Free Republic

The Biden administration this spring plans to end the national emergency declarations that started with the COVID-19 pandemic, but agency watchdogs are still uncovering the full scope of fraud that stems from $5 trillion in pandemic spending. Agency inspectors general have already flagged tens of billions of dollars in suspected fraud, and efforts are underway to recover some improper payments. But watchdogs on the front lines of these investigations say it will take a while before they understand the full extent of pandemic spending fraud. Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Chairman Michael Horowitz, who is also the Justice Department inspector general,...

After the Internal Revenue Service issued several releases warning about potentially lower tax refunds this filing season, some analysts say that it could put strain on some families who may have anticipated an expanded child tax credit. Analysts Sound Off.. Financial expert Lynnette Khalfani-Cox told NPR on Jan. 22 that there are “four main reasons” that cause will cause 2022’s returns to be smaller. “The first is: no more stimulus checks. The second is that what was called the enhanced child credit—that’s gone,” she noted. A third reason is that a pandemic-era tax break for charitable deductions was killed for...

Devil’s Tower? ISM New Orders Slump To 45.2 In December As ISM Prices Paid Slumps To 39.4 (Stimulus Is Already Gone, Recession In Sight) confoundedinterest17 #bubble, #inflation, #wine, @MetreSteven @JeffSnider_AIP @DiMartinoBooth @bondstrategist @RaoulGMI @LukeGromen @dlacalle_IA @EconguyRosie @profplum99 @SantiagoAuFund @biancoresearch @pboockvar @SriKGlobal, Banking, CMBS, CRE, ECB, Economy, Fed, GDP, Gold, Housing, Inflation, Jobs, Mortgage, Natural Gas, Oil, Powell, Silver, Treasuries, Treasury, Uncategorized, Wages, Yellen, Yield Curve January 4, 2023 1 Minute To paraphrase The Eagles, US monetary stimulus is already gone. And with it, ISM Manufacturing Report for December is showing weakness. New orders (orange line) is down to 45.2 (below...

One of the big problems with Federal goverment and Federal Reserve monetary stimulus is … it wears out. Just look at M2 Money growth. US existing homes sales fell -7.70% in November to 4.09 million units SAAR. And since the same month last year, existing home sales are down -35.4% YoY. The good news? The median price of existing homes fell to 3.21% YoY. The bad news? The ark is really bad pointing to a bad December. Inventory for sale (orange line) remains below pre-Covid shutdown levels. Of course, will the Federal government and Federal Reserve come riding to the...

A majority of Americans support the idea of new stimulus checks to combat inflation, according to a poll conducted exclusively for Newsweek. The survey found 63 percent of respondents said they agree—with 42 percent saying they "strongly agree"—when asked if the federal government should issue new stimulus checks to tackle inflation.

A recent poll found that almost two-thirds of Americans are proponents of the federal government sending out inflation stimulus payments. About 63% of eligible U.S. voters expressed some degree of support for federal inflation relief checks being distributed, the Newsweek poll conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies showed. Of those who agreed the federal government should do so, 42% indicated they "strongly agree" while 21% said "agree," according to the poll.

On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN Tonight,” U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) responded to House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn’s (D-SC) statement that “all of us knew” the American Rescue Plan would increase prices by stating that he didn’t vote for the bill knowing it would cause inflation but refused to directly say Clyburn’s assertion that Democrats knew the bill would cause inflation is wrong and stated that there weren’t a lot of good options, and “we had to get that done. I don’t regret doing it.” After playing a clip of Clyburn saying that, “all of us are...

For months, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has been saying that $5.6 billion in additional federal funds through the Biden administration’s stimulus program won’t come close to addressing all of the state’s road and bridge needs. Now, a national online research organization agrees, at least on money for needed bridge work. InMyArea Research released a report last week that claims the $26.2 billion in stimulus funds for bridges nationwide over the next five years falls an estimated $7.3 billion short of the amount needed just to upgrade bridges rated in poor condition. Pennsylvania’s allocation of $1.63 billion for bridges is...

More Stimulus Checks? We Asked a Former IMF Offical If This Was a Good Idea or Not: This week, Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Wolf and state legislators from his party reaffirmed their commitment to providing direct stimulus payments to residents across the state to cope with the rising cost of gas, food, and consumer products. In February, Governor Wolf announced the PA Opportunity Program, a scheme worth $500 million that would send $2,000 checks to all residents who earn less than $80,000. The scheme hasn’t won support from Republicans, but Wolf and his Democratic colleagues refuse to back down.

The Federal Reserve’s policies remind me of the Cabaret tune “Money.” There is still almost $9 trillion in monetary stimulus outstanding. For all the economic cheerleaders out there like CNBC about the June job report, they generally ignore what is driving the jobs report: The Federal Reserve! Take the US U-3 unemployment rate. The Biden Administration is proud of the unemployment rate of 3.6%. But if you look at the chart of unemployment relative to The Fed’s balance sheet expansion due to Covid lockdowns, there is still almost $9 trillion of Fed stimulus outstanding. Of course, the lockdowns were pure...

This State Lost HALF Its Pandemic ‘Stimulus’ Benefits to Fraud and Scammers The level of fraud the state experienced was 'unprecedented' and amounted to more than $1.8 billion lost. The federal government’s multi-trillion-dollar “stimulus” efforts during the pandemic may go down as the biggest legislative failure in modern American history. Congress spent an astounding $42,000 per federal taxpayer (do you know anyone who received anywhere near that much in benefits?) and only successfully “stimulated” inflation. What’s more, evidence continues to mount that the biggest beneficiaries of this binge were criminals and fraudsters. A new analysis from the American Enterprise Institute’s...

Clinton stooge Robert Reich has just as much of a sordid record in his coverage on the inflation crisis as leftist economist Paul Krugman. The former Secretary of Labor tried to swat down any concerns that President Joe Biden’s gargantuan $1.9 trillion stimulus was rife with inflationary pressures that could send the economy off the rails. “Larry Summers is dead wrong that Biden's plan would be inflationary. The economy has huge unused capacity,” Reich squealed against former President Barack Obama’s former National Economic Council director in a Feb. 5, 2021 tweet. Summers sounded the alarm bells about a potential inflation...

Pennsylvania Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf is pushing state legislators to pass a bill that would send checks up to $2,000 to households with income under $80,000.

The leftist government of New Zealand will begin handing out millions of checks in an attempt to fight inflation, despite government spending typically being a key contributor to inflation. In order to supposedly combat inflation, which has risen to a 30-year-high in New Zealand, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced on Thursday that the Labour Party-controlled government would be issuing 350NZD ($225/£180) in checks to some 2.1 million Kiwis in weekly payments over the next three months.

When I filed my taxes (TurboTax), there was a page which - as with last year - asked a question as to whether I got my 'stimulus' check. I do not recall that there was any other option (yes or no). I did not get a stimulus during the virus. Last year it automatically credited my taxes. No notice from IRS. This year it did the same (automatically credited my taxes on my answer to the question). Recently I got a notice of tax due, reversing the credit. Now I owe >$1400.00, plus interest & penalties.

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN International’s “Quest Means Business,” Jason Furman, who served as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama and on the Council of Economic Advisers and the National Economic Council under President Bill Clinton and is currently a Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at Harvard University and the Harvard Kennedy School, stated that while some action was needed, President Joe Biden’s economic stimulus plan was too big, badly designed, ultimately “brought us a lot more inflation than it did in terms of economic growth.” And “got the balance wrong.”

On Tuesday’s “CNN Tonight,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg responded to a question on whether the spending in the American Rescue Plan is partially to blame for inflation by stating that “we have a lot of the issues that are associated with those very low unemployment rates” as a result of the American Rescue Plan. Host Don Lemon asked, “President Biden is blaming the pandemic and Putin’s war for inflation. But what about that $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan? The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank concluded last year, Secretary, that the stimulus contributed to inflation. Shouldn’t at least part of the...

Now that Emmanuel Macron has been ensconced in the Elysees Palace for another five years, Europe is moving to ‘punish’ Moscow (and its own people) by trying to wean the Continent off of Russian natural gas and oil (something that’s easier said than done). But in defiance of the threatened cash crunch, the Russian government is taking some cues from West: to wit, the Kremlin has assembled an economic relief package worth tens of billions of dollars to help shield the country’s people, and its businesses, from the impact of sanctions. According to WSJ, since the start of the invasion,...

What happens when the massive Fed stimulus is gone? Its Already Gone … or going. A measure of U.S. manufacturing activity unexpectedly dropped in April to the lowest level since 2020 as growth in orders, production and employment softened. The Institute for Supply Management’s gauge of factory activity fell to 55.4 last month from 57.1, according to data released Monday. The Manufacturing Prices index remained elevated. As the 10-year Treasury yield tries to breech the 3% barrier.

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah tore into President Joe Biden's management of inflation on Wednesday, torching the administration's handling of the economy and inflation as Americans grapple with the worst price hikes in decades. "President Biden needs to ditch his woke advisers and surround himself with people who want to get the economy working again," Romney wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. He blamed the Biden administration for stoking inflation with a stimulus law that issued "stay-at-home" checks for Americans, and citing moves like oil and gas production limits and a pro-union stance. The White House declined to...