That Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are ignoring the United States government’s debt problem as they campaign for the presidency is the consensus of former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker and former Commerce Department Secretary Peter Peterson, who recently co-authored an op-ed in the New York Times. They describe their dismay with both candidates:…
Read More »
Now that four years of falling budget deficits have officially come to an end, how can the U.S. Congress regain control over federal spending? Previously, we looked at one basic common sense proposal that could slow the spending for the U.S.’ fastest growing mandatory expenditure, Medicaid, but what tools does the U.S. Congress have…
Read More »
In 2016, the U.S. government’s annual budget deficit stopped falling for the first time in four years and swung sharply into reverse, increasing to $587 billion, which is 34% higher than 2015’s budget deficit. Nearly all of that increase was due to “mandatory” spending on entitlements, the part of the federal government’s expenditures that…
Read More »
Just over five years ago, the U.S. Congress passed the Budget Control Act of 2011, which President Obama signed into law on August 2, 2011. The law represented an attempt to arrest the phenomenal spending growth that led to the explosion of the national debt during President Obama’s first two years in office. The…
Read More »
A couple of weeks ago, comedian John Oliver discussed the topic of police accountability on his show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. As part of that discussion, he focused on the specific issue of “gypsy cops”, where officers who have engaged in misconduct are allowed to resign and to relocate to other divisions…
Read More »
If you added up the cost of all the regulations that the U.S. government has added to the Federal Register since 1980, how much would it be? Bentley Coffey, Patrick A. McLaughlin, and Pietro Peretto of the Mercatus Center researched that question for all the years from 1981 through 2012 and found that the…
Read More »
This summer, Americans learned that the Obama administration transferred billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in the form of cash to Iran in exchange for the release of U.S. hostages and Iran’s acceptance of a deal to delay its development of nuclear weapons for 10 years. Since Iran made the release of the U.S. hostages…
Read More »
Last July, members of the U.S. House of Representative Homeland Security Committee released a report with the disturbing title “MISCONDUCT AT TSA THREATENS THE SECURITY OF THE FLYING PUBLIC“. Here are some disturbing excerpts from the report’s introduction: TSA data shows that misconduct has grown over time—both before and after a watchdog investigation. For…
Read More »
As we’re on the cusp of the first debate between the two major candidates for U.S. President in 2016, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, it’s a good time to consider how each candidate’s proposals for spending and taxes would affect the fiscal future of the U.S. government, and by extension, U.S. taxpayers….
Read More »
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that would make it easier for managers at the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs to fire the employees and supervisors at the VA who have engaged in misconduct by a vote of 310 to 116. The House voted 310-116 Wednesday to arm the Department…
Read More »
 |
 |
 |