Common Sense with Paul Jacob

The U.S. federal budget landscape in late 2025 remains tense, as we say, with looming deadlines and partisan clashes over spending, taxes, and entitlements. On December 10, 2025, Chairman Jodey Arrington of the House Budget Committee praised the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut rates, citing it as relief for families amid inflation pressures. The FOMC statement noted inflation remains “somewhat elevated” but affirmed commitment to maximum employment.

If you are (a) wondering what sense any of that makes, and (b) overcome with a nauseating sense of déjà vu, welcome to the club. 

The Boom & Bust Club, that is, where insiders pretend they’re in control and outsiders like us just hope to shore up a big against the ruin.

On the 6th, Trump signed a $12 billion farmer aid executive order, aimed at countering “unfair” trade impacts; it bridged gaps for farmers until full budget reconciliation. 

Meanwhile, thr Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 1968) is in play to avert shutdowns, but reconciliation battles persist. Congressional Budget Office projections warn economic shifts could widen deficits through 2035.

“Today we are building on the work of the last several years and strengthening Minnesota’s defenses against fraud,” the state’s governor, Tim Walz, said yesterday. “If you commit fraud in Minnesota, you will be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

This is mostly spin, of course. There is not much “building” on recent work happening in the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes. It is more like the opposite. The “recent work” was done far from the Walz orbit, work in the Archdiocese of St. Paul by the FBI — not anything to do with Somali-immigrant fraud networks recently revealed through no merit of Tim Walz or his administration.

Which is why Walz must now appear to lead the dance. The Epoch Times reports that Walz has appointed as “the state’s director of program integrity” — you might call it his “Fraud Czar” — one Tim O’Malley, the FBI agent who had worked on the Archdiocese fraud.

But maybe the cleverest part is his name. A Tim appointed a Tim.

Walz also makes much of a new “partnership with WayPoint Inc., a Minnesota firm made up of former law enforcement and federal agents focused on forensic accounting and investigations.  They will develop a comprehensive fraud-prevention strategy for the state.”

Or so it is spun.

Paul Jacob wrote about the underlying fraud scandal on December First, in “Red-Flagged Welfare Fraud.”