Free Republic

The four-day workweek bill is back, but will it garner enough support from lawmakers this time around? Democratic Congressman Mark Takano of California has reintroduced the 32-Hour Workweek Act. The legislation aims to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and reduce the standard workweek from five days to four days, with no change to employee pay. Rep. Takano says it's a necessary culture shift that would give American workers more time for family, leisure and education. "Workers across the nation are collectively reimagining their relationship to labor — and our laws need to follow suit,” Takano said. “We have...

Though the number of new jobs created during December fell 50% short of what his economists had been predicting, President Biden hailed the figures as “evidence of the progress we have been making to transform our economy because fewer people feel compelled to work for a living. Record numbers of Americans are just plain quitting their jobs. This firmly corresponds to the Democratic Party’s goal of eliminating the necessity of work for as many people as possible.” “Economists recognize that from an individual perspective work is a disutility,” Biden observed. “What this means is that leisure is preferred over work....

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s stay-at-home announcement also includes effectively banning leisure travel. All non-essential travel is restricted statewide. This is an effort to stop people from mixing with others outside their household, getting the virus, and spreading it once they get home. But hotels and flights are already booked. So, what now

To those who see no link between Lent and our failing economy, it might be the case to look again. Economics is about people. It cannot be reduced to numbers, formulae and analyses. “The subject matter of economics,” observes economic historian Odd Langholm, “is properly the habits, customs, and ways of thinking of producers, consumers, buyers, sellers, borrowers, lenders, and all who engage in economic transactions.” That means our moral habits can have a definite effect on determining if our economy grows — or fails. In my new book, Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian...

Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif), chairperson of the 55-member Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), the most numerous in our nation’s history, has set the Caucus’ sights on “reversing the trauma inflicted on people of color by the Trump Administration over the past two years. We will use our tremendous power and influence to undo Trump’s evil plan to force millions of voters off of welfare and into the labor economy.” “The notion that a job is the answer to curing poverty and improving one’s life is a myth,” Bass contended. “Curing poverty has been the task of government since the 1960s’ Great...

How is it that four million Croats could build a team good enough to make it to the World Cup final, beating Argentina (43 million), England (53 million) and hosts Russia (144 million) along the way? The country famously didn’t even exist the last time England made it to a World Cup semi-final in 1990. The country declared independence in 1991, but was embroiled in the war in the Balkans as Yugoslavia split for several years. Most Croats were living in what is now Croatia, but a large minority existed in what are now Serbia and Bosnia especially. What ensued...

Erin Popovich, the wife of San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, died on Wednesday (April 18) at the age of 67 after a long battle with illness. The couple married four decades ago, while Gregg was serving as assistant coach at the Air Force Academy between 1973 and 1979. Erin is survived by her two children—Jill and Mickey—and two grandchildren.

One of the most pernicious lies of the modern world is that life is supposed to be easy and comfortable. There is even a sense in which moderns believe they are entitled to this comfort and ease—that it is some sort of fundamental human right.Many of us have absorbed this subtle thinking, even though we may not realize it. When trouble comes to us, when life is inconvenient or difficult, we are almost angry at the injustice of it. As if it were some sort of cosmic crime that violates that easy life we believe we should have. We complain and...

It can sleep three reasonably comfortably and it's highly customizable. The only thing that might be a disadvantage is that it's not made for deep ocean or turbulent waves. But I thin it would be good to take a half dozen people into the middle of a large lake or ocean bay and just spend the day relaxing in the sun or diving into the water.

Visitors to the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum can now take an especially innovative trip through automotive history without having to take more than a few steps. Ford and the museum, which is on the grounds of the United States Patent and Trademark Office Campus in Alexandria, Virginia, have teamed up to create a side-by-side display that's half 1965 Ford Mustang and half 2015 Mustang. Although the Mustang debuted as a 1964 1/2 model, it was essentially unchanged for 1965, so it makes a nice bookend with the redesigned-for-2015 Mustang that's still on sale today.

Courtesy of reader BK, a link to an economic analysis of woman-coddling divorce laws.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Adult coloring books are giving Harper Lee a run for the money on best-seller lists this summer. Dover Publications has sold more than 3 million adult coloring books with titles like "Flower Fashion Fantasies." Quarto Publishing will have 1.3 million in print this year ranging from mandalas to fairies. "Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt," by one of the genre's most popular illustrators, Johanna Basford, remains a top seller on Amazon two years after its initial publication. In fact, adult coloring books occupied as many of eight of the top 20 slots in a spot-check of...

On March 3, 1845 congress overrode a presidential veto for the first time. Congress reined in President John Tyler’s zealous use of the presidential veto. Congress is finally asserting itself over Obama but he says he will be too busy to be any part of it. I wonder how he will spend the day? Thoughts

A study published by the New York Federal Reserve found that the number of job openings rose by an estimated 20% in the six months following the lapse of the federal government's extended unemployment benefits. The lapse occurred because the Republican controlled House refused to vote to extend the benefits. Fatih Karahan, one of the authors of the study, cited the "mutually reinforcing effects of decreasing the burden on businesses to fund the benefits and decreasing the incentives of recipients to shun employment. If your tax burden of supporting benefits declines you can afford to hire more workers. Similarly, if...

World Sauntering Day 2014 is held to encourage people across the globe to slow down, take things easy and enjoy life for a change. The holiday, also known as International Sauntering Day, is held on 19 June every year after first being created in the 1970s by W.T. Rabe.

Top Democratic strategist, James Carville, advised Democrats seeking reelection to avoid discussing the economy. “The whole notion of an economic recovery is pure poison to any Democrat hoping to retain his or her seat,” Carville lamented. “The Administration has spurred too many false hopes with repeated promises of 'green shoots.' Our Party's credibility on this issue is totally shot.” Instead, Carville recommends “an approach that transcends the stale notion that getting people back to work ought to be a goal of the nation's economic policy. Democrats need to embrace the decline in workforce participation and increase in the number on...

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. - For some, the celebration following Monday’s NCAA championship game at the historic Rose Bowl stadium will feel like a wake. For others, death to the Bowl Championship Series will be cause for a celebration. Love it or loathe it, the most unique forum for declaring a champion in major North American sport will be put to rest in the shadow of the San Gabriel mountains following the clash between No. 1 Florida State and No. 2 Auburn. After 16 years of bringing a semblance of structure to determining the champions of big-time college football, a true...

After work and sleep, most Americans have eight hours left of their day to spend as they please. How much time Americans spend watching TV, getting exercise, cleaning and playing sports depends on whether they are men or women, 15 or 64, married or single. While the economy and technology have changed dramatically in the past decade, how Americans spend their time on average has remained largely unchanged. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released its 2012 American Time Use Survey. The survey measures the average amount of time Americans spend on different activities in a given day. Personal...

Though the number of new jobs created during the month of September was a paltry 114,000, the official unemployment rate fell from an August rate of 8.1% to 7.8%. With an estimated 120,000 entering the ranks of new job seekers each month based on population growth, the drop in the official rate of unemployment has been credited to a surge of 800,000 new part-time jobs. This was hailed by the President's Council of Economic Advisers chairman Alan Krueger as a sign that the President's plan is working. “Most people I know would prefer to work fewer, not more hours each...

Chafing under the GOP’s repeated barbs about the pitiful state of the economy, President Obama attempted to seize control of the narrative. “If there’s one thing I can say with certainty at this point in the campaign it’s that there is no question that Americans are absolutely better off than they were four years ago,” Obama insisted. “I know many may find this hard to believe. Maybe they’ve had a family member who’s been out of work or a neighbor who’s lost his house. But let me point out that these kinds of anecdotal stories are based on very small...