Free Republic

President Biden loves to demonize his opponents like Republicans over spending and the Federal budget. Biden argued that his budget won’t increase taxes on Americans making less than $400,000 a year and will ultimately cut the deficit by $2 trillion over the next decade. The president has yet to release his budget plan but has promised to do so by March 9. Of course, Biden ignores “the inflation tax” which is crippling American households (negative REAL hourly earnings growth for 22 straight months). And while he won’t raise taxes on Americans making less than $400,000 (he doesn’t have the authority),...

Donald Trump charged the Secret Service as much as five times the typical government rate to stay at his properties, records obtained by the House Oversight Committee reveal. The development is only the latest example of the former president using the office to enrich himself. “The exorbitant rates charged to the Secret Service and agents’ frequent stays at Trump-owned properties raise significant concerns about the former President’s self-dealing and may have resulted in a taxpayer-funded windfall for former President Trump’s struggling businesses,” Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) wrote to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, The Washington Post reported on Monday....

Officials said the move will give schools more access to devices and replace damaged laptops as a spike in cases — and a subsequent move to online classes for some classrooms — is anticipated in the new year. Through this past July, CPS bought 100,110 laptops and tablets for a combined $31,846,853 to add to the district’s existing supply and help bridge that gap, according to district records. ... Lost or unreturned devices have also contributed to the need for more laptops, though officials didn’t say how many fell in that category.

A pair of proposals would invest in infrastructure, education, work force development and fighting climate change, with the aim of making the economy more productive. President Biden’s economic advisers are preparing to recommend spending as much as $3 trillion on a sweeping set of efforts aimed at boosting the economy, reducing carbon emissions and narrowing economic inequality, beginning with a giant infrastructure plan that may be financed in part through tax increases on corporations and the rich. After months of internal debate, Mr. Biden’s advisers are expected to present a proposal to the president this week that recommends carving his...

The final tally for the budget deficit in fiscal 2020 came to $3.13 trillion, more than triple last year’s shortfall of $984 billion and double the previous record of $1.4 trillion in 2009...Receipts for the year came to $3.42 trillion against outlays of $6.55 trillion, the biggest of which came during June when the government spent $1.1 trillion...

The Congressional Budget Office says the deficit will hit $3.3 trillion this year. The national debt will exceed the size of America's gross domestic product for the first time since the end of World War II.When the federal government's fiscal year ends on the last day of September, America's national debt will nearly match the size of the nation's economy for the first time since the end of World War II, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The national debt will equal 98 percent of America's gross domestic product, a rough measurement of the size of the...

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday the Trump administration is prepared to back additional stimulus money to blunt the economic pain of the coronavirus pandemic if necessary. "If we need to put more money out to support American business and American workers, the president is absolutely prepared to do that," Mnuchin told FOX Business' Maria Bartiromo on Monday.

Old enough to drive a car? Then you would be old enough to receive $2,000 a month under a plan introduced this week by two Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives. Under the Emergency Money for the People Act, US citizens who are 16 or older — and make less than $130,000 a year — would receive cash payments from the federal government for at least six months and until unemployment falls to pre-pandemic levels. The bill was introduced Tuesday by Rep. Tim Ryan, a former presidential candidate associated with the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, and Rep....

It makes sense that the federal government is stepping in to provide financial relief to the millions of citizens facing economic ruin due to the coronavirus crisis and subsequent government restrictions on activity. But what’s unconscionable is the fact that, thanks to the way Congress spent the last decade ignoring any sense of fiscal responsibility, coronavirus relief must come at the cost of further indebting future generations and dimming the outlook of our financial future. It’s not the $2 trillion price tag on the coronavirus relief bill, passed Wednesday evening by the Senate, that does this in and of itself....

According to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), checks would be cut April 6. Key provisions via Bloomberg: Big Businesses: About $500 billion can be used to back loans and assistance to companies, including $50 billion for loans to U.S. airlines, as well as state and local governments. Small Businesses: More than $350 billion to aid small businesses, including $10 billion in SBA grants of up to $10,000 for small business costs, and $17 billion for SBA to cover six months of payments for businesses with current SBA loans. Hospitals: A $150 billion boost for hospitals and other health-care providers...

As members of Congress debate the terms of the trillion-dollar-plus coronavirus relief package for businesses and individuals, they would do well to remember our recent history. Most people in professional Washington hate the populist era we are going through. The populist period exists because Americans already feel like their elected officials are more responsive to large corporate interests than to the individuals who elected them. This played out big-time after the Wall Street bailouts fueled the tea party on the right and Occupy Wall Street on the left. People on the left and right agree that some government assistance...

McConnell indicated job status would not be a factor, and that the money would go to unemployed workers and those recently laid off; those still working; and retirees, even if they're already receiving Social Security checks. While officials have indicated the ultra-rich would not be eligible, McConnell said Thursday the checks would still go to everybody "from the middle class on down. Period." How the middle class is defined can be a contentious subject when stimulus checks are on the line. One source told Fox Business Network that the amount would start to reduce for those making $75,000 and above...