Over the past year, hospitals, pharmacies, and patients have been the victims of devastating cyberattacks that have crippled the healthcare system. The wave of healthcare cyberattacks recently led NPR to refer to 2024 as the “year of health care hacks.”
While running a small business and serving on the Fayetteville City Council, I learned that sound financial management means addressing problems at their source rather than treating symptoms. Whether balancing a city budget or keeping a business profitable, the principle remains: strategic investments today can prevent higher costs tomorrow.
The United States faces a mounting fiscal crisis. Our national debt having surpassed $36 trillion poses a significant threat to our economic stability and national security. Interest payments on our debt have reached historic highs, overtaking defense spending as the second-largest budget item. Alarmingly, interest costs are the fastest-growing expenditure in the federal budget, limiting our ability to invest in critical public services and respond to unforeseen emergencies.
With an ever-expanding federal government, the U.S. has fallen out of the top five countries for economic freedom, according to a new report from the Fraser Institute.