Fiscal Policy

The Libertarian Angle: National Debt and the Debt Ceiling (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation March 19, 2019

The national debt keeps going up and the federal budget keeps running in the red. Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling discuss. Go to the podcast.

Debts and Deficits are Out of Control

by Richard M. Ebeling February 6, 2019

Understandably, the problems and politics of the moment dominate the news and attract the attention of most policy commentators and much of the public. Will there be another government shutdown, will House Democrats attempt to impeach the president, will interest rates remain low, and will there be a trade war with China? But there are longer-term problems as well, ...

Abolish the Welfare State to Solve the National Debt Crisis

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 2019

Why is it so difficult to win the case for freedom in modern American society? A variety of possible answers come to mind. The collectivists are more effective in appealing to people’s emotions. The interventionist-welfare-statist argument is easier to make than it is to follow the logical chains of reasoning required to make the free-market case. Socialist-leaning teachers and ...

The Libertarian Angle: The Federal Debt Crisis

by Future of Freedom Foundation December 6, 2018

A fiat monetary system allows a government to spend well beyond its means, and the U.S. government certainly has taken advantage. New deficit records are set every budget cycle. How long can this go on and how will it end? FFF president Jacob G. Hornberger and Richard Ebelign discuss. Go to the

$1 Trillion Deficits and the Crisis of the Entitlement State

by Richard M. Ebeling August 8, 2018

In case you have missed them since the early years of the Obama administration, the $1 trillion-a-year federal budget deficits are coming back, beginning with Uncle Sam’s new fiscal year for 2019, which starts on October 1, 2018. And they might not be going away anytime soon. Is it something to be worried about? Yes, it is. Both the Congressional ...

Balanced-Budget Baloney

by Laurence M. Vance August 1, 2018

It wasn’t that long ago (1987) that the entire budget of the federal government was “only” a trillion dollars. It reached the $2 trillion mark in 2002, and didn’t exceed $3 trillion until 2009. Even after a long series of budget deficits, the national debt didn’t exceed $1 trillion dollars until 1982 and $5 trillion until 1996. The first budget ...

The Most Unnecessary Federal Spending

by Laurence M. Vance July 31, 2018

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2019 (Oct. 1, 2019–Sept. 30, 2020), which directs how federal funds should be used for national defense, has now passed both the U.S. House and Senate — as it has every year since 1961. Officially titled the “John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019,”

The Debt Ceiling Hysteria and Profligate Government

by Richard M. Ebeling February 5, 2018

Once again, the financial fears have been ratcheted up due to recent announcements by the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that by the middle of March 2018 the Federal government will have run out of room to continue borrowing due to the official debt ceiling. Some are now calling for ...

Time to Shut It Down

by Laurence M. Vance December 6, 2017

According to Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 of the Constitution, “No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.” When one or both Houses of Congress fails to pass a bill, or Congress and the president can’t come to an agreement on a bill, to fund the operations and agencies of ...

Financial Tyranny

by John W. Whitehead November 16, 2017

When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it. ― Frédéric Bastiat, French economist Americans can no longer afford to get sick and there’s a reason why. That’s because a growing number ...

Will Trump Reduce Federal Spending?

by James Bovard September 1, 2017

Donald Trump’s first proposed budget took a step towards draining the swamp in Washington. His proposal was the first one since the Reagan era in which a president has sought a wholesale demolition of boondoggles. On the other hand, Trump’s defense and homeland-security spending increases will squander bounties that should be reserved for taxpayers, not bureaucrats. Regardless of whether Trump ...

Trump’s Democratic Budget

by Laurence M. Vance June 2, 2017

Although the Constitution doesn’t mention a federal budget, according to the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the president must annually submit a proposed federal budget to Congress for the next fiscal year by the first Monday in February. Because the government’s fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30, the budget submitted in February is actually for ...