Free Republic

Education: President Obama had a great idea back in 2010: nationalize the student loan program, and its problems would soon go away. It didn't happen. Instead, more people are refusing to pay their student loans than ever before. In a study released last week, the Consumer Federation of America found that millions of people were in arrears on $137 billion in federal student loans in the first nine months of 2016, an increase of 14% from 2015. All told, the federal government's portfolio of student loans now stands at a whopping $1.3 trillion. As the Washington Post notes, "What's striking...

Health Reform: Critics of the Republican's ObamaCare replacement plan — and many moderate Republicans as well — complain that it will result in millions losing insurance. What nobody asks is whether we have too much insurance today. Insurance, after all, is supposed to make health care more affordable. But what if it's making it less so? University of Michigan economist Mark Perry recently compared inflation rates for health care with price increases for cosmetic surgery. What he discovered was illuminating. From 1998 to 2016, the overall inflation rate was 47.2%. But for medical care services, prices went up 100%. And...

Bartenders at a West Village hot spot served up discrimination — with a liberal twist — refusing to serve a customer because he was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, according to a lawsuit. Greg Piatek, 30, an accountant from Philadelphia, claims he was snubbed and eventually 86’d by workers at The Happiest Hour on West 10th Street over his conservative fashion statement, popularized by Donald Trump on the campaign trail, he told The Post. “Anyone who supports Trump — or believes what you believe — is not welcome here! And you need to leave right now because we...

Repatha cut by 20 percent the combined risk of having either a heart attack, stroke or a heart-related death. That happened to nearly 6 percent of people on Repatha versus more than 7 percent on the dummy drug. The benefit grew with longer use, and was 25 percent the second year, said Sabatine, who consults for Amgen and other drugmakers. The drug cut by 15 percent a broader set of problems — the ones above plus hospitalization for chest pain or an artery-opening procedure. Nearly 10 percent of folks on Repatha had one versus more than 11 percent on the...

Complete Headline: Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to STEP DOWN after his anti-Trump vow to hire 10,000 refugees backfired, provoked a boycott by Donald supporters and hit sales. Howard Schultz, the current CEO of Starbucks, is weeks away from stepping down from his role at the giant coffee chain next month. The move, which was announced in December of last year, comes after his vow to hire thousands refugees in response to President Donald Trump's first travel ban appeared to hurt customer sentiment and dent their sales. Trump supporters have called for a boycott of the chain since January 29, when...

In January, the number of Americans quitting their jobs rose to a seasonally-adjusted total of 3.22 million, the highest number since February 2001. The quits rate rose in January to 2.2%. People quitting their jobs in droves is seen as a sign of confidence among workers, as folks are unlikely to quit a job unless they are confident they can get another one.

Jeff Jones, the president of Uber, is quitting the car-hailing company after less than a year. The move by the No. 2 exec, said sources, is directly related to the multiple controversies there, including explosive charges of sexism and sexual harassment. (UPDATE: Uber confirmed the departure and will be sending a statement. (UPDATE: Jones also confirmed the departure with a blistering assessment of the company. “It is now clear, however, that the beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber, and I can no longer continue as president...

In First 2 Months in Office – Trump Reduces Debt by $100 Billion – Obama Increased Debt by $400 Billion – Half a Trillion Dollar Difference!   On January 20th, the day of President Trump’s Inauguration, the US Debt stood at $19,947 billion. As of March 16th, the most recent date for US debt reporting, the US Debt stands at $19,846 billion. President Trump has cut the US Debt burden by over $100 billion and 0.5% in the first two months since his inauguration!  

Approximately 30 countries are refusing to accept the deportations of illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes in the U.S., according to Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar. While these countries are refusing to accept the deportations of these criminals, the U.S. government is still issuing visas and student visas to citizens of those countries, according to the Texan congressman. There is already a law on the books which allows the U.S. to hold visas from a country that is not taking back its criminals, but according to Cuellar, the U.S. is not enforcing it. “We’re not enforcing it, which is amazing....

ne of the biggest rising stars of conservative media could be leaving her current home in the near future. According to The Daily Caller, political commentator Tomi Lahren is apparently on her way out at The Blaze, and likely leaving the outlet by September, if not earlier. The 24-year-old firebrand, who got her start at One America News, hosts her own program at the Glenn Beck-founded network and made a high profile for herself via viral rants against liberals and causes embraced by progressives. Some of her most well-known tirades have been against Black Lives Matter, Colin Kaepernick and ‘snowflakes’....

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow's ratings have plummeted since her special episode Tuesday night when she said she was going to release President Donald Trump's tax returns. [Snip] It appears those feelings translated into depressed viewership numbers. The following night, Wednesday, Maddow's ratings were down 36 percent overall from Tuesday, and in the key 25- to 54-year-old demographic, her ratings were down 54 percent, Fox News reports.

Sometimes big ideas get small coverage. Unfortunately, that was the case with President Trump’s March 15 trip to Michigan, in which he raised an important idea—arguably the most important economic-policy idea in U.S. history—and yet his words received almost no attention.

Events are moving so fast in Europe these days, it’s almost impossible to keep up. While much of the attention is being hogged by political developments, including the election in the Netherlands, Reuters published a report warning that the European banking sector may face even higher bad loan risks if the ECB begins to scale back its monetary stimulus programs, something it has already begun, albeit extremely tentatively. The total stock of non-performing loans (NPL) in the EU is estimated at over €1 trillion, or 5.4% of total loans, a ratio three times higher than in other major regions of...

In 2007, David Hansen was a recent college graduate with an architect's degree trying to make some money. He and his business partner, who was a licensed architect in Washington, started an architectural firm there. At the time, the economy was still sluggish and there was not a lot of construction. So, to earn some extra cash and to get the business going, they agreed to do marketing work for a property development company in Oregon. Cognizant that they weren't licensed architects in Oregon, they limited their work to creating drawings of potential developments for the sole purpose of attracting...

Guest post by David Middleton Trump to Drop Climate Change From Environmental Reviews, Source Says by Jennifer A Dlouhy March 14, 2017, 1:06 PM CDT Directive to reverse Obama-era mandate for agency actions Clean Power Plan, methane rules and coal halt also addressed President Donald Trump is set to sign a sweeping directive to dramatically shrink the role climate change plays in decisions across the government, ranging from appliance standards to pipeline approvals, according to a person familiar with the administration’s plan.The order, which could be signed this week, goes far beyond a targeted assault on Obama-era measures blocking coal...

Apple CEO Tim Cook defended globalization on Saturday, arguing that it is generally "great for the world." During a public speech in China, Cook reportedly warned world leaders against abandoning globalization even though gains are not equally distributed within nations. “I think the worst thing would be to—because it didn’t help everyone—is to say it’s bad and do less of that,” Cook said during his speech at an annual conference sponsored by the Chinese government, The Wall Street Journal reported. “I think the reality is you can see that countries in the world … that isolate themselves, it’s not good...

DONALD Trump has blasted cash rich Germany for owing “vast sums of money” to Nato.Tweeting a day after an awkward meeting with German leader Angela Merkel, Trump demanded Berlin should cough up billions of Euros more on defence.Donald Trump had a frank meeting with Angela Merkel yesterday Only the US and four other Nato members – including the UK – currently reach the alliance’s benchmark of spending on defence which is 2% of GDP. But Germany spends a miserly 1.23% of its national income despite running a whopping £234billion budget surplus.The two leaders showed little common ground yesterday over a host of...

WASHINGTON, DC, Mar 17 – Incidents of elder abuse are increasing at an alarming rate across the nation, according to the U.S. Justice Department and other authoritative private and public agencies.Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens, says the financial exploitation of seniors is a “particularly insidious form of senior abuse but that victims seem loathe to report such crimes. Perhaps it is because the perpetrators can often be their caregivers, including family members. In fact, while one in 20 seniors reports being a victim of crime to the authorities, there is significant evidence that many more...

I inherited mineral rights to some acerage in Texas. I've been told that I need a land agent to find out if there is value to these rights. I just realized that Freepers probably would know how to go about finding an agent. I didn't get very far googling - only came up with real estate agents.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump downplayed his business ties with Russia. And since taking office as president, he has been even more emphatic. “I can tell you, speaking for myself, I own nothing in Russia,” President Trump said at a news conference last month. “I have no loans in Russia. I don’t have any deals in Russia." But in the United States, members of the Russian elite have invested in Trump buildings.