Free Republic

'The program is in a death spiral,' former domestic policy adviser to former President Trump says In a move critics say is designed to shield the Biden-Harris administration from election fallout, the administration has leveraged taxpayer funds to mask upcoming increases in Medicare premiums. Under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was intended to cap out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries, insurers are poised to significantly hike monthly premiums, with average bids for Part D plans expected to triple by 2025. In response to potential voter backlash, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rolled out a three-year "demonstration...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid rose to a four-month high last week, although the increase partly reflects seasonal distortions around the spring holidays. The Labor Department says weekly applications increased 28,000 to a seasonally adjusted 385,000. That is the highest level since late November. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to 354,250.

Sacramento County's ballooning deficit: What happened? By Robert Lewis Published Wednesday, Apr. 21, 2010 In just two months, the projected shortfall in Sacramento County's general fund budget for the coming fiscal year has ballooned by 40 percent – from $119.1 million to $166.5 million. Nearly 750 county workers lost their jobs last year to the budget ax; hundreds more – as much as 10 percent of the remaining work force – are on the chopping block this year. For workers facing layoffs and scores of county residents, a basic question resounds: Why do things look so much worse now than...

NEW YORK - WorldCom Inc. has agreed to pay investors a record $500 million to settle civil fraud charges over its $11 billion accounting scandal, which was the biggest in U.S. corporate history, lawyers for the company and the federal government announced Monday. The fine would be by far the largest the Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites) has ever imposed in connection with a financial fraud, SEC lawyer Peter Bresnan said. WorldCom, a bankrupt telecommunications titan that wants to be renamed MCI, is accused of falsifying balance sheets to hide expenses and inflate earnings. Attorneys for the...