Free Republic

A new government report has given us a glimpse into our nation’s fiscal future, and the outlook is grim. Absent major reforms, America’s debt will only continue to balloon. The Congressional Budget Office released its updated long-term budget report on Tuesday, which projects the nation’s fiscal situation for the next 30 years. Despite the strong economy, the nation remains in a precarious and unsustainable budget position, just as it was last year. Debt held by the public is set to rise to nearly one and a half times the size of the economy in the coming decades. The report also...

Little Rock, AR, February 14, 2019 – Convention of States Action, the largest Article V grassroots organization in the country, is pleased to announce that today Arkansas became the 13th state to call for an Article V convention to propose constitutional amendments that impose fiscal restraints on Washington, limit its power and jurisdiction, and set term limits for federal officials. “We are very excited that Arkansas has become the 13th state to pass the Convention of States resolution,” said Mark Meckler, President of Convention of States Action. “This success is the result of incredible grassroots effort in conjunction with great...

"Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs."Would expect anything less from a liar like her...

With two weeks to go until he is formally out of office and, as of yet, with no fixed onward job, Jose Manuel Barroso is a politician concerned with his legacy. […] He argues the EU has emerged stronger from the crisis, equipped with around 40 new pieces of legislation dealing with financial supervision—and a whole lot more power for the European Commission. “We have powers that our predecessors could not even dream of,” he says, highlighting the commission’s new right to “reject” draft national budgets. […] Asked about the roots of euroskepticism—a stronger political phenomenon in recent years—he says...

The debate over Germany’s insistence on eurozone austerity has flared anew as an ailing France continues to demand economic stimulus. The European Central Bank may now be siding with Paris, leaving Merkel looking increasingly alone. […] Berlin is particularly alarmed by the stance taken by ECB head Mario Draghi. At the annual conference of top central bankers from around the world at Jackson Hole, Wyoming in August, Draghi surprised those present by saying “there is leeway to achieve a more growth-friendly composition of fiscal policies.” It was a comment that came close to the kind of debt-fueled growth stimulus measures...

This from the ECB's monthly bulletin today: The youth jobless rate in Greece has just reached 64.9pc. Little to add. This is pure policy error. Europe has needlessly pushed the whole EMU bloc into a deep double-dip recession, and the longest unbroken contraction since World War Two.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says when he served in Congress, lawmakers had the “courage to make tough decisions” and balance budgets, but it “all went to $#@% after that.” … Panetta served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993, representing California’s 16th district. By 1989, he had risen to House Budget Committee chairman. …