Free Republic

Fiscal Policy: When the president released his budget in February, he said it was full of new ideas for the 21st century. But now we know it's just good old tax-and-spend liberalism.

Emboldened by winning the shutdown showdown over homeland security, and poised to triumph on raising the debt limit, Senate Democrats set their sights Thursday on the budget sequesters, demanding that Republicans hike taxes and raise spending. It was a shot across the bow for Republican budget writers, who are set to unveil their proposals next week, which are expected to further slash spending and balance the budget in 10 years — slowing the growth of runaway national debt that currently tops $18 trillion. Senate Democrats insisted that keeping the automatic spending cuts would jeopardize the economic recovery, hurt the middle...

The Minnesota Republican Party answered a complex Capitol budget question with a simple solution: Give it all back. With a print, television and online ad campaign, the party is proposing that lawmakers and the governor return all of the projected $1.9 billion surplus to taxpayers. 'The Republican Party of Minnesota says send it back -- send it all back," Party Chairman Keith Downey says in the ad. Downey, who is running for re-election to the party post this spring, said Tuesday he did not have a prescription for how he thought the nearly $1.9 billion should be returned. He declined...

Today the Republican Party of Minnesota held a press conference calling for Democrats to give back the nearly $2 billion state budget surplus to hardworking Minnesotans! That surplus belongs to Minnesotans and the Democrats should give it back, not spend it. That's roughly $350 per every Minnesotan. The Democrats raised taxes by an unnecessary $2 billion, and now state government has a nearly $2 billion surplus, which they are proposing to spend! On top of that, Democrats are actually proposing to raise taxes another $6 billion on top of the $2 billion surplus!

Ferguson has allowed its focus on revenue generation to fundamentally compromise the role of Ferguson’s municipal court. The municipal court does not act as a neutral arbiter of the law or a check on unlawful police conduct. … Our investigation has found overwhelming evidence of minor municipal code violations resulting in multiple arrests, jail time, and payments that exceed the cost of the original ticket many times over. One woman, discussed above, received two parking tickets for a single violation in 2007 that then totaled $151 plus fees. Over seven years later, she still owed Ferguson $541—after already paying $550...

If you picked up a Star Tribune last weekend, you might have read two seemingly unrelated stories. On Saturday, news of a $1.9 billion surplus, with the state budget growing to $42.5 billion for the next two years (“Surging surplus raises the stakes, Feb. 28). On Sunday, a solid piece of investigative journalism about political cronyism on the Iron Range (“Range agency deep into DFL politics, pockets,” March 1). What if these two stories were related? Researchers at Indiana University published a study last year that explored the impact of public officials’ corruption on the size and allocation of state...

New numbers show that Northstar Commuter Rail Line ridership is down and, after five years of operation, an important goal has not yet been met. Metro Transit numbers show ridership in 2014 was down 8 percent for weekday rides. In 2008, Metro Transit had a goal of removing 5,000 cars from the road by encouraging commuting on Northstar. However, only about 2,500 commuters ride during the week, which is well below the goal set seven years ago. Taxpayers paid $315 million to build the Northstar system. Approximately $15 million each of the five years it's been running for operations and...

Before the panicked phone calls and the embarrassing state audit, Ganesh Kumar knew the BrEZe computer program would flop. For seven years, Kumar has worked at the Board of Registered Nursing’s call center where he uses computer data to answer questions when nurses, nurse practitioners and nursing school graduates want to know the status of their license applications or renewals. So Kumar was all for it when Department of Consumer Affairs officials six years ago announced a new $28 million, off-the-shelf computer program, BrEZe, would replace obsolete, narrow systems used by the board and most of the other 39 regulatory...

President Obama would veto the House Republican plan to overhaul the controversial No Child Left Behind law, his administration said Wednesday. The GOP plan, known as the Student Success Act, “represents a significant step backwards in the efforts to help all of the nation's children and their families prepare for their futures,” said the Office of Management and Budget in a statement of administration policy. The bill “abdicates the historic federal role in elementary and secondary education of ensuring the educational progress of all of America's students, including students from low-income families, students with disabilities, English learners and students of...

The House passed a bill that would keep the Homeland Security Department running, but defunds President Obama's executive order last year many Republicans said was an unconstitutional executive overreach, The Washington Post reported.

Listen to the stories of Bobby Unser, a three-time Indianapolis 500 champion who was charged with committing a crime in his fight to survive, and Mr. and Mrs. Denicore, a couple who fought back when facing charges for their children’s tardiness at school. For Bobby Unser and his friend, a fun day of snowmobiling turned into a nightmare when a storm hit and they were forced to abandon their vehicles to wander the terrain in temperatures as low as negative 14 degrees Fahrenheit. After surviving and waking up in a hospital, Unser sought out the location of the snowmobiles and...

Spending Pentagon spent $504,816 on Viagra last year By Elizabeth Harrington Published February 09, 2015 Washington Free Beacon The Department of Defense (DoD) spent more than a half a million dollars on the male enhancement drug Viagra last year, according to government contracts. The Pentagon issued 60 contracts worth$504,816 for the drug in 2014. All 60 contracts were awarded to Cardinal Health Inc., a pharmaceutical distribution company based in Dublin, Ohio. Last year DoD also ordered $3,505 worth of Levitra, and $14,540 of Cialis, other popular erectile dysfunction drugs. The contracts were filed under "Troop Support."

No more tax increases; No more unnecessary spending; No more government growth. Those three items would take care of illegal aliens and gifts to foreign countries that have sworn to dislike and even hate us The elections that took place in November 2014 must have told the Socialist Democrats in Congress and the anti-Christian, pro Islam Obama Administration that the great majority of the country’s citizens are fed up with ever-increasing taxes, mindless and killing profligate spending and more growth in deficit creating, and Obama-welfare-type government. Why is it that the simple message of “NO” sent by the voters in...

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...