Free Republic

A looming Obama administration rule aimed at updating the federal ozone standard could be the single most expensive federal regulation in U.S. history, according to a new study commissioned by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). The proposal, expected to be unveiled by year’s end, could lead to millions of lost jobs, $2.2 trillion in compliance costs and a $3.4 trillion blow to gross domestic product between 2017 and 2040, according to the 142-page study. The analysis does not take potential public health benefits into account. NAM President Jay Timmons contends the regulation would saddle manufacturers with a new regulatory...

Good news, in 2013, California's economy grew faster than the nation's - 2 percent vs. 1.8 percent. Many have used this as vindication that California's progressive policies, ranging from the 2012 Proposition 30 tax increases to implementation of AB 32's cap-and-trade scheme, are not hindering growth (some even suggest such policies are aiding the growth). However, focusing on the statewide number masks the bad news; California's growth is vastly inconsistent across its regions. And if we explore those differences - using Bureau of Economic Analysis 2001-to-2012 metropolitan-area statistics adjusted for inflation using the CPI-U-RS - the Golden State looks like...

July 29, 2014 Harry Dent Harry Dent writes: Central bankers think they can keep their economy going by artificial stimulus until they hit escape velocity and grow at normal rates again — but they’re wrong. Here at Dent Research we hold a different view to what drives the economy. And central bankers are in for three big surprises ahead. Their economies are NOT going to grow the way they’re hoping, at least not until the early 2020s, thanks to declining demographic cycles and unprecedented debt ratios. But the surprises I’m talking about are going to come out of left field...

"Today is a reminder that the United States means what it says," Obama said during a press conference from the South Lawn of the White House. Right before Obama spoke, the Treasury Department unveiled the new sanctions. They target Russia's energy, arms, and finance sectors. – Business Insider Interesting: Barry has targeted the same 3 sectors in America. Since he’s crippled our economy, maybe he thought this would reestablish equilibrium in the world. And if you disagree, you’re probably a racist.Posted from: Michelle Obama’s Mirror 

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The father of Jordan Davis is turning his attention to the crisis on the border where thousands of children who are showing up without their parents are being detained. Since his son's death, Ron Davis, has been working the U.S. Human Rights Network. Davis left Monday to attend human rights tribunals in New Mexico and Arizona along with members of this group. "We are going to cross the border and we are going to let them know what their human rights are and we are going to advocate for them," said Davis. Davis, who lost his own son to gun...

Barack Obama's approval polls slipped precariously closer to the 30 percent range this week, as many more Americans expressed deep dissatisfaction with his failed presidency. As Obama frantically runs around the country trying to find a motivating message that resonates with the base of his party, it's obvious that he's in over his head, without a serious, substantive agenda, or any workable idea of how to get America moving again. He's still peddling the same shady shell game to raise the minimum wage, an idea the Congressional Budget Office says would kill up to one million jobs. The Gallup Poll...

WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) - A $3 cup of shave ice is at the center of a dispute in this beach town between street vendors trying to stay in business and town officials who say the vendors cause traffic congestion and increase the potential for accidents. George Manko sells Hawaiian shave ice in a private parking lot for beachgoers in Westerly, where celebrities including Taylor Swift and Conan O'Brien have summer homes. The town recently banned street vendors, except for at festivals and one-time events. Town councilors who supported the ban said they did so because the police chief expressed safety...

The battle for America's poorest consumers intensified Monday with Dollar Tree Inc. agreement to buy rival Family Dollar Stores Inc. for about $8.5 billion. The chains thrived during the recession as the number of working Americans living in poverty increased by nearly 40%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The stores appealed to cash-strapped shoppers with bargain-basement prices and locations that were closer to their homes than many Wal-Mart supercenters. The smaller package sizes of everyday items like laundry detergent and cereal fit into the budgets of consumers living paycheck to paycheck.

President Barack Obama, who in his political dotage is enthusiastically getting in touch with his inner Otto von Bismarck to such an extent that we half expect him to start sporting a walrus mustache and a pickelhaube, on Saturday treated the ailing republic to another lecture on the theme of “economic patriotism,” by which he means an arrangement under which companies adopt tax strategies that maximize the amount of money they send to President Obama and his colleagues to dispose of as they see fit. He demanded that companies “embrace an economic patriotism,” presumably one defined by Barack Obama, rather...

According to a recent study conducted at The University of Chicago, African American males haven’t advanced in American society one bit since 1971. The researchers used a variety of socio-economic indicators to arrive at their conclusions, and their work has credibility, since U. Chicago is among the world’s leaders in both Sociological and Economic research. The year 1971 is meaningful to me, since that was the year I was born. When I think about the fact that it’s our job as men to carry the torch and improve upon the achievements of the previous generation, these results seem to imply...

Just for once, wouldn't it be great if President Obama actually defended American business, instead of attacking it? Just once?Wouldn't it be great if Obama acknowledged that U.S. firms are overburdened by the highest corporate tax rate among developed countries, and as a result are becoming less and less competitive? Wouldn't it be great if he said he wants to fix this tax imbalance in order to grow the economy faster and give U.S. businesses a leg up on the global scene? Couldn't he just say that? He could say it like this: "Look, I don't want to drive businesses...

While this past week may have been pretty much nothing in the way of general asset growth (metals flat off --stocks flat in market under pressure), it's been a great week for geek number thingees, in fact we updated the link list to include Business Insider's Chart page (hat tip to Wyatt's Torch) and we've been into the income shifts that have turned the Great Recession into the gift that keeps giving.  Chgogal gave us the headsup to the  NYTimes piece "The Typical Household, Now Worth a Third Less" and Wash. Post Chart study Median household incomes have collapsed since...

Myles UdlandJuly 27, 2014 Wage growth is close to not being growth at all. On August 1, we'll get the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Last month, the report showed that the economy added 288,000 jobs in June, with wages growing 2% year of year. Unfortunately, when taking into account the rate of inflation, "real" wage growth was flat. In Business Insider's latest Most Important Charts In The World feature, Ellen Zentner, senior U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley, highlighted the following chart, which shows how real wage growth has slowed to, well, no growth at all.(snip)(snip)

In case you thought it was just your imagination, it’s not:In the Age of Obama, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer; no matter how hard Big Guy works for the American people:Meanwhile, the U.S. embassy in Libya was abandoned on Saturday due, I guess, to all that “tranquility” that we’ve generated in the Middle East; it must be irritating the local Islamic terrorists. Reports are that our embassy staff was evacuated to Tunisia via motorcade as the U.S. Department of State 747 was unavailable for takeoff because the Tripoli airport was, uh, closed due to...

Emanuel wants city to house 1,000 more young illegal immigrants, report says Posted: Jul 26, 2014 4:02 PM CST Updated: Jul 26, 2014 4:02 PM CST FOX News - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a former Obama administration chief of staff, wants to expand the city’s efforts to house young illegal immigrants from Central America, reportedly proposing to shelter an additional 1,000 of them by year's end. "The influx of unaccompanied child migrants is a growing humanitarian crisis that we can no longer ignore," said Emanuel, according to The Chicago Tribune. "While we have our own challenges at home, we cannot...

Another Obama record… AMERICANS GETTING POORER – HOUSEHOLD NET WORTH IN DECLINE.The median household net worth under Obama is one-third what it was during the Bush years. Under Barack Obama American households are worth two-thirds of what they were worth under George W. Bush. The New York Times reported: Economic inequality in the United States has been receiving a lot of attention. But it’s not merely an issue of the rich getting richer. The typical American household has been getting poorer, too. The inflation-adjusted net worth for the typical household was $87,992 in 2003. Ten years later, it was only...

VILLA PARK, Ill. — Comparing their campaign to the civil rights movement, fast food workers from across the country voted today to escalate their efforts for $15-an-hour pay and union membership to include nonviolent civil disobedience. More than 1,300 workers gathered in a convention in center in suburban Chicago to discuss the future of a campaign that has spread to dozens of cities in less than two years. Wearing T-shirts that said “Fight for $15” and “We Are Worth More,” the workers cheered loudly and said they would win if they stuck together. “People are just fed up,” said Cindy...

Beneath all of the bogus economic data, the US economy is tanking again. One of the biggest games played by the bean counters in Washington in the US is the overstatement of GDP growth by understating inflation. Consider this simple example. Let’s say that the US GDP grew by 10% last year. Now let’s say that inflation also grew by 10%. In this scenario, real inflation adjusted GDP growth was ZERO. However, announcing ZERO GDP growth is a major problem politically. So what do the Feds do? They claim that inflation was just 8%, and BOOM you’ve got 2% GDP...

Just the other day when I was home in Dunn, a woman standing in the checkout line told me that she felt as though she had less money in her pocket. And, unfortunately, she’s right. Did you know that the average clothing cost for children has risen $310 during the president’s term and that food costs have risen an average of $210? Or that an average family of four is missing as much as $1,120 from their monthly budget? I bet women do. No one understands the true implications of these missing dollars better than women. Women are the ones...

Geneva (AFP) - The Swiss and Chinese central banks signed a currency swap agreement in Beijing on Monday, marking an important step in the development of a market for yuan in Switzerland, the Swiss central bank BNS said. The agreement, highlighting steps towards international use of the yuan, ensures that Swiss francs will be available in China and that yuan, also known as renminbi, will be supplied to financial centres in Switzerland. The BNS statement said that the agreement was "an important step" for the renminbi business in Switzerland. The agreement permits the two central banks to buy up to...