Free Republic

Looking at the bloodbath Budweiser has recently taken, I believe boycotts could be weaponized by the American people to effectively influence and alter the direction were heading. We've got the power. Just ask Budweiser. Being creative and focusing on specific targets, I believe boycotts could be a very effective powerful political tool. And we all hold the power to enforce these actions.

No communist was ever as dedicated to economic suicide as the current class of idiots who rule us…High inflation, over-regulation, and a general sense that things are going in the wrong direction remind us of the late 1970s and early ’80s. But today the underlying problems that were responsible for our woes in that time are vastly worse. The coming reckoning for Washington’s insanely irresponsible monetary policy may dwarf the troubles from all recent recessions and periods of inflation. The Federal Reserve has created a doom loop between the housing market and inflation. For years it has printed tens of...

Source: BloombergFollowing February’s disappointing 0.5% MoM decline in US Factory Orders (and despite the ongoing slump in ISM Manufacturing), analysts expected a rebound in March and they were right. US Factory Orders surged 2.2% MoM in March and February was revised up from a 0.5% decline to a 0.1% MoM rise… This is the biggest jump in US Factory orders since May 2021, lifting the ‘hard’ data to its most divergent from the ‘soft’ data on record…What happens next?

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., along with Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said in an op-ed Thursday that the coronavirus lockdown recommendations of Dr. Anthony Fauci have “emasculated” the health care system and “ruined” the economy. “Fauci and company have relied on models that were later found to be deficient. He even has suggested that he can’t rely on any of the models, especially if the underlying assumptions are wrong,” the pair wrote in an op-ed for USA Today. “Yet, Fauci persists in advocating policies that have emasculated the medical care system and ruined the economy.” They pointed to Fauci's testimony last...

Not long ago, Dr. Copper was sick. Today the doctor is looking a lot healthier. It’s been a rough few years for copper. Since hitting all-time highs of US$10,250/metric tonne in February 2011, it has suffered nearly 6 years of tumbling prices. As shown in the graph below, copper fell 58 percent from its all-time highs to its lows in January 2016. But in the last year, the industrial metal’s fortunes have begun to reverse. Last year copper was up 17.4 percent, and in 2017 so far it’s up 8 percent to nearly $6,000/mT. It’s up 40 percent increase from...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Bond yields climbed on Wednesday and U.S. stock indexes continued their march to record highs after more reports showed the economy continues to strengthen. The encouraging data could push the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner rather than later in its gradual move away from the record-low rates of the Great Recession. KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,343 as of 11:23 a.m. Eastern time. If it holds the gain, it would be the seventh straight for the index and mark its longest winning streak in...

Germany's first chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, supposedly once said that there was "a special providence for drunkards, fools and the United States of America." Apparently, late 19th century observers could not quite explain how the U.S. thrived when by logic it should not. That paradox has never been more true than today. The U.S. government now owes more than $18 trillion in long-term debt. Even after recent income tax hikes for the very wealthy and huge cuts in the defense budget, the Obama administration will still run an annual budget deficit of nearly $500 billion. No government official dares to...

Will It Be Inflation Or Deflation? The Answer May Surprise You By Michael Snyder May 22nd, 2013 Inflation Or DeflationIs the coming financial collapse going to be inflationary or deflationary? Are we headed for rampant inflation or crippling deflation? This is a subject that is hotly debated by economists all over the country. Some insist that the wild money printing that the Federal Reserve is doing combined with out of control government spending will eventually result in hyperinflation. Others point to all of the deflationary factors in our economy and argue that we will experience tremendous deflation when the bubble...

The Chinese Stock Market Is Selling Off After The Dismal Manufacturing Report Mamta BadkarSeptember 19, 2012 The HSBCFlash PMI report for China climbed to 47.8 in September but stayed below the all-important contractionary reading of 50. Markets did not like the results. The Shanghai Composite is off about 1.2 percent on the news.

A note to readers. This 2000-word commentary is a longer-term view; think in terms of years, not months or days. The essay is not in conflict with the fully invested position currently held at Cumberland. The words reflect my personal thinking only. Some of my colleagues disagree. In my personal view, the future is uncertain (of course) and may be unattractive for the longer-term outlook. In my view, our American political system is failing us. In my view, we are joining the list of declining world powers. The framework to support that argument follows. "The external menace ‘You'll end up...

Recession Is Not In View But Economy Is Ugly Steven Hansen August 21, 2011 Every day recently, readers have had to digest a growing number of pundits screaming “upcoming recession” giving a cacophony of reasons. Other than a horribly weak economy, there are no major signs indicating an outright contraction. As I have stated previously, a discussion of whether the USA is in a depression would be more pertinent. In a depression, there are no economic drivers for expansion – and the economy flops around (one step forward, on step back). One year ago, we were worried the economy was...

President Barack Obama’s decision to intervene in Libya has presented him with a whole new set of political problems with members of both parties. But its most worrisome effect for the White House is the way it’s undermining his efforts to address what has been his administration’s longest-running issue — the economy. The economy – and Obama’s claim that he rescued the country from the brink of depression — will be central to Obama’s reelection campaign, which he officially launched by releasing a video message to supporters Monday morning. But in the view of his closest allies, Libya is drowning...

Economic Outlook: Room For Optimism Michael Carr October 10, 2010 Over the past month, we made several significant changes in many of the portfolios we manage at Dunn Warren and eliminated positions in leveraged inverse ETFs. These funds are designed to go up in value on days when the stock market index they track declines. In that way, they can be thought of as serving almost like an insurance policy against extended downtrends in portfolios. We believe they offer a hedge against downside risks at some times. While the market may decline from current levels, the downside risks now seem...

When Bill Clinton gave China our cutting edge missile and other technology, in exchanged for campaign contributions, the world did virtually nothing. It was ChianaGate and no one noticed. Why? Because of Monica Lewinsky’s blue dress and other diversions. But today the matter has come home to roost as China is poised to shortly overcome the U.S. economy to become the #1 economy in the world. China is growing at a whopping 10% per year, while Japan is 3% or less. The Chinese GDP was about $5 trillion in 2009. Japan’s was nominally ahead at $5 trillion. What’s wrong with...

New York floods mailboxes with 700,000 vintage tax-delinquency letters: You may be a debtor! New York state has unearthed billions of dollars in unpaid taxes as old as the 1950s in an attempt to shake money from the pockets of some taxpayers. In January, the state dug into its archives and mailed a list of outstanding bills to 700,000 people — everyone who has a debt older than three years on the state’s books. “Maybe they hoped we forgot about it,” Acting Tax Commissioner Jamie Woodward said. Gov. David Paterson and state legislators are offering a kind of half-off sale...

Equities Update: Consumer Cheer Leads Stocks Higher Midnight Trader December 11, 2009 Stocks pulled out modest gains in Friday's regular session as traders were cheered by a set of economic datapoints that would suggest the beleaguered U.S. consumer is showing some signs of life. The Commerce Department said retail sales were up 1.3% in November, well ahead of Street expectations of a 0.7% rise and an indication that consumers are feeling slightly more comfortable with the economic outlook. Separately, the University of Michigan/Reuters consumer sentiment index notched a solid move higher to 73.4 in December from 67.4 in November. The...

For a household of four, energy costs go up $436 that year, and they eventually reach over $1,241 in 2035 and average $829 per year over that span. Electricity costs go up $468, gasoline goes up $565, and natural gas goes up $161 by 2035. That’s a 58 percent increase in gas prices, 90 percent for electricity, and 55 percent for natural gas. Cumulative higher energy costs for a household of four from 2012-2035 would reach nearly $20,000.

Proponents need to stop pretending cap-and-trade will cost nothing and create tons of jobs.

President Obama showed his hand this week when The New York Times wrote that he is considering converting the stock the government owns in our country’s banks from preferred stock, which it now holds, to common stock. This seemingly insignificant change is momentous. It means that the federal government will control all of the major banks and financial institutions in the nation. It means socialism. The Times dutifully dressed up the Obama plan as a way to avoid asking Congress for more money for failing banks. But the implications of the proposal are obvious to anyone who cares to look....

As the world's finance ministers gather in London the greatest danger to the global economy is America's failure of resolve This could be the week when the greatest financial crisis in history finally reached its nadir. Then again, it could merely be another week in which a brief rally in global stock markets has suckered more investors, politicians and commentators into assuming that the worst is over, when the tentative improvement in financial confidence is just another false dawn. So which will it be? The answer depends, even more than usual, on the finance ministers and central bankers gathering at...