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Is there room in an aspirational budget to spend on fun and save for a house?

Jan 17, 2024
Consumers' plans for spending on fun edge out everyday essentials and big-ticket items, according to a survey from the New York Fed.
Consumers are spending more on things like skin care, make-up and candles, says Natalie Kotlyar of BDO.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Fenty Beauty by Rihanna

K-12 public schools still count on kids to show up for funding

Nov 9, 2020
With so many schools online, screen fatigue, parents opting out and other coronavirus-driven variables, how will districts get the funds they need?
A teacher and student wearing masks speak between classes at Rippowam Middle School in September in Stamford, Connecticut.
John Moore/Getty Images

Libraries and social services go hand and hand, especially in the pandemic

Sep 16, 2020
We check in with a Tennessee librarian whose staff is helping patrons with computers and virtual schooling.
"I want to see the library lively. I want to see the programs back," says Jennifer Pearson, director of the Marshall County Memorial Library. Above, she stands in the middle of her staff.
Courtesy of Jennifer Pearson.

USCIS budget shortfall could mean a longer wait for immigrants

Jul 21, 2020
The department said staff furloughs could be coming unless Congress sends $1.2 billion its way.
In this file photo, immigrants await their turn for green card and citizenship interviews at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Queens office on May 30, 2013 in the Long Island City neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.
John Moore/Getty Images

Congress returns to face funding deadline

Sep 9, 2019
A busy agenda, including a looming deadline for a spending deal, awaits lawmakers returning from their summer recess.
The House of Representatives and Senate have about a dozen working days to hammer out 12 separate spending bills. Above, the U.S. Capitol.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

President Trump proposes a 2020 budget big on spending cuts

Mar 12, 2019
President Donald Trump’s 2020 budget calls for $2.7 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years. And they come from one part of the budget in particular: nondefense discretionary spending. That type of spending supports basic government functions like law enforcement, education and foreign aid. It does not include spending for the military or for mandatory […]
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The president’s budget is not a done deal

Mar 11, 2019
The Trump administration is expected to release the broad outline of its 2020 budget proposal Monday.
The House Budget Committee displays copies of US President Donald Trump's FY2020 budget in the Cannon House Office Building on March 11, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

The partial shutdown could delay economic data, too

Dec 26, 2018
We’re now five days into the partial government shutdown. While the Senate is expected to reconvene Thursday and resume negotiations over how to end the shutdown, odds are that it’ll continue into January. The impasse is already cutting into the supply of something that is essential to just about every market out there: federal economic data. […]
The sun begins to rise over Washington as the federal government is in a partial shutdown, on Dec. 23, 2018 in Washington, DC. 
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

President George H.W. Bush dies at 94

Nov 30, 2018
He came to office promising not to raise taxes, but later compromised to help cut the deficit.
U.S. President George Bush poses for photographers after his address to the nation, 27 September 1991, in the Oval Office of the White House. During his speech, Bush announced that the U.S. will unilaterally eliminate its land and sea-based short-range nuclear weapons.
LUKE FRAZZA/AFP/Getty Images