January 30, 2014
Thursday AM

Editor-Sinews,

Regarding all the wondrous accomplishments of having Senator Bewitch reelected.   "My Good Friend"(That is how the political opposition always addresses the other side!) Mr. Tom Schulz  District 36 Chair Ketchikan, Alaska.

My friend the district chair for the Democratic Party, comments require some sort of rebuttal for the shear boldness displayed. My comments are  made as an independent citizen who has equal lack of enthusiasm for the "Establishment Republicans and RINOs' of which there are too many.

The Democratic District Chair said: "We’re also seeing major progress on reducing federal deficits.

AJ RESPONSE : "(President Obama just increased the National Debt by 1.1 Trillion adding to the 17 Trillion total. and in today's news, it is projected that he will again raise the debt limit in February  most likely through the use of "Executive Orders" the current excessive tool of choice)  

The Democratic Chair said:  " In fact, this December ran a budget surplus",


AJ RESPONSE: (In your dreams! Quote from the Congressional Budget Office:  "Between 2009 and 2012, the federal government recorded the largest budget deficits relative to the size of the economy since 1946, causing federal debt to soar. Federal debt held by the public is now about 73 percent of the economy’s annual output, or gross domestic product (GDP). That percentage is higher than at any point in U.S. history except a brief period around World War II, and it is twice the percentage at the end of 2007. If current laws generally remained in place, federal debt held by the public would decline slightly relative to GDP over the next several years, CBO projects. After that, however, growing deficits would ultimately push debt back above its current high level. CBO projects that federal debt held by the public would reach 100 percent of GDP in 2038, 25 years from now, even without accounting for the harmful effects that growing debt would have on the economy (see the figure below). Moreover, debt would be on an upward path relative to the size of the economy, a trend that could not be sustained indefinitely": Click here 

AJ CONTINUES:  Then to finish this abysmal claim to a budget surplus the following is offered:

On this page you will find a history of surpluses and deficits in the United States, running all the way back until 1789.

Directly underneath you will find an up-to-date table that contains all of the budget surpluses and deficits in the United States from 1940 until present day, both in nominal dollars and inflation adjusted dollars. A projection for 2014 is included as well: The number of years recorded have been reduced to 2010.

Deficits/Surpluses From 1940 Until 2014 (*fiscal years)

1* - Presidential control
2* - Senate control
3* - House control

D = Democrat R = Republican

Year Nominal Dollars Inflation Adjusted 1* 2* 3*
 2010 $1294 Billion Deficit $1386.92 Billion Deficit D D D
 2011 $1299 Billion Deficit $1350.31 Billion Deficit D D R
 2012 $1100 Billion Deficit $1120.16 Billion Deficit D D R
 2013 $680 Billion Deficit $680 Billion Deficit D D R
 2014 $744 Billion Deficit $728.7 Billion Deficit D D R


Source: Whitehouse.gov - Historical Tables (Table 1.1)

--

.The Democratic district Chair continued:  "According the Wall Street Journal.  We haven’t had an annual budget surplus since the start of the Iraq war over a decade ago".

 
 
AJ RESPONDS: (Nor have we had a annual budget for the past 5 years to determine any status outside of the witnessed debt increase due to the Democratic controlled Senate's refusal to adhere to the U.S. Constitution, ) -"Congress is the body required by law to pass a budget annually and to submit the budget passed by both houses to the President for signature".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget
 
The Democratic Chairman stated: "Senator Begich helped the mines through the federal permitting process. . Greens Creek is on federally protected land and normally wouldn’t have been able to expand.  But thanks to our Senator work it did receive the federal permit and is expanding.

AJ RESPONDS (Which should be a States right issue with both mines however,Murkowski (R) and Representative Young’s (R) contributed to the permits success.)  

The Democratic Chair stated:  Greens Creek and Kensington mines are expanding, adding dozens of good-paying jobs"

AJ RESPONDS:  (But Pebble on State of Alaska lands, is opposed by an Alaskan Senator, Begich before the permitting process even starts!)

 http://www.adn.com/2014/01/19/3281944/begich-on-pebble-wrong-mine-wrong.html 

The Democratic Chair stated: "Congress has enacted spending cuts"

AJ Responds: ."There are no "Cuts" there are reductions in annual automatic increases."  

The Democratic Chair stated: "For example, the recent bipartisan budget agreement further reduced deficit spending"

AJ RESPONDS:  "The recent bipartisan agreement reduced the earlier sequester reductions by adding back funding." This amounts to the old shell game.

The Democratic Chair stated: "After the Budget agreement, Congress passed a bipartisan appropriations bill that contained some important investments in Alaska".

AJ RESPONDS: "By diluting the intended goal of the agreed to sequential with adding back agreed to funding cut by the sequential"

The Democratic Chair stated:  "Bipartisan appropriations bill contained major investments of importance to Southeast Alaska in particular.  For example, it strengthened our marine debris cleanup program:'

AJ responds: (This is an example of a governmental Boondoggle-    There have been a lot of media reports of tsunami debris, why are there only a few "confirmed" sightings on the NOAA map?

"Tracing objects back to their origin is very difficult. Items from around the world wash up on U.S. shorelines every day. For example, it is quite possible that some items reported as tsunami debris – with Japanese writing on them – are not tsunami debris at all.

Since the tsunami, NOAA has received over 1,000 reports of debris from the general public and partners at sea and on shore. While many of these debris objects may fit the profile of tsunami debris, only a few can be traced back to the disaster with 100 percent certainty based on a clear "fingerprint," such as a government registration or personal information.

The sightings listed as "confirmed" tsunami debris on this site represent objects reported to NOAA that NOAA or our partners, working the Government of Japan and its Consulates, have confirmed to have originated in the tsunami impact zone. The presence of the confirmed sightings indicates that tsunami debris has definitely reached our shorelines, but not all of what has arrived has been reported or can be confirmed."

http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/tsunamidebris/faqs.html
 
AJ STATES:  What the Chair for District 36 Democrat leaves out of the discussion is Senator Begich's very first vote upon arriving in Washington D.C. Senator Begich's  vote was the clincher on approval of Obama Care.  The resulting falsehoods and now publicly declared as outright lies one of so very many on so many issues, by the President , supported and oft repeated by Senator Begich , has this country in a total disarray with healthcare.

For instance, had Governor Parnell accepted the President;s Medicaid offer our senior citizens would be at risk with their personal homes and assets as under the Obama Care program, the exclusion of 1993 limiting the age of participants who would be subject to the State recovering medical expenses by taking the property of ANY Medicaid participant at death, was eliminated.   Senator Begich knew this because HE AS ALL CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS READ THE WHOLE BILL PRIOR TO VOTING-Right?  And again ONLY DEMOCRATS VOTED FOR THIS FOR LACK OF A BETTER DESCRIPTION, "Kenyan Witch Doctors brew" healthcare debacle. Not one Republican. Click here

Regards,

A.M. Johnson
Ketchikan, Alaska

Received January 24, 2014 - Published January 30, 2014

About: "Old Pond Reefer,who is the life of the party..... Even if it lasts until 8 p.m."

Related Viewpoint:

Focus on maintaining political clout By Tom Schulz

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