“Paul Volcker” on The Daily Caller

A week after Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday celebration, comparisons between Presidents Obama and Reagan continue. (more)

Can GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt talk President Obama into a major corporate tax cut? Immelt has been appointed to the new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which replaces the disbanded Paul Volcker Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Immelt was a member of that original board. Now he has a more elevated position in the Obama 2.0, allegedly pro-business, move-to-the-center Clintonesque White House. (more)

1.) Obama’s jobs team gets green-washed — “President Barack Obama will name Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric Co.’s chief executive officer, to head his outside panel of economic advisers, replacing former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker,” reports Bloomberg News. “Immelt has sounded many of the administration’s themes: boosting jobs through U.S. exports, ensuring companies can compete with powers like China and India, and jumpstarting a clean-energy economy. Immelt wrote today that he and Obama ‘are committed’ to making the U.S. ‘the most competitive and innovating economy in the world.’” According to Bloomberg, “Immelt is among a group of executives — Boeing Co. CEO Jim McNerney; Motorola Solutions Inc. CEO Greg Brown, and Honeywell International Inc. Chairman David Cote — who have voiced support for Obama policies. The four serve on several of the president’s outside advisory boards”–and all four have made a killing on green jobs subsidies (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker is ending his term as chairman of President Barack Obama’s economic advisory panel next month, a person familiar with the situation said Wednesday. (more)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Tensions over currencies and trade gaps are simmering ahead of a summit of global leaders this week as America’s move to flood its sluggish economy with $600 billion of cash triggers alarm in capitals from Berlin to Beijing. (more)

In 2008, following eight years with George W. Bush as president, the American voters wanted a change. Barack Obama promised us a “change.”  He won the election with 53 percent of the vote and became the 44th president of the United States of America. He had also promised us a non-partisan, open and transparent administration, that six months after his inauguration our combat forces would leave Iraq, and that he would close the terrorist prison at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base by the end of 2009.  I guess he’s changed his mind regarding the last three pledges. But, he has kept his vow to “change” America. The direction in which he is leading us is towards a European-style socialist democracy. That has reduced his support among independent voters, and it will be part of his legacy. (more)

If Karl Marx was writing today, we think he might amend his famous comment about religion and replace it with the statement above. (more)

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama was set to sign Wednesday a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations, a signature achievement that comes nearly two years after Wall Street’s failures knocked the economy into the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. (more)

Congress will break this weekend not quite done on “financial reform.” A defeat of this bill would help avoid a double dip recession. The bill is dishonest because it does not deal with Fannie or Freddie, the main engines of our collapse. The bill’s deafening silence on these two institutions means it is posturing, not helping. In the short term, which is what you would think Congress cares about, the bill is deflationary because it takes precious capital from the banking industry while cutting alternatives available to consumers. It is not a coincidence that the stock market is breathing heavily and making new lows as the prospects for this “overhaul” have brightened. (more)

Nearly two months after the BP oil spill, President Obama tapped secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus to oversee recovery efforts in the Gulf. Since dubbed the “oil czar” in the press, Obama described Mabus’s new role during an Oval office address to the nation on Tuesday night. (more)

By Rep. Joe Pitts and Rep. Jim Gerlach (more)

There is an “emerging consensus” that we are headed for a value-added tax (VAT) in the United States. But the more optimistic among the experts and pundits believe it won’t come until after the 2012 election and then only if President Obama is reelected. There is no doubt that something will have to be done about the financial crisis and the federal debt—even if ObamaCare is repealed—and many believe the “hidden” VAT is the politically viable solution. Many openly say that the VAT, with its costs hidden in the price of commercial products, is the only way to get the money to pay for ObamaCare. (more)

As someone who has run a manufacturing company, I’ve seen the many stages of production that go into a finished product. I understand how taxing each stage of production will add to the end cost of the product, and how that will kill jobs and increase costs for families, and that’s why I’m opposed to implementing a European-style value-added tax (VAT).
In simple terms, a VAT is an invisible type of national sales tax. Instead of being collected at the cash register, it is imposed on the value added at each stage of the production process. The VAT dramatically adds to the cost of everything from food, clothing to housing. For example, under a 15 percent VAT—the minimum standard amount allowed for members of the European Union—a $3.70 gallon of milk would sell for $4.30; a $2,000 MacBook Pro would cost $2,380. A 15 percent VAT would pump nearly $750 billion into the government’s coffers, taking thousands from every American family and raising production costs for manufacturers. (more)

More than two thirds of Americans oppose the imposition of a Value-Added Tax, according to a new poll released Tuesday which also shows that voters, by a two-to-one margin, think the government needs to rein in its rate of spending. (more)

A tax even a Republican can like: A hot topic in certain circles is the possibility of the federal government enacting a “value-added tax,” or VAT, as one solution to America’s fiscal mess. Basically, a VAT is a more easily enforced (and collected) retail sales tax. Democrats tend to love it and Republicans tend to hate it, because it adds revenue to fund more federal programs. Paul Volcker, head of President Obama’s economic advisory board, said a VAT was “not as toxic an idea” as it used to be. In April, Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, offered a “sense of the Senate” resolution expressing opposition to a VAT, which passed in the Senate by an 85 to 13 vote. So it interesting that five Republican House members are co-sponsoring a bill by Rep. Pascrell, New Jersey Democrat, that would impose a VAT on imports from countries that use the tax. In the Senate, Republican Senator Voinovich, Ohio Republican — who was the sole Republican vote in opposition to that sense of the Senate resolution — now has suggested that replacing income taxes with a VAT could be one way to streamline the tax code. (more)

If the Senate bill passes, what’s next? – The Senate will vote today on its first steps toward passing a financial reform bill. Any financial reform bill that passes the Senate still needs to be reconciled with the House bill. Bloomberg reports two major — but manageable — differences between the House and Senate version. The Senate bill includes  a plan to study how to implement Obama’s “Volcker Rule” banning proprietary trading by banks, named after former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, who’s advising the president. The administration came up with the Volcker rule after the House had passed its bill. The Senate bill permits such a ban when the Fed finds a threat to the safety and soundness of the company or to national financial stability. Both bills propose a Consumer Financial Protection Agency; the Senate bill has the consumer protection bureau at the Fed, and the House bill proposes a standalone agency. (more)

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, one of Wall Street’s closest friends in Congress, has a message for his longtime supporters who fear the financial-sector regulation bill: Get over it. It’s going to pass. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama administration officials on Thursday further clouded the question of whether the president would consider a new value-added tax similar to those levied by some European countries. (more)

“Should five percent appear too small, be thankful I don’t take it all.” George Harrison wrote the Beatles song “Taxman” after watching an astounding 95 percent of the band’s earnings go to pay British taxes. A tax rate that high might sound absurd, but a recent study by the Tax Policy Center found that the two top rates would have to climb to 86 and 91 percent in order to close the budget gap by only raising taxes on the wealthy. (more)

Today is a day that millions of Americans across the country have come to dread as they hand over much of their hard earned incomes to the federal government. However, this year, Tax Day is an even tougher pill to swallow. The Democratic Congress continues to tax and spend with a reckless disregard for our hard working middle class. The average American shells out more than 27 percent of their income in federal, state, and local taxes, which partially supports one-third of Americans who currently pay no federal taxes—yet reap government benefits. But instead of lightening the load for those already struggling to make ends meet, President Obama and his Democratic leaders in Congress just continue to rack up more debt and a bigger deficit while expecting taxpayers to foot the bill. (more)