Free Republic

A pair of fertilizer production facilities in Poland have reportedly closed their doors, at least temporarily, because of the exorbitant cost of natural gas and other fuels. Record-breaking prices for fuel all across Europe forced Grupa Azoty, the European Union’s second-largest fertilizer producer and the owner of one of the plants, to halt operations. The company issued the following statement on August 22: “Due to record prices for natural gas, the main raw material for Grupa Azoty SA’s production, the company decided on August 22, 2022 to temporarily shut down its nitrogen fertilizer, caprolactam and polyamide 6 production plants from...

If the end of the world came, but nobody told you about it, would you care? Here’s a stunning piece of information that appeared in exactly no American news media, right, left or center. I read about it in Global Times, the Chinese government’s English-language newspaper.The Pew Research Institute, a respected non-partisan opinion research organization, polled the world’s major countries about American democracy. Only 17% said the U.S. “is a good example for other countries to follow,” while 57% said it used to be. Twenty-three percent said it never was.It’s troubling that Americans have similar views. Only 19% of Americans...

Interesting...

Masks have become a political tool and a talisman. When COVID-19 hit, governments panicked and created enormous fear. The Centers for Disease Control currently estimates a COVID-19 survival rate of 99.99 percent for people younger than 50, but the damage created by the panic was too great to undo.It is likely that some politicians eventually realized their mistake and needed a way to back-pedal without admitting their lockdowns were a policy disaster. Their solution was for people to put any old piece of cloth across their face and magically believe that itÂ’s okay to go out shopping again.Masks are not...

In 2017, global electricity consumption increased 2.5 percent to reahch 25,721 Twh. When it comes to consumption, China uses the most of any country at 25.9 percent, followed by the United States with 17.5 percent. On a per capita basis, the situation is different, however. According to the IEA Atlas of Energy, electricity consumption in Iceland was 54.4 megwatt hours per capita in 2017, the highest level of any country. That's primarily due to abundant natural resources that make electricity production affordable along with energy-intensive industries. The harsh and dark Icelandic climate also contributes to heavy demand for electricity. The...

Amidst the no-shampoo revolution, a look at global hygiene habits Cleanliness, it turns out, has been one dirty trick. One reason early-20th-century Americans ramped up their weekly baths to daily showers is that marketing companies capitalized on the insecurities of a new class of office drones working in close quarters. As Gizmodo wrote last week, to sell products like "toilet soap" and Listerine to Americans, "the advertising industry had to create pseudoscientific maladies like 'bad breath' and 'body odor.'" Take, for instance, Gizmodo's description of the philosophy of the Cleanliness Institute, which was founded by the Association of American Soap...

’ve complained over and over again that America’s tax code is a nightmare that undermines competitiveness and retards growth.Our aggregate fiscal burden may not be as high as it is for many of our foreign competitors, but high tax rates and poor design mean the system is very punitive on a per-dollar-raised basis.For more information, the Tax Foundation has put together an excellent report measuring international tax competitiveness.Here’s the methodology. The Tax Foundation’s International Tax Competitiveness Index (ITCI) measures the degree to which the 34 OECD countries’ tax systems promote competitiveness through low tax burdens on business investment and neutrality through...

Freedom can be defined in many ways. However, one of the greatest indicators of freedom and liberty is economic freedom. True free-market capitalism is the basis of individual liberty. However, America is no longer a top 5 contender, and we haven’t been for a years. Actually, America is barely even in the top 10. The 2012 Index of Economic Freedom study reports that America continues to fail. Who took first place in economic freedom in 2012? The answer may surprise you. It was Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s score was an 89.9%, which was a 0.2% increase from 2011. Following Hong...