Free Republic

President Obama says he has been “friendly” to business, but understands why they are “frustrated” with many of his regulations in a new interview published in The Economist. “They always complain about regulation,” Obama says of business leaders. “That's their job. “I would take the complaints of the corporate community with a grain of salt,” he adds. “If you look at what our policies have been, they have generally been friendly towards business.” Speaking of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms, Obama says his regulations helped hold the global economy together at a time of crisis. Obama explained that there are “core”...

There do not seem to be many defensive gun uses by people who openly carry guns.   This is understandable, as roughly 95% of defensive gun uses do not involve a shot being fired.   When the aggressor sees that the person defending themselves or stopping a crime is armed, the situation is defused, the criminal leaves the scene, and not much happens. It a person is openly carrying a firearm, most of those 95% situations will occur without the gun carrier even knowing that they happen.   This is known as tactical deterrence.  The criminal sees the gun, and chooses not...

The former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin wrote in the Washington Post on July 27, 2014, “How ignoring climate change could sink the U.S. economy.” Not counting the non-enforced southern border and the hordes of new and lawless Democrat citizens who demand their fair share of the American dream now turned into a welfare nightmare, the national debt is most likely to sink the economy sooner than any other variable and that includes climate change that has been changing for millennia.

It’s official: Tesla Motors has broken ground on a stretch of land outside Reno that could serve as the site for its forthcoming $5 billion battery factory. But not so fast: they’re not the only one in the mix. In a letter to shareholders, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was careful in saying the Reno site “could potentially be” the location for the Gigafactory, expected to create 6,500 jobs. “Consistent with out strategy to identify and break ground on multiple sites, we continue to evaluate other locations in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas,” Musk wrote. The news followed weeks of...

A Brazos County jury on Wednesday awarded a $27 million in a lawsuit against McDonald’s relating to the 2012 deaths of two Blinn College students.Jurors found McDonald’s negligence to be 97 percent responsible for the deaths of Denton Ward, 18, of Flower Mound, and Lauren Bailey Crisp, 19, of Flower Mound, both of whom died in the early morning hours of Feb. 18, 2012. The remaining 3 percent of liability was laid on the men who violently attacked Ward and his friend, Tanner Giesen, 21, in the parking lot of the McDonald’s at 801 University Drive. The jury’s verdict reflects...

When I read last week’s revision in the International Monetary Fund’s forecasts, I was reminded of William Gilmore Simms, a 19th century US historian, who said: “I believe that economists put decimal points in their forecasts to show that they have a sense of humour.” If only that were true. The latest update of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook puzzled me in two decimal-point respects, neither of them humorous. The sanctions to be decided this week are known in EU jargon as “tier three”; the red-alert stage. As reported by Peter Spiegel, the Financial Times Brussels bureau chief, the European...

This recount, found on The Meta Picture, tells the story of one restaurant’s quest to find out why they kept getting bad reviews despite serving the same number of customers on a daily basis. It took a look into their past to discover exactly what has changed in the last ten years – and their findings tell more about how we as a country have changed – possibly, for the worse. Now, although this particular instance may or may not be true, it tells a story that is all too common today in America. We are so engrossed in ourselves...

Police found bank deposits receipts worth Dh1.2m and expensive four-wheel car with himSaudi police arrested an Arab man for begging although he had in excess of SR1.2 million (Dh1.2 million) and an expensive four-wheel vehicle. Police said the unnamed man, a resident of a nearby Gulf country, is visiting the Gulf kingdom on a tourist visa with his wife and three children, adding that he was found to be staying in a luxury furnished apartment in the Western Saudi port of Yanbu. “We found large sums of cash with him and receipts for bank deposits…he had a total of more...

Hooray! Maria Bartiromo and gang were just discussing "Economic Patriotism" on her Fox News Channel show "Sunday Morning Futures". I couldn't believe it. FINALLY. Way to go. Much more conservatives need to climb on board this important topic.

This story is about a gilded class of people and corporations enriched by the new American economy while the rest of its citizens pay the tab. The protagonists could be any number of institutional elites, but this column happens to be about a Democratic senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, and his daughter, Heather Bresch, the chief executive of Mylan, a giant maker of generic drugs based outside Pittsburgh. Her company's profits come largely from Medicaid and Medicare, which means her nest is feathered by U.S. taxpayers. On Monday, Bresch announced that Mylan will renounce its United States citizenship and...

For business graduates, job placement appears to be on par with last year, if not slightly better, and salaries are holding firm. At a recent open house for parents of incoming freshmen business students at Bentley University, Career Services Director Len Morrison had an encouraging message to share. Recent graduates have been landing jobs with ease, and companies have been flocking to campus, many making multiple hires, Morrison said. “I told them that I don’t think there is a better time to be graduating as a business student,” he said. “The economy is back and looks like it is moving...

Most employees believe they have no say when it comes to changes in the workplace that directly affect their jobs. Six out of ten corporate staff said they have little or no input in decisions which affect them personally at work, according to a recent survey by Strayer University and Ipsos. Those over 35 felt their opinions mattered less than those workers aged 18-34 - although perhaps that's just a healthy dose of cynicism that comes from spending longer on the corporate ladder.

WMBF in Myrtle Beach, SC, reported Wednesday on the growing trend of businesses hiring only part-time workers, due to an inability to afford Obamacare. This situation leaves workers without healthcare and without a full-time income or other benefits. Local staffing agencies say more small business are starting to hire more part time employees. Not because there is more full time work, but as WMBF reporter Mandy Noell found out, it's because they can't afford to have more full time employees. Obamacare places requirements for health care benefits that many small businesses just cannot afford to pay. As a result, they...

Dubai is already home to the tallest tower in the world, so it was just a matter of time until the glitzy emirate planned another record-breaking construction. Its next project involves building the largest shopping mall on the planet, complete with climate-controlled streets, the world's largest indoor theme park and 100 hotels and apartments. In fact, the ambitious emirate has dubbed the project a 'temperature-controlled pedestrian city'. Occupying 48 million square feet, the Mall of the World will also contain health resorts, theatres, a Celebration Steet modelled on the Ramblas boulevard in Barcelona and 'retail streets network' that will stretch...

Near the end of 2010, a group of telecommunications and commerce businesses joined forces to form a mobile payment venture called Isis. It was a solid brand name: Short, simple and easy to remember. Unfortunately, ISIS is now associated with a militant group based in the Middle East, so the wireless company believes a branding tweak makes sense.

Hobby Lobby CEO David Green is committed to trying to run his business the way Jesus might have. After a massive victory for religious freedom at the Supreme Court on Monday, Christian-owned arts and crafts giant Hobby Lobby has announced that its minimum wage for full-time hourly workers will be raised to $14.50 per hour. Effective immediately, the announcement also entails that part-time hourly workers receive $9.50 per hour. Given the track record of Green's retail chain, the wage increase is not incredibly dramatic. In 2012, the retailer was already paying full-time employees $13 per hour while part-timers earned $9....

Do your politics line up with your drink of choice? To answer this question we looked to GFK MRI survey data to profile over 50 major brands of wine and spirits according to voter registration and turnout history. The findings are summarized in the following bubble chart “Politics of Wine & Liquor Brands.” The chart shows that Democratic drinkers are more likely to sip clear liquors like Absolut while Republicans prefers darker drinks like Jim Beam. And, perhaps not surprisingly, people who take shots of Jagermeister or Don Julio are much less likely to vote.

For the past six years, the Tax Foundation's "State Business Climate Index" has named California 48th in the nation. CEO Magazine has placed it dead last for the past eight years in its "Best and Worst States for Business" rankings. The causes of California's business climate struggles are well-documented: high, overly complicated, and numerous taxes, expensive property, increasing energy costs, burdensome labor and environmental regulations, and a state legislature indifferent to business concerns, among others.So, when rankings like CNBC's show California more competitive, it raises questions. Why? And is there hope for California? While most rankings look narrowly at a...

Every year about this time the Small Business Administration (SBA) issues a press release claiming the federal government barely missed the 23% small business contracting goal required by law. In reality, the Obama Administration has never come anywhere close to reaching the minimum 23% small business-contracting goal. Based on all the information I have been able to obtain under the Freedom of Information Act, I estimate legitimate small businesses in America are currently receiving no more than 5% of all federal contracts and subcontracts. The SBA’s favorite time to release their annual falsified and fabricated small business contracting data is...

A new report by Michigan Future Inc. focuses on Minnesota, claiming to show how Minnesota has maintained a high level of economic prosperity despite being a high-tax state. After a detailed look at Minnesota's tax policies, the report claims that Minnesota's strong economy is due to investing "additional revenue in services and investments that matter in a knowledge-based economy," which means, broadly, higher government spending. But it does not address key structural differences between Michigan and Minnesota's economies, and it actually misses the fact that Michigan's "knowledge-based economy" is, by many metrics, just as strong as Minnesota's. Ultimately, there is...