Free Republic

President Vladimir Putin is set to extend his 24 years as Russia's paramount ruler in an election on March 15-17 and has promised more than 11.5 trillion roubles ($126.5 billion) in infrastructure and social spending over the next six years. "This is the programme of a strong, sovereign country that confidently looks to the future," Putin told Russia's elite including lawmakers in a speech on Feb. 29. "We have both the resources and tremendous opportunities to achieve our goals." Russia's total budget spending in 2024 is planned at 36.6 trillion roubles, with military expenditure set to exceed social spending for...

Trade between India and Malaysia is now able to be settled with Indian Rupees, the India Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced in a statement Saturday. This move strikes a blow to the hegemony US dollar. “This initiative by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is aimed at facilitating the growth of global trade and to support the interests of the global trading community in Indian Rupees (INR),” the statement from the MEA reads.

The COVID-19 pandemic can be used to illustrate two problems that are both more destructive than the virus. The problems relate to how Americans view the role of government in their lives and to the belief that government money can always fix problems. Let's look at the money issue first. The immediate reaction of our government to the virus threat was to spend massive amounts of money. The latest news is that politicians plan to "boost" the economy with nearly two trillion dollars in spending and loans. "The package is coming in at about 10% of GDP. It's very large,"...

I wanted to post this just in case people missed it, a while back the U.S National Debt clock began publishing the real ratio for U.S dollars to gold. At this point it's up over 6,000 per ounce. Keep stacking!

Kabuki theater has returned to Washington, D.C. The statutory ceiling on borrowing was reached more than three weeks ago. The Treasury Department just stopped the clock on March 15. The total debt of the U.S. government remains at $18,112,975,000,000, which is $25 million below the statutory limit. In due course Congress will take up the issue of raising the debt ceiling. That will open the gates for front-page stories about a divided Republican Party risking a default and crashing credit markets across the globe. Some will try to use this vote to force policy changes such as ending Obamacare or...

(CNSNews.com) - According to the Daily Treasury Statement for July 26, which the Treasury released this afternoon, the federal debt has been stuck at exactly $16,699,396,000,000.00 for 70 straight days. That is approximately $25 million below the legal limit of $16,699,421,095,673.60 that Congress has imposed on the debt. The portion of the federal debt subject to the legal limit set by Congress first hit $16,699,396,000,000.00 at the close of business on May 17. At the close of every business day since then, it has also been $16,699,396,000,000.00, according to the official accounting published by the Treasury Department.

Some members of Congress apparently don’t like to be reminded about how much debt the country continues to rack up. During a House Financial Services Committee hearing Tuesday on the budget, two Democrats complained after House Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling instructed that two monitors in the hearing room display a real-time running national debt clock. California Rep. Maxine Waters and Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison both issued complaints about the displays, according to video of the hearing. “Clearly it is a political prop designed to message ideologically,” Ellison said. Waters asked that the debt clock not be on display...

It has gone unremarked upon by their peers in the media, but a few people noted it on Twitter. This morning NBC's Meet the Press featuring gun criminal David Gregory ran a graphic of the U.S. national debt clock that showed the debt at $13 trillion, a mere $3 trillion short of where it actually stands.Most notably, former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker tweeted about it.A photo of the Meet the Press debt clock fail was posted to Twitter by Rick VanMeter:As of today, the national debt is over $16,400,000,000,000.

Well, the scene is already set for an uplifting week of healing rhetoric and outreach to independents. Democrats are having plenty of high-profile problems dealing with the simple question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Expectations are being managed. What they thought was a rambling speech by a fading old-timer turned out to be the perfect metaphor for the president’s lack of leadership, perfectly suited to the age of memes. There’s a blow-out end-of-summer sale at the Obama store. The Raleigh News & Observer delivered less-than-welcome news to incoming DNC attendees today: (see below) The debt...

Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that a billion dollars is “chump change” in Washington, DeeCee, the subject of the national debt looms large in the average citizen’s list of things to worry about. How much do we owe? In this article, a brief guide to national debt clocks, from simple to complex.