| Businessman Cain enters 2012 GOP presidential race May 21, 2011, 9:24 p.m. EDT Associated Press Journal By Calvin Lee Ledsome Sr., Owner and Founder of: http://www.LedSomeBioMetrics.com Hello Reader, What Party Do You Want Running The US Government 2013? Selection Poll B.O.Page! ATLANTA (AP) — Herman Cain has run a pizza chain, hosted a talk radio show and sparred with Bill Clinton over health care. He’s never held elected office. Now the tea party favorite wants to be president. “In case you accidentally listen to a skeptic or doubting Thomas out there, just to be clear … I’m running for president of the United States, and I’m not running for second,” he told a crowd at Centennial Olympic Park on Saturday. Chants of “Herman” erupted from the crowd of thousands in downtown Atlanta. The announcement by the businessman, author and radio talk show host that he was joining the expanding Republican field came after months of traveling around the country to introduce himself to voters. Now the 65-year-old will see if he can use that grass-roots enthusiasm to turn a long-shot campaign into a credible bid. Cain supports a strong national defense, opposes abortion, backs replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax and favors a return to the gold standard. He said President Barack Obama “threw Israel under the bus” because he sought to base Mideast border talks partly on the pre-1967 war lines, and criticized the Justice Department for challenging Arizona’s tough crackdown on illegal immigration. “We shouldn’t be suing Arizona,” he said to cheers. “We ought to send them a prize.” Cain lost a three-way Republican U.S. Senate primary bid in Georgia in 2004 with one-quarter of the vote. His “Hermanator” political action committee has taken in just over $16,000 this year. He said he’s running “a bottoms-up, outside-the-box campaign.” Supporters say he taps into the tea party-fueled desire for plain-speaking citizen candidates. Born in Memphis, Tenn., and raised in Atlanta, Cain is the son of a chauffeur and a maid. He attended historically black Morehouse College, earned a master’s degree from Purdue University and worked as a mathematician for the Navy before beginning to scale the corporate ladder. He worked at Coca-Cola, Pillsbury and Burger King before taking the helm of the failing Godfather’s Pizza franchise, which he rescued by shuttering hundreds of restaurants. He burst onto the political stage when he argued with President Clinton over the Democrat’s health care plan at a 1994 town hall meeting. “On behalf of all of those business owners that are in a situation similar to mine,” asked Cain, “my question is, quite simply, if I’m forced to do this, what will I tell those people whose jobs I will have to eliminate?” The late Jack Kemp, the GOP vice presidential nominee in 1996, once described Cain as having “the voice of Othello, the looks of a football player, the English of Oxfordian quality and the courage of a lion.” In 2006, Cain was diagnosed with liver and colon cancer. He says he’s been cancer-free since 2007 and credits the nation’s health care system with keeping him alive. He says it’s one reason he’s so opposed to the health overhaul championed by Obama. At the speech, Cain tried to build a foundation for his run for the White House. He said the American dream is under attack from runaway debt, a stagnant economy, a muddled foreign policy and an influx of illegal immigrants. He said Americans should be infuriated because the Obama administration’s $787 billion stimulus program “didn’t stimulate diddly.” “It’s time to get real, folks. Hope and change ain’t working,” he said. “Hope and change is not a solution. Hope and change is not a job.” ___ Online: Herman Cain: http://www.hermancain.com _________________________________________________________ Video Section: _________________________________________________________________
Calvin Ledsome Sr., Owner and Founder of: |
Rep. Peter King: Head of the U.S. House Homeland Security panel open for a possible presidential bid.
| NY Rep. King leaves door open for presidential bid May 18, 2011, 5 p.m. EDT Associated Press Journal By Calvin Lee Ledsome Sr., Owner and Founder of: http://www.LedSomeBioMetrics.com Hello Reader, What Party Do You Want Running The US Government 2013? Selection Poll B.O.Page! GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) — Rep. Peter King, whose national profile has climbed as head of the U.S. House Homeland Security panel, is leaving the door open for a possible presidential bid. The New York congressman, responding to a powerful hometown Republican’s suggestion that he run for president, said he was taking a wait-and-see approach. “Let’s see what happens,” King told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday. “This is something out of the blue. It is a great honor, but right now I am focused on getting re-elected to the House next year.” Joseph Mondello, the longtime chairman of the Nassau County Republican Committee — once considered among the most powerful GOP organizations in the country — drew widespread applause from 1,100 fellow Long Island Republicans at a dinner Tuesday night when he suggested King consider a “favorite son” candidacy. “If he were to run, I would support him,” Mondello said in a statement. “Voters know that Peter King respects them, doesn’t speak from a pollster’s cue card and understands the twin threats facing this nation: the debt and the ongoing war on terror.” Mondello, a former state GOP chairman, added: “Pete has been pilloried by the liberal press because he doesn’t play by their rules of political correctness. He sees a threat, he speaks to it and whether you agree with his position or not, he is honest, candid and direct.” King, 67, held hearings earlier this year on what he termed the radicalization of homegrown Islamic terrorists in America. He is serving his 10th term in Congress and, despite being a favorite of conservative groups, has also worked to build bi-partisan relationships with political foes. He has easily won re-election from his suburban Long Island district. He has become a leader in advocating for more anti-terrorism funding for New York City and noted he was having dinner with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a former Democrat and Republican who is now an independent, when he learned of the county chairman’s comments Tuesday night. He also has supported Long Island Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy on some of her gun-control initiatives and was one of only two New York Republicans to vote against impeaching President Clinton. King said his office receives 15 to 20 telephone calls or e-mails each week from constituents and others urging him to run for president. “People mention it, but I am focused on running for the House,” he said, but added he would consider running as for president if he were convinced it would help Nassau County Republicans. Lawrence Levy, executive director of the Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University and an expert on Long Island politics, said a King presidential candidacy should be taken seriously. “Considering all the different conservative and Republican power centers he appeals to? Why not?” Levy said. “I think he could raise the money. Does he have votes in his record that could alienate him to some Republicans? Yes. But he is as much a national figure as any member of Congress, on Long Island or elsewhere, and that has to be taken seriously, at least for a while.” _________________________________________________________ Video Section: _________________________________________________________________
Calvin Ledsome Sr., Owner and Founder of: |
Both Republicans and Democrats played major roles in run up US $14 trillion debt
Both parties helped run up US $14 trillion debt
Posted by Calvin Lee Ledsome Sr.,
Owner and Founder of: http://www.LedSomeBioMetrics.com
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two centuries after America’s birth, the national debt was a bit under $1 trillion when Ronald Reagan took office in 1981. Just three decades later, it has soared above $14 trillion, and accusations of blame are flying. Both Republicans and Democrats played major roles in driving the figure sky high.
If the tab were divided up now, it would come to roughly $47,000 for each man, woman and child in the United States.
In what is shaping up as the next bruising economic battle, Congress is being asked by President Barack Obama to authorize fresh borrowing once the nation’s fast-growing debt slams into the current debt ceiling of $14.3 trillion — something the Treasury Department says will happen no later than May 16.
Leaders of both parties acknowledge that failing to raise the limit could force the government to begin defaulting on some of its obligations — for instance making interest payments on Treasury bills and bonds — with severe adverse consequences, including possibly pushing the economy back into recession.
Creative accounting may help forestall the crisis for a few additional months. But then the effects could be severe, or as the White House warns, “like Armageddon, in terms of the economy.”
Republicans like to blame Obama and congressional Democrats, citing heavy spending that they claim has done little to end the recession or create jobs. Democrats argue that the stage for fiscal ruin was set by Republican President George W. Bush, with large tax cuts that favored the wealthy, two wars and a vastly underfunded prescription drug program for the elderly. They accuse Bush of squandering a budget surplus handed him by President Bill Clinton.
“We lost our way” during the Bush years, Obama suggested on Wednesday as he laid out his own prescriptions for taming the nation’s long-term budget woes, a move the administration hoped would also smooth the way for a debt-ceiling vote.
In fact, spending far outpaced revenues in both the Bush and Obama years. And the main culprit in addition to war spending was the devastating 2007-2009 recession, which not only prompted hundreds of billions of dollars in downturn-fighting spending by both the Bush and Obama administrations, but also resulted in a sharp dip in tax revenues due to sagging individual and corporate incomes.
The main reasons for big increases in the national debt in the years ahead are fast-growing obligations for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlement programs as tens of millions of baby boomers reach retirement age.
Congress has raised the debt limit ten times in the last decade alone, most recently in February 2010. But this year, the stakes are higher than usual, with Republicans and some Democrats warning Obama that they will not vote to raise it unless he agrees to mandatory restraints on future spending.
It was against this backdrop that Obama on Wednesday countered Republican budget plans with a series of his own proposals that he held out as better balanced. They included wide-ranging spending cuts, tax increases aimed at the wealthy and a “debt failsafe” trigger for additional across-the-board spending cuts and tax hikes if deficits are not headed down by 2014.
“That should be an incentive for us to act boldly now, instead of kicking our problems further down the road,” Obama said. Still, his plan faced difficulties ahead, with GOP opposition to new tax increases and complaints from some Democrats that his spending cuts are too drastic.
The U.S. has never defaulted on its debt. Its bonds are viewed as among the safest investments in the world. In addition to millions of Americans, many foreign governments and investors have vast holdings in Treasury securities, with China leading the pack.
The GOP now is in the majority in the House of Representatives after mid-term elections last November that many victors and tea-party activists viewed as a mandate for deep spending cuts.
“My members won’t vote to increase the debt limit unless we’re taking serious steps in the right direction,” says House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
After a White House meeting with Obama on Wednesday to preview the speech, Boehner said, “I think the president heard us loud and clear.” He agreed that passing a debt-limit extension is highly important. “Not meeting our debt obligations is a very bad idea,” he said. But Boehner also insisted that higher taxes not be part of any debt relief deal.
The national debt is the total accumulated indebtedness of the U.S. government. As of Wednesday, it stood at $14.27 trillion. Of this, $14.21 trillion is subject to the debt limit. For various mostly technical reasons, several small governmental programs are not counted.
The national debt should not be confused with the federal budget deficit, which is only a one-year slice. The deficit is the difference between what the government spends in a given year and what it takes in. In the budget year that ends Sept. 30, the deficit is expected to be a record $1.5 trillion. At that level, for every $1 the government spends, it must borrow about 42 cents.
Only a few times in the nation’s history has the government run a budget surplus. The most recent was in the early 2000s, when for several years the government took in more than it paid out. That helped take a nick out of the national debt, then hovering between $5 trillion and $6 trillion. Soon deficits returned and the national debt resumed its relentless climb.
“America’s finances were in great shape by the year 2000. We went from deficit to surplus. America was actually on track to becoming completely debt-free, and we were prepared for the retirement of the baby boomers,” Obama said. “But after Democrats and Republicans committed to fiscal discipline during the 1990s, we lost our way in the decade that followed.”
The national debt began when President George Washington and Congress agreed to take on debts incurred by the states for fighting the Revolutionary War.
It broke through the $1 trillion mark (that’s a $1 followed by 12 zeroes) in 1981, the first year of the Reagan’s presidency. But despite Reagan’s vow to balance the budget, the debt tripled during his two terms, to just over $3 trillion under the weight of a recession, large tax cuts and increased spending.
When his successor, President George H.W. Bush, left office in early 1993, the debt was over $4 trillion. Clinton’s eight years in office took it to nearly $6 trillion, despite those fleeting budget surpluses. When George W. Bush finished his two terms the debt had pushed through the $10 trillion mark.
A celebrated national debt “clock” near Times Square had to be rebuilt to allow for the extra digit.
In just 2½ years under Obama, the debt has grown to where it stands today.
Of the $14.27 trillion national debt, some $4.62 trillion is money the government owes itself — mostly money borrowed from Social Security revenues. Without it, the “debt held by the public” is $9.65 trillion.
According to Obama administration figures, just over $3 trillion of the $14.27 trillion debt can be attributed to Bush-era tax cuts, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Medicare prescription drug program. Stimulus spending by Obama and tax cuts he signed into law accounted for about $600 billion through last Sept. 30.
If there are no changes in government policies, the debt will soar to $18.76 trillion by 2014 and $20.8 trillion by 2016, according to administration projections.
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