Free Republic

Congressional Spending Goes Full WeimarIt has become a speculative game in the blogosphere to predict what black swan calamities could lead to a breakdown in civil order and the imposition of some form of martial law. Wars and rumors of war abound. We have already seen a container ship mysteriously knocking down a bridge and closing a key port. Other such scenarios include massive cyber-attacks that shut down the grid and block communication and transportation networks nationwide. The speculation on the variations of such events is virtually endless.However, one crisis is no black swan and is entirely expected, already happening,...

For Joe Biden, government spending has no bottom. There's always a student loan to 'forgive,' a green scheme to lose money on, or an illegal alien to offer a 'free' lifetime service package to. And bureaucrats to hire, lots and lots of bureaucrats... As a result the U.S. deficit has hit record levels. According to the Treasury Department:A deficit occurs when the federal government’s spending exceeds its revenues. The federal government has spent $1.06 trillion more than it has collected in fiscal year (FY 2024, resulting in a national deficit.And the national debt? The Treasury Department says:The national debt ($34.60...

the package Mike Johnson announced Wednesday includes terms that will allow the President to cancel 50% of Ukraine’s debt after November 15, 2024 and the remaining 50% after January 1, 2024. It’s no wonder why Joe Biden came out “strongly” in support of the package, urging the House and Senate to pass it. After President Trump wins the 2024 election, as expected, Joe Biden can cancel 50% of Ukraine’s debt before his term is over in January. If Biden and the Democrats pull off another stolen election, they can forgive 100% of Ukraine’s debt a little over one year later.

The International Monetary Fund sounded the alarm on the Biden administration’s rampant spending as “out of line with what is needed for long-term fiscal stability.” The latest forecast from the IMF — a Washington-based group tasked with fighting financial crises worldwide — warned that the ballooning national debt and the fiscal deficit threatened to exacerbate sky-high levels of inflation while posing a long-term risk to the global economy. The IMF noted in its forecast that the US federal budget deficit grew from $1.4 trillion in fiscal 2022 to $1.7 trillion last year. ... The debt held by the public, which...

Illegal immigration weighs heavily on the wallets of hardworking American taxpayers - to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars annually.Still, the Biden administration turns a blind eye to these fiscal strains, neglecting the toll on our economy, the structural integrity of our nation, and the safety of our citizens.Estimates suggest that illegal immigrants cost each household about $1,000, adding up to more than $120 billion a year.Sources such as Newsweek hint that the true cost may be even higher, possibly reaching $150 billion annually, an amount shared by both federal and state governments. In all actuality, the financial...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration lost track of the $24 billion in taxpayer funds it spent over the past five years in an attempt to curb the state’s homelessness crisis, an audit has found. The California State Auditor’s report, released on April 9, detailed multiple “gaps” in accountability in regards to how the money was allocated during the 2018-2023 fiscal years. Lead auditor Grant Parks said the state “has not collected sufficient data” to prove that the billions of dollars improved the situation.

Denver, which is commonly referred to as a “sanctuary city,” announced on Wednesday that it will spend $89.9 million on services for incoming illegal migrants, pulling some of the funding from roughly $45 million in public programs and services. Denver’s police department will be hit with an $8.4 million reduction — about 1.9% of its total operating budget, the city confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration is saddling Denver taxpayers with a whopping $90 million bill to address the ongoing illegal immigration crisis. The city implemented several measures to meet this substantial financial obligation, including freezing the hiring of approximately 160 vacant positions and reallocating funds from various sources. In his announcement, he signaled a major shift in Denver’s response to the migrant crisis.

Madison is among several blue cities and states that used taxpayer-funded Covid aid for programs for illegal immigrants. A Wisconsin lawmaker is demanding answers from the city of Madison in the wake of a report showing the leftist enclave doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal Covid relief funds to illegal immigrants. “The decision to use pandemic relief money to assist illegal immigrants at the expense of Wisconsinites reveals the out of touch priorities of Madison politicians,” Republican state Sen. Duey Stroebel said Thursday in a statement. His office has filed an open records request “to investigate the...

The 75 largest cities in America were collectively $288 billion in debt at the end of fiscal year 2022... 53 major cities that do not have enough money to pay their bills. Yet all of them claimed their budgets were balanced, as is required by law. That means lawmakers understated each city’s debt by not including future costs like employee pensions and healthcare ... New York City has a taxpayer burden of $61,800, the largest by far despite being the most populous. The city has only six cents saved up for every dollar it will need to spend on retiree...

Most readers regularly consume staggering numbers about our debt and deficit, but not all those that report this news will put those numbers in a perspective that provides meaningful context. I will try to do that here. The USA is on track to have a national debt of $35 trillion very soon, which is rising by $1 trillion about every 100 days. That’s $3.6 trillion every year. We’re no longer doling out free cash for COVID, so it’s a good assumption the $3.6 trillion additional annual debt is this administrations “business as usual.”According to Financebuzz total private wealth in the...

Governor Gavin Newsom bragged of a surplus, but California is seriously underwater. The next recession will hit the state extremely hard.Golden State Budget FantasyThe City Journal founder Ed Ring comments on the Golden State Budget FantasyWhile finalizing the upcoming fiscal year’s state budget back in May 2022, California governor Gavin Newsom boasted of an extraordinary projected surplus: $97 billion. The governor immediately collaborated with an enthusiastic state legislature to spend it all. Of course, new spending on new programs and benefits tends to become permanent.This has happened repeatedly in California. Between fiscal year 2012–13 and fiscal year 2022–23 (the year...

The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore came as quite a shock. After a massive container ship struck one of the bridge’s pillars, the entire span quickly fell apart, costing several lives. It’s hard to overstate the bridge’s importance, particularly for the automobile industry. In addition to handling 11 million vehicles per year, it provided a vital way for trucks to access the Port of Baltimore while avoiding the dense city core. The impact on the region will be felt for months, if not years. The question is, what now? President Joe Biden has said that the...

Illegal migrants outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan in New York. Migrants fill sidewalk outside the hotel waiting to register for shelter.“Let me tell you something New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to — I don’t see an ending to this…This issue will destroy New York City.” This dire warning last September, just six months ago, from Mayor Eric Adams predicting that New York City was headed for destruction because of the euphemistically termed “migrant crisis.” Adams didn’t stop there, “Every community in this city is going...

Is there anything Joe Biden can't do?Get a load of what he funded in his latest bloated budget spending bill passed last week, according to Breitbart News, which opened the hood of that jalopy:Slipped into a $1.2 trillion budget signed by Biden last weekend is about $380 million for “enhanced border security” projects in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, and Tunisia — about $150 million of which must go to border security in Jordan.Meanwhile, the budget puts strict limitations on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) ability to construct physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border to deter illegal immigration.“The Biden administration...

Police have warned Canada's leaders they will struggle to contain the fury at its deteriorating economy and a generational revolt by young people unable to ever buy a home. The secret report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police paints an apocalyptical picture of the future for America's northern neighbor, predicting it will be riven by economic crisis, ecological meltdown and territorial disintegration. The report has caused a sensation in the Great White North after a heavily redacted version was released following a long-running access to information request by a Canadian academic. Described by its authors as a 'scanning exercise', the...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Illinois lawmakers are considering a bill that would create a state-based guaranteed income program. State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) sponsors Senate Bill 3462, which calls on Illinois to adopt such a program after the 2027 calendar year. Through this legislation, residents who meet certain qualifications would be eligible for monthly $1,000 cash payments, regardless of immigration status. It’s unclear how long the payments would last. According to the bill’s language, those potentially eligible for $1,000 cash payments include people who: Provide care for a child or other specified dependent Recently gave birth or adopted a child Enroll...

Houston’s Democratic mayor has admitted that his city, the fourth largest in the U.S., is in millions of dollars worth of debt and cannot afford to pay for firefighters. Mayor John Whitmire, elected after defeating Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee last year, sounded the alarm about his city’s money woes in a meeting. As the city now faces a deficit of $160 million, Whitmireis proposes spending cuts and tax increases to tackle the massive damage done by his Democratic predecessors.

Mayor John Whitmire proposing a 5% cut across the board, except for fire and police departments.. Tax hikes and increased fees for parking and city services are likely .. The Mayor of Houston says the city is 'broke' after overspending for decades. Experts say the problem has existed for years, but COVID handouts from the federal government helped mask them. ... A tax hike through a bond is expected in November. ... The city has been struggling to make firefighters whole, from meeting its contractual obligation to their pension, to paying backpay and wage hikes that have been promised years...

With a $650 payment for 72 months, this is going to be one expensive Toyota CamryYour twenties are the perfect time to screw up and try to get your xxxx figured out. Sometimes it takes getting to the rock bottom before you can dig yourself out of it. For the sake of everyone involved here, I hope this young woman on Caleb Hammer’s Financial Audit show has reached her bottom and will find a way to get her life turned around. Right now, it seems like the best first step would be to sell her car and find her way...