Freedomshift

- U.S. state budgets rely on “faulty practices” – Volcker - Shoddy budget practices push costs to future generations - Faulty budget practices lead to poor policy making - “Problems hidden by lack of truth and integrity” – Volcker - No common definition of balanced budget allows for gimmicks The highly regarded former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker, has severely criticized the State Governments in the U.S. over “faulty practices” used to devise budgets which mask the true financial position of those states. Read more: here

In late April, we asked if for-profit college closures would represent the next multi-billion dollar taxpayer-funded bailout. While the country’s $1.3 trillion student debt bubble represents a very real risk to taxpayers over time, for-profit institutions pose a more immediate threat. From a ‘big picture perspective, the push for student loan forgiveness and “debt-free” higher education is certainly kicking into high gear, with the likes of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders pushing ideas such as a tax on stock transactions to fund college education in America. Meanwhile, The White House is exploring more “efficient” ways for students to discharge debt in bankruptcy and the “ cancel all student debt ” calls have begun in earnest. That said, any kind of sweeping overhaul will likely take years to implement, but in the mean time, IBR repayment programs allow students whose post-graduation disposable income isn’t deemed sufficient, to simply pay nothing on the way to ...

On Saturday we introduced readers to the “ Ferguson Effect ”. The idea is that the recent spate of prosecutions and instances of social unrest that followed a series of events involving perceived police misconduct directed at African Americans have made police officers gun shy — literally. Here’s what Thomas W. Smith fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of “Are Cops Racist?” Heather Mac Donald wrote in a WSJ piece: Here

The NFL reportedly accepted millions of dollars from the defense department over the course of three years in exchange for honoring troops and veterans before games, the  New Jersey Star Ledger reports . Read more: here