Free Republic

Ask any budget expert in Washington to explain the ballooning deficit and debt, and Social Security and Medicare will be high on the list of causes. That’s wrong. The real driver, the elephant in the room, is means-tested social-welfare spending—Medicaid, food stamps, refundable tax credits, Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, federal housing subsidies and almost 100 other programs whose eligibility is limited to those below an income threshold. True, Social Security and Medicare are a drain on general revenue and will become big fiscal problems if not reformed. But they aren’t the major source of our current...

A new report released this week found the Britain's National Health Service is in dire condition and providing substandard care in many areas. The report was commissioned by the Labour government shortly after it took power. It's author is a British surgeon and member of the House of Lords, Lord Darzi.The report was the result of a nine-week review by the independent peer and NHS surgeon Lord Darzi.He was asked by Labour, shortly after the election, to identify the failings in the health service, but his remit did not stretch to coming up with solutions.His findings present a stark picture...

Ask any budget expert in Washington to explain the ballooning deficit and debt, and Social Security and Medicare will be high on the list of causes. That’s wrong. The real driver, the elephant in the room, is means-tested social-welfare spending—Medicaid, food stamps, refundable tax credits, Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, federal housing subsidies and almost 100 other programs whose eligibility is limited to those below an income threshold. True, Social Security and Medicare are a drain on general revenue and will become big fiscal problems if not reformed. But they aren’t the major source of our current...

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday froze hiring and travel in all city departments — including police and fire — and eliminated overtime “not directly required for public safety operations” to begin to confront Chicago’s burgeoning budget crisis. Johnson is not the first mayor to freeze hiring and restrict overtime to solve a budget crisis. But most past hiring freezes have been confined to “non-essential” positions. Public safety jobs in the Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Fire Department have routinely been exempt. Johnson doesn’t have that luxury at a time when he’s refusing to rule out the property tax increase...

Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech Friday was an opportunity to get specific with voters about how a Harris presidency would manage an economy that many feel is not working well for them. Unfortunately, instead of delivering a substantial plan, she squandered the moment on populist gimmicks. Americans are clearly still anxious and angry about the high cost of groceries, housing and even $5.29 Big Macs. While the inflation rate has cooled substantially since the 2022 peak, an ostensible Biden-Harris administration accomplishment, prices remain elevated relative to the Trump years. So it’s a real political issue for Ms. Harris. One way...

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin took a public victory lap this week, claiming credit for managing the Old Dominion’s budget into a $1 billion surplus. In his annual Joint Money Committee Address before the Commonwealth’s relevant legislative committees, Youngkin, a Republican, laid out how, in recent years, most of the surrounding states’ growth had become attractive to longtime Virginians. Youngkin began by greeting the Democratic committee chairs: House Appropriations Chair Luke Torian of Prince William, House Finance Chair Vivian Watts of Fairfax and Senate President L. Louise Lucas, who serves as the upper chamber’s finance chairwoman. "Our neighbors in North Carolina,...

Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off her campaign speech in North Carolina on Friday announcing her new economic plan that would give about $1.7 trillion in handouts to those struggling in the current Biden-Harris economy and set price controls on groceries. Her economic plan includes measures to ban federal “price gouging” – stopping sellers from setting unfair prices on groceries – giving out $25,000 to help first time home owners with their down payments and up to a $6,000 tax break for lower and middle income families who have a child in their first year of life. The Trump campaign...

Except for tiny Luxembourg, the United States spends more money on education than every other OECD country and exceeds the OECD average by over 50 percent. This is not just true of absolute levels of expenditures: As a share of GDP, combining federal, state and local expenditures, the US also spends more on education than its peers. In 2021, the US spent about 5.6 percent of GDP on education, compared to the OECD average of 5 percent, 4.5 percent in Germany, 3.5 percent in Japan, and 5.2 percent in France. Over the past two decades, this continual increase in spending...

ABC News staffers are bracing for major cuts as the Disney-owned network slashes budgets — with even those at top-rated “Good Morning America” on the chopping block, The Post has learned. The Mouse House has demanded that “GMA” reduce its bottom line by a whopping $19 million, up from previous projections of $17 million, before the end of Disney’s fiscal year on Sept. 30, an insider with knowledge told The Post. The expected layoffs come as Disney began bringing down the ax at its TV group on Wednesday, slashing 140 jobs at its networks that include NatGeo and Freeform, Bloomberg...

The New York City Council adopted a massive $112.4 billion spending plan Sunday in a 46-3 vote – with the dissenting votes coming from three Democratic socialist representatives. Mayor Eric Adams – who negotiated the deal with Council leadership – applauded the action, which saw the only opposition from council members Tiffany Caban, Shahana Hanif and Alexa Aviles. The new fiscal year 2025 budget runs from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. “Our administration’s mission is clear: Protect public safety, rebuild our economy, and make this city more livable — and this budget is a direct testament to that...

Michigan Democrats passed a sweeping $83 billion state budget, cutting teachers’ pensions and school-safety spending to fund ambitious new business projects — and more than $330 million for lawmakers’ pet projects. Thursday was a difficult day for Republicans, who “were given 45 minutes roughly to read the bill,” a 1,000+-page document, according to state Rep. Ann Bollin. **SNIP** With their extensive control of Michigan’s government bodies, Democrats are earmarking massive funds to specific businesses, as well. As state Rep. Mike Harris said, “The budget earmarks $17 million for zoos, $2 million for a boxing gym, $5 million for a theater,...

A record-breaking $111-plus billion budget that will reverse the majority of cuts pushed by Mayor Eric Adams in recent months has been reached in a handshake deal with City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams set to be announced Friday, sources told The Post. The two Adamses (no relation) — whose rivalry has become increasingly bitter — will shake hands on the fiscal year 2025 budget agreement during an afternoon event, sources said. The full scope of reversals had yet to be unveiled, but the $58 million funding restoration to libraries touted by the mayor and speaker Thursday night will bring seven-day...

The Congressional Budget Office has underestimated Medicaid spending by billions of dollars every year for some time now and a new law that reduced illegal immigration in Florida may explain why. Since 2000, the CBO has underestimated an average of $15 billion a year of Medicaid spending, while often overestimating Social Security and Medicare spending. The latest CBO budget outlook bumped up Medicaid spending estimates yet again, this time by another $50 billion over the next 10 years. But judging by its recent performance, the new projections will still be too low. Something in the Medicaid program is adding tens...

Just when you think things couldn’t get worse on the fiscal front, Washington once again manages to exceed expectations. One couldn’t help but get that impression from the latest update to the nation’s (poor) budget situation.The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released revised estimates of the nation’s budget and economic outlook over the coming years. While the prior version of the document, released in February, didn’t exactly show a fiscally responsible federal government, the intervening four months saw lawmakers digging taxpayers — that’s you and me — into an even deeper hole.More Spending by Congress and BidenOverall, CBO increased the...

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and state legislators struck a deal this weekend to close a $47 billion budget deficit — and agreed to spend $12 million to implement proposals to provide reparations for slavery. The Sacramento Bee reported: The budget agreement California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders announced Saturday sets aside $12 million to help the state implement a series of reparations-related bills lawmakers hope will pass this year.

The Congressional Budget Office reports the 2024 budget deficit will near $2 trillion.. In 2024, the federal budget deficit is estimated to reach nearly $2 trillion, according to new projections released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week. In February, the agency predicted that the deficit would only be $1.58 trillion. However, spending increases have caused the projected deficit to increase by $400 billion, a staggering 27 percent hike. According to the CBO, 80 percent of the spike in the deficit can be blamed on four sources of government spending. The largest source, responsible for $145 billion of the...

So much for Biden’s bragging that “he” cut the US budget deficit by half. Actually, Biden regularly confuses the national debt with the national deficit. Last week, the Treasury reported that in May, the US government collected $323.6 billion in tax receipts, it spent more than double that, or some $670 billion… … resulting in a May budget deficit of $347 billion – about $100 billion more than consensus expected – and the second biggest May deficit on record, with only the Covid crisis peak of May 2020 higher. As a result of the blowout May deficit, the cumulative fiscal...

Everyone is posting that the annualized number is about $1.059 trillion. However the interest on the debt for just May 2024 was $103 billion. Debt will grow another $2 trillion or more in the next 12 months. We are already on pace for over $1.2 trillion in annualized payments on the debt. Within the next few years, interest on the debt will exceed Social Security payments and become the largest item in the budget. ... US federal interest payments now exceed the defense budget. ... We have crossed the Rubicon.. It will never be paid down! NEVER.. And this administration...

Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong says we are going to have a wild close to 2024. Let’s start with Biden’s new job approval rating from Martin Armstrong’s “Socrates” program, which is now only 6% to 7%. Armstrong explains, “It’s the old story of draining the swamp, but now, the swamp is an ocean. This is completely crazy. The cases against Trump show you how desperate they are here. The reason they want Biden, and they even blocked RFK Jr. from getting on the Democrat ticket, the reason they want him is he is just a sock puppet....

Now law is the $750 million in tax increases to fund Illinois’ largest spending plan in state history. But so is a measure increasing the state’s debt by $8 billion while giving schools more taxing authority. Pritzker signed the $53.1 billion budget Wednesday. Friday, he signed the tax measure that includes capping the credit businesses can get for claiming net operating losses and capping the discount retailers get for collecting and remitting sales taxes. Hours later, Pritzker defended another tax increase, the tiered tax on sports betting companies. “In fact, if you look at what we did, really our focus...