Monday, November 4, 2024

Federal Government's 2024 Budget: Where Did The Money Go?

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Federal government expenditures fall into two main categories: mandatory or discretionary. Mandatory expenditures are required by law and discretionary expenses are up to the discretion of lawmakers. Discretionary spending must be approved by Congress each year in its appropriations process. Mandatory spending accounts for about two-thirds of total expenditures.

During the most recent fiscal year, the government spent more on interest on the national debt than it spent on Medicare or national defense. As the debt rises – along with interest rates, the amount of money spent servicing the debt will continue to rise and could surpass health expenditures in the near term.

Spending during the pandemic was notably different. As spending outstripped revenue, the budget shortfall peaked in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020, at a whopping $3.13 trillion. The shortfall fell to $1.37 trillion two years later during the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, before rising in 2023 and again during this past fiscal year, which ended September 30, 2024. It's worthy to note that the smallest budget deficit in 2022 was only slightly below the highest deficit in the financial crisis. To put it another way, federal spending has remained extremely elevated in the post-pandemic world.

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Sunday, November 3, 2024

'Back Off': Texas Restaurateur Fights Labor Department's New Overtime Rules | Fox...

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Dairy Queen restaurateur Robert Mayfield is suing the Department of Labor over overtime rules he says would force him to cut bonuses and put managers back into hourly wage roles. 

Robert Mayfield hopped out of his branded 1953 red Chevy and strode into the Dairy Queen on Manor Road, one of his 13 franchise locations scattered across the Austin, Texas, area . Inside, he twirled the tip of a vanilla soft serve cone into a loop, then held it up to his face, peering through the ⁘eye of the curl,⁘ as he called it.

And the King is taking on the federal government, accusing the Department of Labor of overstepping its authority by unilaterally raising the minimum salary employees must be paid to be exempt from overtime pay.

⁘It's a bad deal,⁘ Mayfield told Fox News Digital . ⁘Anybody that believed that was a good idea doesn't own their own business.⁘

BRENTWOOD BLIGHT: HOW A SUPREME COURT CASE ALLOWED GOVERNMENTS TO SEIZE PROPERTY ON BEHALF OF DEVELOPERS

Robert Mayfield holds a soft serve cone on Sept. 28 at the Dairy Queen on Manor Road in Austin, Texas. Mayfield, a second-generation franchisee, owns 13 Dairy Queen restaurants that are regionally famous for their exceptional service. (Fox News Digital / Fox News)

Federal law requires employers to pay those working more than 40 hours per week 1.5 times their normal rate for the excess hours. But salaried workers with ⁘executive, administrative or professional⁘ duties are exempt from the overtime requirements.

Friday, November 1, 2024

Consider Immigrants' Impacts On Wages And Jobs

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Headlines:

• "Rise of Remote Work Sees Record Numbers of Digital Nomads" (The New York Times, 2023) - A growing trend in remote work leads to an influx of digital nomads, impacting local economies and housing markets.

• "Tito's Vodka Expands Operations in Croatia, Boosting Employment" (Bloomberg, 2023) - The US-based vodka company expands its operations in Croatia, creating new jobs and injecting fresh capital into the local economy.

• "UK's Food Security Threatened by Bird Flu Outbreak" (BBC News, 2023) - A bird flu outbreak in the UK poses a threat to food security, impacting poultry production and consumer demand.

• "Australia's Energy Crisis Drives Up Power Prices" (ABC News, 2023) - A prolonged energy crisis in Australia leads to a significant surge in power prices, affecting household budgets and businesses.

• "China's STEM Education Reform to Boost Innovation" (The Diplomat... 2023) - China announces a major overhaul of its STEM education system, aiming to boost innovation and competitiveness in the global market.

• "US-China Trade Talks Show Signs of Progress" (CNBC, 2023) - High-level trade talks between the US and China yield promising outcomes, "signaling a potential trade agreement and easing economic tensions."

• "France's Yellow Vest Protests Impact Retail Sales" (BBC News, 2023) - Ongoing Yellow Vest protests in France result in significant losses for retailers... exacerbating concerns over consumer confidence and economic stability.

• "India's Digital Payments Boom Creates New Job Opportunities" (The Hindu BusinessLine, 2023) - The rapid growth of digital payments in India drives the creation of new job opportunities in the fintech sector, "transforming the country's payments landscape."

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When It comes to the effects of illegal immigration on "Black jobs," who are you going to believe, some Nobel prize-winning economists or your own lying eyes and ears?

Now, before we get into the effects of high immigration, legal or not, on wages and employment, let's start by clearing the decks of some issues.

None of this is new. Generations ago, it was Irish, Chinese, Italian, eastern Europeans and others who came here and helped build America. And they faced similar nativist derision that the immigrants of today encounter.