perry’s uterus obsession

‘saving america from rick perry’

Ruth Marcus (Washington Post); Rick Perry is no George W. Bush. This is not a compliment … his 2010 Tea Party-steeped manifesto, “Fed Up!,” makes George Bush look like George McGovern. Perry has said he wasn’t planning to run for president when he wrote the book, and it shows:

● He floats the notion of repealing the 16th Amendment, which authorized the federal income tax. Perry describes the amendment as “the great milestone on the road to serfdom” because it “was the birth of wealth redistribution in the United States.”….

●He lambastes the 17th Amendment, which instituted direct election of senators, as a misguided “blow to the ability of states to exert influence on the federal government”….

● He laments the New Deal as “the second big step” – the 16th and 17th amendments being the first – “in the march of socialism and….”

● He specifically targets Social Security for “violently tossing aside any respect for our founding principles of federalism and limited government”….

● … he is even less happy about the Great Society, suggesting that programs such as Medicare are unconstitutional….

…. Perry’s views on the role of judges may be the most alarming given a president’s ability to shape the Supreme Court for decades to come. He writes about the current court with venomous disdain …. Disagreeing with liberal justices is one thing. Accusing them of not caring about the Constitution is like denouncing the opposing party as unpatriotic …

…. The subtitle of Perry’s book is “Our Fight to Save America from Washington.” Reading it summons the image of another, urgent fight: saving America from Rick Perry.

Full article here

“i’m from bank of america and we’ll help you out”

Business Insider: After all the speculation that Rick Perry’s threats against Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke would hurt his relationship with Wall Street, at least one banker is pledging his company’s support.

WGIR New Hampshire Radio’s Paul Westcott captures this clip of an unknown individual telling the Texas governor at a “Politics & Eggs” event in New Hampshire: “I’m from Bank of America and we’ll help you out.”

UPDATE: ZeroHedge identifies the Bank of America official as James Mahoney the Director of Public Policy for the bank. Mahoney is a member of the board of directors of The New England Council, one of the events sponsors.

It’s worth noting again that Perry threatened Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, and said any attempt by the Fed to print more money would be “almost…treasonous.”

UPDATE 2: Mahoney is not registered as a lobbyist, and a BofA spokesman tells POLITICO he works on policy …. Spokesman Lawrence Di Rita: “Bank of America does not endorse Presidential candidates. The reference was about following up on the substance of the speech about job creation and economic growth. Discussing policy issues that affect our company and our customers is something we do with policymakers of both parties routinely at the local, state, and Federal levels.”

ZeroHedge: Should we be surprised, frightened, disgusted or simply say “we knew it” …. At least we know now who is funding what, and whose interests potential future president Perry will be paid to defend.

Thank you Fred

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they’re eating each other alive ;-)

CNN: Former Treasury official Bruce Bartlett labeled newly-minted Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry “an idiot” Friday.

Bartlett, who served at Treasury under former President George H.W. Bush and as a domestic policy adviser to the late President Ronald Reagan, delivered the choice words to the Texas Gov. in reference to his recent comments about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

…Team Perry did not immediately respond for a request for comment.

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growth

WSJ: Factory operators doing business in the Philadelphia Fed’s district saw already-strong growth heat up further in March to the best pace in nearly three decades, as inflation pressures remained persistent.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported Thursday that its index of general business activity for manufacturers moved up to 43.4, the best reading since January 1984, from 35.9 the month before. Economists had been expecting a modest slowing in the rate of expansion, and had predicted the index would come in at a still very respectable 30.0…

Regional factory surveys, such as the Philadelphia Fed’s, have been turning in strong performances over recent months that have been largely confirmed in national manufacturing reports. Earlier this week, the New York Fed reported an expansion of growth in its barometer of factory output. The manufacturing sector has consistently been a bright spot over the course of the recovery, leading the rest of the economy out of recession….

More here

Thank you Fred 😉

‘fed substantially upgrades growth forecasts for 2011’

NYT: The Federal Reserve revealed Wednesday that its policy makers had substantially upgraded their forecasts for how much the United States economy will grow this year, even though they expect that unemployment will remain painfully high for some time.

The core projections of top Fed officials now call for growth of 3.4 percent to 3.9 percent this year, up from the previous forecast of 3 percent to 3.6 percent, released in November. But the grim outlook for the job market was largely unchanged; Fed officials expect unemployment to be 8.8 percent to 9 percent this year, only slightly less than the November estimate of 8.9 percent to 9.1 percent.

Growth expectations were lifted by an improvement in consumer spending in the fourth quarter…

Full article here