Free Republic

Argentinian President Javier Milei has rolled out a program of austerity measures designed to bring Argentina's economy out of the death spiral that it is in. Once the wealthiest nation in South America, Argentina suffers from a Bidenesque annual inflation rate of 180%. Despite population increases, its economy has shrunk by almost half the years since 1980. Credit for businesses and consumers is nearly impossible to come by...thanks to the triple-digit inflation. Needless to say, there is virtually no foreign investment. Local businesses are hamstrung by regulations that seem designed to prevent business creation or growth. The public sector is...

One of the most famous lines in the U.S. Declaration of Independence was in the preamble. I’m a Canadian and so are most viewers of this show, but I know you know it: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That last part — the pursuit of Happiness. That’s a positive right — you’re allowed to go out there and find your own path to pursue happiness. That’s incredible, actually. Imagine putting...

Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday warned that if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu carries out his plan to annex communities in Judea and Samaria, he would if elected ensure no US taxpayer funds support the move. ​“If Prime Minister Netanyahu makes good on his threat to annex Israeli settlements in the West Bank, a President Buttigieg would take steps to ensure that American taxpayers won’t help foot the bill​,” he said during a speech at Indiana University, according to The New York Post. Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said that in the same way an American patriot...

After eight years of budget cutting, Britain is looking less like the rest of Europe and more like the United States, with a shrinking welfare state and spreading poverty. PRESCOT, England — A walk through this modest town in the northwest of England amounts to a tour of the casualties of Britain’s age of austerity. The old library building has been sold and refashioned into a glass-fronted luxury home. The leisure center has been razed, eliminating the public swimming pool. The local museum has receded into town history. The police station has been shuttered. Now, as the local government desperately...

More than a year after Texas voters approved routing billions in state sales taxes to roads and bridges, some lawmakers are questioning whether the first payment of $5 billion should move forward as planned. Texans voted in 2015 to boost funding for state’s public roadways and bridges, which have strained under the state’s growing population. Proposition 7 — loudly cheered by top Texas leaders and supported by 83 percent of voters — changed the state constitution to route some taxes collected on car sales to the State Highway Fund. But in an unusually tightfisted legislative session, some Texas lawmakers are...

ANGELA Merkel cut an increasingly isolated figure in Europe tonight as the rest of the continent ganged up on Germany over its imposition of crippling austerity. Major EU nations including France, Italy and Spain are clubbing together to form a new alliance with the aim of wrestling back economic power from the German leader. Mediterranean economies have been devastated by an EU-wide policy of austerity enforced from Berlin, which has led to massive youth unemployment and soaring poverty. Fiscally conservative Germany, which is the EU’s largest economy, is reluctant to loosen the purse strings and authorise the huge injection of...

Have anyone of us contemplated this dilemma? Here we have a nation, run by liberals and socialists. And this year we have seen how it all ended. Just like in Greece and Maybe Puerto Rico. No Money, and in the case of Venezuela, no food. By now they have probably wiped out most of their pets and farm animals. But they have to eat meat once in a while. What are they going to do? cross over in their neighboring nations and kidnap any animal walking the streets and take them back home for dinner?

The world is facing a new crisis caused by an explosion in debt. So warns William White, the central banker who famously predicted the crisis of 2008. As financial markets reeled last week and fears of a fresh recession or even banking crisis sparked panic, White was more than willing to issue yet another prophecy of doom. The world is now facing a crunch that could see a collapse in property prices, including those in London; a new global banking crisis; waves of cheap commodities savaging Western industrial centres; and the need for debts to be written off on a...

A tradition in Brazil has been stopped due to financial woes. At least 48 cities located in eight states all over the country decided to cancel their carnivals because of the recession. News.com reported that the current recession in Brazil has led to the bleeding of financial resources among municipalities, spurring them to cancel their carnivals to save money that can be used for other programs. Cities in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Goias, Tocantins, Rio Grande do Norte, Minas Gerais, Paraiba and Rondonia changed their plans to hold carnivals at the final moment.

While low energy prices are thought to provide a boost to the global economy as consumers benefit from lower costs, there are growing signs that the dramatic collapse in oil prices – so sudden and so severe – is actually creating economic headwinds. The oil and gas industry spent $200 billion on drilling, refining, and new equipment in 2013, and the sharp cutback in spending is being felt beyond just the oil patch. Last week Wood Mackenzie estimated that $380 billion worth of oil and gas projects were scrapped by the industry. In The New York Times on January 16,...

Global-warming alarmists are turning up the heated rhetoric as the UN's Paris "Climate Summit" approaches, claiming that the supposed "crisis" of global warming is “the equivalent of war,” even though there has been no measurable warming of the planet for the past nearly 19 years. "It is life on our planet itself which is at stake," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius declared on November 8 at a press conference in Paris, as foreign ministers and climate envoys from around the world met to prepare for the United Nations global summit on climate change

The agreement followed violent clashes in the country’s capital last night as protesters hurled petrol bombs at riot police after surrounding the Athens parliament ahead of the final deadline for the country's €86 billion bailout deal. As flames erupted, police responded with tear gas against dozens of hooded anti-austerity demonstrators who set ablaze parts of Syntagma square.

Clashes have broken out at an anti-austerity rally by thousands of protesters outside Parliament in Athens. Riot police used pepper spray and tear gas Wednesday night to fight back youths in the crowd who were hurling Molotov cocktails and rocks at police. Police said about 12,500 people were at the rally at Syntagma Square. The clashes broke out just as lawmakers were starting to debate an austerity bill that includes consumer tax increases and pension reforms. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who has faced strident opposition to the bill from his own radical left Syriza party, says it's the best possible...

As European Union leaders push Greece for more austerity reforms, Athens enters political crisis and social media erupts in response. A two-day emergency meeting on Greece’s economic future ended Sunday with strict conditions from the European Union, including contentious austerity reforms, if it wants a new bailout and keep the euro. To meet the conditions for fresh aid packages and a third bailout that Greece needs to avoid bankruptcy, European finance ministers want Greece to pass a series of austerity measures--including tax and pension reforms-- through Parliament and put them into law by Wednesday. Greece will also have to lose...

The party ended when the you-know-what hit the fan around 2010. Soaring wages and gold-plated pensions had to end. Eternal austerity was the antidote. This was the EU at its best—worst, actually. It was like taking a middleweight boxer, putting him on a very strict diet, and expecting him to become a heavyweight contender. It was and remains an impossibility. ... As a Greek whose family helped finance the war of independence against the dreaded Turks in 1821, I sincerely hope there will be a compromise, and the ill-advised plebiscite will be ignored by the powers-that-be in the EU. Putting...

As we reported yesterday, following the latest European leaders summit, Greece was given until the end of the week to come up with a proposal for sweeping reforms in return for loans that will keep the country from crashing out of Europe's currency bloc and into economic ruin. "The stark reality is that we have only five days left ... Until now I have avoided talking about deadlines, but tonight I have to say loud and clear that the final deadline ends this week," European Council President Donald Tusk told a news conference. It did that moments ago when Greece...

Sunday, Greeks should vote “no”!Hellenic voters are being asked whether they accept the terms offered by the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund to extend the bailout for Athens‘ troubled finances or give Prime Minister Tsipras a mandate to insist on a better deal.Those conditions include more cuts in government supported pensions, higher taxes and labor market reforms other European governments’ are often not inclined to accept in the conduct of their own affairs.Urging a Yes vote, European leaders and their supporters in private institutions claim more austerity would reinvigorate the Greek economy and permit Greeks to...

It’s a progressive paradise.Public employees get 30 vacation days a year. Anyone who works over eight hours in a day gets paid time-and-a-half. Employees have strong rights.The minimum wage is high: 77 percent of the median wage.Environmental regulations are settled beyond the pressure of local economic interests. The forests and mountains are pristine destinations for ecotourism.Energy costs are kept high, pushing consumption down to a level deemed “socially beneficial”. Utilities have strong public backing and provide jobs to thousands.Union jobs in shipping are protected from outsourcing to cut-rate foreign competitors.The social safety net is buoyant and provides a solid working-class standard...

The European Central Bank is expected to end emergency lending to Greece's banks on Sunday, the BBC understands.Well-placed sources told BBC economics editor Robert Peston a decision to end the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) would be made by the ECB's governing council later on Sunday.Greek banks depend on ELA.Cutting the lifeline could push Greece out of the euro. Some analysts have tweeted that the ECB is likely to cap, but not end, the ELA.

End austerity: it’s cheating us all; Jobs not Trident; No cuts; Defy Tory rule; Cut war not welfare; Stop fracking; a Living Wage for mothers; and, The Pope gets it, why can’t you? With the slogans emblazoned on banners, posters and flags, anti-austerity marchers shouted slogans, sang, and beat drums, as they walked through London in what is being called the biggest protest march that the city has seen. The ‘End Austerity Now’ demonstration saw participation by an estimated crowd of between 70,000 and 250,000, all coming together to protest against cuts imposed due to austerity, the threats to the...