Federal health-care spending was far higher during the COVID-19 pandemic because of specific transfers. Those extra funds stopped flowing in 2022-23, by which time the federal share of total provincial spending had grown just slightly to 21.2 per cent. That reality wasn’t acknowledged when pre...
The estimates suggest a 5% increase in contract spending among civilian agencies in fiscal 2022 was more than offset by a 13% drop in contract spending among defense agencies, leading to a second consecutive year of decreased contract spending, following2020’s high watermarkof nearly $700 billion...
The target for the federal funds rate has varied widely over the years in response to the prevailing economic conditions. It was set as high as 20% in the early 1980s in response to inflation. With the coming of the Great Recession, the rate was slashed to a record-low target of 0% ...
In the decade leading up to the Great Recession, the government kept federal spending below 20% of GDP. It grew no faster than the economy, around 2% to 3% per year. During the recession, spending grew to a record 24.4% of GDP in FY 2009. This increase was due toeconomic stimulusand...
The U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, DC, was responsible for $25.9 billion of overpayments.(Mandel Ngan / Getty Images) Such spending has contributed to the growth of the federal deficit. Thefederal government’s budget deficitincreased to $2.1 trillion over the last 12 months...
A joint meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System was held in the offices of the Board of Governors on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. and continued on Thursday, November 7, 2024, at
First, was Reaganomics successful? Second, should similar policies be pursued today? Today’s column is Part IV of a five-part series. In Part I, we reviewed Reagan’s successful record of spending restraint and explained why the same approach is needed today, particularly to control entitlement...
The federal government's spending in the2024 fiscal year was $6.75 trillion. Musk said he could quickly eliminate $2 trillion from the federal budget but has not provided any specifics on how, and later softened his stance, calling $2 trilliona "best-case outcome." ...
Critics say that companies, not the government, should decide how much their employees are paid. They add that a minimum wage doesn't always increase the spending power of a population and can instead lead to higherunemployment. A small change in the price for low-wage labor could have a ...
In mid-March 2022, the federal funds rate was 0.25-0.50%; by the end of July 2023, this rate had increased to 5.25-5.50%,according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. A change to the federal interest rate—whether up or down—could have a ripple effect in the same direction on...