Debt IS A Moral Issue
The Associated Press reports this morning that the deficit for October, the first month of the new fiscal year, was $120 billion. That figure is 22% higher than the October 2011 deficit. And even though tax receipts were up 13% from October 2011, spending was up 16%. This level of spending is unsustainable.
Speaking about the debt and deficit yesterday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, “[Obama] does not believe that reducing deficits and debt are values unto themselves.”
That’s obvious. Conservatives believe it is immoral to put a burden on our children and grandchildren that will dramatically and negatively affect their future standards of living.
What about all the talk of a compromise to avoid the fiscal cliff? As I reported yesterday, there is no evidence Obama and the left are willing to compromise at all. The Hill reports that Obama asked for $800 billion in tax hikes over ten years in his discussions with John Boehner last year. Now he’s demanding double that — $1.6 trillion!
Some of our friends, such as Larry Kudlow, the Wall Street Journal and even the Romney campaign, have already embraced the concept of having the rich pay more — not by raising tax rates but by limiting deductions. The largest and most popular deductions are home mortgage interest and charitable donations.
The rumor is that the president will get his $1.6 trillion by demanding both higher marginal tax rates AND limited deductions. But keep in mind that our government is spending at least $1 trillion more than the Treasury brings in each and every year. This plan to raise $6 trillion over ten years essentially cuts the current deficits by just 16%. That’s not much of a solution.
Finally, don’t forget this sad fact. If the GOP blocks Obama’s tax hike, taxes go up automatically on January 1, 2013.
Benghazi And The Sex Scandal
Is there a nexus between General Petraeus’s infidelity scandal and the Benghazi scandal? Syndicated columnist and FOX News contributor Charles Krauthammer has suggested there is a link, and his speculation on this link is worth considering.
There are credible reports that General Petraeus held out the hope that he would be able to keep his job and avoid the destruction of his reputation in spite of the adultery scandal. He believed the scandal might not become public if administration officials did not expose it.
Krauthammer then raises the possibility that Petraeus’s Benghazi testimony before Congress on September 13th may have been influenced by knowing that the Obama Administration held his fate in its hands. In his testimony, Petraeus gave Congress the administration’s story that the Benghazi attack was spontaneous and caused by the anti-Islam movie. He did this even though his own station chief in Tripoli had told him it was an organized terrorist attack.
Krauthammer concludes, “Of course it was being held over Petraeus’s head, and the sword was lowered on Election Day. You don’t have to be a cynic to see that as the ultimate cynicism.”
I believe Krauthammer is very close to the truth. This is what Congressional investigators should zero in on. As I write, there are reports Petraeus has now agreed to testify.
Hamas Military Leader Eliminated By Israeli Airstrike
The leader of Hamas’ military arm, who has masterminded countless terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, has been killed by an Israeli Air Force strike.
After weeks of missile attacks from Gaza into Israel, the Israeli Air Force bombed a car in Gaza City, killing Ahmed Jaabari, the head of Hamas’s armed wing – the equivalent of an army’s chief of staff. Other airstrikes are underway as we go to press.