Free Republic

The data says millennials don't lack work ethic, but they'll never be able to afford what other generations take for granted. The popular millennial copypasta goes something like this: First experience with serious job hunting comes on the heels of the 2008 financial crisis Can't take advantage of correction in home prices because too young to have made any money, and wage growth stagnates anyway Homes rocket to new highs, no chance of catching up now by just working a 9-5 like your parents Late 20s/early 30s, try investing as it's your last chance to make it Get obliterated again...

Most US economic data missed expectations in February. And that investors are sending stocks to all-time highs is making Societe Generale's Albert Edwards crazy. In a note Thursday, Edwards wrote: "With equity markets galore hitting record highs clearly I must be missing something big! We are at that stage in the cycle where I begin to doubt my own sanity. I’ve been here before though and know full well how this story ends and it doesn’t involve me being detained in a mental health establishment (usually)." From Janet Yellen's testimony on Capitol Hill earlier this week, Edwards points out that...

Ugh. Companies issuing negative outlooks for the 3rd quarter outnumber positive outlooks by 5.2-to-1. NEW YORK – U.S. companies are warning about third-quarter earnings at a rate lower than last quarter but still at the second highest level since 2001, leaving estimates well below what they were just three months ago. Companies issuing negative outlooks for the quarter outnumber positive ones by 5.2-to-1, the most negative since the 6.3-to-1 ratio in the second quarter. The second-quarter ratio is the worst since the first quarter of 2001. The third quarter would be the second worst since 2001, according to Thomson Reuters...

Newly minted college graduates lucky enough to find a job after leaving school are in for a shock: They’ll likely be earning less money than they would have a decade ago. Since 2000, these young workers have seen inflation-adjusted wages deteriorate, according to research by the Economic Policy Institute. Here’s the math: In 2011, fresh college grads earned an average of $16.81 an hour, or about $35,000 a year. That’s down 5.4% from 2000. Women fared worse than men. Their wages declined 8.5% to $15.74 an hour over the same period while those of men

Jack Lew today couldn’t say how an additional tax on millionaires and billionaires will create jobs — and barely confirmed that he thinks such a tax will at least contribute to deficit reduction. The director of the Office of Management and Budget appeared this morning on Fox News’ “Happening Now” to defend the president’s just-announced proposals to trim the deficit — proposals that are a part of his overall jobs plan. Fox’s Jenna Lee asked Lew how the tax will reduce the nation’s high rate of unemployment. “Today’s plan puts into place a balanced, fair approach to doing the $4...

President Obama has a new term for the people he wants to tax more: jet owners. In his news conference today, the president said: “I think it’s only fair to ask an oil company or a corporate jet owner that’s doing so well to give up that tax break….I don’t think that’s real radical.” (Courtesy of JetSuite Air) Asking private-jet owners to give up tax breaks may not be that radical. And it probably would be supported by the vast majority of the nonjet-owning voters. The problem is that most of the people that would be subject to the higher...

arnings look grim, again With fourth-quarter's pain widely known, 2009 outlooks come into focus By Laura Mandaro, MarketWatch Last update: 8:11 p.m. EST Jan. 9, 2009 Comments: 742 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- For any company not tied to consumer must-haves like health care and groceries, earnings in the fourth quarter likely made the same swan dive as the broader economy. "Fourth-quarter earnings are going to be a disaster," said Philip Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors, which manages $344 billion in assets. In the quarterly reporting season that gets its unofficial start Monday, analysts polled by FactSet anticipate...

McDonald's profit jumps 11% By William Spain, MarketWatch Last update: 10:03 a.m. EDT Oct. 22, 2008 NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- McDonald's Corp. said Wednesday it posted an 11% rise in third-quarter profit, helped by strong sales worldwide. Before the start of trading, McDonald's (MCD) said it earned $1.19 billion, or $1.05 a share, up from $1.07 billion, or 89 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 6% to $6.27 billion, with global same-store sales -- those at outlets open at least a year -- up 7.1%. The average estimate of analysts polled by FactSet Research had been for...

U.S. stocks hard hit by GE's disappointing results Nasdaq fronts weekly decline, off 3.4%; Dow, S&P slump more than 2% By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch Last update: 4:37 p.m. EDT April 11, 2008Print E-mail RSS Disable Live Quotes NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks on Friday sunk to April lows and weekly losses, with the market undone by General Electric Co.'s earnings miss, jolting investors and casting a bleak light on a slew of earnings reports next week. "GE never surprises us, and they had the whole month of March to let us know. All they had to say is, for...

Static at General Electric Conglomerate's shares tumble on surprise decline in earnings and lowered forecasts. By David Goldman, CNNMoney.com staff writer Last Updated: April 11, 2008: 9:46 AM EDT NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Electric posted a surprising first-quarter earnings miss Friday, deflating investors' hopes that the conglomerate could rise above an economic slowdown. Shares of GE - a Dow Jones industrial average component - tumbled more than 11% in early morning trading, and the results sent stock market tumbling. GE's (GE, Fortune 500) reported net income fell 6% to $4.3 billion after reporting income of $4.6 billion in the...

Despite a flourishing economy American workers are less confident about their financial security than they were two years ago. The U.S. has enjoyed four straight years of economic growth, but most families have lost ground: In 2005, more than 80% of American workers saw their inflation-adjusted wages fall for the second year in a row. While the economy has been growing since 2001, all the benefits of that growth have gone into corporate profits, says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, a Pennsylvania-based consultant firm: “Corporate profits’ share of the national income is at a 60-year high—and that has...

How man jailed by a tyrant repaid him - by leading US troops to his sons and earning a $30m bounty By David Usborne 24 July 2003 Only two things seemed clear yesterday. The American military confirmed that they had in their custody an Iraqi man who had tipped them off to the presence of Saddam Hussein's sons in the mansion of Nawaf al-Zaydan. And Mr Zaydan was nowhere to be seen. The raid on Tuesday that ended with the killing of Uday and Qusay and two others wrecked the imposing villa, fronted by ornate columns. Mr Zaydan has lost...