Free Republic

<p>Deficits and unfunded pension liabilities as far as the eye can see. Seated in his office here, wearing neither a necktie nor a frown, Republican governor Bruce Rauner is remarkably relaxed for someone at the epicenter of a crisis now in its second year and with no end in sight. But, then, stress is pointless when the situation is hopeless. Besides, if you can ignore the fact that self-government is failing in the nation’s fifth-most populous state, you can see real artistry in the self-dealing by the Democrats who, with veto-proof majorities in the state legislature, have reduced this state they control to insolvency.</p>

With all the trouble that Rahm Emanuel has been having in Chicago lately, specifically with unrest surrounding his police department and other scandals, it’s easy to forget that he’s dealing with another serious problem: his city is nearly bankrupt. As with so many other large, Democrat run municipalities, the chief culprit here is the massively underfunded pension system for municipal workers. Their unions negotiated some real sweetheart deals for them over the years, but the costs were completely unsustainable. When the city began to go broke, no real compromise was ever offered by the unions so Rahm is left to...

Hillary Clinton called for raising taxes on the “middle class” while campaigning on Monday in Omaha, NE. Joined by left-wing Democrat billionaire Warren Buffett, she received applause from those in attendance. “Because while Warren is standing up for a fairer tax code, Trump wants to cut taxes for the super-rich,” said Clinton. “Well, we’re not going there, my friends. I’m telling you, right now - we’re going to write fairer rules for the middle class and we are going to raise taxes on the middle class!”

This might be an idea whose time has come: Nearly two-thirds of Americans are in favor of free college for everyone, and about three-quarters think at least some people should be eligible for free college, a new survey shows. As the labor market increasingly benefits the better educated, and as college education and earnings potential become more tightly linked, people are coming around to an idea that seemed radical until very recently. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders touted the idea as a central plank of his primary platform, and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton recently announced her own version, which includes a...

Hillary Clinton has made clear she intends to dramatically raise taxes on the American people if elected. She has proposed an income tax increase, a business tax increase, a death tax increase, a capital gains tax increase, a tax on stock trading, and an Exit Tax, and more (see below). Her planned net tax increase on the American people is at least $1 trillion over ten years, based on her campaign’s own figures. Hillary has endorsed many tax increases on that would hit middle income Americans, despite her pledge not to raise taxes on any American making less than $250,000....

Income Tax Increase – $350 Billion: Clinton Business Tax Increase -- $275 Billion: Clinton has called for a tax hike of at least $275 billion through undefined business tax reform “Fairness” Tax Increase -- $400 Billion: According to her published plan, Clinton has called for a tax increase of “between $400 and $500 billion” by “restoring basic fairness to our tax code.” These proposals include a “fair share surcharge,” the taxing of carried interest capital gains as ordinary income, and a hike in the Death Tax.

On a cool spring day at the Capitol, Toni Atkins delivered a series of blows unlike anything the tobacco industry had ever felt in California. Then speaker of the Assembly, the San Diego Democrat had been a lame duck for the last six months since the house elected Anthony Rendon to replace her. It was a Thursday morning in March and her final session as speaker, a tenure that lasted just shy of a year and 10 months. In a series of quick votes, the Assembly passed six smoking bills, the most significant of which raised the age to buy...

The Obama administration has proposed a $10.25 tax on the production of crude oil. While not yet formally introduced as legislation, the tax would be positioned as a “tax on big oil,” and opposition to it could be portrayed as “defending big oil.” Of course, that is nonsense on a stick. As an added cost, it would be passed on to consumers at the gas pump, or heating oil truck, not to mention adding to the costs of everything made of feedstock, from Saran Wrap to spatulas.

For more than 20 years, the Government Accountability Office has been warning that the varioius Social Security funds would go broke in a matter of decades unless something is done to shore up the program. Unfortunately, there are limited options when trying to address this crisis. You can employ a combination of raising the retirement age and/or increase the FICA tax. Other than that, you're rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic. But President Obama – who is fully aware of the threat of insolvency – is now proposing that Social Security benefits be increased and wants the "rich"...

For over a decade, local governments in Michigan have been complaining they need more money from state taxpayers. A recent push by Wayne County Executive Warren Evans is only the most recent example. That is what they say, but how they act suggests their fiscal complaints are exaggerated. For example, providing post-retirement health care benefits to employees is an expense that should be the first to go if there is a real financial problem. Many local governments in Michigan pay for retired employees’ health insurance costs, a type of benefit that is rare in the private sector. Unlike pension promises,...

The latest auction in California's cap-and-trade market for greenhouse gases fell sharply below expectations, as buyers purchased just 2% of the carbon credits whose sale funds a variety of state programs -- notably, the proposed high-speed rail project. The quarterly auction, conducted May 18 and announced Wednesday, will provide just $10 million for state programs, including $2.5 million for the bullet train. The rail authority had been expecting about $150 million. Whatever prompted the lack of buyers, the auction is a stark example of the uncertainty and risk of relying on actively-traded carbon credits to build the bullet train. The...

Seattle and King County officials have stopped several migrants with suitcases full of American dollars leaving the United States. All of the suspects carrying the suitcases full of cash were on welfare. KING5 reported: “ Travelers pulling suitcases full of cash started showing up at Sea-Tac Airport last year holding tickets for flights headed out of the United States. The people carrying the cash didn’t hide the fact from Customs. Just the opposite, they reported it. Anyone traveling out of the United States is required to declare any amount over $10,000 and fill out a one-page federal form. These reports...

The New York state senate is poised to eliminate New Yorkers’ so-called “tampon tax.” Feminine hygiene products are currently taxed as “luxury items” in New York, but a new bill could result in their reclassification as tax-exempt necessities, instead. The Republican-run senate passed the bill unanimously on Monday (April 11) after it had passed the state assembly in March, also with full support from lawmakers. The bill now goes to the state’s governor Andrew Cuomo, a father of three daughters, who has said in the past that the tax should be repealed. “It is a way of providing some tax...

A new study shows Connecticut is in the top ten for paycheck-to-paycheck living. People everywhere have to pay rents or mortgages, groceries and utilities. But those bills vary from state to state. When everything's paid, a study by the website GoBankingRate shows, not a lot is left in Connecticut. Moving from Maine, Sandra Champlin said she learned quickly that her money doesn't get her as far in Connecticut as it did there. “Rent is higher in Connecticut,” said Champlin, who now lives in Rockville. She added that rent a few hundred more in Connecticut than Maine. Champlin said she wasn't...

DES MOINES, Iowa, January 19, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Leading Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton "would like to see Planned Parenthood even get more funding." Speaking to Fusion's Anna Holmes after the Iowa Brown & Black Forum, Clinton – who has been endorsed by the embattled abortion giant – clarified that she opposes defunding "because, often times, it is both the first and the last resort for health care." Planned Parenthood has been under fire for conducting possibly illegal abortions to allegedly profit off baby parts – which is also illegal – as well as alleged fraud. Its affiliates have also...

SEATTLE (AP) - The owner of one of Seattle's few gun stores says he's moving his business to avoid paying a new tax. The Seattle Times reports (http://bit.ly/1TEelfU ) that the city tax on firearm and ammunition sales took effect January 1. Precise Shooter owner Sergey Solyanik says he stopped selling guns and ammo in Seattle and is already close to signing a lease in Lynnwood.

U.S. health care spending last year grew at the fastest pace since President Barack Obama took office, driven by expanded coverage under his namesake law and by zooming prescription drug costs, the government said Wednesday. After five years of historically low growth, national health expenditures increased by 5.3 percent in 2014, reaching $3 trillion, or $9,523 for every man, woman and child. That followed a 2.9 percent increase for 2013. Such seemingly small percentage shifts resonate when the total is $3 trillion. The report by nonpartisan experts at the Department of Health and Human Services is an annual snapshot of...

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) announced Tuesday morning that VDOT will extend the 95 Express Lanes two miles farther south, in an effort to fix the bottleneck where these HOT lanes merge back with the regular lanes of I-95.Anyone driving south on I-95 from the D.C. area Tuesday or Wednesday will realize why the governor’s announcement on WTOP radio is important. Both the regular lanes and the express lanes can be backed up for miles at peak periods where the two sets of lanes merge near Garrisonville Road in Stafford County.McAuliffe said the express lanes will be extended under an...

Europe's handling of its refugee crisis has led to much criticism and left even more to be desired, but until now Europe's general population was largely on the side of the misplaced migrants who are trying to reestablish their lives away from the daily horrors of the middle east, all in the name of a Qatari gas pipeline. Just today, the Globe and Mail reported that French public opinion has swung dramatically to majority support for an intake of more migrants from war zones like Syria, a new poll showed as the country welcomed further busloads of asylum seekers...

Three gun rights groups, including the National Rifle Association, sued the city of Seattle on Monday over its adoption of a so-called "gun violence tax," a tax on firearms and ammunition designed to help offset the financial toll of gun violence. The complaint was filed Monday in King County Superior Court by the NRA, the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, along with two gun owners and two gun shops. It called the tax legally unenforceable because Washington state prohibits local governments from adopting laws related to firearms unless those local ordinances are specifically authorized by...