We end a rough week of financial news with a few minutes of fun with The Capitol Steps, as they examine how the spending goes up even more with the Democrats in charge. The song is “Return to Spenders” and our guest is Steps star and co-founder Elaina Newport.
On Friday, the Congressional Budget Office projected a record $1.8 trillion deficit for the current fiscal year. It will be $1.4 trillion next year and it won’t get much lower for at least a decade? What do these numbers tell us? What’s to blame? How long can we sustain this much red ink? What is the financial impact of Obama following through on his big ticket items like cap and trade and government-run health care? We ask J.D. Foster, senior fellow in economic policy at the Heritage Foundation.
Was President Obama’s address to the people of Iran a smart gesture of goodwill or the sign of an international novice? Will it help or hinder the groundswell within Iran for a regime change? What policies should Obama be pursuing with respect to the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and next member of the nuclear club? And why is Israel pivotal in our relationship with Iran? We ask retired Air Force General Tom McInerney, former Air Force Vice Chief of Staff.
We have Thursday’s top news… How did the House vote on a bill calling for a 90 percent tax on recent AIG executive bonuses? Who do Republicans blame for the bonus fiasco? Who do the Democrats fault? What happened on Wall Street Thursday? What does President Obama say is the engine of innovation? What answers do military officials have for the increase in suicides among our fighting men and women? And what major policy change did New Mexico institute on Thursday? We have the answers as we bring you the biggest stories for Thursday, March 19, 2009.
Why did President Obama try to arrange third-party insurers to pay the cost of treatment for American war veterans? What kind of showdown can we expect on the president’s budget plan? How rough was this week for President Obama? And what grade should Press Secretary Robert Gibbs receive for his first two months on the job? We ask John Gizzi, political editor at Human Events.
Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter is disgusted over how the Wall Street bailout has proceeded as well at the latest controversy over the AIG bonuses. So why did he vote against taxing the vast majority of those bonuses? What does he make of the explanation for how those bonuses happened in the first place? Why has the TARP bailout been such a fiasco? Why does McCotter want to break up AIG? And why does he oppose the Wall Street bailout but support government assistance for Detroit automakers? We ask Rep. McCotter in an extended interview.
On Thursday, a House Judiciary subcommittee heard testimony about the allegedly fraudulent activities of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) during the 2008 campaign. So what exactly did ACORN do that critics allege was fraud? Did they just cross the line in registering voters or did actual vote fraud occur? What did lawmakers say at today’s hearings? And how comfortable should we be with ACORN having a role in the 2010 U.S. Census. We ask Heather Heidelbaugh, a practicing attorney who sued ACORN in Pennsylvania last year. She is also vice president of the Republican National Lawyers Association.
What message should we take from Nancy Pelosi’s comments that immigration raids in businesses and homes are “un-american”? What is the Democratic immigration reform plan? Is it much different than what President Bush proposed? Why are Republicans and Democrats to blame for the lack of border enforcement? What do lawmakers and President Obama mean when they push for “earned citizenship” for illegal immigrants? We ask California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who also discusses the impact illegals are having on the job market in his southern California district.
On Wednesday, AIG CEO Edward Liddy testified before Congress to explain his insurance company’s planned road to recovery, apologize for $165 million in bailout-funded bonuses for executives and say he’s urging all recipients to give back the bonuses. So what did we learn about AIG today? Can taxpayers see light at the end of the tunnel or are we pouring money down an endless hole? What does this episode tell about the wisdom or lack of wisdom behind the TARP legislation? Should Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner resign? Are today’s Fed actions smart or sending us down the road to major inflation? And should Congress pass legislation taxing almost all of the bonus money that AIG executives refuse to give back? We ask Texas Rep. Randy Neugebauer, a member of the House Financial Services Committee.
The Washington Times is reporting that estimates for government revenue through the Cap and Trade program in President Obama’s budget could well triple the $646 billion figure quoted in the budget blueprint. That means energy producers and industry could be paying Uncle Sam close to $2 trillion over eight years. How will this work? And why does this plan and others like it mean serious increases in your energy bills? We ask Dan Simmons, Director of State Affairs at the Institute for Energy Research.
