Did Obama administration target political enemies?

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Did Obama administration target political enemies?

Report: FBI, DOJ met with IRS about possibly prosecuting nonprofit groups

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New Documents Spark Debate Over Whether Administration Was Targeting Political Enemies

Rich Karlaard: Yeah this thing just keeps inching along, much in the manner that Watergate did. The Watergate break-in happened in 1972 but didn't really pick up steam until 1973, late 1973 and leading finally to Nixon's resignation in 1974. So this is following the same path, and it is picking up steam. The smoking gun really is the Eric Holder Justice Department wanting to review documents before Congress got a look at them.

Elizabeth MacDonald: It's not legal. The treasury secretary has to be in here and verify any disclosure. It's in very strict confines the letter of the law. I don't think they can just go off all willy-nilly and disclose this information David. But here's what it looks like. The DOJ under Eric Holder, the IRS along with the FBI were cooking up some reason to put President Obama's political opponents not under audit, but in prison. That is a huge deal that is such corruption it's beyond a smidgen of corruption.

Sabrina Schaeffer: What becomes clear is that they weren't simply targeting conservative groups, to make them jump through hoops or make their lives difficult, they were looking to criminally prosecute them and that's what I think is very alarming. To Bruce's point, that's why Republicans, Democrats, anyone in between, ought to care about this. This is very much a five alarm fire in which it shows how much of an unwieldy beast the progressive state has become. You may agree with this administration, but it will eventually change and you don't want another administration to have this kind of power. So we should all be on the same side on this.

Carrie Sheffield: Yeah and the left always talks about McCarthyism and how wrong Joe McCarthy was with this witch hunt, why aren't they sounding the alarm here? They're trying to make it a tin hat, that anyone talking about this is wearing a tin hat. That's absolutely wrong. This is a violation of the Fourth Amendment which guarantees against unreasonable searches and seizures. Unreasonable passing of documents to agencies who don't deserve them, and unlawfully shouldn't have them.

John Tamny: Oh yeah, and I don't think it was a conspiracy. I think it was the IRS very clearly trying to curry favor with the Obama administration. ‘Oh by the way, we're going to partner with you by muzzling certain groups ahead of the 2012 election,' it may have changed the outcomes of the 2012 elections. To Bruce's point, it's not bipartisan that the Democrats are not jumping all over this. The future in mind, per what Sabrina said, is pretty scary.

Bruce Japsen: I think what bothers me is that we've spent 20 million dollars over three years and its largely been partisan and I think to Richard's point, Watergate was bipartisan, there were people on both sides looking into it, and we really don't have that here. Jeb Bush This Week Saying We Need More Americans Participating in the Job Market and Working 'Longer Hours'

Rich Karlaard: Well look, Jeb Bush left himself vulnerable with the phrase “need to work.” If he would have emphasized want to work, it would have gone over a lot better. I think he makes more of a case than he already has, that it's about productivity that drives the opportunity to work as much as you want.

Elizabeth MacDonald: Yeah, it's basically the employer mandate tax. Really, it helped wreck the 40 hour work week. It basically said that employers, you don't have to pay the tax if your employees work less than 30 hours a week. It was so upsetting to some of the unions, David, that two of the teamsters wrote to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi saying that ObamaCare is really hurting our job growth, and the 40 hour work week is a lynch pin of the middle class.

Sabrina Schaeffer: One of the reasons for that David, is because of the burdensome regulations that Washington imposes on the private economy. One of the things that he should come out, and all of the presidential candidates should come out and talk about, is that we want to get rid of and roll back those EPA regulations. We don't want lawmakers micro-managing wages, we don't want them mandating benefit packages. Those are all of the thing that make businesses no longer nimble and means that they can't invest in their workforce and increase job hours or new jobs. That's what I think Jeb Bush was getting at, but I think it was one of those awkward moments that didn't come out as planned.

Carrie Sheffield: He's absolutely right, and I find it so rich that Hillary, who said businesses don't create jobs, is criticizing creating jobs. We need to roll back job-killing legislation that this administration has expanded that has killed people and moved them from full- time to part-time employment.

John Tamny: Absolutely. I just think he misspoke. Listen, let's face it. In Bangladesh, everyone works full time, all the time just to survive. We're don't have to do that in the United States and that's a big positive. What he should have said is we should not be penalizing work, so if they want to be productive, they shouldn't be penalized for it. Taxation, regulation, all that. He just misspoke.

Bruce Japsen: Why I think she's right in some respect, because some people have multiple part time jobs, but I think that John Ellis Bush missed the point here, because he should have been directing these comments towards employers, because the last labor statistics report said that there are about 7 million people who want to work full time but they can't be made full time.

Most Cities Offer Elected Officials Cars Funded By Taxpayers

Rich Karlaard: Yeah this sense of entitlement is mind-blowing. But look, if St. Louis wants to elect people like that, who are going to be self-dealing politicians, then it's up to St. Louis voters to fix the problem.

Elizabeth MacDonald: Yeah listen, when our teachers, cops and firemen can't support their families and these guys are getting cars? Spending is on cruise control and it's out of control. We're not Uzbekistan, this is the United States of America, and this has got to stop.

Sabrina Schaeffer: Actually, I disagree with John hear because I think these stories are important. It brings it back to something people can actually relate to. I live in Arlington, Virginia just out of D.C. and I see this everywhere. All of the parking attendants drive nicer cars than I do. You walk into the building and they have marble flooring, it's a waste that's something very tangible and easy to recognize. I think it's important that we point it out.

Carrie Sheffield: Yeah TV didn't pay enough so she went into government. The Congressional Budget Office has looked into this. Government workers, once you get the cushy time off, pension, being able to retire so early, they actually make more than private sector workers, so of course they're going to have no accountability.

John Tamny: Absolutely, it's beyond infuriating, but I almost think this distracts from our small government movement. Implicit here is that everything else government does isn't wasteful, when in fact that vast majority of government spending amounts to waste. I would say this distracts.

Bruce Japsen: Well I guess it all depends on what the credit card is used for but you could at least track what the people are spending and where they're spending on, like a homing device. But I'd like to see the PR person go away. I've always said that you could find ObamaCare if you could get rid of one PR person at every company in America.

Stock Picks

Elizabeth MacDonald: Valic Company I Health Science (VCHSX)

John Tamney: MCHI, MSCI China Index