[StBernard] MyHeritage.org: Huge Deficits

[Westley Annis]

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May 12, 2009 | By Nathaniel Ward


Huge deficits


President Obama's massive spending plans would saddle America with huge
budget deficits far above the 45-year average. Heritage Foundation experts
have put together a chart to illustrate how far in the red we could go:

 Obama's Budget Would Create Unpredented
Deficits<http://www.myheritage.org/assets/images/content/2009/051209_deficit
.jpg> 

Find more charts like this in Heritage's new 2009 Federal Spending and
Revenue Book of Charts.
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=4jIaxj4hJQpSaZkUVXs4Uw..> 


The REAL truth


Shortly after the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006, House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi urged her Congressional colleagues to "keep the promise of the
9/11 families and honor the work of the 9/11 commission."

One of the key recommendations of the 9/11 Commission was the REAL ID Act,
writes Heritage security expert James Carafano
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=cge5EWK8nth95hB9rsfijg..> . Carafano
outlines what the legislation does:

One provision requires states to assure that any identity cards used for a
federal purpose (like passing through a Transportation Security
Administration security checkpoint before boarding a plane) be issued only
to individuals who are lawfully present in the United States. The law also
prompts states to adopt best practices to provide better information
protection and combat identity theft, fraud, and trafficking in counterfeit
IDs.

But many on the Left -- particularly those who favor amnesty for illegal
immigrants -- attack REAL ID. Carafano argues that "the criticisms have
always been off-base," since they rely on misunderstandings and distortions.


> Get involved in the debate by posting your comments.

<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=kw6zjGzjqybiaxachUlduQ..>  

The REAL ID Act establishes no new identity credentials. States are free to
opt out. REAL ID standards for protecting individual privacy are more
rigorous than those in many states. And far from passing an unfunded
mandate, the federal government has given states grants to implement the
changes and extended the implementation deadlines.

New legislation would undermine REAL ID's important reforms, writes
Carafano. It would eliminate many important security requirements pertaining
to drivers' licenses. And it amounts to an "initiative designed to pave the
way for granting general amnesty to illegal immigrants," he warns.

- Amanda Reinecker



> Other Heritage work of note



*	The Obama administration's proposal to raise taxes on investment
will hurt millions of senior citizens who rely on retirement savings plans
for supplemental income, writes Heritage senior tax policy analyst Curtis
Dubay <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=FPs_yeifV8XBO5oAE4V-Nw..> .
Government policy should "not punish seniors," insists Dubay, who calls on
the administration to leave dividends and capital gains tax rates at their
current levels. Better yet, Dubay suggests lowering these taxes to increase
seniors' incomes and create more incentives for business investment -- "a
double bonus for the ailing economy."

*	"A radical, government-mandated, expensive conversion to renewable
resources will create many more problems than it pretends to solve," writes
Heritage expert Dan Holler
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=oar3sgaRQ4hZOtiaDuqW6A..> .
Carbon-based fuels play an essential role in our economy, argues Holler, and
attempting to eliminate them through economically-dangerous energy policies
and severe government manipulation of the market will only hurt struggling
American families and businesses and drag us further into recession. 

*	Heritage Ronald Reagan Fellow Ed Meese, who served as Reagan's
Attorney General, has been honored by the Alliance Defense Fund. ADF has
created the "Edwin H. Meese III Originalism and Religious Liberty Award
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=ZYuU5srwH93JXqmD-ZHbZw..> " as a
tribute to his "unswerving efforts to secure greater liberty and justice for
the people of America."

*	His soft approach toward "unsavory regimes" like Venezuela, Cuba,
North Korea, Iran and Sudan demonstrates President Obama's unwillingness to
actively confront despotism, argues Nile Gardiner, director of Heritage's
Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=C_za1scyYCJX9TjFZUyWAw..> .
America's perception in the world "depends not upon the degree to which he
humiliatingly apologizes for his country's past policies," writes Gardiner,
"but upon the United States' ability to project its power to advance freedom
and liberty across the globe."



> In other news



*	The Medicare and Social Security entitlement programs will run out
of cash sooner than expected
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=RFDk0GNhFa9sCYc77wZVNw..> ,
according to a new government report. Social Security will start running
deficits in 2016, while Medicare is already spending more than it receives
in tax revenue. It's high time we reformed these programs.

*	The Obama administration has replaced the top general overseeing the
conflict in Afghanistan
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=EokGfjNHCq1DHcZtEP90MQ..> .

*	Revised White House figures reveal that the budget deficit for
fiscal 2009 will surpass $1.8 trillion
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=eWdq8MTtdSDMVO-xK1CD0A..>  -- four
times last year's record -- as a result of government overspending on
programs like the Wall Street bailout and the "stimulus" package.

*	New General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson -- whose predecessor was
effectively fired by the White House -- announced that the manufacturing
giant may relocate its headquarters from Detroit
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=LlkBKr2blhVs4Z2VQjgyVQ..>  as part
of its restructuring.

*	President Obama has proposed slashing funding for abstinence-only
education <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=GxQfxo4xQldK7qLNWjOfSQ..>
and re-directing the savings to a new teen pregnancy "reduction" program
that would teach teens that sex is OK if protection is used.

*	The Swedish government says doctors cannot refuse abortions in the
first 18 weeks of pregnancy even if the mother's rationale is that she
disapproves of her child's sex
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=mnDp3f0g36j0j030JJMpFw..> .

*	A U.S. soldier stationed at a military base in Baghdad
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=L6_FfC2QMc20AgZdYgVugA..>  is in
custody for killing five of his comrades and wounding three others.

*	Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's expected visit to
Washington <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=38WqvWAjLsD0l3uqeuemDA..>
could serve as the start of a new Middle East peace process.



> Coming up at Heritage



To attend these or any other events at Heritage please RSVP at Heritage's
website <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=Q0sQQOEaLTw2dMbNKM9umA..> .
Or you can view these events live online. All times are Eastern.

*	On Wednesday, May 13 at 11:00 a.m., General Craig R. McKinley from
the National Guard Bureau will discuss the role of the nearly 468,000
citizen soldiers and airmen in an era of persistent conflict.
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=_jKzWKMvgTF6xJHrd-hbZA..> 

*	On Wednesday, May 13 at 11:30 a.m., a panel of experts will consider
civil rights in the Obama era.
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=El9fD3S45cw1IlgVClcgeA..>