Archives for October 2011

October 13, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the failure of Congress to cut spending at all this year, as reported by Investor’s Business Daily citing U.S. Treasury data:

“U.S. Treasury data shows that despite promises to cut spending by at least $100 billion this year, spending in Washington, D.C. has increased in 2011 by $120 billion. That is simply unacceptable to the American people, who in 2010 voted to bring an end to Congress’ out-of-control spending.

“With the national debt set this year to become larger than the entire economy, there is no time for mere window dressing to address the government’s spiraling borrowing binge. In the midst of a credit crisis that is sinking the global economy, the last thing we need is more debt. Yet borrow-print-and-spend is all Washington, D.C. seems to offer right now.”

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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October 13, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement blasting the Obama Administration’s decision to impose its will over the economy in response to its failure to enact a $35 billion states bailout:

“The New York Times is reporting that the Administration, in response to the bi-partisan rejection by the U.S. Senate of its latest economic stimulus bill, will be announcing a series of regulatory actions designed to help the economy. What is ironic is that Obama’s EPA, Department of Interior, Labor Department and National Labor Relations Board, along with his support for ObamaCare and the Financial Services Reform legislation have been prime culprits in crippling an already weak economy.

“If Obama truly wants to get the economy moving in 2012, and save his job, he will roll back the job killing regulations and rulings created under his watch over the past three years and support repeal of ObamaCare. Unfortunately, that is highly unlikely as it would require taking responsibility for his failures and acknowledging that his Big Government agenda has failed.

“As Obama begins his rule-by-decree tour around the western United States, it will be important for watchdogs in Congress to ensure that this wild attempt to gain votes doesn’t overstep his Constitutional authority.”

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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October 11, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement warning of a potential Federal Reserve bailout for European and U.S. banks that bet poorly on European sovereign debt:

“With Belgian bank Dexia being nationalized, Spain and Italy having its ratings cut by Fitch, public opposition to bailouts mounting in Germany, Slovakia, and elsewhere, and a Greek default all but inevitable, it is becoming increasingly likely that Europe will be unable to contain the sovereign debt crisis to its shores.

“When it fails, U.S. financial institutions are said by the Congressional Research Service to be on the hook for over $640 billion in exposure to the European crisis. Without question the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and others will be called in to once again prop up financial institutions here in the U.S. and around the world. Already, the Fed is intervening by providing dollar liquidity to European banks. In 2009, the Fed propped up banks with $1.25 trillion of printed money to buy bad mortgage paper, $442.7 billion of which went to foreign banks.

“This must not be allowed to happen again. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke must not be allowed to fire up the printing presses once again to prop up the financial institutions responsible for the crisis we are in. Congressional committees should haul in Fed governors to testify and ask them point blank what the central bank is doing to prop up creditors in Europe that bet poorly on the debt of socialist governments like Greece — and secure a commitment of no more bailouts. The bankers made the bad bets. They should pay. Not the taxpayers.”

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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October 7, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement onthe latest unemployment numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing a 9.1 percent rate of joblessness:

“If not for 45,000 telecommunications workers coming off a strike, the Bureau of Labor Statistics would only be reporting a gain of 57,000 new jobs, hardly a cause for joyous celebration. The bottom line is that the amount of people unemployed again increased by 25,000, this time to nearly 14 million, and no amount of funny numbers can obfuscate that fact. The underemployment number — those looking for full-time work but can’t find it — was even worse, rising to 25.4 million.

“This marks the longest period of sustained high unemployment since the Great Depression, which marks a catastrophic failure of the Obama and Bernanke ‘stimulus’ programs. They cannot print and borrow enough money to turn this ship around when the problem is that government has rendered the nation uncompetitive globally with some of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, the most regulations, and whose inflationary policies have increased the cost of doing business.

“To get out of this ditch and create jobs, we must restore America’s global competitiveness by decreasing the cost of doing business, reducing the tax and regulatory burdens, and restoring sound money based on price stability. Until then, we will continue to bleed mercilessly.”

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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October 6, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement regarding the ongoing protests on Wall Street and elsewhere:

“The Wall Street protestors need to open their eyes to the fact that they are being used as pawns to promote a radical class warfare agenda. They are nothing more than tools for big labor organizations like SEIU, Marxist groups, radical environmentalists, MoveOn.org, and others. These are the professional left.

“In many ways, the frustration being vented against Wall Street is a natural consequence of Barack Obama’s class warfare rhetoric. They are following his lead. But what protestors should realize is that Wall Street’s investment banks are merely bit players in the financial mess we are in. They are only scratching the surface.

“It was government policies that loosened lending, weakened underwriting standards, pushed loans on those it turned out could not afford them, and allowed the obscene levels of leverage to creep into the system. It will be impossible to address the weakened state of the economy today without addressing these government-directed policies.”

Attachments:

Wall Street protesters scratch the surface,” by ALG President Bill Wilson at http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=3730 .

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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Oct. 5, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) today urged both houses of Congress to repeal the Department of Labor’s $500 million “green” jobs training program in response to an Inspector General report highlighting the program’s failures:

“When a program’s own Inspector General is calling for its elimination, you know it’s bad. The Department of Labor was given $500 million to find 80,000 people a so-called ‘green’ job, and instead has only found a fraction of that, at a cost of $25,000 per job placed. But even then it rigged its methodology to claim ‘green’ jobs that weren’t. The remaining $300 million should be returned to taxpayers, who were sold a hoax of a ‘green’ economy and ‘green’ jobs that don’t actually exist.

“We praise Congressman Darrell Issa for looking into this scam, and we urge a full investigation, including bringing Labor Secretary Hilda Solis before his committee to explain how she allowed hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to be wasted.”

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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Oct. 4, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today urged the House of Representatives to reject a $575 million expansion of trade adjustment authority:

“The $575 million expansion of social welfare, job training, and relocation expenses for allegedly outsourced workers is just a payoff to union bosses upset over trade agreements. Those who supposedly qualify get lavish benefits above and beyond what most Americans receive in the way of traditional unemployment, giving preference to unions that work the system to their advantage. This is not a wise use of limited taxpayer resources.

“The decision by congressional leadership, including the House, to accept a blatant payoff to a special interest bodes very poorly for the future of our nation. The American people are questioning the commitment of Congress to reducing any spending and the size of government. This is an outrage.”

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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