The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 62% believe tax cuts are a better way to create jobs and fight unemployment. Only 21% believe that additional stimulus spending is a more effective tool. Earlier this year, as the first stimulus package was being debated in Congress, 62% of voters wanted the plan to have more tax cuts and less spending.

Given a different choice today, 51% believe canceling the rest of the stimulus money would create more jobs while 32% say spending the money would be the better approach to job creation. These findings are consistent with earlier polling. Most Americans say that, generally speaking, increased government spending is bad for the economy. Earlier this year, before the unemployment rate had reached its current highs, 45% wanted to cancel the rest of the stimulus spending while just 36% disagreed.

The survey also found that most voters are skeptical about claims of government job creation. Most (58%) say it’s unlikely that the stimulus plan has saved or created more than 600,000 jobs.

They just hate that a Black man is in the White House, I’m sure. Plus, they are probably all wingnuts and fascists, maybe even Christianists and Fundies.

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The unemployment rate rose from 9.8 to 10.2 percent in October, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The largest job losses over the month were in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade.
In October, the number of unemployed persons increased by 558,000 to 15.7 million. The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point to 10.2 percent, the highest rate since April 1983. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 8.2 million, and the unemployment rate has grown by 5.3 percentage points. (See table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (10.7 percent) and whites (9.5 percent) rose in October. The jobless rates for adult women (8.1 percent), teenagers (27.6 percent), blacks (15.7 percent), and Hispanics (13.1 percent) were little changed over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 7.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was little changed over the month at 5.6 million. In October, 35.6 percent of unemployed persons were jobless for 27 weeks or more. (See table A-9.)
The civilian labor force participation rate was little changed over the month at 65.1 percent. The employment-population ratio continued to decline in October, falling to 58.5 percent. (See table A-1.)

Ed Morrissey:

The breaking of the psychological barrier of double-digit unemployment is a watershed moment for the Obama administration. It has continued to claim success in its Porkulus effort with shell-game “saved or created” metrics for jobs while unemployment rises unabated. Meanwhile, Obama pushed Congress to spend trillions of dollars we don’t have on efforts that have nothing to do with employment or revitalizing the economy. Even the latest CNN poll shows a 17-point swing to the worse for Obama on economics.
This is now Obama’s economy. He owns the double-digit unemployment level, having bought it with the $787 billion stimulus plan that he promised would keep unemployment no higher than 8%.

Mark Tapscott:

It’s time for Obama and Democratic congressional leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to step back from their radical plans to vastly expand federal power, spending, deficits and taxes, and instead reach out to conservatives in both parties who understand how to make the economy grow with tax cuts, reduced bureaucracy, and lower government spending. They also understand the urgency of achieving U.S. energy independence by quickly adopting the “all-of-the-above” policy of freeing America’s abundant conventional energy resources while encouraging alternative sources. In other words, stop playing ideological games and get serious about restoring economic growth before millions more jobs are lost.

Political Byline:

These unemployment numbers are just a ripple effect of all of this. Bush had a hand in it, as well as Obama. This is what happens when you elect faux Conservatives as Republicans and it is what happens when you elect Socialists.

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I have been missing from the site for several days and I’d like to explain why. I attended the State Policy Network 17th Annual conference in beautiful Ashville, North Carolina. Here is what I found:

Some final thoughts on the State Policy Network’s 17th Annual Conference.

It was invigorating to be able to share a conference with so many folks of like mind, a conservative, free market, liberty-minded mien. And with nearly 500 participants, the biggest conference they’ve yet had, it was something very worth attending if you are interested in furthering these sorts of policies among the various states.

But I have to say one thing that this conference proved and it is something that is, in the end, detrimental for the country. This was a 500 person conference where each participant spent no less than $1,000 to attend, many spent far more. There we saw free market think tanks from every state all trying to find ways to defeat the extreme Obama left. We have all this effort, all this money, all this time spent to defeat liberalism all in evidence at the conference. While that is good because it needs to be done, the sad thing is that it has to be done in the first place. The fact that this conference gets bigger every year and that more and more people from across the country have created state policy organizations to fight the un-American left is sad, when you get right down to it.

The left has become so pervasive, so detrimental to America’s economic, social, and military health that these 500 people who are representing many thousands more in their employ, who have invented their various organizations to save the livelihoods or many millions of Americans yearning for a return to America’s greatness, have been forced to take time out of their lives and money from their pockets to fight the left.

Many conservative groups are late to this game as the left has been doing this for many decades. But the fact that so many have come into being shows that the fight is not going ignored by the right. So, even as it is a shame that the fight has to be fought at all, it is heartening that it has been joined.

And lastly, this on the use of the Internet among these groups. In my discussions I found that some of these think tanks have good web presence, some are just feeling it out, and some have no web presence at all. But here is the worst part. Few of them really have a general public friendly out reach on line. As all of you who know me understand, I am all about putting current events and issues in reader friendly pieces of between 300 and 500 words length. Just enough for people to get the idea of what is going on and then links to sources for the reader to find more depth.

I wish that more of these think tanks and policy organizations had blogs that had short, easy to read, public friendly entries where people could get fired up about the important issues. Sure a 500 page white paper is a necessary thing and great to have but these sorts of things are only read by other think tankers and political wonks. Such long, dry, in depth research — much as it is needed — cannot appeal to the general public. And, whether these groups understand it or not, it is the general public, the voters, that they need on their side. Not just other policy wonks or mere politicians.

In any case, I know that all these organizations were in various stages of increasing their web presence, but they need to do it at light speed, not leisurely. I hope that they do get in gear.

My previous posts on the SPN2009 event:

SPN 2009 Conference: Final Day

State Policy Network Conference Update

The 17th Annual State Policy Network Conference

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Apparently, Speaker Pelosi is getting a bit concerned that this healthcare fight is getting out of her control (do ya think?) and she wants to force a vote through this Saturday.

For his part, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) says, HR 3962 is a “freight train of runaway federal spending, bloated bureaucracy, mandates and higher taxes.”

Pence is correct that the iron boot of Obama’s government will come down on the necks of each and every citizen if these mandates and this government intervention comes to pass. Obamacare will make healthcare more expensive, harder to get, and of lesser quality. In truth, there is no other possible outcome as has been seen in every country that has tried it already.

Mike Pence on the House Version of Obamacare:

(Cross posted at HealthcareHorseRace.com.)

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Faced with anxiety in financial markets about the huge federal deficit and the potential for it to become an electoral liability for Democrats, the White House and Congressional leaders are weighing options for narrowing the gap, including a bipartisan commission that could force tax increases and spending cuts.

Spending cuts? Good luck with that. Whatever they do cut will have about as much meaning as the $100 million he cut from his $3.5 trillion budget. But, Democrats never met a tax they did not like. They will surely allow the 2001/2003 tax cuts to expire in full, and not pass any legislation to make Obama’s “if you make less then $250k, your taxes will not go up one dime” promise go away. Obama’s promise of a “tax cut for 95% of working Americans” has yet to be taken up, and certainly won’t be considered.

And any Republican who decides to work with Democrats on raising taxes might as well resign. Lefties and others can whine about “ideological purity,” but, if a Republican wants to raise taxes, they aren’t Republicans, much less Conservatives.

As far as the taxes go, they are already looking at nickle and dime types, such as the soda tax. They considered an increase in the federal gas tax. Just a bit more tax on alcohol. You name it, they will find a way to tax it.

But even the idea of a panel to bridge the partisan divide has run into partisan objections. Many Democrats, including in the White House, are loath to cede such far-reaching decisions to a commission and doubt Republicans’ willingness to compromise. And most Republicans remain adamantly opposed to tax increases, leaving the prospects for any bipartisan approach limited at best.

What the White House and Congressional Democrats want is political cover, which they will not get.

The proponents, however, are pressing for a Senate vote this month. “If we have the same process and the same people, we are going to get the same results,” said Senator Evan Bayh, Democrat of Indiana, who recently met with Mr. Obama to discuss the idea. “The Democratic Party wants to spend more than we can afford; the Republican Party tends to want to cut taxes more than we can afford. So we are stuck.”

The Republican Party believes that the People should keep the majority of the money they earn. Democrats believe the money the People earn is the governments.

The main driver of long-term deficits is the chasm between the benefit programs Medicare and Medicaid, which are growing faster than the economy, and federal tax collections, which are at one of their lowest levels in many decades relative to the size of the economy.

So, by all means, let’s create more federally run health systems.

When those of us in Real Life have money issues, we (usually) cut back and live within our budget. Government, particularly Democrats, should learn to do the same. Raising taxes will reduce spending through the economy.

Just remember

And

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As we at SayNoToACORN.com are fighting to help inform you about what you can do to impress upon our local and federal officials to distance themselves from ACORN, the other side — those that support the actions of ACORN — are also organizing. This fact proves that we cannot just sit idly by and hope that things go our way. We must act to make sure our politicians listen to us and defund this criminal organization. We must speak because our opponents definitely are.

Once again, Byron York reports on this story and he finds a webpage trying to cajole our lawmakers into increasing ACORN’s federal funding instead of eliminating it. York finds a site called defoxamerica.com that serves to both attack Fox News and advocate for increased funding for ACORN.

With Congress getting ready to pass a continuing resolution that might — or might not — extend the ban on federal funds for ACORN, there’s a new campaign urging lawmakers to restore federal funding for the community organizing group. The website DeFOX America, which is devoted both to attacking Fox News and defending ACORN, is asking readers to sign a petition urging Congress “to stand up to [Fox's] McCarthyite tactics by voting against any unconstitutional legislation that singles out specific organizations. This includes the continuing resolution that cuts off Federal support to the national anti-poverty group ACORN.”

This webpage is being funded by an extremist, left-wing Hollywood filmmaker named Robert Greenwald.

So, as we can see, the other side of this issue is not remaining silent. They, too, are urging their lawmakers to action in this case to re-instate funding for ACORN. If we expect to keep the criminal organization ACORN off the government welfare roles, then we MUST speak up.

It is up to YOU to stop this. If you want to keep our tax dollars away from ACORN, act now.

The nature of the intertwined association between government and ACORN is why we ask that you join us and Say NO to ACORN.

Sign the petition and tell Governor Quinn that you want a real investigation to end corruption for good.

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In Ansonia, Conn., $2.3 million in federal stimulus funds is being used for insect research, specifically the “rearing [of] large numbers of anthropoids” which includes the “Asian long-horned beetle, the nun moth and the wooly adelgid,” the New Haven Advocate reported.

Duluth, Minn., rarely known for its high temperatures, received $6 million in economic stimulus funds for a snowmaking facility, even though it is the 15^th snowiest city in America, according to City-Data.com.

As much as $30 million in federal funds will go to spring training facilities for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, two Major League Baseball teams. The full cost of the training complex in Scottsdale, Ariz., is $100 million.

These were just three projects – ranked numbers five, six and 10 respectively – being funded by the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law by President Barack Obama in February. The goal of this economic stimulus bill was to revive the ailing economy.

Isn’t that special? It gets worse

But Senate Republicans Friday released a ranking of “10 Stimulus Projects to Remember.” It cites real projects funded by the stimulus while questioning (and poking fun at) their alleged effectiveness. The projects in the rankings are described with quotations from local newspapers.

In March, both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden pledged that the stimulus funding would be closely watched to ensure it is properly spent.

“And so I’ve said before – I know Joe emphasized this point to you earlier – if we see money being misspent, we’re going to put a stop to it, and we will call it out and we will publicize it,” Obama said.

I guess it depends on your definition of “misspent.” Certainly, $300K to map radioactive rabbit poo can’t be waste, can it? Don’t worry, Sheriff Joe will get right on it.

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Representative James Clayburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, is expressing reservations about the “excise” tax on so-called Cadillac healthcare plans currently in the Senate’s version of Obamacare.

Clayburn, the House Democratic Whip, said that this excise tax violated Obama’s pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class.

“I do not want to see anything jeopardize the president’s promise not to raise taxes on the middle-class,” Clyburn told MSNBC. “And that could very well get us there.”

Clayburn joins Big Unions in denouncing the tax plan as an attack on the middle class.

The high-end healthcare excise tax plan in the Senate’s Baucus bill is supposed to be levied on insurance companies, but it is clear that these taxes will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums. And then only if insurance companies even bother to offer such high-end plans to tax in the first place.

In place of the tax on Cadillac plans in the Senate bill, the House plan would penalize taxpaying families with a combined income of $1 million annually and individuals that earn more than $500,000 a year.

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Reports have emerged over the behind-closed-doors deal that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is desperately trying to make with Big Unions in order to get the waters smoothed for his Obamacare policies. These reports show where Reid’s sympathies lie: with union bosses and not with the voters.

The Hill reported that Reid made “several significant concessions” to organized labor to smooth the way for his healthcare policies.

We’ve reported in the past that Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, has been highly skeptical of Obamacare because of the punitive tax placed on so-called Cadillac healthcare plans. Trumka feels that this tax will hit his membership too hard. For several decades unions have often foregone hourly wage hikes in order to take on richer benefits the result is that union members often have more extensive healthcare plans than most American workers.

Legislation passed by the Senate Finance Committee would impose a 40 percent excise tax on family plans costing more than $21,000, a provision estimated to raise $201 billion for healthcare reform. Under heavy pressure from unions, Reid has increased the threshold so that only family plans costing $23,000 or more would be taxed, said a source familiar with the bill.

The Hill reported that Trumka “praised Reid” for “trying to lessen the impact” of the tax on cadillac healthcare plans.

Still The Hill reports that Trumka had concerns yet.

Trumka said his union would not support an “opt in/opt out” compromise on the public option but he said it was a step in the right direction.

PoliticsDaily.com went further into detail about Trumka’s heartburn over a lack of the public option making his “praise” of Reid seem less meaningful. Trumka is noted on his feelings about the “public option.”

With Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid poised to announce that the Senate version of health care reform will include a public option that would let states opt-out of the program, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Monday that his members do not want anything less than a “robust” public option provision. “We cannot be in favor of reform for reform’s sake,” he said. “We have to make sure that reform is real and we have to be honest about that.”

Of course, the reason that Trumka wants a public option is because he and other union chiefs want to cut older member’s generous benefits and unions want the pubic option for older members to fall back upon if necessary. These cuts are wanted because union pension plans are universally in much trouble. It isn’t just the AFL-CIO finding pensions woefully underfunded, just about every union in the country is having pension troubles.

In any case, some unions are fighting Reid on his Obamacare plans. Coupled with right leaning Democrats putting pressure on Reid to dump the public option, we find that Obamacare is not on an easy road to passage.

(Cross posted at HealthcareHorseRace.com.)

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But that was then…

On October 22 Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D, Calif) was sadly successful in getting an amendment passed in the House Financial Services Committee that would allow ACORN to become an official government actor in setting regulations for financial institutions.

You read that right. Rep. Waters thought it would be a great idea to give federal power to an organization that has repeatedly broken multiple state election laws in nearly every state in the union and an organization that has been guilty of covering up the embezzlement of nearly five million dollars of its own funds by one of its highest ranking members.

Republican Representative Spencer Bachus (R, Alabama) ranking Republican of the Financial Services Committee reported of Rep. Waters’ amendment to H.. 3126.

The Waters amendment adds to the CFPA Oversight Board 5 representatives from the fields of “consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights, representatives of depository institutions that primarily serve underserved communities, or representatives of communities that have been significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgages” to join Federal banking regulators in advising the Director on the consistency of proposed regulations, and strategies and policies that the Director should undertake to enforce its rules.

By making representatives of ACORN and other consumer activist organizations eligible to serve on the Oversight Board, the amendment creates a potentially enormous government sanctioned conflict of interest. ACORN-type organizations will have an advisory role on regulating the very financial institutions from which they receive millions of dollars annually in direct corporate contributions and benefit from other financial partnerships and arrangements. These are the same organizations that pressured banks to make subprime mortgage loans and thus bear a major responsibility for the collapse of the housing market.

And here is the point. Many Congressmen have been heard to say that ACORN should be defunded. But without the voices of the voters back home, this temporary lapse in Congressional largess to ACORN will be just that, temporary.

As we can see with Maxine Waters slipping yet another payoff to ACORN into congressional rules, government cannot be trusted to hold the line against criminal enterprises like ACORN. And it isn’t just Congress we have to worry about. Democrats all across the country are looking for ways to give ACORN payoffs in the dead of night when the voters aren’t looking. And some Republicans that get large campaign donations from ACORN are not much different.

It takes the continued pressure from voters to keep our government officials honest. Your voice is needed to tell our politicians both at the state level and the federal level to dump ACORN.

The nature of the intertwined association between government and ACORN is why we ask that you join us and Say NO to ACORN.

Sign the petition and tell Governor Quinn that you want a real investigation to end corruption for good.

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