Free Republic

Despite being the highest-earning generation, millennials grapple with a stark reality – their wealth lags significantly behind. The rising cost of living, outpacing wage growth, is a key culprit, creating financial strains on this demographic. Notably, prices have surged, with ground beef averaging $5.23, up from $3.89 in January 2020. Fresh fruits and vegetables witness a nearly 14% hike, adding to the financial burden. If incomes haven’t increased by over 20% in the past three years, individuals find themselves financially worse off.

In a move that gives the lie to years of propaganda claiming falling costs, the wind industry’s leading lobbyists have written to the Government threatening to abandon the U.K. unless subsidies for their companies are hugely increased. The industry lobbyists claim that unforeseen rising costs now require three actions: A revision to the auction rules so that the winners are not determined by lowest bids but by an administrative decision that weights bids according to their ‘value’ in contributing towards the Net Zero targets. Special new targets and thus market shares for floating offshore wind, one of the most expensive...

President Obama held a town hall yesterday in Indiana, and faced a question from a steel plant manager about rising health care costs. And Obama told him he might not be “shopping effectively enough.” The man said, “One of the questions I had is about the health care costs. We are seeing almost a double-digit increase in health care costs every year. So do you think that trends will go down and what can we do to control that trend?” Obama answered, “The question is whether you guys are shopping effectively enough, because it turns out that this year, and...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Some 5,000 patients suddenly found themselves without an ob/gyn last November when Dr. Tara Wah closed her practice in Tallahassee, Fla. Wah, 55, informed her patients in a letter that she could "no longer afford to make ends meet." After 24 years, "I'm working longer hours than ever," she wrote. "Insurance payments for patient care have stayed virtually the same for the last 15 years, while the cost of doing business, including health insurance, staff salaries and supplies have risen." The rising cost of malpractice insurance, particularly for her specialty, was the straw that broke the...

Bedeviled with cost overruns, the Navy's shipbuilding program is in danger of sinking under its own weight. Navy leaders have struggled to upgrade an aging fleet of warships with next-generation aircraft carriers, destroyers, amphibious assault ships and submarines that cost billions more than the vessels they replace. Seven new ships are budgeted for this year, barely a third of the number built annually during the peak Reagan-era defense buildup. Fifteen will be decommissioned, including the San Diego-based Ogden, Trenton and Dolphin. The result is a fleet of 276, the lowest total in nine decades. “The number of ships we're producing...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - For all the deadly foes he vanquished on the silver screen, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may be finally meeting his match - the growing medical bills of poor people. In his rookie year, Schwarzenegger tried simply to slash the state's costs by $900 million, then backed down after roars of protest. Now he's back with a new attack, one of many experiments proposed by U.S. governors to cut states' soaring medical costs. Schwarzenegger would limit a poor Californian's dental work to $1,000 a year, steer nearly 1 million more people into managed care networks and make families...

Edwards' Malpractice Suits Leave Bitter Taste In Town From The Washington Times By Charles Hurt August 16, 2004 The American Medical Association lists North Carolina's current health care situation as a "crisis" and blames it on Sen. John Edwards a millionaire many times over. "The John Edwards we know crushed [obstetrics, gynecology] and neurosurgery in North Carolina," "As a result, thousands of patients lost their health care." ... One of his most noted victories was a $23 million settlement he got from a 1995 case -- "He was very good at it," said Dr. John Schmitt, an obstetrician and gynecologist...

<p>Why is it so difficult to provide universal health care?</p> <p>Health care is as frustrating an issue for politicians as it is important to the rest of us. We all know the complaints. At nearly 14 percent of gross domestic product, health care claims almost twice as large a share of the economy in the United States as in Britain or Japan and generally produces no better health results. And for all that money, the number of Americans with health insurance keeps falling. Since 1987, the share of Americans with health coverage, including Medicare and Medicaid, has declined from 87 percent to 85 percent, and setting aside government programs, the share with private health insurance fell from 75.5 percent to less than 71 percent.</p>