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Vice President JD Vance has cancelled his scheduled trip to Israel amidst a massive uptick in Israeli violence in Gaza, with hundreds of civilians killed over the weekend and a ground invasion underway. Is US government attention starting to turn toward the unspeakable suffering inflicted by US bombs and money?
By Ron Paul
Last week, Moody’s Ratings lowered the United States credit rating. Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings had already lowered the US rating. This new downgrade was driven by Congress’s failure to make any efforts to reduce the almost 37 trillion dollars national debt. When Moody’s made its announcement, the House Budget Committee was scrambling to get the votes to pass legislation extending the 2017 tax cuts. President Trump has dubbed this the “big beautiful bill.” The bill also has new tax cuts including repealing federal taxes on tips and overtime. The bill “offsets” the “lost” revenue from the cuts by making some cost saving reforms in domestic welfare programs, most notably Medicaid and food stamps. However, it increases spending in other areas, most notably military spending. According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the “big beautiful bill” would increase the national debt by at least 3.3 trillion dollars over ten years. This number is likely to rise because several moderate Republicans are threatening to vote against the bill unless the Medicaid and food stamps “reforms” are limited or dropped. Tax cuts are always worth supporting because they advance liberty and sound economics by ensuring the people have more and the government has less. However, tax cuts that are not combined with real spending cuts are delayed tax increases. This is because cutting taxes without cutting spending leads to more debt that leads to higher taxes. These tax increases are likely to come from the Federal Reserve’s monetization of debt, which weakens the dollar’s purchasing power. This “inflation tax” benefits political and financial elites while hurting most Americans. The reason Republicans are finding it difficult to offset their tax plan in a way that is politically palatable is that they are following exactly the opposite of the politically smart path to cut spending. Instead of starting by cutting welfare for the poor, Republicans should have started by cutting welfare for the rich, particularly the military-industrial complex. Last week, while visiting the Middle East, President Trump delivered an important speech refuting the neocon crusade that has dominated American foreign policy thinking since 9-11. Yet, President Trump is proposing to increase the military budget to one trillion dollars. President Trump and congressional Republicans will never cut spending until they stop pretending they can pay down the national debt, cut taxes, and continue massive spending on militarism. Similarly, fiscal conservatives need to stop targeting single mothers on food stamps while increasing federal spending on foreign intervention. The debt that caused Moody’s and other credit rating agencies to lower the US government’s credit rating is because of spending, not tax cuts. Congress should be giving the people more tax cuts and offsetting them with deep cuts in military spending. Cutting spending wasted on a futile pursuit of a global empire is not just a fiscal necessity. It is also the best thing Congress can do to promote peace and prosperity. Congress should then begin phasing out welfare programs in a manner that does not harm those currently reliant on the programs. Congress should also rein in the welfare-warfare state’s great enabler by auditing then ending the Federal Reserve. It should also repeal the 16th Amendment. These actions would free the people from 1913’s great mistakes — fiat money and income taxes. Is BRICS Coming for the U.S. Dollar? A Financial Breakdown with Phillip Patrick of Birch Gold5/16/2025
In this eye-opening discussion, we sit down with Phillip Patrick of Birch Gold Group to explore a pressing question: Is BRICS coming for the U.S. dollar? As the alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa pushes for a shift in global financial power, what does it mean for the future of the dollar, and how might it impact your savings, investments, and the global economy?
War-obsessed Republican US Senators are desperately trying to scuttle what seems like an impending breakthrough in US talks with Iran. Just as President Trump finishes up a successful Middle Eastern tour, all Republican Senators - except Sen. Rand Paul - have signed a letter warning the President that any deal would be DOA if it did not include one point that is sure to be rejected by Iran. Unsurprisingly, AIPAC is heavily praising (and probably drafted) the letter. Meanwhile 2/3 of REPUBLICANS want the talks to be successful according to a recent poll!
In his first trip abroad, President Trump spoke in Saudi Arabia about the foolish destructiveness of the neocons and nation-builders and proclaimed a new era of respect for national sovereignty and economic development. Does this mean that non-interventionism has finally arrived?
In The American Conservative magazine, George O'Neill, Jr. perfectly captures all that is wrong with not only our foreign policy but also our domestic policy. We discuss in today's Liberty Report.
By Ron Paul
President Trump’s return to the Middle East this week, the first since his first-term 2017 visit, will take place amidst great turmoil. It is a region that bears little resemblance to the Middle East of 2017 and it appears, at least from media reporting this past week, that the Trump Administration has some understanding of this reality. Syria has been over-run and is now controlled by the same al-Qaeda that the US government supposedly spent 20 years fighting in the “war on terror.” Violence against religious and ethnic minorities has, predictably, exploded under the “rule” of a self-proclaimed Syrian president who until very recently was on the US “most wanted” terrorist list. After the October 7, 2023, Hamas raid, Gaza has been reduced to rubble and turned into a humanitarian catastrophe. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed and perhaps another million face starvation. US bombs and financial aid have facilitated the utter destruction of Gaza. Iran has made peace with Saudi Arabia thanks to Chinese mediation and is deepening its ties with the Kingdom. Thus, the US has little leverage in talks with the two former enemies. Israel is conducting military operations against several countries in the region simultaneously as the world increasingly condemns its aggression against its neighbors. After tearing up the JCPOA nuclear deal with Iran in his first term, President Trump is pushing for a new deal with Iran while threatening to attack if negotiations do not produce the results he demands. Massively increased US military action against the Houthis in Yemen starting in March did not result in their capitulation to US demands. Despite attempting to put the best spin on things, it is clear that the US retreated from the region in the face of a series of successful Yemeni actions in defense of their homeland. Biden and then Trump launched attacks against Yemen on behalf of Israel, but in the end the US president wisely removed US military assets from the area and called off the bombing. In short, President Trump will be wading into a minefield this week, but it is a peril that the US government has largely brought upon itself. Decades of US interventionism, from at least the 2003 Iraq war, have not produced the peaceful transformation of the region, as promised by the neocons and their mentor, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. From the unnecessary Iraq war – based on lies – to the destruction of Libya and Syria and countless other interventions, the Middle East is a basket case. And it turns out none of it actually helped Israel at all! Having ignited the tinder box of the region with US backing, Israel has now found itself friendless in a region increasingly hostile to its policies and even its very existence. Now there are indications that the Trump Administration is tiring of this entangling alliance as the MAGA base looks more warily on foreign interventionism. The lesson that President Trump should take with him is that to a large degree it has been US interventionism in the Middle East that has produced these poisoned fruits. His wise military disengagement from the Houthis in Yemen should serve as a US model for the region. Ties forged by trade and friendship produce peace and prosperity and are far preferable to endless neocon war cries.
Amidst ongoing US/Iran talks on striking a new "Iran Deal" and President Trump's forthcoming visit to the Middle East, neocon Senators Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton warn him that they will scuttle any peace deal unless they get what they want. Also today: Trump feeling the fatigue of fruitless war mediation. Finally: They're BACK! "Regime change" NED to get funding restored!
The government is not shrinking, but expanding with greater spending and debt. The most exciting part of the second Trump Administration - DOGE - is fading away. REAL ID surveillance has been shackled onto us. And President Trump is arbitrarily setting tariff rates, in the same way that Jerome Powell arbitrarily sets interest rates. We need a turnaround, because the status quo is tightening its grip on America.
After the fanfare over the DOGE cuts had died down, the ball was in Congress' court. Would the cuts identified by DOGE be codified in legislation so that they would actually take place...or would House and Senate leadership quietly continue to fund government at the full level. Yesterday Rep. Thomas Massie gave us the answer...
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