Free Republic

The debt load of the U.S. is growing at a quicker clip in recent months, increasing about $1 trillion nearly every 100 days. The nation’s debt permanently crossed over to $34 trillion on Jan. 4, after briefly crossing the mark on Dec. 29, according to data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. It reached $33 trillion on Sept. 15, 2023, and $32 trillion on June 15, 2023, hitting this accelerated pace. Before that, the $1 trillion move higher from $31 trillion took about eight months. U.S. debt, which is the amount of money the federal government borrows to cover...

Four hot air balloon crashes have occurred in separate incidents Tuesday morning, the fourth day of Albuquerque's International Balloon Fiesta. One crash happened in Rio Rancho at about 8:30 a.m. Two retaining walls were hit in the Loma Vista area just north of High Resort Ball Field. Three people were in the gondola. No one was ejected, but one female passenger was transported to University of New Mexico Hospital with a fractured leg. The second crash occurred at around 8:45 a.m. near Kim and Saratoga avenues. The balloon hit a two-story house, then crashed in an arroyo. Two women were...

Changes in a national accounting guideline a decade ago helped set the stage for California's ballooning pension liabilities by obscuring the long-term costs of providing the richest benefits in the nation, a former CalPERS consultant says. Under changes by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, pension funds can amortize the cost of retroactive benefit increases over 30 years and public employee unions can negotiate to defer salary increases in favor of better pension benefits. But the shifts meant officials often were unaware of the full costs of their decisions, Citrus Heights accountant Marcia Fritz wrote in a Sept. 30 letter to...

SACRAMENTO -- Frustrated by years of overspending and late budgets, Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, plans to introduce a major reform package today when the Legislature reconvenes designed to force lawmakers to pass a budget on time and limit spending. McClintock, considered one of the most fiscally conservative legislators, wants to force the Legislature to pass an on-time budget by June 15, or face the consequence of the governor's budget winning approval without legislative changes. But he would also lower the threshold to pass a budget to a simple majority, down from the current two-thirds requirement. "It's a comprehensive budget-reform...

Conservatives were likely not thrilled see in the New York Times on Thursday morning that "President Bush will seek a big increase in the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts." Nor were they likely pleased that the White House political machine was going to send the First Lady out to do the dirty work of announcing a spending plan that would likely get up the dander of conservatives more than the idea of Bush having Ted Kennedy, Pat Leahy, and Tom Daschle over for a nice dinner at the President's Place to talk about everything but the need...

Patriotism Takes Flight Barry & Teri DiLibero 1776: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The delegates signed the Declaration of Independence. Benjamin Franklin states, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." 1776: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Betsy Ross sewed the first new United States flag for a group of British colonies seeking independence from England. The flag had 13 white stars on a blue field and thirteen red and white alternating stripes. 1783: Paris, France: The Montgolfiere Brothers flew animals, and later, humans in a hot air balloon. 1787: The Constitution drafted by the delegates represented the new United States of...