Free Republic

Politicians, economic “experts” and the talking heads in mainstream media will never tell you that monetary policy is the most important issue facing the United States. Whether you realize it or not, monetary policy has a direct and significant impact on all our lives. When the US abandoned the gold standard in the early 1970’s, it steered our economy toward a cliff that we are closer than ever to driving over. Once the gold standard ended, the Nixon administration went to Saudi Arabia to strike up a deal that would give immense power to the US’s rent-seeking elites for many...

Democratic leaders called on Wednesday for additional spending to boost the sluggish U.S. economy, setting up a fresh hurdle for bipartisan efforts in Washington to head off a government debt default this summer. Democrats' demand for new stimulus spending is at odds with the work of negotiators, led by Vice President Joe Biden, who are trying to find trillions of dollars in savings as part of a deal that would allow Congress to sign off on new government borrowing before the U.S. runs out of money to pay its bills. Those talks, which resumed on Wednesday, have largely focused on...

Over the past few weeks I have followed, with something oscillating between frustrated interest and frustrated apathy, what now passes for political theater. Or, I should say, budget-minded theater, for never has a topic of debate so fitted its mode. What bothers me most is not that the show contains thousands of actors and critics performing on thousands of stages, making coherent debate impossible, relegating revues of Simpson's Bowels to off-off-Broadway matinees, and leaving each potentially useful turn -- first a soliloquy by Ryan and then one by Obama -- quickly clouded with the dust kicked up by its champion's...

I found that in thinking about the budget, I did not have a good mental picture of where, exactly, and when, exactly, things had gotten out of line.  So I decided to do a quick analysis of the "big pieces" of the federal budget just to get a feel for the magnitude of our financial problems and where in the budget they were located.  It occurred to me that others might be interested in this as well, and that thought is the provenance of this essay. Just to begin at the beginning, this chart is a "50,000 foot view"...

Wisconsin tea party activists are now weighing in on the ongoing state worker protests, bussing in picketers to counter protest today and exploring measures to recall the Democratic senators that have fled to boycott the vote on Governor Scott Walker's budget bill. Madison police have said that they expect approximately 100,000 people to fill the square outside the capitol building Saturday as tea party members' voices will be added to the chorus of dissent as the protests enter their fifth day. The counter-rally, which was announced by the Virginia and Wisconsin-based conservative group American Majority, is dubbed the I Stand...

Britain could be forced to have its Budget signed off by European leaders under plans to impose an 'economic government of the EU', it emerged yesterday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pressing for 'oversight' of national economies to be included in controversial arrangements that were agreed by EU leaders yesterday. She wants to introduce financial penalties for states with persistently high budget deficits, giving the EU a high degree of control. This could see Britain forfeiting the £2billion annual 'structural funds' paid out to some of the nation's poorer areas by Brussels.

review the latest report from the Congressional Budget Office. In its recent budget report, the White House forecast budget deficits totaling $8.6 trillion over the next decade... CBO, however, says even that mind-boggling projection is too low. In fact, the nonpartisan budget crunchers estimate, the cumulative deficit from 2010-2020 will be $9.8 trillion. $9.8 trillion: The cumulative budget deficits from 2010-2020 given Obama’s plans, according to CBO. In other words, we will average a $1 trillion deficit over the next 10 years. 90 percent: The public debt as a share of the total economy by 2020 given Obama’s plans, according...

You walk into a bar and see the same drunk who’s there every night lying on the floor in a pool of his reeking fluids. He raises his head and looks around at the room in general—the folks having a few beers, wines, or just Diet Pepsis, as well as the other drunks. With what little coherence he still can muster, he declares: “People drink too much. We gotta get this under control.” Then, in fits and starts, he utters something like the following: “Yesterday I downed a whole quart of whiskey and a six-pack of brews. Today I was...

Citizens in California and New York are pushing for constitutional conventions.Frustrated with steep budget deficits, unprecedented spending, and chronic government dysfunction, citizens in a growing number of states are calling for constitutional conventions. In recent weeks, both former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and former New York governor Mario Cuomo have authored op-eds in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, respectively, arguing that the political circus in Albany compels a constitutional convention. Such efforts are already well underway in California, alongside burgeoning drives in Alabama, Arizona, and Michigan. Altogether, 25 percent of the U.S. population lives in...

With the economy performing worse than hoped, revised White House figures point to deepening budget deficits, with the government borrowing almost 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year. The deficit for the current budget year will rise by $89 billion to above $1.8 trillion -- about four times the record set just last year. The unprecedented red ink flows from the deep recession, the Wall St. bailout, the cost of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill, as well as a structural imbalance between what the government spends and what it takes in. As the economy performs worse than...

The nation’s debt clock is ticking faster than ever — and Wall Street is getting worried. As the Obama administration racks up an unprecedented spending bill for bank bailouts, Detroit rescues, health care overhauls and stimulus plans, the bond market is starting to push up the cost of trillions of dollars in borrowing for the government. Last week, the yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose to its highest level since November, briefly touching 3.17 percent, a sign that investors are demanding larger returns on the masses of United States debt being issued to finance an economic recovery. ... Already, in...

You remember the Bible story in Genesis 41 about the fat cows and the lean cows, representing years of plenty and years of famine? And how Joseph wisely proposed to Pharaoh that he store up the extra during the time of plenty to get the nation through the time of famine? Liberals sure don't. Too bad they don't bother with the Bible; it's wisdom would have helped out a lot right about now. The media would never dream of telling you this, but 3/4ths of the Bush presidency - in spite of being handed an economy already stumbling into recession,...

“Cutting taxes increases economic growth, which in turn increases government revenue.” I have heard that phrase more times than I can count from more Republicans than I even remember. It has been the central theme with which the Republicans have built their reputation, and basically the only thing that they have done in Washington that has matched up with their rhetoric. There’s a problem, though. And I want you to keep in mind when I say this, that I am a libertarian-Republican who would just as well like to see the income tax abolished. I repeat, I hate taxes, and...

As an elected official one of my top priorities has been passing a balanced budget that does not include tax increases. Because the deficit was so huge when I arrived in 2002 (in the neighborhood of $24 billion for the 2003-04 budget cycle), I knew that balancing the budget would be a multi-year process. When Governor Schwarzenegger was swept into office during the special election in 2003, he also made balancing the budget his top priority, but cautioned citizens that to achieve this goal it would take a multi-year and multi-faceted approached that would include: -Not raising taxes. -Creating a...

The United States must borrow more than $2 billion per day from foreigners to finance its huge trade deficits. In 2005, for example, there was a record deficit of $805 billion in the current account, the broadest measure of trade. Foreigners sell their televisions, cars and oil to Americans and hold dollars in return. Those dollars are invested in stocks, bonds and other assets, including real estate and factories. Foreigners already own half of the U.S. government's publicly traded debt. As of January, some $2.19 trillion in Treasury securities were in the hands of central banks, including China and Japan,...

WASHINGTON – With just three months left before he leaves office, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan raised a warning to Congress: The country could face "serious economic disruptions" if bloated budget deficits are not curbed. The Fed chief's strong comments, made during an appearance Thursday before Congress' Joint Economic Committee, come after the government produced a $319 billion budget deficit this year – an improvement from the record amount of red ink registered in 2004 but still the third-highest deficit on record. In the short term, costs related to rebuilding after the trio of devastating hurricanes will make it harder...

SACRAMENTO ---- California's chronic spending imbalance has generated multibillion dollar deficits each of the last four years and is set to create another $6 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year. A state government spending beyond its means was one of the main reasons for the recall effort against former Gov. Gray Davis, the 2003 special election that catapulted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger into the governor's seat. Schwarzenegger's solution for taming the perpetual budget deficits is a 6,000-word ballot measure that would completely overhaul how the state spends money and would give the governor authority to make midyear cuts if spending...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.Ever eager to observe and command, government officials like to record their countrymen's economic dealings with people abroad. They create "balances of payments" which are to help them evaluate and manage economic relations. Last year the American balance posted extraordinary deficits of some $668 billion, or more than six percent of gross national product. This year it is estimated to exceed $700 billion. In any other country a deficit of just three percent would sound the alarm and could trigger a sudden flight of capital and a crash of the national currency....

KHOW's Peter Boyles announced a live debate from Denver City Attorney Cole Finegan and Congressman Tom Tancredo at 8 AM. Finegan criticized Tancredo's 5-11-05 press release condemning The City of Denver's Sanctuary policy, which lead to the death of a Denver Cop on Sunday. The City of Denver is circling their wagons, and attacking Tancredo now. This should be good. Free to listeneners, but you must register.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration will seek to slash government spending next year, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said on Sunday, but he was less specific than the president in predicting how quickly the deficit would fall. Snow, who was asked by President Bush to stay during Bush's second term after heavy speculation he would be replaced, said the administration's budget proposal early next year would rely heavily on spending cuts. "It will be a tight, disciplined budget with spending under disciplined controls," he said in an interview on CNN's "Late Edition" program. "Everything is being looked at and...