Free Republic

Everywhere we turn in the media, we hear the lie that the Obama economy is in “recovery.” Bill Maher actually taunted Republicans on his show last week, daring them to attack Obama’s economic record. Now it appears that Hillary has bought into this great lie. The word is that Hillary is about to tie her presidential campaign to Obama’s economic policies. Why? Because for the first time she believes the economy is in “recovery.” She is no longer afraid or embarrassed to support Obama’s policies. Where are the GOP leaders to rip this narrative to shreds? Are they so blind,...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — West Virginia quietly passed the ignominious milestone of having less than half of its adult, civilian population in the workforce in November. State data compiled by the Labor Department shows that West Virginia’s civilian labor participation rate has fallen to 49.8%, from 50% in October. The national rate in December was 62.7%. The Mountain State is the only state in the history of the series, which goes back to 1976, to have fallen below 50%, though Mississippi at 50.8% isn’t far behind. The troubles that have befallen West Virginia have been well publicized, notably the diminished demand...

January 12, 2015Michael Pento Politicians and central bankers are desperately trying to convince investors that the economy has returned to what they deem as a “pre-crisis normality”. But the truth is the global economy has never been in a more fragile condition. In an example of just how precarious the Fed-engineered asset bubbles have become, all of the 2014 U.S. equity market gains were wiped out by just a few really bad trading days in October. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and the NADAQ averages were all negative after the first 10 months of last year. Investors were better off...

The recession technically ended 5-1/2 years ago, but the public is only now — in the wake of falling gasoline prices and the GOP election victory last November — starting to believe it, the latest IBD/TIPP Poll shows. The January survey found that 59% say the economy is improving, up from just 45% two months ago. And while nearly half said the economy was still in a recession last summer, only 37% say that's the case today. More than a quarter (28%) believe the economy will improve over the next six months, which is up from 19% who thought so...

The $1.5 billion CityLine development, which will begin opening this year, will bring more dining, shopping and entertainment options to Richardson, but officials say it’s also the kind of project that will bring long-term economic benefits to the city. By September, the mixed-use project, which will be anchored by State Farm Insurance and Raytheon Co., will have a daytime population of 10,000 people, according to KDC, developer of the project on the southeast corner of Central Expressway and the Bush Turnpike. This month, workers will start moving into the first of State Farm’s four office towers. Several restaurants, including Coal...

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Ideological splits among Republicans have been part of the fun of the American political fair for more than 50 years now, but what of potential divisions on the Left? When Barack Obama departs the White House in 2016, the question already being asked is whether Democrats will now suffer the same kind of upheaval that the Tea Party inflicted on Republicans after George W. Bush left office in 2008. Last week in Washington DC it was possible to hear the opening shots of what some left-wing Democrats hope will become a similarly fierce fight for the ideological soul of their...

Hillary Clinton is ready to run on President Obama’s record when it comes to the economy. Clinton allies say that if the former secretary of State does in fact announce a second bid for the presidency this year, they expect that she’ll tether herself to a main slice of Obama’s legacy. A series of economic reports including Friday’s positive jobs numbers is adding to Democratic confidence that the economy will finally be a winner for Obama in his last two years in office, and that it will help the Democratic White House candidate in 2016. But even as Clinton embraces...

          Average U.S.      Household Wealth             Real Estate $186,702     Durables $44,374     Deposits $81,497     Stocks/Business $422,126     Bonds $27,139     Misc. $7,598       ____________     Total Assets $769,435             Debts -$113,397       _____________     Net Worth $656,039           Something that snuck by me (and most people) last month was the Fed's quarterly Flow of Funds Report --their bigass number-dump that says where all America's money has...

January 09, 2015 Alasdair_Macleod 2014 ended with two ominous developments: the strength of the US dollar and a collapse in key commodity prices. It is tempting to view both events as one, but the continuing fall in oil prices through December reveals they are sequential: first there was a greater preference for dollars compared with other currencies and this still persists, followed by a developing preference for all but the weakest currencies at the expense of raw materials and energy. These are two steps on a path that should logically lead to a global slump. Dollar strength was the first...

The Telegraph (UK) January 9, 2015 Fitch has downgraded Russia's credit rating and painted a horrific picture of a struggling economy rocked by a collapsing rouble, falling oil prices, high inflation and declining international reserves. The ratings agency cut the country to BBB- from BBB with a negative outlook, meaning further downgrades are possible. But it was the language Fitch used in its reasoning that was most shocking. Russia's economic outlook "has deteriorated significantly" in just six months, Fitch stated. Gross Domestic Product will shrink 4pc this year, the agency added, far worse than the 1.5pc contraction it previously expected....

Democrats for over a century were associated with the American middle class. Working-class voters once believed that Democratic-inspired intervention into the economy – minimum-wage laws, overtime pay, Social Security, Medicare, workers’ compensation – protected their interests better than unfettered free-market capitalism. Republicans often had trouble selling the argument that an unleashed economy and new technology would relegate poverty to a relative, not absolute, condition – something like suffering with a cheap outdated iPhone 4 while the better-off afforded an iPhone 6. Why, then, have Democrats lost the working class – especially white, lower-middle-class voters? There are several obvious reasons. For...

As a key Senate committee cleared legislation approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a prominent supporter of the project said Thursday he believes the chamber could have enough votes to override a presidential veto of the bill. Sen. Joe Manchin, West Virginia Democrat, told his colleagues he believes the bill approving the pipeline could garner 67 votes, the number needed to overcome a veto by the president.

WASHINGTON -- A remark often attributed to 19th-century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli says there are three lies used to support a weak case in government: "lies, damned lies and statistics." That acidly iconic remark, popularized by Mark Twain, certainly applies to the boasts, promises and outrageous exaggerations often made by President Obama. Obama will be remembered for telling us over and over again that our existing medical insurance policies were safe from Obamacare, and that no one could take them away from us. When millions of Americans began getting cancellation notices telling them that they had to apply for...

Toby Conner January 08, 2015 With commodities now moving down into their three year cycle low I’m hearing more and more talk about deflation. This is complete nonsense. Bernanke had it exactly right when he pointed out that any determined government could halt deflation at will with a printing press. As a matter of fact the only mildly deflationary event we’ve seen since 1932 was a brief period during 2008 and early 2009. Bernanke succeeded in stopping it in its tracks almost immediately with QE1. In order to experience deflation there must be debt defaults. That’s what happened in 2008....

Tyler Durden 01/08/2015 Must be over-supply too, right? Just like oil prices... The Baltic Dry Index - which apparently is only relevant when it is rising - has never been lower at this time of year.(snip)

Akin Oyedele January 5, 2015Blackstone Group vice chairman Byron Wien just released his list of the ten biggest surprises for 2015. Among the notable calls: the S&P 500 surges 15%, brent oil falls into the $40s, and junk bonds come back big time. This is the 30th such list this Wall Street veteran has published. His predictions for this year are in the press release below: New York, NY, January 5, 2015. Byron R. Wien, Vice Chairman, Blackstone Advisory Partners, today issued his list of Ten Surprises for 2015. This is the 30th year Byron has given his views on...

If you do not believe that we are heading directly toward another major financial crisis, you need to read this article. So many of the exact same patterns that preceded the great financial collapse of 2008 are happening again right before our very eyes. History literally appears to be repeating, but most Americans seem absolutely oblivious to what is going on. The mainstream media and our politicians are promising them that everything is going to be okay somehow, and that seems to be good enough for most people. But the signs that another massive financial crisis is on the horizon...

This year is already seeing a wave of new regulations being published in the Federal Register as the Obama administration unveils 300 new rules in the first seven days of 2015, according to federal data. Federal agencies have published 300 final rules, proposals for new rules and regulatory notices in the seven days since the new year began, according to the website Regulations.gov. The bulk of these new regulations are notices, which can lead to rulemakings, meetings and other government activities. Rules having to do with energy, environment, public lands and agriculture make up the largest share of new regulations....

Shane FerroJanuary 8, 2015Deflation is coming. In a new note to clients, BNP Paribas's Laura Rosner writes that low oil prices could drag headline inflation in the US into negative territory in the first two quarters of 2015. Rosner writes: Under our new forecast, the quarterly y/y rate of headline inflation falls below zero in Q1 and Q2 2015 (-0.3% and -0.4%, respectively). We still expect the energy price shock to have only transitory effects (maximum impact in 2015) and limited pass through into core, though we will be re-evaluating that assumption over time. Our forecast assumes household and business...