Free Republic

If you spend a lot of time watching government (taxpayer) subsidized media you’ll find they’re working overtime to convince us all the economy is recovering. What they refuse to show is stories like this: Sbarro, the Italian restaurant chain that’s a fixture in mall food courts, is closing 155 of its locations in North America in an attempt to improve the company’s profitability. The move is part of a broader plan to boost financial performance under a new management team, according to a statement yesterday. The closings affect underperforming company-owned stores and not franchise locations, Sbarro said. The chain, based...

Unemployment has surpassed government and politicians as the most important problem facing Americans, according to a new poll. The Gallup survey shows that nearly one in four Americans — 23 percent — say that jobs are the biggest problem, followed by "dissatisfaction" with government, the economy, and healthcare. The concerns over unemployment have increased by a third from Gallup’s last poll in January, when 16 percent of Americans said jobs was their leading issue.

Many groups—including Christians—take the phrase “Let go and let God” to heart. The idea of getting out of the way and letting God take over is appealing and has a spiritual sound to it. Those who seek to overcome compulsive behavior are often exposed to this thinking. For example, imbedded in the 12 steps in the form that most recovery groups follow are the powerful assertions that one who is overcome by sin is “powerless” and needs to “turn their will and lives” over to God. This letting go allows God to “restore their sanity” and “remove their defects in...

Captain Robert Posey and Pfc. Lincoln Kirstein were the first through the small gap in the rubble blocking the ancient salt mine at Altausee, high in the Austrian Alps in 1945 as World War II drew to a close in May 1945. They walked past one sidechamber in the cool damp air and entered a second one, the flames of their lamps guiding the way. There, resting on empty cardboard boxes a foot off the ground, were eight panels of The Adoration of the Lamb by Jan van Eyck, considered one of the masterpieces of 15th-century European art. In one...

Is Anyone Really Surprised That The System Is On The Brink Again? Phoenix Capital ResearchZero Hedge 02/04/2014 15:07 -0500 We find it truly extraordinary that anyone is surprised the financial system is under duress again. After all, what have the Central Banks accomplished in the last five years? 1) Did they clear out the bad debts that caused the 2008 collapse? NOPE 2) Did they implement structural reforms to insure another 2008 didn’t happen? NOPE 3) Did they punish fraud or corruption in any way to insure that the system was clean? NOPE So what did they do? They cut...

The complete engine from the Cessna Grand Caravan that crashed off Kalaupapa has been recovered by salvage crews, the owner of Makani Kai Air said Wednesday afternoon.

HONOLULU —"I'm no hero, I'm just doing my job in a bad situation," said Makani Kai Air pilot Clyde Kawasaki at a news conference Wednesday morning. [....] The salvage operation for the Makani Kai plane that crashed off Kalaupapa last week will end at nightfall today, no matter what is retrieved or not retrieved. The boat should be back in port in Honolulu by Thursday morning.

One of the first things the pilot in a fatal crash off the Hawaiian island of Molokai did after being released from the hospital was climb into the cockpit of an airplane. [….] An autopsy was conducted Friday on Fuddy but results were not yet available.... [….] If the plane is recovered, Makani Kai staff will remove the engine under the supervision by NTSB officials, Schuman said. It will be placed in a box and sealed, with the NTSB likely taking it back to the factory of engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, where engineers will take it apart to find...

HONOLULU (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board said it will try to recover the plane that crashed off the Hawaiian island of Molokai after the aircraft was spotted in the water.

HONOLULU -- Crews will try to salvage the plane that crashed off the Hawaiian island of Molokai.... Hawaii Health Director Loretta Fuddy was the sole fatality.... A 200-foot recovery vessel will leave Honolulu Harbor on Tuesday night and crews will attempt to pull the plane out of the water Thursday morning, Weiss said, adding that the effort will be paid for by an insurance company....

"If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it." Sadly, that appears to be the approach that the Obama administration and the mainstream media are taking with the U.S. economy. They seem to believe that if they just keep telling the American people over and over that things are getting better, eventually the American people will believe that it is actually true. On Friday, it was announced that the unemployment rate had fallen to "7 percent", and the mainstream media responded with a mix of euphoria and jubilation. For example, one USA Today article declared that "with today's...

President Obama regularly touts what he calls the “economic recovery” supposedly prompted by his policies, including the creation of 7.5 million jobs, consistent growth for more than three years and revitalization of the domestic auto industry. He recently told ABC’s “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos, for example, that during the Great Recession of 2008, “we came in, stabilized the situation. The banking system works. It is giving loans to companies who can get credit. And so we have seen, I think undoubtedly, progress across the board.” It’s an upbeat talking point for the president, but the problem is most Americans...

Recovery: The latest GDP report shows that President Obama's policies continue to weigh down the economy. Now 51 months old, his recovery is by far the weakest since the Great Depression. At 2.8%, real growth in the third quarter was higher than expected, a rarity. But the latest government data also hinted at weakness, as consumer and business spending slowed. In short, the strong growth everyone predicted at the start of the year is a no-show, just as the previous predictions of prosperity just around the corner proved false. It also means that Obama's recovery — now more than 4...

The percentage of Americans that are participating in the labor force is the lowest that it has been in 35 years. During the 70s, 80s and 90s, the labor force participation rate consistently rose as large numbers of women entered the workforce. It peaked at 67.3 percent in early 2000, and just before the last recession it was sitting at about 66 percent. Since the start of the last recession, the labor force participation rate has not stopped falling and it is now at a 35 year low. In September, 11,255,000Americans were considered to be “unemployed”, and an astounding90,609,000 Americans...

You know how it is, you're going along with the lies that are told every day about "recovery" and "economic conditions are kinda "OK" and "we're doing all right" and then the mainstream media and "economists" like Goldman's Alec Phillips step on their ***** and tell the truth by accident. Economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., IHS Inc. (IHS) and BNP Paribas SA said they expect the Treasury to husband the tax money it collects to make sure it can meet interest and principal payments on the nation’s debt. Other obligations, from salaries of government workers to payments to defense...

Top Obama administration officials will head to Detroit on Friday to announce nearly $320 million in federal and private aid as the city grapples with the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history. The aid includes money for housing rehabilitation and demolition, some $30 million targeted to fight crime and reduce the city’s notoriously long emergency response times, and millions more to rehabilitate the city’s transportation network. …

President Barack Obama—now eight months into his second term—said today that the U.S. economy is “still trying to recover” from events that took place five years ago before he took office. At the same time, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which dates the beginning and ending of recessions in the U.S. economy, insists that the last recession ended more than four years ago. … According to the NBER, the last recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. Since June 2009, which was the fifth full month of Obama’s presidency, the economy has been in a...

Audio Podcast: EconTalk Interview with UCLA professor of economics, Lee Ohanian from August 2012 "Lee Ohanian of UCLA talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the recession, the recovery, and the state of labor market. Ohanian describes the unusual aspects of this recession and recovery in the United States as shown by the labor market and the unusual performance of hours worked, productivity, and wages. He also discusses the behavior of business investment and speculates as to why this recession and the recovery has been so different in the United States. The conversation closes with a discussion of the role...

<p>The unemployment rate decreased for "inorganic reasons" as the labor force participation rate fell to 63.2 percent in August, the lowest since 1978.</p> <p>The participation rate has fallen by 1.6 percentage points since the beginning of 2010.</p> <p>"Some of this is due to the aging of the workforce but it reflects a weak labor market," said Stephen Bronars, senior economist at Welch Consulting. "The unemployment rate is declining for all the wrong reasons - people are dropping out of the workforce."</p>

Detroit Teachers Moonlight As ‘Sugar Babies’ To Offset Wage Cuts DETROIT (WWJ) - It’s back-to-school season and many Detroit teachers are struggling in the wake of budget cuts and overcrowded classrooms. According to the National School Supply and Equipment Association, the average teacher spent at least $485 on school supplies for their classroom last year. So, what are some Detroit women doing to offset their struggles in the classroom? Well, they’re becoming “sugar babies” of course — seeking financial assistance from wealthy men online. In the Detroit School District alone, 201 teachers are moonlighting as sugar babies to offset wage...