• Category Archives News and Politics

  • Obama budget projects $943-million bailout for key housing agency

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The Obama administration’s proposed budget projects the Federal Housing Administration will need a $943-million bailout this year to stabilize its shaky long-term finances.

    The agency, whose mortgage insurance business increased dramatically during the Great Recession, is supposed to fund itself from premiums it charges homeowners. It has never received taxpayer funds in its 79-year history.

    But the agency reported in November that reserves to cover losses on some of the more than $1 trillion in mortgages it insures had dropped into negative territory for the year that ended Sept. 30.

    The FHA has permanent authority to draw the money from the Treasury and does not need congressional approval for the bailout.

    Full article: http://www.chicagotr … 0410,0,1768490.story


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  • The absurdities of the income tax

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    There is some finite cost to defending the borders, running a court system, and administering “justice.” For those who believe that government should do more (like conservatives and liberals), there is likewise a finite cost for building roads, running healthcare programs and taking care of the poor. That cost doesn’t change significantly overnight or even from year to year.

    But the income tax doesn’t reflect this. If productivity and therefore incomes double due to some new technology, the amount of money owed to the government doubles, even though there are less poor people, more private sector “infrastructure” projects and less crime (crime goes up during recessions, down during booms). The more productive Americans are, the bigger and more oppressive a government they get.

    Talk about a bad incentive.

    via The absurdities of the income tax


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  • ‘The neo-conservative era is dead’: Ron Paul announces DC think-tank

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Ron Paul has been retired from Congress for only a few months, but he’s certainly not shying away from politics. The former US representative has already announced his new project: the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

    In a press release sent to the media Friday afternoon, the Ron Paul camp confirms that the long-time Texas representative will launch a think-tank of sorts in order to carry on his ideologies after his time in office has ended.

    “After decades in and out of the US House of Representatives leading the call for a non-interventionist foreign policy and the protection of civil liberties, Dr. Paul is launching a revolutionary new vehicle to expand his efforts. The Institute will serve as the focal point of a new coalition that crosses political, ideological and party lines,” the statement begins.

    According to the press release, the Ron Paul Institute will focus mainly on two issues: education and coming generations.

    “It will fill the growing demand for information on foreign affairs from a non-interventionist perspective through a lively and diverse website, and will provide unique educational opportunities to university students and others,” his office says.

    “The neo-conservative era is dead. The ill-advised policies pushed by the neo-cons have everywhere led to chaos and destruction, and to a hatred of the United States and its people. Multi-trillion dollar wars have not made the world a safer place; they have only bankrupted our economic future. The Ron Paul Institute will provide the tools and the education to chart a new course with the understanding that only through a peaceful foreign policy can we hope for a prosperous tomorrow.”

    Ron Paul, 77, says he will formally unveil his latest endeavor next Wednesday at a conference in Washington, DC, only a stone’s throw from the congressional office he occupied for nearly three decades. Slated to attend the conference are the members of the Institute’s board of advisors, which contains a number of high-profile names including noted economist Lew Rockwell, the CEO of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and a longtime collaborator of Paul’s — he served as the congressman’s chief of staff from 1978 to 1982, and later advised the politician as he vied for the presidency.

    Also on the Institutes board is Rep. Walter Jones, Jr. (NC), Rep. John Duncan, Jr. (TN), former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH) and Judge Andrew Napolitano.

    Full article: http://rt.com/usa/in … neocon-ron-paul-786/


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