Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- President Obama wants Americans to foot the bill for the first $4 trillion budget in U.S. history, which will drive our country ever more deeply into debt. This isn't all that's at stake in the fiscal 2016 budget he sent Congress on Monday. It calls for major new taxes on our fragile economy that will hurt America's businesses, stunt wage growth and further weaken job creation. Obama made it crystal clear in his first year in office that raising federal spending was at the core of his presidency. And he's kept that promise. In 2009, his first year...

In a speech at the Department of Homeland Security, Obama declared that he wants to “replace mindless austerity with smart investments that strengthen America”. Those “smart” investments scattered across a gargantuan $4 trillion budget include a $500 million Green Climate Fund for the Third World and $105 million to help the government build better websites. Obama is fond of putting the word “smart” in front of stupid ideas to make them seem less stupid. The $4 trillion budget is actually as stupid as the new left-wing Greek government elected on a platform of not paying its debts. This new government...

President Obama said Monday he will reject any budget from Congress that doesn’t boost spending on both defense and his own domestic priorities, saying the spending “sequesters” need to go. “America can’t afford being short-sighted and I’m not going to allow it,” the president said while speaking at the Homeland Security Department as he released his $4 trillion budget for fiscal 2016. His budget calls for boosting discretionary spending by more than 6 percent, and raising taxes to pay for it. Those proposals have been panned on Capitol Hill, where Republicans control both the House and Senate and have rejected...

President Obama sent Congress an ambitious budget plan Monday that includes a half-trillion-dollar public works program and an array of tax increases meant to fund a host of other agenda items -- in what Republicans are ripping as a tax-and-spend document that does little to restrain the soaring $18 trillion debt. The president's $4 trillion budget hinges on what Obama calls "middle-class economics," seeking tax breaks for many Americans while imposing increases on top earners, corporations and particularly the financial sector. Referring to proposed spending on everything from roads to education initiatives, Obama said, "We can afford to make these...

President Barack Obama on Monday proposed a $3.99 trillion budget for fiscal year 2016 that sets up a battle with Republicans over programs to boost the middle class that are funded by higher taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans. The budget foresees a $474 billion deficit, which is 2.5 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. It projects deficits stabilizing at that rate over a 10-year period, senior administration officials said. Obama's budget fleshes out proposals from his State of the Union address last month and helps highlight Democratic priorities for the last two years of his presidency and the beginning...

Just as AAPL stock hits record highs and single-handedly rescues Q4 earnings from the doldrums, it appears President Obama is bringing his own brand of 'middle-class-economics' Robin-Hood-iness to crush the 'wealth generating' machine that has served America's 1% so well for so long. As AP reports, The White House plans a six-year half a trillion dollar public works program financed with a one-time mandatory tax on profits that U.S. companies have amassed overseas. Under current law, profits only face federal taxes if they are returned, or repatriated, to the US; but Obama's new deal would set a tax on...

If readers need clarification on what was the primary source of spending-based "growth" for the US economy in the fourth quarter, the same source that bumped up final Q3 GDP from 3.9% to 5.0%, please ping us: we will gladly explain the chart below.  And just in case it is still unclear what Americans are spending their "gas sasvings" on, here it is one more time.And just in case the fading impact of Obamacare is not already priced in, here is what Q4 inventories did: rising by $113.1 billion in Q4, this was the second highest quarterly increase in...

The statement said the automatic spending cuts, known in Washington as "sequestration," had hurt the U.S. economy and its military. Obama, the White House said, will seek to "fully reverse" cuts in domestic spending while providing equal spending boosts for military and national security programs.

Moves in Washington may curtail the availability of workplace “flexible spending accounts” for medical and child-care expenses. FSAs can allow families to set aside thousands of dollars of their salaries each year to pay qualifying expenses without that pay ever being subject to federal income tax. If a family in the 33% marginal tax rate sets aside $5,000, for instance, it could save $1,650 in U.S. tax. Still, many families have a love-hate relationship with these benefit programs. Creating anxiety are the “use it or lose it” terms: Employees often have to guess at future expenses, and they forfeit some...

Federal deficits may have been falling since the end of the recent recession, but thanks to spending increases in major health care programs, including Obamacare, deficits are set to explode in 2017, according to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office. Thanks to the recent recession and President Obama's trillion dollar stimulus, the federal budget deficit reached an all time $1.4 trillion high in 2009. Then, as the economy slowly improved and Obama's stimulus trickled to end, the deficit began to fall. According to the CBO, the deficit will continue to fall to $467 billion in 2016. Immediately...

President Obama's budget for next year will call for a $68 billion boost in spending. It's just another in a line of fiscally irresponsible plans that have been the hallmark of this administration. Obama's official budget plan won't come out until Feb. 2, but he's already leaked the fact that he wants a 7% boost in discretionary programs above the spending caps he agreed to in exchange for getting his tax hikes. He'd split the money evenly between national security and domestic programs. In Obama's mind, more spending only makes sense, since deficits have been tumbling in recent years —...

Conservatives in Congress are reviving the push for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution now that Republicans control both houses of Congress. GOP lawmakers in both chambers have filed several amendment proposals in the early days of the congressional session, breathing new life into an issue that had faded somewhat from the agenda. “I came here with a clear mission: work to get a balanced budget and do my best to reduce the size and scope of government, so that our small businesses and farm families can grow and create jobs,” said Freshman Rep. David Rouzer (R-N.C.) in a recent...

A new project from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is using computer simulated training sessions to teach doctors in Minnesota how to talk to fat kids.The nearly $500,000 study using “virtual role play” to coach doctors is the latest attempt by the federal government to combat obesity.“Obesity in the United States is at historically high levels and is an important health problem,” the grant for the project states. “Interventions targeting children are a high priority because children bear the greatest lifetime health risk from overweight and obesity.”“Health professionals in primary care settings are influential in the lives of families,”...

President Obama wants to toss the sequestration agreement he made with Republcians in 2011 and is proposing an increase of at least $68 billion in the FY 2016 budget. As imperfect as it is, sequestration has been partly successful in reigning in government spending. It could have worked better if Congress wasn't always carving out exemptions. But there's no doubt that there are tens of billions of dollars that would have been spent without it. With tax receipts at an all time high, rather than applying that money to reducing the deficit, the president - as every Democratic president...

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said Thursday that he’s still “seriously considering” a run for president but admitted that he was rattled when voters rejected his hand-picked Democratic successor in favor of Republican Larry Hogan. “I can tell you my feelings were hurt,” Mr. O'Malley said in a speech at the University of Chicago, CNN reported. “We had done a lot of really good things in Maryland and in the end, you did not hear much about it during the campaign,” Still, he acknowledged, “I was on the ballot.” Mr. Hogan won a stunning upset victory over Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown,...

The revision which helped create last quarters incredible growth was the forced mandatory costs incurred by the American people from the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which accounted for two-thirds of the entire boost in consumer spending. Consumer spending, as opposed to the recording of revenues from actual production and industry which used to be the primary components of economic growth in America, on average accounts for more than 70% of the entire Gross Domestic Product. And if you took out payments made by the American people towards mandatory government healthcare, GDP may have been in negative growth for last quarter,...

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala) will not be the incoming chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. He has been pushed aside in favor of Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo) despite having served as the top Republican on the committee for the past four years. “It came down to a simple question of who was acceptable to President Obama,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken) said. “While Senator Sessions has served competently while our Party was in the minority, the President has made it clear that someone more agreeable must man this vital post going forward.” “The time for contesting the priorities of...

Barring any last-minute glitches — admittedly, no small concern — the House of Representatives will vote sometime Thursday on an omnibus spending bill that takes the place of 11 out of the 12 appropriations bills that Congress, were it working under regular order, would have produced this year. The 1,603-page bill, which was only made public late Tuesday, will fund the majority of the government through the end of this fiscal year in September. The exception is the Department of Homeland Security, which will be funded by a temporary continuing resolution (CR) so that Republicans, when they have control of...

After hours of debate on the massive government spending package, the Senate adjourned until Saturday, pushing a fight that dominated Congress for days into the weekend. The Senate is expected to vote Monday on the $1.1 trillion package, which has already passed the House, Sens. Mitch McConnell and Barbara Mikulski said late Friday. Members from both parties in the Senate are trying to make last-minute changes to the bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made a procedural move Friday that would set up a vote on final passage in the Senate no later than Monday. In a surprise development, the...

A Nov. 12 memo by State Board of Education President John Austin cited a report issued by a liberal think tank to support the claim that Michigan schools are receiving less money. Austin now says he will "take a look at” the report he cited, which fails to account for billions of dollars that Michigan schools receive. The analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities failed to include about $10 billion of the $19.6 billion from different revenue sources that comprise the annual public school budget. The report also ignores several billion dollars directly from state sources. In...