Finding Trillions in Federal Cuts Is Easy. But Will Trump and Musk Follow Through?
DOGE won't necessarily have to kill any of Republicans’ sacred cows—but they will have to be put on a diet.
Government Spending
The Way Out of Our Inflation Mess
For all the excitement about the incoming administration and a return to the 2019 economy, market stability rests on the precarious assumption that the government will eventually put its fiscal house in order.
Biden's Legacy: He Didn't Build That
After four years, the president leaves behind a long, expensive record of non-accomplishment.
The Pentagon Keeps Losing Equipment and Buying Stuff It Doesn't Need
How the U.S. military busts its budget on wasteful, careless, and unnecessary 'self-licking ice cream cones.'
Janet Yellen's Short-Term Thinking Could Cost the U.S. Big
The Treasury Secretary’s debt decisions during the pandemic locked in low rates—but only for two years. Now, taxpayers are paying the price.
Will 2025 Be the Year of U.S. Fiscal Sanity?
With inflation risks persisting and entitlement spending surging, the situation cannot be ignored. But we never should have gotten to this point to begin with.
The Improbable Rise of MAGA-Musk
Is Elon Musk a reactionary with a defective bullshit meter or the best part of the second Trump administration?
This Holiday Season, Remember That Charity Is More Effective Than Government
Charities can focus resources on those who genuinely need a hand while saying no to those who just need "a kick in the butt."
The Federal Government Is Spending Over $15 Billion To Push Electric Vehicles
Despite the wasteful spending, E.V.s remain unpopular with large portions of the country.
Was Biden Right To Take Prisoners Off Death Row?
Plus: A listener asks the editors to consider the Second Amendment's key importance for keeping the government in check.
Cancerous Politics
Plus: Taking gerontocracy to new heights, a real life Arc Reactor, Happy Festivus, and more...
Third Time's the Charm?
Plus: House Speaker Elon Musk, the value of the debt ceiling, and D.C.'s shut down specials.
The Spending Bill Would Fund Censorship
Republicans should not give any more money to the Global Engagement Center.
Disaster Spending
Plus: A failed return to regular order, COVID-era spending scandals, and yet another city tries to shut down a local church's homeless shelter.
Taxpayers Outside Maryland Shouldn't Pay To Rebuild a Toll Bridge Inside Maryland
Part of the 1,500-page spending bill Congress is expected to pass this week would obligate federal taxpayers to fund the Key Bridge replacement.
Holiday Spending Spree
Plus: More funding for the "disinformation" censors, more fines for cashless businesses, the link between pandemic shutdowns and murder rates, and more...
Social Security Is Deeply Unfair. The Social Security Fairness Act Won't Fix That.
What is paid out to Social Security beneficiaries is not a return on workers' investments. It's just a government expenditure, like any other.
Senate Tees Up $200 Billion Social Security Giveaway to Public Sector Workers
The Social Security Fairness Act will boost payouts to public sector workers who receive pensions and did not pay taxes to support Social Security.
Federal Government Has 'Grown Too Big, Promised Too Much, Subsidized Too Many,' Warns Former GAO Boss
This week's House Budget Committee hearing showed bipartisan agreement about the seriousness of America's fiscal problems.
Keeping These Tax Cuts Is a Bad, Expensive Idea
Everyone loves lower taxes, but cutting them without reducing spending is bad news for the national debt.
Musk's Department of Government Efficiency Can—and Should—Tackle Medicare and Social Security
Doing nothing will lead to Medicare benefits being cut by 11 percent and Social Security Benefits being cut by 23 percent in less than a decade.
DOGE Sets Its Sights on High-Speed Rail
After nearly two decades and billions in federal funding, California’s high-speed rail project still isn’t up and running.
Bidenomics Goes Out With a Whimper
There's a good reason Biden eventually stopped saying Bidenomics. Americans didn't like the results of his economic policies.
The PPP Was a COVID-Era Disaster. Trump Wants To Promote the Guy Who Ran It.
After overseeing the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was a bloated, wasteful mess, Michael Faulkender is failing up.
The Department of Energy Misspent Nearly $1 Billion in 2024
While $1 billion is a drop in the wasteful spending bucket, fiscal irresponsibility of all sizes must be eradicated.
Now More Than Ever, Reason Needs Your Help To Abolish Everything
It's Giving Tuesday, and we're asking for your support.
Promises To Cut $2 Trillion Clash with Trump's Expensive Plans
Ambitious budget cuts will meet political reality in Trump’s second administration.
Congress Is Fiscally Reckless. Will Lawmakers Step Up?
Trump is talking about cutting government spending, but that's mostly in Congress' hands.
DOGE Can Succeed by Scaling Back Its Ambitions
The new advisory group promises bold savings and massive spending cuts, but without any expertise in the federal budget, it’s likely to be all bark and no bite.
Democrats Did Themselves No Favors by Veering Hard to the Left
Economics likely spelled doom for Harris, but extreme ideology sealed her party’s fate.
The Clock Is Running Out for Student Loan Forgiveness
With only months left in his term, Biden wants to forgive the loans of nearly eight million borrowers experiencing "hardship."
How Elon Musk and DOGE Can Deliver on Smaller Government
Plus: a listener asks the editors why it is acceptable to allow unrestricted border crossings into the United States without penalty.
Pentagon Fails 7th Audit in a Row but Hopes To Pass by 2028
Congress required all federal agencies to submit annual financial reports in 1990. The Pentagon finally got around to complying in 2018, and it still hasn't passed an audit.
Social Security Approaches Its Day of Reckoning
Americans should plan for their futures rather than relying on a nonexistent Social Security “trust fund.”
The National Debt Just Hit $36 Trillion. Does Trump Have a Plan To Control It?
It would take nearly $8 trillion in budget cuts merely to stabilize the national debt so it does not grow faster than the economy.
DOGE's Chances Are Slim, but It Might Be Our Only Hope
Congress and the president show no interest in cutting government. Maybe outsiders can get it done.
To Cut Wasteful Spending, Start With Energy Subsidies
Ending the government’s preferential treatment of energy technologies is the best way to ensure long-term economic and environmental sustainability.
Abolish the Department of Education
The federal government furnishes a relatively tiny amount of K-12 funding—but the feds need relatively little money to exert power.
Abolish Federal Student Loans
Easily accessible student loans give colleges an incentive to raise tuition.
Abolish the Department of Transportation
When money comes down from the DOT, it has copious strings attached to it—strings that make infrastructure more expensive and less useful.
Abolish FEMA
FEMA has given Americans every reason to believe it is highly politicized, a poor steward of federal resources, bad at establishing priorities, and often unable to communicate clearly to people in distress.
Trump's First Term Wasn't Fiscally Responsible. Will His Second Be Different?
Even before the pandemic spending increase, the budget deficit was approaching $1 trillion. The GOP has the chance to embrace fiscal sanity this time if they can find the political will.
The Impact of Trump's Cost-Cutting Initiative Hinges on What He Means by 'Government Efficiency'
Narrowly understood, the president-elect's familiar-sounding plan to tackle "massive waste and fraud" may not give us "smaller government" in any meaningful sense.
Feds Approve $80 Million Budget for 'Private' Horse Racing Regulator
The government should exit the multi-million-dollar business of preventing horse doping.
To Succeed at Cutting Government, Musk and Ramaswamy Must Take on Entitlements
When it comes to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse, what's lacking is not ideas but the political will to act on them.
Trump Has No Discernible Interest in Fiscal Responsibility
The president-elect’s record and campaign positions belie Elon Musk’s talk of spending cuts.
How Donald Trump and Elon Musk Could Cut $2 Trillion in Government Spending
If Musk is truly serious about fiscal discipline, he'll advise the president-elect to eschew many of the policies he promised on the campaign trail.
