spending cuts they now insist are necessary. ...

So, it’s all conservatives’ fault, huh?  Or rather the fault of American voters who feel they already pay too much in taxes?

He also goes on to suggest that other primary reason for impending doom is because health care costs too much. 

...health care costs will rise in the future as they have in the past. This tells us that the key to our fiscal future is improving the efficiency of our health care system — which is, you may recall, something the Obama administration has been trying to do...

Just in case you were impressed by those new GM commercials with their new CEO telling taxpayers/potential customers that they've repaid their government loan "ahead of schedule, in full and with interest", don't be...

Why is that you ask?  Because they "paid it back" with other money they received from the government.

Really?  Yes, really. (Via the Washington Examiner)

Herbert M. Allison, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability, told three House Republicans in a recent letter that "Treasury has never represented that the loan payment represented a full return of all government assistance."

Allison's statement came in an April 30 letter to House Budget Committee ranking minority member Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and two fellow GOP members of the panel, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Tex., and Rep, Scott Garrett, R-N.J.

The letter was in reference to GM's announcement last week in a nationally televised television ad and elsewhere that it had repaid its bailout loans in full, ahead of schedule and with interest.

Only in a big spending, bailout, "stimulus" world can you borrow money to pay back the other money you borrowed (rob Peter to pay Peter?) and run ads to tout that fact on television.  But then again, that might have something to do with the fact that it's now "Government Motors".  read more »

The folks over at the Heritage Foundation have done a great job putting together a incredible resource that makes it easy to understand our federal budget, taxes, national debt and the spending that has made it all possible (so to speak).

They've got a new "Budget Book" section available with simple-simon, interactive charts and graphs, so there's not excuse not to understand what's going on.  And they make it easy to share with others as well...which means there's no reason for you not to spread the word and help educate others.

Here's their video explaining the new resource.

Five months after the stimulus bill was passed, we can now say that we’ve witnessed the following under-stimulating results.

Payrolls are falling more than forecast, with employers cutting 467,000 jobs in June, following a 322,000-job decline in May.  Factory jobs fell by 136,000 after falling 156,000 in May.

Unemployment is at 9.5%, the highest level in 15 years, and projected to exceed 10% by the end of 2009.  Some economists expect it to remain at historically high levels for years.

The average workweek is at 33 hours, the lowest in 45 years.

Average weekly earnings are down to $611.

The national debt is $11.5 trillion.  The Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit for 2009 to be almost $2 trillion and for 2010 to be more than $1.4 trillion.

The Treasury is increasing its sale of debt to pay for spending.  Treasury offered $1 trillion in notes and bonds in the first half of 2009 and plans to offer another $1 trillion by the end of 2009.

Colin Powell, of all people, is alarmed that Obama’s spending orgy may be swelling government and the national debt: “I’m concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them…  [We have] a huge, huge national debt that, if we don’t pay for [it] in our lifetime, our kids and grandkids and great-grandchildren will have to pay for…”  Now he tells us!

Jared Bernstein, chief economic advisor to Joe Biden, whose office is managing the stimulus, says, “It’s working, it’s demonstrably working.”  According to Bernstein, $200 billion in stimulus money has already been obligated or spent.  Case closed!  read more »