Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The White House has solved the federal government's budget crisis by renting out ad space on the back of Joe Biden's suit jacket. "This is a highly visible space, seen all the time during the president's press conferences when he refuses to take questions from the press," said Jen Psaki. "Your brand will be seen by millions of Americans as they anxiously wonder what the president has to say about Americans we've left stranded abroad, inflation, the economy, gas prices, the border crisis, and every other crisis. As soon as the press asks a question, your brand will be...

New York City is in the midst of a massive budget crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The city is facing layoffs of 22,000 city workers, the trash isn’t getting picked up, the parks aren’t being maintained. But Mayor Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, maintains a staff of 14 and has a budget of $2 million.McCray is a professional activist, meaning she’s a pro at squeezing money out of politicians. She got her soulmate Bill to give her $1.25 billion for a mental health initiative she called ThriveNYC. That was five years ago. So how’s that program working?No one...

Gov. Phil Murphy's administration put New Jersey's state agencies on notice Friday that they should prepare for another state government shutdown if a state budget isn't signed by the June 30 deadline. The letter to Murphy's cabinet members, obtained by NJ Advance Media, asked them to update contingency plans for their departments. It was sent shortly after top staffers in the state Senate and Assembly met with Murphy's senior staff Friday morning amid ongoing negotiations about Murphy's first state budget proposal -- which so far have been fraught.

It's possible Illinois is about to come down with a statewide case of Seasonal Affected Disorder. The season is construction, which an old joke says is one of two in Illinois. The disorder is the continuing one in Springfield, where the ongoing budget crisis is about to shut down road projects during the height of that season. And the affected are everyone from officials who work to put needed projects together, to the drivers who have to negotiate construction zones and torn up streets. In Aurora, workers last week got the barriers and cones out to reduce Farnsworth Avenue, near...

In 2006, Chris Hausman, a fourth-generation Midwestern farmer long accustomed to depending on government support for survival, traveled across the world to witness a revolution in agriculture. It had been more than 20 years since a left-leaning government in New Zealand chose to eliminate government subsidies for farmers, and Hausman was surprised at what had transpired since. “I will tell you it was a shock to their agricultural system,” says Hausman, 58, who farms corn and soybeans on a 1,500-acre plot 150 miles south of Chicago. “You had a system dictated by government programs that was thrown out the window...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Several California lawmakers and community assistance groups are calling on Gov. Jerry Brown to repay more than $331 million in funds intended to help homeowners struggling with foreclosures that the state siphoned off to help deal with its budget crisis. A Sacramento County judge found that the governor and state Legislature unlawfully diverted most of a fund that was part of a $25 billion settlement between five major banks and nearly every state in 2012. Brown's attorneys argued the state had the discretion to use that money in the state budget. But the judge sided with...

When Jim Palermo was serving as a trustee of the village of La Grange, Ill., he noticed something peculiar about the local police officers and firefighters. They were not going to live as long as might be expected, at least according to pension tables. After Mr. Palermo dug into the numbers, he found that the actuary — the person who advises pension plan trustees about how much money to set aside — was using a mortality table from 1971 that showed La Grange’s roughly 100 police officers and firefighters were expected to die, on average, before reaching 75, compared with...

MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid) on Saturday said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's handling of the new budget proposed by Finance Minister Yair Lapid could cause the government coalition to collapse. "Netanyahu is turning the issue of the budget into a showdown with the Finance Minister, which may lead to new elections in the near future," Shelah, who is a close confidante of Lapid said at the weekly "Shabbatarbut" event in Tel Aviv. The PM has been at loggerheads with Lapid over the new budget proposals, causing political gridlock; last Wednesday's budget meeting was pushed off to this coming Sunday...

We ought to think about the cultural roots of the budget crisis in Washington. The political left says the shutdown is all about an ideological tantrum of a handful of Republicans. Certainly, tea partiers have an ideology and vision about what ground rules would produce a more prosperous, freer and fairer America. But let's be honest. The gentleman in the White House, our president, is as hard core in his ideological dispositions as any tea partier. Each side believes America would be better off if it were run according to their vision. What's the crucial difference? As a tea partier,...

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has warned Israelis his government needs higher taxes to help pay for anti-missile defense, though he's no doubt counting on U.S. military aid to help him out. But as the United States has to tighten its own belt and cut defense spending by up to $600 billion, Globes business daily commentator Ran Dagoni cautioned: "U.S. aid to Israel is longer sacred. "U.S military aid to Israel is no longer a fixed point in relations between the two countries. "The threat to American aid to Israel (and in fact to every other foreign aid plan) is,...

Senator Crapo, Senator Risch, Representative Labrador, July 28, 2011 RE: The budgetary/financial crisis CC: Representative Simpson I’m sending this letter to my elected representatives of Idaho at the National level. First, I am a 55 year old man who has worked my whole life. I have owned my own businesses and worked in industry for over 35 years, as an individual contributor up to Directing large operations for private companies in organizations of over 150 people and controlling revenue streams of over 250 million dollars, and as a business owner. I tell you this to let you know that...

A friend who’s been watching the absurd machinations in Congress asked me “what happens if we don’t solve the budget crisis and we run out of money to pay the nation’s bills?” It was only then I realized how effective Republicans lies have been. That we’re calling it a “budget crisis” and worrying that if we don’t “solve” it we can’t pay our nation’s bills is testament to how successful Republicans have been distorting the truth. The federal budget deficit has no economic relationship to the debt limit. Republicans have linked the two, and the Administration has played along, but...

The idea to make the precious metal legal tender has gained currency in more than a dozen state capitals, aided by Tea Party support and other efforts to rein in federal power. Economists say the plan would be disastrous. Mike Pitts is no economist, but that hasn't kept the retired small-town cop from taking a prominent role in a quixotic campaign to push the U.S. monetary system back to another century. Pitts, a South Carolina statehouse representative, introduced a bill in April that would make gold and silver coins legal tender in the state. Similar efforts are underway in more...

In a response to my piece entitled, “Taxeaters”, a reader who favored progressive income taxation posed this question back to me: why shouldn’t the top 50% of income earners pay 96% of the taxes? My answer: for the same reason that they shouldn’t have to pick up 96% of the state’s collective bar tab. All knowledge builds upon what you know. That evening, I pondered his question some more and was inspired while enjoying a pub meal that Michelle Obama would ban if she could. And here is the problem with progressive income tax theory played out a fictional place...

Wisconsin Gov.-elect Scott Walker was the recipient of the unwelcome news that he will be inheriting a projected budget deficit as high as $3.3 billion over the next two years. Last week, the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) published a report announcing there would be a $1.5 billion gap between state revenue and state spending through June 30, 2013. It appears that the news is much grimmer than that, however. Continue reading on Examiner.com: WI Gov.-elect Scott Walker to inherit projected $3.3 billion budget deficit - Madison Political Buzz | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-madison/wi-gov-elect-scott-walker-to-inherit-projected-3-3-billion-budget-deficit#ixzz1ESAsIXFT

Jerry Brown bans official California state trinkets Ironically, some of the $7.5 million in official state giveaways implore Californians not to be wasteful. By Annalyn Censky, staff reporterFebruary 18, 2011: 4:44 PM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- California Governor Jerry Brown is getting serious about his state's $25 billion shortfall. He has frozen state hiring, cut official cell phone use, and now, he's cracking down on coffee mugs and key chains. In his latest push to close his state's staggering deficit, Brown has forbidden all state agencies from wasting tax dollars on freebie trinkets like hats and cups.

The so-called Texas Miracle is in trouble, demonstrating that fashioning fiscal policies strictly along low-tax lines doesn't protect you from budget deficits or business slumps or make your residents necessarily happy or healthy. Billions of dollars in government red ink. Classroom spending near the bottom of national rankings and heading down. Desperate appeals to Uncle Sam for emergency funds to stave off cuts to the poor and elderly. All this points to the obvious question: What's the matter with Texas? Texas? Yes, the so-called Texas Miracle is in trouble. Unemployment soared and state tax revenue came in sharply below estimates...

You know the story and you know the names: states like Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and California are supposed to be in huge financial trouble thanks to bloated governments, business-unfriendly regulations, and strong public sector unions. After a crisis-free 2010, investors are expected to punish these hotbeds of bad governance in a muni bond market rout, at least if pundits like Meredith Whitney are correct. But there's one state, which is fairly high up on the list of troubled states that nobody is talking about, and there's a reason for it. The state is Texas. This month the state's...

With a growing state deficit and an unbalanced budget, the state of California decided to hold a going out of business sale, and unload some of its inventory of real estate in order to narrow the distance between the state’s appetite for spending and financial reality. Governor Schwarzenegger, in a rare display of free market thinking and political fortitude, asked the legislature for the authority to sell some of its assets, in an attempt to balance the state’s budget, as is required by its constitution. In an extraordinary moment of lucidity, the legislature agreed, whereupon Arnold directed the state’s Department...

California is a very large room, and perhaps that is why the state’s political machine has so long been able to ignore the multi-billion dollar elephant that is the state budget shortfall. But there comes a point where the size of the room is irrelevant. Where evasion is not only impermissible, but impossible. Where the only alternatives are fundamentally reworking long-standing policies—and being crushed under the weight of the beast. The current budget crisis is proof that California has reached that point. California’s financial situation is dire. According to the Legislative Analyst Office (LAO), the state faces a $20.7 billion...