Free Republic

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) appeared on the Monday night edition of FOX News' "Hannity." Rep. Ryan goes through several charts that project our debt, shows spending in FY 2010 and what he will propose in the budget for the next fiscal year...

While many states consider boosting their economies with tax cuts, Illinois officials are betting on the opposite tactic: dramatically raising taxes to resolve a budget crisis that threatened to cripple state government. Neighboring states gleefully plotted Wednesday to take advantage of what they consider a major economic blunder and lure business away from Illinois.

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Quinn struck a deal with the Legislature’s ruling Democrats Thursday to raise the state income tax by 75 percent and boost the tax on cigarettes by $1 a pack — while a push to abolish the death penalty scored a historic legislative victory. The cornerstone of a dramatic day, the revenue agreement reached by Quinn, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) would impose a temporary increase in the state tax on workers’ paychecks from 3 percent to 5 ¼-percent. The money from that, the cigarette tax hike and a corresponding increase in...

Gold rose to within $10 of a record high on Friday, closing out an unprecedented tenth annual gain as the combination of a weaker dollar and global economic uncertainty seemed to pave the way higher next year. The entire precious metals complex had a stellar run in 2010, led by palladium's 97 percent rise, in a broad commodities rally that pushed the 19-commodity Reuters-Jefferies CRB index up 15 percent. Spot silver, too, swept higher for an 83 percent gain on the year, as investors sought the white metal as an alternative to gold. It was the best-performing assets in the...

The latest from the Capitol: Earlier in the evening, Senate Republicans and Democrats appeared to be settling on four tax votes: two for each side. The Democratic votes would include one on the House passed bill, and one on Senator Schumer’s (D., N.Y.) bill that would extend current rates for all making up to $1 million a year. But then Republican Leader McConnell phoned Majority Leader Reid to relay that a GOP objection has been raised to bringing up all four bills tomorrow. Without being able to get unanimous consent, Reid will file cloture tonight on just the two Democratic...

It grew by nearly $100 billion on last day of fiscal year, According to Treasury Direct it grew by $1.64 Trillion in the last year. Date Debt Held by the Public Intragovernmental Holdings Total Public Debt Outstanding 09/29/2010 8,963,900,445,439.19 4,502,371,965,926.43 13,466,272,411,365.62 09/30/2010 9,022,808,423,453.08 4,538,814,607,438.71 13,561,623,030,891.79

Large employers in the Twin Cities are bracing for health care cost increases of nearly 9 percent next year, according to a new survey. And many employees soon will learn how much of that increase will come out of their pockets. The new survey from Hewitt Associates, a consulting firm based in suburban Chicago, finds that projected health cost increases next year in the Twin Cities will match the 8.8 percent rate of increase that's being forecast nationally. That's a departure from 2009 and 2010, when the rate of increase in the Twin Cities was below the national average, according...

Have you seen your health insurance rates rise lately? Or did your company just cut benefits? Brace yourself for your “October Surprise”. We heard hundreds of times from Dear Leader how we must have his Government run health system and how it will keep premium rates under control and punish those “wascally insuwance compwanies”. Well friends, it’s time to pull your head out of the ether and begin to live with the government plan that you didn’t want in the first place. Whether it be costs, quality of care, waiting lines, services availability, privacy issues or just the bureaucratic nightmare,...

Armed with several charts and graphs, Democrat Mark Dayton on Monday sought to make a brainy, philosophical and "moral" case for his plan to increase taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans if he is elected governor in November. "I'm going to use the powers of intellectual persuasion," he said at the beginning of his remarks at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. "Taxes, I believe, are the lubricant for the machinery of our democracy." And so began a roughly 20-minute speech that featured Dayton guiding the audience through several handouts with statistics on tax burdens and harkening back...

Rate Increases Are Blamed on Health-Care Overhaul; White House Questions Logic Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums on some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul as soon as next month, complicating Democrats' efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before the midterm elections. Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1% and 9% to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators. These and other insurers say Congress's landmark refashioning of U.S. health coverage, which passed in March after a...

Poll Do you think a state income tax increase will happen within the next year? Yes. There's no other way to dig the state out of its financial hole. No. The politicians will find a way to avoid it. or view results

According to the British Retail Consortium, in-store food costs rose 2.5 per cent in July from a year earlier, up from a 1.7 per cent rise the month before. In the US, the deflation the Department of Agriculture was projecting as recently as July 25 for cereals and bakery products such as wheat will need to be put under review. It is forecasting inflation of 2–3 per cent this year for meat as well as sugar and sweets. For milk, cheese and eggs, which fell in price last year, it predicts 1.5–2.5 per cent increases.

BAGHDAD – Colorful bags emblazoned with cartoon characters such as Winnie the Pooh and Barbie sat in a small, beat-up metal trailer, reflecting the early morning sun; a colorful contrast to the sweat dripping from under the dusty helmets of Soldiers working nearby. Iraqi girls receive bags full of food, water and medical supplies during one of many humanitarian aid deliveries conducted by U.S. and Iraqi Soldiers in the Baghdad area throughout May and June. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Emily Knitter.The Soldiers seemed to be everywhere at once, organizing supplies, arranging lines of concertina wire, and doing everything necessary...

The nation's debt leapt $166 billion in a single day last week, the third-largest increase in U.S. history, and it comes at a time when Congress is balking over higher spending and debt has become a key policy battleground. The one-day increase for June 30 totaled $165,931,038,264.30 - bigger than the entire annual deficit for fiscal year 2007 and larger than the $140 billion in savings the new health care bill will produce over its first 10 years.

Battered by massive losses, the Postal Service wants to raise rates to bring in more money. Postal officials scheduled a briefing Tuesday to discuss the amount of the increase, which will go to the independent Postal Regulatory Commission for review. The boost comes as no surprise. Postmaster General John Potter said March 2 that a rate increase would be necessary for the agency, which does not receive tax funds for its operations. The current 44-cent first-class rate took effect May 11, 2009. While that change will be the most visible, rates for other types of mail will also go...

The Public Service Co. of New Mexico filed a request June 1 with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to raise electric rates by 21.2 percent. If approved, the rate hike would take place in two phases. Average customers would pay 15.3 percent more starting in April 2011, and another 5.8 percent starting Jan. 1, 2012. The rate hike would help PNM pay for $575 million in investments in its electric system, such as the expansion of substations and power lines, and upgrades to five power plants, said PNM Resources President and CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn in a news release. “PNM...

Responding to the massive BP oil spill, Congress is getting ready to quadruple—to 32 cents a barrel—a tax on oil used to help finance cleanups.

A Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that tipped the balance of constitutional power at the Capitol continued to reverberate Friday, as Gov. Tim Pawlenty and legislative leaders engaged in a fresh round of talks and maneuvering over the state's grim budget picture. Pawlenty emerged from a morning meeting with his Cabinet and played down talk of a government shutdown but said he'd asked state departments for lists of spending priorities in the event of a cash crunch. He blamed Wednesday's court ruling that restored funding for a small special dietary program, a decision that potentially puts $2.5 billion the governor unilaterally...

the Congressional Budget Office has released data estimating that by 2016, 3 million Americans earning less than $59,000 a year will face a penalty for not having health insurance. An additional 900,000 earning more than that will also pay the penalty. To be clear, these numbers underestimate the full cost of the mandate. To start with, the estimates don't include those Americans who will decide to purchase insurance in response to the mandate. If somebody otherwise wouldn't choose to purchase insurance but because of the mandate ends up paying thousands of dollars in of premiums, that represents a cost, too....

On the last day of March, President Obama traveled to Andrews Air Force Base to announce his new program for exploring for energy on America’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Then he returned to the White House to announce his support for a holiday for the late Cesar Chavez, the famous head of the United Farm Workers Union. His “energy plan” will not increase U.S. energy supplies…it will reduce them. His actions on energy will not help the hard working supporters of Cesar Chavez, but they will do wonders for Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan dictator who will be able to sell...