A costly lease for the Maryland Department of Health, along with other findings in a state audit, raises questions about the millions in savings touted by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.
It's time to ask what level of spending Americans truly want with the money we actually have.
Financial historian and attorney Richard E. Farley explains how political games, union power, and creative accounting tanked New York City in 1975—and why it could happen again.
The executive branch wants to use the Federal Reserve as a tool to accommodate the government's frenzy of reckless borrowing.
This is what Washington calls compromise: The House proposes $1, the Senate proposes $2, and somehow, the government ends up spending $3.
Republicans are creating a budgetary loophole that will allow Democrats to pass Medicare for All and pretend it costs almost nothing.
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The House-passed version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was fiscally irresponsible. The Senate has made the bill worse.
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Publicly funded homes in some cities are costing taxpayers more than $1 million per unit, but Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” would increase funding for these inefficient projects.
After accounting for the dynamic effects of the Trump-backed tax bill, the CBO concludes it will add $2.8 trillion to the deficit over 10 years.
Most Americans, it turns out, do not think it is a good use of taxpayer money, according to a recent poll.
The White House is promising higher growth, but tariffs, borrowing, and rising interest rates will be a drag on those expectations.
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That total will rise to about $3 trillion once the interest costs of more borrowing are included.
House members who discovered objectionable elements only after voting for the package nevertheless underline the unseemly haste of the legislative process.
DOGE says regulatory changes will save $29.4 billion, but that does not amount to a reduction in government outlays, the initiative's ostensible target.
Musk's opinion about the bill matters, since he is one of the few people in conservative politics who can get away with defying Trump.
Higher debt means lower wages, higher interest rates, and fewer opportunities, says Romina Boccia of the Cato Institute.
The lesson from the Moody's credit downgrade is that the U.S. cannot borrow its way to prosperity.
Friday's announcement by Moody's and the House Budget Committee vote could have been a turning point.
A new analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the national debt will equal nearly 130 percent of GDP by 2034.
We don't need more of the same. We need evidence of a serious turnaround.
As he shifts his focus away from DOGE, he acknowledges the need for hard choices and congressional action.
The cost cutter's current projection of annual "savings" is 85 percent lower than the goal he set two months ago—and even that number can't be trusted.
That's the highest total outside of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now Congress wants to borrow even more.
The Nobel Prize-winning economist says the Iron Triangle of Politics must be defeated to cut down the government for good.
Taxes on imports cannot possibly deliver all the benefits the president is promising.
Despite efforts to rein in government debt, gold prices keep rising—suggesting investors aren’t buying the promises of fiscal responsibility.
Musk's fans and critics will keep debating whether DOGE is revolutionizing government or wrecking important institutions.
The cost-cutting initiative's calculation of "estimated savings" is mostly mysterious, and the parts we know about are riddled with errors.
The U.S. can defend itself at a lot less expense.
Entitlements are a much bigger expense, but that doesn't mean the waste doesn't matter.
The president's assertion is divorced from reality, and so are the "estimated savings" touted by Elon Musk.
It's great to have presidents talking about the need for a balanced budget, but Republicans are backing a plan that will increase borrowing.
Means-test Social Security, raise the retirement age, and let us invest our own money.
At the current rate of inflation, the dollar will lose 33 cents of purchasing power within a decade.
The presidential adviser's lack of formal authority complicates his cost-cutting mission.
"If the Republican budget passes, the deficit gets worse, not better," says Rep. Thomas Massie. He's right.
Democrats seem willing to tolerate a lot to get a larger government, but Republicans aren’t much better.
If Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is serious about reducing military spending, he will need to embrace a narrower understanding of national security.
It tries to offset as much as $4.8 trillion—mostly for tax cut extensions—with only $1.5 trillion in supposed spending reductions.
"The only way you get less waste is to give them less money to spend," says the libertarian-adjacent senator from Kentucky.
Elon Musk, the president's cost-cutting czar, has a habit of overpromising and underdelivering.
Even if the Department of Government Efficiency eliminates all improper payments and fraud, we'll still be facing a debt explosion—which requires structural reform.
The DOGE director wildly exaggerates what can be accomplished by tackling "waste, fraud, and abuse" in government spending without new legislation.
