Federal spending is still front and center, and it is also an election year. The best bet for this year is that there will not be a congressional budget.
The Federal Budget and Impoundment Control Act was enacted by Congress in July 1974 as a response to President Nixon simply taking appropriation matters into his own hands and refusing to spend monies as Congress had designated and authorized. That is also when the federal budget moved to a fiscal year starting with a transition quarter in FY 1976. Since that time, the federal budget has grown about 987 percent (as shown below). Over that same period, inflation has increased about 335 percent. In other words, federal spending in real terms has expanded approximately 295 percent.The pres...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
