Economy & Budget

In recent remarks that were stunning and profound, Pope Francis harshly criticized what he called "the cult of money" and condemned what he called the "dictatorship" of economies that are socially unjust and morally unfair.

These remarks, reported in The Daily Telegraph and highlighted on the Drudge Report (but not in major American media) suggest a papacy with the potential to transform the global economic and financial debate.

Most recent popes, including Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict, raised the same issues that Francis dramatized this week. What makes the Holy Father different today is that he views economic and social injustice as a defining, and possibly THE defining, theme of is papacy.

Nothing makes my blood boil more rapidly than blatant dishonesty. So, imagine my reaction when I read the President Obama's statement promising to veto the version of the Full, Faith and Credit Act that passed 221-207 Thursday in the House of Representatives.

As stories spread about airline passengers waiting extra hours because of furloughs imposed by the sequester, and as monthly job reports begin to show the jobs-destroying impact of the sequester increasing, it is time to cancel the sequester.

The Hill's A.B. Stoddard sits down with John Feehery and Peter Fenn from Pundits' Blog to discuss the burst of legislative activity happening in Congress.

The Washington Post reports that President Obama is pushing banks to make home loans for people who currently don’t qualify. Haven’t we been living in this bad movie for the past six years?

Obama’s idea is a Groundhog Day-like sequel where the government compels a now quasi-nationalized lending industry to give loans to people who have a history of not repaying debt. Because many of those loans are not repaid, the banks inevitably need to be bailed out by the taxpayers, and the very same government that demanded the loans be made then blames the lenders for making them. This is not conjecture; it is the history of the housing bubble and collapse.

Recently, residents in all 50 states have registered secession requests from the federal government. Sixteen states are studying the creation of their own currencies. States have taken their own initiatives on gun control, abortion, the National Defense Authorization Act and other issues. Lakota Indians in The Dakotas have declared their own republic and so have a band of Vermonters. And Texas wants its gold back from the Fed. What happened? 

The Hill's A.B. Stoddard answers your questions on the prospects for gun control legislation, the sequester fallout and the debate over gay marriage.

One has to either make enough money that income taxes do not matter, find loopholes so one does not have to pay taxes, or become so poor that the government will provide every program and benefit available in the system.

The Hill's A.B. Stoddard takes your questions on the looming furloughs for government employees and President Obama's outreach efforts to Congress.

With all the talk of fiscal cliff, sequestration, the continuing resolution, and raising the debt ceiling (again), I’ve yet to hear any politician on either side of the aisle focus on government waste.

It is fact that both parties so egregiously waste money that they come to blows and hurt family paychecks when they could be looking at ways to save that would benefit everyone.