Free Republic

"The powers of financial capitalism had (a) far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland; a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were...

The White House reiterated Monday that administration officials would not negotiate over the debt ceiling, after House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said over the weekend that Republicans would seek concessions in exchange for extending the limit on borrowing. "The president's position has not changed," said White House press secretary Jay Carney. Carney said officials were skeptical that Republicans would actually pursue the strategy after the polling hit the party took during the government shutdown earlier this year. "We do not expect Republicans to walk that path again, precisely because it proved so disastrous," Carney said. But Ryan on...

Senate Democrats are on the cusp of securing enough GOP votes to break a filibuster next week on the bipartisan budget, temporarily ending the fiscal crises that have dominated Washington for the past several years. With 53 Democrats and two independents expected to back the measure, four Republicans — John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Richard Burr of North Carolina — said that they would vote to cut off debate on the budget, putting proponents just one vote shy of advancing the measure to final passage. Several additional GOP senators signaled Friday that...

While American babies are born with 54,320 debt on each citizen, PLUS a $149,947.00 per taxpayer on their shoulders, Australia’s national debt is a half-a-trillion only. The amounts are simply staggering. And, as the National Debt Clock keeps turning, numbers are at 17,224,121,XXX,XXX trillion. The clock’s mechanism is so accurate and runs at such speed that a naked eye can barely catch changes at the infinitesimal seconds at which it turns. As American citizens at large need to understand the methodology of a debt and the way to recovery, we repeat here the economic formula, courtesy of Investopedia: GDP =...

The House Budget Committee filed the text of the new Ryan-Murray budget deal before midnight on Tuesday and the Rules Committee announced an emergency meeting at 2 p.m. on Wednesday to prepare a House floor vote on the package. The text of the $85 billion deal is here. [77 page PDF] The deal sets spending levels for 2014 and 2015, allowing appropriators to create a fully detailed omnibus spending package before the government shutdown deadline of Jan. 15. The spending panel will also now have the chance to do all 12 individual appropriations bills for 2015 before the Oct. 1...

Some 1.6 million Americans have registered for Obamacare, but more than nine-out-of-10 of them actually signed up for Medicaid, a trend that could end up slamming federal and state government budgets. Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security already account for 48 percent of federal spending, writes economist Michael Tanner, a senior fellow for the Cato Institute, in an article for The New York Post. But with Obamacare adding to the Medicaid costs, "we are picking up speed on the road to insolvency," Tanner writes. The Medicaid program is already the third-largest government program in the United States, coming in only behind...

Over at The Atlantic, Ron Fournier -- the editorial director of National Journal -- argues that the Republicans are "The Party of Zilch."  As part of his rationale for why the GOP "stands for nothing," Fournier states that "[t]he country needs to tame a massive debt that will be 100 percent of the gross domestic product by 2038 unless Congress raises revenue and trims entitlements. No, says the GOP." Here is a news flash for The Atlantic: the American gross federal debt already exceeds 100% of GDP.  No need to wait until 2038; it is currently at 106.5% of...

The Tea Party/Republican House majority was elected in 2010 to stop the runaway Obama Progressive Democrat big government spending spree........Federal spending soared from $2.655 trillion in 2006,when the Democrat Congress was elected to replace the Republican Congress, to $3.6 trillion in fiscal 2011, reflecting the last spending legislation adopted by that completely Democrat Congress in the prior year, an increase of 36% in just four years of control.But after the new Tea Party/Republican House majority forced a major budget showdown in 2011,total, actual, nominal federal spending actually declined in fiscal 2012 to $3.54 trillion. Such an absolute decline rarely ever...

Since there were no federal offices up for election last week and only a handful of statewide races, you may have missed many of the results. Across the country this election cycle, voters considered raising income and sales taxes, raising the minimum wage, whether or not to add to a state’s current debt level, or to refuse these changes in favor of fiscal responsibility and taxpayer protection. The National Taxpayers Union has put together a great list of the “good, bad, and ugly” of last week’s election. As NTU reports, some of the most costly tax increases were avoided, while...

In rare political remarks since becoming president of Purdue University, former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has voiced sharp disagreement with many fellow Republicans over whether the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration should continue. Daniels, once director of the Office of Management and Budget under George W. Bush, dubbed sequestration a "bad idea" during a press breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. In so doing, the 64-year-old Daniels put himself on the opposite side of such national conservative leaders as Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, who recently told Newsmax "in the short term, it's important to...

The House on Wednesday passed a resolution that disapproves of President Obama's decision to suspend the debt ceiling until early February. The House passed the disapproval resolution, H.J.Res. 99, in a 222-191 vote. Three Democrats voted for it, while four Republicans voted against it and two GOP members voted "present." Democrats voting in favor were Reps. John Barrow (Ga.), Jim Matheson (Utah), and Mike McIntyre (N.C.). Republicans voting against were Reps. Charlie Dent (Pa.), Joe Heck (Nev.), Darrell Issa (Calif.), and Peter King (N.Y.). Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) voted "present." The resolution was the result of...

President Obama told FBI agents on Monday that he would fight to reverse sequester cuts that have trimmed the agency's budget, declaring that the "least we can do" for those who put their lives on the line was make sure "operations are not disrupted because of the politics in this town." "I'll keep fighting for those resources because our country asks and expects a lot from you, and we should make sure you've got the resources you need to do the job, especially when many of your colleagues put their lives on the line on a daily basis, all to...

From an Extreme Radical Independent Centrist- By: Larry Walker II -In his 1943 study entitled, The New Philosophy of Public Debt, U.S. economist, founder and 1st president of Brookings Institution (1927-1952), Harold G. Moulton expounded on the two conflicting debt philosophies of that era. First was the traditional view, that “a continuously unbalanced budget and rapidly rising public debt imperil the financial stability of the nation.” And, second, the new conception of the day, that “a huge public debt is a national asset rather than a liability and continuous deficit spending is essential to economic prosperity of the nation.”At...

The recent bipartisan deal to end the government shutdown and avoid government default, did not raise the debt ceiling but in effect removed any ceiling until February 7 next year. With no new ceiling to bump against the debt went up a record $328 billion just a day after the deal passed. This far surpassed the $238 billion record set two years ago. The huge leap is largely blamed on the government replenishing its supply of extraordinary measures by repaying Federal Funds it borrowed to prevent hitting the debt ceiling earlier. It will now be prepared if there is no...

Someone commented on a different thread that Republican Senator Mitch McConnell (KY) ought "fall on his sword." ... I suppose that is one way to phrase the sentiment. I have different idea as to what should be done with this man, and his traitorous cohorts - but then again, I do not want to get kicked off this forum, so I shall constrain my remarks to the following opinions ... Will somebody here on FR please provide a rational argument as to why I should remain a Republican? I will always be a conservative - both fiscal AND social; however,...

Joseph J. Dioguardi is a former member of Congress from New York and Certified Public Accountant. Dioguardi in his book “Unaccountable Congress: It Doesn’t Add Up” lists the top twelve gimmicks Congress uses to hide the true costs of government from the people. These gimmicks have been used for decades by both Republican and Democrat administrations, Congresses under both parties and government agencies. The idea behind these gimmicks is to “[K]eep Americans in the dark (or – I should say – in the red!), writes, Dioguardi. Dioguardi calls this “plastic budgeting”. As David A. Stockman, former Director of the Office...

The Chinese sure are doing a lot of worrying these days about the stalemate in Washington. Li Keqiang, China’s Premier, told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that he was watching the tussle over raising the government’s debt ceiling with “great attention” in a meeting last week. He has good reason to be concerned. With a stash of nearly $1.3 trillion in Treasury securities, China is the world’s largest foreign owner of U.S. government debt. If the U.S. Congress fails to lift the ceiling to allow the government to borrow more by Thursday, Washington may not have enough money to...

A man's car motor locked up and he needed another car fast or he would lose his job, fail to make his house payment and lose his credit rating. The only car lot for miles was 'Slick Obama's Sleazy Motors.' The man had gotten ripped off on his last deal there, but had little choice since this was the only car lot around. When he got to the dealership, he was met by owner Barack Obama. After explaining his situation, Obama told the man he only had one car available for him. It was a '1995 Cadillac DeVille' for $10,000....

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills. ... I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.” -- 3/16/2006 Floor speech in the Senate First, we learned that the federal budget deficit could reach nearly half a trillion dollars next year. Eight years after we had a record surplus, we’re now faced with record deficits. This mortgaging of our children’s future is a direct result of the Bush Administration’s dangerously failed fiscal...

Senator Schumer and many of our Democratic colleagues have been conducting a sustained and direct attack on the millions of people who supported and identified with the Tea Party movement. Make no mistake about it they don’t respect the people in the Tea Party movement they demean them in every way and virtually every day in this body. And everybody that is part of that movement, because they believed in America, they thought this US congress has gone lunatic in spending their country into bankruptcy. And passing Obamacare over the overwhelming objection of the American people and they did it...