Free Republic

One of the great American assumptions — that while individuals and families may rise and fall, each generation will end up on average better off than the one that preceded it — has been the subject of much scrutiny in the past decade. Democrats and their affiliated would-be wealth redistributors have argued that the large income gains enjoyed by the highest-paid workers threaten the American dream of ever-upward generational mobility, while others have worried that the housing meltdown and the Great Recession, which inflicted serious damage on the net worths of many American families, now stand in the way of...

Folks, if you have read me recently you know that I've said that you are the problem and that the reason this is true is that you won't go on strike, you won't picket DC and refuse to leave until the government stops stealing from you and debasing the currency, you won't reduce your spending and income to only that which provides necessities, and most of you go on to justify your behavior with "my kids (and/or family) deserve what I can provide." You're fools and I'm going to prove it. Further, I'm going to prove -- by arithmetic --...

According to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau, 49.2 percent of Americans received benefits from one or more government programs in the fourth quarter of 2011. govtbene And, of course, When Obamacare is fully implemented on Jan. 1, 2014, Americans earning up to 400 percent of the poverty level will qualify for a federal subsidy to buy health insurance. Speaking of more and more people of the government dole, RealtyTrac estimates that 47% of the nation’s foreclosed homes are currently occupied. The percentage actually tops 60% in some hot housing markets, like Miami and Los Angeles. Those still living...

According to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau, 49.2 percent of Americans received benefits from one or more government programs in the fourth quarter of 2011. govtbene And, of course, When Obamacare is fully implemented on Jan. 1, 2014, Americans earning up to 400 percent of the poverty level will qualify for a federal subsidy to buy health insurance. Speaking of more and more people of the government dole, RealtyTrac estimates that 47% of the nation’s foreclosed homes are currently occupied. The percentage actually tops 60% in some hot housing markets, like Miami and Los Angeles. Those still living...

The fight over the government shutdown may have come to an ignominious end, but the reprieve from Washington budgetary politics will be short-lived. The latest continuing resolution will expire on January 15, while we will hit our debt ceiling again on February 7. In the meantime, a budget conference committee, headed by Representative Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) and Senator Patty Murray (D., Wash.), is supposed to reach an agreement by December 13. While the shutdown fight was so traumatic that many Republicans may prefer that the budget debate simply go away, these negotiations are as crucial as ever. Yes, a...

AN UNSUSTAINABLE SYSTEM The chart will shake future pensioners If you trust your retirement to politicians, poor end up feeling cheated. JUAN RAMÓN RALLO 16/10/2013 This is a chart that should make us all reflect on pensions. Displays the expected development of the working population and the number of pensioners. Although it is a terrifying figure, is based on two assumptions fed optimistic: the first is that in Spain work 70% of the population old enough, rather than just get in full bubble, the second is that the number of pension pay matches that of people over 67 years, which...

Fifty-nine percent of front-line fast-food workers in Texas rely on public assistance programs such as food stamps and Medicaid to support their families, according to a report released on Tuesday. Nationally, more than half – 52 percent – of the families of front-line fast-food workers use at least one public assistance program, compared with a quarter of the total workforce, according to the report. The research was sponsored by the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Labor Research and Education and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Urban & Regional Planning.

Democrats may think they've won, but the nation will lose if warnings about spending, debt go unheeded. If congressional negotiators fail to raise the debt ceiling and reopen the government, voters will blame House Republicans, but it's the president and fellow Democrats that are behaving like teenagers by wanting to spend irresponsibly. Studies by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office and Medicare and Medicaid actuaries indicate if Washington continues spending and borrowing as current law requires, then all Americans, and not just the wealthy, will be paying higher taxes and more on private health care. Federal spending on Social Security and...

The rhetoric in Washington DC and the media is … silly. Here is a chart of Federal government receipts and Federal government expenditure on interest for Treasury debt. fedrecifedint Does that look like the US can’t afford to pay its debt? Of course not. The problems is the voracious spending in DC which no one seemingly wants to stop. Now, if I plot Federal government current receipts against Federal government current expenditures, we see a different picture: its the spending that’s the problem. govtrevexp You can see in the picture that the much vaunted reduction in the deficit was a...

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew warned Congress that “uncertainty” over the debt limit is starting to stress financial markets and trying to time an increase to the last minute “could be very dangerous.” Lew was speaking in testimony prepared for a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee today. debtceilgst But not the growth rate in debt or entitlements? Obamacare and other entitlements will lead to even more explosive debt growth in the US. debtprojection7 The US and much of the world has already been experiencing explosive debt in both the public and private sectors. See this link for a...

As former Reagan adviser David Stockman said about Obamacare, “It is a massive entitlement to end all entitlements.” But housing is an entitlement as well. Last week, no less than 63 members of the House and 13 Senators wrote to Financial Housing Finance Administration chief Ed Demarco demanding that he not lower the maximum loan limit for mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In earlier correspondence to DeMarco, first reported by National Mortgage News, National Association of Realtors (NAR) President Gary Thomas questioned the legality of FHFA reducing the loan limits at this time. “Our nation’s housing market...

I have discussed the declining labor force participation and M2 Money Velocity before. Nothing has been the same since 2000. m2velolfp And real median household income has also shrank since 2000. realmedhinc There are not good economic conditions for a thriving housing market or mortgage market. But throw on some color from declining labor force participation, and we have an uh-oh! moment. Let’s start with the number of full-time workers. Usually work full-time is at 116,208 thousand. usuallywork The number of people on Social Security is now 57,554 thousand. ssnumb That is a ratio of full-time workers to Social Security...

The Social Security Administration has begun warning the public it cannot guarantee full benefit payments if the debt ceiling isn’t increased. When asked by the public, the agency is notifying beneficiaries that “Unlike a federal shutdown which has no impact on the payment of Social Security benefits, failure to raise the debt ceiling puts Social Security benefits at risk,” according to a person familiar with the agency directive. The warning was assembled after the agency consulted with the Treasury Department, which would play a lead role in determining how the government handles payments if the borrowing limit isn’t raised soon....

After the housing crash of 2008, millions of US borrowers were suddenly plunged into a negative equity position of their homes where the amount they owed to lenders exceeded the value of the property. The problem was so bad that it has motivated cities to consider eminent domain to seize the underwater debt of borrowers (as in Richmond and San Bernardino California). Here is a recent map of negative equity from Zillow. zillowmapofnegeq These borrowers have nothing on Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam now owes $17 trillion to bondholders. GFDEBTN_Max_630_378 (3) Currently, Uncle Sam has public debt equal to 100.46% of...

Many pragmatic House Republicans have come to a simple conclusion: Navigating their way out of this fiscal mess won’t be easy. They think their best chance to fund the government, raise the debt ceiling and extract any concession from President Barack Obama is to strike a big budget deal. Yes, the grand bargain is back. It’s about the only common thread these days that runs from House Republican leadership down through the rank and file. Most House Republicans privately concede they’re fighting a battle they’re unlikely to win, and to avoid a prolonged shutdown and a disastrous debt default,...

President Barack Obama warned Thursday that as bad as the government shutdown is, a failure to raise the debt ceiling would be even more damaging to the U.S. economy, and called on congressional Republicans to end their “irresponsibility” on both issues. “As reckless as a government shutdown is … an economic shutdown that results from default would be dramatically worse,” Obama said on the morning of the third day of the government shutdown, at an event held at M. Luis Construction Company in the D.C. suburb of Rockville, Md. The president had on Wednesday warned Wall Street that “this time’s...

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — The 2013 Long-Term Budget Outlook released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) September 17 does not bode well for those who want to see decreasing deficits. The CBO projects spending for federal healthcareprograms will "rise substantially" in relation to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)." The CBO predicts that budget deficits will decline during the next few years. After this initial decline, though, the CBO calculates ...

Liberals are unwillingly to realize that you cannot legislate the poor into success. When poverty becomes comfortable, it goes from being a condition to a way of life. When liberals decided to increase the amount of benefits provided to the poor (which happens every year automatically) because “with a little more help, they will be able to make it on their own” the poor become more entrenched in their entitlement mentality. They will do even less to change any aspect of their life because they are certain that liberals will continue to provide more for them so they can work...

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on Monday called for criminal charges to be filed against people who defrauded a federal phone subsidy program. McCaskill sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, urging the agency to refer examples of fraud in its Lifeline program to the Justice Department for prosecution. "Knowingly providing false information to a government agency for profit must be investigated. If these companies are found in violation of federal law, I expect the DOJ will prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law," she wrote. She also urged the FCC to more aggressively use its own...

When Trader Joe's announced it was dropping health benefits for part-time workers, it reassured them that they'd be no worse off as a result. "We believe that with the $500 from Trader Joe's and the tax credits available under the (Affordable Care Act), many of you should be able to obtain health care coverage at very little if any net cost to you," noted CEO Dan Bane in a memo to employees revealed this week. In other words, Trader Joe's — like some other companies — has decided to shift its health care costs onto federal taxpayers via the subsidized...