INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: Economy Less Important To Obama Than Vacations, Golf

“An enterprising private group has determined that the president has spent more time on vacation and golf courses than on trying to turn the economy around. And we’re surprised by 2.5% growth?

The Government Accountability Institute, which has mined the records of the White House calendar, says President Obama ‘has spent a total of 474.4 hours (or 47.4 10-hour workdays) in economic meetings or briefings of any kind throughout his presidency” while he “has played 115 total rounds of golf and spent 86 days on vacation, for an estimated combined total of 976 hours.’”

To read the entire Investor’s Business Daily article, click here.

GAI Report: Presidential Calendar: A Time-Based Analysis

Government Accountability Institute is pleased to release its new report, “Presidential Calendar: A Time-Based Analysis.”

Click here to download the report.

Wall Street Journal: How Congress Puts Itself Above The Law

“Insider trading (the buying and selling of stocks based on insider information not available to the general public) has been a violation of federal securities laws for almost 80 years. Yet it was never illegal for members of Congress. Not, that is, until a November 2011 report by CBS’s “60 Minutes” shamed Congress into changing the law to prohibit members of Congress and their staffs from trading on inside information. The report was largely based on research conducted by the Hoover Institution’s Peter Schweizer for his book, “Throw Them All Out,” published that same month. Speaking about the legislators capitalizing on their positions, Mr. Schweizer told Steve Kroft on the program: “This is a venture opportunity. This is an opportunity to leverage your position in public service and use that position to enrich yourself, your friends and your family.”

“Six months after the “60 Minutes” segment with Mr. Schweizer aired, Congress passed and the president signed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012, which bans insider trading by lawmakers and their staffs. But just last week, while voters were focused on emotional issues such as immigration and gun control, House and Senate members voted to repeal a key provision of the so-called Stock Act—the one that required online posting of their financial transactions.”

Read the rest of the Wall Street Journal article here.

FORBES: Poverty Professionals And The Cronies Who Love Them

“Details are hard to come by as they are not broken out in earnings reports, but a 2012 study from the Government Accountability Institute “Profits From Poverty” indicates that since 2004, 18 of the 24 states that contract with J.P. Morgan to provide welfare benefits have paid over half a billion dollars in fees. That may not sound like much relative to the size of some of these firms, but it provides a nice steady income for an industry happy to shower members of the House and Senate Agricultural Committees with annual campaign donations now exceeding $300,000 per year.”

Read the rest of Bill Frezza’s entire Forbes article here.

WASHINGTON TIMES: Corzine Cronyism

Mr. Corzine raised $500,000 for the president’s re-election campaign. He was even considered for a presidential appointment before MF Global collapsed. Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute, observed in an op-ed column in this newspaper that MF Global was a client of Attorney General Eric Holder’s former law firm, Covington & Burling, where many liberals go to do good and stay to do well. Lanny Breuer, the former head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, has just left the Justice Department to return to Covington & Burling, where he expects to earn $4 million annually. Covington’s list of clients is studded with the elites of Wall Street players.

Click here to read the rest of the Washington Times article.

VIDEO: “BOOMTOWN 2: THE BUSINESS OF FOOD STAMPS”

Miss the Hannity one-hour special “Boomtown 2: The Business of Food Stamps” featuring the Government Accountability Institute?

Watch the video clips below.

Video #1: Large corporations benefit from the food stamp program.

Video #2: Peter Schweizer: “No one is representing the taxpayers in the food stamp program.”

Video #3: How big companies make profits from poverty.

Video #4: Stephen K. Bannon: “The food stamp program combines the worst of all worlds.”

FOX News 1-Hour Special Featuring GAI–”Boomtown 2: The Business of Food Stamps”

A “Sean Hannity Special—Boomtown 2: The Business of Food Stamps” with Government Accountability Institute’s Peter Schweizer and Breitbart’s Stephen K. Bannon is scheduled to air on Friday, April 5th at 9pm EDT.

With nearly 50 million Americans now living below the poverty line, “Sean Hannity Special—Boomtown 2: The Business of Food Stamps” reveals how the food stamp program has become a cash cow for big corporations who profit from poverty. Far from wanting to shrink the size of government, big companies involved with the food stamp program (officially known as SNAP–Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) fight to expand a program that puts more Americans on the welfare rolls while fattening their wallets to the tune of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Watch the video promo here and be sure to tune in Friday, April 5th at 9:00 p.m. EDT.

FORBES: Wall Street, Political Insiders Nervous About Political Intelligence Firm Expose

Wall Street and Capitol Hill insiders are quaking in their Gucci loafers about a forthcoming government exposé slated to drop April 4^th of this year.

That is when the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) will issue a report on so-called “political intelligence firms”— shadowy companies that hire former members of Congress, staffers, and other federal officials to scour the halls of Congress and Capitol Hill in search of valuable, market-moving information that is then sold to big hedge funds and financial houses that use the intel to make investments.

“I know that the industry is afraid that the report is going to lead to some sort of legislation or regulation for the political intelligence industry,” said Michael Mayhew, chairman of Integrity Research Associates. “They are afraid of the outcome.”

The reason big investment houses and political intelligence companies are scared is simple: studies show that firms who use this type of secret intel substantially increase their returns, and any move to publically report the names of key players or curb use of the tips could reduce returns and create embarrassing public relations headaches.

To read the rest of the Forbes article, click here.

WASHINGTON FREE BEACON: OFA Vulnerable To Foreign Donations

The Government Accountability Institute (GAI), a watchdog group, released a report in September 2012 that stated the campaign was vulnerable to illegal donations from foreigners. The report criticized the Obama campaign’s lax security features on its donation web page…

Click here for the full Washington Free Beacon article.

FORBES: Oscar Nominated Hollywood Moguls Bag Taxpayer Dollars

Consider a few of this year’s Oscar nominated films. According to a new report by the Government Accountability Institute, Quentin Tarantino’s controversial spaghetti Western, Django Unchained, featuring Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio has applied to receive an estimated $8.4 million in film tax credits from the State of Louisiana. Actor-director Ben Affleck and producer George Clooney’s film, Argo, received $6.21 million in tax credits from the California Film Commission. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, featuring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, and Tommy Lee Jones, hauled in $3.5 million in tax-free film credits. Silver Linings Playbook bagged a cool $5.6 million.

Read the full story at Forbes by clicking here.