Free Republic

Many economists have rightly argued the main reason there are so many open jobs available today is that there are now too many COVID-related relief programs. These provide such substantial unemployment benefits to nondisabled workers they actually discourage the seeking of employment. Further, economists across the political spectrum — including Larry Summers, who served as director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama — have said that government and central bank programs are causing inflation and that additional spending could lead to an even greater, potentially catastrophic inflation spike. Rather than pursue policies to reduce inflation and encourage...

US President Barack Obama has signed into law an initiative aimed at bringing electricity to 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020. The Electrify Africa Act of 2015 will give legal backing to Mr Obama's flagship Power Africa scheme, which is trying to improve access to electricity through public-private partnerships. It took nearly two years to be passed in both houses of the US Congress. About two-thirds of people in Africa do not have access to reliable power....

President Bush may follow in the footsteps of his brother Jeb and convert to Catholicism, several European papers are reporting. In the wake of the president’s visit to see Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, Italian newspapers, citing Vatican sources, said Bush was open to the idea of converting to Catholicism. The Italian newspaper Il Foglio referred to such talk about Bush’s possible conversion and stated that “anything is possible, especially for someone reborn like Bush.” Noting that Tony Blair converted to Catholicism after leaving office as Britain’s prime minister last year, the paper also stated that “if anything happens,...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush urged Congress on Wednesday to authorize an additional $30 billion to fight AIDS in Africa over five years, doubling the current U.S. commitment. The money would provide treatment for 2.5 million people under the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, White House press secretary Tony Snow said. Through March 31, the program has supported treatment for 1.1 million people in 15 countries, including more than 1 million in Africa, Snow said. The program's original five-year mandate, which called for spending $15 billion, expires in September 2008. Snow said the specific goals for the next five...

this weeks "navy times" came out. it had the usual articles in it. one very touching one about the last carrier operations of the f-14s. then.....

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. - A steering problem caused a cruise ship to roll abruptly to the left Tuesday, injuring some passengers and terrifying many, Coast Guard officials and passengers said. The Crown Princess, which can accommodate 3,000 passengers, had just departed Port Canaveral en route to New York when it listed badly to its port side, said Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer James Judge. The 113,000-ton ship began sailing a month ago. Judge did not know the number of people injured or how badly they were hurt. "There were people running for life jackets, and then afterward a lot of...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The captain of a cruise ship docked in Seattle has been stripped of command and will be fired after he failed an alcohol breath test, a spokesman for Celebrity Cruises, said on Saturday. The unnamed captain of the Mercury cruise liner was taken ashore on Friday after a Coast Guard inspector detected alcohol on his breath and he failed a test, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard's 13th District Command in Seattle.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped by a Kern County highway junction Tuesday to promote what he called a "historic" $37 billion bond package for education, housing, levee repair and transportation. State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, left, joins in with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall, right, along Highway 99 and Highway 65 gaining support for an infrastructure bond on the November ballot. The program calls for $1 billion in improvements to Highway 99. The bond package, passed by the state Legislature Friday, needs only to be signed by the governor to be put on the November 2006 ballot....

In the last five years, the federal budget has done a good impression of major league sluggers, bulking up to such frightful proportions as to be almost unrecognizable. Baseball responded to the excess girth by cracking down on steroids. President Bush, however, wants to try stomach stapling. This week, he urged Congress to give him a line-item veto so he can "reduce wasteful spending."In reality, he's about as likely to cut spending as he is to give the next State of the Union address in Aramaic. Since he took office in 2001, federal outlays have increased by $845 billion a...

Hawaii residents paid more state taxes in 2004 than residents of any other state in the country... Hawaii residents paid an average of $3,050 per person in 2004, while Texans paid the least — an average of $1,368. Every state but one collected more taxes per person in 2004 than it did a decade earlier... State taxpayer burdens increased by an average of 41 percent from 1994 to 2004. Only Alaska saw the amount it collects per person decline. Even when the numbers are adjusted for inflation, the individual tax burdens increased in 43 states. Rising education and Medicaid costs...

Taxes were up in the past 10 years for Maryland and Virginia residents, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, disappointing both lawmakers and anti-tax advocates. The tax burden in Virginia increased by 55 percent in that period, with a per capita amount of $1,903 in 2004. In Maryland, the tax burden increased by 46 percent, with an individual tax burden of $2,214 in 2004. The District's tax statistics are computed with cities' and local governments' financial data, which won't be available until April, the Census Bureau said.

(Mrs. DFU was watching a dance show tonight and I thought I heard something strange. A Toyota commercial had a slow version of what I thought to be "What do you do with a drunken sailor." I had to check. Sure enough.) ====================================================================== FROM SLARTY'S WORLD -- On the drive home today I heard an ad for a "Toyota Sales Event." The ad featured an announcer talking about all the great deals that were happening over the weekend. In the background a brass band played what sounded like a march. As the ad continued, I recognized the tune. They were...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush, under pressure to provide more help to Africa ahead of a Group of Eight summit next week, proposed on Thursday that Washington take on a greater role in combating malaria in sub-Saharan Africa as part of what he called a doubling of U.S. aid. With Africa a top agenda item for G8 leaders meeting July 6 to 8 in Gleneagles, Scotland, Bush said he would ask Congress to spend $1.2 billion through 2008 to help fight malaria, which claims an estimated 1.2 million people a year worldwide, 95 percent of them in sub-Saharan Africa. In...

The administration is crunching numbers like crazy, but it can't obscure the giant holes being created We are now about to see the Bush administration carry out some maneuvers with respect to the budget level for this year that will call to mind an NFL quarterback being chased by three or four vicious linemen wanting to sack him, and break some bones as well, if possible. The problem for President Bush, with his inauguration and State of the Union speeches coming up, is this: During the campaign, sincerely or insincerely, he pledged to do something about the soaring budget deficit,...

Bitter Beanie Babies This is a bit of a departure from our usual subject matter, but it's a fascinating window into a dark corner of American culture. Last month a man calling himself "thedrunkensailor," from West Palm Beach, Fla., put a "collection of 26 Beanie Babies from ex-wife" up for auction on eBay. Beanie Babies apparently are small stuffed animals that people collect, some of which are rare and valuable."I DO NOT KNOW crap about these things," thedrunkensailor explained (all quotes are verbatim). "Whatever money I make from them will be spent at the local Home Depot on tools and...