Free Republic

Edmonds, Washington — population 42,871 — may look like a postcard-perfect community, but a $13-million deficit and more than $40 million in deferred maintenance costs is pushing the city toward historic, potentially irreversible changes. City officials are slashing services and weighing drastic options to stay afloat. “We are in a financial crisis, a significant one,” Mayor Mike Rosen told KOMO News. Now, Edmonds is considering selling off prized assets, including City Hall and the historic Frances Anderson Center, as well as asking homeowners to pay an extra $720 per year in property taxes to help balance the budget. Edmonds’ severe...

The U.S. government’s gross national debt has surpassed $37 trillion, a record number that highlights the accelerating debt on America’s balance sheet and increased cost pressures on taxpayers. The $37 trillion update is found in the latest Treasury Department report issued Tuesday which logs the nation’s daily finances. The national debt eclipsed $37 trillion years sooner than pre-pandemic projections. The Congressional Budget Office’s January 2020 projections had gross federal debt eclipsing $37 trillion after fiscal year 2030. But the debt grew faster than expected because of a multi-year COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020 that shut down much of the U.S....

When asked how far the US government has plunged into the red, many fiscally-conscious Americans will tell you the national debt has reached $37 trillion. As distressing as that official number is, America’s true fiscal situation is even worse — far worse. According to a barely-publicized Treasury report, the actual grand total of Uncle Sam’s obligations is more than $151 trillion.That huge discrepancy springs from the fact that the federal government doesn’t hold itself to the same accounting standards it imposes on businesses. Rather than using accrual accounting — which recognizes expenses when they’re incurred — our Washington overlords self-servingly...

As Congress debates how to rein in federal spending, some experts say aspects of Medicare Advantage should be on the chopping block, starting with $86 billion a year in taxpayer-funded supplemental benefits that often go unused or unverified. The federal government pays Medicare Advantage plans rebate dollars to cover extra services, including dental, vision, hearing, and over-the-counter drugs. However, a 2024 study published by JAMA Network Open found that only $3.9 billion of that money went toward dental, vision and hearing benefits. Meanwhile, the industry spent an estimated $16 billion on $1,000 “Flex Cards” for new enrollees – prepaid cash...

For a party with such distrust in the mainstream media, Republicans certainly put a lot of stock in the headlines about PEPFAR. While thousands of people would most certainly not die from the targeted cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, Senate Republicans are determined to keep throwing taxpayer dollars at the Democrats’ woke programs in the name of “foreign aid.” In a blow to Donald Trump’s goal to end government bloat and abuse, moderate senators — led by Susan Collins (R-Maine) — threw a tantrum over the White House’s plan to shave a fraction ($400 million) of...

Our country cannot get its fiscal house in order unless and until it starts slowing the explosion of Medicare spending.The budget reconciliation measure Congress recently passed includes some important reforms designed to help reduce entitlement spending. But any realistic assessment of the nation’s fiscal position reinforces why Washington must go much further in reducing spending than the half-measures enacted in recent weeks.In March, as lawmakers were beginning debate on the “big, beautiful bill,” the Congressional Budget Office released its annual version of the “Long-Term Budget Outlook,” which features economic and budgetary projections for the next three decades. The CBO report...

Core CPI up just 0.2%. But, year-ago comparisons are tough and the year-over-year “core” rose slightly to 2.9%. Better to look at 3-month annualized changes. The 3-month annualized increase was just 2.4%, down from 3.6% in February. Tariffs don’t cause inflation. Follow M2. First 5 months of Trump Presidency. Total deficit $498 billion. Same five months in last year of Biden Presidency the deficit was $741 billion.

The Big Beautiful Bill Act (BBBA) will add trillions of dollars to the national debt over the next decade. Elon Musk is right that this is a turning point for American citizens. It is now clear that neither political party has the will to enact a fiscally responsible budget or solve the debt crisis. Musk threatens to form a third party if Congress kicks this can down the road. The budget process is broken, as special interests continue to carve out their bits of a spoils system. Congress is not even willing to discuss reforms in Social Security and Medicare....

President Trump said Monday his administration would send Ukraine additional weapons after his administration imposed a pause on some shipments to Kyiv. “We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now,” Trump told reporters during a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Defensive weapons, primarily, but they’re getting hit very, very hard. So many people are dying in that mess,” he added. The Pentagon last week confirmed a decision to halt the delivery of some air defense missiles and munitions to Ukraine, citing concerns...

Budget deficits are something we’ve come to expect from Uncle Sam. After all, without years of overspending, the federal government wouldn’t be sitting on trillions of dollars in debt. But, the latest monthly Treasury statement delivered a rare — and welcome — surprise. In April 2025, the U.S. government collected $850.2 billion in receipts while spending $591.8 billion, resulting in a monthly budget surplus of $258.4 billion. That’s not just any surplus — it’s the first monthly surplus of fiscal year 2025 (which began in October 2024), and the second-largest monthly surplus in U.S. history, behind only April 2022’s $308.2...

The changes made to President Donald Trump's big tax bill in the Senate would pile trillions onto the nation's debt load while resulting in even steeper losses in health care coverage, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a new analysis, adding to the challenges for Republicans as they try to muscle the bill to passage. The CBO estimates the Senate bill would increase the deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion from 2025 to 2034, a nearly $1 trillion increase over the House-passed bill, which CBO has projected would add $2.4 to the debt over a decade.The analysis also found that...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Friday a budget that pares back a number of progressive priorities, including a landmark health care expansion for low-income adult illegal immigrants, to close a $12 billion deficit. It’s the third year in a row the nation’s most populous state has been forced to slash funding or stop some of the programs championed by Democratic leaders. Lawmakers passed the budget earlier in the day following an agreement of a $321 billion spending plan between Newsom and Democratic leaders. But the whole budget will be void if lawmakers don’t send him legislation to make it...

I don't know how 'official' this site is, but if you follow U.S. Debt Clock.org, we should hit $37 trillion in the national debt sometime after 9:00 pm Eastern Time (if my math is correct, which I wouldn't count on..). If you are the kind of person who likes to watch the odometer in your car turn over, this could be a real treat. Of course, the reality is that we are governed by feckless idiots who have seemingly abandoned all fiscal reponsibility. So, this is really a monument to their uselessness.

How did we arrive at a point in this country where 25% of all tax revenue goes to just paying the interest in $37 trillion in govt debt? Annually: US govt total reveneue = about $5 trillion ...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene vows to oppose the One Big Beautiful Bill when it returns to the House if there are no changes made to the artificial intelligence provision. Greene says she was unaware of the AI provision when she first voted for the bill and now argues it would endanger state rights, risk job losses in her manufacturing-heavy district, and open the door to forced property seizures. Facing criticism for missing the provision, Greene defended her transparency, claiming no other lawmakers publicly flagged the AI clause and pledging to fight any future legislation that limits state authority over AI...

SUMMARY * Weekly jobless claims increase 8,000 to 247,000 * Continuing claims fall 3,000 to 1.904 million * Trade deficit shrinks by a record 55.5% to $61.6 billion The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits increased to a seven-month high last week, pointing to softening labor market conditions amid mounting economic headwinds from tariffs. The report from the Labor Department on Thursday also continued to show workers losing their jobs having a tough time landing new opportunities as uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump's aggressive trade policy leaves employers reluctant to increase headcount. Economists said technical difficulties...

Smart people can be really dumb. Sometimes it’s preferable to just be brilliant, rather than genius. For the majority of us in the middle of the Bell Curve, being smart-enough is sufficient to be commonsense conservatives. Elon Musk is in the genius category, and comes with some of the hazards associated with a high IQ. Indeed, he is capable of stupidity, sometimes in business (Tesla Cybertruck “Armour glass” demonstration and overpaying for Twitter, are just two examples). And sometimes in politics, as evidenced by calling the big, beautiful bill (BBB) a “pork-filled, disgusting abomination.” As stark as that criticism is,...

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Wednesday said Elon Musk’s sharp criticism of President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” was “flat wrong,” but that he did not take it personally. Musk on Tuesday torched the GOP spending package on X, calling it “a disgusting abomination,” which the speaker said was a complete 180 from what he had indicated in private just a day earlier. Johnson and other House Republicans spoke to reporters Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill, where they addressed a variety of topics, including the future of the spending bill. “I consider Elon a friend,” Johnson told reporters. “It’s curious to...

CBO projects $3T added to debt from bill that tackles tax policy, border security, healthcare reforms President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" is projected to increase the debt by $3 trillion, with interest, or $5 trillion if made permanent, according to estimates. An estimate of the House-passed bill by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects it would add more than $2.4 trillion to primary deficits before interest over 10 years, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a nonprofit public policy organization. As of Wednesday, the national debt, which measures what the U.S. owes its creditors,...

President Donald Trump shared on Wednesday that he wants the debt limit “scrapped,” which Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has also called for. Trump issued a statement on Truth Social Wednesday afternoon. “I am very pleased to announce that, after all of these years, I agree with Senator Elizabeth Warren on SOMETHING. The Debt Limit should be entirely scrapped to prevent an Economic catastrophe,” he wrote. “It is too devastating to be put in the hands of political people that may want to use it despite the horrendous effect it could have on our Country and, indirectly, even the World,” he...