Blame the entrenched elites in the Republican party. Trump proposed cutbacks, and plenty of them. The Republican elites voted against the President. Now deficits and debt are front and center topics of discussion. Let’s leave President Trump out of the discussion. The Republican party has been working against Trump from the day he formed his […]
Stand with Rand: Spending Matters
“I simply asked for one thing in this broken process: a 15-minute vote on whether those caps should or should not be broken. The furor this request set off among leadership, the wailing and screeching among Big Government advocates in Congress and in the media — well, you would think I had asked them to […]
We Support Sen. Rand Paul’s Vote Against the Budget
There is no end to the ways the budget could be cut, especially the over-bloated military spending. For example, the number of military bases around the world, like the massive Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar for example, could be cut in half, and cut in half again with few, or no Americans even noticing.
Illinois’ Answer to Saving too Little? Borrow More and Hope
After years of under-funding its state pension programs, Illinois has come up with an idea that can be described as risky at best. Illinois plans to borrow money, and then invest that money, in the hopes of earning more than it must pay back in interest. If you don’t see the danger in using money […]
Connecticut: Big Government Utopia Begins to Crack
After decades of close relationships with the public sector unions working for their towns and cities, mayors are begging to be protected from collective bargaining. With money running out, and undiminished power held by unions, mayors are finally beginning to understand why having powerful public sector unions makes it hard to balance budgets and provide […]
Illinois is About to Stick its Head Deeper in the Sand
For years Illinois has underfunded its five pension systems. For years I have been waving a red warning flag about the American pension charade (see here, here, here, and here for a small sample), but public pensions are controlled directly or indirectly by politicians. Those politicians don’t ever want to subject their constituents to the […]
Is Donald Trump Destroying the State Department?
As Peter Van Buren explains at The American Conservative, Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are by no means destroying the State Department. The organization has been less and less meaningful, and the new administration is simply adjusting in to match its mission. Despite the hyperbolic wails from the media that Tillerson […]
Fuzzy Math Can’t Hide This State’s Pension Trouble Anymore
For years I have warned against over optimistic return expectations on pension funds (See here, here, here, here, here, and here for starters). States like Illinois are known to have unrealistic pension expectations, but new rules forcing states into more rational calculations for their pension fund returns have outed Minnesota as another pension fund risk […]
Dan Mitchell Commenting on the DC Budget Fight
Rather than politely allowing Congress to raise the debt limit with no caveats, as they have so many times before, President Trump could use the debt limit increase as a way to force Congress to pass some reforms. Cato Institute senior fellow Dan Mitchell suggests a spending cap or entitlement reform as possible places Trump […]
Illinois Bankruptcy? It Could Happen
From top to bottom Illinois is a sham, putting tax dollars into the pockets of elected officials with no regard for fiscal sanity. In 2013 I highlighted that 47 of Illinois’ Village Managers earn more than any state governor. Every level of government in Illinois is filled with horrors like this. Looks like the chickens are coming […]