This Week's Graph

The U.S. National Debt and National Debt Ceiling
(Enlargement)

In 30 years, the national debt has gone from just under $1 trillion to $14.3 trillion, and is projected to reach just under $21 trillion by 2016. Congress has passed new debt limits over the years that allow the government to keep running, and is currently preparing to debate whether to raise the ceiling this year.

---

(Source.)

It's Been Said

"I'm told that officials in the current administration will actually admit in private that they see their job as 'managing American decline.'"

-- Mike Pence, member of Congress (Indiana, Sixth District).

---

. -- In a solicitation letter, dated November 4, 2011, for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

Quickie 1:

"Somehow the truth hurts, and this may be it. In the coming New Year, 2012, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union address will occur on the same day. This is an ironic juxtaposition of events. One involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to an insignificant creature of little intelligence for prognostication. The other involves a groundhog."

---

. -- From an email dated 1-3-12. Thanks, Will.

Quickie 2:

"Harvard Law School professor Charles Fried told Congress it can constitutionally force Americans to buy vegetables . . . but it cannot force Americans to eat them." Also: "By an overwhelming 72 percent majority, members of the Texas State Bar have voted to reject a change in ethics rules banning lawyers from having sex with clients."

---

. -- "Lawsuit Abuse Fortnightly," The Heartlander, March-April 2011, page 26.

. Did You Know?

Here's a quick look into the three former Fannie Mae executives who brought down Wall Street.

Franklin Raines, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fannie Mae. Raines was forced to retire from his position with Fannie Mae when auditing discovered severe irregularities in Fannie Mae's accounting activities. Raines left with a "golden parachute valued at $240 Million in benefits. The Government filed suit against Raines when the depth of the accounting scandal became clear.

Tim Howard, Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae. Howard "was a strong internal proponent of using accounting strategies that would ensure a "stable pattern of earnings" at Fannie. Investigations by federal regulators and the company's board of directors since concluded that management did manipulate 1998 earnings to trigger bonuses. Raines and Howard resigned under pressure in late 2004. Howard's Golden Parachute was estimated at $20 Million!

Jim Johnson, a former executive at Lehman Brothers and who was later forced from his position as Fannie Mae CEO. Investigators found that Fannie Mae had hidden a substantial amount of Johnson's 1998 compensation from the public, reporting that it was between $6 million and $7 million when it fact it was $21 million. Johnson is currently under investigation for taking illegal loans from Countrywide while serving as CEO of Fannie Mae. Johnson's Golden Parachute was estimated at $28 Million.

So, where are they now?

FRANKLIN RAINES works for the Obama Campaign as his Chief Economic Advisor.

TIM HOWARD is a Chief Economic Advisor to Obama under Franklin Raines.

JIM JOHNSON was hired as a Senior Obama Finance Advisor and was selected to run Obama's Vice Presidential Search Committee. "

---

. -- Received in an email dated 1-5-12 (can't vouch for its accuracy). Thanks, Bill.

Factoid

"Asians [. . .] are the longest-lived race in America, outliving whites, on average, by about 5 years. They are least likely to be obese as children (19 percent less likely than whites), unlike blacks, who are 31 percent more likely, Hispanics (38 percent more likely), and American Indian children (twice as likely). Asians are also about half as likely as whites to be suspended from school. They are also about half as likely as whites to have illegitimate children or to give birth as teenagers."

---

. -- "The Galton Report," by Hippocrates, American Renaissance, January 2011, page 15.

Item

"Border Patrol agents have been ordered by higher-ups in the federal bureaucracy to reduce the number of apprehensions of illegal aliens caught trying to enter the U.S., according to Arizona's Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever. He said the agents were told to keep the number down during specific reporting periods. The resulting numbers would make it appear that the border was more secure than it actually is."

---

. -- "Agents Told: Reduce Arrests of Illegals," Middle America News, May 2011, page 5.