Free Republic

As President Obama's second term nears its end he has begun a media tour emphasizing what he claims are the positive aspects of his policies. The complicit media, of course, have long worked to inflate positive impressions of Obama’s legacy, and this latest set of interviews is no different. "In two recent interviews, with The New York Times Magazine on his economic legacy and with The Atlantic on his foreign policy legacy, Mr. Obama expressed a common sentiment: He had achieved big things and avoided even bigger mistakes, and yet most people just shrug," wrote Mark Landler for The New...

The middle classes in Germany and the USA are both in sharp decline, while top earners on both sides of the pond reap the rewards, a study by the German Institute for Economic Research shows. The number of Germans counted as belonging to the middle classes sank by six percent between 1991 and 2013, the study released on Friday found. The trend in the Federal Republic closely matches a similar drop seen in the USA over the same period. While in Germany people from all migrant backgrounds were most likely to have fallen out of this income group, in the...

Employment: April’s job growth was below expectations, which after seven years of missed targets shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. But doesn’t slow and steady win the race? The short answer is, no. Any way you look at it, April’s report was mediocre. At 160,000 new jobs, April’s number came in well below expectations — which ranged up to 240,000. The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised its job growth number down by 19,000... ...the number of people employed dropped by 316,000 last month, while 562,000 dropped out of the labor force. As a result, the labor-force participation rate dropped...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: The economy is in the tank. It's confirmed. All the April economic news is out, jobs news and everything. So what does Obama do? Come out and spin it. He's doing a presser or some sort of press availability now at the White House timed exactly to coincide with the beginning of this program, which he is wont to do. Here are the numbers that you need to know: 160,000 new jobs in April, the vast majority of them part time. That is 50,000 below "expectations." The expectations are meaningless. It's a bunch of economic experts that...

292 Union Pacific engines idled in Arizona Desert Total US rail traffic in April plunged 11.8% from a year ago, the Association of American Railroads reported today. Carloads of bulk commodities such as coal, oil, grains, and chemicals plummeted 16.1% to 944,339 units. - snip - Only five of the 20 commodity categories saw gains. Of the decliners, coal was the biggest. But petroleum products also plunged 25%, and grain mill products dropped 7%. Even without coal, carloads were down 3% year-over-year.

Homelessness increased in the last year in the city and county of Los Angeles, leaving nearly 47,000 people in the streets and shelters despite an intensive federal push that slashed the ranks of homeless veterans by nearly a third, according to figures released Wednesday by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Nearly two-thirds of the homeless people tallied countywide, or 28,000, were in the city of Los Angeles, representing an 11% jump in January from a year earlier, a report from the agency stated. The county's homeless population grew 5.7%. The mayor's proposed budget earmarks $138 million for services as...

Aeropostale used to be one of the most popular teen retailers. Cheaper than Abercrombie & Fitch, and less bohemian than American Eagle, the brand was the go-to for teens who still wanted to fit in with the trends. But those days are gone. The retailer has filed for bankruptcy protection, though it says it will be out of debt in six months. Last June, Crain's New York reported that the retailer lost 95% of its value in just five years. The brand has plans to close 113 stores in the US and all 41 stores in Canada. According to Reuters,...

Outdoor apparel giant Sports Authority has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and the retail chain could close all or most of its 450 stores nationwide as it struggles to pay off a reported $1 billion debt. Sports Authority is “pursuing a sale of some or all of the business,” a company statement said. “We have received initial expressions of interest from a number of potential buyers, and we are optimistic about the results of the sale process.” Founded in 1928, the athletic apparel retailer was once the largest sporting goods chain in America. In the years after its 2006...

If nobody is working in one out of every five U.S. families, then how in the world can the unemployment rate be close to 5 percent as the Obama administration keeps insisting? The truth, of course, is that the U.S. economy is in far worse condition than we are being told. Last week, I discussed the fact that the Federal Reserve has found that 47 percent of all Americans would not be able to come up with $400 for an unexpected visit to the emergency room without borrowing it or selling something. But Barack Obama and his minions never bring...

Sears Holdings Corp. will close another 78 stores — 68 Kmart units, and 10 Sears stores — as it looks to restore profitability. That accounts for about 5 percent of its store base, which is nearly 1,700 stores. The ailing company, based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, had said in February that it would accelerate the closing of unprofitable stores following a “challenging” holiday season. The move announced Thursday is expected to generate a “meaningful level” of cash from the liquidation of store inventories and from the sale or sublease of some of the related real estate, it said Thursday. All...

Now here's news you’re not likely to get from many commencement speeches, especially if they are given by Obama Administration officials, including the chief executive himself. Michael Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, believes that U.S. income mobility, or the rags-to-riches story of the American Dream, is at a standstill. At a presentation and panel discussion at the Hoover Institution, Petrilli pointed out the problems that American families are facing in today's economy. He said that other countries, not the U.S., "tend to do better than we have" in income mobility. Petrilli said that the U.S. and the...

Intel plans to cut 12,000 jobs, or 11% of its workforce. It will take a $1.2 billion charge as a result. Trading was halted around the release, then the stock immediately dropped when trading resumed. It's down about 3%. But Intel beat on earnings and revenue. Here are the reported numbers for Q1 2016: • EPS (non-GAAP): $0.54 vs. $0.49 expected. That's up 2% from last year. • Revenue: $13.80 billion vs. $13.84 billion expected. But that number includes $99 million from a deferred revenue write-down — without that, revenue would've come in at $13.70 billion. That's still a 7%...

Sport Chalet announced on Saturday that it is closing all of its stores and has stopped selling goods online. "While our online store is no longer available, all Sport Chalet stores will remain open for several weeks, offering customers the opportunity to use their remaining rewards and gift cards, and to take advantage of great sales," the chain says on its website. Michelle De Leon, a department head at the Sport Chalet in Lake Forest, said employees found out about the store closure through their general managers on Thursday.

Financial shares are down sharply in 2016 even as broader markets have recovered; central-bank policies squeeze interest margins --- Bank stocks are having a terrible 2016, as central-bank policies, which for years lifted asset prices, are hurting the financial sector. The impact of economic stimulus efforts on lenders will get a fresh airing this week, as big U.S. banks begin reporting their earnings for the first quarter. Trading revenue is expected to have taken a hit, but the more enduring problem will be visible in the lenders’ net interest margins, the basic measure of bank profitability that gets flattened by...

Some economists now see first-quarter growth as negligible, and it could easily turn out to be negative. Economists shaved already weak growth forecasts by a few more tenths Friday, after wholesale inventories fell 0.5 percent month over month in February, much more than the anticipated 0.1 percent decline. January was also revised down by 0.4 percent. The closely watched Atlanta Fed GDPNow model now shows first-quarter growth tracking at 0.1 percent, compared to a 0.4 percent estimate earlier in the week. JPMorgan economists now forecast the economy only expanded by 0.2 percent in the first quarter, from 0.7 percent. Barclays...

Hancock Fabrics stores will close its remaining 185 stores nationwide after filing for bankruptcy protection earlier this year. Great American Group, a liquidator, announced it was the highest bidder on the assets and inventory of the fabric retailer, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early February. "Great American Group has worked closely with Hancock Fabrics in a range of capacities over the last several years," Scott Carpenter, of Great American Group, said. "This has given us a deep understanding of Hancock's inventory and assets, which ultimately allowed us to prevail as the highest bidder." On Friday, the stores...

resident Barack Obama, when asked to name an accomplishment for which he is most proud, said, "I'm proud of saving the American economy." Breathtaking. Let's examine the facts, using only government, left wing -- or, at least, non-conservative -- statistics, sources or analyses. In 2012, the third year of the Obama recovery, the Associated Press wrote: "Since World War II, 10 U.S. recessions have been followed by a recovery that lasted at least three years. An Associated Press analysis shows that by just about any measure, the one that began in June 2009 is the weakest. ... Economic growth has...

American companies have been squeezed by falling exports, cheaper imports and continued caution on the part of savings-minded consumers. Firms have also incurred higher labor costs. Adjusted pretax profits sank by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday. Profit figures are adjusted for depreciation and the value of inventories.

Is the part-time hiring binge that has inflated job numbers for at least two years about to come to an end? I think so. More importantly, so do CEOs of large corporations. In December, a quarterly survey of large corporation CEOs showed a minuscule net of 1% (35% to 34%) of corporations expected an increase in hiring. 31% expected no change. The latest quarterly survey shows nearly 10% (29% to 38%) of large corporation CEOs expect to reduce headcount. The remaining 33% expect no change.

The world's credit boom is beginning to show dangerous signs of unraveling, ushering in a period of fresh turmoil for the over-indebted global economy, the Bank of International Settlements has warned. The globe's top financial watchdog called time on the world's debt binge, noting that debt issuance and cross border flows in emerging economies slowed for the first time since the aftermath of the global credit crunch at the end of last year. With financial markets thrown into fresh paroxysms in 2016, oscillating between extremes of "hope and fear", the over-leveraged world was finally approaching a day of reckoning, said...