Free Republic

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) repudiated the state's debt and vowed "not to pay a single cent of it. Every prior president and congress has recognized that New York is America's 'trophy wife' and covered the losses incurred in running this country's greatest state. It is only Trump and the Republicans in congress who are now balking at bearing a burden gladly accepted by both Parties prior to now." The City of New York has a current $9 billion shortfall. The State of New York has a $30 billion shortfall. These gaps were created by the combined profligacy of...

Citing the $15 billion that Broadway show businesses contribute to the New York economy each year, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) wants the federal government to dip into the pockets of taxpayers "to make up for the losses that ensued after we ordered these businesses shut down due to the COVID menace." The Senator maintains that "now is no time to argue over whether the shutdowns were necessary. What's already been done cannot be undone. Neither is simply allowing these businesses to decide whether it is safe enough for them to reopen their doors. The idea that a largely...

Farm subsidies are perhaps the ultimate, but secret, third rail of American politics. While entitlements are discussed out in the open, farm subsidies are rarely talked about – even though they are the most expensive subsidy Washington doles out. All told, the U.S. government spends $20 billion annually on farm subsidies, with approximately 39 percent of all farms receiving some sort of subsidy. For comparison, the oil industry gets about $4.6 billion annually and annual housing subsidies total another $15 billion. A significant portion of this $20 billion goes not to your local family farm, but to Big Aggie.

Europe’s Airbus said on Friday it would increase loan repayments to France and Spain in a “final” bid to reverse U.S. tariffs and jog the United States into settling a 16-year-old dispute over billions of dollars of aircraft subsidies. The European Union, France and Spain said the move to raise interest rates paid by Airbus on A350 aircraft development loans should settle the row at the World Trade Organization and urged Washington to withdraw tariffs on EU goods. “In the absence of a settlement, the EU will be ready to fully avail itself of its own sanction rights,” EU Trade...

The $350 billion coronavirus aid package proposed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) explicitly excludes whites from participating. The bill would fund child care programs, assistance for small businesses, tax credits for renters and Medicaid expansion for minorities. Schumer acknowledged that many small businesses owned by whites "are likely to go into bankruptcy due to the shutdown of nonessential activities by governors across the nation," but characterized this as "a beneficial side effect. There simply isn't enough demand to sustain all of the small businesses that existed prior to the shutdowns. It may be years, if ever, before the...

Germany’s top industry body on Sunday called for sales subsidies on electric cars to be extended to fossil-fuel-powered vehicles. Dieter Kempf, president of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), made the demand in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. Germany’s powerful-but-struggling carmakers have been calling for the expansion of the subsidies on electric cars, in a bid to shore up their positions during the coronavirus-induced economic crisis. “In view of the crisis, it makes sense to introduce a further purchase bonus for at least 12 months in addition to the environmental premium, provided that this premium is part of a cross-sectoral...

Rep. Dan “McCain 2.0” Crenshaw (R-TX) came out with an op/ed this week in National Review arguing that conservatives need to embrace the reality of climate change and propose a government solution to the supposed problem. “With ever-more-extreme “solutions” such as the Green New Deal being proposed, conservatives have quickly taken the bait, falling into the tired political trap set by leftists. But I believe we no longer have to do this. We can fight back against the alarmism with tangible solutions based on reason, science, and the free market,” he wrote. Crenshaw bragged in the op/ed that he is...

One of Donald Trump's more memorable promises on the campaign trail was to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Polls show this issue remains popular with Americans, especially lower-income families, who are worried about high drug prices. Of course, the entire concept of drug prices' being "too high" is subjective. Drugs are too expensive ... compared with what? Certainly not compared with not having the drugs available at all. If you suffer from the intense pain of migraine headaches or have been diagnosed with lung cancer, how much would you pay for a drug to help you? I have friends...

French winemakers hit by US tariffs imposed in a transatlantic trade war over airplane subsidies on Tuesday demanded help from their government and European planemaker Airbus. French wine exports to the US have plunged since President Donald Trump in October imposed 25 percent tariffs on a range of European delicacies in retaliation for EU subsidies of Airbus, arch-rival of America’s Boeing. The French finance ministry last week announced that wine exports to the US — the second-biggest export market for French wines after Germany — had fallen by 44 percent in value from October to November. On Tuesday, the vice-president...

Clean energy producers voiced dismay on Tuesday at a U.S. spending bill, saying it fell far short of what wind companies and solar developers had hoped for. Under the bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, wind companies will get just one more year to land a big subsidy, while solar developers lost out in their bid to extend another key tax credit. “This package falls way short of what we were hoping to achieve,” Greg Wetstone, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy said. Under the bill, wind energy projects would be able to keep...

It’s that time of year again when Congress, feeling the pressure of budget negotiations and the year’s end, provokes the issue of expired or soon-to-expire energy tax credits. Congress has on the table roughly a dozen renewable energy tax subsidies covering wind, solar, electric vehicles, biofuels, and others. There’s a host of reasons why these energy subsidies should end, not least of which being Congress’ 2015 promise to phase out two “temporary” credits that have been around for decades—wind and solar. These two alone divert $23 billion and $12.5 billion, respectively, between 2018 and 2022, and will continue to burden...

Electric vehicles stand at the center of every “green energy” initiative. Multiple jurisdictions mandate and subsidize the inevitable transition to “clean” transportation. Some policymakers have gone further, setting deadlines for outright bans on the internal-combustion engine (ICE), and Green pundits regularly issue forecasts promising the imminent dominance of electric vehicles (EVs). The EV is central to the notion that we’re on the cusp of a grand shift to a “new-energy economy.” In addition to its putative environmental benefits, the EV, we’re told, is a better machine than an ICE. It’s easier to manufacture, uses less labor, and will—eventually—cost less. Since...

Three decades, massive subsidies and yet intermittent wind power’s contribution to world energy needs remains little more than a rounding error. Electricity that can’t be delivered as and when it’s needed has no commercial value; massive subsidies are the only ‘value’ that attracts investors to wind and solar. Cut the subsidies and wind and solar investment would evaporate, overnight. As Gail Tverberg explains below, chaotically delivered wind and solar have never worked in the past. So, there’s no reason to expect that they’ll ever work in future. In a sane and rational world, we’d call it a ‘failed experiment’, clean...

The Export-Import Bank – the poster child for corporate welfare – was due to expire at the end of September. But it has been given a temporary reprieve while congressional leaders plot to renew it on the sly by attaching it to a must-pass spending bill, meaning the bank will never get the scrutiny taxpayers deserve. Ex-Im subsidizes export transactions using sweetheart terms – including below-market-rate loans – that are backed by the American taxpayer. According to the bank’s website, the agency provides financing when “private sector lenders are unable or unwilling to” and “assumes credit and country risks that...

The Tesla chief executive, Elon Musk, has said Brexit uncertainty played a role in the firm’s decision to build its first European factory in Germany rather than the UK. The billionaire entrepreneur revealed that the firm’s European battery plant would be built on the outskirts of Berlin. Speaking to Auto Express after making the announcement, Musk said: “Brexit [uncertainty] made it too risky to put a Gigafactory in the UK.” The US electric carmaker also plans to locate a research and development base in the German capital.

A European agency hit back on Monday against claims that money meant for farming was used to prop up “oligarchs and political patrons” in central and eastern Europe. The European commission has “zero tolerance to fraud” and “very clear rules for how funds should be managed” insisted spokesman Daniel Rosario against allegations published in the New York Times. Mina Andreeva, spokeswoman for OLAF — the EU anti-fraud office also denied that it was the EU’s job to ensure farming subsidies were spent correctly. ”We are not here to replace national governments,” she said. “We cannot and will not do the...

There's an interesting headline out there today, which can serve as a good educational moment. Due to the ravages of the fires out in California, the White House is threatening to cut off federal funding. Now first off, The notion of this phrase "federal funding" (the article also uses the phrase "state funding") is offensive because it's dishonest. It's welfare, that's what it is. I'm not interested in P.C. comfort terms. As I wrote in May of 2017, when the progressives were starting off building their nanny-state empire, they had a very specific list of welfare queens - 48 of...

Last week, the lobbying arm of the wind energy industry made an unsurprising, though somewhat embarrassing, announcement. It wants a longer lifeline with federal subsidies. So much for wind being the low-cost energy source of the future. Less than a year ago, the American Wind Energy Association with great fanfare issued a press statement that, as Bloomberg reported: "America's wind farms are ready to go it alone." Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a Republican who has strongly supported the wind industry since the days of federal support began in 1992, boasted that the wind industry had finally "matured" and wind...

The United States will impose tariffs on $7.5 billion (€6.8 billion) worth of European imports in retaliation for illegal EU subsidies to airplane maker Airbus. The announcement came hours after the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Wednesday ruled on a 15-year-old case that the US could impose $7.5 billion in retaliatory tariffs in response to illegal EU subsidies to Airbus that hurt its American rival Boeing. Washington plans to impose a 10% tariff on aircraft imported from Europe and apply a 25% import tax on other agricultural and industrial items on October 18, the Office of the US Trade Representative...

I’ve looked and could find no information on which US steel manufacturers are providing the steel for the wall. Does anyone know?