Free Republic

When he came to office, not unlike other politicians, Obama made many promises. Nearly every promise he made has remained unfulfilled — with one exception: The promise that “change has come to America.” My dad used to tell me that nothing was so good it could not be better or be so bad it could not get worse. Things have indeed gotten worse, much worse, and it would appear that there is no bottom as to how far we may ultimately fall at the hands of an administration and politicians from both sides of the aisle, who only care about...

Many economists expected a rebound after last month’s soft jobs numbers, but the ADP National Employment Report released Wednesday shows little sign of such a turnaround. The domestic economy added only 169,000 jobs in April, according to the Wednesday report, and March additions were revised down from an original 189,000 to 175,000. This is the second consecutive month of sub-200,000 job additions, which previously hadn’t happened in a single month since January 2014. Service-providing firms added 170,000 positions last month, with the most pronounced month-over-month gains seen in the professional/business services and trade/transportation/utilities sectors. But goods-producing jobs shed 1,000 positions...

Get ready for another ride on the economic roller coaster. Last week, we got bad news about the economy when it was announced that the US gross domestic product barely rose in the first three months of 2015. And it looks as though the 0.2 percent annualized growth reported by the Commerce Department for the winter months will turn into a contraction when revisions are made at the end of May. Worse, GDP in the second quarter hasn’t gotten much better. The Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow, which tracks the economy in real time, has GDP growing at a wimpy 0.8...

Congress has the responsibility to ensure that any international trade agreement entered into by the United States must serve the national interest, not merely the interests of those crafting the proposal in secret. It must improve the quality of life, the earnings, and the per-capita wealth of everyday working Americans. The sustained long-term loss of middle class jobs and incomes should compel all lawmakers to apply added scrutiny to a “fast-track” procedure wherein Congress would yield its legislative powers and allow the White House to implement one of largest global financial agreements in our history—comprising at least 12 nations and...

Baltimore Is Not About Race Government-induced dependency is the problem—and it’s one with a long history. By William McGurn May 4, 2015 For those who see the rioting in Baltimore as primarily about race, two broad reactions dominate. One group sees rampaging young men fouling their own neighborhoods and concludes nothing can be done because the social pathologies are so overwhelming. In some cities, this view manifests itself in the unspoken but cynical policing that effectively cedes whole neighborhoods to the thugs. Opinion Journal Video Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Jason Riley on what prompted the violence and what comes next....

A survey targeting local low-income families has found that 40 percent of respondents felt they have very little or no job security, according to results being released this week. That kind of instability makes it challenging to commit to car loans, apartment leases and tuition payments – steps often necessary to improving a family’s economic standing. Of those participating in the survey, more than 1 in 2 has received free groceries or meals and about 1 in 4 has needed help with housing, utilities or health care. The 502 responses reflect the experiences of those who continue to struggle in...

Some fun relevant facts: Maryland's unemployment rate is ~ 5.5% Baltimore unemployment rate is ~ 8.2 % Baltimore unemployment rate for young black men is ~ 37% %Source CNN Money Maryland's minimum wage is $8.25 per hour Baltimore's minimum (called ‘living’) wage is much higher : ~ $11.50 per hour.source baltimorebrew .com Yep, almost $12 per hour. Recall how we are lectured that outlawing these low paying entry level jobs will create better paying jobs, because they all get a raise which they spend. Yep, no HS degree, no work experience, probably an arrest record (try looting businesses) . Sure...

Bell Helicopter announced today that it will lay off 1,100 employees. The Fort Worth-based helicopter company has a location on Pont Des Mouton Road in Lafayette, according to the company's website. The company did not release specifics on which locations will see layoffs, but the communications director did say in a news release that the reduction in workforce will apply to all areas of the business, both management and non-management, and covered and non-covered workers. In addition to its Pont Des Mouton location, Bell Helicopter broke ground in August last year on an 82,300-square-foot aircraft assembly center near the Lafayette...

In 19.9 percent of American families in 2014, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), no one in the family worked. A family, as defined by the BLS, is a “group of two or more persons residing together who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption. In 2014, there were 80,889,000 families in the United States, and in 16,057,000 of those families, or 19.9 percent, no one had a job. The BLS designates a person as “employed” if “during the survey reference week” they “(a) did any work at all as paid employees; (b) worked in...

Wages of America's middle class have dropped below 1970s levels as immigration has surged 325 percent, according to a new congressional report that questions claims that native Americans are economically helped by greater immigration. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service report studied immigration and middle class income from 1945-2013 and found that as immigration slowed between 1945 and 1970, American incomes increased. But when immigration expanded, the incomes of the bottom 90 percent of Americans went flat and then dropped beginning in 2000. In the report to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the CRS reported that the foreign-born population of the United...

While the American voters sent a message of repudiation against the overreach of the executive branch in the November 2014 elections, the executive responded by informing the voters that their message would be ignored. As Republicans won in a landslide election that gave them control of Congress by vowing to stop the overreach of the Obama administration, it simply didn’t matter. In an interview with the Huffington Post last month, Barack Obama conveyed this message by stating that he will, “try to reach out to Republicans and see if they can work with us and where they’re not willing to...

Employers in 31 U.S. states cut jobs last month as weak economic growth weighed on hiring and a slowdown in oil and gas drilling caused big job losses in some states. The Labor Department said Tuesday that unemployment rates rose or were unchanged in 27 states and fell in 23 states. Eighteen states gained jobs, while employment was unchanged in Idaho.

Commentary By Portrait of Patrick Tyrrell Patrick Tyrrell There was good news this month: private-sector job openings rose slightly in February, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Openings rose to 3.8 percent of all private-sector jobs and the job openings—the highest rate since January 2001. Other data for the month showed the unemployment rate for workers age 25-54 (often called prime age workers) ticked downward to 4.6 percent from 4.8 percent.

Since the end of the recession in June 2009, the number of job openings in the private sector has steadily climbed — just as one would expect to happen as the economy recovered. But over those same years, the share of 25- to 54-year-olds who are active in the labor market has steadily fallen...

Dan Joseph is on a mission. Who supports a $50/hour minimum wage? What better place to put forward such a bold initiative than in the free speech zone on the sanctified grounds of George Mason University in Virginia. (VIDEO-AT-LINK)Now, while Joseph was able to find a few supporters, some students on campus knew that raising the minimum wage will lead to job losses and increased pricing for some goods. One man called the law racist and he’s not the only one. The late economist Milton Freidman described minimum wage laws as the most anti-African-American law on the books, as he...

We might be inclined to laugh off the national demonstrations calling for a $15/hr minimum wage for burger-flippers, as the suggestion should be received as utterly ridiculous in any intelligent economic debate. But the left isn’t laughing. They’re undoubtedly ecstatic at the media legs such demonstrations have maintained against all odds, and they can’t wait to roll out these downtrodden fast-food workers as a reason to increase the federal minimum wage, victims as they are of an evil system of economic organization that dares assign a value to labor performed in the context of supply and demand. That evil is,...

ROANOKE, VA (AP) -- Coal producer Xinergy Ltd. and more than two dozen subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Knoxville, Tennessee-based Xinergy filed a Chapter 11 petition last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Roanoke, Virginia. The petition lists zero to $50,000 in assets and about $100 million to $500 million in liabilities....

1.) Who’s Fighting For 15? Workers Or Big Labor. A nationwide minimum wage protest planned for Wednesday is being called out by critics who claim the self-proclaimed grassroots movement is actually just a paid stunt by big labor. “This is an orchestrated effort,” Ryan Williams, media advisor for Worker Center Watch, said during a press call Monday. “The union has invested upwards of $20 million.” Additionally, as sources for The Daily Caller News Foundation point out, the SEIU has spent $637,243 in strike benefits to some groups involved despite them not reporting any members. The concept refers to when a...

Despite last month’s poor jobs report, the U.S. labor market is improving. Job creation is running at the fastest pace since the late 1990s, and there is some evidence that wage growth is finally starting to accelerate, albeit modestly.However, one key component is missing from the labor market recovery: rising labor force participation.In March, labor force participation declined 0.1% to 62.7%, the lowest rate since the late 1970s.Why are so few Americans participating in the labor market even as jobs become more plentiful? I see three main reasons.1. An aging population. While the Great Recession inflicted significant damage on the...

New claims for US unemployment insurance benefits rose more than expected last week to their highest level in six weeks, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Initial jobless claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, climbed to 294,000 in the week ending April 11, an increase of 12,000 from the prior week's slightly upwardly revised number. Analysts had expected claims would hold steady from the previous week. The four-week moving average, which helps to smooth week-over-week volatility, inched up by 250 to 282,750. A year ago the average was 316,000.