Is Default Possible?

According to some calculations, when taking into consideration our entire public debt at the federal, state and local levels, including unfunded entitlements and pensions our true debt picture exceeds $130 trillion. More than $100 trillion is attributed to entitlements. There needs to be a serious discussion on whether or not the United States can prevent itself from falling into default. This is especially troublesome considering a significant portion of our debt is held by China, and they have become increasingly vocal in their criticism of American economic leadership. The most powerful nation on earth defaulting on its debt obligations would seem to be pure science fiction. But truth be told, in 1933, the first year of Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency, the United States did default... Read More

Maybe Governors Should Run the Country

If you want proof that the federal government has lost its way on fiscal leadership, then look no further than the spending cuts being made by individual states. The message is clear that if states want to be fiscally sound they no longer can look to the federal government for help. Long before anyone in the Obama administration recognizes the folly of out-of-control spending, state governors are taking the lead and making the painful cuts that the federal government should have been making instead of racking up this year a whopping $1.4 trillion deficit. Perhaps most telling is that state legislators recognize that levying more taxes will not fix the economy. While the Obama administration is poised to raise taxes on small businesses (where 75% of new jobs are created) they are contributing... Read More

Egyptian Unrest Could Harm U.S. Trade Relations

Political instability in Egypt will negatively impact U.S. trade for the foreseeable future. Egypt has been one of our most stable trading partners in the Mideast and is currently the 34th largest export market for U.S. goods. The U.S. goods trade surplus with Egypt was $3.2 billion in 2009. U.S. goods exports in 2009 were $5.3 billion. Corresponding U.S. imports from Egypt were $2.1 billion. In an era of seemingly uncontrollable U.S. trade deficits with just about every country, Egypt has been a breath of fresh air. American products have historically been very popular with consumers in Egypt. Any time the U.S. enjoys a trade surplus, that’s good news good news for job creation and job retention. The biggest threat to the U.S. would be the closure of the Suez Canal, which is largely controlled... Read More

One War Too Many

While the nation is transfixed on the war of words going on in Congress, there are two other wars going on that seem to be ignored. Almost 6,000 U.S. servicemen and women have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, but their sacrifice barely makes the front page anymore. Instead, our time is spent watching two political parties snipe at one another, while real snipers and IED’s are killing our men and women in uniform. I recently had best-selling author Edwin Black on my Truth for America radio show and he compared America to a runaway train, careening into the future while most of us are oblivious to the important events that shape our destiny. New cell phone accessories, large screen TVs, video games and show business celebrities consume our attention while Iran is building nuclear weapons,... Read More

Where There Are Jobs, There Are Votes

While the Republican presidential candidate field has yet to gel, CNN’s Republican debate this week drew 3.162 million total viewers including a wide audience of younger voters, according to Nielsen Fast National data. There is building momentum for the Republican Party, even if some of this interest is coming from voters who subscribe to the “Anybody But Obama” doctrine. So why isn’t the Republican Party seizing this golden opportunity? It is time to get the message out that the GOP understands the mess this country is in and has a sound plan to get us back on track. Attacks on President Barack Obama will continue and accelerate but it is solutions people are looking for. Only 45,000 jobs were created in the private sector last month. That is pathetic and woefully below what we need... Read More

Neal Asbury: China Is Master of Deceptive Shell Game

China has become a master at slight-of- hand tricks, diverting our attention one way while they do something else to their benefit and our detriment. For example, they recently put teeth behind an internal anti-monopoly policy that seeks to stem price collusion and predatory pricing among Chinese manufacturers. In fact a law recently enacted attempts to stop manufacturers from setting “unfairly low prices” in the Chinese marketplace. While this gets positive world attention, behind the scenes China erects no such policies when it comes to their exports to the United States. The manipulation of their currency, the Yuan, gives them a tremendous advantage over US produced goods. In every way this helps China establish “unfairly low prices” which has become a pillar of their global... Read More

Reviving Small Business is Obama’s Biggest Challenge

The two things to understand about our economy are American entrepreneurs and small-business owners create wealth where wealth doesn’t exist. They expand the wealth pool of all Americans, not just themselves. By expanding America’s wealth pool, they increase America’s tax base. By creating policies that get our best-producing businesses feeling confident about the future, we solve all sorts of problems, especially job creation and the containment of our destabilizing deficits. The second thing we need to understand is Americans are longing to feel good again. We want our mojo back. We won’t feel good again until we are economically secure. We won’t be economically secure until we are all working. Yet, there are those that are fixated on a different path for small businesses: taxation... Read More

Hillary Clinton Has Caught Obama Apologitis

Looking at photos of Hillary Clinton laughing it up with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez last week, I think it’s clear she is showing signs of “Obama Apologitis.” This is a disease that first manifested itself in 2009 when President Obama embarked on his world apology tour going out of his way to apologize to our enemies for America’s policies, while largely snubbing our allies. To help jog your memory, the Heritage Foundation listed his top 10 apologies during 2009, which were largely seen as a diminishment of America’s international power and prestige. 1) In a trip to France he apologized that “America Has Shown Arrogance”. 2) In January of 2009, in an interview with Al Arabiya, he sent an apology to the Muslim World under the heading :”We Have Not Been Perfect”. 3)... Read More

Will 2011 be the Year of Compromise or the Year of Paralysis?

The year 2010 was like a film that flickered before us with the usual events playing out on the screen – politician’s posturing for ultimate domination. Then in November, someone spliced in a surprise ending. We knew that the GOP would take back the House, but then suddenly President Obama began supporting the Bush tax cuts, the same tax cuts he campaigned so vigorously against. We didn’t see that coming. But here are five predictions that will be coming. 1) The Obama Compromise is a Ruse. President Obama will use the Bush tax cut passage during the lame duck session of Congress to position himself as a man of compromise. However he will only pretend to compromise. He is fully committed to the progressive agenda. He will take one step forward then two steps backwards toward... Read More

Taxation as Self-Flagellation

The two things to understand about our economy are American entrepreneurs and small business owners create wealth where wealth does not exist. They expand the wealth pool of all Americans, not just themselves. By expanding America’s wealth pool they increase America’s tax base. Therefore by creating policies that get our best producing businesses feeling confident about the future we solve all sorts of problems not least of which is job creation and the containment of our destabilizing deficits. The second thing we need to understand is Americans are longing to feel good again. We want our mojo back. We will not feel good again until we are economically secure. We will not be economically secure until we are all working. Yet, there are those that are fixated on a different path for small... Read More