Free Republic

Nashville food banks are being pushed to their limits with people needing help now more than ever before. Over the past couple of years, demand has skyrocketed at The Branch because of higher grocery prices. Angie Thomas said they now serve more than 1,200 families per month. There was a constant line of cars outside of the building on Wednesday for their senior food box giveaway. “We have a heart for this community,” Thomas said. “We want this community to thrive. When we are able to provide something that our community needs, like food, like English language classes, like entrepreneur...

It's official! - Robots are replacing humans. Chipotle restaurants in California have introduced two robots to replace human workers in an effort to slash labor costs in response to the state-mandated $20 minimum wage. The first robot called the "autocato" can peel, stone, and cut an avocado, and then turn it into guacamole in 26 seconds. The other robot dubbed the "digital makeline" has the ability to portion salads and bowls based on orders from the mobile app. The robots are part of an automation push that Chipotle's executives think could reduce the number of employees and help lower rising...

American consumers and homebuyers, business people and political leaders have been waiting for months for what the Federal Reserve is poised to announce this week: that it's cutting its key interest rate from a two-decade peak.It's likely to be just the first in a series of rate cuts that should make borrowing more affordable now that the Fed has deemed high inflation to be all but defeated.Continued at link...

The U.S. government for the first time has spent more than $1 trillion this year on interest payments for its $35.3 trillion national debt, the Treasury Department reported Thursday. With the Federal Reserve holding benchmark rates at their highest in 23 years, the government has laid out $1.049 trillion on debt service, up 30% from the same period a year ago and part of a projected $1.158 trillion in payments for the full year. Subtracting the interest the government earns on its investments, net interest payments have totaled $843 billion, higher than any other category except Social Security and Medicare....

On the Tuesday night debate stage, Kamala continuously lied about things like Trump being a big supporter of Project 2025 and repeating the “bloodbath” and “very fine people” hoaxes; but she also touted a report from Goldman Sachs saying the economy would be better under her than Trump. But getting to the truth with Democrats is not always as straightforward as it should be; it is like extracting an answer from Kamala on whether Americans are better off today than when Biden-Harris took office. (She refused to answer because the answer was obvious.) No, Americans aren’t better off.People should read...

I didn't know how to post without having a link so I apologize. I have to be honest, for most of my life (in sales), the harder I worked, generally the more money I made....more on that later. We are savers---putting in 401K, stocks, mutual funds, some precious metals, have property. We had no debt (except our mortgage----2.3% and under $100K). Recently we had a few things---our son's wedding, property taxes (up another $800 this year) car tires needing to be replaced, air conditioner crapped out, cost of food, gas, utilities, etc. We ALWAYS pay off any debt immediately but...

Large businesses are declaring bankruptcy at a staggering rate, and yet we are being told over and over again that the economy is just fine. Needless to say, most of the country isn’t buying it. Survey after survey has shown that most Americans believe that the economy is on the wrong track. But those that are running things continue to push their “booming economy” narrative anyway, and I suppose that will continue all the way through the election in November. Of course anyone with half a brain should be able to see the truth, because day after day we just...

Vice President Kamala Harris’s tax plan would effectively vaporize nearly 800,000 full-time equivalent jobs, according to studies published by the Tax Foundation Tuesday. Harris’ proposals, including hiking corporate taxes to be among the highest in the developed world, would lower employment by roughly 786,000 full-time equivalent jobs, and reduce long-run gross domestic product (GDP) and wages by 2% and 1.2% respectively, the Tax Foundation found. Meanwhile, Trump’s proposals, including a 60% tariff on China, would lower employment by approximately 387,000 full-time equivalent jobs, lower long-run GDP by 0.2% and increase long-run wages by 0.6%.... ' Trump’s economic plan, including the...

Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent to persuade the American people to vote for either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. But ultimately two things are probably going to matter more than anything else. Millions of Americans will be basing their votes on how they currently feel about the economy and who they trust to handle it moving forward. This will be particularly true for independents, and they actually make up the largest block of voters at this point. About 30 percent of the population considers themselves to be Democrats, about 30 percent of the population considers themselves to...

Nine of the 12 Federal Reserve districts reported a decline in economic activity in August, up five districts from the July Beige Book report. Our system has warned that we are entering a period of stagflation, where inflation remains high but GDP declines. Now, the Fed is reporting that two-thirds of the US economy is experiencing “flat or declining activity.” The US economy advanced 3% during the last quarter, leading many to believe that the economy is recovering since Q2 posted a measly 1.4% advancement. Consumer spending, amounting to 70% of GDP, rose 2.9% last quarter as well, but people...

Big Lots, the beleaguered discount retailer that previously warned it had “substantial doubt” about its survival, has filed for bankruptcy. As part of its Chapter 11 filing, the retailer announced that private equity firm Nexus Capital Management is acquiring “substantially all” of Big Lots stores and business operations. During the process, its locations and website will remain open for shopping. “The actions we are taking today will enable us to move forward with new owners who believe in our business and provide financial stability, while we optimize our operational footprint, accelerate improvement in our performance, and deliver on our promise...

While $100 may seem like it holds the same value across the U.S., that’s far from the reality. The purchasing power of a dollar can vary significantly from state to state, influenced by factors such as the cost of food, utilities, taxes, housing, and transportation.This map, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, illustrates the purchasing power of $100 by state, using data from GOBankingRates compiled as of February 19, 2024.MethodologyGOBankingRates compiled data from the 2022 Regional Price Parities reoporting by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Affairs. It then used factors such as median household income, sourced from the 2022 American Community...

When U.S. consumers are doing well, the U.S. economy does well. But of course the opposite is also true. When U.S. consumers are not doing well, the U.S. economy really suffers. The government has been trying really hard to put a happy face on things, but the truth is that the standard of living for most U.S. consumers has been going down for a long time. The cost of living has been rising faster than paychecks have, and so most of us have less discretionary income than we once did. And that is really bad news for the U.S. economy,...

Discount home goods retailer Big Lots is preparing to file for bankruptcy as early as this Sunday and plans to sell its chain of stores through a court-supervised process.. The company will remain in operation under Chapter 11 protection, the report said, and is currently in the process of securing a stalking horse bid, which means that the bid could be outdone if better offers emerge. Earlier in the day, the retailer announced the postponement of its second-quarter earnings release, which had been scheduled for Friday. The company now expects to report results on Sept. 12. ... Big Lots, a...

Border Patrol agents have recorded at least 10 million illegal immigrants who have flooded the country since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office. But that figure doesn’t include the 2 million known “gotaways” and countless others who have evaded formal detection...In addition to this being a human crisis, it’s also an economic one. These illegal immigrants are not working enough.... The average immigrant in this category who has been in the country for two years... only worked 1,400 hours in 2022....at least half are likely living on taxpayer largesse.... Even before Medi-Cal coverage went into effect...

Will the U.S. economy be able to beat inflation without going into a recession? That may be the question investors are asking themselves as more economic data is pointing to a softening economy. Recession fears started to percolate in early August, when July jobs data showed the unemployment rate growing to 4.3%. The increase in unemployment triggered the recession-indicating Sahm rule and a deep stock-market selloff over the next two trading days. “The unemployment rate is increasingly more of a watch point for investors,” Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager of equities at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management, told MarketWatch. Although the...

The Economic Club of New York is honored to welcome Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States of America, on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024.President Trump’s remarks will begin at 12:00 p.m. ET. Tune in on RSBN starting at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Former President Donald Trump dominates Vice President Kamala Harris in every major swing state on the question of who voters trust to handle the economy, CNN polling found Wednesday. The poll is significant because the economy is the “most important issue” to voters, as they weigh casting their ballot, the polling found. The economy outranked other issues as most important by 20 to 30 points across all major swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. CLAIM: Joe Biden said the American economy was in terrible shape when he took office. VERDICT: False. In Q3 2020, the economy...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Harris-Walz Campaign Co-Chair Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) responded to a question on whether the Harris campaign is addressing the economy and immigration enough by stating that “abortion is about the economy, too,” because “The most important, profound decision a person or a family or a woman will make is whether and when to bear a child.” She also wondered, “How can women get in the workforce if they can’t even make their own decisions about whether and when to bear a child or access the health care that they need?” And stated...

WASHINGTON: The Obama White House on Wednesday rolled out the red carpet for Chinese President Hu Jintao months after the US President met Tibetan leader Dalai Lama sans fanfare and photo-ops and showed him out through a side door past garbage bags. The contrasting receptions, recalled vividly by commentators, pretty much summed up the US approach and priorities at a time when China struts the world stage like an economic colossus with military ambitions to match. It would be a stretch to say China owns the US, but it is no great secret that President Hu is being courted, coddled...