Free Republic

A vacant steel factory in Newark is turning into the world's largest-producing vertical farm. After it begins running later this year, the farm's indoor system of modular, stacked trays will grow around 2 million pounds of baby greens annually. The $30 million building will be the headquarters of AeroFarms, a company that has been developing vertical farm tech for the last decade. But the company sees the project as just the beginning—and hopes to build 25 farms in the next five years. AeroFarms already has eight smaller farms and five in the pipeline. "This isn't about one farm, this is...

Juncker called the latest proposals from Greece a "good basis for progress", while EU Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said he was "convinced" agreement will be reached. Spain's finance minister Luis de Guindos said a deal was not possible on Monday, however, meaning it may be the scheduled leaders summit on Thursday before any agreement is reached. Investors appeared willing to give the protagonists in the saga the benefit of the doubt. "The odds seem to shift in favor of a compromise," said Rainer Guntermann, rates strategist at Commerzbank. At mid-session in Europe, Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC 40 .FCHI...

Big apparel brands are grappling with shoppers who increasingly want deeply discounted clothes over classic logos and status. Gap is closing one-quarter of its stores and laying off hundreds of workers after disappointing sales. J. Crew just fired 10% of the workers at its corporate headquarters as sales and profits continue to plunge. The teen-apparel market is also struggling as a whole, with big-name players like Abercrombie & Fitch and Aeropostale closing stores. Sears, Macy's, and JCPenney have also shuttered hundreds of store locations in recent years. More than two dozen malls have shut down in the last four years...

We politicize pretty much every issue these days, so it’s no surprise to see a proposed new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks pro basketball team similarly framed. One of the rallying cries of opponents is that Gov. Scott Walker and his Republican majority allies in the state Legislature have misplaced priorities. That is, they should find ways to put more public money into public schools and the UW System rather than commit tax dollars for a new playpen for the Bucks and their wealthy players and owners. The sentiment is understandable, but the issues are separate. The Bucks arena funding...

Over the past few weeks, the BBC has been reporting on the trends in US manufacturing - the challenges of the digital age, running factories in the city and why young start-up entrepreneurs are attracted to the industry. But what's it like to actually work in manufacturing, making the goods we use on a daily basis? And how has it changed - from Henry Ford's assembly lines to today's cutting edge factory floor? As of May 2015, there were over 12.3 million people - nearly 9% of the total US workforce - engaged in manufacturing everything from Ford Mustangs to...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., won 25.3 percent of the Northeast Republican Leadership Conference straw poll, which was emailed to those who attended this year's conference in Philadelphia. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came in second place with 11.6 percent of the vote, followed by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 11 percent. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush tied at 9.6 percent. These results show a strong preference for regional candidates as well as governors, and differ greatly from the latest RealClearPolitics totals. Candidates Walker, Christie and former New York Gov. George Pataki were all...

Are you proud that this is what the Philippines looks like to the rest of the World? If you are one of those Filipinos who thinks that the “Filipino First Policy” of actively discouraging Foreign Direct Investors and multinational companies from coming into the Philippines by requiring them to partner with local Filipino investors who will own at least 60% of the company set up in the Philippines is a step in the right direction, think again. Local Filipino investors are not numerous enough to create as many businesses that would create the huge number of jobs necessary to absorb...

President Obama's weekly remarks Hi, everybody. As President, I spend most of my time focused on what we can do to grow the economy and grow new pathways of opportunity for Americans like you to get ahead. And we’ve made progress. More than 12 million new private sector jobs in the past five years. More than 16 million Americans who’ve gained health insurance. More jobs creating more clean energy. More kids graduating from high school and college than ever before.

Hillary Clinton’s run for the presidency is driven by a lust for power, a sense of entitlement, and enough conceit to fancy herself the best one for the job. But none of these insures her success. To drive Hillary’s engine of ambition back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will require both high maintenance and high-octane fuel.To date, the Clinton campaign has been sputtering, even as her handlers insist it’s right on track....Clinton showed up on Roosevelt Island, in the middle of New York City’s East River, wearing a signature blue pantsuit. She clapped, waved, grinned, and pointed in supposed recognition to...

We are not allowed, needless to say, to disclose our top secret list ranking the GOP presidential candidates from top to bottom. ItÂ’s kept in encrypted form on a password-protected, self-destructing hard drive in a safe room at The Weekly Standard, accessible only to a trusted few who are cleared to know all the machinations we are planning to engage in to secure a 2016 Republican nominee to our liking. But we can reveal this: Donald Trump competes for last place on our list with Rand Paul. We donÂ’t think either man should be the next president of the United...

Economically speaking, all 237 GOP presidential candidates are selling the same Magic Beans. Everybody knows the script. Tax cuts for wealthy “job creators” bring widespread prosperity. Top off Scrooge McDuck’s bullion pool, and the benefits flow outward to everybody else. The economy surges, budget deficits melt away, and the song of the turtledove will be heard in the land. Almost needless to say, these “supply side” miracles have never actually happened in the visible world. State budget debacles in Kansas and Louisiana only signify the latest failures of right-wing dogma. Hardly anybody peddling Magic Beans actually believes in them anymore....

Scott Walker continues to lead the field of Republican presidential candidates in Iowa, according to a poll of likely Republican Iowa caucus participants released on Thursday. The poll, commissioned by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, also found a 5-point drop in support for Sen. Rand Paul compared to a similar survey by the Des Moines Register late last month. Walker received 19 percent in the poll, followed by Ben Carson at 13 percent and Jeb Bush at 11 percent. Marco Rubio received 9 percent, followed by Rick Perry at 7 percent, Ted Cruz at 6 percent and Rand Paul at...

U.S. flags fly over the New York Stock Exchange early Tuesday morning Jan. 22, 2008. Seven years after the financial crisis (and six years after Warren Buffett declared it to be over), Americans are still leery of getting back into stocks. That's the upshot of a poll recently released by Gallup, which confirmed that while no longer quite as negative on stocks as they were a couple of years ago, American investors still haven't returned to the levels of stock ownership seen before the crisis -- or even in its immediate aftermath. Once Burned, Still Shy In the run-up...

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is the clear favorite of conservative voters as he readies an expected bid for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 2016, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Walker has gained little traction among the moderate voters who account for the majority of the party, the poll shows. But his strength on the right gives him a good base of support, analysts said. "It's never bad to be the most conservative guy in a Republican primary fight - he could win the nomination that way. The question is can he do so in a way that does not...

Scott Walker stands out in the 2016 field for running on his record. How does it stack up? On April 13, when Sen. Marco Rubio (R–Fla.) officially announced that he was running for president, the first-term senator didn't mention a single successful policy that he had championed while in office. A day earlier, when Hillary Clinton launched her long-awaited White House bid, her campaign website didn't even have an issues page. And then there was Scott Walker. The Wisconsin governor, best known for his hard-fought, victorious showdowns against public sector unions, stands out in the field as the upper-tier potential...

A recent study by three researchers at the IMF addresses an important question: Under what circumstances should a country pay down its public debt? When countries face fiscal crises, they have no choice but to cut debt. When they need a Keynesian stimulus, they end up raising debt. But what about a country that is not at risk of a fiscal crisis and is near full employment - a country that is in what the researchers call "the green zone?" Should it pay down its debt (reduce its deficit) or pursue other objectives like public investment?The IMF researchers write down...

<p>I offer another chronicle, a 14-hour tour of the skeleton I once knew as California.</p> <p>An acquaintance had also emailed and reminded me that not far away there was a mound of used drip hose on the roadside. That mess proved to be quite large, maybe 1,000 feet of corroded and ripped up plastic hose. I suppose no scavenger thinks it can be recycled. I promise to haul it away this week. One must be prompt: even a small pile attracts dumpers like honey to bees. They are an ingenious and industrious lot (sort of like the cunning and work ethic of those who planted IEDs during the Iraq War). My cousin’s pile across the road has grown to Mt. Rushmore proportions. Do freelance dumpers make good money promising to take away their neighborhood’s mattresses and trash without paying the $20 or so county dumping fee? And does their success depend on fools like me, who are expected to keep roadsides tidy by cleaning up past trash to make room for future refuse?</p>

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leads a tight field of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, according to a new survey from Public Policy Polling. Walker is alone in first place in the poll with 17 percent, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 15 percent, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) at 13 percent, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 12 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 11 percent. That’s a big jump for Bush, who was at 11 percent support in the same poll last month. However, Bush will begin his quest for the GOP nomination with a negative...

If a website from a progressive group is to be believed, state workers in Wisconsin cannot even say the words "climate change." So the scottaway.com website, developed by an operation called Forecast the Facts, allows readers to click a red button on the screen and get alternative words to use, like "weather roulette" and "extended Popsicle season." One tongue-in-cheek offering: "In the U.S., FREE OUTDOOR HEATING is predicted to cause more heat waves, flooding, wildfires, sea level rise and drought." Forecast the Facts, a project of the progressive Citizen Engagement Laboratory, says it developed the website in response to government...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Millionaires are expected to control nearly half of the world's personal wealth by 2019, according to a new study, suggesting that the wealth gap will continue to widen. The Global Wealth report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said the number of millionaires in the world grew to 17 million in 2014, up from 15 million in 2013. The world's millionaires now control 41 percent of the $164 trillion in global private wealth, up from 40 percent in 2013. The report said millionaires are expected to control 46 percent of the world's wealth in 2019. The growing fortunes of the...