Free Republic

For Joe Biden, government spending has no bottom. There's always a student loan to 'forgive,' a green scheme to lose money on, or an illegal alien to offer a 'free' lifetime service package to. And bureaucrats to hire, lots and lots of bureaucrats... As a result the U.S. deficit has hit record levels. According to the Treasury Department:A deficit occurs when the federal government’s spending exceeds its revenues. The federal government has spent $1.06 trillion more than it has collected in fiscal year (FY 2024, resulting in a national deficit.And the national debt? The Treasury Department says:The national debt ($34.60...

The International Monetary Fund boosted its 2024 global growth forecast to 3.2%, holding steady with 2023, compared with its previous outlook that expected 2.9% growth this year and 3.0% in 2023. In addition, headline inflation is projected to drop to 2.8% at the end of 2024 then to 2.4% at the end of 2025. "Most indicators continue to point to a soft landing," the IMF said in its April 2024 World Economic Outlook Report. "We also project less economic scarring from the crises of the past four years, although estimates vary across countries." The U.S. economy has overtaken its pre-pandemic...

The International Monetary Fund sounded the alarm on the Biden administration’s rampant spending as “out of line with what is needed for long-term fiscal stability.” The latest forecast from the IMF — a Washington-based group tasked with fighting financial crises worldwide — warned that the ballooning national debt and the fiscal deficit threatened to exacerbate sky-high levels of inflation while posing a long-term risk to the global economy. The IMF noted in its forecast that the US federal budget deficit grew from $1.4 trillion in fiscal 2022 to $1.7 trillion last year. ... The debt held by the public, which...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned Tuesday that America’s recent economic performance is partially the result of the country’s unsustainable fiscal practices, creating risks for the global economy. “The exceptional recent performance of the United States is certainly impressive and a major driver of global growth, but it reflects strong demand factors as well, including a fiscal stance that is out of line with long-term fiscal sustainability,” the IMF wrote in its latest World Economic Outlook. “This raises short-term risks to the disinflation process, as well as longer-term fiscal and financial stability risks for the global economy since it risks...

The Bretton-Woods Agreement of 1944 established the framework for the rise of the U.S. dollar and its status as the global reserve currency which has its obvious benefits for the US, but there are also numerous costs involved, according to Brandon Smith, who writes “Think of world reserve status as a “deal with the devil. You get the fame, you get the fortune, you get trophy dates and a sweet car – for a while. Then one day the devil comes to collect, and when he does he’s going to take everything, including your soul.” “Unfortunately, I suspect collection time...

Migration and free trade impose huge unrecognized costs on ordinary people, says a Nobel-awarded Princeton economist who previously supported the unpopular, elite-backed policies. “I used to subscribe to the near consensus among economists that immigration to the US was a good thing,” Professor Angus Deaton wrote in a post for the International Monetary Fund. He continued: Longer-term analysis over the past century and a half tells a different story. Inequality was high when America was open [to migration], was much lower when the borders were closed [to migrants], and rose again post Hart-Celler (the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965)...

Rising interest rates, the remote work trend, and the dominance of e-commerce sellers have combined to hammer the commercial real estate market over the past few years. Sky-high office and retail space vacancies are plaguing owners in this new environment, rents are plummeting, and borrowing costs have soared. As a result, U.S. commercial real estate prices have fallen 11% since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in March 2022, the IMF reported last week, the worst decline in over 50 years. The outlook for the sector is now so bleak that Cantor Fitzgerald’s billionaire chairman and CEO Howard Lutnick...

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has thrown support behind the implementation of carbon consumption charges, a move that has sparked debates and concerns during COP28. While the intention is to address environmental concerns, the repercussions are already causing ripples. One immediate impact is the anticipated increase in consumer pricing across the board. This added cost is expected to affect various sectors, potentially impacting the everyday lives of consumers. Critics argue that such charges could disproportionately burden average citizens, raising questions about the equity of the proposed solution.

Central bank digital currencies can push the world away from depending on the U.S. dollar, the organization said. . The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a handbook for global central banks regarding the development and implementation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The IMF’s “Central Bank Digital Currency Virtual Handbook” published last week pointed out that the increased use of CBDCs can “reduce dollarization” of the global economy—a situation where countries move away from relying on the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency. De-dollarization would push up borrowing costs in the United States, making loans expensive for businesses and individuals,...

As finance and development ministers and legislators gather in Morocco for the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), from Oct. 9 to 15, the pressing issue of runaway global inequality will loom large on their agenda. Governments can use various tools to address inequality, including fair taxes, quality public services and just labor conditions. And an important tool they should consider now is universal social security, a set of policies and programs designed to ensure financial security across a person’s lifetime. The World Bank and IMF wield substantial influence by funding and shaping social...

Failed bailout review raises stakes of Wickremesinghe's upcoming trip to BeijingSri Lanka's diplomatic failure to secure a concrete debt relief framework from China, its largest bilateral lender, is blocking access to desperately needed cash under a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund. A visit by IMF officials last month highlighted once again the bankrupt South Asian nation's slow progress in restructuring its external debt. The fund, which has insisted on "financing assurances" from bilateral lenders as a key pillar, gave Sri Lanka a failing grade in the first review of the bailout, denying it a second tranche of...

In the past several decades there has been a tremendous growth of inequality, not only in the world, but also within the advanced countries. This continuing trend in not accidental but is driven by the wealthiest families on the planet. These secretive families, referred to as the High Cabal by their agent Winston Churchill, aim at bringing mankind to its knees by increasing economic hardship for the masses. The goal of these families is the elimination of nation states as well as all the great religions, and their replacement by a Satanic One World dictatorship with a much reduced global...

A new global currency just launched, but 99 percent of the global population has no idea what just happened. The “Universal Monetary Unit”, also known as “Unicoin”, is an “international central bank digital currency” that has been designed to work in conjunction with all existing national currencies. This should set off alarm bells for all of us, because the widespread adoption of a new “global currency” would be a giant step forward for the globalist agenda.

Iranian women who resist the hijab law face the brutal prospect of frozen bank accounts, drawing chilling parallels to the repressive tactics of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau against protestors. Iran is intensifying its efforts to enforce strict dress codes for women by instituting a new law that fines women 2.5 billion rials ($60,000) for flouting hijab rules. Last month, Iran’s judiciary chief reiterated that “removing one’s hijab is equivalent to showing enmity to the Islamic Republic.” This is all part of the Islamic Republic’s adherence to the Sharia, as it ramps up efforts even further to counter protests. The Quranic...

A new global currency just launched, but 99 percent of the global population has no idea what just happened. The “Universal Monetary Unit”, also known as “Unicoin”, is an “international central bank digital currency” that has been designed to work in conjunction with all existing national currencies. This should set off alarm bells for all of us, because the widespread adoption of a new “global currency” would be a giant step forward for the globalist agenda. The IMF did not create this new currency, but it was unveiled at a major IMF gathering earlier this week… Today, at the International...

That’s creating new tensions with the U.S. and its Western allies The ascendance of China in developing country finance threatens to add to the broader trend of “decoupling” that is unraveling trade and technology ties with the West. The debt China is owed by poor countries only consolidates its influence in Africa and other regions. “We are moving to more of a bipolar system with a very significant creditor to a great many countries bent on doing things bilaterally with its own rules,” said Carmen Reinhart, who served as the World Bank’s chief economist until last year and has directly...

Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the Washington-based lender of last resort, said rising interest rates have put pressure on debts, leading to “stresses” in leading economies, including among lenders. Georgieva said the world economy would expand by just 3% in this year as rising borrowing costs, combined with the war in Ukraine and scarring from the Covid-19 pandemic would suffocate growth. Adding to a growing chorus of warnings from economic leaders, the IMF chief said it was clear that risks to financial stability had increased after the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Swiss-government brokered rescue of Credit...

A new report from the International Monetary Fund predicts a sharp drop in property prices across Asia.The report points out that home prices are "flattening" across the continent coming out of the pandemic boom that the region experienced. With rates rising, risks of "significant corrections in a number of markets" are profound, according to Nikkei. The report set out "to highlight challenges in Asian housing markets linked to fast price rises especially in the advanced economies since COVID, and more broadly including many EMs in the period leading up to COVID," per the IMF.It also aimed "to draw policy lessons...

In its new report on the outlook for the global economy, the International Monetary Fund confirmed a slowdown for 2022 and was pessimistic about 2023. In identifying the causes of the gloomier forecast, the IMF highlighted Russia’s war in Ukraine, pandemic-related supply disruptions and high inflation expectations.Stagnation, anxiety and rising prices are a recipe for social and political instability. Concern is especially focused on the European Union and whether the bloc can remain united as it confronts these challenges. In times of crisis, the incentives for zero-sum thinking will strengthen, and weak national leaders will be tempted to name scapegoats...

The International Monetary Fund is warning that the world is in for a rough ride, with more than a third of the global economy forecast to contract over this year and next amid a cost-of-living crisis fueled by inflation and exacerbated by factors such as Russia’s war in Ukraine. For most people, it will feel like a recession. “The worst is yet to come,” said the fund’s Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas. Speaking to a packed press conference Tuesday to launch the latest World Economic Outlook, he had a grim warning on global inflation, saying it is expected to peak at...