On a recent episode of the Federal Newswire Lunch Hour podcast, CFIF's Timothy Lee joined host Andrew…
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The Lunch Hour - FTC Overreach, 'Junk Fees' and More

On a recent episode of the Federal Newswire Lunch Hour podcast, CFIF's Timothy Lee joined host Andrew Langer and Daniel Ikenson, Founder of Ikensonomics Consulting and former Director of Trade and Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, to discuss Federal Trade Commission overreach, so-called "junk fees," and more.

The conversation focuses on "the FTC's increasingly aggressive regulatory posture under Chair Lina Khan, highlighting concerns about overreach, economic consequences, and implications for constitutional governance."

Watch below.…[more]

December 05, 2024 • 12:18 PM

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Spoiler Alert: “The Hangover III” to Feature Barack Obama, Anthony Weiner Print
By Timothy H. Lee
Thursday, June 02 2011
Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for the 2012 release of 'The Hangover III,' featuring Barack Obama and Anthony Weiner.

The nation’s economic hangover brought on by Obama Administration policies worsened this week.  It is therefore fitting that a movie of the same name dominated theaters worldwide. 

Last weekend, “The Hangover II” enjoyed a record box office debut for a comedy, despite critical objection that its formulaic plot tracked the original too closely.  According to early reports, writers won’t repeat that mistake in the next script. 

Hoping to cash in again on this enormously lucrative franchise, but knowing that a third version mechanically repeating the first two movies’ plotlines would offend audiences and trigger critical uproar, word out of Hollywood is that producers are working on a script that takes the film in an entirely new creative direction.  Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for the 2012 release of “The Hangover III,” featuring Barack Obama and Anthony Weiner. 

Whereas the first “Hangover” tracked the Las Vegas bachelor party shenanigans of “the wolfpack” (played hilariously by Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis), this year’s sequel moved the setting to Thailand, where such raunchy highjinks as facial tattoos, chain-smoking monkeys, severed fingers and drug-induced blackouts ensue.  

The rumored setting for “The Hangover III?”  Greece. 

Because that’s where Obama’s economic policies are quickly taking us. 

Over one year since the Obama Administration proclaimed an illusory 2010 “Recovery Summer,” and more than two years since the failed “stimulus” that spent nearly $1 trillion that we didn’t have, the U.S. economy took an alarming nosedive this week.  First, the U.S. manufacturing sector suffered its worst single-month slowdown in almost three decades.  Then, American home prices plummeted 4.2% in the first quarter of 2011, compounding a 3.6% drop in the fourth quarter of 2010.  On top of that, the Conference Board index of consumer confidence fell all the way to 60.8, from an already pessimistic 66.0 in April. 

Making matters worse, Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) reported the next day that the nation added only 38,000 private sector jobs in the month of May, a stunning decline from an already-mediocre 177,000 the previous month.  Then, U.S. automobile sales suffered their worst decline in over 18 months, falling 3.7% in May. 

It was enough to trigger a 280-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and economic forecasters downgraded their expectations for domestic economic growth this year. 

All of this is the natural consequence of years of efforts to reflate the economy through unprecedented federal spending, easy money and regulatory uncertainty from the Obama Administration and the Federal Reserve.  Such policies were never the path to a healthy recovery, and now we’re suffering the predictable hangover. 

Meanwhile, the Obama Administration refuses to propose a serious budgetary plan amid skyrocketing deficits and unsustainable spending. 

Hello, Greece. 

So how does Obama plan to extricate himself from this mess before the November 2012 election?  Well, it appears that he and his supporters will draw on three well-worn cards over and over again between now and election day:  The Bush Card (i.e., “it’s all Bush’s fault”), the Race Card (i.e., those who oppose Obama or his failed policies must be motivated by racism) and the bin Laden Card (i.e., that renowned military mastermind Obama single-handedly killed Osama bin Laden, never mind that any other president would have made the same decision). 

Coincidentally, early rumors indicate that the writers of “The Hangover III” will feature the same three cards as Obama and the rest of “the wolfpack” attempt to extricate themselves from hilarious disasters of their own making in Greece.  Just imagine the hilarity as Obama and the other characters blow all of their money and deliriously offer bewildered Greek merchants and officials nothing but Bush scapegoating, racial accusations and bin Laden rationalizations to get themselves out of tight situations. 

To top it all off, Congressman Anthony Weiner (D – New York) will reportedly make a cameo appearance.  After all, “The Hangover” and “The Hangover II” both included disturbingly amusing scenes of male frontal exposure.  Who better to take things up a notch than the man suddenly famous for allegedly tweeting vulgar images of his own frontal portions to a shocked public? 

It should all make for a hilarious third installment in “The Hangover” series.  Back here in the real world, however, things aren’t so funny. 

And unlike audiences for the movie, American voters may not be nearly as interested in an Obama Administration sequel. 

Notable Quote   
 
"Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's attempt to cement the Biden-Harris administration's labor agenda deep into President-elect Trump's second term suffered a notable defeat Wednesday afternoon after two ex-Democratic senators helped tank a controversial labor nominee. ...Sinema and Machin's decision to vote with Republican senators to block McFerran's renomination could be the duo's last break…[more]
 
 
— Adam Pack, Daily Caller
 
Liberty Poll   

RFK Jr. believes that elements of the CIA were involved in the assassination of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, in 1963, and wants further investigation. What do you believe?