Free Republic

Like Bidenflation? How about hyperinflation?That's what's on tap with Kamala Harris's tax-bigger, spend-bigger agenda, which Axios outlined this morning:Vice President Kamala Harris has used her first days as Democrats' likely nominee for president to make it clear that she'll pursue big — and expensive — parts of Joe Biden's domestic agenda that never made it across the finish line.Why it matters: Harris is signaling that even as Democrats play defense on Biden's mixed economic record, she's eager to go on offense for the next four years.Her plans include pushing for nearly $2 trillion to establish universal pre-K education and improve...

The federal government ran another big deficit in June, as the national debt inches closer to $35 trillion.$35 trillion USD.Trillion with a 'T.' That's an unfathomable number. It's meaningless to most people. We simply can't comprehend a number that big.Let's try to put the $34.9 trillion national debt into perspective.According to the National Debt Clock, every American citizen would have to write a check for $103,565 to pay off the national debt. Of course, a lot of people don't pay taxes. That means the taxpayer burden is much higher. Every U.S. taxpayer would have to write a check for $266,953...

The COVID-19 pandemic erased nearly two decades of life expectancy gains in America. Meanwhile, U.S. health spending per capita is at the highest level in the world.In the graphic below, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu visualizes life expectancy and per capita healthcare costs across several wealthy nations.Figures were compiled by Peterson-KFF, and are as of 2022.America Spends a Lot on Healthcare, For Little GainAs Peterson–KFF bluntly notes, “the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy amongst large, wealthy countries” while their per capita healthcare cost has moved past $12,500 as of 2022In fact the U.S. is an outlier for both healthcare costs...

"Will Debt Sink the American Empire?"So asks the Wall Street Journal, in an uncharacteristically gloomy article for the bull market's paper of record.They kick off with the problem: America is "cruising" into an uncharted sea of federal debt, with a government seemingly incapable of turning it around.In other words, the uniparty has set its course, and there's no cavalry coming.The Runaway Train of DeficitsWe're currently adding a fresh trillion of debt every hundred days, on our way to $35 trillion.Meanwhile, the deficit is about to break $2 trillion – for perspective, all federal revenue under George W Bush averaged around...

Americans across all age groups have dramatically cut back on spending between April and June, a recent study from TransUnion found, as many remain concerned about the higher cost of living despite declining inflation. ... 39 percent of all respondents said they had cut back on discretionary spending in the past three months. ... Among respondents who said they were concerned about inflation, the share went up to 58 percent. Sixty-six percent of respondents said they were concerned about the rising price of gasoline; 40 percent were worried about takeout and meal delivery becoming more expensive; and 84 percent feared...

Every U.S. citizen now owes roughly $100,000 in federal debt. That is the grim news from the most recent study by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). CBO data show that federal debt has been growing at an unsustainable rate for decades and will continue to do so in coming years. At some point, the United States will hit a fiscal cliff, when lack of confidence in the ability of the federal government to repay the debt will result in sharply higher interest rates and default. We are in the final years of our debt crisis. Congress is simply unable to...

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and state legislators struck a deal this weekend to close a $47 billion budget deficit — and agreed to spend $12 million to implement proposals to provide reparations for slavery. The Sacramento Bee reported: The budget agreement California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders announced Saturday sets aside $12 million to help the state implement a series of reparations-related bills lawmakers hope will pass this year.

The Congressional Budget Office reports the 2024 budget deficit will near $2 trillion.. In 2024, the federal budget deficit is estimated to reach nearly $2 trillion, according to new projections released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week. In February, the agency predicted that the deficit would only be $1.58 trillion. However, spending increases have caused the projected deficit to increase by $400 billion, a staggering 27 percent hike. According to the CBO, 80 percent of the spike in the deficit can be blamed on four sources of government spending. The largest source, responsible for $145 billion of the...

You may have heard that the 2017 GOP tax cuts blew a giant hole in the federal budget—or so Democrats tell voters. The Congressional Budget Office’s revised 10-year budget forecast out Tuesday offers a reality check. Spending is the real problem, and it’s getting worse. CBO projects that this year’s budget deficit will clock in at roughly $2 trillion, some $400 billion more than it forecast in February and $300 billion larger than last year’s deficit. This is unprecedented when the economy is growing and defense spending is nearly flat. The deficit this fiscal year will be 7% of GDP,...

NEW YORK (AP) — Consumers barely increased spending in May from April as still high inflation and high interest rates curbed spending. Retail sales rose 0.1% in May, below the pace that economists projected, according to the Commerce Department. And April sales were revised downward — a 0.2% decline, from unchanged. Sales rose 0.6% in March and 0.9% in February. That comes after sales fell 1.1% in January, dragged down in part by inclement weather. Excluding gas prices and auto sales, retail sales rose the same amount. Excluding sales from gasoline, whose prices have been falling, sales were up 0.3%....

Now law is the $750 million in tax increases to fund Illinois’ largest spending plan in state history. But so is a measure increasing the state’s debt by $8 billion while giving schools more taxing authority. Pritzker signed the $53.1 billion budget Wednesday. Friday, he signed the tax measure that includes capping the credit businesses can get for claiming net operating losses and capping the discount retailers get for collecting and remitting sales taxes. Hours later, Pritzker defended another tax increase, the tiered tax on sports betting companies. “In fact, if you look at what we did, really our focus...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) questioned former President Trump's commitment to slashing government spending in a heated exchange with top Trump ally Russell Vought during a recent closed-door meeting, Axios has learned. Why it matters: Paul is among a dwindling number of Republicans who've refused to publicly back the former president as the party's 2024 nominee. And those in Trump's orbit are getting antsy. "There's a growing sentiment in Trumpworld that Rand can't be trusted, and it's a great disappointment," Trump ally and consultant Alex Bruesewitz told Axios. Driving the news: Paul grilled Vought on May 22 over the Trump administration's...

What I like about Biden’s economy … nothing. Most of Biden’s economic growth came from Trump’s spending and Fed monetary policy from the Covid shutdown of 2020. What was until recently a “red-hot” economy, with the US reportedly growing at an annual rate of 4.9% in Q3 and 3.4% in Q4 2024, has suddenly and dramatically downshifted, and according to the latest GDP data released from Biden’s BEA, Q1 GDP was revised downward from 1.6% to just 1.3% (1.250% to be specific), which was the lowest GDP since the mini-recession of Q2 when GDP declined for 2 quarters in a...

Interest payments on the nation’s ballooning debt just eclipsed spending on defense and Medicare, worrying policy experts who have warned this threatens to undermine U.S. economic stability. In the first seven months of fiscal year 2024, which began in October, spending on net interest surged to $514 billion, surpassing spending on both national defense ($498 billion) and Medicare ($465 billion). In fact, interest costs have topped spending on veterans, education and transportation combined. Rising debt will continue to put upward pressure on interest rates," the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a nonpartisan group that advocates for lowering the...

The University of North Carolina’s 16 campuses spend no less than $90 million per year in pay and benefits on no fewer than 686 staffers under the “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) umbrella. On Wednesday, the system’s governing board may end the controversial program that institutionalizes bias and prejudice based on neo-Marxist principles and falsehoods. Our audit team at OpenTheBooks.com reviewed official university payrolls after filing records requests and searched university websites for DEI committees and their membership lists. Here’s how the UNC program breaks down: 288 are employed in DEI-related roles listed on the UNC system’s payroll. Another 398...

By the early 400s, the Roman Empire was coming apart at the seams and in desperate need of strong, competent leadership. In theory, Honorius should have been the right man for the job.Born into the royal household in Constantinople, Honorius had been groomed to rule, practically since birth, by the finest experts in the realm. So even as a young man, Honorius had already accumulated decades of experience.Yet Rome’s foreign adversaries rightfully believed Honorius to be weak, out of touch, divisive, and completely inept.He had entered into bonehead peace treaties that strengthened Rome’s enemies. He paid vast sums of money...

On May 6th, the 2024 Annual Report of the Boards of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund was released. It’s a very long title for a report that simply tells us the financial state of Medicare and project the future financial solvency of the program. One claim of the report is Medicare solvency has been extended 5 more years than the 2023 projection, and won’t go broke until 2036. But as with all things involving the Biden Administration, that isn’t the entire story.The 261-page report should be a purely factual...

A just-released report from Scholaroo indicates that the U.S. national average for credit card debt has escalated to $6,555, with New Jersey residents leading the nation with an average debt of $8,155 per credit card. Scholaroo, a national firm matching college students with potential scholarships, surveyed more than 2,000 people across the United States during the final quarter of 2023.Coming in at a close second is Connecticut, with an average debt of $8,011 per credit card, followed by Maryland, New York, and Alaska—all with average credit card debts of more than $7,600 per card. Rounding out the top 10 states...

Reports confirm Washington has created a vicious cycle for struggling families, not to mention the federal government as a whole.It took a hot second, but even entities on the political left have begun to discover how Washington’s uncontrollable spending has made life worse for American families.In recent weeks, both The New York Times and International Monetary Fund (IMF) — no raging conservatives — have analyzed how persistent budget deficits caused by Washington’s spending have exacerbated inflation woes. The moves suggest a solution underpinned by a return to basic common sense: namely, that if Washington finally gets its own fiscal house...

@RepThomasMassie Side tracked? The spending bill is due September 30, and they’re already talking about more money for Ukraine. Schumer has more on his agenda and Johnson is doing his bidding. If we don’t address this now, there certainly won’t be any desire to address it after Nov elections.