EconomyCommentary
5 Ways To Get the Deficit Under Control
This week, the Treasury Department releases the actual deficit figure for fiscal year (FY) 2014 which ended on September 30. At about half a trillion… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The 2014 Deficit Is the Smallest In Six Years. But Here’s the Bad News.
The Congressional Budget Office released Wednesday the figures for spending, revenues and the deficit in 2014. At $486 billion, the 2014 deficit is the smallest since… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Cartoon: The Calm Before the Storm
Looming debt, government spending and unpaid financial obligations add up to a bad forecast for American citizens.
EconomyNews
Hawaii Will Go Bust By 2016, Senate Minority Leader Says
HONOLULU — Hawaii Senate Minority Leader Sam Slom is warning fellow lawmakers he has serious concerns about the state’s economic future. Slom, the only Republican in… Read More
EconomyNews
These Two States Tied for First Among States Reliant on Federal Dollars
SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico’s nickname is the Land of Enchantment, but it also appears to be the land of dependence. A study by… Read More
EconomyCommentary
L.A. Wants to Spend $10 Million to Help Cougars Mate
It’s no secret Los Angeles is full of cougars on the prowl. But making news today is one specific four-legged cougar — a mountain lion… Read More
EconomyCommentary
51 Cents of Every Dollar: How Much Americans Think the Government Wastes
Americans estimate that Washington wastes 51 cents of every dollar it spends, according to a Gallup poll released last week. The timing could not have… Read More
EconomyCommentary
How Many Cheeseburgers Could You Buy With Your Share of the National Debt?
It’s Sept. 2014 and the country is $17.6 trillion in debt. In Jan. 2009, when President Obama was inaugurated, the nation’s debt was $10.6 trillion…. Read More
EconomyCommentary
Ridiculous: How the Latest Spending Bill Is Just Congress Shirking Its Job (Again)
This week, a rare bipartisan majority in the House approved a $1.1 trillion stopgap spending measure that will keep the government funded through Dec. 11…. Read More
EconomyCommentary
The Five Most Troubling Things in Congress’ New Spending Bill
Yesterday evening, the House of Representatives released its stopgap spending measure which blindly continues the bloated spending in the January omnibus bill that included special-interest… Read More
EconomyCommentary
At $286K, Members of Congress Earn a Lot for How Little They Accomplish
Congress has just returned from a 5-week recess to a lot of unfinished business—it has yet to send even one of the 12 spending bills… Read More
EconomyCommentary
During Obama’s Presidency, National Debt Has Grown by $61K Per Household
You may have heard pundits time and time again dismiss America’s debt problem, touting that the deficit has fallen by 50 percent since 2009. Yet… Read More
EconomyNews
Report: These Five States Have Highest Liability Per Taxpayer
Taxpayers in Alaska who enjoy keeping their money will be happy to see a new report that claims the country’s 49th state is best able… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Americans Should be Spooked by Argentina’s Fiscal Woes
Thursday’s headline in the Los Angeles Times — “Argentina Defaults on International Debt” — spooked me, as it did investors. The stock market tanked on… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Letterman Mocks: ‘Congress Is Now Getting Ready To Take a Month Off. From … What?’
“They need to recharge their batteries for another year of gridlock.” >>> How Gridlock Is Stopping Congress From Making a Better Federal Budget
EconomyCommentary
New CBO Report Projects the 10-Year Deficit at $9.6 Trillion as Spending Grows
Today the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its 2014 Long-Term Budget Outlook, projecting U.S. spending, taxes, deficits, and the debt for the next 25 years…. Read More
EconomyCommentary
Why Is Congress Again Using a Budget Process that Will Protect Ineffective Programs?
Last week, Senate Appropriations Chair Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., signaled her chamber already has begun to lay the groundwork for an omnibus budget bill in… Read More
Economy News
Lawmakers Split Over Busting Budget Cap to Fight Wildfires
In asking for $3.7 billion from Congress yesterday to combat the border crisis, President Obama attached another request that has nothing to do with illegal… Read More
SecurityNews
Obama Seeks $3.7B to Meet Surge of Kids Crossing Border
President Obama has asked Congress for $3.7 billion in “emergency” funds to stem a surge in children and families from Central America illegally crossing the… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Congress Needs to Get Serious About Eliminating Some Government Programs
Summer is here and school is out. For many parents this means toys everywhere around the house and never-ending debates to get the kids to… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Why Reid Is Wrong to Try to Bring Back Earmarks
With the momentum of the appropriations process stalled in the Senate, Sen. Harry Reid is trying to bring back the grease that helps the legislative… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Not Even in Vermont Does Money Grow on Trees
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., may have taken his state tourism commissioner’s statement to NPR that “money falls from trees [in the fall],” a bit too… Read More
SecurityNews
Price to Avoid Another Benghazi? House Leaders Question $461 Million Training Center
With the deadly Benghazi attacks providing impetus and momentum, the State Department announced this spring that it will build a $461 million training center for… Read More
EconomyNews
Cutting Federal Spending, One Portrait at a Time
Conservatives are putting the finishing touches on legislation to end government spending on portraits of cabinet secretaries and members of Congress—artwork that regularly costs taxpayers… Read More
EconomyNews
Congressman Says It’s ‘Frightening’ That Obama Thinks $3.5 Trillion in Spending Is ‘Austere’
As far as Rep. Tom Price is concerned, it’s not that “the age of austerity is over,” as President Obama proclaimed earlier this year. It’s… Read More
EconomyCommentary
This Movie Could Teach D.C. Politicians How to Budget Better
Much of the U.S. budget is flying on auto-pilot and on course to crash. Congress should grab hold of the steering yoke. In the 1980s… Read More
EconomyCommentary
No, TARP Didn’t Prevent a Second Depression
In a recent debate on C-SPAN on the condition of the U.S. economy, my liberal sparring partner observed that the bank bailouts and stimulus plans… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Obamanomics Cost Now Tops $5,000 Per Family
This morning’s depressing revised calculation of the growth of the economy in the first quarter of 2014 (-1.0 percent) makes it official: The Obama expansion… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The Economic History Lessons We Never Learned
Are conservatives going to allow liberals to rewrite the history of the Great Recession, just as they so successfully did in writing the fictitious account of the Great… Read More
EconomyAnalysis
Why Is the Budget Deficit Falling? You Can Thank the Tea Party
The Congressional Budget Office reported that the budget deficit is falling rapidly from its trillion-dollar-plus Rocky Mountain highs during President Obama’s first term. I estimate… Read More
