Free Republic

If nobody is working in one out of every five U.S. families, then how in the world can the unemployment rate be close to 5 percent as the Obama administration keeps insisting? The truth, of course, is that the U.S. economy is in far worse condition than we are being told. Last week, I discussed the fact that the Federal Reserve has found that 47 percent of all Americans would not be able to come up with $400 for an unexpected visit to the emergency room without borrowing it or selling something. But Barack Obama and his minions never bring...

this came by email from uscis@public.govdelivery.com. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services won the overall Igniting Innovation Award Monday at The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council’s Igniting Innovation Showcase and Award event in Washington, D.C. A panel of government and industry judges selected USCIS as the overall winner for their work with myUSCIS, a service, available in both English and Spanish, that helps people navigate the immigration process. The tool launched in December 2014 and provides up-to-date information about immigration benefits, resources to find citizenship preparation classes and doctors across the country, and tools to help prepare for...

The left-leaning Huffington Post published an article which seems concerned that Donald Trump could defeat Hillary Clinton in a general election contest due to his strong position on trade. In a Friday piece entitled, “Hillary Must Toughen Up On Trade In Case She Is Nominee Against Trump,” Dave Johnson, a fellow at Campaign for America’s Future, writes: If Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democratic nominee she had better get tough on trade – and mean it. One of Donald Trump’ main elements of appeal to his voters – if not the main appeal – is his stance on...

<p>Yes, there has definitely been an improvement in the labor market since the financial crisis. I am not arguing that point. The financial markets, investors, and analysts eagerly anticipate the release of the employment report each month while the Federal Reserve has staked its monetary policy actions on them as well.</p>

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, hitting its lowest level since 1973, suggesting an apparent sharp slowdown in economic growth in the first quarter could be temporary. While another report on Thursday showed a mild weakening in factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region in April, manufacturers were fairly upbeat about business prospects in the next six months. This, together with labor market buoyancy bodes well for a pick-up in economic growth in the second quarter. "The labor market continues to improve. If the apparent slowing in GDP in the first quarter was truly a...

For the second year in a row, and third out of the last four, being a newspaper reporter ranks as the worst job in America. The Jobs Rated Report has been compiled by CareerCast since 1988, and ranks 200 U.S. jobs based on a wide range of criteria that includes income, outlook, environmental factors, stress and physical demands. Just ahead of newspaper reporter is the job of logger/lumberjack, which finished at number 199 for the second straight year after being dead last in 2014. Another media-related job—broadcaster—came in at number 198, with an equally glum outlook for the future. For...

Profits, wages, and tax revenues skyrocket too! Sometimes we’re tough on President Obama. He’ll make some specious claim about the economy and we’ll be right there, ready to point out all the reasons it’s a load of hogwash. Today, however, we’re not going to do that. Today, we’re going to congratulate him. Barack Obama is history’s greatest gun salesman. He’s inspired Americans - particularly women - to purchase record numbers of weapons and that’s created (pardon the pun) a gun-industry boom. Jobs, wages, profits, and tax revenue have risen sharply during his tenure. In fact, a new report suggests that...

Intel plans to cut 12,000 jobs, or 11% of its workforce. It will take a $1.2 billion charge as a result. Trading was halted around the release, then the stock immediately dropped when trading resumed. It's down about 3%. But Intel beat on earnings and revenue. Here are the reported numbers for Q1 2016: • EPS (non-GAAP): $0.54 vs. $0.49 expected. That's up 2% from last year. • Revenue: $13.80 billion vs. $13.84 billion expected. But that number includes $99 million from a deferred revenue write-down — without that, revenue would've come in at $13.70 billion. That's still a 7%...

Bernie Sanders was hit hard last week when the CEO of Verizon called him out on his hypocritical support of employment practices that will make it harder for Bernie’s voter base—Millennials—to earn a living wage. “Feeling the Bern of reality yet, Bernie?” Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam asked after the socialist senator accused Verizon of planning to “outsource decent paying jobs” due to “corporate greed”—and then hugged union supporters on the Verizon picket line in Brooklyn, New York. Verizon workers went on strike in Washington, D.C. and nine eastern states last week. It’s notable that New York’s presidential primary is on...

here isn’t much Jody Bostic believes in these days. The government has abandoned him, he feels. Local coal mines have laid him off so many times he opened a T-shirt store to make a living. Big-city media treat him and his neighbors like know-nothings. His remaining hope: Donald Trump will become president and use his business skills to bring jobs to this Appalachian mountain county. “Hey, in this county, things are going downhill. People are getting laid off. People are leaving,” says the 39-year-old former miner. “If Trump don’t get it, it will be another blow.” Mr. Trump won Buchanan...

To the surprise of nobody but leftists, Governor Brown and the California State Legislature Democrats, jobs are beginning to evaporate visibly in the wake of California legislating a phased-in $15 an hour minimum wage. Even the Los Angeles Times can’t help but notice:  Last week American Apparel, the biggest clothing maker in Los Angeles, said it might outsource the making of some garments to another manufacturer in the U.S., and wiped out about 500 local jobs. American Apparel is far from the only firm affected, of course: Felix Seo has been making clothes for wholesale in downtown for 30...

I was told yesterday that Trump is a liberal Democrat. My reply: Build the wall. Enforce the law. Deport them all. End sanctuary cities. End anchor babies. Slap a moratorium on muslim immigration. Cut the taxes. Cut the spending. Cut the regulations. Cut the government. Cut the debt. Cut the EPA. Repeal ObamaCare. Get the feds out and allow health insurance to be sold over state lines. Send education back to states. Get a handle on trade. Make trade deals in our own best interests. Bring back capital. Bring back manufacturing. Bring back jobs. Strengthen the economy. Defend the second...

The shift in European attitudes toward the flood of largely Muslim immigrants seeking new homes continues this week. After months of insisting on an open door, humanitarian policy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is once again revising her position and bowing to pressure from her citizens. The latest move on the part of the government is to insist that there will be no free riders on the welfare state train, and any new arrivals seeking to make Germany their home are going to have to start acting a bit more like Germans. This will include learning to speak the language...

In the future, will employees become extinct? All over the world, from the United States to Japan, businesses of all sizes – corporations and small enterprises – are gradually phasing out the employee. Contractual workers are becoming the norm, while firms are taking on freelancers. Crowdsourcing the New Reality in Labor Market Uber is the latest sensation in the marketplace. The ride-sharing app allows consumers to save money on transportation, while the drivers earn a little bit of extra cash. Of course, the drivers aren’t employees but rather contractors. The real number of staffers at Uber is 2,000, compared to...

Bowie Resources Partners’ purchase of Peabody Energy Corp.‘s Twentymile Mine in Routt County has fallen through, and Peabody has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Peabody, the world’s largest privately owned producer of coal, joins other major coal companies including Arch Coal, owner of the West Elk Mine in the North Fork Valley, in going bankrupt. Arch Coal also is in Chapter 11 reorganization. Bowie, owner of the Bowie No. 2 Mine near Paonia, had agreed to buy Twentymile and two mine properties in New Mexico for $358 million. But Peabody previously had said Bowie was still trying to find...

The previous advance manufacturing report had showed that durable goods orders in February had declined. However, the drop in durable goods orders has been revised to 3% from the initial estimate of 2.8%. Furthermore, most of the downward revision was made in non-defence capital goods. According to the advance report, the core capital goods orders fell just 1.8%; however, yesterday’s report revised the decline to 2.5%. Core capital goods orders dropped at a three-month annualized rate of 10.2%, whereas the shipments are declining at a 7.7% clip. ... The inventory-to-ship ratio was 1.37 for the third consecutive month. This is...

the U.S. Supreme Court .. issued an injunction blocking the EPA from implementing its Clean Power Plan, which would end America’s use of coal, its cheapest and most abundant source of electricity. ... Western Colorado’s economy is so dependent on coal. It employs more than 2,000 people and generates $58 million in federal and state royalties, $28 million in private landowner royalties, $4.5 million in reclamation funds, and pays $28 million in property, severance, and sales taxes — all of it on the Western Slope. EPA has never tried anything so unpopular in its 45-year history, and that is saying...

Wilmington is the second-best city in the U.S. to start a business, according to a new report. San Francisco-based financial planning website NerdWallet analyzed 183 metropolitan areas with 15,000 or more businesses and populations of more than 250,000, as to six factors: The average revenue of businesses; the percentage of businesses with paid employees; the number of businesses per 100 people; the median annual income; median annual housing cost and unemployment rate.

Cruz addresses a major reason for our trade deficit. However ... If something confuses people? It invites corruption. A handy rule of thumb in government. Are VATs confusing? Very. ~~~ Even explaining a VAT* is tough because there are many different kinds. Some alleged VATs aren't even VATs according to many. But I'll break it down into two categories: 1. A good VAT. 2. A bad VAT. ~~~ A Good VAT Senator Cruz proposes 'turning the tables' on Europe and other nations which are sneaking money back to corporations which give them jobs. In the nutshell, a good 'VAT' is...

The March jobs report was even better than Goldilocks. In another era, stock markets cheered economic data that were not too hot and not too cold, but just right for keeping the Federal Reserve on hold. This month’s employment report, by contrast, was strong, but a surge in the number of job-seekers still means that there’s enough slack in the labor market to allow the Fed to take its time before hiking again. Even as the economy added 215,000 jobs last month, the jobless rate ticked up to 5.0% as job-seekers continued to flood into the labor force. The 2.4...