Free Republic

With the legal cannabis industry generating $6.9 billion in sales in 2016, up 34% from 2015, it’s a no-brainer to say that much is at stake as the business inevitably grows. Much like the independent movie biz, the cannabis industry attracts investors looking for high-risk, high-reward investments, and as marijuana goes more mainstream, so does the funding mechanisms for the industry’s businesses. Just recently, numerous investment firms have cropped up, announcing themselves as major entities in the billion-dollar industry. The opportunities are wide-ranging: Everything from exotic strains of marijuana to concentrated edibles to topical creams fortified with CBD extracts, as...

The issue we historically held with Mick ‘Cantalopes’ Mulvaney, was his direct association with Speaker Ryan when it comes to tax/budget plans. Thankfully, so far, Mulvaney has outperformed expectations and our fears have not been seen in Trump policy. We are cautiously optimistic. House Speaker Paul Ryan is all-in with his “Border Adjustment Tax”, it is part of his larger ‘Better Way’ tax agenda. Apparently, according to The Hill, Mulvaney is not in alignment with Ryan. Good. The bottom line is Ryan’s plan is Tom Donohue’s plan. Ryan’s “Better Way” is the construct of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

From rural strip-malls to Manhattan’s avenues, it has been a disastrous two years for retail. There have been nine retail bankruptcies in 2017—as many as all of 2016. J.C. Penney, RadioShack, Macy’s, and Sears have each announced more than 100 store closures. Sports Authority has liquidated, and Payless has filed for bankruptcy. Last week, several apparel companies’ stocks hit new multi-year lows, including Lululemon, Urban Outfitters, and American Eagle, and Ralph Lauren announced that it is closing its flagship Polo store on Fifth Avenue, one of several brands to abandon that iconic thoroughfare. A deep recession might explain an extinction-level...

Software will disrupt most traditional industries in the next 5-10 years. Uber is just a software tool, they don’t own any cars, and are now the biggest taxi company in the world. Airbnb is now the biggest hotel company in the world, although they don’t own any properties. This disruption will create large growth opportunities as well as dangerous pitfalls. Be prepared for both.... ... ...It is a fast moving world and getting faster. There will be both opportunities and pitfalls along the way. The next generation of business leadership needs to be able to navigate these progressive changes and...

To say we consider Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross a man with a unique skill-set for this defined moment in U.S. economic history would be an understatement of epic proportions. Ross is one of the most consequential and dynamic forces within the President Trump administration. Our message is simple – the games are over, and improper treatment of the United States will no longer be tolerated. We will approach future negotiations and actions with a clarity of purpose guiding us as we work to establish both free and fair trade. Unfortunately, NAFTA negotiations cannot begin until Congress accepts our 90-day notification...

"President Trump is abandoning a number of his key campaign promises on economic policy, adopting instead many of the centrist positions he railed against while campaigning as a populist. Trump will not label China a “currency manipulator,” he told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, despite a campaign pledge that he would apply the label on his first day in office. He also said he was open to reappointing Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet L. Yellen after saying last year that the central banker should be “ashamed” of what she was doing to the country. And he embraced the Export-Import...

Americans have become lazy, argues economist Tyler Cowen. They don't start businesses as much as they once did. They don't move as often as they used to. And they live in neighborhoods that are about as segregated as they were in the 1960s. All of this is causing the U.S. to stagnate economically and politically, Cowen says in his new book: "The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream." Growth is far slower than it was in the 1960s, 70s and 80s and productivity is way down, despite everyone claiming they are working so hard. "Innovation is painful....

BADEN-BADEN, Germany — Governments need to do more to create growth that benefits everyone, and the U.S. should spend more on roads, highways, bridges and airports, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Friday. The body, which includes the world's better-off countries, said in a report that governments should focus on providing better access to high-quality education and supporting employment for women through measures like affordable child care. It also highlighted the need for more spending on infrastructure. OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria called for an "upskilling of the workforce" to address worker anxiety about the future of their jobs...

Are you tired of winning yet? Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss several issues, including the massive trade imbalance between the nations. Of course, he came out on top. It is being reported that Beijing is offering the Trump Administration greater market access to avoid an all-out trade war between the two powers. The Financial Times claims that these concessions are not all that difficult for Beijing. “At present, foreign investors cannot hold a majority stake in securities and insurance companies in China. The country’s largest companies in these sectors, such as Citic Securities and China Life...

Washington can be a tough place to read. Even so, there’s a policy debate at hand that I find puzzling. We have a new president who has boldly promised to create 25 million jobs over the next decade and a conservative Congress deeply concerned with reducing the tax burden on the American people and addressing the national debt. And yet there is a federal program on the books right now that answers all calls but faces possible expiration on the eve of the Trump administration’s 100-day mark. How could that be? The EB-5 program puts Americans to work. According to...

MEBANE – Lidl, a German grocery chain building stores in Eden and Danville, Va., will hold a public hiring event for its state-of-the-art, Alamance County regional headquarters and distribution center next week. The event will be held from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday, April 20 at Lid’ls newly constructed, $125 million facility, which will become operational later this year. The Lidl Distribution Center is located at 3815 Senator Ralph Scott Parkway, Mebane. Up to 150 logistics positions will become available at the site this year. Salaries for logistics associates will be up to $20 per hour, plus benefits, which can include...

President Donald Trump has picked an economic advisor who believes in growing the nation’s economy by importing workers and consumers, and by expanding free-trade outsourcing, despite Trump’s “buy American, hire American” campaign promises. Kevin Hassett is slated to become chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors if he is approved by the Senate’s banking committee. If Hassett is confirmed, that will be a win for the corporatist, business-first faction in Trump’s White House, which fights for influence in the Oval Office against the populist, America-first faction that helped Trump win the election in November.

“Drain the swamp.” It was one of President Trump’s most powerful messages on the way to victory. Shake up Washington. Break a few eggs to create a new omelet. Overturn the establishment. Well, hats off to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for doing some swamp-draining when he exercised the “nuclear option” to overturn the filibuster for Supreme Court justices. McConnell busted an old 19th century rule, which was never in the Constitution, and cleared the path for the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch -- as good a candidate as can be found. Good for McConnell. But let’s shift our swamp-draining focus...

Trump, Xi agree to 100-day plan to discuss trade issues U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to a new 100-day plan for trade talks that will boost U.S. exports and reduce the United States' trade deficit with China, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Friday.

INDIANAPOLIS — Consumer electronics chain hhgregg Inc. is going out of business and shutting down all its stores. Founded in 1955, the retailer had 220 stores in 19 states selling major appliances like washers and TVs, as well as computers and home theater systems. As of May last year, it had about 5,000 employees. Just days before announcing its bankruptcy protection filing last month, hhgregg said it planned to trim down by closing three distribution centers and 88 stores. But the move was not enough to salvage the chain.

Illegal immigrants, and their children, cost Texans a net $12.36 billion a year. That works out to roughly $6,000 per alien. "Of this, $10.03 billion came out of taxpayer pockets. Given that Texas’s biennial budget for 2016-2017 was 209.4 billion this means that illegal immigrants eat up 9.6% of their budget ended up being spent spent on illegal immigrants. Let’s look at it another way: for every $9 Texas spends on its citizens, it spends $1 on illegal aliens."

New applications for U.S. unemployment benefits recorded their biggest drop in nearly two years last week, pointing to a further tightening in the labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 234,000 for the week ended April 1, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The drop was the largest since the week ending April 25, 2015. The prior week's data was revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported. Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market for 109 straight weeks. That is the longest stretch...

So I'm 'Negative Nancy' Eh? Stop the inane folks. Seriously, stop it. (Snip) Health Care including VA (which I exclude in my current postings) was $850 billion in 2012. Last fiscal was $1,417 billion or nearly a double in five years. That's the same acceleration in spending that has been going on since the 1980s. This cannot continue. It must stop now. I have been writing on this incessantly since 2007 here in The Market Ticker, been raising hell about this since I was an Internet CEO in the 1990s and been doing presentations on it to so-called Conservative groups...

Federal Reserve officials said the shedding of the $4.5 trillion in bonds the central bank is holding on its balance sheet will begin this year. The revelation came Wednesday from a summary of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting held in March, during which the group approved a quarter-point hike in its benchmark interest rate target. Officials at the meeting noted that the Fed likely is on a faster pace with rate hikes ahead. Unwinding the balance sheet is significant both because of its sheer size and the impact it could have on markets, as Fed members including Chair Janet...

Reporters used adjectives such as “torrid,” “solid,” “unexpected,” and “strong” to characterize March jobs growth of 263,000, as reported by ADP/Moody’s on Wednesday, which far exceeded professional economists’ estimates of 170,000 new jobs for the month. Last month Mark Zandi was uncharacteristically buoyant when commenting on February’s jobs numbers: “February was a very good month for workers. Powering job growth were the construction, mining and manufacturing industries.… Near record high job openings and record low layoffs underpin the entire market.” Today Zandi extended his comments as the jobs market continues its recovery: “Job growth is off to a strong start...