Where Did Your Tax Money Go?
By Amy PayneIt’s pretty unreal when you see it.
Your 2013 tax dollars—which are due today—went primarily to pay for government benefits.
See how this compares to last year’s breakdown: National defense has been cut, while the major entitlements picked up an even larger percentage.
Is this where you expect the government to spend most of your money?
Heritage’s Romina Boccia, the Grover M. Hermann Fellow, reminds us how we ended up in this situation:
Everything changed when the U.S economy crashed in 2008. Job losses and a drop in personal income led many more Americans to rely at least temporarily on government programs to make ends meet.Those “structural problems” Boccia mentioned are on display in the chart above. The federal budget is structured around entitlement programs—and they don’t leave room for much else. Here’s a sobering thought: “The federal government could cease all other operations, including its core constitutional duty to provide for the national defense, and would still end up in a fiscal hole within a generation.”
… But the worst is yet to come: The Congressional Budget Office projects that public debt will reach an economy-crushing 100 percent in less than one generation. Unlike the unpredicted drop in U.S. fiscal health brought about by the recent recession, this time, structural problems are driving the decline.
That’s right—we’re on track for all our tax money to go to Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid (including the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Obamacare), and interest on the debt. Don’t forget the debt. Your 2013 tax dollars covered only 80 cents of every dollar spent by the federal government. The other 20 cents were borrowed from younger generations.
This is why Heritage advocates entitlement reforms—we need to free our economy from these weights dragging it down. And that doesn’t mean we leave beneficiaries high and dry.
Where would you like to see your federal tax dollars go? Let us know in the comments.
BONUS TAX FACT:
Did you give the government an interest-free loan from your paycheck this year? If you got a tax refund, you did. Heritage’s Rachel Greszler looked at the numbers: The average tax refund in 2013 was $2,755. That’s $230 per month that a family could have been using.
Today Marks Deadline for New Yorkers to Register Their ‘Assault Weapons’
By Cortney O'Brien
The deadline
has arrived for gun owners in New York state to register guns the state
defines as “assault weapons” under Governor Andrew Cuomo’s anti-gun
SAFE Act.
It’s not hard to imagine why. “Assault weapon” is a political term created by gun control activists simply because they think the AR-15 “looks” scary. How else could one explain that the changes the NY SAFE Act makes are all cosmetic? The banned features don’t affect firing power.
Gun owners across the state have recognized this, rallying in the state capitol with their ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ signs to voice their displeasure and demand their Second Amendment freedom remains free. Some took their frustration one step further, sending their now illegal firearms to more gun-friendly states ahead of New York's registry deadline.
The penalties for ignoring the deadline range from a misdemeanor to a felony. The law allows for either charge, and the State Police say it will be up to prosecutors to decide which to apply.Despite the consequences of refusing to register, as of April 13, already 1 million New Yorkers have decided to rebel against the state, citing their Second Amendment rights.
It’s not hard to imagine why. “Assault weapon” is a political term created by gun control activists simply because they think the AR-15 “looks” scary. How else could one explain that the changes the NY SAFE Act makes are all cosmetic? The banned features don’t affect firing power.
Gun owners across the state have recognized this, rallying in the state capitol with their ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ signs to voice their displeasure and demand their Second Amendment freedom remains free. Some took their frustration one step further, sending their now illegal firearms to more gun-friendly states ahead of New York's registry deadline.
Allan Rice, a manager at Beikirch's, had five assault rifles that the law requires be registered. He converted one to avoid registration and shipped the other four to his son in Florida, where gun laws are far less restrictive.So now the question is: Will New Yorkers succumb to a law they disagree with and sell their AR-15 souls - or become criminals?
"Registration leads to confiscation, any way you look at it," Rice said.
Disgrace: WH Rejects Ft. Hood Survivors' Request to Meet with Obama
By Guy Benson....In 2012, nearly 150 Fort Hood victims and their family members filed suit against the Department of Defense, seeking compensation for their suffering and lost benefits. But the case has bogged down, and the Senate has balked at passing legislation that would give victims of the 2009 shooting the same benefits as soldiers killed or wounded in combat or terrorism attacks. Lunsford and other survivors had hoped that a personal meeting might persuade the president to intervene and break the logjam. "Right now, he only knows our stories second hand," Lunsford says. "We wanted to meet with him face-to-face so he could look us in the eyes and see our pain. That's the only way he's really going to understand our situation." According to their lawyer, Reed Rubinstein, roughly two dozen victims and their relatives were planning to attend. But they didn't hear back from the White House until the day after the memorial, when McDonough sent a brief reply: "After receiving your letter yesterday, and consulting with the White House Counsel’s office, we forwarded your letter to the Departments of Justice and Defense, who are leading the government's efforts to ensure the victims of the 2009 shooting receive the justice and benefits they deserve. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet your specific request for a meeting with the President yesterday."President Obama was unable to accommodate a meeting request from the surviving victims of the deadliest terror attack on US soil during his term in office. He was, however, able to accommodate a pair of high-dollar Democratic fundraisers on the trip, as well as a private meeting with gubernatorial candidate and late-term abortion champion Wendy Davis.
Surprise: Tons of Democrats Took Money From Koch Industries
By Daniel DohertyBy now you’re well acquainted with the Left’s demagoguery vis-à-vis Koch Industries. To the surprise of no one, Charles and David Koch have borne the brunt of the Senate Majority Leader’s endless and incoherent bromides on the Senate floor in recent months, in which he has branded both brothers a threat to our democracy. But while the hits keep on coming -- literally -- Democrats find themselves in a rather unfortunate position. As it turns out, lots of prominent Democrats have accepted campaign contributions on behalf of Koch Industries, including in a roundabout way the Senate Majority Leader himself:
True the Vote Witness Who Testified on IRS Scandal Pens Blazing Letter to Grandstanding Democrat
By Kyle Becker
....Further making the situation ironic and unsightly for justice-avoiding Democrats is that emails show Lois Lerner improperly fed Elijah Cummings’ staff tax information on True the Vote via email correspondence.
Engelbrecht responded in a blistering letter entitled, “No More Lies, Mr. Cummings; Tell America the Truth“:
Global Warming Nut Wishes for “Extreme Weather Event” to Kill Thousands of “Middle-Class White People”Washington is reeling as Rep. Elijah Cummings’ (D-MD) true role in the IRS abuse scandal has come to light. Emails released by the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee, of which Cummings is the ranking member, show Cummings and his staff communicating with Lois Lerner while the IRS targeted True the Vote for abuse.
“Today’s committee action reveals what we knew all along. Partisan politics and the weaponization of government against opponents of this administration is real and continues,” said True the Vote president Catherine Engelbrecht. “Elijah Cummings has blocked the IRS abuse investigation all along. We now see clearly that two branches of government have colluded to target and silence private citizens.
“America has come to a tipping point,” Engelbrecht said. “No more lies. No more cover-ups. No more collusion. Enough is enough. Finally, we have a chance for the rule of law to be re-established, thanks to the bold efforts of Chairman Issa and Rep. Jordan.”
Engelbrecht added, “We filed an ethics complaint against Rep. Cummings in February. Today we’re amending that filing to include this latest revelation. As I have said in my testimony before Congress; I will not retreat, I will not surrender, I will not be intimidated. I will not ask Rep. Cummings, Lois Lerner, Barack Obama, or anyone else, for permission to exercise my constitutional rights.”
By Ashley Herzog
I’ve always believed that “climate change” fanatics have ulterior motives besides saving the planet. They use it as justification to control how we live, eat, reproduce, travel, et cetera. And few quotes capture their authoritarian nature better than this one: “I’d like nothing better than if thousands of middle-class white people died in an extreme weather event—preferably one with global warming’s fingerprints on it.”
The quote is from a site called “Climate Nuremberg.” That’s right, these people believe that ignoring “global warming” is a greater evil than the Holocaust–and they’re itching to teach skeptics (preferably white ones) a lesson.
Part of being a science communicator is hoping a natural disaster kills as many members of the audience as possible, as soon as possible, with as much media exposure as possible. As a communicator myself, I’d like nothing better than if thousands of middle-class white people died in an extreme weather event—preferably one with global warming’s fingerprints on it. Live on cable news. Tomorrow…The hardest thing about communicating the deadliness of the climate problem is that it isn’t killing anyone.Emphasis mine. There you have it, straight from the source: “Global warming” fanatics applaud human death and destruction. Disasters like Hurricane Katrina or the 2004 tsunami put a smile on their faces. (If only they had killed more white people!) They love polar bears and rain forests, but hate people. How’s that for evil?
Glenn Beck Warns Americans Against Falling in With the ‘Right’s Version of Occupy Wall Street’
By Erica RitzThe controversy over a Nevada rancher’s decades-long use of public land without paying federal grazing fees has quickly become a national issue — one that Glenn Beck on Monday urged Americans to fully understand before taking a side on.
“We did some research online with PsyID today, and found that there’s about 10 or 15 percent of the people who are talking about this online that are truly frightening,” Beck said on his television program. “They don’t care what the facts are. They just want a fight.”
Beck said there are many “decent, small-government proponents from groups like the Tea Party” supporting Bundy, and they need to be aware that the controversy has drawn “violent, anti-government” individuals who are “the right’s version of Occupy Wall Street,” as well.
“People can spot anger and vengeance from a mile away,” the multimedia personality said. “When I saw that video when [protesters] were lunging and jumping at the agents, I thought, ‘this is our side’s Occupy Wall Street.’ It’s happening all over again, and it will end the same way.”
Though Bundy has grazed his cattle on federal land for decades, the rancher has refused to pay grazing fees since 1993. Last week, the conflict sharply escalated after federal agents arrived in an attempt to round up Bundy’s “trespass cattle,” only to be met by protesters.
Beck said he wanted to be 100 percent clear on one thing he believes all Americans should be able to agree on.
“We need to agree on, ‘we condemn those who use violence,’” Beck said. “Inciting violence doesn’t solve anything. I vehemently denounce anyone who even hints at such tactics.”
For years, Beck has advocated peaceful protest in the footsteps of individuals like Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ, and Martin Luther King, Jr. But, just like the left had Occupy Wall Street, Beck knows that the right will have angry advocates, as well.
“If we fail to turn to [God] now, and fail to follow the footsteps of the guy who said ‘shod your feet in peace,’ we will not succeed,” Beck reiterated. “I can’t make it any clearer.”
“It’s not who we are,” he added in conclusion. “We are not Occupy Wall Street. We are not the people who scream violent things. We are not people that shout them down. And it’s certainly not the way to win.”
PK'S NOTE: I'll bet the mainstream media won't even bring any of this up. This is my shocked face.
The accused killer, Frazier Glenn Cross, runs the VNN Forum, a prominent white supremacist website devoted to exposing what its contributors believe is a Jewish conspiracy controlling America.
...Sidney Blumenthal recently hosted a launch party for his son Max’s latest book, which makes extensive comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany.
Kansas Jewish Center Gunman didn't just Appear out of Nowhere
By Stu Tarlowe
....Frazier
Glenn Cross/Glenn Miller ran as a Democrat for Governor of North
Carolina in 1984. He also served three years in Federal prison on
convictions for weapons charges and white supremacist militia
activities.
In
addition to his avowed anti-Semitic and white supremacist views, Miller
is on record as being vehemently opposed to homosexuality and to
immigration from the Third World.
Now,
do I really need to point out how this reprehensible individual, and
his (alleged) cowardly and murderous acts on Sunday, will be exploited
and spun by the Obama regime?
The masters
of propaganda in the Obama regime will make Glenn Miller the poster boy
for everyone who dares to oppose or criticize it. We’ve already seen
anyone who dares to criticize Barack Obama or Eric Holder labeled a
“racist”; Glenn Miller will be paraded as “proof” of that.
Further,
Glenn Miller will be used to support the government’s already
all-but-successful vilification of militias (Surprise! Our Founders
intended for Americans to be organized into militias – “…Being necessary
to the security of a free State…” – and despite what the propagandists
would have you believe, militias are not automatically or presumptively
racist).
Miller’s
alleged crimes have successfully bumped from the news the story of
militias successfully (and peaceably) convincing Federal regulatory
agency snipers and SWAT teams to back down from their heavy-handed
overreach against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.
Soon,
Miller will be presented as the “face” of the Tea Parties, which the
regime has, since the Tea Parties’ inception, tried to paint as
“racist”. I have no doubt that Miller will also become the “face” of
anyone who dares to oppose unrestricted immigration or the homosexual
agenda.We’ve already seen such folks branded as “haters”.
For
a regime more and more at odds with its own citizens (and one which
seems to be actively, and more and more brazenly, seeking to undermine
the very notion of “citizenship”), a person like Glenn Miller plays
right into its own nefarious designs. As if his cowardly acts weren’t
tragic enough, they will now be cynically exploited by those who “never
let a crisis go to waste”.
Add the U.S. Postal Service to the list of federal agencies seeking to purchase what some Second Amendment activists say are alarmingly large quantities of ammunition.
Earlier this year, the USPS posted a notice on its website, under the heading "Assorted Small Arms Ammunition," that says: "The United States Postal Service intends to solicit proposals for assorted small arms ammunition. If your organization wishes to participate, you must pre-register. This message is only a notification of our intent to solicit proposals."
Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Washington-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, said: "We're seeing a highly unusual amount of ammunition being bought by the federal agencies over a fairly short period of time. To be honest, I don't understand why the federal government is buying so much at this time."
Jake McGuigan, director of state affairs and government relations for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said widely reported federal ammunition purchases have sparked conspiracy-type fears among gun owners, who worry that the federal government is trying to crack down on Second Amendment rights via the back door by limiting the ammo available to owners.
It's not just the USPS that is stocking up on ammo.
A little more than a year ago, the Social Security Administration put in a request for 174,000 rounds of ".357 Sig 125 grain bonded jacketed hollow-point" bullets.
Before that, it was the Department of Agriculture requesting 320,000 rounds. More recently, the Department of Homeland Security raised eyebrows with its request for 450 million rounds — at about the same time the FBI separately sought 100 million hollow-point rounds.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also requested 46,000 rounds.
Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, asked: why exactly does a weather service need ammunition?
"NOAA — really? They have a need? One just doesn't know why they're doing this," he said. "The problem is, all these agencies have their own SWAT teams, their own police departments, which is crazy. In theory, it was supposed to be the U.S. marshals that was the armed branch for the federal government."
Armed federal employees are often assigned to offices of investigative services, the offices of inspectors general, or other equally bureaucratic agencies.
For instance, regular Internal Revenue Service agents aren't equipped with on-the-job guns — but those affiliated with the agency's Criminal Investigations Division are.
The same goes for workers with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with the Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General, and with the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General.
The Energy Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Commerce Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development are a few of the federal entities that boast an armed division, tasked with investigating fraud and suspected criminal activities. As such, the agents get to carry guns.
"Most of these agencies do have their own police forces," said Jim Wallace, executive director of the Massachusetts-based Gun Owners' Action League.
That, perhaps more than federal ammunition purchases, is the larger issue, he suggested, and Van Cleave agreed.
"What's the need for that? Do we really need this? That was something our Founding Fathers did not like and we should all be concerned about," Van Cleave said, speaking of the expansion of police forces throughout all levels of government.
US Postal Service Joins in Federal Ammo Purchases
By Cheryl K ChumleyAdd the U.S. Postal Service to the list of federal agencies seeking to purchase what some Second Amendment activists say are alarmingly large quantities of ammunition.
Earlier this year, the USPS posted a notice on its website, under the heading "Assorted Small Arms Ammunition," that says: "The United States Postal Service intends to solicit proposals for assorted small arms ammunition. If your organization wishes to participate, you must pre-register. This message is only a notification of our intent to solicit proposals."
Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Washington-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, said: "We're seeing a highly unusual amount of ammunition being bought by the federal agencies over a fairly short period of time. To be honest, I don't understand why the federal government is buying so much at this time."
Jake McGuigan, director of state affairs and government relations for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said widely reported federal ammunition purchases have sparked conspiracy-type fears among gun owners, who worry that the federal government is trying to crack down on Second Amendment rights via the back door by limiting the ammo available to owners.
It's not just the USPS that is stocking up on ammo.
A little more than a year ago, the Social Security Administration put in a request for 174,000 rounds of ".357 Sig 125 grain bonded jacketed hollow-point" bullets.
Before that, it was the Department of Agriculture requesting 320,000 rounds. More recently, the Department of Homeland Security raised eyebrows with its request for 450 million rounds — at about the same time the FBI separately sought 100 million hollow-point rounds.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also requested 46,000 rounds.
Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, asked: why exactly does a weather service need ammunition?
"NOAA — really? They have a need? One just doesn't know why they're doing this," he said. "The problem is, all these agencies have their own SWAT teams, their own police departments, which is crazy. In theory, it was supposed to be the U.S. marshals that was the armed branch for the federal government."
Armed federal employees are often assigned to offices of investigative services, the offices of inspectors general, or other equally bureaucratic agencies.
For instance, regular Internal Revenue Service agents aren't equipped with on-the-job guns — but those affiliated with the agency's Criminal Investigations Division are.
The same goes for workers with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with the Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General, and with the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General.
The Energy Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Commerce Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development are a few of the federal entities that boast an armed division, tasked with investigating fraud and suspected criminal activities. As such, the agents get to carry guns.
"Most of these agencies do have their own police forces," said Jim Wallace, executive director of the Massachusetts-based Gun Owners' Action League.
That, perhaps more than federal ammunition purchases, is the larger issue, he suggested, and Van Cleave agreed.
"What's the need for that? Do we really need this? That was something our Founding Fathers did not like and we should all be concerned about," Van Cleave said, speaking of the expansion of police forces throughout all levels of government.
People who get food stamps outnumber women who work full time
By Rick Moran
Here's
a statstic that, taken by itself, doesn't really say much. More
American are recieving government assistance for food via the SNAP
program (formerly known as food stamps) than there are women working full time.
...The correlation between those receiving SNAP benefits and the total number of working women will continue to worsen as long as good paying jobs remain scarce and and families continue to break apart.In the average month of 2012, according to the Department of Agriculture, there were 46,609,000 people participating in the food stamp program (formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). That contrasts with the 44,059,000 women who worked full-time, year-round in 2012, according to the Census Bureau’s report on Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States.For each woman who worked full-time, year-round in 2012, there was slightly more than 1 other person collecting food stamps.
Perhaps
that's the way to look at these two statistics - a barometer of the
social health of US families. And it's not a pretty picture.
How the Obama administration turned the latest IPCC report into meaningless gobbledegook
By Jame DelingpoleEven by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's own lamentable standards, its new report - by Working Group III of the Fifth Assessment Report - makes no sense whatsoever.
Perhaps it never did but what definitely made it worse was the politicised meddling of the Obama administration.
Before the report's formal release, US officials - who had seen an earlier draft - wrote to the United Nations demanding it be amended.
"The discussion of the economic costs of mitigation is too narrow and does not incorporate co-benefits of action."Loosely translated this means: "If we admit how much we're spending to such little purpose, the taxpaying public is going to kill us."
So the report was duly amended to suggest that the benefits of wind turbines, solar panels, biofuels - not to mention the losses entailed by leaving fossil fuels in the ground - more than offset the massive costs and inconvenience involved.
This presumably is why the left-wing Guardian was able to give its coverage the headline "IPCC climate change report: averting catastrophe is eminently affordable".
Catastrophic climate change can be averted without sacrificing living standards according to a UN report, which concludes that the transformation required to a world of clean energy is eminently affordable.Perhaps this was an accurate summation of the report if you read it a certain way. But equally, it was accurate to report, as Breitbart London did, that it was basically a wish list for the eco-fascist new world order.
“It doesn’t cost the world to save the planet,” said economist Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, who led the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) team.
Or - as some other newspapers did - you could decide that the report's main take home message that the IPCC had now come round to the virtues of nuclear energy and was guardedly approving of shale gas.
How could the report lend itself to such different conclusions? Because it was written by a vast international committee and then tinkered with further by politicians in order to be all things to all men.
Problem is when you try pleasing everyone you end up pleasing nobody.
But at least there's one thing on which almost everyone ought to be able agree. This truly is the lamest report in the IPCC's history.
PK'S NOTE: Here's something fun:
'Electile Dysfunction': JD Winteregg Ad Warns Voters Against 'a Boehner Lasting Longer than 23 Years'
Speaker John Boehner's primary challenger is going there.
In a provocative new video from GOP candidate J.D. Winteregg, an announcer asks if Boehner suffer from "electile dysfunction"?
"Sometimes, when a politician has been in D.C. too long, it goes to his head," the announcer says as clips flash on-screen of John Boehner laughing with President Obama, John Boehner on the golf course with Obama, and John Boehner smiling while giving Obama a glowing "thumbs up" at the State of the Union address.
The ad - titled "When the Moment is Right" - is a spoof of Cialis commercials which air during 60 Minutes and other network programming.
Winteregg, a Tea Party candidate who paid for the ad, is a high school teacher. His recent Federal Election Commission filings show he has almost no campaign cash.
Boehner recently went up with television advertising in the Ohio district for the first time since Republicans took control of the House in 2010.
In closing, the new campaign spot warns: "If you have a Boehner lasting longer than 23 years, seek immediate medical attention."
In a provocative new video from GOP candidate J.D. Winteregg, an announcer asks if Boehner suffer from "electile dysfunction"?
"Sometimes, when a politician has been in D.C. too long, it goes to his head," the announcer says as clips flash on-screen of John Boehner laughing with President Obama, John Boehner on the golf course with Obama, and John Boehner smiling while giving Obama a glowing "thumbs up" at the State of the Union address.
The ad - titled "When the Moment is Right" - is a spoof of Cialis commercials which air during 60 Minutes and other network programming.
Winteregg, a Tea Party candidate who paid for the ad, is a high school teacher. His recent Federal Election Commission filings show he has almost no campaign cash.
Boehner recently went up with television advertising in the Ohio district for the first time since Republicans took control of the House in 2010.
In closing, the new campaign spot warns: "If you have a Boehner lasting longer than 23 years, seek immediate medical attention."
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