Free Republic

Americans are stuck. Locked into our jobs, rooted where we live, frozen at our income levels. More than at any previous point in our history, we’ve stopped moving — whether moving up the income ladder or packing up a truck and finding another home. We’ve grown ossified, rigid. The flip side is that we’re stable. If we weren’t so content, we’d be more willing to gamble, to shake things up, to start a new firm or join one. Maybe we’re fine where we are. But maybe this period of stasis cannot last. Maybe it even portends a period of massive...

Women have been rapidly climbing the employment and wage ladders in recent decades. But only a small fraction have made it to the top rungs — and their progress may be slowing. New research shows that after making big strides in the 1980s and ’90s, the number of women breaking into the top 1 percent of earners has stalled. Women account for only 16 percent of the 1 percent, a number that has remained essentially flat over the past decade, according to a paper by three economists. And they account for only 11 percent of the top 0.1 percent of...

First it was Internet outrage over the Reese peanut butter Christmas trees that didn't look like Christmas trees. Now it's cheese-less cheese sticks. Dozens of McDonald's customers on social media are complaining that the restaurant's mozzarella sticks are missing the cheese. The new menu item was recently launched at McDonald's as part of its "McPick 2" menu. But customers have been tweeting photos of their orders and displeasure at the lack of cheese. McDonald's issued a statement on Thursday: "We are aware of a low volume of guest concerns about our Mozzarella Cheese Sticks," spokeswoman Lisa McComb said in an...

DAYTON-- Identical women's and men's products are being sold at different price points in Ohio. The phenomenon is known as "pink tax," and we put some products to the test. One-a-day "Pro Edge" vitamins, 50 count, are packed in the same sized box just different colors; the women's vitamins cost $9.49, while the men's cost $7.99. Up&Up women's shave gel for dry skin relief costs $2.39, while the identical product for men, packaged in a blue cartridge rather than pink, costs $1.87. The Gillette Fusion men's razor with five blades and packaged with two extra cartridges costs $10.79, while the...

Hackers don't take a holiday, it seems. Hours after Microsoft’s Xbox Live went down Wednesday, Sony’s PlayStation Network went down, too. These are two giant networks that console gamers access to play their games online. It's especially bad timing since a lot of people are probably getting new PlayStations and Xboxes for Christmas.

It’s 4:30 on a weekday afternoon, and you’ve got an hour until boarding starts for your connecting flight home for the holidays. You’re ready for a cocktail. Maybe even two. Which is fine—as long as you’re in the mood to party like it’s 1999. Because, on the whole, airport bars are still running 15 years behind the craft-cocktail movement. In seemingly every American airport, you can find outposts of what might be called the Status Quo Ante Bar, where the spirits are uninteresting and the drinks indifferently made. While dining choices have been steadily improving, and good wine is easier...

HASKELL, Okla. – A chicken patty, small scoop of mashed potatoes and carton of milk aren’t enough to sustain a high school boy. But under the school lunch regulations championed by First Lady Michelle Obama, that’s what Haskell High School served recently. Haskell High School senior Darrel Bunch took a photo of one of his recent skimpy school lunches and sent it to Fox 23. “It’s mostly the portions,” Bunch says. “Last year we started getting less food.” “Last year, my boys started calling me, ‘Can you please bring me something to eat?’ ‘We’re still hungry,’ or, ‘This is gross,”...

Ideas. Am I cursing my future children to a life of being social outcasts because mommy wants to feed them green smoothies? Right now, there are at least a handful of people who I KNOW will never babysit my imaginary, yet-to-be born child. As far as they’re concerned, my baby will be more under wraps than “Blanket” Jackson was. Yes, I want nothing more than to have a full stock of potential babysitters, but sometimes these people—my friends—say things that make me get the Scooby Doo face. “Your kids ain’t gon have any friends!” “I’m going to feed your kids...

Why Iggy Azalea’s music is so popular and problematic.hen asked about Forbes’ claim that hip-hop is run by a white, blond, Australian rapper named Iggy Azalea, incumbent queen bee Nicki Minaj laughed hysterically. The financial magazine may be qualified to calculate the $250 million valuation of Nicki’s Myx Fusions Moscato wine coolers, Nicki reasoned, but only the hip-hop community can bequeath the throne to Iggy. One week later, Iggy Azalea became the only artist since the 1964 Beatles to have her first two singles occupy the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the fourth female emcee to hit...