Author: Norman Leahy

In a bit of good news from the states – Minnesota has become the 23rd state to legalize marijuana: As of August 1, adults 21 and older will be able to possess in public up to two ounces of cannabis and they will be allowed to cultivate up to eight plants at home, four of which can be mature. People can possess up to two pounds of marijuana in their residences. Gifting up to two ounces of marijuana without remuneration between adults will be permitted. It’s expected to take 12-18 months for licenses to be issued and regulated sales to…

Whatever worries political and market observers may have had about the House’s ability to approve the debt ceiling deal were firmly and unmistakably answered on Wednesday night. The 314-117 vote in favor of the compromise between House Republican leaders and the Biden administration allowed the fringes to go on record against the idea and everyone else to do the right thing and avoid a possible default. That is until the Senate gets its hands on the measure. While the votes are likely there to pass the deal, Senate procedure will still allow some members to take to the floor and…

For all of the recent focus, including my own, on the debt ceiling drama playing out in Washington, it’s critical to remember that some of the biggest and most frequent challenges to limited government, individual liberty and fiscal restraint come from local elected officials. Local governments have enormous power over our daily lives. And sometimes, these local pols can be as greedy and grasping as the most notorious federal grandee. A recent Supreme Court decision involving a 94-year-old Hennepin County, Minnesota resident and the local officials who seized her home due to an unpaid tax balance is a case in…

House Republican negotiators and the Biden administration hashed out a deal to raise the debt ceiling for two years in exchange for exceedingly modest amounts of spending restraint on a sliver of the overall federal budget. The headline items in the agreement, according The Wall Street Journal, include: The deal holds nonmilitary spending roughly flat for the 2024 fiscal year from this year, after factoring in some appropriations adjustments. The deal sets a 1% cap on spending increases for the 2025 fiscal year. House Republicans portrayed the 2023 spending level as a rollback to fiscal 2022 levels. The deal also…

In their own ways, the major political parties agree the federal government spends too much. They disagree profoundly on where cuts need to be made and exactly how much revenue the government needs to keep running. But what if you were invited to sit down with the pols negotiating over the debt ceiling right now? They want to know what your spending plan is – what you would cut or maybe increase. And taxes, too – which ones would you cut, keep the same, or raise? Two organizations have put together rather comprehensive online tools that allow you to make…

It’s not just Social Security the debt ceiling negotiators in D.C. are ignoring. Also off the table is that other massive line item in the federal budget, Medicare. That program is currently projected to run out of money in 2031 – three years later than previous estimates (a good thing). But the money still runs out…absent reforms that increase its financial stability. What sort of reforms might achieve this essential goal? The Tax Foundation’s Alex Durante writes that there have been several ideas floated in the last decade and more to keep Medicare solvent, including tough medicine like raising Medicare…

As the “only in D.C.” drama of the debt ceiling negotiations putter along, it’s critical to remember that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are talking about changes to one of the biggest drivers of U.S. spending: Social Security. The reason is simple: politics. Major party pols live in mortal fear of doing anything to this massive social program because of the possible Election Day fallout. And, if they are nothing else, the major party pols are career-minded folks who really, really, want to keep their own government paychecks (and eventual government benefits) flowing. But that doesn’t mean the rest…

On the topic of the growing GOP presidential field…there are whispers (none dare call them “wishcasting”…yet) that Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin may be reconsidering his earlier decision not to run. Or at least that’s the angle on this Axios piece. Let’s dive into this “scoop” to see what’s what: What we’re hearing: Some powerful GOP donors, who won’t support Trump but are beginning to be concerned about DeSantis, are encouraging Youngkin to jump into the 2024 field. “He’s reconsidering,” a top source close to Youngkin told Axios. “He’d be in his own lane: He’s not never-Trump, and he’s not Trump-light.”…

With Sen. Tim Scott officially declaring his candidacy and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expected to follow Wednesday, the 2024 GOP presidential field is getting bigger. But is it getting any better…or for that matter, are any of the new entrants remotely capable of overcoming the current frontrunner, former President Donald Trump? The quality question is in the eye of the beholder. Scott, for example, is leading with what appears to be the most optimistic message of the declared candidates: “We need a president who persuades not just our friends and our base,” he told supporters in his hometown. “We have…

House Republicans and the Biden administration appear to be getting more serious about the debt ceiling, with more talks scheduled for this week. This may give comfort to the camp in D.C. and on Wall Street that believes a default – and economic catastrophe – will be avoided. Save for those few economic nihilists who believe a default is a legitimate bargaining tool (looking at you, Donald Trump), everyone else understands that a U.S. default is the absolute worst-case scenario. What are the other possibilities, then? J.P. Morgan researchers have published an extensive Q and A on what happens if…