Free Republic

Restaurant diners are footing the bill for rising minimum wages. In lieu of steep menu price increases, many independent and regional chain restaurants in states including Arizona, California, Colorado and New York are adding surcharges of 3% to 4% to help offset rising labor costs. Industry analysts expect the practice to become widespread as more cities and states increase minimum wages.

Whether the weak issue is the gender pay gap, or marriage equality, feminists continue to use women as props to keep a dying movement alive for the next cause célèbre In 2015, it was discovered that in the California Assembly, under Democrat control, women made 92 cents on the dollar compared to men. In the Senate, women made 94 cents on the dollar compared to men. Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, and feminist against unequal pay for women, paid her own female employees $15,708.38 less than her male staffers when she was a U.S. senator from New York....

No mouthpiece in Washington is a more reliable one for crazy leftists in the Democrat Party than the Washington Post, which is out with yet another head-scratcher on illegal immigration. The story not only reminds us how far out of their depth these people are when they try covering illegal immigration accurately, it also reminds us how hilariously obtuse they are about their own fake news and biases. “In the wake of new enforcement policies announced by the Trump administration last week that dramatically expand the pool of undocumented immigrants targeted for deportation, Mexico is bracing for an influx of...

On the heels on its controversial immigration ban targeting seven Muslim-majority countries, the Trump administration has drafted a new executive order that could actually mean higher wages for both foreign workers and Americans working in Silicon Valley. The Silicon Valley companies, of course, will not be happy if it goes into effect. The order aims to overhaul and limit work visas, notably the H-1B visa program. Tech companies rely on these to bring in foreign talent. Their lobbyists claim there is a “talent shortage” among Americans and thus that the industry needs more of such work visas. This is patently...

LOS ANGELES -- He had spent his latest 45-hour workweek hunched over a sewing machine, attaching labels and stitching collars and tightening black and gold blouses that would soon sell at bargain prices at a popular retailer. But now it was Saturday afternoon, paycheck time, when Pedro felt the full sting of that bargain: It was his own salary that helped keep the prices down for consumers. His manager gathered the 30-some workers from their stations in the unmarked brick building and passed out payslips. For the week, he said, he’d been paid $225. Or $5 per hour. “There’s nothing...

The next time you wander into Sammy’s Wood-Fired Pizza for a burrata and pesto pie, indulge in a shrimp-filled bucket at Rockin’ Baja Lobster, or decide to splurge on beef tenderloin at George’s at the Cove, don’t be surprised to see an added charge when your check arrives. Girding for the second minimum wage hike in six months and the fourth in 2-½ years, many of San Diego’s full-service restaurants are introducing for the first time an average surcharge of 3 percent of the meal’s cost to help cover increased labor expenses that some operators say amount to hundreds of...

Nearly 60 percent of California voters with children living at home agree with the statement, “my children will have a better future if they leave California.” More than 75 percent now think “earning enough income to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle is becoming almost impossible in my part of California.” In Los Angeles County, it’s 87 percent. That’s from a new survey by the California Chamber of Commerce. And if you think those numbers are discouraging, the numbers in a just-released report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation are even worse. The LAEDC projects that employment in L.A. County...

I’m an Enrolled Agent tax pro based in California with clients all over the country. Recently, the son of a client who had moved to a more free state than ours asked whether I thought he should move back here to start a business. I suggested not. Why? While California suffers from the highest income tax rate in the country and mountains of regulations that cause everything from housing costs to the price of power to be among the highest, the most destructive regulation of all is arguably an up-and-coming one. It mandates annual increases to the minimum prices of...

<p>Following the BREXIT vote in late June and passionate support for the Bernie Sanders campaign, the Presidential election of Donald Trump provided yet another sign that the American people, as well as many around the world, are increasingly demanding a new economic path. This piece is not written to opine on the election or the merits of Donald Trump. The intent is to highlight, through the use of a few charts, that the nation’s economic policy for the last 30 years has failed greatly and hollowed out the middle class. The consequences have been accumulating for years but have been camouflaged by ever increasing, but unsuccessful attempts to reignite economic growth.</p>

It's no secret that the post-crisis recovery hasn't been so great for the average American. Growth has been uneven. Job gains, while strong, have often been concentrated in areas like bars and restaurants. Wage inflation has been tepid. And yet, costs for things like health care, education and housing have soared. Policymakers have focused, for better or worse, on driving down interest rates and boosting the price of financial assets, lifting corporate profits and the stock market to record highs in the process — but also widening the income and wealth inequality gaps. At long last, there is evidence a...

It’s so great to be here tonight. I am honored to also be joined this evening by Governor Scott Walker, Chairman Reince Priebus, and Mayor Rudy Giuliani. We are at a decisive moment in this election. Last week, I laid out my plan to bring jobs back to our country. Yesterday, I laid out my plan to defeat Radical Islamic Terrorism. Tonight, I am going to talk about how to make our communities safe again from crime and lawlessness. Let me begin by thanking the law enforcement officers here in this city, and across this country, for their service and...

Millennials are not some vast unsolvable mystery. According to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau (PDF), they earn $2,000 less than their parents did at a comparable age, they are more likely to live in poverty, and they are more likely to live at home. But Baby Boomers and Gen Xers still seem to find it hard to believe that basic economic math can explain much of the younger generation’s behavior. After several news outlets, including The Daily Beast, reported that rates of millennial sexual inactivity in early adulthood are surprisingly high, armchair social theorists came out in force...

The only way to reverse declines in labor participation and stagnation in wages and demand is to make it easier to start enterprises and hire people. The reason why mainstream economists don't understand these developments is they don't: 1. Consider the systemic impact of energy and EROEI (energy returned on energy invested). 2. Consider the systemic impact of fast-rising private and public debt. 3. Consider the systemic impact of rising inflation resulting from state-cartel capitalism; the only possible output of state-cartel capitalism is a higher cost structure for' the entire economy. 4. Consider that consumption is exhausted because everyone already...

Federal data released Aug. 9 shows that Americans’ wages are dropping again, seven years after President Barack Obama declared the economy had recovered from the property-bubble — and three months before the 2016 election. The dramatic drop was buried in an Aug. 9 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which said that officials have radically revised their prior claim that wages grew 4.2 percent in the first quarter, from January to March. “Real hourly compensation decreased 0.4 percent after revision, rather than the previously-published increase of 4.2 percent,” the BLS admitted. Compensation also fell another 1.4 percent in the...

Many Americans are campaigning for a raise in the minimum wage. Even more Americans are struggling just to find jobs at any wage.Yup -- those two news items are related.While trying to present a case for the Massachusetts state legislature to approve a program that provides summer jobs to teens at non-profits and government agencies, an editorial at the Boston Globe accidentally explained why artificially imposed minimum wages kill job opportunities.I don’t think the Globe even realized it, either: The program provides money for YouthWorks, which pays the wages of 4,400 low-income teens in eligible cities who work for nonprofits...

As you read this 9/11 "memorial" missive to rank-and-file union members, bear in mind that its author -- AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka -- was an honored presidential guest at last night's campaign rally disguised as a "jobs speech." This is much, much more offensive than Jimmy Hoffa, Jr.'s juvenile "SOB's" slur on Monday. Without further ado, I present top White House ally Richard Trumka's reflections on the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 (emphasis mine): All of us will remember the horror and anguish we experienced 10 years ago. Whether we lost loved ones ourselves—family members, union brothers and sisters—or...

What’s the most important economic statistic to gauge a society’s prosperity? I often use per-capita economic output when comparing nations. But for ordinary people, what probably matters most is household income. And if you look at the median household income numbers for the United States, Obamanomics is a failure. According to the Census Bureau’s latest numbers, the average family today has less income (after adjusting for inflation) than when Obama took office. In an amazing feat of chutzpah, however, the President is actually arguing that he’s done a good job with the economy. His main talking point is that the...

Labor activists have long claimed that working conditions at New York City's car washes are the worst of the worst. In the Big Apple, an estimated 5,000 men scrub and vacuum other people's vehicles for a living. A decade ago, it was common for these so-called carwasheros, many of whom are illegal immigrants from Mexico and Latin America, to earn $3 per hour plus tips, with no extra pay for overtime. Straight cash, off the books. When demand peaked in the winter months, they would often put in 12 hours a day, six days a week. Regulators paid little attention,...

Remembering the Forsaken Written by Francis Slobodnik    Tuesday, 12 January 2010 18:51   A Review of the book The Forsaken, An American Tragedy In Stalin’s Russia by Tim Tzouliadis     In times of social and political turmoil, it is not uncommon for men to grasp for what appear to be easy solutions. Oftentimes, these impulsive decisions can have disastrous consequences. There is nothing meritorious about change in and of itself. The virtuous person prayerfully reasons through the options before making decisions. Men with little virtue grab desperately for anything that, on the surface, appears will improve their...

For more than 20 years, the Government Accountability Office has been warning that the varioius Social Security funds would go broke in a matter of decades unless something is done to shore up the program. Unfortunately, there are limited options when trying to address this crisis. You can employ a combination of raising the retirement age and/or increase the FICA tax. Other than that, you're rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic. But President Obama – who is fully aware of the threat of insolvency – is now proposing that Social Security benefits be increased and wants the "rich"...