Free Republic

The numbers: U.S. job openings climbed to a record 11.55 in March -- and the number of people quitting also hit an all-time high -- in another sign of a historically tight labor market. The number of people who quit jobs in March rose to 4.54 million, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Quits topped 4 million last summer for the first time ever. And it's now happened 10 months in a row, part of a pandemic-era trend that's become known as "The Great Resignation." Before the pandemic, the number of people quitting jobs averaged fewer than 3 million a month....

The numbers: Restaurants, dentists and other service-style companies that dominate the U.S. economy saw a surge in growth in June as businesses were allowed to reopen, pointing to a gradual recovery after extended coronavirus lockdowns. The Institute for Supply Management’s index of nonmanufacturing companies jumped to 57.1% in June from 45.4% in May, marking the single biggest increase since the survey was created in 1997. It was also the highest reading since February and easily topped the 51% forecast of economists polled by MarketWatch. Any number above 50% indicates more companies are expanding, but the big increase in June overstates...

Sen. Lindsey Graham doesn’t like President Trump ridiculing Christine Blasey Ford, but he insists she’s been given a lot more respect than women who alleged sexual misbehavior in the 1990s. At a forum hosted by the Atlantic, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, pressed Graham on the president’s behavior. “Everything he said was factual,” the South Carolina senator said initially. “He’s frustrated his nominee has been treated so badly.” Goldberg interjected. “Actually it was a personal, degrading attack on someone who is a private citizen ...” Graham interrupted: "Say what?"