Connect with us

Published

on

As the festive season approaches, with its twinkling lights and merry carols, the item topping my Christmas wish list is fiscal responsibility from Congress and the administration. If this sounds like an economist conflating policy with goodwill, remember this: In a world where holiday wishes usually lean toward “stuff”gadgets, games, and glittering jewelsmy wish would bring long-term prosperity, stability, and cheer far beyond the fleeting joy of unwrapping presents.

Here are two small steps Congress could take to jumpstart the fiscal stability process that are uncontroversial and bipartisan (or at least they should be).

However, before I begin, I’ll remind you why we shouldn’t let Congress fool us into believing fiscal responsibility is impossible. In the last four years, public debt has increased by 53 percent thanks to the massive expansion during the COVID-19 emergency. Huge gains are possible simply by eliminating temporary programs that were created.

As much as people enjoy the illusion of free money handed out by Uncle Sam, it’s been unmasked by inflation. Would it be terrible to go back to where we were before the pandemic, when the economy and wages were growing, and most Americans liked that direction?

The first step involves curtailing emergency spending loopholes. Emergency spending is intended for unforeseen, urgent expenditures arising from natural disasters, economic crises, or other unexpected serious situations. It’s typically exempt from ordinary budgetary constraints and processes. The idea is for governments to respond quickly without the delay of standard budgetary procedures.

Unfortunately, the emergency spending label has long been abused. Regular, predictable expenditures are often labelled as “emergencies” to bypass normal budgetary controls and scrutiny. This ability to spend without much oversight is awfully convenient for politicians and, as a result, makes emergency spending a significant driver of government debt. In a new study of the issue, Romina Bocca and Dominik Lett of the Cato Institute write: “Congress has designated $12 trillion in inflation-adjusted emergency and related cap-exempt spending over the last three decades. That’s 43 percent of the current public debt without including interest costs.”

There’s no way this much spending is based on unforeseen emergencies. Congress can give our children, who (as always) will probably foot the bill, quite the gift by deciding now to finally take on emergency spending reform. That would involve more transparency, stricter criteria about what constitutes an emergency, and better integration of emergency spending into the overall fiscal framework to ensure that such funds are used effectively and responsibly.

The second step is to tackle the staggering issue of improper payments made by the federal government, which soared to $236 billion in 2023. A new paper by Matt Dickerson at the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) for America notes that this number represents a 5.42 percent improper rate. This adds up to more than the combined total funding of several major government departments, even surpassing the $185 billion provided for the U.S. Army in the same year.

Since 2015, improper payments have increased by $100 billion. Over the last 20 years, the federal government reported a total of at least $2.4 trillion in improper payments. Considering less than 5 percent of improper payments were underpayments, and that the federal government barely even tries to recover overpayments, stopping this trend would make a big difference in reducing budget deficits.

I think we can all agree that improper payments that grow year after year are symptomatic of the sloppiness with which the government manages taxpayers’ hard-earned money. Putting an end to this particularly unacceptable spending should be a no-brainer that transcends bipartisan politics.

Over at the Heritage Foundation, Rachel Greszler rightfully notes that legislators “must verify that government payments are valid, hold bad administrators accountable, and minimize Americans’ reliance on federal programs.” She is correct that reducing the reliance on programs that experience the largest amounts of improper payments, either as a share of the program (Earned Income Tax Credit) or in absolute dollars (Medicaid), is essential. But also, bureaucrats themselves should be held accountable for their mistakes.

These small changes won’t fix everything. Only a reform of entitlement programs would do that. And embracing fiscal responsibility might not bring the immediate thrill of unwrapping a new toy or gadgetespecially for our kids. However, its benefits would endure. Changes could signal a commitment to a more stable and prosperous future not just for ourselves, but for generations to come. This Christmas, let’s hang our stockings with a hope for fiscal sanity, a gift that truly would keep on giving.

COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM.

Continue Reading

UK

Russian captain of ship in North Sea crash charged with gross negligence manslaughter

Published

on

By

Russian captain of ship in North Sea crash charged with gross negligence manslaughter

The Russian captain of the Solong container ship involved in the North Sea crash has been charged with gross negligence manslaughter.

Vladimir Motin, 59, of Primorsky, St Petersburg, has been remanded in police custody and is due to appear at Hull Magistrates Court on Saturday, Humberside Police said.

On Monday morning, about 13 miles off the coast of East Yorkshire, the Solong sailed into the US-registered oil tanker Stena Immaculate, which was carrying jet fuel for the US Navy.

One member of the Solong crew is presumed dead. He has been named by the Crown Prosecution Service as 38-year-old Filipino national Mark Angelo Pernia.

Smoke billows from the MV Solong cargo ship in the North Sea, off the Yorkshire coast, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, England. (Dan Kitwood/Pool Photo via AP)
Image:
The MV Solong cargo ship following Monday’s North Sea crash. Pic: AP

Five Russians had been on board the Solong, Russian state agency TASS quoted the Russian embassy in London as saying, Reuters reported.

In the immediate aftermath of the collision, dozens of people were forced to abandon the vessels as they caught fire.

The coastguard rescued 36 crew members after the alarm was raised at 9.48am on Monday.

More from UK

The Stena Immaculate, operated by US firm Crowley, was stationary and at anchor while waiting for a berth to become available at the Port of Killingholme, on the River Humber, when it was struck by the smaller Solong, causing huge fires and explosions – the smoke from which was visible from space.

The Solong had been sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands at the time.

It was initially feared it was carrying sodium cyanide but the German owner Ernst Russ said four containers on the vessel had previously been carrying the chemical.

Salvage companies boarded the two vessels on Thursday and were carrying out initial damage assessments. Small fires were still being reported on the Solong’s top deck, the coastguard said.

The US oil tanker MV Stena Immaculate following the collision. Pic: PA
Image:
The US oil tanker MV Stena Immaculate after the collision. Pic: PA

Police said extensive lines of inquiry were continuing but it was taking time given the vessels were still at sea and there were a large number of witnesses.

Frank Ferguson, from the CPS, said: “We have authorised Humberside Police to charge a Russian national in relation to a collision involving two vessels in the North Sea off the east coast of England.

“The Portuguese-registered cargo ship, the Solong, collided with the American-registered oil tanker, the Stena Immaculate, just before 10am on Monday, 10 March 2025.

“Filipino national Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, died.

“Vladimir Motin, 59, from St Petersburg, Russia, who was the vessel’s captain, is due to be charged with one count of gross negligence manslaughter.”

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Continue Reading

Technology

Buy now, pay later lender Klarna files for U.S. IPO

Published

on

By

Buy now, pay later lender Klarna files for U.S. IPO

Pedestrians walk by an advertisement for Klarna.

Daniel Harvey Gonzalez | In Pictures via Getty Images

Klarna, a provider of buy now, pay later loans filed its IPO prospectus on Friday, and plans to go public on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol KLAR.

Klarna, headquartered in Sweden, hasn’t yet disclosed the number of shares to be offered or the expected price range.

The decision to go public in the U.S. deals a significant blow to European stock exchanges, which have struggled to retain homegrown tech firms. Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski had hinted for years that a U.S. listing was more likely, citing better visibility and regulatory advantages.

Klarna is continuing to rebuild after a dramatic downturn. Once a pandemic-era darling valued at $46 billion in a SoftBank-led funding round, Klarna saw its valuation slashed by 85% in 2022, plummeting to $6.7 billion in its most recent primary fundraising. However, analysts now estimate the company’s valuation in the $15 billion range, bolstered by its return to profitability in 2023.

Revenue last year increased 24% to $2.8 billion. The company’s operating loss was $121 million for the year, and adjusted operating profit was $181 million, swinging from a loss of $49 million a year earlier.

Founded in 2005, Klarna is best known for its buy now, pay later model, a service that allows consumers to split purchases into installments. The company competes with Affirm, which went public in 2021, and Afterpay, which Block acquired for $29 billion in early 2022. Klarna’s major shareholders include venture firms Sequoia Capital and Atomico, as well as SoftBank’s Vision Fund.

Continue Reading

Politics

UK authorizes charges against NCA officer for alleged Bitcoin theft

Published

on

By

UK authorizes charges against NCA officer for alleged Bitcoin theft

UK authorizes charges against NCA officer for alleged Bitcoin theft

The agency responsible for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales announced that a National Crime Agency (NCA) officer was due to be charged with the alleged theft of Bitcoin worth roughly $75,000 in 2017.

In a March 14 notice, the Crown Prosecution Service said it had authorized the Merseyside Police to charge NCA officer Paul Chowles with 15 offenses related to the alleged Bitcoin (BTC) theft “during an investigation into online organized crime.” Authorities said Chowles could face one count of theft, 11 charges for concealing, disguising, or converting criminal property and three counts for acquiring, using or possessing criminal property.

The 50 Bitcoin, worth roughly $75,000 before the December 2017 bull run, was valued at more than $4.2 million at the time of publication at a BTC price of $84,541. The NCA officer is expected to appear at the Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on April 25.

Related: British man sues council for $647M over lost Bitcoin in landfill

In April 2024, amendments to the UK’s Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act authorized NCA officers and local police to seize crypto from suspected criminals without arresting them. The Crown Prosecution Service did not mention how Chowles allegedly stole the Bitcoin or whether the funds were connected to illicit activities.

Crypto policies across the pond

The NCA said in December 2024 that it had seized roughly $26 million in cash and crypto and arrested 84 people as part of a global campaign to fight money laundering and organized crime. Some of the crypto addresses targeted by UK authorities at the time “showed regular exposure to Garantex.” The founder of the Russian crypto exchange was arrested in India in March and is expected to be extradited to the US to face criminal charges. 

The UK government is expected to move forward on creating a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets in 2025 following the Labour government’s election victory. The country remains a significant market for crypto users, with Coinbase securing approval to operate from the financial regulatory body in February.

Magazine: Crypto fans are obsessed with longevity and biohacking: Here’s why

Continue Reading

Trending