WASHINGTON: Obama released his budget yesterday as a Valentine’s Day present to the US. His $3.7 trillion budget includes a deficit of $1.1 trillion. Obama’s proposal includes “tough choices and sacrifices,” which he asserts will bring about a reduction of the budget deficit in years to come. Such nonsense is all too readily trumpeted by the news media and too easily swallowed by the American public.

The reality is quite different. Budgets decisions are made from year to year, and no Congress or President today can dictate the actions of a Congress or President in the future. The only thing we can count on is that this year’s budget will increase our national debt by at least $1.1 trillion.

Such reckless spending may be in itself the precursor to the economic collapse of the US, according to Niall Ferguson, the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, resident faculty member of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Senior Research Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford University, and Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University:

Throughout history the rise and fall of empires isn’t slow or cyclical, as we like to think, but arrhythmic…it mostly happens very, very suddenly. America is a superpower on the edge of chaos. U.S. debt levels and its unwillingness to address the problem, has put it in the same category as other great empires which have collapsed throughout the ages.

Chevy Volt Subsidized by US Taxpayers

WASHINGTON: Obama’s budget proposal this week includes a $7500 tax credit for all electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf or the Chevy Volt. Such proposals have popular support and seem on first glance a benefit to consumers and taxpayers alike. Upon further examination this particular initiative neither improves the environment nor helps the economy, but instead amounts to a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. Let’s look at it.

The assumption that electric vehicles are cleaner for the environment is not one without challenges. Electric vehicles get their fuel from the coal-driven power grid. They also introduce a new pollutant to the environment, substantial quantities of lead. When compared to the clean cars already on the market the new EVs do not present a substantial improvement to the environment:

What’s going on here? ”We’ve known for quite some time that zero-emissions cars wouldn’t make much difference if they substituted for very clean ones,” Robert Hahn, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, said.

And new cars are very clean: the gasoline-powered cars mandated for California remove 95 to 98 percent of the pollutants detrimental to health. Note, too, that most plants in California generating electricity for the electric cars burn natural gas, emitting pollutants that offset part of the already modest gains made at the tailpipe. Peter Passell, New York Times

How popular are these vehicles and what kind of impact they will have in the environment is still being discovered. Last year is the first year the Leaf and the Volt were offered for sale. If you add January 2011 sales to the total of 2010 sales you get 650 Volts and 106 Leafs were sold in the entire US. The most hopeful 2011 sales forecast is 20,000. 20,000 vehicles will make no difference to our environment. Is the $220 million price tag worth it? Read more…

This video shows clearly the mountain of trouble this administration is getting us into. Folks can’t visualize large numbers, so it is easy for politicians to pull the wool over our eyes.

WASHINGTON: Further evidence of the perfidy of this administration comes to us from WikiLeaks. Apparently the State Department’s quest to “reset” relations with Russia comes at the expense of our ally, Great Britain:

Recent newspaper reports bring to our attention an intriguing WikiLeaks revelation of US-Russian agreements as part of the New START treaty. The agreement, according to diplomatic cables released by the whistleblowers’ website, detailed plans for the Obama Administration to reveal to the Russians the serial numbers of all Trident D5 missiles which the United States provide to Britain.

The issue here lays in the policy which Britain pursues with regard to its nuclear forces. The policy relies on ambiguity: officials never disclose the exact numbers of the nuclear arsenal that is held by Britain. One can well imagine why this was part of the New START process as part of its raison d’être is the reduction of delivery vehicles used by both Russia and the United States. By also disclosing the number of American supplied British delivery vehicles, the Obama Administration is making sure to gain Russia’s trust. Atlantic Sentinel

The NIP has withheld judgement of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, but now we are thinking that disclosures of this type can only help shine light on the corruption of this administration and hasten the day when true reform can take place with elections in 2012. Consider the slights Obama has given to Great Britain:

• The first act of President Obama was to send back the bust of Winston Churchill that had formerly been prominently displayed in the White House.
• President Obama visits England and gives the Queen and iPod as a gift. What’s on the iPod? Obama’s speeches.
• Many British pensioners depend on BP dividends for their retirement. President Obama decimated BP dividends when he attacked BP during his mishandling of the Gulf crisis.
• Now the Obama administration sold out the Brits to curry favor with the Russians.

It is a fact that Obama’s Marxist father inculcated Barack with a hatred of the British, but this is a sentiment that diametrically opposes the feelings of the vast majority of Americans. In fact, 71% of Americans have a mainly positive view of Great Britain.

The NIP has warned about the folly of the New START Treaty. Now how do you feel about New START, knowing the cost of this travesty of a treaty is the betrayal of England?

What, Me Worry?

WASHINGTON: Today Moody’s warned the US of an impending credit downgrade due to the country’s worsening debt situation.

Moody’s Investors Service warned that lack of U.S. government action on the budget deficit increases the likelihood of a negative outlook on the country’s top AAA credit rating.

The Moody’s report, which came hours after a downgrade of Japan by Standard & Poor’s and an IMF warning on growing budget deficits in both countries, reiterated previous comments made by the agency late last year.

Moody’s had said in December that the extension of Bush-era tax cuts would add to the likelihood of a negative outlook on the U.S. rating in the next two years.

Lower debt ratings typically push up a country’s borrowing costs. A negative outlook makes a rating downgrade more likely in the next 12 to 18 months. MoneyNews.com

The NIP has written multiple times regarding previous warnings from Moody’s. The US Ignoring Moody’s is similar to a homeowner ignoring calls from their mortgage banker. Eventually credit ratings our downgraded, interest rates go up and penalties are instituted.

We are seeing the result already. During Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the US Obama hosted an unprecedented state dinner for the president of a country that has one of the worst human rights abuse record. How long until the Chinese demand higher interest rates to cover our increasingly worthless dollar?

This is just the beginning of the pain that awaits as our Congress and President blithely spend us into oblivion.

The latest posting today of the National Debt shows it has topped $14 trillion for the first time.

The U.S. Treasury website today reported that as of last Friday, the last day of 2010, the National Debt stood at $14,025,215,218,708.52.

It took just 7 months for the National Debt to increase from $13 trillion on June 1, 2010 to $14 trillion on Dec. 31. It also means the debt is fast approaching the statutory ceiling $14.294 trillion set by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last February.

The NIP has written multiple times regarding previous warnings from Moody’s. It appears that this administration is all to happy to push our economy into economic collapse. If you think this doesn’t matter to you, you are sorely mistaken.

WASHINGTON: The NIP congratulates Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House on winning the 2010 Prevaricator of the Year™. Following the 2009 winner Barack Obama is no small feat. We wish Nancy the very best and may she enjoy all the benefits that come with this award.