Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:
Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
On May 11, 2011, I emailed to this above address and I got this email back from Senator Pryor’s office:
Please note, this is not a monitored email account. Due to the sheer volume of correspondence I receive, I ask that constituents please contact me via my website with any responses or additional concerns. If you would like a specific reply to your message, please visit http://pryor.senate.gov/contact. This system ensures that I will continue to keep Arkansas First by allowing me to better organize the thousands of emails I get from Arkansans each week and ensuring that I have all the information I need to respond to your particular communication in timely manner. I appreciate you writing. I always welcome your input and suggestions. Please do not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you in the future.
Therefore, I went to the website and sent this email below:
Freeze discretionary spending in 2005. Discretionary spending leaped 39 percent between 2001 and 2004. Even after excluding defense and costs related to September 11, discretionary spending is rising 7 percent annually. Do these agencies need yet another spending increase this year? Congress and the President should do what millions of families do: set priorities and balance each high-priority spending increase with a low-priority spending cut.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich share a laugh as they wave before the first New Hampshire Republican presidential debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., Monday, June 13, 2011. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is at left. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
Republican Presidential Debate In New Hampshire pt.9
KING: Welcome back. Seven Republican candidates for president debating on the campus of St. Anselm Congress in beautiful Manchester, New Hampshire — St. Anselm College, excuse me. We want to turn to foreign policy now.
I want to move up to Hancock and Jean Mackin, and she’s got a question.
MACKIN: I’m here with John Brown from Swanzey, New Hampshire. He’s retired from the U.S. Navy, 25 years of service. Right now, he has three sons serving in the Navy. So you can imagine he has a very important question. What would you like to ask tonight, John?
JOHN BROWN, VOTER: Osama bin Laden is dead. We’ve been in Afghanistan for ten years. Isn’t it time to bring our combat troops home from Afghanistan?
KING: Governor Romney, take the lead on that one. ROMNEY: It’s time for us to bring our troops home as soon as we possibly can, consistent with the word that comes to our generals that we can hand the country over to the Taliban military in a way that they’re able to defend themselves. Excuse me, the Afghan military to defend themselves from the Taliban. That’s an important distinction.
I want to say, first of all, thank you to you for the sacrifice of your family and your sons in defending the liberty that we have and our friends around the world. Thank you for what you’ve done.
KING: Congressman Paul?
ROMNEY: Let me — let me continue. That is I think we’ve learned some important lessons in our experience in Afghanistan. I want those troops to come home based upon not politics, not based upon economics, but instead based upon the conditions on the ground determined by the generals.
But I also think we’ve learned that our troops shouldn’t go off and try and fight a war of independence for another nation. Only the Afghanis can win Afghanistan’s independence from the Taliban. Thank you.
KING: Congressman Paul, do you agree with that decision?
PAUL: Not quite. I served five years in the military. I’ve had a little experience. I’ve spent a little time over in the Pakistan/Afghanistan area, as well as Iran. But I wouldn’t wait for my generals. I’m the commander in chief.
I make the decisions. I tell the generals what to do. I’d bring them home as quickly as possible. And I would get them out of Iraq as well. And I wouldn’t start a war in Libya. I’d quit bombing Yemen. And I’d quit bombing Pakistan.
I’d start taking care of people here at home because we could save hundreds of billions of dollars.
Our national security is not enhanced by our presence over there. We have no purpose there. We should learn the lessons of history. The longer we’re there, the worse things are and the more danger we’re in as well, because our presence there is not making friends let me tell you.
KING: Governor Pawlenty, a growing number of Republicans are more skeptical of these foreign involvements. But I want you to take what Congressman Paul just said there. Let’s focus on one.
He said no bombing in Yemen. The strikes in Yemen have been targeted at al Qaeda leaders, at al Qaeda operatives, who the president of the United States, who happens to be a Democrat in his case, views as serious threats against this nation. Do you agree with Congressman Paul there or do you agree with President Obama and the strikes?
PAWLENTY: Let me first say to John, thank you for your family’s commitment to our nation, to your service, to the sacrifices that you made and to the burdens that you bear. I know I speak for everyone in this room and all across this country when we say we’re grateful to you. We wouldn’t have the country without people lie you and your sons. Thank you very much.
Beyond that, John, I start with this perspective. On September 11th, 2001, individuals and groups killed 3,000 or so of our fellow Americans. They would have killed not 3,000, but 30,000 or 300,000 or 30 million if they could have. If they had the capability to do that in their hands — and as soon as they get it, they’ll try.
The first duty of the president of the United States, as the leader of this nation and commander in chief, is to make sure the nation is safe. You bet. If there are individuals I have intelligence on, or groups in Yemen that present a threat to our security interests in that region or the United States of America, you can bet they will hear from me and we’ll continue the bombings.
KING: Let’s stay on foreign policy. I want to move the questioning. Tom Foreman up in Rochester. Tom. We lost him.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: I’d like to know your opinion on your involvement with Libya.
KING: Congresswoman Bachmann, should the president have supported and jointed more U.S. presence, but now a NATO operation? Was that the right thing to do? Is that in the vital national interest of the United States of America?
BACHMANN: No, I don’t believe so it is. That isn’t just my opinion. That was the opinion of our defense secretary, Gates, when he came before the United States Congress. He could not identify a vital national American interest in Libya.
Our policy in Libya is substantially flawed. It’s interesting. President Obama’s own people said that he was leading from behind. The United States doesn’t lead from behind. As commander in chief, I would not lead from behind.
We are the head. We are not the tail. The president was wrong. All we have to know is the president deferred leadership in Libya to France. That’s all we need to know. The president was not leading when it came to Libya.
First of all, we were not attacked. We were not threatened with attack. There was no vital national interest. I sit on the House Select Committee on Intelligence. We deal with the nation’s vital classified secrets.
We to this day don’t yet know who the rebel forces are that we’re helping. There are some reports that they may contain al Qaeda of North Africa. What possible vital American interests could we have to empower al Qaeda of North Africa and Libya? The president was absolutely wrong in his decision on Libya. KING: Mr. Speaker, address the same question. Was it in the vital national interest of the United States? As you do so, I had a conversation with a soon-to-be candidate who is not here tonight, Governor Huntsman, recently, who said he didn’t think when it came to vital national interest. And he also said we can’t afford it right now.
Should the price tag be a factor when you’re the commander in chief of the United States?
GINGRICH: Sure. The price tag is always a factor, because, as General Eisenhower once he was president pointed out, as Abraham Lincoln understood, as George Washington understood, that’s part of the decision.
But I think what Congresswoman Bachmann just said ought to really sober everybody about how much trouble we’re in. Ten years after 9/11, our intelligence is so inadequate that we have no idea what percent of the Libyan rebels are, in fact, al Qaeda. Libya was the second largest producer of people who wanted to kill Americans in Iraq.
I think that we need to think fundamentally about reassessing our entire strategy in the region. I think that we should say to the generals we would like to figure out to get out as rapid as possible with the safety of the troops involved. And we had better find new and very different strategies because this is too big a problem for us to deal with the American ground forces in direct combat.
We have got to have a totally new strategy for the region, because we don’t today have the kind of intelligence we need to know even what we’re doing.
KING: Mr. Cain, take 30 seconds, please. People might say he’s a businessman. He has no experience in government. How would you look at your responsibilities, draw that line, vital U.S. national interests as commander in chief?
CAIN: It starts with making sure we understand the problem, which I don’t think we did. We didn’t have the intelligence. Number two, is it in the vital interest of the United States of America? If the answer is no, then we don’t go any further. If it’s not in the vital interest of America, To paraphrase my grandmother, with the situation in Libya and many of these other situations, they’re not simple situations. It’s a mess. It’s just an absolute mess.
And there’s more that we don’t know than we do know, so it will be very difficult to know exactly what we do until, like others have said, we learn from the commanders in the field.
KING: Let’s stay on how you would all focus as a commander in chief. Let’s move down. Jennifer has a voter with a question.
VAUGHN: Staying on this topic, John, thank you. I’d like you to meet Greg Salts, who lives here in Manchester, New Hampshire. What’s your question tonight for the candidates? GREG SALTS, TRUCK DRIVER: Well, I support the U.S. military. But frankly, we’re in debt up to our eyeballs. We have nation building going on around the world. We’re the world’s police force. World War II is over. The Korean War is over. But we still have military bases all over Europe, all over Asia.
We have something like 900 military bases all around the world. I want to know if there’s a candidate on the stage who is willing to shut down the bulk — not the bulk of these bases, but the bases that aren’t vital to our national security, and take that money to pay off our national debt?
KING: Senator Santorum, why don’t I start with you on this one?
SANTORUM: We have actually closed down a lot of bases overseas. Look, what we’re dealing with is a failure of leadership on this administration’s part to actually put together a strategy where we can confront our enemies. And our enemies are asymmetric threats: terrorism.
That means that they are not just the positioned in the Middle East, but around the world. That means we have to have the ability to confront those threats from around the world, which means we need basing around the world.
So number one, we do need that basing. We do need to be able to be nimble and to be able to attack where we’re attacked because it’s not just a threat. We don’t need to build bases in Germany for a threat from the Soviet Union.
Its much broader threat, number one. So we have to engage our allies and have our allies know that we have their back. The president has not done that. He’s done everything he can, whether it’s Israel or Honduras or whether it’s Colombia or whether it’s Czechs, the Poles — he has turned his back on American allies and he has embraced our enemies.
Our enemies no longer respect us. Our friends no longer trust us. And we have a foreign policy that unfortunately now we’re probably going to need more of a presence, because we’ve created such a vacuum. Thus, all the contingency operations you’re seeing here as a result of America’s fecklessness in dealing with the threats that confront us.
KING: I need to step in on time here. We have to take our last break of the evening. I know a lot of you have a lot of things to say. We’ll get to more issues.
As we do some, if you take a look up here, you’ll see the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. A lot of good questions. Would you have released the bin Laden photos? Would you support Israel at any cost if they’re attacked by surrounding hostile countries.
Good questions from our viewers there. We’re here on the campus of St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Seven Republican candidates for president. We’ll be right back.
The Royal Wedding Group in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace on 29th April 2011 with the Bride and Groom, TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in the centre.
Prince William and Kate Middleton’s Love Story
In this video clip mentions that Kate and William lived together in college. There is comparison of Kate and Diana.
I really do wish Kate and William success in their marriage. I hope they truly are committed to each other, and if they are then the result will be a marriage that lasts their whole lifetime. Nevertheless, I do not think it is best to live together before marriage like they did, and I writing this series to help couples see how best to prepare for marriage.
I read an article recently that was very helpful on this subject. “The Seven Myths of Cohabitation,” by Patrick & Dwaina Six is an article that I will be sharing in this series the next few days. Here is the second portion:
The first myth says, “By living together, we can see how we’ll get along when we’re married.” Heard this one? It’s not true. Couples who live together outside of marriage are generally less favorable of marriage and more accepting of divorce. They tend to act more like dating partners or roommates than a husband and wife. They typically maintain separate finances, schedules, and lifestyles. They usually don’t feel an obligation to “check with their mate” before making major decisions. Married couples, on the other hand, rely on each other more and are less likely to walk out because they’ve made a permanent commitment to each other. Living together does not accurately imitate a married relationship.
An epic tale of determination, friendship, and um… fish, from Tim Hawkins. A parody of “Jesus Take the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood. To view this video in HIGH RESOLUTION, click on the above link
Chip Ingram – Three Ways to Improve your Conflict Resolution Skills (pt 2)
Why is conflict so hard to resolve? Whether in your marriage or other relationships – conflict can be a huge barrier that most of us would rather avoid. I want to share with you some common mistakes in conflict resolution and three important realizations that will bring fresh perspective to even the most difficult conversations. If you want to learn more, you can listen to the full message on conflict resolution from our guest speaker Tim Lundy here: http://www.venturechristian.org/files/sermons2/t032011.mp3
Prince William and Kate Middleton were married in a beautiful ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London Friday. There were so many picture-perfect moments from the star-studded guest list and the bride’s gorgeous gown to the carriage processional and two balcony kisses, we just had to share them all.
The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem. Milton Friedman
The Debt Bomb: A Decade of DC Spending is Driving America Closer to an Economic Apocalypse
Alexis Garcia reports on America’s exploding debt. Experts blame entitlements like Social Security and government spending. But what is the solution? Can we raise taxes without crushing the economy and the middle class? Does Obama really want to lower the debt, or does he support continued deficit spending? See interviews with Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Brian Riedl, Jason Peuquet and former Congressman Ernest Istook (R-OK).
As Rose wrote in our memoirs, “As we look back at the events chronicled in this chapter, it all seems like something of a fairy tale. Who would have dreamed that after retiring from teaching, Milton would be able to preach the doctrine of human freedom to many millions of people in countries around the globe through television, millions more through our book based on the television program, and countless others through videocassettes” (p. 503).
Monetary Trends in the United States and the United Kingdom, published in 1982, was the final major product of a collaboration with Anna J. Schwartz under the auspices of the National Bureau of Economic Research that lasted more than three decades. Money Mischief (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992) collects assorted pieces of monetary history, some of which I had published elsewhere, some of which appear first in this book.
I have continued to be active in public policy since 1977. I continued my tri-weekly column in Newsweek until it was terminated in 1983. Since then, I have published numerous op-eds in major newspapers. I served as an unofficial adviser to Ronald Reagan during his candidacy for the presidency in 1980, and as a member of the President’s Economic Policy Advisory Board during his presidency. In 1988, President Reagan awarded me the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in the same year I was awarded the National Medal of Science.
We have traveled extensively since 1977, including a trip through Eastern Europe in 1990, where we filmed a documentary on former Soviet satellites. The documentary was included in a shortened reissue of Free to Choose.
Perhaps the most notable foreign travel consisted of three trips to China: one in 1980 when I gave a series of lectures under the auspices of the Chinese government; one in 1988 when I attended a conference in Shanghai on Chinese economic development and had a fascinating session in Beijing with Zhao Ziyang, at the time, the General Secretary of the Communist Party, deposed a few months later for his unwillingness to approve the use of force on Tiananmen Square; and one in 1993 when I traveled with a group of Chinese friends from Hong Kong throughout the country. The three visits covered a period of revolutionary economic growth and development, the first stage of a shift from an authoritarian, centrally planned economy to a largely free market economy.
Ever since the 1950s, Rose and I have been interested in the promotion of parental choice in schooling through the use of vouchers. Finally, in 1996, when it became clear that our personal involvement would have to be limited, we established a foundation, The Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation devoted to promoting parental choice in schooling. We were fortunate in being able to persuade Gordon St. Angelo to serve as president. He has done an outstanding job. Progress toward our objective of universal vouchers has been distressingly slow, but there has been progress. The pace of progress shows every sign of speeding up, and our foundation has made a significant contribution to that progress.
In 1998, the University of Chicago Press published our memoirs, Milton and Rose D. Friedman, Two Lucky People.
Investing Social Security funds in the stock market would be a fine idea, wouldn’t it? President Clinton thinks so. Nobel laureate and Hoover fellow Milton Friedman thinks not.
President Clinton has proposed that a quarter of the funds set aside for Social Security be invested in the stock market—a truly radical plan…
Suppose the president’s proposed policy had been followed in its most extreme form from the outset of Social Security in 1937 (i.e., that the whole excess of Social Security tax receipts over Social Security benefit payments, not just one-quarter, had been invested in the stock market). Offhand, it looks as if the trust fund would own only about 5 percent of all domestic corporations ($656 billion out of $13 trillion).
But that is too simple. Most of the accruing funds would have been invested at far lower stock prices than those that prevailed at the end of 1997. Suppose that stock prices, dividend yields, Social Security tax receipts, and Social Security benefit payments had all been what they were—that is, not affected by the investment of Social Security funds in stocks instead of government bonds. On that assumption, the trust fund at the end of 1997 would have totaled not $656 billion but more than ten times as much, approximately $7 trillion. In that case, the Social Security trust fund would own more than half of all domestic corporations! To return to my socialist fantasy, full funding would long since have brought complete socialism.
That too is too simple. Neither stock prices nor other economic magnitudes could have behaved as they actually did, with so much extra money flowing into the market. But what this calculation demonstrates is (1) the widely recognized fact of how much better equity stocks are as an investment than government bonds and (2) how seriously the government purchase of private securities would threaten our freedom.
Have we not learned from the experience of the past century that private property is the key bulwark of personal freedom? Has that experience not shown how dangerous it is to transfer a larger and larger fraction of the productive assets of the country into the hands of a government bureaucracy?
If the corresponding sums had been accumulated by private individuals and not used to finance government spending, they would have been a real addition to the nation’s capital and not just a bookkeeping entry. Those sums would have been invested in ways citizens or their advisers chose. The end result would have been more productive investment, a larger stream of income, and a freer, more responsible, more productive society.
Milton Friedman, recipient of the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize for economic science, was a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution from 1977 to 2006. He passed away on Nov. 16, 2006. He was also the Paul Snowden Russell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Chicago, where he taught from 1946 to 1976, and a member of the research staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research from 1937 to 1981.
Available from the Hoover Press is the videotape “Social Insecurity: Reforming Social Security,” an episode of the weekly television program Uncommon Knowledge, jointly produced by the Hoover Institution and the San Jose PBS affiliate KTEH.
(CBS) Maybe this is what happens when friends let film critics tweet. In the hours after news broke of “Jackass” star Ryan Dunn’s death by fiery car accident, film critic and prolific Twitter user Roger Ebert tweeted, “‘Jackass’ star Ryan Dunn, RIP. His Porsche flew through 40 yards of trees.”
About 40 minutes later, Ebert tweeted, “Friends don’t let jackasses drink and drive.”
And then the Internet exploded.
Perez Hilton writes on his site, “We certainly agree that driving after drinking is wrong, we think there’s no reason – especially RIGHT NOW – that anyone should be pointing fingers or poking fun at a truly tragic situation.”
Wow. When Perez Hilton is admonishing you, you may actually be wrong.
“Jackass” star and friend of Dunn, Bam Margera, was less kind than Hilton, tweeting, “I just lost my best friend, I have been crying hysterical for a full day and piece of s**t roger ebert has the gall to put in his 2 cents”[.]
He continues, “About a jackass drunk driving and [Dunn’s] is one, f**k you! Millions of people are crying right now, shut your fat f**king mouth!”
Since Ebert’s “drink and drive” tweet, he’s followed up with a note defending it, pointing out that most of Hilton’s readers agree with him. That appears to be true, but I’d posit that on the Internet you’re going to find more people talking tough under the cloak of anonymity than people expressing warm and fuzzy remembrances of the recently deceased. (Take a look at the comments on our story if you don’t believe me.)
And the story continues. Moments ago, Ebert tweeted that Facebook removed his page, writing, “Facebook has removed my page in response, apparently, to malicious complaints from one or two jerks.”
Whether the Facebook page was removed over complaints about Ebert’s view on Dunn’s death isn’t clear. (But let’s be honest: It’s likely. More to come, probably.)
Behold the power of the Internet, readers. What once may have taken months to be fought over by film critics, friends, fans and detractors of the late “Jackass” star is now happening in a 24-hour news cycle.
Remember when Twitter didn’t exist and there was no one to hear every Tom, Dick and Harry’s opinion? Those days are never coming back. So here’s this: Assuming Dunn was drunk, Ebert’s correct. So are Margera and Hilton.
Flickr user Eric Lewis posted the image below with a caption that says the photo shows what’s left of Dunn’s car.
Ryan Dunn tweeted a picture of himself drinking from a bar. At 2 am he left the bar and a few minutes later he was killed after running off the road in his car.There are three reasons that I do not drink and here they are.First,alcohol has brought a social plague on our country not matched by anything we have ever seen in the past. I will never forget the day I heard this statistic in 1975: “Drunk drivers are responsible for 50% of highway fatalities.”My pastor Adrian Rogers shared that statistic from the pulpit. I was only 14 years old at the time, but I was looking forward to driving. It caused me to realize that I had to abstain from alcohol and try to convince my friends and family to do likewise.Second, the Bible does condemn alcoholic wine. There were three kinds of wine mentioned in the Bible (grapes, grape juice and strong drink). Wine in the cluster which is equal to our grapes. Isaiah 65:8 ” “As the new wine is found in the cluster…” The point I am making here is very clear. The Bible does refer to nonalcoholic wine which is equal to our grape juice. Don’t take for granted everytime you read the word “wine” in the Bible that it is referring to the kind of wine we are used to today.Next we have the term “strong drink” which is equal to our wine today. Strong drink is condemned. .Proverbs 20:1 states, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. ”
WHAT WAS “STRONG DRINK” IN BIBLE TIMES?
Distillation was not discovered until about 1500 A.D. Strong drink and unmixed wine in Bible times was from 3% to 11% alcohol. Dr. John MacArthur says “…since anybody in biblical times who drank unmixed wine (9-11% alcohol) was definitely considered a barbarian, then we dont even need to discuss whether a Christian should drink hard liquor–that is apparent!”
Since wine has 9 to 11% alcohol and one brand 20% alcohol, you should not drink that. Brandy contains 15 to 20% alcohol, so thats out! Hard liquor has 40 to 50% alcohol (80 to 100 proof), and that is obviously excluded!
For documentation on this subject Google “alcohol” with the name of Adrian Rogers or John MacArthur. These theologians have covered this subject fully with biblical references.
Third, Romans 14:21 states, “It is better not to eat meat (that had been offered to idols) or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.” If a person rejects all the linguistic arguments, there is still Romans 14:21 concerning not causing a weaker brother to stumble..
It is consistent with the ethic of love for believers and unbelievers alike. Because I am an example to others, I will make certain no one ever walks the road of sorrow called alcoholism because they saw me take a drink and assumed, “if it is alright for Everette Hatcher, it is alright for me.” No, I will choose to set an uncompromising example of abstinence because I love them. The fact is that 1 of every 6 drinkers in the USA are problem drinkers. Maybe if my family of 6 drank, that could be me or one of my children?
Billy Sunday told a story that illustrates this principle:
I feel like an old fellow in Tennessee who made his living by catching rattlesnakes. He caught one with fourteen rattles and put it in a box with a glass top. One day when he was sawing wood his little five-year old boy,Jim, took the lid off and the rattler wriggled out and struck him in the cheek. He ran to his father and said, “The rattler has bit me.” The father ran and chopped the rattler to pieces, and with his jackknife he cut a chunk from the boy’s cheek and then sucked and sucked at the wound to draw out the poison. -He looked at little Jim, watched the pupils of his eyes dilate and watched him swell to three times his normal size, watched his lips become parched and cracked, and eyes roll, and little Jim gasped and died.
The father took him in his arms, carried him over by the side of the rattler, got on his knees and said, “God, I would not give little Jim for all the rattlers that ever crawled over the Blue Ridge mountains.”
That is the question that must be answered by everyone no matter what their religious beliefs. Is the pleasure of drinking alcohol worth the life of one of your children?
Here is a scripture that describes what will happen to a person addicted to alcohol:
Proverbs 23:29-35
(29) Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
(30) They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
(31) Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
(32) At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
(33) Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
(34) Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
(35) They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
More than one-half of American adults have a close family member who has or has had alcoholism.
Alcohol is a factor in nearly half of America’s murders, suicides and accidental deaths.
The highest rates of current and past year heavy alcohol use are reported by workers in the following occupations: construction, food preparation and waiters/waitresses, along with auto mechanics, vehicle repairers, light truck drivers and laborers. 95% of alcoholics die from their disease and die approximately 26 years earlier than their normal life expectancy.
Up to 40% of industrial fatalities and 47% of injuries in the workplace are linked to alcohol consumption and alcoholism.
Absenteeism among alcoholics or problem drinkers is 3.8 to 8.3 times greater than normal.
More than three fourths of female victims of nonfatal, domestic violence reported that their assailant had been drinking or using drugs.
More than one third of pedestrians killed by automobiles were legally drunk.
About half of state prison inmates and 40% of federal prisoners incarcerated for committing violent crimes report they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of their offense.
Long-term, heavy alcohol use is the leading cause of illness and death from liver disease in the U.S.
Alcoholics spend four times the amount of time in a hospital as non-drinkers, mostly from drinking-related injuries.
Probably the most telling is the last statistic: 95% of alcoholics die from their disease and die approximately 26 years earlier than their normal life expectancy.
WPVI Action News 6.20.11 – Report on the death of Ryan Dunn and friend Zac Hartwell from the scene Daredevil Ryan Dunn and his passenger died from the impact of the violent car crash and the resulting fire, according to a coroner’s report Tuesday. The Chester County coroner listed blunt force trauma and thermal trauma […]
Roger Ebert’s tweets on “Jackass” set Internet on fire Roger Ebert and Ryan Dunn (Credit: CBS/Getty) (CBS) Maybe this is what happens when friends let film critics tweet. In the hours after news broke of “Jackass” star Ryan Dunn’s death by fiery car accident, film critic and prolific Twitter user Roger Ebert tweeted, “‘Jackass’ […]
Ryan Dunn seen on Sunday night. This shot was removed from his tumblr site. Ryan Dunn tweeted a picture of himself drinking from a bar. At 2 am he left the bar and a few minutes later he was killed after running off the road in his car.There are three reasons that I do not […]
Buzz driving is drunk driving. This is a popular advertisement run by our local law inforcement office. Does the Ryan Dunn case prove their point? Published: Celebrities with diseases reported June 20, 2011 Given the crazy nature by which they lived it was perhaps inevitable that one of the “Jackass” cast would eventually wind up on […]
Ryan Dunn dies in car crash Jackass movie star Ryan Dunn died in a car crash in Pennsylvania early Monday morning. He was 34. Hours before the crash, Dunn posted a photo to Twitter, by way of his Tumblr blog, that depicted him drinking with friends. An unidentified passenger also died in the crash. […]
Video clip with picture of car Ryan Dunn was in before being killed this morning: ‘Jackass’ Star Ryan Dunn Killed in Car Accident By DavidOnda Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:25:50 GMT Ryan Dunn, star of MTV’s “Jackass,” was killed this morning in a one-car accident in West Goshen, Pennsylvania. The first reports began pouring onto […]
Given the crazy nature by which they lived it was perhaps inevitable that one of the “Jackass” cast would eventually wind up on the ‘died too young’ list. Ryan Dunn, the unofficial 4th member of the Margera family, was killed early this morning after his Porsche left the road at high speed before colliding with a tree and erupting into flames killing Dunn and his passenger.
He and the as yet unnamed passenger had been socialising with friends at Barnaby’s of America in West Chester a few hours prior to the accident and is reported to have consumed three Miller Lites and three ‘girly’ shots over a four hour period, which according to a friend who said he was “not too drunk to drive”.
Ryan Dunn seen on Sunday night. This shot was removed from his tumblr site.
Police at West Goshen reported that Dunn was identified by an eye witness on the scene who recognised his tattoos as he was pulled from the wreckage.
It was at around 2:30 a.m. on Route 322 when the accident happened and police state that the vehicle was travelling significantly fast enough that it hurtled through 40 metres of forest before hitting the tree.
Their statement read, “Preliminary investigation revealed that speed may have been a contributing factor to the accident.”
The manager of Barnaby’s told NBC Philadelphia that “Ryan didn’t appear drunk before he left” at 2 a.m.
The wreckage of Ryan Dunn’s Porsche is removed from the scene.
Often seen at the Margera house, Ryan was considered part of the family as highlighted by April Margera who said, “He’s just the sweetest guy you’d ever want to know and he would do anything for you.”
She and husband Phil Margera paid a simple yet tearful tribute to Dunn, whom they considered a son.
“I know the entire ‘Jackass’ family is devastated and all of West Chester is devastated,” she said.
According to April, Dunn was renowned for driving too fast and she was often telling him to slow down a little. He had been involved in a bad accident a little over ten years ago but it seems that didn’t deter him from putting his foot down.
“He drove too fast and I yelled at him all the time about that,” said April.
The Jackass crew have ben largely unreachable but Johnny Knoxville tweeted, “Today I lost my brother Ryan Dunn. My heart goes out to his family and his beloved Angie. RIP Ryan, I love you buddy.”
MTV followed that up with a similar message which simply read, “We’re deeply saddened by the passing of a member of the MTV family, Ryan Dunn. Our hearts and thoughts are with his friends and family.”
Ryan Dunn’s Porsche before police moved it from the scene.
Bam Margera, Dunn’s best friend is currently in Arizona and has not yet made a statement because he is too devastated by the tragic accident.
While his candle burned brightly, Dunn gave us laughs at his own expense and it is a sad loss; sad that he lived so dangerously and perished because of it, and that not only his light has been extinguished so suddenly but that the lives of all those affected have grown a little darker in his passing.
Please share your thoughts on Ryan Dunn’s tragic and untimely death by leaving a comment.
Buzz driving is drunk driving. This is a popular advertisement run by our local law inforcement office. Does the Ryan Dunn case prove their point? Published: Celebrities with diseases reported June 20, 2011 Given the crazy nature by which they lived it was perhaps inevitable that one of the “Jackass” cast would eventually wind up […]
Ryan Dunn dies in car crash Jackass movie star Ryan Dunn died in a car crash in Pennsylvania early Monday morning. He was 34. Hours before the crash, Dunn posted a photo to Twitter, by way of his Tumblr blog, that depicted him drinking with friends. An unidentified passenger also died in the crash. […]
Video clip with picture of car Ryan Dunn was in before being killed this morning: ‘Jackass’ Star Ryan Dunn Killed in Car Accident By DavidOnda Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:25:50 GMT Ryan Dunn, star of MTV’s “Jackass,” was killed this morning in a one-car accident in West Goshen, Pennsylvania. The first reports began pouring onto
News of the incident has caused Dunn’s name to become a trending topic on Twitter, as fans and celebrity friends tweet in remembrance of the star. Several Twitterers are also using the crash to tweet about the dangers of drunken driving — linking the Tumblr photo to the fatal accident — although the exact circumstances of what led to the crash are still unknown.
Flickr user Eric Lewis posted the image below with a caption that says the photo shows what’s left of Dunn’s car.
Dunn’s cryptic last photo is not the first of its kind. Last year, celebrity plastic surgeon Frank Ryan died in a car accident; his final tweet was a photo of himself and his dog. It was later discovered that Ryan was tweeting while driving.
WPVI Action News 6.20.11 – Report on the death of Ryan Dunn and friend Zac Hartwell from the scene Daredevil Ryan Dunn and his passenger died from the impact of the violent car crash and the resulting fire, according to a coroner’s report Tuesday. The Chester County coroner listed blunt force trauma and thermal trauma […]
Roger Ebert’s tweets on “Jackass” set Internet on fire Roger Ebert and Ryan Dunn (Credit: CBS/Getty) (CBS) Maybe this is what happens when friends let film critics tweet. In the hours after news broke of “Jackass” star Ryan Dunn’s death by fiery car accident, film critic and prolific Twitter user Roger Ebert tweeted, “‘Jackass’ […]
Ryan Dunn seen on Sunday night. This shot was removed from his tumblr site. Ryan Dunn tweeted a picture of himself drinking from a bar. At 2 am he left the bar and a few minutes later he was killed after running off the road in his car.There are three reasons that I do not […]
Buzz driving is drunk driving. This is a popular advertisement run by our local law inforcement office. Does the Ryan Dunn case prove their point? Published: Celebrities with diseases reported June 20, 2011 Given the crazy nature by which they lived it was perhaps inevitable that one of the “Jackass” cast would eventually wind up on […]
Ryan Dunn dies in car crash Jackass movie star Ryan Dunn died in a car crash in Pennsylvania early Monday morning. He was 34. Hours before the crash, Dunn posted a photo to Twitter, by way of his Tumblr blog, that depicted him drinking with friends. An unidentified passenger also died in the crash. […]
Video clip with picture of car Ryan Dunn was in before being killed this morning: ‘Jackass’ Star Ryan Dunn Killed in Car Accident By DavidOnda Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:25:50 GMT Ryan Dunn, star of MTV’s “Jackass,” was killed this morning in a one-car accident in West Goshen, Pennsylvania. The first reports began pouring onto
Adriana and Gil are seen above walking together in the movie “Midnight in Paris.” Adriana was a fictional character who was Picasso’s mistress in the film. Earlier she had been Modigliani’s mistress and later Georges Braque’s mistress before moving on to Picasso according to the film story line. Actually Picasso had taken girls from others quite often in the past. Picasso’s blue period was during a time when he moved into his best friend’s apartment and took up with his girl after his best friend’s suicide.
I am in the process of going through all the characters from Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.” Today I am spending time on Modigliani.
Modigliani, Picasso and André Salmon.jpg
Life and Work
1919 Zborovski arranges for several works by Modigliani to be shown in exhibitions in England. He is shown in Heale at the exhibition Modem French Painting, and in the Hill Gallery in London. English art collectors began to buy his paintings. At the end of May Modigliani returns to Paris. In July he signs a document promising marriage to Jeanne, who is pregnant again. He is shown at the autumn Salon. At the end of the year he becomes very ill with tuberculosis and a planned trip to Italy is cancelled.
1920
On January 24 Modigliani dies in the Charite in Paris. On the following day Jeanne Hebuterne commits suicide.
There is a large crowd at their burial at the Pere Lachaise cemetery. The child Jeanne is adopted by Modigliani’s sister in Florence and later writes an important biography of her father. The first retrospective exhibition of Modigliani’s work takes place in the Montaigne Gallery.
Leon Indenbaum by Amedeo Modigliani. The Amedeo Modigliani painting on this page is available from A1Reproductions.com as an affordable handmade museum quality oil painting reproduction on canvas.
Amedeo Modigliani
Jeanne Hebuterne
Amedeo Modigliani
Livorno/Toskana 1884 –
Paris 1920
Amedeo Modigliani was born in Livorno (Leghorn) on 12 July 1884 into a rich merchant family. Versed in literature and art at an early age, Modigliani took his first lessons in drawing and painting between 1898 and 1900 at Guglielmo Micheli’s studio. Amedeo Modigliani was particularly fond of the Italian Early Renaissance.
In 1902 Modigliani shared a studio in Florence with Oscar Ghilia and became a pupil at the free school for drawing from the nude. A year later Modigliani transferred to the Venice Academy, where he spent a great deal of time studying the works of the Old Masters and became familiar with international movements in art.
Amedeo Modigliani went to Paris in 1906 to study at the private Colarossi Academy. In 1907 he met a young physician, Paul Alexandre, who was the first person to promote his work. Alexandre not only bought paintings and drawings of Modigliani’s; he also helped to arrange the artist’s first commissions.
That same year Modigliani showed work at the Salon d’Automne and a year later at the Salon des Indépendents. The few pictures by Amedeo Modigliani to have survived from that period reveal the influence of the Fauves, Matisse, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso and Cézanne.
Paul Alexandre introduced Modigliani to the sculptor Constantin Brancusi and Modigliani began to sculpt under his influence but he gave up sculpture in 1914-15 to devote himself to painting.
The same salient features are common to both Modigliani’s sculpture and his painting: despite mask-like stylization, a poignant grace and spirituality inform Modigliani’s heads. His lasting fame rests on the portraits of artists he did after 1914.
On the outbreak of the First World War, Amedeo Modigliani volunteered for service but was exempted for health reasons: two severe attacks of tuberculosis had left him weakened for the rest of his life. Modigliani began to work with the art dealer Paul Guillaume and was also supported by the Polish poet Léopold Zborovski and his wife, doing many portraits of both.
Modigliani’s first one-man show was opened by the Galerie Berthe Weill on 3 December 1917 but was closed after only a few hours because his nudes caused a public scandal. Modigliani left Paris while it was under German siege in 1918 and went to Nice with his mistress, Jeanne Hébuterne. There he did some of his best known pictures and some of his few landscapes. A daughter was born to him in Nice. In May 1919 Modigliani returned to Paris and went to England several times, thus ensuring the successful sale of his work there.
Early in 1920, however, Amedeo Modigliani again fell ill of tuberculosis and died in Paris on 24 January.
Amedeo Modigliani: Portrait of a Woman
No swearing. No car crashes. No special effects. In an adult movie? “Finally,” sighed one premieregoer after the AFI Associates’ screening of Woody Allen’s Midnight In Paris, a love poem to the City of Light. He’s a born romantic, proof positive being Woody’s alluring visions of New York and London and Barcelona that fill the screens. As he has with his last five movies and their montages of that become beguiling travelogues. Like a five-course dinner at Laperouse, Midnight In Paris is to be savored.
Welcoming the SRO audience at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre, AFI president and CEO Bob Cassaleannounced that Midnight In Paris, starring Owen Wilson as a lonely night-time wanderer and Rachel McAdams as his feisty fiancee, is Woody’s 50th movie. Archivists beg to differ, that this is his 4lst or 44th. Bob reminded about Woody’s clever jab at Los Angeles – “I could not live in a city where the only cultural advantage is making a right turn on a red light.” Woody’s also said, “Life doesn’t imitate art, it imitates bad television.”
At 75, Woody’s creativity percolates, a rich brew with his poetic original style laced with that famously sly humor and slapdash wit. His Midnight In Paris cast is top-drawer, as he weaves us into a time-travel lovefest of icons from the ’20s, when artists and writers flocked to Paris for inspiration.
Here’s Ernest Hemingway in a standout performance from Corey Stohl, Gertrude Stein played by Kathy Bates, who’s equally wonderful, as are Adrien Brody as Salvador Dali, and Marion Cottilard as a flirtatious French beauty in love with La Belle Epoque.
Here’s Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, Picasso, Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Toulouse-Lautrec, Man Ray, and Cole Porter singing and playing the piano with his melodies.
All the while, Woody and his director of photography Darius Khondji capture landmarks such as Montmartre, Place de la Concorde, the flea market, Notre Dame Garden Square, Maxim’s, Laperouse, the Shakespeare & Co. book store. Threaded throughout is the saxophone music of expatriate Sidney Bechet, Woody being a fan of vintage jazz. A dreamscape for Francophiles.
While in pre-production, Woody and wife Soon-Yi Previn breakfasted with French president Nicolas Sarkozy and First Lady Carla Bruni at the Elysee Palace. Woody suggested Carla appear in a cameo, promising she’d work for only two days. Overnight, Carla was written into a scene as a Rodin Museum guide, embarassed by pompous professor Michael Sheen, who hasn’t any clue of what he’s talking about.
Woody still writes on an Olympia portable typewriter that he bought for $40 when he was 16, and keeps a wrinkled brown bag in his closet to store ideas and jokes. Says that he fell in love with Paris in 1964 during the eight months when his screenplay, What’s New Pussycat, was being filmed. “The movie was a mess. I wanted to stay, didn’t have the guts to leave New York, and sometimes wish I had.” (An aside about Paris: Samuel Morse bedded there “to paint,” was quite accomplished, and ended up inventing the telegraph and the code; Paris has a way of ambushing its visitors.)
Very good news: Midnight In Paris raked in $579,000 during its opening weekend with only six theaters. Two in L.A., and four in New York, and opens wider this weekend. Thanks to Sony Pictures Classics presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard for their smarts to buy and distribute Midnight In Paris, which rates amongst Woody’s finest.
Next up for Woody is Rome, where he’s filming Bop Cameron with Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg, Alec Baldwin, Judy Davis, Ellen Page and Roberto Benigni. Is or isn’t this a cast that’s as good as it gets? Any actors out there that would bypass the chance of working with Woody? Doubtful.
Ischia, idyllic Ischia, that summertime haunt of Truman Capote, is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, near Capri, and not far from the Gulf of Naples. Our twenty-something friends, India Irving and Mario Rivelli, will be there in July with their charming fifteen-minute movie, Mont Reve, that will open Ischia’s Global Film and Music Festival.
India and Mario created the story of Mont Reve, a name for an imaginary private school in Europe where “the sons and daughters of royals, along with the children of tycoons” are enrolled. India’s the daughter ofLynn von Kersting and Richard Irving, who’ve given us the fabled Ivy restaurants, also Lynn’s stylish Indigo Seas shop, where Ralph Lauren and photographer Bruce Weber shop whenever they’re in town.
An award-winning writer, India met Mario, a champion athlete and the son of Naples’ former mayor, at school. They graduated with honors at USC’s School of Theatre, and co-star in Mont Reve, which India’s written. Lynn von Kersting and Rocky Collins directed, with Lynn producing and serving as music supervisor. Gene Nagata was the director of photography.
Lynn reveals that financing’s now available to begin production for a feature, with European investors pleased that several languages are spoken, which will enhance the global market. Both India and Mario are fluent in Italian, French, Spanish, all in the dialogue of Mont Reve. For years, India summered in Capri, helping with errands at the Grand Hotel Quisisana. She also clerked in Paris at Shakespeare & Co., established on the rue Bucherie in 1919 by heiress Sylvia Beach, who published James Joyce’s Ulysses, which was banned in the U.S.
Mont Reve was filmed in an astounding two days at Lynn and Richard’s estate, the previous residence of the late director George Cukor, which we christened Villa Abondanza in our article in Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. Inspired interiors that Baroness Pauline de Rothschild would have admired, along with the thousand rosebushes, fragrant flowers and vegetable gardens.
Throughout the filming, the Ivy’s favored owner/chef Richard Irving took over as the Craft Services, cooking delicious meals for the ecstatic staff and crew. Would that we could have been there!
Belle de Jour Presentation In a film class my partner and I did a video presentation on the film Belle de Jour and the filmmaker Luis Bunuel. Bunuel was a surrealist, so if the video doesn’t quite makes sense, its not supposed to. ___________________________________________________ I am presently going through the characters referenced in Woody Allen’s […]
I am currently going through the characters referenced in the Woody Allen movie “Midnight in Paris.” Today I am looking at Henri Matisse. Below is a press release from a museum in San Francisco: the steins were known for their saturday evening salons, where artists, writers, musicians, intellectuals, and collectors gathered to discuss contemporary art, […]
Adriana and Gil are seen above walking together in the movie “Midnight in Paris.” Adriana was a fictional character who was Picasso’s mistress in the film. Earlier she had been Modigliani’s mistress and later Georges Braque’s mistress before moving on to Picasso according to the film story line. Actually Picasso had taken girls from others […]
An article from Biography.com below. I am currently going through all the personalities mentioned in Woody Allen’s movie “Midnight in Paris.” Today I am spending time on Coco Chanel. By the way, I know that some of you are wondering how many posts I will have before I am finished. Right now I have plans […]
The Thinker (1879–1889) is among the most recognized works in all of sculpture. In fact, below you can see Paul who constantly is showing up Gil with his knowledge about these pieces of art. He shows off while describing Rodin’s life story when all four of them are taking in “The Thinker.” However, he is […]
Artists and bohemians inspired Woody Allen for ‘Midnight in Paris I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen and I am going through the whole list of famous writers and artists that he included in the movie. Today we will look at Salvador Dali. In this clip below you will see when Picasso […]
2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Lea Seydoux as Gabrielle in “Midnight in Paris.” Adriana and Gil are seen above walking together in the movie “Midnight in Paris.” Adriana was a fictional character who was Picasso’s mistress in the film. Earlier she had been Georges Braque’s mistress before moving on to Picasso according to […]
How Should We Then Live 7#3 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Owen Wilson as Gil in “Midnight in Paris.” Paul Gauguin and Henri Toulouse Lautrec were the greatest painters of the post-impressionists. They are pictured together in 1890 in Paris in Woody Allen’s new movie “Midnight in Paris.” My favorite philosopher Francis Schaeffer […]
How Should We Then Live 7#1 Dr. Francis Schaeffer examines the Age of Non-Reason and he mentions the work of Paul Gauguin. 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Kurt Fuller as John and Mimi Kennedy as Helen in “Midnight in Paris.” I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen and I am […]
Midnight In Paris – SPOILER Discussion by What The Flick?! Associated Press Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in 1934 This video clip below discusses Gertrude Stein’s friendship with Pablo Picasso: I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen and I am going through the whole list of famous writers and artists that […]
2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Gad Elmaleh as Detective Tisserant in “Midnight in Paris.” I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen and I am going through the whole list of famous writers and artists that he included in the movie. Juan Belmonte was the most famous bullfighter of the time […]
Woody Allen explores fantasy world with “Midnight in Paris” 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway in “Midnight in Paris.” The New York Times Ernest Hemingway, around 1937 I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen and I am going through the whole list of famous writers […]
What The Flick?!: Midnight In Paris – Review by What The Flick?! 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Alison Pill as Zelda Fitzgerald and Tom Hiddleston as F. Scott Fitzgerald in “Midnight in Paris.” 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Owen Wilson as Gil in “Midnight in Paris.” 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony […]
The song used in “Midnight in Paris” I am going through the famous characters that Woody Allen presents in his excellent movie “Midnight in Paris.” This series may be a long one since there are so many great characters. De-Lovely – Movie Trailer De-Lovely – So in Love – Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd & Others […]
Photo by Phill Mullen The only known photograph of William Faulkner (right) with his eldest brother, John, was taken in 1949. Like his brother, John Faulkner was also a writer, though their writing styles differed considerably. My grandfather, John Murphey, (born 1910) grew up in Oxford, Mississippi and knew both Johncy and “Bill” Faulkner. He […]
I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” was so good that I will be doing a series on it. My favorite Woody Allen movie is Crimes and Misdemeanors and I will provide links to my earlier posts on that great movie. Movie Guide the Christian website had the following review: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is the […]
Here is an article I wrote a couple of years ago: Solomon, Woody Allen, Coldplay and Kansas What does King Solomon, the movie director Woody Allen and the modern rock bands Coldplay and Kansas have in common? All four took on the issues surrounding death, the meaning of life and a possible afterlife, although they all came up with their own conclusions on […]
Coldplay seeks to corner the market on earnest and expressive rock music that currently appeals to wide audiences Here is an article I wrote a couple of years ago about Chris Martin’s view of hell. He says he does not believe in it but for some reason he writes a song that teaches that it […]
Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:
Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
On May 11, 2011, I emailed to this above address and I got this email back from Senator Pryor’s office:
Please note, this is not a monitored email account. Due to the sheer volume of correspondence I receive, I ask that constituents please contact me via my website with any responses or additional concerns. If you would like a specific reply to your message, please visit http://pryor.senate.gov/contact. This system ensures that I will continue to keep Arkansas First by allowing me to better organize the thousands of emails I get from Arkansans each week and ensuring that I have all the information I need to respond to your particular communication in timely manner. I appreciate you writing. I always welcome your input and suggestions. Please do not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you in the future.
Therefore, I went to the website and sent this email below:
Balance the budget by 2014 without raising taxes. Budget deficits are merely a symptom of two larger problems: a sluggish economy and runaway spending. Restoring economic growth requires low tax rates, and runaway spending is the most dangerous threat to pro-growth tax relief. Balancing the budget with spending cuts will improve the country’s ability to deal with the massive Social Security and Medicare liabilities that will come due when the baby boomers retire.
Under President Obama’s budget, Washington is projected to spend $3,618 billion, raise $2,118 billion, and run a $1,500 billion deficit in 2010.
Tax revenues strongly correlate with economic growth. The recession is chiefly responsible for collapsing revenues.
Spending has increased 19 percent faster than inflation since 2008.
The projected $1,500 billion budget deficit represents a post–World War II record 10.3 percent of GDP. More than 41 cents of every dollar Washington spends in 2010 will be borrowed
Roger Ebert and Ryan Dunn
