During this week’s GOP presidential debate, Michele Bachmann twice said the federal government is spending about “40 percent more” than what it takes in. If only we were in such good shape. The federal government has actually been spending about 75 percent more than what it takes in. For every $4 the government brought in during fiscal year 2011, it spent that plus another $3, for a total of $7 plus change — according to President Barack Obama’s own budgetary tables for fiscal year 2011. Read More

Today, the economic crisis we endure is only the latest chapter in the century-long struggle to restore financial order — which is inextricably bound up with American prosperity and the promise of the American way of life. Between 2009 and 2011, we experienced sluggish growth in the United States despite $3.5 trillion of Treasury and Federal Reserve subsidies to the banking cartel and favored corporations. Read More

Memo to the Rick Perry campaign: If your guy can’t win an exchange with Mitt Romney over who’s stuck to principle more consistently, his debating skills need serious work. That’s what happened at the Sept. 22 Republican debate in Orlando, Fla. After deflating Perry with a “nice try,” Romney brazenly proclaimed, “One reason to elect me is that I know what I stand for, I’ve written it down. Words have meaning.” Read More