Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss at Reuters reports in “Dollar tumbles to 3-yr low; data underpins rate view” that: The dollar slumped to a three-year low against major currencies on Wednesday and its outlook darkened further as surprisingly soft economic data underpinned expectations that U.S. interest rates will remain low this year. The greenback also fell to…
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Back on 3 February 2011, a number of Republican Senators introduced Senate Joint Resolution 5, which proposes to amend the U.S. Constitution to require the U.S. Congress to balance the annual budget of the U.S. federal government. It’s a good sentiment, and it has some points to recommend it, however it’s got some real…
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U.S. President Barack Obama displayed his talent for Newspeak oratory when announcing his second proposed budget for the United States federal government’s 2012 fiscal year on 18 April 2011. Last week, President Barack Obama’ proposal on long-term deficits demands spending cuts and tax increases in 2014, if the federal government does not reach its…
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Dennis Cauchon in USA Today reports that: Americans depended more on government assistance in 2010 than at any other time in the nation’s history, a USA Today analysis of federal data finds. The trend shows few signs of easing, even though the economic recovery is nearly 2 years old. A record 18.3% of the…
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Gasoline prices have continued to rise now for 35 straight days. Gas pump prices have climbed for 35 straight days even though industry surveys show Americans have started to drive less. The national average rose by a penny to hit $3.87 per gallon on Tuesday, more than a dollar higher than it was last…
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In the following, insightful, new video, Independent Institute Research Fellow Benjamin Powell reveals “Why Washington only cut $38 billion” recently from federal spending because as public choice economics shows, special interests prevail over the average citizen by utilizing the political process to redistribute wealth and power from the many to the few (and costs…
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Last Wednesday, months after rejecting his own presidential commission’s recommendations for reducing the U.S.’s record deficits produced by his administration, President Barack Obama finally offered a plan to deal with the nation’s excessive federal budget deficit. He didn’t do it because he wanted to do it or because he genuinely believes it’s in the…
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In “S&P Cuts U.S. Ratings Outlook to Negative,” Damian Paletta at the Wall Street Journal reports that the influential firm Standard & Poor’s has just “for the first time lowered its outlook on the U.S. government’s debt to ‘negative’ from ‘stable.’” A stark warning from a credit-rating firm about the U.S. government’s fiscal problems…
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In a new article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Grasping budget’s billions and trillions: Incomprehensibly huge numbers mask real burdens,” Independent Institute Research Fellow Emily Skarbek (Director of the Government Cost Calculator) discusses the meaning and absurdity of the $3.8 trillion federal budget and the meaningless reforms being proposed. Taxpayers might have strong feelings about…
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How much has the recent debate over federal spending changed things in Washington D.C.? Consider that at the beginning of the year, both the President and the members of his political party believed that any cuts to their previously proposed levels of spending would be unthinkable. After all, it was only two months ago…
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