Free Republic

by Jeff ChildersFailed assassin Ryan Routh was in federal court yesterday, in a hearing quite logically called the “first appearance.” Fox covered the story under the headline, “Trump assassination attempt suspect laughs, smiles during first court appearance in Florida.” Routh was apparently cracking jokes with his public defender, which sounds annoying but could just be his way of managing anxiety. Details were sparsely provided, but this most interesting paragraph leaped out: Right away, we see some problems. For Portlanders, Routh claimed an annual income of $36,000 — far below the poverty level. Which means there is a lot of mysterious...

The Illinois State Comptroller has cut fund payments to a small town after the town's embattled mayor refused to hand over finance reports. Susana Mendoza said that she would be immediately suspending 'offset' fund payments to Dolton after the village failed to hand over financial reports. The money is on pace to total $135,000, according to The Chicago Tribune, and is she threatening to fine them a total of $78,600 if they don't hand over the reports. Mayor Tiffany Henyard has been clinging onto power despite criticism over her management of Dolton and her alleged lavish spending. Mendoza said that...

Before Cazenovia College in Upstate New York closed in May 2023 because of decreasing enrollment and financial problems, students were given a list of comparable schools in the same region with similar tuition fees, major courses of study, financial aid availability, and athletic programs.The administration building at Cazenovia College has remained vacant since the four-year school in Upstate New York closed in May 2023. A portion of the campus has since been leased to the New York State Police, which operate a training academy there. (Aaron Gifford / The Epoch Times)One of the schools on that list, Wells College, shut...

Student debt in the U.S. has ballooned to over $1.7 trillion, burdening millions of Americans with financial stress. Rising tuition costs and stagnating wages are considered to be the major drivers of this issue.To gain insight into how this is affecting students, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu visualized the results of WalletHub’s Student Money Survey.This survey was conducted in 2024 with a nationally representative sample of 210 students. Results were normalized by gender and income.Data and Key FindingsStudent wealth surveys can provide unique insights into the financial preparedness of younger Americans.Starting with post-grad fears, it appears that the majority of students...

We've seen this happen at other major papers. Earlier this year the LA Times had layoffs that impacted about 20 percent of the staff. The union held a walkout over the cuts which accomplished absolutely nothing. Basically they were demanding that the billionaire owner keep writing checks of up to a million dollars per month to keep the paper afloat despite there being no sign that it was ever going to make a profit at that staffing level. It was like watching spoiled adult children demand that mom and dad keep paying their rent.Things are looking at least as bad...

"Spaving" – spending more to save – is an old "trap" with a new name hitting grocery stores, retailers and even online gambling. Though there are times "spaving" is worthwhile, one personal finance expert outlined how consumers can avoid becoming the "victim" of the marketing ploy. "The whole concept of ‘spaving’ is to get consumers to buy more," Kuderna Financial Team founder and "What Should I Do with My Money?" author Bryan Kuderna told Fox News Digital. "You see different examples like that all throughout the economy. And where it hurts the consumer is if it encourages them to essentially...

Two things keep the IRS out of most people's hair: the annual gift tax exclusion and the lifetime exclusion. Nerdy takeaways: * A gift tax is a tax owed on the transfer of money or property to another person while receiving nothing or less than full value in return. * The gift giver is the one who generally pays the tax, not the receiver. * If you give more than the annual gift tax limit, you may have to file a gift tax return, but this does not necessarily mean that you'll owe taxes on the gift. * The 2024...

Federal investigators are examining financial transactions made by President Joe Biden's brother Jim Biden as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, according to a new report. Federal investigators in South Florida and Justice Department officials investigating Medicare fraud in Pennsylvania recently probed transactions linked to Jim Biden, according to a Politico report published Tuesday, citing three sources familiar with the ongoing investigations. The investigations involve Americore, a hospital chain that paid Jim Biden to help obtain foreign investments for the troubled company before it collapsed. A lawsuit filed in 2022 alleges that Jim Biden received improper payments from investors of...

Judge Arthur Engoron has issued an order that will allow former President Trump’s finances and assets to be monitored for three years. In other words, Trump’s estate will be babysat by Barbara Jones, a retired federal judge. The judge will also have full authority over giving suggestions for court-ordered changes in how the Trump Organization operates. The order comes after Trump is facing a $464 million judgment paid in his New York civil fraud case despite his appeal still pending. On Thursday, the judge ruled that the court must monitor and notify the watchdog about any efforts Trump makes to...

A finance expert is sounding the alarm over America’s growing debt, predicting the $34 trillion burden could trigger a meltdown as early as next year if more isn’t done to curb spending. According to Joao Gomes, a senior vice dean for research and academic initiatives at Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, the United States’ growing debt could upset global financial markets in 2025 should the next president announce a raft of expensive policies following an election win in 2024. “The lack of concern by the media and politicians about the U.S. Federal Debt is shocking,” he said...

A new Florida law that requires small-town officials to disclose their financial information has sparked a wave of resignations from small-town governments. The new law is called Form 6, and it's the top issue for many small-town governments across the state. St. Pete Beach was one of the latest cities to see a mass resignation when four out of the five city council members decided to quit their jobs this week instead of complying with the new disclosure rules. According to St. Pete Beach Vice Mayor Mark Grill, the resignations shouldn't come as a surprise to state officials. Grill said...

The last few years have been a whirlwind for Americans’ finances, with inflation, fluctuating unemployment, public health crises and natural disasters making it hard for people across the country to pay their bills. Ultimately, many people have ended up in financial distress, which WalletHub defines as having a credit account that is in forbearance or has its payments deferred, meaning the account holder is temporarily allowed to not make payments due to financial difficulty. In order to shed light on the financial troubles experienced by people across the U.S., and to show where those difficulties are most pronounced, WalletHub compared...

A political committee that helped expand the Democratic majority on the Illinois Supreme Court and was backed by Illinois Senate President Don Harmon emptied its bank account just weeks after being notified it faced one of the largest state election fines ever for failing to timely disclose millions of dollars it spent until after last November’s election. On Tuesday, the State Board of Elections issued a final order assessing $99,500 in fines against the All for Justice political action committee. The action followed a Tribune story earlier this year detailing the PAC’s reporting deficiencies as it spent more than $7.3...

On Monday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” White House National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard reacted to negative poll numbers on the economy by stating that “the economy is performing exceptionally well” but “people have been through a very challenging few years between the pandemic, and then the oil price spikes associated with Russia’s war. It’s going to take a while for them to feel really confident,” and most people “feel like their personal finances are better now than they were before.” Co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin said, “Speak to this, though, because I think there [are] a lot of folks...

During an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reacted to negative sentiment on the direction of the American economy by stating that people “have been through a lot with the pandemic and the lockdown for almost two years, then a period of high inflation” and there are structural issues that have existed for a while, but people “do seem to feel good about their own personal finances.” Yellen said, “I think Americans have been through a lot with the pandemic and the lockdown for almost two years, then a period of high inflation. And, as you say,...

September 20, 2023 Washington, D.C. – Today, the House Financial Services Committee considered Majority Whip Emmer’s (MN-06) CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act. The bill was passed out of the Committee and reported favorably to the House floor during the markup session, an important step toward passing this legislation through Congress. Transcript of Remarks: Thank you, Chairman McHenry. I’m extremely proud to have this legislation, that frankly, I have been working on for three years at least, the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, included in your markup today. It’s the first anti-central bank digital currency legislative effort introduced in the United States and...

I’ve spent two decades consulting extensively for consumer packaged goods companies. Early in my career I gathered some data for a client on cooking. This research found that consumers fell into one of three groups: (1) people who love to cook, and cook often, (2) people who hate to cook, and avoid that activity by heating up convenience food or outsourcing their meals (by ordering out or dining in restaurants), and, finally, (3) people who like to cook sometimes, and do a mix of cooking and outsourcing, depending on the situation. At the time, the sizes of the three respective...

The Connecticut Centinal has viewed internal text messages (on PV devices/servers) between former Project Veritas (PV) head James O'Keefe and board members at PV. What emerges is an image of O'Keefe constantly traveling and fundraising, while at the same time relaying the stress he is under to deliver large donations to the board. [embedded texts] In the fall of 2022, O'Keefe begins to complain of firm management stamping large checks with his signature (illegally according to O'Keefe) and lack of cash flow analysis on a timely basis. [embedded texts] On February 21, 2023 declared on social media he had been...

A political committee, funded in part by Senate President Don Harmon’s campaign that helped expand the Democratic majority on the Illinois Supreme Court, failed to file timely campaign reports as required by state law and didn’t disclose the bulk of its $7.3 million in spending until after the election. The committee — All for Justice — spent heavily on television ads in support of winning Democratic Justices Elizabeth Rochford and Mary Kay O’Brien. The commercials painted Republican opponents as virulent anti-abortion candidates, politically potent attacks given the U.S. Supreme Court decision that sent the issue of abortion rights to the...

Audits of 12 school districts has state Auditor General Timothy DeFoor believing school boards are playing a “shell game” with taxpayer funds by moving money into reserve accounts to allow them to make a case for raising property tax rates. State laws limit how much school districts can raise property taxes and sets limits on those increases but allows for exceptions to be granted in one of two ways: ask voters’ permission through a referendum or ask the state Department of Education for a referendum exception. “These 12 districts collectively raised taxes 37 times during the four years we reviewed...