Wednesday, December 10, 2014

BloggeRhythms

Several news items today, when put together, form a very clear picture of an administration falling apart at the seams. Because, no matter the issue, just about every belief, decision, and step taken has been absolutely incorrect.
 
Fox News.com reports that: “The IRS paid more than $6 billion in child tax credits in 2013 to people who were not eligible to receive them, a government watchdog said Tuesday.
 
“Payments went to families that mistakenly claimed the tax credit or claimed the wrong amount, as well as taxpayers who committed fraud, according to an audit by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.”
 
“The 2009 economic stimulus package temporarily expanded the credit to more families that don't make enough money to pay federal income tax.” The credit expires at the end of 2017.
 
While these families receive $1,000-per-child credit in the form of a tax refund, the IRS has said the risk is low for improper payments related to the child tax credit. However, “The report says that assessment is incorrect.”
 
As an excuse, the IRS said, budget cuts are hurting compliance efforts because, "funding limitations severely hamper our efforts on these and other compliance areas. Since 2010, the IRS budget has been reduced by $850 million and we have 13,000 fewer employees."
 
“Earlier this year, the IRS said fewer agents are auditing tax returns than at any time since at least the 1980s,” while, “More than 36 million families claimed about $57 billion in child tax credits in 2013, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.”
 
Another article regarding the IRS reports that, “Aside from overseeing non-tax issues like disbursement of welfare payments and regulating political speech, the agency is doubled over trying to implement the long-delayed but most cumbersome parts of ObamaCare. While the Obama administration has so far successfully blocked efforts to punish those responsible for targeting the president’s political enemies, if Republicans get the presidency in 2016 you can expect a thorough scouring.”
 
Therefore, an understaffed, poorly managed, ill-run agency that managed to misappropriate $6 billion in taxpayer’s money is now also responsible for overseeing the president’s healthcare tax. Which means that future errors will not only reduce the quality of health care but cost untold billions on top of that. 
 
At the same time, according to washingtontimes.com, “Secretary of State, John F. Kerry, told Congress Tuesday that President Obama wants expansive war powers to pursue the Islamic State terrorists wherever and however he deems necessary, stunning lawmakers by requesting a war authorization that would even allow the Pentagon to commit American combat troops to the fight.”
 
Kerry went on, “Though Mr. Obama doesn’t want combat troops, he won’t have Congress tie his hands against unforeseen directions the war could take should the Islamic State evolve, expand its fight to other countries or prove more difficult to rout.
 
The key point, though, is that, “Lawmakers had hoped Mr. Obama, who won the presidency in 2008 in part due to his opposition to the Iraq War, would support strict limits. But Mr. Kerry said they don’t want to see them written into law.”
 
Therefore, after totally mishandling the nation’s hard-fought gains in the Middle-East, abandoning the accomplishments completely for political purposes, the U.S. is not only right back where it started militarily, but now having to pay for it all over again with treasure and, now likely, combat troops.
 
As far as treasure is concerned, telegraph.co.uk’s  Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes that, “Bank of America said the oil price crash is worth $1 trillion of stimulus for the global economy, equal to a $730bn “tax cut” in 2015.” 
 
What’ more, and hugely beneficial, “If the forecast is correct, the LNG flood could have powerful political effects, giving Europe a source of mass supply that can undercut pipeline gas from Russia. Much of Europe may not need Russian gas at all within a couple of years.”
 
Which means that not only will the U.S. economy benefit, as will the rest of the free world, Russia will sustain considerable losses, weakening their efforts to regain power in Ukraine and elsewhere.
 
Even, the totally misguided environmentalists, who've continually led the POTUS down the wrong path for the nation, ought to be able to see the benefits from that eventuality. 
 
And lastly, an item from Rush, who said:
 
“Well, it turns out that on Friday -- two days before I appeared on Fox -- Obama appeared on Black Entertainment TV and did an interview in which he acknowledged that there has been some progress.  So now the media is saying, "Obama has responded to Limbaugh and buried Limbaugh!" Well, I didn't know what Obama said on Friday, and neither did the press.  He did the interview Friday; it wasn't released until yesterday.”
 
What’s truly amazing about this one is that all El Rushbo does is sit behind his golden microphone and talk for three hours a day, with about a zillion commercial interruptions. And yet, he’s so well-versed and influential that he gets personal attention from the POTUS who’s aided and abetted by the fawning media who didn’t even know what day the Fox show aired or what Rush said.
 
That’s it for today folks.
 
Adios

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