Free Republic

From taxes to spending, Kamala is the most left-wing major party candidate since George McGovern -- who proposed a Universal Basic Income in 1972 and went on to win a single state.But her most hare-brained scheme -- so far -- has been price controls, where she's to the left of McGovern, threatening to punish grocery stores for daring to charge more than their costs.In fact, grocery stores make 1 to 2 pennies on the dollar. Meaning they have to pass along costs that come straight from the Washington money printer.That means price controls would, in short, break food.Price Controls Always...

When some attending the Democrat Convention in Chicago found maggots and crickets in their breakfasts their first instinct was to call the FBI. The FBI is currently trying to figure out how this happened. Director Christopher Wray said "domestic right-wing terrorists, MAGA people are at the top of our suspect list. We are currently searching through Trump's recent speeches to try to ascertain what code words he used to instigate his followers to do the deed." Others suggested that protesters opposed to the Israeli invasion of Gaza that have been protesting outside the Democratic convention might be responsible. Maggots were...

Are you ready to “eat the bugs”? For a long time, we have been told that “eating the bugs” is just a “conspiracy theory”, but as you will see below more than 2 billion people around the world already eat bugs on a regular basis. More than 2,000 types of edible insects are being consumed, and bug ingredients are increasingly being used in common foods that we purchase in the grocery stores. In fact, you could potentially be consuming products that contain insect ingredients without even realizing it. So anyone that tries to tell you that “eating the bugs” is...

Vice President Kamala Harris wants to help you. But you must vote for her first. She needs to be elected President in November before she rolls up her sleeves and gets her hands dirty for the American people – including you. The cost of consumer goods and services went through the roof on her watch. In fact, consumer prices are up over 20 percent since January 2021. Food, rent, and electricity are up even more. Yet her four years as President Joe Biden’s sidekick don’t count. Bidenomics is on the big guy. Not Harris. And now, Harris has a plan....

Former NBA #1 overall pick Kwame Brown is blasting black celebrity ‘gatekeepers” whom he claims are “shaming” people into voting for Vice President Kamala Harris because she is black. The former Laker adds, “Kamala’s skin color ain’t gonna pay for our groceries.” Brown made the comments in a video posted Monday afternoon, in which he specifically took aim at comedians Ricky Smiley, DL Hughley, and Steve Harvey, labeling them “gatekeepers” who are trying to turn out the black vote for Harris based on race, and not on what is best for the black community. After lamenting Harris’ efforts to award...

VIDEOTim Walz acting the part of the bland "white guy" pretends to Kamala Harris that black pepper is at the top of the spice level in Minnesota. In reality, Walz won several hotdish competitions while in Congress using a recipe of rather spicy ingredients. I might even cook it myself but I don't think my wife would like it because she can't tolerate food that is too spicy.

Are you ready? You can tell an election is on the radar since inflation numbers are settling down for the most part. According to the BLS, overall inflation fell slightly in June to 3.0%. Shelter CPI is up 5.14% YoY as M2 Money growth has been rising slowly … again. Core CPI also ‘missed’, rising just 0.1% MoM (vs +0.2% exp), dragging the YoY Core CPI down to +3.27% – its lowest since April 2021… Source: Bloomberg Goods deflation also dominates core prices disinflationary trend… We do note that Core consumer prices have still not seen a single monthly decline...

That’s the way Biden likes it! Dependence on the Federal government. The MBA data is adjusted for Dependence Day. Mortgage applications decreased 0.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending July 5, 2024. Last week’s results included an adjustment for the July 4th holiday. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 20 percent compared with the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index...

Hot ‘Lanta! Or perhaps COLD ‘Lanta! And despite what Biden says, thiere isn’t an economic revival. Yes. everyone can see the mental decline in President Biden and he should be in a nursing home. While he vows to run for President against Donald Trump, can you imagine what he will be like in 2 years? Let alone another 4 years?? Speaking of decline, GDP growth estimates are plummeting: The most recent Atlanta Fed estimate for real US GDP quarterly growth in Q2 2024 is down to 1.7%. This estimate is down from 4.2% seen in mid-May and from 2.2% seen...

MMT is mostly magic! The Federal Reserve relies on “The Power of Magic” to fool people. For example, the massive increase in money printing following Covid and Biden’s disastrous economic policies (or FOLLICIES). Modern monetary theory (MMT) is not convincing to most trained economists of various schools of thought. This causes many to balk at MMT and mock it, some of which is warranted as a reductio ad absurdum, especially given some of MMT’s more outlandish claims. In fact, my own thesis was an Austrian critique of MMT. But there is also a fair amount of hypocrisy in the non-Austrian...

VIDEOThis new method of BBQing pork ribs has completely changed the way I cook them. OUT is the hit and miss (mostly miss) 3-2-1 method and IN is the very reliable lard infusion method which I discovered from watching the Mad Scientist BBQ (video link below). Basically, while you BBQ your ribs you also have an aluminum pan with lard next to the ribs which absorbs the smoke. As the Mad Scientist BBQ Guy explains the meat won't absorb some of the smoke but the melted lard will so towards the end of your cooking you cover the ribs with...

The Federal Reserve is Running on Empty. ‘What passes for central banking today is really a perverse form of Wall Street-pleasing monetary manipulation. It employs the vocabulary of central banking, but in practice it fundamentally undermines main street prosperity, even as it showers the 1% (the top wealthiest people) with unspeakable financial windfalls. Stated differently, virtually everything the Fed does for the alleged benefit of the American economy is both unnecessary and a ruse. The Fed has actually become a captive of the Wall Street traders, gamblers and high rollers, and functions mainly at their behest. The proof of this...

Like a bad “good news, bad news” joke,. June employment numbers are out from the Feral governement. The good news? Jobs added increased by 206k, more than expected. The bad news? The unemployment rate hit 4.1%, the highest in 3 years. While nominal wage growth grew, REAL wage growth rose a measly 0.8% YoY. The share of total new worth held by the top 1% is 30.4% while the total net worth held by the bottom 50% is a measly 2.5%. So much for politicians’ promises to make everyone equal in wealth! Oddly, they keep getting wealthier and the bottom...

Housing in the US is simply unaffordable. Particularly since home prices and mortgage rates have soared undier Biden. .Owning a house is less affordable for average earners in the US than at anytime in 17 years. The costs of a typical home — including mortgage payments, property insurance and taxes — consumed 35.1% of the average wage in the second quarter, the highest share since 2007 and up from 32.1% a year earlier, according to a new report from Attom. Growth in expenses, along with mortgage rates hovering around 7%, have outpaced income gains as a persistent shortage of listings...

No, Joe Biden isn’t Joltin’ Joe Di Maggio (the Yankee Clipper). Joe Biden is a Socialist who loves government and hates free markets. I feel like Biden and his junta are emuilating the old Soviet Union and Communism. Those of us who still love free markets are back on the chain gang. After two months of sharp declines in the number of job openings, moments ago Biden’s highly politicized Department of Labor reported that in May, the number of job openings unexpectedly spiked by a whopping 221K, to 8.140 million – far above the 7.950 million estimate – from a...

It's hard. What is? US hard economic data! With 'hard' data collapsing in the last month, 'soft' survey data from ISM and S&P Global this morning was 'mixed' as usual: S&P Global US Manufacturing PMI rose from 51.3 in May to 51.6 for the final June print (down very modestly from the 51.7 flash print). ISM US Manufacturing PMI dropped from 48.7 to 48.5 in June (well below the 49.1 expected) Source: Bloomberg Need more confusion... S&P Global noted that higher supplier charges were signaled in June. Alongside rising labor costs, this resulted in a further marked increase in input...

Gimme two steps to sell my house. Are people getting out of dodge?? Calfornia Gpvernor “Greasy Gavin” Newsom sold his Sacramento home and moved to Marin County for better schools. Sacrramento active housing inventory is up 65.6% YoY. Active housing inventory in May is up 27.5% YoY nationally, with Denver leading at 75.2% YoY. I highlight Columbus Ohio at +32.9% since that is where I live. While the government may be able to fake BLS and CPI data to gloss over the fact that 5.5% rates have already likely driven the nation into a deep recession, independent data on the...

Talk like a Federal Reserve Governor! A number of pominent cheerleaders (economists) have come out before CNN debate to claim that another Trump Presidency will generate even worse inflation than it has under Biden. Really? Before Covid struck in 2020, the last CPI YoY reading for Trump was only 2.34%. It rose to 9% YoY under Biden in June 2022. How did this happen? Federal binge spending and reckless Federal Reserve monetary policy. The Nobel Prize -winning “economists” seem to have forgotten the unprecented money printing and interest rate suppression when Covid srtuck in 2020. Of course, inflation soared after...

Did NAIOP get the memo? NAIOP (National Association of Industrial and Office Properties) is a trade group comprised of commericial real estate developers and academics. Lobbying for more office space to be built despite overbuilding, Another chink in the armor of the US economy (not the roaring economy Biden and Yellen keep screaming about). Overbuilding of office space, COVID shutdowns, remote working and urban crime. A recipe for office vacancy. Moody's predicts 24% of office towers will be vacant by 2026! During the first three months of 2023, U.S. office vacancy topped 20 percent for the first time in decades....

Well, the Trump/Biden CNN Presidential debate was a disaster … for Biden. It was the worst debate performance I have even seen. Even worse was the “victory” party where Jill Biden treated President Biden like a little child being potty-trained and shreiked that all Trump does is L:IED. How strange since ALL Biden does is lie. But enough of this. But how about SuperCore inflation? The last month has seen US Macro data collapsing at its fastest rate in years… Source: Bloomberg …which, many believe, will also drag down inflation (and it has been)… Source: Bloomberg Today, we get to...