May 6th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the increase in measured unemployment from 8.8 percent to 9 percent by the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

“The bad economic news just keeps rolling in. With unemployment once again rising, this time to 9 percent, it is clear that the so-called Obama ‘recovery’ is a myth. The Bureau reports unemployment increased by 205,000 in March alone. As the so-called ‘stimulus’ and QE2 runs out this year, we expect more job losses will follow, particularly in the public sector, which shed 24,000 jobs last month.

“If the recession had been allowed to run its course to begin with, the economy would have naturally found its bottom, and resources would have necessarily been reallocated out of the public sector with greater speed. We’d already be in recovery.

“Instead, the federal government has seen fit to spend, borrow, and print more than $2.4 trillion to prop up the economyand save government ‘jobs’ that, in the end, could not be saved. The nation desperately needs a private sector recovery, but that will continue to remain elusive so long as government sucks up $2 trillion of resources a year to borrow at unsustainable levels. Instead of lending the government $2 trillion a year, the financial sector could be investing that money as equity, creating millions of jobs.

“As a result of these failed policies, growth slowed down to 1.8 percent in the first quarter, and inflation is up over the past year, with producer prices up 5.8 percent and consumer prices up 2.7 percent. Making matters worse, home prices are again on the decline as foreclosures rose 6.53 percent in March.

“The economy is in troubled waters, and Jimmy Carter stagflation is once again here. Until the government gets its spending under control, and removes unnecessary obstacles to capital formation, it will be impossible to conclude that the Obama ‘stimulus’ has been anything but a complete failure.”

Attachments:

“Double-Dip in Housing, Rising Inflation, and Soaring Debt Disprove ‘Stimulus,’ Threaten Ship of State,” ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano, April 27th, 2011 at http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=3281 .

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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May 5, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the reported start of talks on increasing the $14.294 trillion national debt ceiling:

“Congressional Republicans are wisely asking Barack Obama and Harry Reid how much, exactly, they would like the debt ceiling raised. It’s time for Reid and Obama to put up or shut up. If they refuse to put anything on the table, then Republicans should only offer enough of a debt increase to get through September 30, 2011, and then only with gargantuan, permanent spending reductions attached.

“We would suggest drastic cuts in return for increasing the debt ceiling, including $100 billion of discretionary spending cuts including the elimination of whole departments and agencies like HUD and Education, severe cutbacks in other areas like Energy, EPA, and Labor, and zero-funding things like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowments for Arts and Humanities, ending community block grants.

“But immediate cuts are not enough. Statutory spending caps are also needed on the total budget ratcheting down to 18 percent within five years, along the lines of the proposed Balanced Budget Amendment, or passing the Amendment itself. Only with real limits on Congress’ future spending can the budget ever be balanced some time in our lifetimes.

“Finally, hundreds of billions of dollars of cuts to so-called ‘mandatory’ spending must be included to prove a commitment to real fiscal responsibility.

“If Republicans are the only ones with the courage to actually put a proposal on the table, they should ask for everything that is necessary to bring the nation’s fiscal house into order. That proposal must include a path to a balanced budget some time during this decade. This will let the American people know what Republicans would do if Reid and Obama were not obstacles to passage, offering a clear alternative to simply borrowing and printing trillions of dollars until the nation is bankrupted.

“Whether or not Reid and Obama state an amount for increasing the debt ceiling, Republicans must in turn lay down their comprehensive approach to save the nation from insolvency in order to assure the American people they made the right choice in the November elections that sent House Republicans into the majority. If they stand with the American people and fight to balance the budget with spending cuts, the American people will stand with them.”

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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May 4th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged members of the House of Representative to support legislation reining in the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) effort to sue states that have enacted constitutional amendments protecting workers secret ballot rights, including Arizona and South Dakota.

“The NLRB has jumped to the front lines in its attempt to unionize America,” Wilson wrote in a letter to House members.

The bill offered by Representative Jeff Duncan (SC-CD3), HR 1047, specifically says, “No agency of the Federal Government may bring any challenge against a State statute or constitutional provision which protects the right of employees to choose labor organization representatives through secret ballot elections.”

Wilson said the issue of whether states wanted to have secret ballot unionization elections was a matter protected by the Tenth Amendment. “This bill would prohibit the NLRB from proceeding with a lawsuit against states whose citizens have chosen to put constitutional protections in place to ensure the right to secret ballot union elections,” he wrote.

The proposed legislation was prompted by notifications sent by NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe E. Solomon telling the four states that he had been authorized to file suit in federal court enjoining the states from enforcing state constitutional amendments passed by the voters in the respective states in November, 2010.

The states of Utah, South Carolina, Arizona and South Dakota have all passed such constitutional amendments, but so far the NLRB has only sued Arizona and South Dakota. Each passed decisively: Arizona (Prop 113 passed with 61 percent); South Carolina (Amendment 2 passed with 86 percent); South Dakota (Amendment K passed with 79 pcerent); and Utah (Amendment A passed with 60 percent).

So far, the bill has 30 cosponsors: Representatives Rob Bishop (UT-CD1), Dan Burton (IN-CD5), Jason Chaffetz (UT-CD3), Bill Flores (TX-CD17), Virginia Foxx (NC-CD5), Louie Gohmert (TX-CD1), Paul A. Gosar (AZ-CD1), Trey Gowdy (SC-CD4), Wally Herger (CA-CD2), Tim Huelskamp (KS-CD1), Steve King (IA-CD5), Jack Kingston (GA-CD1), Doug Lamborn (CO-CD5), James Lankford (OK-CD5), Patrick T. McHenry (NC-CD10), Mick Mulvaney (SC-CD5), Randy Neugebauer (TX-CD19), Kristi L. Noem (SD-CDAL), Joseph R. Pitts (PA-CD16), Mike Pompeo (KS-CD4), Todd Rokita (IN-CD4), Dennis Ross (FL-CD12), Tim Scott (SC-CD1), Pete Sessions (TX-CD32), Marlin A. Stutzman (IN-CD3), Scott Tipton (CO-CD3), Lynn A. Westmoreland (GA-CD3), Joe Wilson (SC-CD2), and Kevin Yoder (KS-CD3).

Wilson thanked Rep. Duncan and the 30 cosponsors, saying their support was “critical to protecting all states from the NLRB’s tyrannical imposition into state labor laws.”

Attachments:

Letter to U.S. House of Representatives, May 3rd, 2011 at www.getliberty.org/files/LetterNLRBLegislation5-3-11.pdf .

One-pager on NLRB taking legal action against states, May 2011 at http://www.getliberty.org/files/StateRightoVoteOnePager.pdf.

“National Labor Relations Board Facing Congressional Heat over Secret Ballots,” By ALG Communications Director Rick Manning, March 17th, 2011 at http://netrightdaily.com/2011/03/national-labor-relations-board-facing-congressional-heat-over-secret-ballots/.

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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May 2, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged the House of Representatives to pass legislation that would repeal a job-killing de facto moratorium on new oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico by the Obama Administration.

“The Obama Administration is currently stonewalling new requests to drill in the Gulf of Mexico,” Wilson wrote in his letter to House Speaker John Boehner and House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings.

The legislation will require the Secretary of Interior to act within 30 days on an application to drill.

“The Obama Administration embargo on Gulf drilling is having serious consequences on domestic production in the Gulf,” Wilson said, citing data from the Energy Information Agency (EIA). Gulf oil production will decrease over the next two years by 380,000 barrels a day from its 2010 level of 1.64 million to 1.26 million.

“That’s a 23 percent drop,” Wilson said. “Although partially offset by increases in on-land oil production, the decrease in Gulf drilling will result in a net decrease of U.S. oil production by 150,000 barrels a day over the next two years.”

Wilson said drilling in the Gulf would help the economy: “Increasing domestic oil production will help direct investment in the U.S., create jobs, and might place some downward pressure on prices.”

He cited a study by Dr. Joseph Mason from Louisiana State University predicted that if the Obama practical ban of deepwater drilling were sustained for 18 months, 36,137 jobs nationwide could be lost, including 24,532 jobs on the Gulf Coast alone.

Wilson concluded, “To be energy independent, the U.S. would need to more than double domestic oil production from its current level of 5.5 million barrels a day. Stepping up production in the Gulf is a good start.”

Attachments:

Letter to House Speaker John Boehner and House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, May 2, 2011 atwww.getliberty.org/files/LetterGulfOilDrilling 5-2-11.pdf.

“Obama’s Pain at the Pump,” ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano, April 25, 2011 at http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=3273.

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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April 28, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement onthe reported 1.8 percent growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the Bureau of Economic Analysis:

“Once again, the U.S. economy is slowing down, only growing at 1.8 percent in the first quarter of 2011. The reason is because of inflation: higher prices, particularly for food and energy, coupled with persistently high unemployment, crashing housing prices and a dramatic increase in producer prices. What we are witnessing is stagflation ala the 1970’s.

“Barack Obama has concocted a recipe for disaster in the U.S. economy not seen since Jimmy Carter was in office. Gold is more than $1,525 an ounce, oil more than $110 a barrel, and gasoline nearly $4 a gallon. The Producer Price Index has soared 5.8 percent in the past year as the cost of doing business soars, and consumer prices are up 2.7 percent. By next year, 10 percent producer inflation and 5 percent for consumers are very realistic possibilities.

“The reasons for our sorry state are simple enough. Too much money printing by the Federal Reserve, a 188 percent increase in its balance sheet by $1.78 trillion to $2.73 trillion since July 2008, is causing the inflation. Too much government spending and borrowing, with a $1.645 trillion budget deficit this year alone, is squeezing investment capital away from real businesses to government debt service and explains the lack of job creation.

“It’s going to take strong leadership to deal with these swirling clouds, and sadly, Barack Obama and Ben Bernanke appear as helpless as lambs to wolves. It’s time for a real change.”

Attachments:

“Double-Dip in Housing, Rising Inflation, and Soaring Debt Disprove ‘Stimulus,’ Threaten Ship of State,” ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano, April 27th, 2011 at http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=3281 .

“Obama’s Pain at the Pump,” ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano, April 25th, 2011 at http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=3273 .

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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April 27, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President (ALG) Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising the Massachusetts House, which isoverwhelmingly composed of Democrats, for decisively passing legislation restricting the health care benefits of public sector employees:

“The costs imposed by public sector unions are breaking the backs of state and local governments across the country, particularly health care benefits to government workers. If even Massachusetts sees the need to rein in public sector unions, in this case by restricting the health care benefits of public employees, then nothing should be holding back other states from doing so. Massachusetts now joins the ranks of Wisconsin, Ohio, New Hampshire, and others that are taking this necessary step toward solvency.

“This legislation, primarily backed by Democratic elected representatives, proves that responsible elected leaders regardless of party or philosophy can see the absolute necessity of rolling back the lavish benefits that have been granted to government workers. Throughout Massachusetts, this bill will save over $100 million for cities and towns, saving thousands of jobs from termination, and critically, will return control of spending on health care benefits to representative, elected bodies.

“The key to reining in spending, whether at the state, local, or federal level, is to rein these mandatory forms of spending. And that necessarily must include the privileges that have been given without question to the public sector unions.”

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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April 26, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the S&P/Case Shiller housing price index showing another 1.1 percent decline in home values for the month of February:

“The Obama ‘stimulus’ has failed to achieve its always unrealistic and yet essential goal of propping up home values closer to their bubble highs. Housing prices are still deflating to more realistic levels. The irony is that we should have just let prices hit the bottom without intervention in the first place, and we would already be in recovery. Now, Obama and Bernanke have prolonged the recession in housing by avoiding this necessary correction. They wanted a soft landing and, well, they got one. Good job.

“We have wasted more than $2 trillion on a lie. The American people were sold the bailouts on the basis that they were saving the value of their homes, and what they are learning now is the only effect of propping up failed institutions was to reward those who failed so remarkably. The proper course of action was always to allow a market-based correction to run its course, even if that meant allowing financial institutions that bet poorly on housing to fail.

“Now we are in a double-dip recession in housing, which Obama promised would be avoided if all his policies were implemented, which they were. Obama got everything he wanted, and he has failed. Unemployment remains high, home values continue to slowly contract, and the so-called ‘recovery’ is nowhere to be found. America needs new leadership, and less government ‘assistance’ that only makes the problems it claims to address even worse.”

Attachments:

S&P/Case-Shiller housing price index chart shows double-dip, April 26th, 2011 at www.getliberty.org/files/Case-ShillerHomePriceIndex4-26-11.PNG.

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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April 25, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement blaming the Obama Administration and the Federal Reserve for weakening the dollar and increasing oil and other commodity prices:

“The Obama Administration once again wants to blame so-called ‘speculators’ for the commodities inflation caused by its own weak dollar policies. Oil is soaring because of the weak dollar — it’s the only explanation that makes any sense. There is no oil supply problem, and demand is only slightly increased from a year ago.

“Yet, prices are soaring. U.S. crude alone has more than tripled from a low of about $35 a barrel in 2009 to over $110 a barrel today, and today gasoline prices are soaring quickly to $4 a gallon, and soon $5. The reason is the weak dollar.

“Since the last commodities bubble in 2008, the Federal Reserve has increased its balance sheet by $1.78 trillion to $2.73 trillion, a whopping 188 percent increase. Prices for food, gold, oil, and other commodities have all behaved accordingly. Price increases in a broad range of commodities indicate a clear inflationary problem, caused by the expansive monetary policies of the Federal Reserve.

“If there should be any investigation, it should be into the Obama Administration’s weak dollar policies that are destroying the purchasing power of average American families, who now have to pay even more for staples like food and energy.”

Attachments:

Obama’s Pain at the Pump, ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano, April 25th, 2011 at http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=3273.

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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April 21, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising the New Hampshire Senate for passing right-to-work legislation:

“The New Hampshire Senate is to be commended for adopting a right-to-work law by a veto-proof majority that will give workers the choice of whether or not they want to pay union dues. The issue comes down to individual choice, and whether New Hampshire and other states are going to respect the right of the freedom of association.

“This follows the House’s passage of similar right-to-work legislation, and the historic passage of a balanced budget that reins in out-of-control public sector unions. The budget also takes the necessary step of increasing public employee contributions to their own pension funds, and now needs Senate approval.

“New Hampshire is taking the lead in pushing back against the excesses of public sector unions, and restoring the freedom of choice to its citizens to decide for themselves who they associate with. Now, the House and Senate need to work together to produce a right-to-work bill that will pass both houses by veto-proof margins.”

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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