Economy News
The Daily Signal reports on economy news with analysis and commentary on growth, recession risks, employment, and financial trends.
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EXCLUSIVE: Left-Wing Group Pushed a Policy That Could Shape 2024 Election Outcome—Using Your Tax Dollars
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Documents reveal an organization backed by Obama White House alumni such as Valerie Jarrett and bankrolled by liberal dark money donors advocated using tax dollars to pay college students to get out the vote in the 2024 election, doing so before the Biden administration announced the same policy. The Daily Signal…Fred Lucas -
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Taxpayer Protection: Idaho Law Blocks Funding for ‘Gender-Transition’ Procedures
An Idaho law enacted Wednesday (H. 668) protects taxpayers from paying for “gender transition” procedures in a variety of ways. The legislation “adds to existing law,” namely the Vulnerable Child Protection (VCAP) Act passed in 2023, which prevented physicians from harming minors with gender-transition surgeries or hormones. The Legislature declared in H. 668 that “public funds shall not be…Joshua Arnold -
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Distracted By Climate Change? Former Trump Transportation Official Weighs in on Bridge Collapse
What will be the long-term impact of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, Tuesday? What industries will be affected and how? And who in the U.S. supervises ship safety—and are they prioritizing safety ahead of issues like climate change? Steve Bradbury, who formerly served as acting deputy secretary of the…Brian Gottstein -
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After Feds Showered Blue State With Tax Dollars to Fix Homelessness, Here’s the Result
A plethora of federal agencies have spent well over $200 million attempting to alleviate homelessness in Washington state over the past 17 years, only for the number of people living on the streets to keep rising. Federal agencies like the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of…Robert Schmad -
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‘The DC Cartel Is At It Again’: GOP Lawmakers Rip $1.2 Trillion Spending Package
House Republican lawmakers are speaking out against a $1.2 trillion spending package released early Thursday morning ahead of a potential partial shutdown of the government. The 1,000-plus-page package of bills includes funding for the State, Education, Defense, Labor, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services departments in fiscal year 2024 as well as for “general…Samantha Aschieris -
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How Biden’s Big-Deficit Agenda Guarantees Inflation
Inflation has been a top concern for Americans for years. This is understandable: Inflation-adjusted earnings have declined by thousands of dollars in recent years, putting a heavy strain on family budgets. Ignoring this burden on Americans, the Biden administration has gone out of its way to make inflation worse again and again, all for the…David Ditch -
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2 Charts: Comparing Biden’s Federal Budget to Your Household Budget
President Joe Biden’s latest budget proposes the federal government spend trillions more than it will take in, increasing the already unsustainable federal debt by $17 trillion over the next 10 years. But these 13- and 14-figure dollar amounts have little meaning for ordinary Americans whose income, spending, and debt are typically in the five- and…Rachel Greszler -
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Back in the USSR?: Biden’s Budget for Gargantuan Government
In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. It marked the end of an experiment that lasted almost a century, testing the premise that godless secularization—turning control of people’s lives over to other people to rule them, who decide what others need and how they should live and conduct their lives—is the answer for mankind. In the…Star Parker -
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Recipe for Economic Train Wreck: Biden’s FY ’25 Budget’s 10 Massive Tax Increases
President Joe Biden released his proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 on Monday. There’s something in his budget for everyone—everyone who loves tax hikes, that is. Biden would raise taxes by $5 trillion over 10 years, and—based on his budget—would allow an additional $2 trillion of middle-class tax cuts to expire after 2025. Between 2023…Preston Brashers -
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Families Health Services Act Is a Taxpayer-Funded Attack on Families and Life
A sweeping Senate bill would radically expand in vitro fertilization and other reproductive technologies for military service members without regard to their sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status, promoting the creation of children outside of marriage, including between two men and their hired surrogates. Democrats pushed for a unanimous consent agreement Tuesday, meaning, if…Emma Waters -
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Treasury Department Sent ‘Hate Group’ List of Conservative Organizations to Banks
It came to light last week that the Treasury Department provided a listing of “hate groups,” which lumped together mainstream conservative organizations alongside avowed neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, to major U.S. banks for the purpose of monitoring financial transactions in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol. Experts say the pattern could…Dan Hart -
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Government Gets Fatter as Americans Rack Up Record Credit Card Debt
While the White House lectures on the strength of the economy, Americans are drowning in credit card debt, which hit a record-high $1.13 trillion by the end of last year. Of course, Americans are sour on the economy: They’re having to put necessities on credit cards that charge $240 billion in interest annually. How we got here…EJ Antoni -
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In Win for Franchises, Judge Voids Biden Admin NLRB Joint Employer Rule
A federal district court announced that it will vacate the so-called joint employer rule that threatened to upend the franchise business model and to impose massive new responsibilities and legal liabilities onto businesses for supposed employees over whom they have no direct control. U.S. District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker’s decision Friday held that enforcement of…Rachel Greszler -
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A Lesson for America: Green Policies Crush German Economy
Germany’s gross domestic product has been falling since the third quarter of 2022, causing fears of the first 2-yearlong recession since the early 2000s. German farmers are openly protesting new climate regulations that would raise the price of diesel fuel, vital for tractors and farm machinery. This discontent is mirrored by the general public, which…Diana Furchtgott-Roth -
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Taxpayers to Pay $3M for Mayorkas Impeachment Defense
The Department of Homeland Security so far has spent $3 million of taxpayer money to defend embattled Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas against impeachment by the House of Representatives, according to documents obtained by The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project. The DHS contract with a law firm was to cover the cost of a failed attempt to stave…Fred Lucas -
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Feds Shell Out Thousands on Computer Lessons for LGBTQ Refugees, Fostering ‘Economic Inclusion’ in Latin America
The federal government has used taxpayer dollars to fund services for LGBTQ refugees in Latin America over the past couple of years, federal grants show. The State Department and the Inter-American Foundation, an independent federal agency, funded a trio of grants between August 2021 and October 2023 aimed at bolstering Costa Rica’s status as a haven for…Robert Schmad -
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Taxation Without Reason
My income tax is due in a few weeks! I hate it. I’m pretty good at math, but I no longer prepare my own taxes. The form alone scares me. I feel I have to hire an accountant because Congress, endlessly sucking up to various interest groups, keeps adding to a tax code. Now even…John Stossel -
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Economic Freedom in US Falls to Lowest Level in 30 Years in 2024 Global Index
The foundations of economic freedom have been declining around the world for three consecutive years, according to the 2024 Index of Economic Freedom, which annually assesses the economic governance and entrepreneurial environments of 184 countries. Despite the disappointing downward trend of global economic freedom, the overall findings of the 2024 index, released Monday by The…Anthony B. Kim -
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How All Americans Are Paying for San Francisco’s Pork-Barrel Spending
Washington is once again facing a potential shutdown. Funding for the federal government will run out in early March unless the House and Senate can bridge their differences and pass spending legislation. At the same time, the city of San Francisco seems to have few problems doling out huge amounts to well-connected activist groups and…David Ditch -
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Biden’s Low Marks on Economy Reflect Reality
For all the White House’s bragging about the strength of the economy, most Americans still don’t approve of President Joe Biden’s performance on this issue. That’s likely because they have been left behind, especially native-born Americans. This is perhaps most evident in figures from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. If one looks only at the…EJ Antoni