Authored by Adam Andrzejewski via Forbes.com, Last night, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a $2 trillion “Phase III” emergency aid package to help America recover from the coronavirus lockdown. Previous phases provided funds for testing and paid family leave. Not one U.S. Senator voted against the legislation: 96-0. Twice during the first hour of Senate debate, two “final” versions were distributed. No one had time to […]
Spending
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As German’s industrial auto giants shutter production at their domestic factories as the number of confirmed cases in Deutscheland climbs into 5-digit territory, domestic newsmagazine Handelsblatt revived reports about a coming suspension of Germany’s constitutional ‘debt break’, which would allow Europe’s largest economy to deliver its first major fiscal boost to the economy since 2013, when Europe was reeling from the aftermath of the periphery debt […]
The House is expected to vote on an aid package in response to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak after a deal was struck with congressional Republicans and Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, according to National Review. The package will include guaranteed free testing and 14 days of paid sick-leave for patients, along with food assistance and Medicaid programs, unemployment benefits, and tax credits for small and medium-sized businesses […]
In our ongoing attempts to glean some objective insight into what is actually happening “on the ground” in the notoriously opaque China, whose economy has been hammered by the Coronavirus epidemic, in February we first showed several “alternative” economic indicators such as real-time measurements of air pollution (a proxy for industrial output), daily coal consumption (a proxy for electricity usage and manufacturing) and traffic congestion levels […]
Despite hopes to the contrary, the Pentagon’s new, $740 billion-plus budget will waste scarce tax dollars while making America less safe. With the presidential primaries accelerating, it’s time for the candidates to address this urgent issue. This extraordinary spending has a direct impact on American taxpayers when it comes at the expense of diplomacy, education, and anti-poverty programs that can improve people’s lives. These programs create […]
After his train wreck 60 Minutes appearance when he couldn’t answer basic questions from Anderson Cooper about paying for some of his proposals, Sen. Bernie Sanders returned the next night while appearing on CNN and released a fact sheet claiming he can pay for all his new spending proposals. But, alas, conventional economic and budget analysis reveal that this claim is not remotely credible. First, it […]
Amid all the carnage, a sliver of good news is that incomes jumped more than expected in January (+0.6% MoM vs +0.4% MoM) and while economists will be gravely disappointed spending rose less than expected (+0.2% MoM vs +0.3% MoM) prompting a healthy rise in the savings rate from 7.5% to 7.9%… This is the biggest jump in incomes since Dec 2018 and spending growth was […]
Sales of Russian gold abroad jumped eight-fold last year to $5.7 billion, with almost all of that volume purchased by the United Kingdom. According to customs data seen by RBC business news outlet, gold exports to Britain have grown more than 12 times in terms of value, to $5.33 billion. Supplies to the UK accounted for 93 percent of all Russian gold exports. Twelve other countries, […]
Authored by Jason Ditz via AntiWar.com, New data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has shown a roughly 4% increase in military spending for 2019, the single largest rate of growth seen in the past 10 years. The increase is being driven in large part by the two largest military spenders in the world, the United States and China. Both nations increased their respective spending by 6.6%. The US […]
Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com, Rents are becoming unaffordable for many Americans, even those in the middle class. Because the cost of buying property, maintaining it, and covering property taxes has jumped, so have the costs of renting. A new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University calculates that 10.9 million renters spent more than 50% of their income on housing in 2018. […]
Early last week, the city of New York launched — with little media scrutiny — one of two new massive cybersecurity centers that will be run by private Israeli firms with close ties to Israel’s government, the so-called “Mega Group” tied to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and prominent pro-Israel lobby organizations operating in the United States. The centers were first announced in 2018 as was the identity of the firms […]
Global military expenditures in 2019 saw their largest increase in 10 years, propelled in no small part by skyrocketing US “defense” budgets, which continue to dwarf some of the world’s next largest spenders combined. Military spending among 170 countries jumped by 4 percent in 2019 compared to the prior year, sending the total to its highest level in a decade, according to an annual assessment released […]
Global spending on defense rose by four percent in 2019, the largest growth in 10 years, led by big increases in the US and China, according to a study published on Friday. The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said the rise was fuelled by growing rivalries between big powers, new military technologies and rumbling conflicts, AFP reports. Beijing’s military modernization program is alarming Washington and […]