Free Republic

Mesquite ISD’s $600 Million Bond Would Cost $1.1 Billion With Interest School district property taxpayers are already on the hook for $979 million in bond debt principal and interest. Yet the district’s bond marketing claims the billion-dollar debt will have minimal impact on Mesquite ISD taxpayers, who are already on the hook for $979 million in outstanding bond debt principal and interest. All this while only 42% of the district’s 38,000 students meet or exceed grade levels across all subjects

Once again, Zillow has downgraded its 12-month forecast for national home prices. On Wednesday, Zillow economists published their updated forecast model, projecting that U.S. home prices, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index, will fall 1.7% between March 2025 and March 2026. Back in March, Zillow downgraded its 12-month outlook for U.S. home prices to +0.8%. In February, Zillow downgraded its 12-month outlook to +1.1%. And at the start of the year in January, Zillow’s 12-month national home price forecast was +2.9%. Why does Zillow keep downgrading its national home price outlook? | Fast Company Newsletters “The rise in...

A federal judge threw out a U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule Tuesday that capped all credit card late fees at $8. U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas approved a joint motion from a coalition of six business and banking groups, including the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the CFPB to scrap the rule, which was established last year. The ABA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were among the plaintiffs that challenged the rule in U.S. District Court for Northern Texas, arguing the bureau exceeded its statutory authority....

As usual with Perun, a backgrounder of financing, politico-bureaucratic issues, current political situation, etc. Lots and lots of considerations addressed. Including, note, interesting specific issues with upgrading the UK nuke arsenal. An excellent start of a framework for slotting in incoming news. Long but essential. Short answer is the Euros have the money, resources and industry, to remove reliance on the US. And interestingly PPP diversity, where efficiencies can be found for specific categories that are not available to the rich countries.

Ok so I paid a Vanity tax to ask this stupid question. Don't come at me with "Oh you shouldn't ask strangers on the internet for advice". Is there a better and more trustworthy brain trust than FReepers? I don't think so. This is just an intro, I know I'll have more questions. I called one of Dave Ramsey's money guys, and we've had 2 meetings so far. Kinda weird. I'm not a huge Ramsey fan but figured it was a place to start. I get the feeling they are on a script and don't deviate. Plug in $$ and...

Making Financial Mistakes is a natural part of life. Everyone does it, from young children to experienced adults. There’s no need to feel ashamed or embarrassed when you make a mistake. Instead, view it as an opportunity to learn and grow. After all, making mistakes is how you become better at everything you do. -Not Saving For Retirement -Borrowing Money From Your 401k -Spending More Than You Earn -Not Having Enough Insurance -Investing In Risky Stocks Or Schemes -Not Having An Emergency Fund -Taking Out Loans You Can’t Afford To Repay -Marrying The Wrong Person -Avoid These Financial Mistakes At...

Trump Derangement Syndrome has morphed into a new mental health condition. Progressives now also have Musk Derangement Syndrome. Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar isn’t mincing words: “This is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like.” Others are huffing that Elon Musk is leading “a corporate coup.” Yes, a coup against big fat bureaucratic government. Now, Red State governors and legislatures are taking a page from DOGE’s playbook and creating their own state versions. In Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt has created DOGE-OK to transform the state’s outdated information systems. In New Hampshire, Gov. Kelly Ayotte has created a “Commission on Government Efficiency”...

longtime gatopal™ jeffrey tucker had a terrifying and illuminating piece in the epoch times today: apparently, the rage and indignation emanating from all manner of statists, deep and shallow alike, about DOGE penetrating the holy sanctum of “the treasury payables” so that they could see, in its entirety, where the money actually goes may (apart from all the corruption it’s exposing like blacklight on a hotel bedspread) have quite a lot to do with a truly wild fact that was not known to me: did you know that since 1946 no president nor any of his appointed staff of secretaries...

By debanking conservatives, JPMorgan and Bank of America may be “debanking” themselves, On The Money has learned. It all stems from a raft of bad publicity that began with President Trump’s statements in Davos a couple of weeks ago, accusing the nation’s No. 1 and No. 2 banks of canceling accounts of conservatives. It continued with Wednesday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing on the matter. The result: Some customers began to flee the big guys, and at least one beneficiary has been to a small online bank that is beginning to make a name for itself in conservative circles by claiming...

A federal judge has indicated that she will issue an injunction forbidding members of the DOGE team, which is part of the Executive Office of the Presidency, from reviewing some financial records.During the hearing, a lawyer from the Department of Justice disclosed that two "special government employees" associated with Musk, but employed by the Treasury Department, accessed sensitive records from the Bureau of the Fiscal Service based on "high level guidance" from the Department of Government Efficiency to prevent waste and fraud.U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly gave the government and unions who brought the case until 6 p.m. ET to...

[Video] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. denied Gov. Josh Green’s allegation that he caused many deaths in Samoa by discouraging the measles vaccine. HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -- Gov. Josh Green was in the U.S. Capitol hearing room Wednesday while Robert F. Kennedy Jr. denied Green’s allegation that he caused many deaths in Samoa by discouraging the measles vaccine. Green responded with profanity on national television. Speaking on CNN and MSNBC cable outlets after the hearing, the governor was clearly angry. It was understandable because during his confirmation hearing, RFK Jr. basically called Green a liar. Kennedy, who was nominated by President Donald...

We are all extremely proud of what we continue to accomplish in crypto. $Trump is currently the hottest digital meme on earth and I truly believe that @WorldLibertyFi will revolutionize DeFi/Cefi and will be the future of finance. We are just getting started! 🚀— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 19, 2025

American credit card defaults have risen to the highest levels since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis as consumers grapple with years of high inflation. Credit card lenders wrote off $46 billion in delinquent loan balances in the first three quarters of 2024, a 50 percent increase from the same period last year. These forms of write-offs are are viewed as a highly monitored measure of loan distress. This is the highest level since 2010, according to industry data gathered by BankRegData. Mark Zandi, the head of Moody’s Analytics, said, “High-income households are fine, but the bottom third of...

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In a move that’s left self-employed workers scratching their heads, the Spanish tax office, Hacienda, has dropped a bombshell: banks will have to report every single payment made to self-employed clients, even those under the previous €3,000 threshold. The unexpected measure slipped quietly into a royal decree that also tweaks corporate tax rates for multinationals, which means the taxman will have eyes on transactions of any amount, whether through traditional methods or modern mobile systems like the popular Bizum. The €3,000 rule is no more For years, banks only raised the alarm for transactions over €3,000. As José María Peláez,...

One of the most intriguing developments following Donald Trump’s election victory has been the announcement of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The initiative, which hopes to cut up to $2 trillion from the federal budget, has generated notable excitement, momentum, and memes. The world’s richest man and a successful biotech entrepreneur, Ramaswamy, have revitalized what seemed to be a mostly dormant libertarianism, drawing on the inspiration of Milton Friedman and promising to slash the bureaucracy to the bone. But what are its prospects for real-world success? Elon Musk is our era’s most gifted entrepreneur,...

At 17:01 in the video, a historic moment is approaching on this late afternoon Veteran's Day in the world of finance. Bitcoin (BTC) has a sort of trading desk or OVER THE COUNTER desk (OTC) where it bought and sold. There is approximatley 70,000 BTC left on the exchanges. In the next few weeks the SUCKING SOUND YOU'VE BEEN HEARING was not the collective cry of the DNC but rather it is acquisition scramble by the ETFs and Banks. Once the OTC desk BTC is gone these companies will need to find it buy it. They will be scouring the...

Prominent investor Scott Bessent met with Donald Trump on Friday as he and fellow investor John Paulson emerge as leading candidates for the key role of U.S. Treasury Secretary, according to two people close to the president-elect.Bessent and Paulson are among several names that have been reported in the media as potential candidates for the role in recent days. A final decision rests with Trump, and Reuters was unable to learn whether others had been ruled out or were still in contention.

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, there has been an unconstitutional and relentless attack on the Second Amendment rights and privacies of American citizens. In September 2023, gun-grabbing organizations and far Left politicians including New York Attorney General Letitia James cheered on the creation of a new Merchant Category Code (MCC) for firearms retailers within the payment processing system.... The creation of MCCs specifically for firearms retailers is weaponizing the financial system against lawful gun owners by seeking to label and track transactions on firearms and ammunition. To counteract this infringement on our rights, we introduced the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act.......

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—recently gathered for their annual BRICS summit with a significant mission: to reshape the global power structure, which has long been dominated by the United States and its Western allies. This year’s BRICS summit highlighted a growing desire among emerging economies to challenge what they see as an outdated world order, pushing for more multipolarity in global governance. The Rise of BRICS For many years, the world has largely been controlled by Western countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and their allies. These countries are often seen as the leaders in global...