Free Republic

@RandPaul Now that Republican Budget resolutions are moving forward, we should look closely. The Senate calls for $900 billion less in on-budget spending and $325 billion more in new spending? Sounds like less spending . . . but is it? To offset the new spending and meet a goal of reduced spending, $900 billion in spending must be cut in the remaining 6 months of fiscal 2025 to meet the budget targets. Yet no one and, I mean NO one, believes the necessary cuts will actually occur this year. (We are told to hold our applause until next year, the...

US corporate bankruptcies hit their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis - as Americans tighten their belts. Companies have also incresingly been grappling with high rising debts - driven by high interest rates that caused borrowing costs to spike. In 2024, 686 companies filed for bankruptcy, up 8 percent from 2023 - and almost more than 2021 and 2022 combined. It also marks the most filings since 2010, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. In addition last year, more companies tried to avoid bankruptcy through out-of-court actions, with these efforts outnumbering actual bankruptcies two to one, according...

At the top of a nearly hour-long briefing in the Roosevelt Room, Biden pledged to send “every resource we can find” to support local officials, praising the firefighters and other first responders as “heroes.” He announced that the federal government would cover the full cost of recovery efforts, which includes things such as debris removal and temporary shelters, for the first 180 days. “I told the governor and local officials: spare no expense to do what they need to do and contain these fires in their communities that have really been devastated," Biden said. "And we're doing literally everything we...

In 2023, the federal government spent $658 billion on net interest costs on the national debt. That total, which grew by 38 percent from $476 billion in 2022, was the largest amount ever spent on interest in the budget and totaled 2.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Interest costs are on track to become the largest category of spending in the federal budget... In the late 1970s, the increasing national debt and higher interest rates led to a boost in interest costs, which reached a historic high of 3.2 percent of GDP in 1991 (looking at interest costs as...

Far-left Democratic Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has overseen $356 million of taxpayers’ hard-earned money being spent on migrants. The total amounts to $7,900 per foreign national in the Mile High City. The sum was revealed by the Common Sense Institute (CSI), a non-partisan research organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the U.S. economy, Fox News reports. The group says it used city data to arrive at the sum which equates to eight percent of the city’s 2025 budget of $4.4 billion. The figures combine the Colorado city’s budget as well as regional education and healthcare organizations.

This is too true to be funny . The next time you hear a politician use the Word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money . A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, But one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases. A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959. B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive . C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age. D. A billion days ago no-one walked...

The European Union pushed forward on Tuesday with a major clean tech industrial plan which not only should keep the continent in the vanguard of plotting a greener future but also guarantee its economic survival as it faces challenges from China and the United States. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the outlines for her “Green Deal Industrial Plan” that will make it much easier to push through subsidies for green industries and pool EU-wide projects that are boosted with major funding as the EU pursues the goal of being climate neutral by 2050. “We know that we...

A new year dawns bright, with the US hurtling over the fiscal cliff. The lame duck Congress voted for a pork‐​packed $1.7 trillion budget bill. As the saying goes, it’s only money! At a time of enormous domestic need, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell pushed an extra $45 billion for Ukraine, declaring that Washington’s “number one priority” was supporting that nation. Kentuckians might wonder if their Senator had moved to Odesa, Kharkiv, or Lviv over the holidays. Alas, this appropriation was small change compared to the overall “defense” (in fact, mostly for offensive operations) budget. Congress hiked military outlays to...

In the teeth of the Depression, Treasury secretary Andrew Mellon famously told President Herbert Hoover to “liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate farmers, liquidate real estate”—in other words, to resist bailing out any industry through state intervention. This was a tough sell even in those days, and of course Hoover succumbed to politics and took the opposite approach, greatly and needlessly damaging the US economy for decades to come.Less often quoted are Mellon’s follow-up words to Hoover: Liquidation would “purge the rottenness out of the system,” so “people will work harder” and “live a more moral life.”Mellon, having lived most of...

BIDEN: "The reason why gas prices are up, is because of Russia—Russia, Russia, Russia. The reason why the food crisis exists, is because of Russia, Russia..." pic.twitter.com/8F0y0rKbPn— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 30, 2022

Republican Sen. Rob Portman on Monday called on President Barack Obama to rescind government pay raises—including his own—saying they are out of line at a time the country is struggling to get its debt under control. … Under the executive order issued on Thursday, most members of Congress would receive a $900 annual raise, pushing their salary to $174,900. House Speaker John Boehner and the leaders of each party in each house would gain $1,100 a year. Vice President, Biden would get the biggest bump, with an increase of more than $6,000 to $231,900. …

The biggest fashion spenders in America aren't New Yorkers, Los Angelinos or even Chicagoans. They're Washington, DC locals. A new list by Bundle.com focuses on different spending habits across the U.S. - and has thrown some less than predictable cities into the fashion spotlight. Focusing on average monthly spend on clothes, shoes and other wear, the figures show that DC - not normally associated with fashion - is packed with shopaholics who spend, on average, a massive $263 each month on clothes and shoes. Serious spending: As much as NYC is viewed as a shoppers' city, it is Washington DC...

The Republican myth about "spending control" and "limited government" was exposed yet again today, this time by John Stossel. It made the Top Ten as a myth (or lie). A fair and straight reporter like John Stossel (who receives many kind words from Free Republic members) exposed this unfortunate truth that many still will refuse to acknowledge, no matter how many times members right here have stated the same thing as Stossel did tonight. I hope this report emabarasses the hell out of the GOP leadership -- but it will not. I don't believe the GOP will ever claim to...