Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Much attention has been paid to the Air Force’s plans to junk an older group of F-22 Raptor jets, but newer, more combat-capable versions of the stealth fighter are the service’s “highest priority” for a near-term fight, according to a senior official. Speaking at the McAleese Defense Programs conference today, Air Force acquisition boss Andrew Hunter called the F-22 the “foundation” of the service’s airpower amid a larger effort to “reoptimize” for competition with China, noting that the jet will serve a vital role until its successor, the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) platform, comes online. “F-22 is...

When Giovanna “Gigi” Gonzalez wanted to cut back on her food spending, the finance expert and money coach applied what is known as the “cash-stuffing” method of budgeting. She put the cash she allotted to food for the week into an envelope and limited her spending to that amount. “I could see when I had just 20 bucks left for the week, so it was really helpful,” she says. Popularized through TikTok videos, cash stuffing has brought back the old-fashioned envelope system of budgeting: You divide up your cash into different envelopes, each dedicated to a category of spending or...

But the one-semester class has gone full-time because of “strong demand from students to make this a year-long course,” Peng said. Peng’s course has been such a hit that state lawmakers are considering making it mandatory, statewide. What grabbed Peng’s eye in 2021 was an editorial in the school paper written by Anisha Singhal, who asked, “Calculus Before Checkbooks?” When Peng introduced the class in 2022, it was so popular that even Singhal ended up on a waitlist to get in. The class covers mortgages, tax returns, student loans, and more. Singhal said that “If there was an empty seat...

Long before the coronavirus hit our shores, our society’s focus on instant gratification has in many respects made acts of self-sacrifice a lost art.On Monday, Rep. Alynna Pressley, D-Mass, claimed canceling student debt represents a “racial justice issue.” The following day, I submitted a contrary piece of evidence: I paid off my mortgage — with a balance far exceeding the average American’s student loan balance — seven years early.At a time many Americans remain unemployed or underemployed, I recognize the economic hardship millions of families face, through circumstances (i.e., a global pandemic) not of their own making. Given the recent...

Here's how to spend, invest, and save wisely. For Americans, money is one of the leading causes of stress. It’s no wonder then, that better improving our financial habits is a top resolution for 2016. But holding true to that commitment can be incredibly challenging. While financial planning can be a complicated task, let's break down some of the best ways for you to make progress on your money in the year ahead.

<p>On the afternoon of July 12, 1974, House and Senate Democratic leaders were arriving early at the White House — well before their demoralized Republican counterparts. And were they ever pumped! As they trouped into the President’s office for their photo-op, it became clear they considered this a victory party. They almost literally pranced around the Oval Office giving each other the 1970s equivalent of high-fives and chest bumps.</p>

Joseph J. Dioguardi is a former member of Congress from New York and Certified Public Accountant. Dioguardi in his book “Unaccountable Congress: It Doesn’t Add Up” lists the top twelve gimmicks Congress uses to hide the true costs of government from the people. These gimmicks have been used for decades by both Republican and Democrat administrations, Congresses under both parties and government agencies. The idea behind these gimmicks is to “[K]eep Americans in the dark (or – I should say – in the red!), writes, Dioguardi. Dioguardi calls this “plastic budgeting”. As David A. Stockman, former Director of the Office...

I have had enough. The progression that has driven the original, relatively constrained welfare system of the United States to its present, cradle-to-grave assurances of absolute support for whatever form of Taking or Faking one chooses to pursue has taken quite a lot of Americans, including this one, to a completely different destination. Here's a sample of the fuel that's propelled us: “I believe that in a society as wealthy as ours, we should have a commitment to our seniors and to the disabled,” Obama said. “That’s not a sign of weakness. That’s not socialism.” Obama called “the basic American...

Budgeting is not easy. Despite how simple it sounds, it’s not always easy to create a budget that can account for everything and still be easy to stick to. One of the biggest mistakes we made early on was not being honest with ourselves. We would budget too small of an amount for some things and completely ignore others. This led to a lot of frustration because we would never have the money left at the end of the month to put towards debt that we expected. The problem was that we wanted to see as big of a number...

Ever since I wrote an article that demonstrated that President Clinton never had a surplus, people have been skeptical. After all, Clinton's alleged surpluses have been accepted by the media and repeated so much that it's taken as gospel truth. The claim is made that in Fiscal Year 2000, President Clinton ran a budget surplus of $236 billion. My previous article demonstrates that far from a surplus, the government had to increase the national debt by $18 billion. How can you claim a surplus when you have to borrow more money? Indeed, citizens that hear about the Clinton "surplus" but...

I just love Washington-speak which offers heartfelt phrases such as “baseline spending,” “debt ceiling,” “drop dead dates,” and my ultimate favorites, “the cut,” “to cut,” “a cut,” or just simply “cuts.” Like the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” a “cut” means different things to different people. Let me explain by first discussing common-speak, which is very easy to understand. When someone takes a cut in pay, it could mean going from $20 per hour to $15 per hour. Or, they’re paid $30,000 per year for a job that used to pay $35,000 per year. To most...

The household budget of Howard and Ima Bashford was out of control, and the two sat down at their kitchen table to hash things out. "We're spending too much on hash," declared Howard. "Why, my calculations indicate that by the time the year is complete we will have spent $1,000 on various brands of canned, chopped corned beef." "But you like hash," said Ima. "You like it as much as I do." "I'm not blaming you," said Howard. "I'm as responsible as you are. Besides, it's tasty and nourishing – especially with a fried egg on top. Nevertheless, we're going...

For those of you that don't know what the baseline is and how baseline budgeting works, let me give you the real quick explanation of it. When you put together your budget, if you do one, you take last year's spending and income and you take a look at it and you figure out if you spent more than you had, or if you didn't spend more than you had, what did you do with what you had left over, where did it get spent. If the next budget you prepare has to be smaller because your income's dropped, you...

Since we're all going to be tightening our belts to pay for Pelosi/Obamacare, we're going to need to start now, don't you think? Like you, I avoid the MSM like it's radioactive. I'd have missed this if someone hadn't emailed it to me.

WASHINGTON, March 30 — The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has estimated that the Army has enough budget flexibility to pay for its military operations through July in the event that a standoff between the White House and Congress over Iraq holds up the money the administration says it needs for the war effort. The service’s report, made public Friday by Senate Democrats, said the Pentagon may have to shift money between accounts and curtail some nonessential activities, but said Congress has provided the military with new ability to do so, lessening the potential for disruptions until additional money is approved....

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s budget director mounted a blistering attack on Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s proposed state budget yesterday, asserting that it would create an $862 million shortfall in the New York City budget for the fiscal year that starts on July 1. The city’s budget director, Mark Page, warned that such a shortfall, if other revenues were not found, could result in an 8 percent across-the-board cut in agency spending or imperil the mayor’s $1 billion plan to cut taxes. Mr. Bloomberg’s plan calls for reducing property taxes by about 5 percent for one year, eliminating the city sales tax...

BALDWINSVILLE, N.Y., Sept. 7— Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said on Thursday that if elected governor he would close hospitals and drastically cut spending in an effort to restore fiscal discipline to New York State. Giving his most candid glimpse yet of his plans to put the state’s fiscal house in order, Mr. Spitzer said that to fulfill his pledge to cut property taxes he would have to take aim at the state’s health care system. “We’re going to take the tough medicine,” he said at a campaign stop in this Syracuse suburb, adding: “I’m saying to folks this isn’t all...

Costly Promises LOCKPORT, N.Y. — For two and a half years, Michael Tucker was mayor of this small city by day and an autoworker by night. Then in May, he became one of the nearly 50,000 workers at General Motors or its former Delphi parts division to take buyouts, lured by the $33,000-a-year pension his company offered. That pension, and a smaller one he expects to collect from the state after his years as mayor, makes him a little unusual in a nation where more and more workers are not covered by such plans. But now, as mayor of Lockport,...

Rejecting the advice of his own government efficiency commission and a nearly unanimous vote of the state Assembly, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this month vetoed a sensible bill that could have helped nudge California back on the road to fiscal sanity. --snip-- The bill - AB 518 - didn't get much attention in the Legislature and no headlines when the governor buried it. By itself, it wouldn't have balanced California's budget. --snip-- The bill would have required the state Department of Finance to compile five-year forecasts of projected spending in each department. --snip-- The authors of Schwarzenegger's California Performance Review,...

Last year, the City Council in Baltimore faced a budget shortfall so bad that it considered laying off 186 city police officers, reducing some fire department operations and scaling back trash collection. Then it found an untapped honey pot: cellphones. Starting in August, the city began collecting $3.50 a month from each of Baltimore's 238,000 mobile phone subscribers. The extra income has helped to strengthen the city's finances and is expected to help the city fix up schools and trim the property tax. "I can't remember the last time we've had such an easy budget year," said Sheila Dixon, the...