First, it was Greece circling the drain. Today, it’s Italy that’s getting set to enter the national-debt death spiral. Via ZeroHedge (original source misspellings not corrected): Euphoria may have returned briefly courtesy of yet another promise for a resignation that will likely not be effectuated for weeks or months, if at all, and already…
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In the past, there has been a widely held view that if you followed the appropriate career development process, you could generally count on building a fairly successful future. Go to college, get your degree, apply for a job, work hard, and you are well on your way to achieving the American Dream. However,…
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Here is a classic commentary written by Senior Fellow Robert Higgs “Why Less Government Spending Would Mean Less Economic Trouble” written June 23, 2010 for the Christian Science Monitor: Many economists say deficit spending is crucial to keeping the economy moving. But history tells a different story. ————— Though our current economic troubles are complex, many mainstream economists…
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In 1831, the National Debt Burden per Capita, or rather the ratio of the United States’ national debt per capita and GDP, multiplied by 1 billion), dropped below a value of 3 for the first time in its history [1]. In 2011, the U.S.’ National Debt Burden per Capita has risen above that level….
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Shahien Nasiripour reports at The Financial Times in “Freddie Mac seeks further $6bn from taxpayers” that: Freddie Mac, the US-controlled mortgage financier, has requested an additional $6bn from US taxpayers, following a $4.4bn third-quarter loss, the company’s worst three-month performance in more than a year. The home loan group said more homeowners were falling…
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New president Mario Draghi takes the reigns of the ECB, lowering the benchmark rate 25 basis points to 1.25 percent. The move is touted as a step to avert a looming recession and offset the tension caused by the ongoing sovereign debt crisis. Draghi takes office in a climate of extreme uncertainty. Greece is…
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Last week the congressional super committee discussed the large decisions they have ahead regarding spending cuts. At its fourth public meeting, the 12-member panel heard testimony from Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Elmendorf and debated discretionary spending, which includes defense and education and excludes mandatory outlays for Medicare and other programs. With the fast…
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In a recent article Americans ‘Hooked on Government’ as Record Number Get Benefits, the San Francisco Chronicle sheds light on the staggering numbers of American dependency on government handouts. A record 49 percent of Americans live in a household where someone receives at least one type of government benefit, according to the U.S. Census…
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The larger the federal government umbrella is, the more susceptible it is to fraud. Recent fraud cases within the Long Island Rail Road prove this to be true. The New York Times reports this morning: Eleven people, including two doctors and a former union president, were charged on Thursday in a “massive fraud scheme” in which…
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The Wall Street Journal reports in “A New Spending Record: Washington had its best year ever in fiscal 2011″ that: Maybe it’s a sign of the tumultuous times, but the federal government recently wrapped up its biggest spending year, and its second biggest annual budget deficit, and almost nobody noticed. Is it rude to…
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