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A report from the Institute for Family Studies warns that the United States is approaching a demographic turning point, with fertility rates continuing to fall well below replacement levels and population declines increasingly likely in the coming decades unless current trends change. The report, titled ”The Demographic Dead End: 2026 State of Fertility Report,” presents estimates of fertility trends for every state dating back to 1917. As part of the nation’s 250th anniversary, researchers also reconstructed birth rates in Massachusetts dating to 1660, offering one of the longest historical views of American fertility ever compiled. According to the report, the...

For millions of Americans, the weekly grocery trip has become one of the biggest strains on the household budget. Even as overall inflation has cooled, food prices remain stubbornly high, forcing shoppers to compare prices more closely than ever before.Now, a new study suggests one of the country’s largest supermarket chains may be offering the best value on everyday essentials.Kroger topped a comparison of four major grocery retailers, beating Walmart, Aldi, and Albertsons on the total cost of a basket of common store-brand staples.Kroger Comes Out on TopThe price comparison, conducted by Restaurant Furniture Plus and reported by Southern Living,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday imposed 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods, declaring that Canada has unfairly discriminated against American autos, alcohol and dairy products.The move could unleash a new wave of economic chaos, with risks of higher inflation and further fraying of relations between two nations that had been closely woven together before Trump’s return to the White House. The administration official previewing the action said that Canada was one of the only nations other than China that retaliated against Trump’s previous tariffs and must be held accountable.The official insisted on anonymity on a call with...

The doom feed says home affordability locked a generation out. The math on the payment you actually write says something the headlines won’t.Here are the “facts” that the media tells you about home affordability.Let’s start with a recent survey. Two out of three Americans now say it’s a bad time to buy a house, the most negative reading Gallup has ever recorded. Another study showed that a record 25.2 million adults under 35 are living with their parents. Scroll any feed, and you’ll hear that home affordability has priced an entire generation out for good. Those are the “facts” according...

U.S. home prices surged to an all-time high in June according to a National Association of Realtors (NAR) report released last Thursday. The report found that the median existing home price in June reached $440,660, an increase of 1.8 percent year-over-year and a new high according to the NAR’s chief economist Lawrence Yun. Housing sales declined to 2.4 percent month-over-month in June and 2.8 percent, seasonally adjusted, since June 2025. The NAR’s Housing Affordability Index is up 6.8 points since June 2025 at 102.3, signaling that home prices are more affordable relative to the median family income. Yet the index...

A recent article from The Cut received a huge amount of attention: ‘It’s Hard to See My Parents Live So Lavishly While We’re Struggling’. The piece includes vignettes of Millenial hardship:…his dad, Steve, sold his company to a private equity firm about five years ago, which enabled him to retire comfortably in his mid-60s…Two years ago, Joe asked his dad for a loan. He wanted to start a lawn-care business and needed capital for commercial-grade equipment and a trailer, at least $15,000. He presented Steve with his business plan, which included a schedule to pay back the money. Still, Steve...

Republicans returned to Washington on Monday night in an increasingly dour mood about the state of their party: Growing fears of a November wipeout. A Middle East war with no end in sight. A feeling of loss after the sudden death of their longtime colleague Lindsey Graham. Now, with President Donald Trump’s attention focused on Capitol Hill for what could be the party’s final legislative sprint before the midterms, a restless House Speaker Mike Johnson is racing to reverse Republicans’ political fortunes. Johnson is privately pushing a major legislative push centered on Pentagon funding, cutting government fraud and a new...

There’s a new agency in California that promises to “protect consumers, support honest businesses, and advance affordability for Californians.” If Vegas were to give odds, they would be heavily against any of those ever occurring. It’s called the California Business and Consumer Services Agency, and it’s a cabinet-level department headed by Rohit Chopra, who was sworn in on July 1. It already has a bureaucratic acronym: BCSA. Catchy, isn’t it? Chopra promises his office “will sharpen and accelerate work to promote economic growth and protect the public from abuses.” Let us translate that from California-government-speak. What it really means...

In Mayor Karen Bass’s Los Angeles, the rule of law is separate and not equal when it comes to street food — with illegal immigrants and rogue vendors getting a free pass on violations while citizen restaurateurs and licensed food stands are subjected to fines, high costs, burdensome regulations, and even closures. In short, L.A. and the surrounding counties have two sets of rules. Other progressively-run cities like New York and Minneapolis also are catering to “vulnerable” and undocumented immigrant street vendors. But California is leading the way in sanctuary food practices. The Los Angeles County Health Department, citing immigration...

Misery on the menu? California shoppers could soon be paying even more at the checkout line as a sweeping new state recycling measure threatens to send grocery prices soaring, with dairy manufacturers warning some businesses may be forced to shut down or flee the Golden State. Senate Bill 54 is now entering its first phase of implementation, with companies expected to receive their first bills as early as next month, reported SFGATE. The measure aims to reduce landfill waste by making manufacturers financially responsible for the packaging they sell after it is thrown away. It charges companies impact fees on...

Californians are set to notice a major change the next time they stroll through a grocery store. State officials have ordered a sweeping overhaul of food packaging that will alter how millions shop. From July 1, food manufacturers and retailers across the Golden State will no longer be allowed to slap 'sell by' dates on most packaged foods sold to consumers, under a controversial new law aimed at tackling food waste and clearing up widespread confusion over expiration labels. The shake-up, which will be felt across supermarket shelves statewide, effectively strips out a long list of familiar date markings that...

Economics 101: Increase supply and prices go down. Raise demand, and prices go up.AdvertisementThat's what we are seeing in spades in the housing market in the wake of Joe Biden releasing as many as 14 million illegals into the interior of the country.Housing prices in the U.S. went up. More people competing for the same supply of housing will do that. And illegals, who qualify for public subsidy programs allowing them to buy over other Americans, were ravenously buying. They also fill public housing, leaving Americans to go without, and populate growing 'informal' shantytowns, though President Trump is trying to...

For years, Democrats told you that the border crisis wasn’t real, or that it was real, but it was a good thing. I guess the theory was that having a huge influx of immigrants meant cheap labor, which was great for everyone. It didn’t really work out that way. Not only did it cause all sorts of crime problems, but it also caused a major housing problem. Immigrants were coming into this country really, really, really fast under Joe Biden, and so available housing declined and rents went up.Of course, if you pointed this out, you were accused of peddling...

The bar for entry-level homeownership has never been higher. While the typical starter home nationwide is worth $198,649, a record 242 cities now have starter homes valued at $1 million or more, A record 242 US cities now have starter homes that cost $1 million, according to Zillow A typical “starter home” is defined for this analysis as a home in the lowest third of home values in a given region. The count of cities with million-dollar starter homes has grown from 226 cities a year ago, even as affordability pressures have begun to ease in parts of the country....

Some of the highest-paying jobs in the Roman world mirrored modern careers: doctor, lawyer, famous actor. Others - like charioteer and exhibition gladiator - were a bit less familiar. The Best-Paying Jobs in Ancient Rome | 6:41 toldinstone | 633K subscribers | 286,466 views | January 21, 2022 Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 0:36 Laborers 1:05 Craftsmen 1:31 Soldiers 2:13 Lawyers 2:49 Doctors 3:33 Teachers 3:59 Actors 4:26 Gladiators 4:48 Charioteers 5:12 Landed Aristocrats 6:07 Conclusion

Companies that rely on the gig economy model for workers scored a big win in courts Monday after an appeals court overturned a lower court ruling that previously found Proposition 22 illegal. Proposition 22 passed by a wide margin in November 2020, exempting app-based gig economy drivers from California’s terrible AB5 law and allowing them to continue to work as independent contractors. However, almost a year later, it was ruled unconstitutional by a California court. But a legal challenge to that ruling carried on, and a year and a half later, those app-based companies scored a victory, according to the...

The Internal Revenue Service penalty for tax underpayments has nearly tripled since 2021, putting gig economy workers and consultants at the largest risk of having to cough up big bucks to Uncle Sam. As of Oct. 1, the IRS will now charge 8% interest on estimated tax underpayments, up from 3% two years ago, according to The Wall Street Journal.

There seem to be another one of these stories cropping up every week. The state of California has been waging a war on the gig economy for quite a while now and they may wind up winning, assuming they can drive the companies involved (along with most of their workers) out of the state. Uber, Lyft and Airbnb are the state government’s favorite targets, but there are other, smaller services feeling the pinch as well. Also, writers are being shut out by these recent actions.At Forbes, Paco Freire takes a deep dive into the impact this is having on...

Democrats hate the gig economy, since they can’t force independent contractors to join unions (and thus rake off their union dues). So Biden’s NLRB issued a “joint-employer standard” to force companies to treat gig employees and subcontractors as subject to union representation. Well, a federal judge in Texas squashed that rule. Last week, a federal judge in Texas issued a ruling that struck down a new joint-employer standard by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that would have classified numerous companies as “employers” of specific contract and franchise employees, obligating them to negotiate with unions representing those workers. U.S....

We’ve known this was coming for some time, but California is now ready to vote on Assembly Bill 5, designed to basically try to put Uber, Lyft and any of their gig economy competitors out of business in the state. The vote could come as soon as today. But the way they wound up wording it may end up giving the ride-sharing companies an immediate out once the inevitable challenges make it through the courts. (Insider) Uber and Lyft’s day of reckoning is here.California senators are set to vote as early as Tuesday on Assembly Bill 5, a proposed...