Free Republic

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...

Why did this budget pass? I thought half the GOP member were opposed to it. Shouldn’t speaker Johnson be fired for pushing through legislation that more than half the GOP members were opposed to? When will a Speaker with balls come along and gladly shut down the government? They need to embrace it. They have to say “Yes, I know hundreds of thousands of government workers will lose their jobs…I know Veterans will not receive services…I know some American families will be significantly hurt by a government shutdown…but we want to do it anyway. We want to do it because...

In their annual one-house budget resolutions, Democratic majorities in the state Assembly and Senate laid out their negotiating position for this year’s budget deal with Gov. Hochul. They’ve decided to spend more — $13 billion more than the governor’s already-record $233 billion executive budget. And tax high earners and corporations more too, despite Hochul’s opposition.

A president’s budget proposal is seldom passed into law. Instead, it’s an expression of the priorities the president promises to fight for, often coming on the heels of an agenda laid out in the State of the Union address. In his recent State of the Union speech, President Biden previewed his economically populist priorities when he said “the days of trickle-down economics are over.” Trickle-down refers to the idea that tax cuts for the wealthiest “trickle down” to the rest of us. It’s long been a popular idea in Washington, but it’s just not true. A few years ago, the...

The majority of New York City public libraries will be forced to cut their hours yet again and open just five days a week if Mayor Eric Adams’ proposed $58.3 million budget cuts go ahead, the presidents of the Big Apple’s three library systems warned Tuesday. Since November, the city’s more than 200 public library branches have already been shut every Sunday to offset the surging cost of the local migrant crisis. On Tuesday, the presidents of the New York, Brooklyn and Queens Public Library systems laid bare the possible further reduction in services as they testified during a City...

President Joe Biden’s staffers are asking Congress for more than $13 billion in taxpayer funds to help move many more economic migrants into homes and workplaces in American communities.Much of the money will be used to bail out the sanctuary cities that help displace Americans by welcoming migrants who serve as lower-wage workers, apartment-sharing renters, and taxpayer-aided consumers.The 2025 funding is being requested by two pro-migration cabinet members — Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Alejandro Mayorkas, the Cuba-born head of the Department of Homeland Security.

Kudlow calls out Biden's economic agenda Congratulations to President Joe Biden, who continues to believe that he can tax the country into prosperity. I say "congrats, Joe" because the entire history of tax hikes shows the revenue increases never pan out. The economy is depressed. Investment falters and, if that weren't enough, you would be emulating western Europe which has been taxing itself into recession for many decades including now. If it's not exactly big government socialism, it sure comes close, doesn't it? Proud of you, Mr. President! You never miss a progressive beat. By the way, I don't want...

WASHINGTON — The US Air Force will request a total of $188.1 billion in the 2025 fiscal year, part of a budget submission that asks lawmakers to greenlight the retirement of 250 aircraft, officials revealed today. In a Friday briefing with reporters ahead of the budget release, Kristyn Jones, who is performing the duties of the Air Force Undersecretary, said that the service’s budget would grow by about 1.6% compared to the FY24 request of $185.1 billion, an increase of $3 billion. For the Department of the Air Force (DAF), which includes the Space Force, the DAF’s topline would grow...

President Joe Biden on Monday released a $7.3 trillion budget proposal, which sparked swift opposition from congressional Republicans. The proposed $7.3 trillion budget is for fiscal year 2025, which will run from October 2024 through September 2025. It contains many of Biden's 2024 campaign promises, such as tax credits and increased taxes on the wealthy, per Axios.