Free Republic

In the last couple of weeks, we've seen Trump roll out his plan for reviving America's inner cities and other economically depressed areas. As someone who has in various capacities worked on this issue, I must say that Trump has brilliantly boiled down the question down to the three elements that would form the essential foundation of an effective federal urban policy: law and order, school choice and trade reform. In my 20 or so years of working on this issue, I've met with thousands of people who live in these communities, and I can guarantee you that the vast...

Ted Cruz and other Republicans are barreling toward a September showdown with the White House over its plan to give up oversight of the internet, as the Obama administration tries to rally support from the tech and telecom industries. GOP lawmakers have long warned that the administration's plan to relinquish its authority over ICANN, the global nonprofit that manages the internet's domain name system, could give authoritarian countries like China and Russia an opening to make an online power grab. Now, as the actual date of the transition approaches — Oct. 1 — Republicans are looking at throwing up new...

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories declined by 14.5 million barrels during the week ending on September 2nd, according to the Energy Information Administration’s latest report. The American Petroleum Institute (API) report on domestic inventories anticipated a 12 million barrel draw in crude supplies, against expert predictions that inventories would increase by 905,000 barrels.

Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid reduced employment in those states that participated in it by a statistically significant extent, according to a recent study by Georgetown University’s Tomas Wind:“I find a significant negative relationship between Medicaid expansion and labor force participation, in which expanding Medicaid is associated with 1.5 to 3 percentage point drop in labor force participation.”As Wind notes, Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion provided an unusually good test case for the effects of a government program, since it went into effect in some states but not others during the covered period. […] Ironically, despite its enormous cost of billions of dollars...

Goldman thrives on complexity and backroom dealing Goldman Sachs, the international investment bank that is under more or less continuous government investigation, has forbidden senior employees from giving money to the Trump-Pence campaign. But these wizards of Wall Street drew the new rule up in such a way that they can claim they are not trying to elect Hillary Clinton president.

Is the electric car the inevitable wave of the future? Is the internal combustion engine finished, through, a relic of the 20th century—as many are now saying? I have argued before that electric cars are overhyped. I calculated that the Tesla, for example, is still a really bad deal when you compare its substantial extra costs against the cost of operating a similar gasoline-powered car over five or ten years. But what if I'm wrong? For example, how much of that calculation is due to the inflated cost of a Tesla, which uses all of the positive publicity lavished on...

In mid-January, everyone's favorite market indicator Dennis Gartman, made an infamous prediction when oil was trading in the mid-$30s, when he said that oil won't hit $44 again "in my lifetime" Sure enough, three months later, oil "killed" Gartman, or at least his credibility, when it jumped above $44. We thought that Gartman had learned his lesson, and would avoid such bombastic forecasts in the future. Turns out we were wrong, and earlier today Gartman again appeared on CNBC, where he said that "investors shouldn't expect the commodity to break through $55 for a few years."

Thousands of Americans were shot to death while Congress was on its summer break, according to gun control activists. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence reported Tuesday that 4,500 people have been shot and killed since lawmakers left Washington in mid-July. Lawmakers will be greeted by protests from gun control advocates Tuesday when they return to Capitol Hill. "Congress is in for a rude awakening today if they thought seven weeks of vacation would wipe the slate clean,” said Brady President Dan Gross. "While Congress enjoyed nearly two months of sun and fun, the American people paid the ultimate...

Mines are closing and the coal industry is facing a run of bankruptcies and other bad news, but a company backed by a $90 million investment is defying conventional wisdom by preparing to open two new mines in Appalachia, the hardest-hit coal region. The mines in West Virginia and Virginia will create some 400 jobs in counties where unemployment ranges close to three times the national average, Ramaco Development CEO Randall Atkins told The Associated Press. "It's a fairly big deal, frankly, for southern West Virginia," Atkins said....

For the past year as some of you know, Sweden has called for a ban on lobster imports from the United States. Without a shred of proof, they claim that American raised lobster threaten their native lobster in its own habitat. Only two forces seem to be fighting this unjustified and uncalled for ban, Nova Scotia and New England Fisherman, particularly those from my home state of Maine. The ban proposal has already cleared its first hurdles despite new data by European scientists that show that American imports have nothing to do with the increase of North American lobsters in...

ELKHART — Goshen Coach, a commercial bus manufacturer, announced it will close its Elkhart facility on Oct. 31 and expects to lay off 159 employees. The company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification on Wednesday with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development to announce the plan to close the facility at 25161 Leer Drive. It plans to offer "severance benefits and transition programs to affected employees," according to the notice, which does not explain why the plant will be shut down. Company officials could not be reached Wednesday for comment. Goshen Coach, which has manufactured specialty vehicles since 1985,...

Goldman Sachs has enacted a set of rules that bans the firm’s top employees from contributing to certain campaigns, including the Trump-Pence ticket. The rules kicked in Sept. 1 and will apply only to partners of the firm. The memo detailing the rule change was first reported by Politico. The firm says the rules were meant to remove any implication of so-called “pay to play.” Four years ago, the bank paid $12 million to settle charges that a former Boston-based banker had picked up bond underwriting business in the state while working for and contributing funds to the campaign of...

The for-profit college chain ITT Technical Institute is shutting down all 130 of its U.S. campuses, saying Tuesday it can't survive recent sanctions by the U.S. Department of Education. In a letter to more than 35,000 students, the Indiana-based parent company ITT Educational Services announced that campuses won't open for the fall term that was scheduled to begin Sept. 12 — leaving students scrambling for last-minute options since many U.S. colleges already have started fall classes. ITT also cut more than 8,000 jobs immediately....

E-waste recycling is a source of much needed income in many low to middle income countries Electronic product innovations satisfy many needs, including the desire of people to stay connected around the globe. As new products are continually introduced into the marketplace, consumers replace existing electronic products that are damaged or simply outdated. The resulting mass of electronic products discarded is becoming the fastest growing waste stream in the world leading to polluted environments. (1) Electronic waste (e-waste) which includes all types of electrical or electronic equipment is produced in staggering quantities, estimated globally to be 41.8 million tons in...

Investors in the transportation sector are facing a sea of change thanks to the rise of online commerce. A major part of that change is Amazon.com, and the firms move towards using in-house transportation portends of more evolution to come. With thousands of shipments daily, Amazon.com is leading the way in creating its own in-house transportation via airplanes. This could potentially pave a path for other online retailers, as well as for the future development of other devices like drones which threaten companies that may not have the available funds to invest in them.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump questioned Friday how Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton became enormously wealthy running a charity, which has become the focus of the campaign’s allegation of pay-to-play corruption while she was secretary of state. “The question I always ask is, what product were they selling? If we make a buck, we sold a bottle of wine or an apartment, or we sold a hotel room. What product were they selling to make $150 million,” Mr. Trump said on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”Host Ainsley Earhardt suggested: “Favors? The government?” “Of...

Indonesia has asked the chairman of China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Jack Ma, to act as adviser in the development of the Southeast Asian country's nascent e-commerce industry, according to a video released by the government. Indonesia has the world's fourth-largest population, boasting a young, internet-savvy demographic, and a thriving e-commerce market that is increasingly attracting global investors. Earlier this year, Alibaba bought a controlling stake in Southeast Asian online retailer Lazada Group for around $1 billion, while a group of investors led by private equity firms KKR & Co LP and Warburg Pincus LLC poured more than $550 million...

High-quality graphene would soon be used for the next generation of electronics and energy devices. To produce it a simple method has been done. This method involves only using a microwave oven in order to bake the compound. Researchers at Rutgers' School of Engineering in Rutgers University have found that high-quality graphene could be produced using simple methods. That could potentially mean millions of dollars saved in making the new compound that would be used for new electronic devices. The discovery has been made by students, most of whom are either undergraduates or are post-doctoral associates, as Phys Org reports....

More than 70 percent of manufacturing jobs and more than half of jobs involving data collection might be rendered obsolete by automation and robots, according to a report from McKinsey & Company. One study estimated up to 80 percent of current jobs may be threatened by automation, which could become a critical economic issue for policy makers and global leaders in the coming decades. While Americans celebrate Labor Day weekend, it is a good time to contemplate the rise in artificial intelligence and how it can threaten jobs in all types of industries....

We are about to learn once again that lack of resilience is the flip side of efficiency. The world's seventh largest shipping firm, Korean-based Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd., failed to rally the support of its creditors last week and was forced to file for bankruptcy. Retailers and manufacturers worldwide are in a bit of a panic as the fate of goods on Hanjin ships shifts into the hands of courts and lawyers for creditors intent on seizing Hanjin assets in order to ensure payment of outstanding bills. Much of Hanjin's fleet is chartered, that is, owned by others, and those...