Charles Rowley summarizes two options facing bond holders as sketched out by Stanley Druckenmiller, the legendary investor and onetime fund manager for George Soros. “First, suppose that one owns a 10-year Treasury. In return, one receives an income stream over that period. As a result of default that income stream will be delayed for…
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Jed Graham in Investor’s Business Daily reports that a new study of the financial condition of Social Security and Medicare indicate that with baby boomer retirements, rising health costs, and the ongoing economic malaise, these federal entitlement programs are producing massive deficits in perpetuity unless major changes are made to cut these unsustainable liabilities….
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Independent Institute Research Fellow Emily Skarbek is interviewed here by Nick Gillespie of Reason TV regarding the Institute’s very timely and far-reaching Government Cost Calculator. The Calculator enables any American to clearly understand three aspects of federal government spending. First, the Calculator helps you determine how much a person will pay for various federal…
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Ed O’Keefe reports at the Washington Post that the U.S. government’s postal monopoly continues to hemorrhage red ink at an astounding rate as a result of huge and unsustainable, public-employee-union pension schemes: The U.S. Postal Service reported $2.2 billion in losses during its second quarter, continuing several quarters of historic losses amid declining mail…
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In “Irish Bombshell: Government Raids PRIVATE Pensions to Pay for Spending,” in the Business Insider, Joe Weisenthal and Gregory White report on what some people consider might be an ominous sign for future policies in the U.S. and other countries to address the gigantic spending and debt crisis. The Irish government plans to institute…
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Bill Gross, the manager of the world’s largest bond fund at PIMCO, increased the size of his bet against U.S. government issued debt on Monday, May 9, 2011: (Reuters) – PIMCO’s Bill Gross, the manager of the world’s largest bond fund, raised his bet against U.S. government-related debt in April to 4 percent from…
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The Christian Science Monitor reports that “Counting underutilized and marginally attached workers, the unemployment rate rose in April, according to the new jobs report”, to 15.9% for “total unemployment” and 9% for the standard rate of joblessness. And according to CNNMoney.com’s “Bailout Tracker”, this increase in joblessness has occurred despite the staggering commitment to…
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Corbett Daly at Reuters reports that having lost another $8.7 billion in the first quarter of 2011, Fannie Mae is now seeking another $8.5 billion in bailout funding from taxpayers, in addition to the $100 billion already received since Barack Obama became president. Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae on Friday said it would ask…
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In The Hill, Pete Kasperowicz reports in “Obama administration floats draft plan to tax cars by the mile” that: The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive. The plan is a part…
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In the following video, Independent Institute Research Fellow Jeffery Miron discusses why federal entitlement spending (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) is growing to unprecedented levels and must be cut and cut and cut some more if the U.S.’s fiscal spending and debt crisis is to be resolved. HT: Mike Munger
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