Free Republic

Twenty years ago, I was fortunate to become U.S. comptroller general. At that time, the federal government was in surplus and yet, having previously served as one of two public trustees for Social Security and Medicare, I knew that the federal government faced rising deficits and debt/GDP levels in the future due to known demographic trends and rising health care costs. Three fiscally irresponsible actions happened in 2003. First, the federal government passed a second round of tax cuts that were debt financed. Second, the USA invaded Iraq and charged it to the national credit card. Finally, the federal government...

Top Democrats announced late Sunday a series of changes to House rules that could eliminate causes of major instability during the previous eight years of Republican rule in Congress. "We are proposing historic changes that will modernize Congress, restore regular order and bring integrity back to this institution," said incoming House Rules Chairman James McGovern, D-Mass., in a statement explaining the changes. Romney Promises To Speak Out Against Trump On Matters Of 'Significance' Politics After Romney Says Trump Has 'Caused Dismay Around The World' Trump Hits Back When a new Congress convenes every two years, the majority party must approve...

All that good P.R. China got for its "one belt, one road" infrastructure-building in third world countries - so much more constructive than America's military spending, see - is starting to look like something entirely different now that Kenya is about to fall to China and its very humorless bill collectors. Here's what Taiwan News is reporting. China may be preparing to seize some major assets in the African nation of Kenya, as a result of debt-trap diplomacy. African media reports that Kenya may soon be forced to relinquish control of its largest and most lucrative port in Mombasa to...

China may be preparing to seize some major assets in the African nation of Kenya, as a result of debt-trap diplomacy. African media reports that Kenya may soon be forced to relinquish control of its largest and most lucrative port in Mombasa to Chinese control. Other assets related to the inland shipment of goods from the port, including the Inland Container Depot in Nairobi, and the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), may also be compromised in the event of a Chinese port takeover. Kenya has reportedly taken extremely large loans from the Communist government for the development of some major highways,...

Stocks rose sharply in volatile trading on Wednesday as surges in retail and energy shares helped Wall Street regain the steep losses suffered in the previous session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 657 points higher as of 3:05 p.m. ET, while the S&P 500 gained 3.05 percent. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed, rising 3.96 percent. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were on track for their biggest one-day gains since Aug. 26, 2015 and erased Monday's losses. The Dow also recovered all of its losses from Monday.

An MLB pitching prospect has given his parents a major league Christmas present. Brady Singer, a right-hander considered the Kansas City Royals’ top prospect, used his signing bonus to pay off his parents’ debt and bank loans. The 22-year-old was drafted by the Royals with the 18th pick in the 2018 Draft, and joined the team on a $4.25M signing bonus, according to MLB.com.

Shoppers delivered the strongest holiday sales increase for U.S. retailers in six years, according to early data. Total U.S. retail sales, excluding automobiles, rose 5.1% between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24 from a year earlier, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks both online and in-store spending with all forms of payment. The figures suggest a stock-market swoon and partial government shutdown haven’t curbed consumer confidence and spending. “Wall Street is running around like a chicken with its head cut off, while Mr. and Mrs. Main Street are happy with their jobs, enjoying their best wage increases in a decade,” said...

In 1957, 4.3 million babies were born in the United States. In 2017, 60 years later, the number was 3,853,472. That's an 11 percent decline, in a nation whose population has nearly doubled over those six decades. And though there are a few days left in 2018, the number for this year is sure to be lower. That's the dominant finding from the thorough -- and alarming -- report "Declining Fertility in America" by Lyman Stone of the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Family Studies. In recent years, demographic journalists have focused on slivers of the population --...

I am curious about the growing conversation over the repayment or forgiveness of the $1.3 TRILLION (and growing) student loan debt. Like everyone I knew who didn't have full scholarship, I worked my way through college and I don't remember ever meeting anyone who had a student loan.

President Trump is dismissing the importance of paying down the national debt, saying he won’t be in office to take blame for the nation's fiscal crisis when it becomes even more unsustainable, according to a report Wednesday. The national debt sits at $21 trillion and counting. As a candidate, when the national debt was $19 trillion, Trump promised to erase the entire debt “over a period of eight years.” Senior administration officials showed Trump charts and graphics in early 2017 that illustrated a “hockey stick” spike in the debt in the coming years. Trump said the data showed the national...

The total debt shouldered by Americans has hit another record high, rising to $13.5 trillion in the last quarter, while an unusual jump in student-loan delinquencies could provide another signal that the U.S. economic expansion is growing old. Flows of student debt into serious delinquency - of 90 or more days - rose to 9.1 percent in the third quarter from 8.6 percent in the previous quarter, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported on Friday. That propelled the biggest jump in the overall U.S. delinquency rate in seven years. Total household debt, driven by a $9.1 trillion in...

The federal government is set to reinstate its borrowing limit, and a new analysis indicates that it will be a record-high $22 trillion — and then, it won’t provide enough money to fund the government past summer. The shocking number, however, is only slightly higher than the current actual debt of some $21 trillion.

The great Chinese growth slowdown has been proceeding in stages for the past two years. The reason is simple. Much of China’s “growth” (about 25% of the total) has consisted of wasted infrastructure investment in ghost cities and white elephant transportation infrastructure. That investment was financed with debt that now cannot be repaid. This was fine for creating short-term jobs and providing business to cement, glass and steel vendors, but it was not a sustainable model since the infrastructure either was not used at all or did not generate sufficient revenue. China’s future success depends on high-value-added technology and increased...

Chad Haag considered living in a cave to escape his student debt. He had a friend doing it. But after some plotting, he settled on what he considered a less risky plan. This year, he relocated to a jungle in India. "I've put America behind me," Haag, 29, said. He now lives in a concrete house in the village of Uchakkada for $50 a month. His backyard is filled with coconut trees and chickens. "I saw four elephants just yesterday," he said, adding that he hopes to never set foot in a Walmart again. His debt is currently on its...

According to a recent estimate, the combined pension hole of all U.S. states and cities is now equal to the world’s fourth-largest economy, Germany. Also, Medicare has no money in eight years. By Lewis M. Andrews The problem of a government overcommitted to entitlement spending is one of the most predictable crises in American history. Neither of the two largest federal entitlement programs are on sound footing, according to their own trustees. The most recent report on Social Security predicts insolvency in just 16 years. For Medicare, researchers are predicting just eight more years of runway––three years earlier than previously...

More than 300 bridges in Connecticut — carrying 4.3 million vehicles daily — are considered structurally deficient. Highways in the Bridgeport-Stamford area are so congested motorists waste 49 hours a year in bumper-to-bumper traffic. And 62 percent of Connecticut’s major roads are in such poor condition they cost motorists $681 annually in vehicle repairs, according to TRIP, a national transportation think tank. Given those challenges, the three men seeking to replace Gov. Dannel P. Malloy could be making transportation the centerpiece of their campaigns. But instead, these candidates for governor are offering mostly modest plans to fix the state’s infrastructure...

f you want good roads, you have to pay for them. It’s not just the politicians in Madison and Washington, D.C., who have failed to learn that lesson. It’s the people of Wisconsin, too.

Entitlement cuts, tax increases, howling seniors: This is our future, whenever we choose to face it. The Manhattan Institute’s Brian Riedl isn’t trying to trigger the libs. His new plan to stabilize the debt doesn’t gut welfare, doesn’t repeal the New Deal — hell, it doesn’t even keep tax increases off the table, which practically makes him a lefty pariah in modern GOP circles.But it’s still going to alienate just about every elected official across the political spectrum, because it illustrates what it would actually take to get our mushrooming deficits under control. We’re talking weaker Social Security benefits, a...

North Carolina officials are trying to figure out how to unwind parts or all of a 2014 public-private partnership that is building managed toll lanes on a Charlotte-area highway.Ever since the ink dried on North Carolina’s first transportation P3 contract, the plan to relieve severe congestion in the Charlotte region has generated controversy.Public opposition remains just as fierce today to the project that will add express lanes on Interstate 77, even though more than one report says the deal with I-77 Mobility Partners LLC, a consortium led by Cintra Infraestructuras S.A., was properly authorized and permitted.The 26-mile-long project is designed...

It's that time of the year again when we find out how deep in the red our country is thanks to the 2018 edition of the Mercatus Center State Fiscal Rankings. The study authors, Eileen Norcross and Olivia Gonzalez, find that when you rank states by their fiscal health, you can identify the best and worst state. But the scariest finding is that no state is really fiscally healthy. Norcross and Gonzalez are very transparent about each decision behind the study methodology. They use states' own audited financial data to create five different indices (cash solvency, budget solvency, long-term solvency,...