Free Republic

Less than 1 percent of Democrats say they are satisfied with the direction of the country, according to a new Gallup poll. Why It Matters This is the lowest level of satisfaction among Democrats in at least 25 years, according to Gallup's polling, and it comes at a time when Republican satisfaction is near record high levels. The polling shows that Democrats' satisfaction with the direction of the country quickly dropped after President Donald Trump, a Republican, returned to office in January, while GOP supporters' satisfaction spiked. According to Gallup, 31 percent of Americans currently say they are satisfied with...

More older student loan borrowers are struggling to pay their monthly bill, as the Trump administration ramps up its collection efforts. Nearly 1 in 5 — or roughly 18% — of student loan borrowers who are 50 and older became “seriously delinquent,” or 90 days or more late on their payments, in the second quarter of 2025, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The rate for that age group was closer to 10% in 2019. For comparison, closer to 8% of student loan borrowers between the ages of 18 and 29 became seriously delinquent during that time...

If you thought the Trump Administration was finished making cuts to government spending, think again. No other institution on earth can spend money like the U.S. government—the effort by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to get spending under control and cut waste has never happened on this level before. On Sunday, the DOGE team announced another round of major cuts, nearly $2B worth: Contracts Update!Over the last 5 days, agencies terminated 163 wasteful contracts with a ceiling value of $1.9B and savings of $647M, including, a $35M USAID contract to “acquire contractor support to establish and manage a flexible,...

The student debt crisis isn’t a natural market phenomenon; it’s the predictable result of decades of government interference. Since 1980, average tuition and fees have increased by 1,200 percent, while consumer price inflation has risen only 236 percent over the same period. This massive increase has left students and families struggling to keep up, often forcing them to take on substantial debt just to attend college. Today, over 42.7 million Americans owe a combined $1.69 trillion in federal student loan debt. A combination of federal policies, including subsidized loans, government grants, bloated university budgets, and a complete lack of accountability,...

S&P Global on Monday affirmed its 'AA+' credit rating on the U.S., saying the revenue from President Donald Trump's tariffs will offset the fiscal hit from his recent tax-cut and spending bill. Trump signed the massive package of tax-cut and spending bill, dubbed the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act', into law in July. The bill, which delivered new tax breaks, also made Trump's 2017 tax cuts permanent. "Amid the rise in effective tariff rates, we expect meaningful tariff revenue to generally offset weaker fiscal outcomes that might otherwise be associated with the recent fiscal legislation, which contains both cuts and...

Uncle Sam is cashing in on tariff revenue, but it's not keeping up with his out-of-control spending habits. Despite triple the amount of tariff income, the July budget deficit surged to $294.14 billion, 19 percent higher than a year ago, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement. Meanwhile, the national debt officially eclipsed $37 trillion on Aug. 11. The fiscal 2025 budget deficit stands at $1.63 trillion with two months remaining. Federal revenues were up about 2 percent year-on-year in July thanks to a surge in tariff receipts. The government collected $22.7 billion in customs receipts. That compares to $7.1 billion...

The US Treasury Department is extremely desperate for any morsel it can find to put toward the $36.7 trillion national debt. Is Donald Trump asking Americans to Venmo or PayPal the US government cash to pay down the national debt? Not quite, as the Treasury has a long-standing program called “Gifts to Reduce the Public Debt” that asks Americans to donate their personal funds toward government spending. Trump introduced the option to pay through online platforms such as PayPal or Venmo; however, the program began decades ago in 1996. The Pay.gov website also accepts bank transfers, debit or credit cards....

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a troubling quarterly statement as the total household debt in the US increased by $185 billion in the past three months, up 1% from last quarter, when total household debt reached $18.9 trillion. Total household debt in the US now sits at $18.39 trillion. Housing debt increased 1.1% from April to June, now standing at $149 billion. Mortgage balances increased by $131 billion, notably the largest cause of household debt. Mortgage originations increased at a modest pace with $458 billion of debt added, while HELOC balances grew by $9 billion to $411...

The U.S. government’s gross national debt has surpassed $37 trillion, a record number that highlights the accelerating debt on America’s balance sheet and increased cost pressures on taxpayers. The $37 trillion update is found in the latest Treasury Department report issued Tuesday which logs the nation’s daily finances. The national debt eclipsed $37 trillion years sooner than pre-pandemic projections. The Congressional Budget Office’s January 2020 projections had gross federal debt eclipsing $37 trillion after fiscal year 2030. But the debt grew faster than expected because of a multi-year COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020 that shut down much of the U.S....

Less than half of student loan borrowers have been making their payments on $1.6 trillion of debt as they struggle to afford housing and groceries – and some are letting the bills pile up as a form of protest. Only 38% of the 42.7 million borrowers nationwide are in repayment and current following five years of leniency measures from the US government following the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Education said in April. While most borrowers have loans that are less than $40,000, about 3.6 million Americans owe more than $100,000 each in federal loans totaling $656.7 billion – or...

Australia's parliament on Thursday (July 31) passed a law to cut student loans by 20 per cent, wiping more than A$16 billion (S$13.37 billion) in debt for three million people, and fulfilling a key election promise to help mitigate the rising cost of living. The law is the first passed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's centre-left Labour Party since being re-elected in May with one of the country's largest-ever majorities. "We promised cutting student debt would be the first thing we did back in parliament — and that's exactly what we've done," Albanese said in a statement. "Getting an education...

When asked how far the US government has plunged into the red, many fiscally-conscious Americans will tell you the national debt has reached $37 trillion. As distressing as that official number is, America’s true fiscal situation is even worse — far worse. According to a barely-publicized Treasury report, the actual grand total of Uncle Sam’s obligations is more than $151 trillion.That huge discrepancy springs from the fact that the federal government doesn’t hold itself to the same accounting standards it imposes on businesses. Rather than using accrual accounting — which recognizes expenses when they’re incurred — our Washington overlords self-servingly...

As Congress debates how to rein in federal spending, some experts say aspects of Medicare Advantage should be on the chopping block, starting with $86 billion a year in taxpayer-funded supplemental benefits that often go unused or unverified. The federal government pays Medicare Advantage plans rebate dollars to cover extra services, including dental, vision, hearing, and over-the-counter drugs. However, a 2024 study published by JAMA Network Open found that only $3.9 billion of that money went toward dental, vision and hearing benefits. Meanwhile, the industry spent an estimated $16 billion on $1,000 “Flex Cards” for new enrollees – prepaid cash...

Fed Chart.

Our country cannot get its fiscal house in order unless and until it starts slowing the explosion of Medicare spending.The budget reconciliation measure Congress recently passed includes some important reforms designed to help reduce entitlement spending. But any realistic assessment of the nation’s fiscal position reinforces why Washington must go much further in reducing spending than the half-measures enacted in recent weeks.In March, as lawmakers were beginning debate on the “big, beautiful bill,” the Congressional Budget Office released its annual version of the “Long-Term Budget Outlook,” which features economic and budgetary projections for the next three decades. The CBO report...

Americans’ unpaid medical bills will remain on their credit reports after a federal judge last week vacated a Biden-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule that would have removed such debt. Judge Sean Jordan of the US District Court of Texas’ Eastern District found that the rule exceeded the bureau’s authority under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, agreeing with the arguments of two industry associations, which had filed a lawsuit against the rule that was later joined by the Trump administration. The court found that “every major substantive provision of the Medical Debt Rule” exceeded the CFPB’s authority, Jordan, a...

The Big Beautiful Bill Act (BBBA) will add trillions of dollars to the national debt over the next decade. Elon Musk is right that this is a turning point for American citizens. It is now clear that neither political party has the will to enact a fiscally responsible budget or solve the debt crisis. Musk threatens to form a third party if Congress kicks this can down the road. The budget process is broken, as special interests continue to carve out their bits of a spoils system. Congress is not even willing to discuss reforms in Social Security and Medicare....

Tucker Carlson took aim at the major sports betting companies for their “predatory” behavior that has led to massive gambling debt on Tuesday. In a new episode of The Tucker Carlson Show, Carlson and guest Saagar Enjeti drew parallels between the issues of gambling debt and credit card debt. The conversation first began with Enjeti giving a brief history lesson detailing how sports betting became so popular in the last few years. Then, Carlson compared the sports betting giants to credit card lenders and explained why, in his opinion, Americans simply shouldn’t pay the debts he deemed predatory: CARLSON: Why...

President Trump said Monday his administration would send Ukraine additional weapons after his administration imposed a pause on some shipments to Kyiv. “We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now,” Trump told reporters during a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Defensive weapons, primarily, but they’re getting hit very, very hard. So many people are dying in that mess,” he added. The Pentagon last week confirmed a decision to halt the delivery of some air defense missiles and munitions to Ukraine, citing concerns...

Budget deficits are something we’ve come to expect from Uncle Sam. After all, without years of overspending, the federal government wouldn’t be sitting on trillions of dollars in debt. But, the latest monthly Treasury statement delivered a rare — and welcome — surprise. In April 2025, the U.S. government collected $850.2 billion in receipts while spending $591.8 billion, resulting in a monthly budget surplus of $258.4 billion. That’s not just any surplus — it’s the first monthly surplus of fiscal year 2025 (which began in October 2024), and the second-largest monthly surplus in U.S. history, behind only April 2022’s $308.2...