If you want to make the outlay for your Christmas gift purchases look small, take a look at the size of the national debt. Under President Obama the debt has increased 70 percent and surpassed $18 trillion, an alltime record.

What a difference a year (and an election) makes. Then it was Republicans in Congress threatening a government shutdown. Now it's President Obama, warning he will shut down the government with a veto if the GOP tries to block his executive action on amnesty for illegal immigrants.

It's anybody's guess how many Americans saw a quarterback sneak play while watching football over the Thanksgiving holiday. But it appears the Obama administration pulled a huge and costly sneak by ordering stricter standards for ozone levels while the public was distracted. The new Environmental Protection Agency regulation, costing an estimated $270 billion per year, is said to be the most expensive ever imposed.