Free Republic

@tomselliott Sen. @RandPaulon @SpeakerJohnson's "obscene" spending bill: "No conservative should support raising the debt ceiling $5 trillion. So, that alone is enough for me not to support the bill, even though I support large segments of the bill."

Gavin Newsom is putting new conditions on a program offering healthcare to illegal migrants as the state continues to face a budget crisis, though he claims its Donald Trump's fault. California is facing a $12 billion deficit thanks in part to the progressive liberal - who may have presidential ambitions - policies, including a state-funded health care program for immigrants living in California without legal status. The deep blue state was among one of the first states to extend free health care benefits to all poor adults regardless of their immigration status last year, an ambitious plan touted by Newsom...

A draft of President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” includes a proposal to establish so-called “MAGA” savings accounts for children. The pilot program — described as the “money account for growth and advancement” or “MAGA account” in the GOP bill released on Monday — would give every baby with a Social Security number born in the next few years $1,000. That money will then accumulate interest and value through investments over time — and families and employees can contribute up to $5,000 in the children’ s accounts annually. The goal would be that once the kids become adults they will have...

Receipts from U.S. tariffs hit a record level in April as revenue from President Donald Trump’s trade war started kicking in. Customs duties totaled $16.3 billion for the month, some 86% above the $8.75 billion collected during March and more than double the $7.1 billion a year ago, the Treasury Department reported Monday. That brought the year-to-date total for the duties up to $63.3 billion and more than 18% ahead of the same period in 2024. Trump instituted 10% across-the-board tariffs on U.S. imports starting April 2, which came on top of other select duties he had leveled previously.

In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar -- a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News. The gift is expected to be announced next week, when Trump...

Buffett had largely avoided commenting on politics during the afternoon part of the annual meetings Q&A and seemed reluctant to directly address a question on what he thought about Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s efforts to cut government spending through the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. What Buffett did say was Congress isn’t doing its job to reduce the fiscal deficit. “We are doing something that is unsustainable,” he said. Buffett said the gap between revenue and spending was about twice as large as what can be maintained and that the more the gap widens, the more risk of it...

House Republicans are planning to include several of President Trump’s campaign promises in the first draft of the bill, which they hope to release soon.It was easy to miss, but last weekend President Trump floated a fundamental rewrite of the American tax code. In a social media post, and again in remarks to reporters, Mr. Trump suggested the United States could stop taxing income under $200,000 and instead rely on revenue from his extensive tariffs. “It’ll take a little while before we do that, but we’re going to be cutting taxes, and it’s possible we’ll do a complete tax cut,”...

President Donald Trump is pushing hard for interest rate cuts. He should be careful what he wishes for, because he is begging for more inflation. Literally. Trump started badgering Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell about rate cuts even before his inauguration, saying last January that "interest rates are far too high." In fact, this running battle with Powell over rates dates back to Trump's first term. As the Fed finally tried to normalize rates in 2017 after holding them at zero for nearly a decade in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Trump frequently criticized Powell and urged him...

I assume that since mainstream journalists, economics, and all the other Democrats have been attacking Trump and his trade policies for months, they can answer a small sample of questions: If price is the bottom line, and there are no other factors to consider, why not advocate for the outsourcing of all our production? Why don’t we just move all the American truck and car manufacturing to China, India, Mexico, and other low cost countries? Why don’t we move all airplane, tank, and weapons manufacturing to other lower-cost countries? What could go wrong? Should we move all our food processing...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. Treasuries extended heavy losses on Wednesday in a sign investors are selling even their safest assets as a global market rout unleashed by U.S. tariffs takes an unnerving turn towards distress and a dash for the safety of cash. "This is beyond fundamentals right now. This is about liquidity," said Jack Chambers, senior rates strategist at ANZ in Sydney. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, the globe's benchmark safe-haven anchor, was up 20 basis points and rising in Asia - a remarkable move in a time zone where it's usually fairly steady. At 4.46% the yield is...

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson 🚨BREAKING: President Trump announces MASSIVE tariffs are coming VERY shortly on pharmaceuticals. THIS is what I voted for: "We're gonna tariff our pharmaceuticals ... we're going to be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals." From Aaron Rupar 8:00 PM · Apr 8, 2025

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pledged a first ever $1 trillion defense budget proposal on Monday, a record sum for the military. Trump, during a press event with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the upcoming budget would be “in the vicinity” of $1 trillion Hegseth went further in an X post on Monday evening, saying Trump “is rebuilding our military — and FAST.” “COMING SOON: the first TRILLION dollar @DeptofDefense budget,” Hegseth posted from his personal account. “(PS: we intend to spend every taxpayer dollar wisely — on lethality and readiness).” The number would be a...

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow,” host Larry Kudlow said that he doesn’t really think using trade deficits to calculate tariffs is a good idea and that if the Trump administration gets tax cuts and deregulation, it will spark growth and “We will grow faster than almost anybody. Therefore, almost by definition, by growing faster than the rest of the world, we’re always going to have a trade deficit.” While speaking with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Kudlow said, “I don’t know if you heard Art Laffer in the prior interview, but Art doesn’t believe that the trade...

During the opening monologue on Sunday’s broadcast of FNC’s “Life, Liberty & Levin,” host Mark Levin offered his view on President Donald Trump’s tariff plan and contrasted it with the Democratic Party’s approach to the economy. Levin called the Trump administration’s effort a “growth plan” while criticizing Democrats for their approach centered on the redistribution of wealth. Transcript as follows: LEVIN: Can somebody please tell me what exactly are the Democrats doing to help our economy, to improve our country? What are they doing to help working men and women across the country, manufacturing across the country? All they want...

As I thought, President Trump is off to a great start thanks to the much better team of people he now has compared to last time. One exception: he brought back Peter Navarro, allowing him to design the massive April 2nd tariff orders. Dr. Navarro for most of his career was a Hillary Clinton Democrat who promoted terrible economic ideas, just like fellow Ph.D. economist Paul Krugman.His obsession is protective barriers that will bring back manufacturing to America, especially autos. But he is about 50 years behind the times. He still thinks it’s 1970 and Japan and Germany, with brand...

On the Senate floor, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) expressed deep concern about the Republican budget resolution, and put forward an amendment to raise the debt ceiling.

Let us be honest: When most people hear "tariffs," they think about price hikes and trade wars. But the Trump administration’s latest tariff rollout is not merely a knee-jerk protectionist move—it is part of a far broader strategy.

Elon Musk announced he will leave his role in the Trump administration at the end of May after leading a $1 trillion deficit reduction as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE claims it has saved Americans $130 billion so far. Tech billionaire Elon Musk on Thursday announced that he plans to step down from his role in the Donald Trump administration at the end of May after overseeing a massive $1 trillion reduction in the US deficit. Musk, who was brought in as a “special government employee” for a 130-day term, has been spearheading government cost-cutting efforts...

Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio on Wednesday warned that a significant supply-demand problem regarding U.S. debt could have a profoundly disruptive impact on the global economy. It is the latest in a series of stark warnings about America’s mounting debt from the U.S. hedge fund billionaire, with the country’s national debt currently standing at more than $36.2 trillion. “The first thing is the debt issue, we have a very severe supply-demand problem,” Dalio told CNBC’s Sara Eisen at CONVERGE LIVE in Singapore. ”[The U.S. has] to sell a quantity of debt that the world is not going to want to buy.”...

The City of Los Angeles is bracing for layoffs of thousands of municipal employees due to a budget crisis that is said to be “inevitable,” as the city is reeling from recent wildfires and still preparing to host the 2028 Summer Olympics. The Los Angeles Times reported: L.A.’s financial problems exploded into a full-blown crisis on Wednesday, with the city’s top budget official announcing that next year’s shortfall is now just shy of $1 billion, making layoffs “nearly inevitable.” City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo advised the City Council to focus on cost-cutting measures, including a potential reduction in the size...