The U.S. Bureau has reported that federal domestic spending increased by 16% in 2009 — the largest increase since the bureau began keeping records in 1983. Federal domestic spending amounted to a staggering $3.2 trillion dollars in 2009, most of it funded via a record expansion of federal debt. Almost...

This BloombergTV interview with David Rosenberg, Chief Economist at Gluskin Sheff & Associates, provides an excellent overview of the economic mess we’re currently in. David explains why this is a depression, not a recession, and why demand-focused stimulus efforts are the wrong approach to...

Since 2000, pay for Americans has increased an average of 8.8%. At the same time, pay for federal government employees has increased by 36.9% — more than four times as fast. Federal government employees have received larger average pay and benefit increases than private employees every year for...

Every child who is born in America is now born owing $43,186.  This is, according the The U.S. Debt Clock, every child’s share of our more than $13 trillion dollar national debt.  This is the debt the child owes when it draws it’s first breath. If the child manages to become one of the...

If the U.S. Congress fails to act before 1 January, as is almost certain, an estate tax will be assessed on Americans who are unlucky enough to die in 2011. The death tax will have a $1M exemption and a 55% top rate. $1M may seem like a lot, when you think in terms of cash. However, this is a truly...

I have read and studied a lot of survival manuals.  One significant trouble with the genre is that the trouble you’re in never seems to match up with the situations the books aim to prepare you for. Some survival books focus on outdoor survival under impossible circumstances.  Personally, I have...

118 banks have failed this year and the FDIC has announced that another 829 banks are at risk of failure. The FDIC’s last report listed only 775 banks at risk of failure — that’s an increase of 7% in only three months. This means that more than one in ten of America’s approximately...