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In 449 B.C., the Roman government passed the Law of the Twelve Tables, regulating much of commercial, social, and family life. Some of these laws were reasonable and consistent with an economy of contract and commerce; others prescribed gruesome punishments and assigned cruel powers and privileges given to some. Other regulations fixed a maximum rate of interest on loans of approximately 8 percent. The Roman government also had the habit of periodically forgiving all interest owed in the society; that is, it legally freed private debtors from having to pay back interest due to private creditors. The Roman government also...

How you interpret Friday’s jobs report depends on whom you are voting for next month. If you’re a Donald Trump supporter, you probably focus on job growth slowing relative to last year, the rising unemployment rate, or broader measures of unemployment that show an unusually high number of workers who want full time work but can get only part time work. If you are a Hillary Clinton supporter, you choose to emphasize the historically low level of official unemployment, rising wages, and a rising labor-force participation rate. But while these metrics are useful in evaluating the economy, they are not...

Recently, this Website ran a column asserting that “who is president, and from which party, has less impact on your portfolio than is often assumed.” “What’s important, I believe, is to prevent your political biases and emotions from interfering with your investment decisions,” writes Andrew Tanzer... ...expectations about the identity of the next president have found their way into stock valuations, at times shoving aside more traditional factors such as the outlook for corporate earnings, interest rates, and the U.S. GDP... ...a number of financial pundits and journalists have attempted to weigh in on the role that the race for...

IMF downgraded U.S. growth to 1.6 percent in 2016, decline of 38 percent from previous year The International Monetary Fund downgraded the economic growth outlook for the United States to 1.6 percent in 2016, which is the largest one-year drop seen for an advanced economy, according to the Fund’s World Economic Outlook report. According to the report, the United States grew at a rate of 2.6 percent in 2015 and is projected to slow to 1.6 percent in 2016, a decline of 38 percent. The United States’ decline in growth is the largest one-year drop seen in all of the...

During the first presidential debate, Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump of thinking “climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.” The real estate mogul denied ever making the statement. Referencing a 2012 tweet from Trump, Clinton surrogates and environmental activists quickly unleashed a storm of ridicule, smugly asking whether Trump actually believes climate change was something dreamed up in Beijing. On its face, the comment attributed to Trump certainly seems absurd. However, Clinton mischaracterized Trump’s position when she paraphrased his tweet during the debate. He actually wrote that “the concept of global warming was created by and for the...

“millennials” — those born in the 1980s or later — are a deeply pessimistic generation that is willing to work hard, but is “convinced the economy is failing them,” and is “very uncertain” about the future. The study shows that most millennials are living in quiet desperation. They face a job market that has left even normally employable new college graduates out of work, or employed at well below their potential as baristas, temps, or in low-level retail jobs. Millennials understand that this situation will have a substantial impact on their lifetime earnings, due to depressed early years and and...

The "quiet catastrophe" is particularly dismaying because it is so quiet, without social turmoil or even debate. It is this: After 88 consecutive months of the economic expansion that began in June 2009, a smaller percentage of American males in the prime working years (ages 25 to 54) are working than were working near the end of the Great Depression in 1940, when the unemployment rate was above 14%. If the labor force participation rate were as high today as it was as recently as 2000, nearly 10 million more Americans would have jobs. The work rate for adult men...

The most critical question that emerged from the recent presidential debate is quite simple. Is the Obama economy as good as Hillary Clinton cracks it up to be and should the nation lunge head-first into a European-style statism to accelerate growth and offer young Americans, minorities and women more and better opportunities?

Prof. William Darity, public policy, Duke University, and Kirsten Mullen, a folklorist and art consultant, addressed racial discrimination and its profound effect on economic inequality in the United States at a lecture Thursday. Mullen discussed how some of our country’s most prominent investment banks, insurance companies and institutions — including Wachovia, Lehman Brothers and Ivy League universities — have ties to slavery. Slavery in the United States was “not that long ago” from a generational perspective, according to Mullen. “It ended … 149 years ago,” she explained. “If a new generation comes into existence every 30 years, the youngest generation...

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Economists on the left routinely appear mystified by the ongoing slow growth in jobs, investment and business startups under President Obama. But a new report from America's largest manufacturers' group suggests a big reason for our current slowdown can be found in one word: regulation. The study by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) shows new regulations over just the past year amount to a huge hidden tax on U.S. businesses... ...In the last year, federal agencies and departments imposed rules that will cost U.S. businesses $81.6 billion... ...don't expect a sympathetic hearing from Hillary Clinton and other Democrats on...

In another blow to American global leadership the Obama administration is abdicating control of the Internet. Countries that loathe freedom are gaining more influence over what you'll be able to find on the web. The U.S. started the Internet and served as its guardian for many years, guaranteeing that virtually any person or group, no matter how controversial, could add a website to the worldwide network. But on October 1, the Obama administration surrendered U.S. oversight to a multinational organization, ICANN, which stands for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN will have sole power to grant web addresses...

Brexit is back in the news, but this time it's weighing on gold prices and gold mining stocks. The difference: Unlike in June, there's no real panic, just a vague sense of foreboding, but nothing bad enough to keep the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates. December gold closed down 3.3% to $1,269.70 an ounce on Tuesday, the biggest one-day decline since December 2013. It was the sixth straight losing session as gold undercut a key technical level. Gold price moves have a big impact on the profitability of gold miners, which tumbled on the stock market today... ...A stronger...

Listening to her — and the worshipping liberal media — President Obama rescued America from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression by creating nearly 15 million jobs after unemployment peaked at 10 percent. Voters should validate his success by electing Mrs. Clinton to finish the job he started. What she says is needed now to accomplish a utopian state is yet even more government regulation — for example, by federalizing the California Equal Pay Act, which regulates salary and hiring decisions in the Golden State down to the smallest businesses — higher electric rates to pay for massive...

The U.S. economy didn’t pick up much speed in the third quarter. The U.S. economy got off to a roaring start in the third quarter, statistically speaking, but the glow has clearly faded. The Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow chopped its forecast for U.S. growth to 2.2%... ...source of the reduced performance? Retail sales, consumer spending, manufacturing and construction were all weaker than expected toward the end of the quarter. Now, 2.2% growth isn’t terrible... ...Still, such a modest growth rate assures the U.S. economy will fail to reach the 3% mark for an unprecedented 11th straight year. The last time...

A big drop in the stock market in mid-October should mean a swing toward GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump in presidential election polls, according to technical analyst Tom McClellan. The path of Dow Jones industrial average gives us clues for what the presidential election poll numbers are going to do, the editor of The McClellan Market Report explained on Monday, which he says has predicted the outcome of the past four presidential elections....

The Regency Beauty Institute has closed after more than 50 years of educating cosmetology students. The institute announced on its website that it permanently closed on Wednesday, impacting all 79 campuses, including the Miami Twp. campus at 2040 Miamisburg Centerville Road. “This is incredibly difficult news for everyone affected: especially our students, teachers, and staff,” Regency’s website says. “We recognize that some of you may be finding this out for the first time by reading this. We are truly sorry for the abrupt nature of this information.” The institute said that it does not have the money to continue to...

Recent events have pushed the issue of international trade to the top of the economic agenda – not just here in the UK, but elsewhere in the world. The Brexit vote in the EU referendum has called into question the trading relationship with our European trading partners and the UK’s trade relationship with the rest of the world.... ...Trump has been highly critical of the existing trade agreements between the United States and other countries. He blames these “bad trade deals”... ...the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which oversees the international trading system, is warning of the slowest growth of exports...

Industrial Policy: Donald Trump has been bashing Ford for deciding to shift small car production to Mexico. He's pointing the finger of blame at the wrong target. A big driver behind Ford's move is President Obama's push for tougher federal fuel mandates. Earlier this year, Ford (F) announced that it was building a major small-car assembly plant south of the border, and more recently said it was going to shift all its small car production to Mexico within a few years. Trump has called it an "absolute disgrace" and says he'd hit Ford with a 35% import tax on these...

Trump’s populist campaign is fueled by working-class anger about unfair trade, an issue the Democrats need to reclaim The Democratic Party could have blocked the rise of Donald Trump years ago if it had just listened. The story of Trump’s amazingly successful movement is also the story of how Democrats turned their backs on their working-class roots and sided with the elites on the crucial economic question of our times: Who would win from globalization, and who would lose? The facts are stark. Since 1994, when the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect and the U.S. began the...