Monday, February 13, 2012
Federal Budget and Employment Priorities
Feb 10, 2012
Conservative Political Action Conference
Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) and Representative Connie Mack (R-FL) talked about federal budget priorities. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) spoke about global climate change and the military budget. Carly Fiorina closed the panel, focusing on research and technology, the economy, and the federal government.
Mike Huckabee Remarks at Conservative Political Action Conference
Feb 10, 2012
Conservative Political Action Conference
Republican 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made opening remarks in the opening morning session of the Conservative Political Action Conference. Mr. Huckabee in his comments spoke about an Obama administration ruling on a provision of the 2010 health care law that requires church-affiliated employers to cover contraceptives and other preventive services in their health insurance plans. Afterward, panelists talked about Planned Parenthood, abortion, and same-sex marriage.
Conservative Political Action Conference, Day 2, Evening Session,
Feb 10, 2012
Conservative Political Action Conference
Governor Scott Walker (R-MI) gave the keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Newt Gingrich Remarks at Conservative Political Action Conference
Feb 10, 2012
Conservative Political Action Conference
Republican 2012 presidential candidate Newt Gingrich spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference. He was followed by Andrew Breitbart who focused his remarks on television news networks and the Occupy movement.
Mitt Romney Remarks at Conservative Political Action Conference
Feb 10, 2012
Conservative Political Action Conference
Republican 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference. In his remarks he said that President Obama was a failure and the poster child for government arrogance. He also defended his record as governor, and said he would overturn every Obama administration regulation that threatened life.
Rick Santorum Remarks at Conservative Political Action Conference
Feb 10, 2012
Conservative Political Action Conference
Republican 2012 presidential candidate Rick Santorum spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference. In his remarks he said that he was the only true conservative running for president and was the candidate with the boldest contrast against President Obama
Conference Straw Poll
Feb 11, 2012
American Conservative Union
Conservative Political Action Conference
Attendees at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) participated in a presidential straw poll. Mitt Romney won with 38%, followed by Rick Santorum with 31%, Newt Gingrich 15%, and Ron Paul 12%
John Cornyn Remarks(CPAC)
Feb 11, 2012
American Conservative Union
Conservative Political Action Conference
John Cornyn (R-TX) spoke to conservative activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). He accused U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder of "playing politics" with national security by releasing confidential memos concerning CIA interrogation techniques.
Grover Norquist Remarks
Feb 11, 2012
American Conservative Union
Conservative Political Action Conference
Grover Norquist spoke to conservative activists about the importance of controlling Congress, state legislatures and the White House. He also offered a plan for promoting conservatism.
Bobby Jindal Remarks(CPAC)
Feb 11, 2012
American Conservative Union
Conservative Political Action Conference
Governor Bobby Jindal (R-LA) spoke about some of the lessons the federal government could learn from states in addressing entitlement programs, education and other issues. He also talked about his experience working with President Obama and other federal officials during the 2010 Gulf oil spill.
Rick Scott Remarks(CPAC)
Feb 11, 2012
American Conservative Union
Conservative Political Action Conference
Governor Rick Scott (R-FL) spoke about some of his accomplishments as governor and why he made accountability a major theme of his administration. He criticized the Obama administration for government bailouts and failing to create jobs. He also talked about the role of government to help "level the playing field" and not to "pick the winners and losers."
Sarah Palin Remarks at Conservative Political Action Conference
Feb 11, 2012
American Conservative Union
Conservative Political Action Conference
Former Alaska governor and vice presidential nominee Sara Palin spoke to conservatives attending the Conservative Political Action Conference. She criticized the Obama administration's policies which she said were not "winning the future" but "losing the country."
Opinions on Occupy Movement (CPAC)
Feb 11, 2012
American Conservative Union
Conservative Political Action Conference
Panelists spoke to conservative activists and talked about the role and impact of both the tea party movement and the occupy wall street movement. Their characterizations of the occupy movement were often tongue-in-cheek or disparaging. They responded to questions from the audience.
Debt Slavery: 30 Facts About Debt In America That Will Blow Your Mind
The American Dream
Friday, February 10, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
When most people think about America’s debt problem, they think of the debt of the federal government. But that is only part of the story. The sad truth is that debt slavery has become a way of life for tens of millions of American families. Over the past several decades, most Americans have willingly allowed themselves to become enslaved to debt. These days, most of us are busy either going into even more debt or paying off the debt that we have accumulated in the past.
When your finances are dominated by debt, it makes it really hard to ever get ahead. Incredibly, 43 percent of all American families spend more than they earn each year. Even while median household income continues to decline (now less than $50,000 a year), median household debt continues to go up. According to the Federal Reserve, median household debt in America has risen to $75,600. Many Americans spend decades caught in the trap of debt slavery. Large numbers of them never even escape at all and die in debt. It can be a lot of fun to spend lots of money and go into lots of debt, but it can be absolutely soul crushing to toil and labor for years paying off those debts while making others wealthy in the process. Hopefully this article will inspire many people to try to escape the chains of debt slavery once and for all.
Because the truth is that the American people need a wake up call. Consumer borrowing rose by another $19.3 billion in December. Right now it is sitting at a grand total of $2.5 trillion according to the Federal Reserve.
Overall, consumer debt in America has increased by a whopping 1700% since 1971.
We always criticize the federal government for going into so much debt, but we rarely criticize ourselves for our own addiction to debt.
Debt slavery is destroying millions of lives all across this country, and it is imperative that we educate the American people about the dangers of all this debt.
The following are 30 facts about debt in America that will absolutely blow your mind….
Credit Card Debt
#1 Today, 46% of all Americans carry a credit card balance from month to month.
#2 Overall, Americans are carrying a grand total of $798 billion in credit card debt.
#3 If you were alive when Jesus was born and you spent a million dollars every single day since then, you still would not have spent $798 billion by now.
#4 Right now, there are more than 600 million active credit cards in the United States.
#5 For households that have credit card debt, the average amount of credit card debt is an astounding $15,799.
#6 If you can believe it, one out of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.
#7 The average interest rate on a credit card that is carrying a balance is now up to 13.10 percent.
#8 According to the credit card calculator on the Federal Reserve website, if you have a $10,000 credit card balance and you are being charged a rate of 13.10 percent and you only make the minimum payment each time, it will take you 27 years to pay it off and you will end up paying back a total of $21,271.
#9 There is one credit card company out there, First Premier, that charges interest rates of up to 49.9 percent. Amazingly, First Premier has 2.6 million customers.
Auto Loan Debt
#10 The length of auto loans in America just keeps getting longer and longer. If you can believe it, 45 percent of all new car loans being made today are for more than 6 years.
#11 Approximately 70 percent of all car purchases in the United States involve an auto loan.
#12 A subprime auto loan bubble is steadily building. Today, 45 percent of all auto loans are made to subprime borrowers. At some point that is going to be a massive problem.
Mortgage Debt
#13 Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was just 20 years ago.
#14 Mortgage debt as a percentage of GDP has more than tripled since 1955.
#15 According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, approximately 8 million Americans are at least one month behind on their mortgage payments.
#16 Historically, the percentage of residential mortgages in foreclosure in the United States has tended to hover between 1 and 1.5 percent. Today, it is up around 4.5 percent.
#17 According to Dylan Ratigan, 46 percent of all mortgaged properties in Florida are underwater, 50 percent of all mortgaged properties in Arizona are underwater and 63 percent of all mortgaged properties in Nevada are underwater.
#18 Overall, nearly 29 percent of all homes with a mortgage in the United States are underwater.
#19 If you can believe it, the mortgage lenders now have more equity in U.S. homes than the American people do.
Medical Debt
#20 Medical debt is a major problem for a growing number of Americans. One study discovered that approximately 41 percent of all working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.
#21 Sadly, the number of Americans that are protected by health insurance continues to decline. An all-time record 49.9 million Americans do not have any health insurance at all right now, and the percentage of Americans covered by employer-based health plans has fallen for 11 years in a row.
#22 But even if you do have health insurance, there is still a good chance that you could end up with huge medical debt problems. According to a report published in The American Journal of Medicine, medical bills are a major factor in more than 60 percent of the personal bankruptcies in the United States. Of those bankruptcies that were caused by medical bills, approximately 75 percent of them involved individuals that actually did have health insurance.
Student Loan Debt
#23 Total student loan debt in the United States is rapidly approaching 1 trillion dollars.
#24 If you went out right now and starting spending one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend one trillion dollars.
#25 In America today, approximately two-thirds of all college students graduate with student loan debt.
#26 The average student loan debt load is now approximately $25,000.
#27 After adjusting for inflation, U.S. college students are borrowing about twice as much money as they did a decade ago.
#28 One survey found that 23 percent of all college students actually use credit cards to pay for tuition or fees.
#29 The student loan default rate has nearly doubled since 2005.
#30 Student loans made to directly to parents have increased by 75 percentsince the 2005-2006 academic year.
At this point, most Americans are up to their eyeballs in debt. According to a recent study conducted by the BlackRock Investment Institute, the ratio of household debt to personal income in the United States is now 154 percent.
Our entire economy has become based on credit.
Do you need a car?
Just get an auto loan.
Do you need a house?
Just get a mortgage.
Do you need to fill up your house with stuff?
Just get a credit card.
Do you need an education?
Just get a student loan.
In fact, if you are anything like a typical American, you probably have a mortgage you can barely afford, you probably have at least one auto loan, you probably have several credit card balances and you probably have a student loan that you deeply regret.
So what should you do if you are drowning in debt?
First, make a firm decision that you are going to break the chains of debt slavery once and for all.
Secondly, come up with a plan to reduce your debt. Paying off debt that carries a high rate of interest first (such as credit card debt) is usually a good idea.
The big financial institutions want to get us into as much debt as possible, because all of this debt makes them incredibly wealthy.
Don’t play their game.
Yes, that may mean that you may have to put off certain purchases until you can come up with the money, but in the long run you will be much better off.
So do any of you have any debt slavery stories to share? Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts below….
Comments Some are informative others just shouting Bull
r3volution2012 says:
When will liberty loving Americans WTFU! This “peaceful protest” $h!T is just that $h!t!. I am starting to believe that Alex is full of CR&P with his “those who shoot first lose” mantra! -THEY- have been shooting first for years now – think about it – G20 in Pittsburgh should be in the FOREFRONT of EVERYONES mind when it comes to that. As each days goes by they add more and more to their control grid to where when people DO decide they have had enough – they won’t be able to fight them. How soon until they have hundreds if not thousands of drones in American air space? How soon before they have armored vehicles patrolling our streets more and more? How long before they eliminate the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, THE SECOND AMENDMENT!? They are VERY close folks – if you read the articles Alex and crew put out daily you should know that! But what is Alex doing – he is saying “we are winning” BULL$h!T! We aren’t winning ANYTHING!
You can say I’m some government troll, or what the hell ever you want to say – but the truth is – I’m right and you friggen well know it!
So get off your DEAD &$$e$ – when you call in CHALLENGE Alex on it – don’t suck up his &$$ just to get on the show. Hold his feet to the fire! For those that are able to get on (after waiting for hours) – challenge him – ask the TOUGH questions. There isn’t much time left….
If you look at the way things are going -politically- the Republicans don’t have ANYONE that will be a real challenge to Obaaaaamaaa. Ron Paul – please – I love the guy don’t get me wrong – I’ll still vote for him over any of the other &$$hats they are running but there is no chance in HELL they will let him win – you and I both know it. Conclusion – they are setting it up for a 2nd Obaaaamaa term – he is their man to bring it ALL together for their New World Order. He HAS NOT been afraid to use the dictatorial powers that were setup for him. He has not been afraid to do anything they have told him to do – regardless of what the American people say. Then again – neither has our Congress. That should tell you A LOT right there! This government doesn’t give a raging rats &$$ what you or I think or say – they will do what they want ANYWAY. What are we going to vote some new &$$hats in? Yeah – how did that go for us that LAST time. All those “Tea Party” candidates that went to congress and just got on their knees and sucked the d!ck$ of the “masters” on the top of the hill. We did get Rand Paul up there though – and he is smacking their d!ck$ with a 2×4. But with Ron Paul about done with political time there – who’s next?
Our only chance of using “peaceful protests” to TRY to get anything done is to get 1 million ++ people ON the STREETS IN WASHINGTON. a few hundred or a few thousands WILL NOT do it. We need a MASSIVE demonstration to show them we are sick and friggen tired of their cr&p! If you don’t have those kind of numbers – your wasting your time. You need such large numbers that their anti-protester squads wouldn’t stand a chance against us. BUT – remember if they SHOOT first – be it with rubber bullets, sound cannons – ANYTHING like that – GAME ON!! At that point we would have enough people IN WASHINGTON to take it back. Think about it that way – we have to put such a SCARE into these NWO that they are going to lose the U.S. as their “strong hold” that they will have NO CHOICE but to BACK THE F^CK OFF! Else – we might as well just hand over our guns, and walk quietly to the FEMA camps folks.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!!
The VERY BEST way to understand government debt is to immagine a, “family account credit card.”
Everyone in your family uses the same account credit card for essential purposes and because it’s a family everyone guards against fraud and misuse of the account.
However, if one has ever had a sick family member, say a two timing spouse, an uncle Bill, or lying lesbian sisters, all of whom can have a very high maintenence cost, that have drug or gambling problems held in denial, it’s easy to understand what happens.
Individualy, you and the responcible family members may have legitmate expenses of say $10.00 a day, but one sick family member can easily snort $100.00 a day up their nose, gamble it away in the form of compulsive gambling, or in the case of a cheating spouse can be padding a hidden fund.
When this happens and the bill is excessive, the guilty party always lies and tries to justify their expenses, or simply attempts to deny it all together. And when it keeps happenning, pretty soon the entire family becomes bankrupted when no longer solvent to cover the debt.
This EXACTLY what the govenment in collusion with the Fed has done. Together they are like Mut & Jeff having a gay old time spending YOUR money, because when the Federal Reserv Act was passed, it was like signing adoption papers that our government agencies are by law legal family members in YOUR family and have access to the family credit card account.
This fact is so glarring and in your face, that when we ask them to account for their runaway expenses, we get the EXACT same antics and excuses, from denial, obfuscation of the facts and even down right lies from them, EXACTLY in the same immage as the sick family member scenaro.
What is hard to understand about any of this, other than the labyrinth and extent of excuses that the government can come up with, from cooked books, classified lies, false flag wars and government thugs that all ai to hold the truth back?
Is we am all’s stupid??? Yes we is am all’s stupid, if you believe anything these professional assholes are trying sell us, again, again, again, again, until, they hit bottom and have to be institutionalized as, “criminally insane.”
Do you get it yet??? What is hard to understand???
*Credit cards are “unsecured” debt so you can walk away from them without ever negotiating with any debt company or the credit card companies themselves. Never speak to them on the phone. It is a waste of time and they are just minimum wage flunkies. Put their phone number in your cell or on caller I.D. so you know it”s them calling.
As they say “money talks and B.S. walks, so always use either cash or debit card, as the debit card takes the money directly out of your banking account.
**Speaking of banks-take your money out of them. They are rip offs. Use Credit Unions only. They don’t charge you large fees, either at their branch or other banks.
**If you own a home, and you are “under-water”, or owe more on your home than it’s worth. and are sick and tired of fighting with your bank to modify your loan, do a “STRATEGIC DEFAULT” and walk away. The banks call it “jingle mail” because you are mailing the keys back to them. So what if your credit is gone. Cash is the name of the game, and there is nothing wrong with being a renter If you decide to do it.then do it while you still own your home, as it makes it much easier to obtain a rental. Renting gives you much more freedom to move if you want or have to for many reasons.I rent now, and love it. I can move every year if I want to.
**If you care about your credit and own a home you can no linger afford, then doing a ‘SHORT SALE” is the best way to go. It saves your credit, a new buyer is found and they get a great price for your home, and the bank gets paid off and the buyers have a new mortgage with their banking institute.
** If you have a Retirement income, Social Security, or Pension coming in, or have money to invest (about 150K), then do it outside of the USA. What I mean is-look at countries to move to like Panama, Ecuador, or others that use the dollar for currency. Panama (the country in South America) was rated by AARP and International Living as the best place to retire to or live. Panama has a great economy and you can live like a king, rent a furnished home for $500 US dollars, eat a full course meal for $2 and not have to own a car, as public transportation is very cheap You can live abroad like it was in the USA in the 1950′s.. It is also very safe in these countries. I wouldn’t suggest places like Mexico, Nicaragua or the like. Too dangerous or unstable
***READ-READ-READ-books like Web of Debt by Ellin Brown or Creature From Jekyll Island by E. G. Griffin (about the inception of the Federal Reserve and our monetary system of crooks), 13 Bankers is another and Greedy Bastards by Dylan Ratigan to mention just a few.
***Get ready for our economy and dollar to tank very soon. Stock up on food to last at least 1 yr if possible. Even if our world isn’t going to end on Dec 21, 2012, there will be many who hoard the food in the stores, and then there will be a shortage and huge food prices.
As they say “money talks and B.S. walks, so always use either cash or debit card, as the debit card takes the money directly out of your banking account.
**Speaking of banks-take your money out of them. They are rip offs. Use Credit Unions only. They don’t charge you large fees, either at their branch or other banks.
**If you own a home, and you are “under-water”, or owe more on your home than it’s worth. and are sick and tired of fighting with your bank to modify your loan, do a “STRATEGIC DEFAULT” and walk away. The banks call it “jingle mail” because you are mailing the keys back to them. So what if your credit is gone. Cash is the name of the game, and there is nothing wrong with being a renter If you decide to do it.then do it while you still own your home, as it makes it much easier to obtain a rental. Renting gives you much more freedom to move if you want or have to for many reasons.I rent now, and love it. I can move every year if I want to.
**If you care about your credit and own a home you can no linger afford, then doing a ‘SHORT SALE” is the best way to go. It saves your credit, a new buyer is found and they get a great price for your home, and the bank gets paid off and the buyers have a new mortgage with their banking institute.
** If you have a Retirement income, Social Security, or Pension coming in, or have money to invest (about 150K), then do it outside of the USA. What I mean is-look at countries to move to like Panama, Ecuador, or others that use the dollar for currency. Panama (the country in South America) was rated by AARP and International Living as the best place to retire to or live. Panama has a great economy and you can live like a king, rent a furnished home for $500 US dollars, eat a full course meal for $2 and not have to own a car, as public transportation is very cheap You can live abroad like it was in the USA in the 1950′s.. It is also very safe in these countries. I wouldn’t suggest places like Mexico, Nicaragua or the like. Too dangerous or unstable
***READ-READ-READ-books like Web of Debt by Ellin Brown or Creature From Jekyll Island by E. G. Griffin (about the inception of the Federal Reserve and our monetary system of crooks), 13 Bankers is another and Greedy Bastards by Dylan Ratigan to mention just a few.
***Get ready for our economy and dollar to tank very soon. Stock up on food to last at least 1 yr if possible. Even if our world isn’t going to end on Dec 21, 2012, there will be many who hoard the food in the stores, and then there will be a shortage and huge food prices.
February 10, 2012 at 10:15 am
Here is one thing you can do regarding the unsecured portion of your debt.
If you don’t care about preserving your credit history over the next 7-10 years and yet don’t want to go bankrupt, you can follow these steps: (disclaimer: I am not an attorney, you should seek legal advise on this matter, however, attorneys will not say, do or defend everything in your best interest at all times).
1st- NEVER talk to a debt collector when they call, use caller I.D., if you don’t recognize the number let them leave a message, but don’t return or answer debt collector calls, they want to get you to contract with them which will obligate you to them and restart the statute of limitations on your so-called debt.
2nd. Don’t worry about out-of-state calls or letters trying to dun you for the debt, they virtually never sue you, local attorneys will do that if they decide to do it.
3rd. If you get sued, relax, you can handle this, and if you do it right, they cannot get a penny from you and will drop the suit either before court or during, usually before or just before, even at the courthouse, if you do what you are supposed to do.
4th. Realize this, the debt collector who will use an an attorney who sues you, has no legal right to collect the debt. That’s right, NO LEGAL RIGHT, all you have to do is learn how to write answers to lawsuits, file motions, which is available on the internet if you research it or get a book called: Stick It to Sue Happy Debt Collectors by Alan Harleroad and his sequel is called I think, How to Sue Debt Collectors, yes, you can actually sue THEM and get money, believe it or not.
5th. Why don’t you owe it? There are several reasons, but first they didn’t contract with you, the bank did, the bank has sold the debt and unless they are suing you, which is unlikely, the bank is out of the picture. The debt collector depends on you not knowing that they don’t have a contract with you and cannot intervene in the one that you did have with the bank, in fact, it is illegal to do so, you just point that out and demand proof of a contract with them, the debt collector. Remember, we never talk to them except in court and in a way that virtually guarantees that you win and they go away. NEVER FAIL TO ANSWER COURT DOCUMENTS HOWEVER OR ONES SENT BY THE DEBT COLLECTOR APPROVED BY THE COURT OR DISCOVERY PROCESS.
You can stop bank unsecured debt, and use your money to ready yourself for surviving the coming times, you don’t owe the New World Order banks a damn thing on unsecured debt despite any threats by them or the debt collector. Even if the bank itself sued you, again unlikely, they usually don’t have proof of the debt and therefore cannot win if you demand proof. Just know what “proof of the debt” is , do research and read.
I hope this helps some of you worried about unsecured debt, I stopped, with interests, penalties and legal fees approximately $100,000 in corrupt bank debt they tried to get. I know they used the system of banking privilege to derive over ten times the money out of thin air as a result of the loans made to me on credit cards or signature loans. I don’t feel sorry for them.
P.S. , when you answer court documents be careful how you do it, get some help from credible sources on the net for free or get that book I mentioned, the author’s name is spelled Harkleroad. Really learn how to answer anything that you must from the court in a way that is fair to yourself and does not endanger your case, help is available for that, seek it out.
Doing all this is like “Mother may I?”, the game, if you always follow the rules the game is in your favor and you can win every time. In fact, it actually becomes fun to be in court and watch the expressions on the attorney’s face as you take charge of the situation, it is a hoot!
Once, you’ve won once or twice you’ll get on a list and they’ll usually leave you alone except or the calls which should stop after the statute of limitations is reached but don’t always. If they don’t, you can get that stopped as well. I know how to spell “advice”, just a typo.
One more thing, at trial or during discovery the debt collector, I call them Dirt Bags, will likely try to introduce into evidence an affadavit supposedly supporting their claim that you owe the money. Do not let this get into evidence or you may lose your case.
You stop it by OBJECTING, just say, immediately as they try to put it into evidence, I OBJECT TO THE AFFADAVIT BEING ADMITTED INTO EVIDENCE YOUR HONOR! When he asked you why you object, you say because the affadavit is Hearsay, (they may try to say it is an exception to the hearsay rule and is a business record) , you then say: It is not an exception to that rule because the person who wrote it did not have “personal knowledge” of the day to day debits and credits of the alleged account in question. Even if they bring the person into court as a witness, you can examine them and ask: Did have personal day to day oversight and knowledge of the account in question, (you are not admitting that it is yours and don’t have to unless you screwed up and already did prior, remember they must PROVE THEIR CASE. They virtually always must admit that they don’t have personal knowledge and you then move to Strike the Affadavit from the record, if they cannot get it in, they can’t win.
It is important to read, study and be confident ahead of time what you will say and do and when to do it, it’s doable and the victory is sweet.
Skip-
first and foremost, Ive been an avid member here and have commented on different articles for some time now. I must say that you are absoultely wrong about everything you just posted here. There are loopholes, yes, but i assure you that if you or anyone else practices this “advice” you just gave, you will only make things worse. DO NOT CALL LIST’S apply to those only who are solicitating. Due to the fact that every single borrower went to a creditor, requested to borrow money, SIGNED A CONTRACT, and then spent the money gives any creditor (wheather its the original creditor or a 3rd party) the right legally to continue to call you as often as they would like. Anyone who wants to learn about fair debt collections Research FDCPA. Im not standing up for any bank or creditor, but be real with yourself and be in the right perspective. IF YOU WANT TO FALL OFF THE GRID, DONT REQUEST TO BORROW MONEY. anyone and everyone who borrows money signs and AGREES with the terms that these banks and creditors are using to rob you. DONT BLAME IT ON THE “SCUM SUCKING CREDIT CARD COMPANIES when no one forces you to sign the contract. Im sorry, but you are totally ignorant about this topic and i warn anyone who reads your post to definately do some other research somewhere else.
first and foremost, Ive been an avid member here and have commented on different articles for some time now. I must say that you are absoultely wrong about everything you just posted here. There are loopholes, yes, but i assure you that if you or anyone else practices this “advice” you just gave, you will only make things worse. DO NOT CALL LIST’S apply to those only who are solicitating. Due to the fact that every single borrower went to a creditor, requested to borrow money, SIGNED A CONTRACT, and then spent the money gives any creditor (wheather its the original creditor or a 3rd party) the right legally to continue to call you as often as they would like. Anyone who wants to learn about fair debt collections Research FDCPA. Im not standing up for any bank or creditor, but be real with yourself and be in the right perspective. IF YOU WANT TO FALL OFF THE GRID, DONT REQUEST TO BORROW MONEY. anyone and everyone who borrows money signs and AGREES with the terms that these banks and creditors are using to rob you. DONT BLAME IT ON THE “SCUM SUCKING CREDIT CARD COMPANIES when no one forces you to sign the contract. Im sorry, but you are totally ignorant about this topic and i warn anyone who reads your post to definately do some other research somewhere else.
Just a small clip from a link about debt.
When does the Statute of Limitations start?
You might be asking yourself, “It has been such a long time since my “open account” has had any activity. When does my Statute of Limitations started ticking.”
There are various opinions on when the SOL starts:
•The first time you fail to make a payment on your account.
•The credit card company sends you a demand letter for the full amount.
Any can be true, depending on the credit card agreement. Here’s why:
The length of the statute varies from state to state and depends on the type of agreement, i.e. oral, written, etc. The one aspect of a statute of limitations that is pretty constant throughout all of US states’ laws is when it begins to run.
A statute of limitations, or limitations of action statute, begins to run when a cause of action accrues. In plain English, that means the statute begins to run when you have done something contrary to the terms of your agreement for which you can be sued. Most of the time, that “something” is failure to pay your bill. When you don’t make your payment on time, you have violated the terms of your agreement and you have given the creditor a cause of action.
Some credit agreements include an acceleration clause which must be invoked before a creditor has a cause of action. The acceleration clause could be activated by the creditor sending you a demand for payment in full by a certain date. In these instances, you must fail to pay the creditor after it has invoked the acceleration clause before the creditor has a cause of action, and the statute of limitations starts to run. You need to become familiar with the terms and conditions of your specific agreement to know for sure which event triggers a cause of action and thus, begins the running of the statute of limitations.
In any case, if the creditor fails to sue you in the time allowed by the applicable statute of limitations, you have an affirmative defense against the creditor’s claim which can serve as a bar to recovery of the delinquent debt.
Again Thank You for Your Imput.
Skip.
When does the Statute of Limitations start?
You might be asking yourself, “It has been such a long time since my “open account” has had any activity. When does my Statute of Limitations started ticking.”
There are various opinions on when the SOL starts:
•The first time you fail to make a payment on your account.
•The credit card company sends you a demand letter for the full amount.
Any can be true, depending on the credit card agreement. Here’s why:
The length of the statute varies from state to state and depends on the type of agreement, i.e. oral, written, etc. The one aspect of a statute of limitations that is pretty constant throughout all of US states’ laws is when it begins to run.
A statute of limitations, or limitations of action statute, begins to run when a cause of action accrues. In plain English, that means the statute begins to run when you have done something contrary to the terms of your agreement for which you can be sued. Most of the time, that “something” is failure to pay your bill. When you don’t make your payment on time, you have violated the terms of your agreement and you have given the creditor a cause of action.
Some credit agreements include an acceleration clause which must be invoked before a creditor has a cause of action. The acceleration clause could be activated by the creditor sending you a demand for payment in full by a certain date. In these instances, you must fail to pay the creditor after it has invoked the acceleration clause before the creditor has a cause of action, and the statute of limitations starts to run. You need to become familiar with the terms and conditions of your specific agreement to know for sure which event triggers a cause of action and thus, begins the running of the statute of limitations.
In any case, if the creditor fails to sue you in the time allowed by the applicable statute of limitations, you have an affirmative defense against the creditor’s claim which can serve as a bar to recovery of the delinquent debt.
Again Thank You for Your Imput.
Skip.
Obama budget sees recovery gaining speed
4
hours
ago
By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer
President Barack Obama is feeling upbeat about the economic recovery, maybe too upbeat.
As part of his $3.8 trillion spending plan for 2013, the president included an economic forecast that shows the nation’s gross domestic product moving ahead by 3.6 percent this year and 4.4 percent in 2013. Obama and his advisors also see the unemployment rate falling to 7.5 percent next year, with an inflation rate holding steady at about 2 percent through the rest of the decade.
The administration also predicts the recovery will produce strong growth in 2014 before the pace of growth begins slowing in 2015.
While typical of the rosy scenarios outlined by White House budgets in an election year, the president added a note of caution to his economic outlook.
"We are seeing signs that our economy is on the mend," Obama said in his budget message to Congress. “But we are not out of the woods yet.”
The president’s numbers are higher than forecasts from the Congressional Budget Office and the Blue Chip survey of about 50 private business economists. One reason for the discrepancy, according to the White House, is that its forecast assumes the president’s budget proposal will be enacted as written.
The odds of that happening in an election year are slim to none.
“I don't think that anyone is satisfied with this budget,” said Roger Altman, founder of Evercore Partners and a senior Treasury official in the Clinton administration. “It confirms the dire debt and deficit outlook. And, of course, no major tax and spending changes, whether they come from the president or they're proposed by Congressional leaders, are going to be enacted before the election. “
The White House budget proposal calls for some $4 trillion in deficit cuts over the next ten years. Under Obama's plan, the deficit would fall to $901 billion in 2013 and continue to shrink to $575 billion in 2018. In the short term, though, the administration wants to raise spending on some programs that it argues will help the recovery continue to gain momentum.
“We must transform our budget from one focused on speculating, spending and borrowing to one constructed on the solid foundation of educating, innovating and building," the administration said.
According to the administration, that means spending an additional $476 billion on transportation projects, including inner-city rail services; another $30 billion to modernize 35,000 schools; and $30 billion more to help cash-strapped states hire more teachers, police, rescue workers and firefighters. The White House said Monday that the president will also ask Congress to approve an $8 billion fund to support a joint effort between business and community colleges to train workers in high-growth industries.
Congressional Republicans wasted no time attacking the plan, saying increased spending was exactly what the economic recovery doesn’t need.
“There's a number of reasons why we're looking at the slowest, weakest recovery since the Great Depression, but frankly, this debt is a huge drag on our economy,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) who was co-chair of the “super committee” on deficit reduction. “We got to quit spending money we don't have.”
Some Democrats argue that, with the recovery just beginning to take hold, many voters are more concerned about their own household budgets than whether the government begins to take meaningful steps to manage its own.
“For most people, according to what they tell pollsters, what they really care about is jobs and growth: deficit is actually is ranked pretty low,” said Jared Bernstein, former chief economist to Vice President Joe Biden. “There’s going to be a lot of discussion today about the deficit issue. But from the perspective of the economy that's still climbing out of recession, I think at this point adding to the deficit in the interests of short term economic boost actually makes a lot of sense.”
The administration is hoping that the latest improvement in the job market may deflect some criticism of its failure to forge a bipartisan solution to shrink the federal deficit. On the job front, the White House forecast was only slightly more optimistic than either the CBO or Blue Chip forecasts. Although all three see job growth as remaining weaker than normal for the next several years, the White House is a bit more optimistic in projecting a jobless rate of less than 6 percent by the end of 2017. (The administration’s current thinking may be even more upbeat: because the projections were made in November, they don’t factor in the much better-than-expected jobs numbers for the last two months of 2011.)
Notably absent are any broad proposals to revise the tax code. The plan includes some changes, including the so-called “Buffet rule” that would close a tax break for investment income that lets billionaires like Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet pay a lower percentage of income than his secretary. But the budget sidesteps the much thornier issue of comprehensive reform of the complex, bloated tax code that has been widely criticized by members of both political parties.
“Fundamental tax reform has been agreed upon across the spectrum from the left to the right as something that is necessary,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former CBO director and chief economist in the George W. Bush administration. ”The president has never put forward a single serious proposal on fundamental tax reform despite saying he wants it. If he wants it, put it in your budget.”
The White House may yet get a chance to oversee one of the biggest changes in the tax code in nearly a decade. With Bush-era tax cuts set to expire at the end of this year, the White House has a chance to raise taxes by doing nothing, or issuing a veto on any bill to extend them.
That gives Obama leverage in the debate over how much taxes should be raised to balance the budget.
“I think it's a golden opportunity to start fixing the deficit problem,” said Altman. “You have $3.6 trillion of revenue over ten years to work with.”
Are the Obama administration's projections too rosy? Share your thoughts on Facebook.
hours
ago
By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer
President Barack Obama is feeling upbeat about the economic recovery, maybe too upbeat.
As part of his $3.8 trillion spending plan for 2013, the president included an economic forecast that shows the nation’s gross domestic product moving ahead by 3.6 percent this year and 4.4 percent in 2013. Obama and his advisors also see the unemployment rate falling to 7.5 percent next year, with an inflation rate holding steady at about 2 percent through the rest of the decade.
The administration also predicts the recovery will produce strong growth in 2014 before the pace of growth begins slowing in 2015.
While typical of the rosy scenarios outlined by White House budgets in an election year, the president added a note of caution to his economic outlook.
"We are seeing signs that our economy is on the mend," Obama said in his budget message to Congress. “But we are not out of the woods yet.”
The president’s numbers are higher than forecasts from the Congressional Budget Office and the Blue Chip survey of about 50 private business economists. One reason for the discrepancy, according to the White House, is that its forecast assumes the president’s budget proposal will be enacted as written.
The odds of that happening in an election year are slim to none.
“I don't think that anyone is satisfied with this budget,” said Roger Altman, founder of Evercore Partners and a senior Treasury official in the Clinton administration. “It confirms the dire debt and deficit outlook. And, of course, no major tax and spending changes, whether they come from the president or they're proposed by Congressional leaders, are going to be enacted before the election. “
The White House budget proposal calls for some $4 trillion in deficit cuts over the next ten years. Under Obama's plan, the deficit would fall to $901 billion in 2013 and continue to shrink to $575 billion in 2018. In the short term, though, the administration wants to raise spending on some programs that it argues will help the recovery continue to gain momentum.
“We must transform our budget from one focused on speculating, spending and borrowing to one constructed on the solid foundation of educating, innovating and building," the administration said.
According to the administration, that means spending an additional $476 billion on transportation projects, including inner-city rail services; another $30 billion to modernize 35,000 schools; and $30 billion more to help cash-strapped states hire more teachers, police, rescue workers and firefighters. The White House said Monday that the president will also ask Congress to approve an $8 billion fund to support a joint effort between business and community colleges to train workers in high-growth industries.
Congressional Republicans wasted no time attacking the plan, saying increased spending was exactly what the economic recovery doesn’t need.
“There's a number of reasons why we're looking at the slowest, weakest recovery since the Great Depression, but frankly, this debt is a huge drag on our economy,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) who was co-chair of the “super committee” on deficit reduction. “We got to quit spending money we don't have.”
Some Democrats argue that, with the recovery just beginning to take hold, many voters are more concerned about their own household budgets than whether the government begins to take meaningful steps to manage its own.
“For most people, according to what they tell pollsters, what they really care about is jobs and growth: deficit is actually is ranked pretty low,” said Jared Bernstein, former chief economist to Vice President Joe Biden. “There’s going to be a lot of discussion today about the deficit issue. But from the perspective of the economy that's still climbing out of recession, I think at this point adding to the deficit in the interests of short term economic boost actually makes a lot of sense.”
The administration is hoping that the latest improvement in the job market may deflect some criticism of its failure to forge a bipartisan solution to shrink the federal deficit. On the job front, the White House forecast was only slightly more optimistic than either the CBO or Blue Chip forecasts. Although all three see job growth as remaining weaker than normal for the next several years, the White House is a bit more optimistic in projecting a jobless rate of less than 6 percent by the end of 2017. (The administration’s current thinking may be even more upbeat: because the projections were made in November, they don’t factor in the much better-than-expected jobs numbers for the last two months of 2011.)
Notably absent are any broad proposals to revise the tax code. The plan includes some changes, including the so-called “Buffet rule” that would close a tax break for investment income that lets billionaires like Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet pay a lower percentage of income than his secretary. But the budget sidesteps the much thornier issue of comprehensive reform of the complex, bloated tax code that has been widely criticized by members of both political parties.
“Fundamental tax reform has been agreed upon across the spectrum from the left to the right as something that is necessary,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former CBO director and chief economist in the George W. Bush administration. ”The president has never put forward a single serious proposal on fundamental tax reform despite saying he wants it. If he wants it, put it in your budget.”
The White House may yet get a chance to oversee one of the biggest changes in the tax code in nearly a decade. With Bush-era tax cuts set to expire at the end of this year, the White House has a chance to raise taxes by doing nothing, or issuing a veto on any bill to extend them.
That gives Obama leverage in the debate over how much taxes should be raised to balance the budget.
“I think it's a golden opportunity to start fixing the deficit problem,” said Altman. “You have $3.6 trillion of revenue over ten years to work with.”
Are the Obama administration's projections too rosy? Share your thoughts on Facebook.
Wash. governor signs gay marriage bill into law
4
hours
ago
Elaine Thompson / AP
By The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Gov. Chris Gregoire has signed into law a bill that legalizes gay marriage in Washington state, making it the nation's seventh to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.
It's a historic moment, but same-sex couples can't walk down the aisle just yet.
The law takes effect June 7, but opponents are already mounting challenges on multiple fronts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Opponents planned to file a challenge Monday that could put the law on hold pending the outcome of a November vote.
Separately, an initiative was filed at the beginning of the session that opponents of gay marriage say could lead to the new law being overturned.
advertisementGregoire signed the bill Monday morning. It passed the House on Wednesday, a week after Senate approval.
"We are thrilled," said Lisa M. Stone, executive director of Legal Voice, a nonprofit that advocates for gay and lesbian rights. "After amazing support from both the Senate and the House earlier this month, signing the marriage equality bill late this morning was the next step toward providing equal treatment for all loving and committed families."
The group is girding for further battle, however, anticipating that opponents to same sex marriage will launch a petition to get the issue on the November ballot.
In fact, opponents had that effort under way in anticipation of Gregoire's signing Monday.
"We ARE going to exercise our right to referendum and reject this law!" said the Family Policy Institute of Washington on its Web site, in an urgent appeal launched Sunday.
"Don’t forget to continue to pray that the citizens of Washington State will be fearless in their support and defense of traditional marriage between one man and one woman. Send out requests across the state, nation and world for other faithful to join us in prayer to move hearts here in Washington to unify, organize a successful referendum campaign and to vote for traditional marriage."
The Seattle Times article on the bill being signed into law elicited mostly positive reaction in its comments section.
"Hooray!" wrote Sounder_Beav. "This has no business going to a state-wide referendum. However, if it does, I'm confident a strong majority of WA voters will uphold and confirm equal rights for same sex marriage."
"Glad this is finally over and we’ve joined the 21st Century at last," wrote Alphonso Arrivaderci.
But there were exceptions.
"So sad," wrote idcoug from Boise, without elaborating.
And then there was a contingent impatient with the issue.
"Good. Can we move on now?" commented 2times.
"Let’s focus 100 percent on balancing and passing the state budget now," urged Taxmaad.
In New Jersey on Monday, the state Senate passed a bill that would allow nuptials for same-sex couples. Gov. Chris Christie has said he will veto such legislation.
The Senate's vote sends the bill to the Assembly, which is expected to pass it Thursday.
It means the world isn't changing, it means the world has already changed," said Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, the state's largest gay rights organization. "So wake up and smell the equality."
Len Deo, president of New Jersey Family Policy Council, which opposes gay marriage, called the vote "an exercise in futility."
The governor has said he does not believe marriage laws should be changed, but he does support New Jersey's civil union law, which grants gay couples the legal protections of marriage.
Christie said he wants to put a change in the definition of marriage to a public vote.
But gay rights groups oppose a referendum. They see gay marriage as a civil rights matter and argue that it should not be up to the masses to protect the rights of a minority group.
Five years ago, New Jersey's state Supreme Court ruled that gay couples should have the same rights as married heterosexual couples. In response, the Legislature created civil unions.
Gay rights advocates say that because the civil union designation is hard to understand and still treats committed gays differently from married couples, the courts should eliminate civil unions and recognize gay marriage. A lawsuit seeking to do that is in the state court system.
hours
ago
Elaine Thompson / AP
Wash. Gov. Christine Gregoire, seated, raises her arms as legislators and supporters cheer behind her after she signed into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage Monday, Feb. 13, 2012, in Olympia, Wash.
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Gov. Chris Gregoire has signed into law a bill that legalizes gay marriage in Washington state, making it the nation's seventh to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.
It's a historic moment, but same-sex couples can't walk down the aisle just yet.
The law takes effect June 7, but opponents are already mounting challenges on multiple fronts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Opponents planned to file a challenge Monday that could put the law on hold pending the outcome of a November vote.
Separately, an initiative was filed at the beginning of the session that opponents of gay marriage say could lead to the new law being overturned.
advertisementGregoire signed the bill Monday morning. It passed the House on Wednesday, a week after Senate approval.
"We are thrilled," said Lisa M. Stone, executive director of Legal Voice, a nonprofit that advocates for gay and lesbian rights. "After amazing support from both the Senate and the House earlier this month, signing the marriage equality bill late this morning was the next step toward providing equal treatment for all loving and committed families."
The group is girding for further battle, however, anticipating that opponents to same sex marriage will launch a petition to get the issue on the November ballot.
In fact, opponents had that effort under way in anticipation of Gregoire's signing Monday.
"We ARE going to exercise our right to referendum and reject this law!" said the Family Policy Institute of Washington on its Web site, in an urgent appeal launched Sunday.
"Don’t forget to continue to pray that the citizens of Washington State will be fearless in their support and defense of traditional marriage between one man and one woman. Send out requests across the state, nation and world for other faithful to join us in prayer to move hearts here in Washington to unify, organize a successful referendum campaign and to vote for traditional marriage."
The Seattle Times article on the bill being signed into law elicited mostly positive reaction in its comments section.
"Hooray!" wrote Sounder_Beav. "This has no business going to a state-wide referendum. However, if it does, I'm confident a strong majority of WA voters will uphold and confirm equal rights for same sex marriage."
"Glad this is finally over and we’ve joined the 21st Century at last," wrote Alphonso Arrivaderci.
But there were exceptions.
"So sad," wrote idcoug from Boise, without elaborating.
And then there was a contingent impatient with the issue.
"Good. Can we move on now?" commented 2times.
"Let’s focus 100 percent on balancing and passing the state budget now," urged Taxmaad.
In New Jersey on Monday, the state Senate passed a bill that would allow nuptials for same-sex couples. Gov. Chris Christie has said he will veto such legislation.
The Senate's vote sends the bill to the Assembly, which is expected to pass it Thursday.
It means the world isn't changing, it means the world has already changed," said Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, the state's largest gay rights organization. "So wake up and smell the equality."
Len Deo, president of New Jersey Family Policy Council, which opposes gay marriage, called the vote "an exercise in futility."
The governor has said he does not believe marriage laws should be changed, but he does support New Jersey's civil union law, which grants gay couples the legal protections of marriage.
Christie said he wants to put a change in the definition of marriage to a public vote.
But gay rights groups oppose a referendum. They see gay marriage as a civil rights matter and argue that it should not be up to the masses to protect the rights of a minority group.
Five years ago, New Jersey's state Supreme Court ruled that gay couples should have the same rights as married heterosexual couples. In response, the Legislature created civil unions.
Gay rights advocates say that because the civil union designation is hard to understand and still treats committed gays differently from married couples, the courts should eliminate civil unions and recognize gay marriage. A lawsuit seeking to do that is in the state court system.
Conservative Political Action Conference Feb 9 - 11 2012
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President’s 2013 Budget Hits Planetary Science Hard
By Adam Mann
February 13, 2012
3:46 pm
Artist's concept of MAVEN, one of the last Mars missions that NASA currently has planned, which will study the Martian atmosphere. Image: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.
The president’s 2013 budget, released today, asks for modest increases for some federal science agencies but trims funding to NASA. The request takes a deep bite out of Mars and outer-planet science exploration in particular.
NASA’s funding would fall to the lowest level in four years, with a total budget of $17.71 billion. The president’s request projects a flat budget through 2017, with no growth to even account for inflation.
“We are having to make tough decisions because these are tough economic times,” said NASA administrator Charles Bolden during a press conference Feb. 13.
As expected, planetary science — in particular Mars exploration and outer-planets missions — is the biggest loser, getting a $309 million decrease compared to last year. This means NASA will not be able to maintain previous commitments to the European Space Agency for dual Mars missions in 2016 and 2018, Bolden confirmed at the conference.
The hit to outer-planet exploration means a lack of funding for any new mission to study the moons of Jupiter or a Uranus orbiter, two projects that received high priority in last year’s planetary science decadal survey. The reduction might also affect ongoing missions such as the Cassini spacecraft that is currently exploring Saturn and its moons, though this will depend on the outcome of NASA’s senior reviews later this year.
The budget does include some winners. Manned exploration would get a boost of $200 million. This includes $2.8 billion for a new heavy-lift rocket system, which continues much of the work from the canceled Bush-era Constellation program that would take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit.
The long-delayed and over-budget James Webb Space Telescope would get $627.6 million, which is a more than $100 million increase over last year. This mission will require continued funding until its launch date, currently pegged at October 2018.
Other scientific agencies are also getting modest increases. The National Science Foundation would be given a 5 percent increase, receiving $7.4 million. While Obama promised to double the NSF’s budget back in 2009, the difficult fiscal environment doesn’t seem to make this possible. The U.S. Geological Survey could also be getting a $34.5 million boost compared to last year, bringing its funding to $1.1 billion.
The president’s budget request is just a taste of what may come. Congress has to agree on what the actual federal budget looks like, and legislators and the White House don’t see eye to eye on many issues.
One major area of contention is the requested $830 million for private spaceflight companies. Many Congress members, particularly those whose districts include traditional spaceflight companies such as Boeing, have scoffed at previous private spaceflight requests, eventually providing around half of the requested amount.
But the new private companies are looking to prove their worth. SpaceX will launch its Dragon capsule to dock with the International Space Station this year.
The budget request also makes no mention of the failure of last year’s bipartisan congressional subcommittee that was meant to find $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions. Members of this committee were unable to compromise, triggering an across-the-board cut to all government agencies. Congress will have to figure out what to do with this legislative requirement before starting deliberations on the final 2013 budget.
Office of Management and Budget
Budget Overview
Past BudgetsWe now face a make-or-break moment for the middle class and those trying to reach it. After decades of eroding middle-class security as those at the very top saw their incomes rise as never before and after a historic recession that plunged our economy into a crisis from which we are still fighting to recover, it is time to construct an economy that is built to last. The President’s 2013 Budget is built around the idea that our country does best when everyone gets a fair shot, does their fair share, and plays by the same rules. We must transform our economy from one focused on speculating, spending, and borrowing to one constructed on the solid foundation of educating, innovating, and building. That begins with putting the Nation on a path to live within our means – by cutting wasteful spending, asking all Americans to shoulder their fair share, and making tough choices on some things we cannot afford, while keeping the investments we need to grow the economy and create jobs. The Budget targets scarce federal resources to the areas critical to growing the economy and restoring middle-class security: education and skills for American workers, innovation and manufacturing, clean energy, and infrastructure. The Budget is a blueprint for how we can rebuild an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded.
KEY BUDGET FACTS
•In the Budget Control Act, both parties in Congress and the President agreed to tight spending caps that reduce discretionary spending by $1 trillion over 10 years. This budget reflects that decision. Thus, for all the priority areas we are investing in, difficult trade-offs had to be made to meet these very tight caps.
◦Discretionary spending is reduced from 8.7 percent of GDP in 2011 to 5.0 percent in 2022.
•Including the $1 trillion in discretionary cuts, the Budget includes more than
$4 trillion in balanced, deficit reduction so that, by 2018, we cut the deficit to less than 3 percent of GDP, stabilize the debt-to-GDP ratio, and achieve primary balance.
•For every $1 in new revenue from those making more than $250,000 per year and from closing corporate loopholes, the Budget has $2.50 in spending cuts including the deficit reduction enacted over the last year.
•2012 Projected Deficit: $1.33 trillion, 8.5 percent of GDP; 2013 Projected Deficit: $901 billion, 5.5 percent of GDP; 2018 Projected Deficit: $575 billion, 2.7 percent of GDP; 2022 Projected Deficit: $704 billion, 2.8 percent of GDP.
JUMPSTART JOB CREATION
•More than $350 billion in short-term measures for job growth starting in 2012, including many planks of the American Jobs Act that we continue to call on Congress to enact plus some new job creation initiatives. They include:
◦Extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance benefits for rest of 2012.
◦An upfront investment of $50 billion from the surface transportation reauthorization bill for roads, rails, and runways to create thousands of quality jobs in the short term.
◦Continuing to allow businesses to write-off the full amount of new investments.
◦$30 billion to modernize at least 35,000 schools and $30 billion to help states and localities retain and hire teachers and first responders.
◦Project Rebuild, a series of policies to help connect Americans looking for work in distressed communities with the work needed to re-purpose residential and commercial properties, creating jobs and stabilizing neighborhoods.
◦A new tax credit for this year focused on small businesses and that gives businesses that add jobs and wages a tax cut equal to 10 percent of wages added up to $500,000.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS FOR AMERICAN WORKERS
•$850 million for Race to the Top, which implements systemic education reforms in five critical areas, including early learning and care. The Budget also provides $300 million in new resources to improve child care quality and prepare children for success in school.
•A new $5 billion competitive program that will challenge states and districts to work with their teachers and unions to attract, prepare, and reward great teachers to help students learn.
•Make college more affordable and help achieve the President’s goal of the U.S. leading the world in college graduates by 2020:
◦Sustains the maximum Pell Grant award through the 2014-2015 award year.
◦A one-year measure to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling this summer and doubles the number of work-study jobs.
◦New reforms to help address rising costs by shifting some Federal aid away from colleges that fail to keep net tuition down and by providing incentives for States and colleges to keep costs under control.
◦Makes permanent the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) -- a partially refundable tax credit worth up to $10,000 per student over four years of college. AOTC helps more than 9 million students and their families afford the cost of college.
•Supports State and community college partnerships with businesses to build the skills of American workers, and creates a Pathways Back to Work Fund, which will support summer and year-round jobs for low-income youth, and will help connect the long-term unemployed and low-income adults to subsidized employment and work-based training opportunities.
AMERICAN INNOVATION AND MANUFACTURING
• $140.8 billion for R&D overall; increase the level of investment in non-defense R&D by 5 percent from the 2012 level, even as overall budgets decline; maintains the President’s commitment to double the budgets of three key basic research agencies (National Science Foundation, Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and National Institute of Standards and Technology Laboratories); expands and makes permanent the R&D tax credit.
•$2.2 billion for advanced manufacturing R&D, a 19 percent increase over 2012.
•Provides tax incentives for manufacturers who create jobs here at home and doubles the deduction for advanced manufacturing; ends tax deductions for shipping jobs overseas; and establishes a Manufacturing Communities Tax Credit to encourage investment in communities affected by job loss.
•Level funding for biomedical research at NIH ($30.7 billion); and to get more out of the money, proposes new grant management policies to increase the number of new research grants by 7 percent.
•Supports the goals of: putting one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015; doubling share of electricity from clean energy sources by 2035; and reducing buildings’ energy use by 20 percent by 2020.
◦Elimination of 12 tax breaks to oil, gas, and coal companies will raise $41 billion over 10 years.
BUILD AMERICA: A 21ST CENTURY INFRASTRUCTURE
•A six-year, $476 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill – expanded to included inter-city passenger rail – to create thousands of new jobs and modernize a critical foundation of our economic growth.
◦Fully paid for through current user-financed mechanisms and part of the savings from ending the war in Iraq and winding down operations in Afghanistan.
◦Get the most out of taxpayer dollars through: a “fix-it first” policy, consolidation of 55 duplicative highway programs into five, and using a Race to the Top-style competition to bring about reform.
•National Infrastructure Bank to fund projects of national importance.
• Builds a next-generation, wireless broadband network for public safety users.
◦Plan is fully paid for, and the sale of spectrum provides nearly $21 billion for deficit reduction.
AMERICAN VALUES: EVERYONE PAYS THEIR FAIR SHARE
•Calls for individual tax reform that: cuts the deficit by $1.5 trillion, including the expiration of the high-income 2001 and 2003 tax cuts; simplifies the tax code, lowers tax rates, and protects progressivity; eliminates inefficient and unfair tax breaks for millionaires while making all tax breaks at least as good for the middle class as for the wealthy; and observes the Buffett Rule that no household making more than $1 million a year pays less than 30 percent of their income in taxes.
•Scores of cuts and consolidations including more than $7.5 billion in administrative savings.
•Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee on largest financial institutions to fully compensate taxpayers for their extraordinary support. Raises $61 billion over 10 years and is intended to offset cost of TARP and the President’s mortgage refinancing program.
• More than $360 billion in savings to Medicare, Medicaid, and other health programs over 10 years to make these programs more effective and efficient and move our health system to one that rewards high-quality medicine.
•$278 billion in non-health mandatory savings through reforms in areas such as: agriculture subsidies and direct payments, federal civilian worker retirement, and the PBGC.
• Implements the new defense strategy to spend $487 billion less in the Department of Defense’s base budget than was planned in last year’s Budget. Overall defense budget, including overseas contingency operations, is 5 percent below last year’s enacted level.
Past BudgetsWe now face a make-or-break moment for the middle class and those trying to reach it. After decades of eroding middle-class security as those at the very top saw their incomes rise as never before and after a historic recession that plunged our economy into a crisis from which we are still fighting to recover, it is time to construct an economy that is built to last. The President’s 2013 Budget is built around the idea that our country does best when everyone gets a fair shot, does their fair share, and plays by the same rules. We must transform our economy from one focused on speculating, spending, and borrowing to one constructed on the solid foundation of educating, innovating, and building. That begins with putting the Nation on a path to live within our means – by cutting wasteful spending, asking all Americans to shoulder their fair share, and making tough choices on some things we cannot afford, while keeping the investments we need to grow the economy and create jobs. The Budget targets scarce federal resources to the areas critical to growing the economy and restoring middle-class security: education and skills for American workers, innovation and manufacturing, clean energy, and infrastructure. The Budget is a blueprint for how we can rebuild an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded.
KEY BUDGET FACTS
•In the Budget Control Act, both parties in Congress and the President agreed to tight spending caps that reduce discretionary spending by $1 trillion over 10 years. This budget reflects that decision. Thus, for all the priority areas we are investing in, difficult trade-offs had to be made to meet these very tight caps.
◦Discretionary spending is reduced from 8.7 percent of GDP in 2011 to 5.0 percent in 2022.
•Including the $1 trillion in discretionary cuts, the Budget includes more than
$4 trillion in balanced, deficit reduction so that, by 2018, we cut the deficit to less than 3 percent of GDP, stabilize the debt-to-GDP ratio, and achieve primary balance.
•For every $1 in new revenue from those making more than $250,000 per year and from closing corporate loopholes, the Budget has $2.50 in spending cuts including the deficit reduction enacted over the last year.
•2012 Projected Deficit: $1.33 trillion, 8.5 percent of GDP; 2013 Projected Deficit: $901 billion, 5.5 percent of GDP; 2018 Projected Deficit: $575 billion, 2.7 percent of GDP; 2022 Projected Deficit: $704 billion, 2.8 percent of GDP.
JUMPSTART JOB CREATION
•More than $350 billion in short-term measures for job growth starting in 2012, including many planks of the American Jobs Act that we continue to call on Congress to enact plus some new job creation initiatives. They include:
◦Extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance benefits for rest of 2012.
◦An upfront investment of $50 billion from the surface transportation reauthorization bill for roads, rails, and runways to create thousands of quality jobs in the short term.
◦Continuing to allow businesses to write-off the full amount of new investments.
◦$30 billion to modernize at least 35,000 schools and $30 billion to help states and localities retain and hire teachers and first responders.
◦Project Rebuild, a series of policies to help connect Americans looking for work in distressed communities with the work needed to re-purpose residential and commercial properties, creating jobs and stabilizing neighborhoods.
◦A new tax credit for this year focused on small businesses and that gives businesses that add jobs and wages a tax cut equal to 10 percent of wages added up to $500,000.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS FOR AMERICAN WORKERS
•$850 million for Race to the Top, which implements systemic education reforms in five critical areas, including early learning and care. The Budget also provides $300 million in new resources to improve child care quality and prepare children for success in school.
•A new $5 billion competitive program that will challenge states and districts to work with their teachers and unions to attract, prepare, and reward great teachers to help students learn.
•Make college more affordable and help achieve the President’s goal of the U.S. leading the world in college graduates by 2020:
◦Sustains the maximum Pell Grant award through the 2014-2015 award year.
◦A one-year measure to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling this summer and doubles the number of work-study jobs.
◦New reforms to help address rising costs by shifting some Federal aid away from colleges that fail to keep net tuition down and by providing incentives for States and colleges to keep costs under control.
◦Makes permanent the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) -- a partially refundable tax credit worth up to $10,000 per student over four years of college. AOTC helps more than 9 million students and their families afford the cost of college.
•Supports State and community college partnerships with businesses to build the skills of American workers, and creates a Pathways Back to Work Fund, which will support summer and year-round jobs for low-income youth, and will help connect the long-term unemployed and low-income adults to subsidized employment and work-based training opportunities.
AMERICAN INNOVATION AND MANUFACTURING
• $140.8 billion for R&D overall; increase the level of investment in non-defense R&D by 5 percent from the 2012 level, even as overall budgets decline; maintains the President’s commitment to double the budgets of three key basic research agencies (National Science Foundation, Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and National Institute of Standards and Technology Laboratories); expands and makes permanent the R&D tax credit.
•$2.2 billion for advanced manufacturing R&D, a 19 percent increase over 2012.
•Provides tax incentives for manufacturers who create jobs here at home and doubles the deduction for advanced manufacturing; ends tax deductions for shipping jobs overseas; and establishes a Manufacturing Communities Tax Credit to encourage investment in communities affected by job loss.
•Level funding for biomedical research at NIH ($30.7 billion); and to get more out of the money, proposes new grant management policies to increase the number of new research grants by 7 percent.
•Supports the goals of: putting one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015; doubling share of electricity from clean energy sources by 2035; and reducing buildings’ energy use by 20 percent by 2020.
◦Elimination of 12 tax breaks to oil, gas, and coal companies will raise $41 billion over 10 years.
BUILD AMERICA: A 21ST CENTURY INFRASTRUCTURE
•A six-year, $476 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill – expanded to included inter-city passenger rail – to create thousands of new jobs and modernize a critical foundation of our economic growth.
◦Fully paid for through current user-financed mechanisms and part of the savings from ending the war in Iraq and winding down operations in Afghanistan.
◦Get the most out of taxpayer dollars through: a “fix-it first” policy, consolidation of 55 duplicative highway programs into five, and using a Race to the Top-style competition to bring about reform.
•National Infrastructure Bank to fund projects of national importance.
• Builds a next-generation, wireless broadband network for public safety users.
◦Plan is fully paid for, and the sale of spectrum provides nearly $21 billion for deficit reduction.
AMERICAN VALUES: EVERYONE PAYS THEIR FAIR SHARE
•Calls for individual tax reform that: cuts the deficit by $1.5 trillion, including the expiration of the high-income 2001 and 2003 tax cuts; simplifies the tax code, lowers tax rates, and protects progressivity; eliminates inefficient and unfair tax breaks for millionaires while making all tax breaks at least as good for the middle class as for the wealthy; and observes the Buffett Rule that no household making more than $1 million a year pays less than 30 percent of their income in taxes.
•Scores of cuts and consolidations including more than $7.5 billion in administrative savings.
•Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee on largest financial institutions to fully compensate taxpayers for their extraordinary support. Raises $61 billion over 10 years and is intended to offset cost of TARP and the President’s mortgage refinancing program.
• More than $360 billion in savings to Medicare, Medicaid, and other health programs over 10 years to make these programs more effective and efficient and move our health system to one that rewards high-quality medicine.
•$278 billion in non-health mandatory savings through reforms in areas such as: agriculture subsidies and direct payments, federal civilian worker retirement, and the PBGC.
• Implements the new defense strategy to spend $487 billion less in the Department of Defense’s base budget than was planned in last year’s Budget. Overall defense budget, including overseas contingency operations, is 5 percent below last year’s enacted level.
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