Archives for August 2012

Aug. 31, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement responding to a 2.8 percent increase in manufacturing new orders reported by the U.S. Department of Commerce:

“New orders in manufacturing increased by $12.9 billion in July. $5.7 billion of that was motor vehicles and parts. And $7 billion was for non-defense aircraft, largely owing to the Boeing factory in South Carolina finally opening.

“If the Obama Administration had had its way, Boeing would have never been allowed to open that factory in South Carolina without union labor. Today’s good numbers are in spite of Obama. He gets no credit. His government-owned car companies are still failing, and his actions to halt Boeing in South Carolina discredit his entire approach to restoring manufacturing jobs in the U.S.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 29, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the 0.2 percent upward revision of second quarter GDP from 1.5 to 1.7 percent by the Bureau of Economic Analysis:

“The Gross Domestic Product was revised upward by $10.2 billion in the second quarter, reflecting a $10.3 billion increase in housing and utilities, particularly, higher-than-expected prices for electricity and natural gas. That is not growth, it’s inflation.

“The happy talk is no longer going to work. The Obama economy is not producing jobs, it is only draining our wallets — with inflation-inducing easy money and a regulatory assault on electricity-producing coal and other fossil fuels that is driving up prices. The Obama Administration’s stated goal is to triple the price of coal by 2017. That will not grow the economy, it will cripple it.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 24, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the joint release by ALG and FreeMarketAmerica on the “weFight” video, the first follow-up to the viral sensation, “If I wanted America to fail”:

“As the political party conventions prepare to convene over the next two weeks, Americans for Limited Government and FreeMarketAmerica released this short video today reminding people why it is important to fight for limited government.  Created by the same team that produced the ‘If I wanted America to fail’ video which has been viewed by more than 2.5 million people on YouTube, ‘weFight’ serves as a reminder of the touchstones that make our nation great and the importance of continuing to stand up to protect our freedom through the election process.

“We hope that you are inspired to keep fighting for limited government and liberty, and will share it with your friends, even as the media and various campaigns deluge you with reasons to throw your hands in the air in disgust.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 23, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement responding to a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report showing that extended unemployment benefits are running out:

“In the past year, Congress’ extended unemployment benefits welfare scheme ran out for 1.3 million people. And there is still no work to be found for them. They have become permanently unemployed. Since Obama took office, the labor force participation rate has dropped from 65.7 percent to 63.7 percent, with about 4.8 million people who have dropped out and simply stopped looking for work.

“The data is simply devastating. The number of people employed has only grown by 2.7 million in the past year, not even coming close to keeping up with the growth of the noninstitutional population has grown by 3.6 million. Meanwhile, the number of people not in the labor force has grown by 2 million — in a single year! Since the beginning of 2008, a net 4.1 million jobs have been lost while the employable population grew by 10.7 million!

“The establishment’s hope was that by priming the pump with more than $3 trillion of monetary and fiscal ‘stimulus’ at the beginning of the recession, and ramping up the welfare apparatus in the near-term, eventually, a robust recovery would ensue, and the temporary measures could be repealed. But the government did nothing to make it more cost-effective to do business here in America, to encourage investment here. So, now we’re just floating along, no real growth recovery, and certainly no recovery in the jobs market.

“New college graduates cannot find work, those who lost their jobs in the recession still cannot find work 4 years later, and the government’s tepid support programs and ‘stimulus’ did nothing to turn the economy around. We’re dead in the water, no matter what the happy talkers say.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 22, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement responding to a Congressional Budget Office report warning of a deep recession in 2013:

“Today’s Congressional Budget Office report warning of a deep recession should Congress and the president not agree on a solution to the massive tax increases that will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013, is true to the extent that the tax increases will kill private sector growth and exacerbate the recession that we are rapidly descending into.

“However, should Republicans win control of both the House and the Senate along with the presidency in November, they should not cut a deal with Obama and Harry Reid now, the two major economic obstructionists of the past two years, in dealing with this fiscal disaster.

“Instead, Speaker Boehner and presumptive Majority Leader McConnell should promise the nation that they will make the current tax law permanent as their first order of business on Jan. 4, 2013, when the new Congress begins, and put legislation that is retroactive to the beginning of the year on the new president’s desk on Jan. 20 at 12:01 p.m.

“Our nation’s finances are too important to leave to the very lame duck, rejected politicians that are responsible for the emergency in the first place.

“The tax increases facing our nation are real and need to be stopped.  It is just plain stupid though for anyone to expect that the people responsible for creating the crisis to suddenly solve it when they no longer have to worry about what the American public wants.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 22, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today responded to Barack Obama’s claim of reforming the Medicare system when he said on the campaign trail in New Hampshire on Aug. 18, “My plan saves money on Medicare by cracking down on fraud and waste in insurance company subsidies”:

“Obama himself is the waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicare debate. He is wasting the American people’s time with fraudulent political claims, and abusing seniors through a campaign of fear.

“The $500 billion cut out of Medicare in Obamacare was based on the lie that the Administration would find the $50 billion of waste, fraud and abuse in the system — some 100 percent of all the medical fraud in the system — every year for 10 years. CBO actually scored it for them.  They’ve come nowhere near that goal, making Obama’s claim of deficit neutrality in his law nothing more than a big lie, and meaning that to pay for Obamacare, the money will have to come from somewhere.

“As it stands, the Medicare trust fund — consisting of hundreds of billions of IOU treasuries — will be exhausted in 2024. After that, only 87 percent of benefits will be paid, declining to 67 percent by 2045. And that’s if the Administration’s rosy economic projections come true over the next 10 years, which includes revenues to the Treasury rising to $4.8 trillion by 2022 from today’s level of $2.4 trillion.

“That figure is based on about 3 percent average annual growth every year for the next ten years; no recessions. We’re only growing by 1.5 percent annualized at the moment. Far short of the estimate, meaning revenue projections will most certainly fall way short of expectations.

“Under Obama’s approach, this in turn means his Independent Payments Advisory Board will most certainly be called on to ration Medicare to seniors in the coming years as the recession proves to be more resilient than we’d like. As opposed to Congress making these decisions, seniors will be at the mercy of a bunch of faceless bureaucrats. That’s one reason why we must repeal Obamacare, but overall, that’s the reason we need real entitlement reform right now from Congress. The cost of the program far exceeds its revenues, and if allowed to continue, will bankrupt the Treasury.

“Obama’s approach has been to pretend to reform Medicare while creating a Soviet-style rationing board to do his dirty work. Medicare as we know it will be dead before the next decade runs out, unless action is taken now. Obama’s prescription is to do nothing now, and pretend the problem away, which guarantees the very result that many seniors fear.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 16, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging the House of Representatives not to renew the $12 billion wind tax credit this year:

“The idea that we’re going to power the world’s preeminent economic and industrial superpower on 12^th Century windmill technology is so ludicrous as to not even merit serious consideration. But the Ivory Tower elites in Washington, D.C., have insisted that we do so, and as a result now taxpayers are on the hook for $12 billion a year for this fool’s errand. Congress needs to act now to repeal the tax credit.

“In the meantime, we need an honest evaluation by the Department of Energy of the true costs of producing energy. According to Department of Energy’s estimates, in 2017 it will cost anywhere from $97 to $139 per megawatt hour to produce coal. This estimate is used to make it appear that wind at $96 per megawatt hour in 2017 will be viable.

“But the only way they get there is by regulating coal to death. The Department of Energy has engaged in blatant propaganda. This report reveals Obama’s callous disdain and disrespect for the millions of families who earn their living through the production of coal or through the reasonably priced power that coal generates. 

“Coal only costs about $30 to $35 per megawatt hour to produce. The only way the Department of Energy’s 2017 projection can show wind to be viable is to triple the cost of coal.  Their cooked numbers include all of the regulatory costs that the EPA is and will be imposing on miners and coal-burning plants for new technologies by then.

“This is what Obama meant when in 2008 he said, ‘if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.’

“Wind should be free to compete in the marketplace along with other forms of energy. But anyone who argues that it should be subsidized is just breaking wind. If it cannot compete on a cost basis without subsidies and without using the power of government to squash competitors, then it is not viable.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 16, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging the House of Representatives not to renew the $12 billion wind tax credit this year:

“The idea that we’re going to power the world’s preeminent economic and industrial superpower on 12^th Century windmill technology is so ludicrous as to not even merit serious consideration. But the Ivory Tower elites in Washington, D.C., have insisted that we do so, and as a result now taxpayers are on the hook for $12 billion a year for this fool’s errand. Congress needs to act now to repeal the tax credit.

“Wind should be free to compete in the marketplace along with other forms of energy. But anyone who argues that it should be subsidized is just breaking wind. If it cannot compete on a cost basis without subsidies and without using the power of government to squash competitors, then it is not viable.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 13, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson to in a statement responded to the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate:

“The Ryan nomination guarantees that the fiscal cliff our nation stands on the precipice of, with a $16 trillion national debt, will be front and center in the presidential campaign going forward. Americans for Limited Government looks forward to engaging in that important debate in the coming months, which will ultimately determine our nation’s economic fate.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 9, 2012, Fairfax, VA— Today on the campaign trail Barack Obama said, “I believe in this American industry, and now the American auto industry has come roaring back. Now I want to do the same thing with manufacturing jobs, not just in the auto industry, but in every industry [emphasis added].” Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson responded:

“Obama has declared war on the private ownership and financing of American industry. Obama handed over much of Chrysler and GM to the autoworkers union while destroying bondholders’ stake in the companies.

“That is hardly a model for job growth in America, and reeks of Soviet-style industrial planning. Both of these companies were effectively seized by the U.S. Treasury in 2009 while the normal bankruptcy process was disrupted to benefit Obama political cronies.

“Obama’s revelation that he wants to this with every industry should send a chill down the spines of every person looking for a job in America. Does he want to nationalize every industry?”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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