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The federal government continued to collect taxes at an unprecedented pace in the beginning of fiscal 2016, raking in a record of approximately $416,014,000,000 in revenues through the first two months of the fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2015 through the end of November), according to the Monthly Treasury Statement released today. In the entirety of fiscal 2015, which ended on Sept. 30, the federal government collected a record $3,248,723,000,000, which worked out to about $21,833 for every person who held a job in the country as of September. The record-setting $416,014,000,000 in taxes that the federal government collected in just...

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday pointed to a possible December interest rate "liftoff" but said rates would rise only slowly from then on to nurture the U.S. economic recovery. [...] Her remarks pushed bond yields higher and stocks lower. They also caused investors to reset their expectations of a December rate hike above 60 percent, a sign that markets are finally taking the Fed's language seriously after a period in which U.S. central bankers were frustrated by the gap between their own outlook and market bets about their likely course of action. ...

In the wake of the two-year budget deal the former House Speaker John Boehner negotiated with the Obama White House, Congress still needs to enact appropriations legislation to keep the government funded after the current continuing resolution expires on Dec. 11. When asked at a Tuesday press briefing whether the Republican House will put policy riders on that appropriations bill, newly House Speaker Paul Ryan said that Congress has the power of the purse and expects to use it. […] First up is a highway funding bill: "We're opening up the process," Ryan said, with "lots of amendments considered by...

Six Texas Republican representatives joined with the eleven Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation to vote in favor of the bill to raise the debt ceiling. Nineteen Texas Republicans voted nay in attempting to block the measure. On a national level, 79 Republicans joined with all 187 Democrat members of the House to pass the measure back to the Senate. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX)64% voted in favor of the bill with the Democrats, according to GovTrack.us. He announced this week that he seeks to replace Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)58% as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Ryan is...

117 Wednesday, presumptive Speaker of the House Congressman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)58% vowed things will be different under his leadership. Ryan said, “This begins a new day in the House of Representatives. Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)37% served with humility and distinction and we owe him a debt of gratitude. But tomorrow we are turning the page. We are not going to have a House that looked like it looks the last few years. We are going to move forward. We are going to unify. Our party has lost its vision and we are going to replace it with a vision....

It's not the ever elusive "grand bargain." But Washington may have solved almost all of its budget problems through the 2016 presidential election. Congressional leaders and the White House came to tentative terms on a major budget deal in the wee hours of Tuesday morning — one that could stave off many of the fiscal land mines remaining through next year's election and beyond. Its passage is far from certain, but it will most likely be the final act for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) before he leaves Congress at the end of the week and hands over the role...

Continuing my meditation on Brad DeLong’s meditation on the fiscal future. Brad doesn’t just argue that governments should be bigger in the future; he also argues that governments have historically not had enough debt, and should have more. Why? Because, he says, r-g—the difference between the real rate of interest on government debt and the rate of economic growth—has been consistently negative. Why is this significant? Well, we normally imagine that if a government engages in deficit spending now, it will have to engage in compensating austerity of some form later—even if it doesn’t plan to pay off the debt,...

American businesses are borrowing at historic high levels, but the only thing growing as a result is how fast their equity capital is vanishing, according to David Stockman, White House budget chief during the Reagan administration. Stockman blamed the Fed and the Fed's Wall Street cheerleaders. He said the Fed’s balance sheet has ballooned by nine times since 2000, yet real net investment in the business sector has cratered by 33 percent during the same time period. “Once upon a time businesses borrowed long term money — if they borrowed at all — in order to fund plant, equipment and...

Last week was a bad one for the US dollar, but good for stocks. The greenback had its worst five days of trading in four years, but the Dow rose another 168 points on Friday. This action took place after Madame Janet Yellen, proprietress of the House of the Rising Stockmarket, said she would not be impatient about raising rates. She would not be patient either, she warned. Investors drew the obvious conclusion: She has no idea what she is doing. […] The world of today is not the same world it was 50 years ago. We have a new...

Declaring an end to “mindless austerity,” President Barack Obama called for a surge in government spending Thursday, and asked Congress to throw out the sweeping budget cuts both parties agreed to four years ago when deficits were spiraling out of control. Obama’s proposed $74 billion in added spending—about 7 percent—would be split about evenly between defense programs and the domestic side of the budget. Although he’s sought before to reverse the “sequester” spending cuts, Obama’s pitch in this year’s budget comes with the added oomph of an improving economy and big recent declines in federal deficits. Taking a defiant tone,...

President Barack Obama on Friday urged the Senate to ratify a $1.1 trillion, House-passed spending bill that has roiled his Democratic Party, judging it an imperfect measure that stems from “the divided government that the American people voted for.” One day after House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi publicly chastised him for supporting the bill, the president said there were provisions “I really do not like.” At the same time, he said there were other portions that “fund health insurance, early childhood education, the fight against climate change and expand manufacturing hubs to grow jobs.” …

Soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters on Tuesday, “Our goal is to fund the government.” […] In response to another question, McConnell said, “It’s always appropriate” for Congress to “use the power of the purse.“ But he also noted that the president “has an important trump card—it’s called the veto pen. “So, there will be ongoing negotiations in the various efforts to fund the government, both this year and next year, about priorities. This is not unusual. And we do have different priorities. And somehow we’re going to have to work out things and make progress for...

Less than two months after their most joyous moment together, the relationship between the Obama White House and Senate Democrats went off track and has never recovered. Instead of basking in the victory glow of President Obama’s impressive 2012 reelection and an improbable two-seat gain for Democrats, they found themselves at the edge of the now infamous “fiscal cliff.” But Reid’s operation, along with his close ally, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, did not trust Obama’s negotiating skills. At that point, McConnell called Biden and famously asked: “Does anyone down there know how to make a deal?” Reid, Schumer and other...

Here Comes Congress' Next Big Economic Crisis, And It Could Be Even Worse Than The Fiscal Cliff Brett LoGiuratoMay 15, 2014, 10:51 AM We survived the fiscal cliff and the government shutdown. But there's another big battle brewing this summer between Congress and the Obama administration with dire economic consequences that could cost the country hundreds of thousands of jobs. And even though politicians on both sides of the aisle agree this disaster is "completely avoidable," all signs indicate we're on a collision course with crisis. On Wednesday, President Barack Obama gave his first formal warning about this impending self-inflicted...

Write Down This Date: July 1st, 2014 On this date, U.S. House of Representatives Bill "H.R. 2847" goes into effect. It will usher in the true collapse of the U.S. dollar, and will make millions of Americans poorer, overnight. You now have just several months to prepare ... Snopes Opinion: Mixture of Truth & NonTruth Origins: This item about the passage of H.R. 2847 causing the U.S. dollar to collapse as of 1 July 2014 is another example financial scarelore put out in conjunction with an investment come-on, in this case an ominous sales pitch put out by the folks...

One of European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s most important duties is watching his mouth. One ill-considered utterance is enough to sow panic on the financial markets. But during a press conference earlier this month, Draghi allowed himself a telling slip. Speaking to gathered journalists at the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Draghi twice almost uttered a word he has been at pains to avoid. “Defla…”, Draghi began, before stopping himself and continuing with the term “low inflation.”Yet despite Draghi’s efforts, the specter of deflation was omnipresent in Washington during the meetings. And it...

The Federal Reserve may be about to turn more aggressive in its regulation of the financial system. Fed Chair Janet Yellen suggested Tuesday that current regulatory rules might not be enough to prevent the kind of risk-taking that triggered the 2008 financial crisis and nearly toppled the entire banking system. She said the largest U.S. banks may need to hold additional capital to withstand periods of financial stress. Non-banks with deep reaches into the financial system might also need to meet tougher rules, she said. Such firms range from money market mutual funds to private equity and hedge funds. …

More than five years after the financial crisis struck, the biggest U.S. banks are better able to withstand a severe recession than at any time since the meltdown, the Federal Reserve has determined. Results of the Fed’s annual “stress tests” showed Thursday that all but one of 30 top banks passed muster with sufficient capital buffers to keep them lending through an economic crisis. Only Zions Bancorp fell short. The results showed continued improvement in banks’ financial positions since the 2008 crisis, the Fed said. That built on positive results from last year’s tests. “The industry is stronger and more...

The U.S. unemployment rate edged up to 6.7 percent in February as men struggled to find work, according to the Labor Department report issued Friday. More than 160,000 men joined the ranks of the unemployed. That increase raised their unemployment rate to 6.4 percent from 6.2 percent. Particularly hard hit were African-American men. Their rate climbed to 12.9 percent last month from 12 percent in January. It did so because more African-American men began searching unsuccessfully for work last month. …

While discussing federal spending and transportation funding, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said “there is absolutely no way we’re going to cut spending.” Boxer was discussing the Highway Trust Fund with members of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in Washington on Feb. 26th, when she addressed various tax increases that may be used to raise money for the program. “I don’t see support for raising the gas tax and there is absolutely no way we’re going to cut spending, so it’s going to have to be a creative way to fund this in reality,” Boxer said....