Free Republic

During the run-up to elections, I like to look a little deeper into the trends that seem to be driving people to the polls. For the 2026 midterms, we're told that the main issue is "affordability." I don't disagree. I live in a deep blue region of a blue state: New Jersey. My particular county (Camden) has been under total Democrat control for a very long time. The state itself has been under Democrat legislative control since 2001, with the governor's mansion also occupied by Democrats except during a hiatus when Republican-in-name-only Chris Christie held the office from 2009-2017. So...

Wages in construction are rising as the nation’s labor market recovers from the flood of cheap and subsidized migrant labor imported by pro-migration policies before 2024, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The recovery — caused by President Donald Trump’s 2024 deportation mandate — is especially rapid in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has used state police to deliver many illegal migrants to the federal deportation officers. American construction workers in Florida who build the wooden frames for housing can now charge roughly $42 per hour, up from $20 per hour, Scott Brannock, president of Jacksonville-based Tidewater Homes...

Some Americans are crying poverty with a $1,500 iPhone in one hand and an $8 Starbucks latte in the other. They say groceries are unaffordable, but somehow the restaurants are packed, airports are crowded, and the neighbor just pulled into his driveway with a brand-new $90,000 SUV. Apparently, we're one bad economic report away from bankruptcy and one Instagram post away from booking another trip to Cabo. Consumer confidence is in the basement. Consumer spending apparently didn't get the memo. In September, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell to 81.9. Yet it has been reported that consumer credit and...

FIRST ON FOX: A new White House economic report warns that immigration policies backed by the Democratic Socialists of America could cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade, as the Trump administration sounds the alarm over the potential financial consequences of mass amnesty and expanded federal benefits. As President Donald Trump touts 16 consecutive months without illegal immigrant releases at the southern border, a Council of Economic Advisers report estimates that mass amnesty and expanded federal benefits under Democratic Socialists of America-backed immigration policies could cost taxpayers between $440 billion and $613 billion over the...

I love this. I hate that. Really? Is it necessary to exaggerate? If everything is huge or outrageous or unprecedented, then how will we express things that are truly out of the ordinary? Florid language is the enemy of clear, concise speech. Like putting exclamation points and emojis after every sentence, it pervades modern media and makes everyone sound like adolescent twits. I don't dislike the following expressions, nor do I hate them. I detest them with a burning rage that disrupts the very fabric of space and time. - Amazing/Amazed: People say this when they really like something, but...

"Affordability" is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot without being well-defined, but we all have a general idea of what it means. Every election year, the economy, and by extension affordability, is always at the top of voters' concerns. Most years it is #1, and it is always in the top three, and for good reason: when we think of the "American Dream," we most often think of an ever-rising standard of living for families and their children. As Reagan put it succinctly, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"Many government policies...

The cost of the American dream is rising at a faster pace than household earnings, driven by notable increases in the cost of homeownership, raising children and paying for college, according to a new report. An analysis by Investopedia finds that the lifetime cost of the American dream rose 4.1% from 2025 to 2026, with the cost increasing by more than $208,000 from $5.11 million a year ago to $5.32 million this year. That cost has risen faster than wages and salaries, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics data for private sector wages and salaries in the past 12 months...

We are now less than a month out from the mid-term elections, and the single biggest theme that the Democrats have chosen to run on appears to be “affordability.” How can this possibly be? We live in the age of immediate availability of information, let alone artificial intelligence to track down anything that might previously have been challenging to find. If you want a state-by-state comparison of costs for any particular thing, you can get it in a fraction of a second. The results are in: the Democrat-run states are less “affordable.” The Democrats and Republicans propose opposite strategies for...

If you want to understand what’s shaping the midterm elections in November, start with voters age 50 and older. They are highly motivated, they make up a substantial share of the country’s swing vote, and they are focused on issues that affect their everyday lives, like affordability and Social Security. There’s no better state that exemplifies this than Alaska, where one of the most compelling Senate races is taking shape in the battle for control of the Senate. AARP’s new bipartisan poll of likely Alaska voters found that 87 percent of voters 50 and older rate themselves a “10” on...

President Donald Trump is searching for ways to ease the affordability squeeze on American households, but nearly every proposal is colliding with another part of the economy.Beef relief risks hurting ranchers. Restricting fuel exports could distort energy markets. A proposed $5,000 payment to American adults would require congressional action and could add enormous new spending power to an economy where inflation remains above the Federal Reserve’s target.For investors, the bigger story is becoming clear: there may be no quick political fix for an affordability problem being driven at the same time by energy costs, interest rates, inflation and weak purchasing...

Apparently, Democrats’ internal polling suggests gas prices won’t be enough to sweep them into power in the Midterms. They may also suggest endlessly mouthing “affordability” isn’t that hot either, which is plausibly why AI, in development for many years, has suddenly become their newest source of imminent doom. Happily, for Americans, it appears AI hysteria isn’t going to work very well either. Americans seem to have learned from the COVID hoax. The other day, I paid $4.17 for gas. That didn’t make me happy, but I know it’s temporary. President Trump’s policies, based in reality and a solid understanding of...

The Democratic Party holds a significantly smaller edge over the Republican Party now than it did in 2018 when Democrats flipped the House of Representatives during President Donald Trump’s first term. Democrats hold just a five-percentage-point lead over Republicans about a month and a half out from the 2026 midterm elections, according to a new NBC News poll that was released on Sunday. Democrats writ large are still more unpopular than Trump himself and the broader GOP despite voters’ belief that Trump’s policies have harmed the economy and pushed up prices. Voters prefer Democrats by 50%-45%, seven percentage points lower...

Prices increases remained stubbornly high in August with little relief in sight for weary American consumers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent in August month over month, leaving the annual CPI inflation rate at 3.4 percent, flat with the 3.4 percent figure in June. 'Apart from the hot core inflation, today’s data doesn’t even cover the most recent oil price spike above $100,' Nic Puckrin, markets expert and former Goldman Sachs analyst, told the Daily Mail. The August inflation numbers are the last impactful data report to come out before the Federal...

Conservatives should understand something before the American voter is forced to explain it to us at the ballot box: an economy is experienced before it is measured. Economists can discuss growth rates, employment figures, productivity, investment, markets, and inflation until the average citizen’s eyes glaze over, but the working American conducts a considerably more primitive calculation. What did I earn, what did everything cost, and what remained afterward? If the answer to that final question keeps getting smaller, no political party should expect a statistical lecture to improve his disposition. Republicans understood this perfectly during the Biden administration. We correctly...

Crude oil prices jumped 3% on Wednesday as fighting between the U.S. and Iran escalates in the Persian Gulf, raising investors fears that energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz will fall. Brent futures were up 3% at $100.86 a barrel by 8:29 a.m. ET. It is the first time the international benchmark has crossed the $100 threshold since July. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures traded 3% higher to $95.84. The U.S. military destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers Tuesday in retaliation for attempted attacks on an American warship. The U.S. warship successfully evaded Iranian attack and no American personnel...

Buying a house, raising a family, spending Saturdays at kids’ sporting events – every aspect of normal life is touched by private equity.Your local doughnut shop got taken over by private equity and, like everything else private equity touches, things got worse. Gone is the experience of watching the conveyor belt fry doughnuts in front of you. No more biting into a freshly made pastry that melts in your mouth. Bad for you? Sure. Delicious? Yes.Now, it is just bad for you. Private equity stepped in and doughnuts are now shipped to nearly every location from a corporate shop. Krispy...

Retaliatory tariffs issued by Canada are set to hit some imports from the United States soon after midnight on Tuesday, intensifying a trade war between the longtime allies and risking an escalation from President Donald Trump.Levies as high as 50% will be applied to hundreds of U.S. products, ranging from aluminum foil to raincoats to cheese. U.S. elected officials in states bordering Canada, including Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, have warned the trade dispute will hurt local businesses and consumers.

DALLAS — Motorists are expected to encounter the highest average Labor Day gasoline price on record in nominal terms, according to a forecast released Tuesday by fuel-savings platform GasBuddy. The company projects the national average will reach $4.03 per gallon during the holiday weekend, 87 cents higher than the $3.16 average recorded in 2025. The forecast would surpass the previous nominal Labor Day record of $3.83 per gallon, set in 2012.

Housing in New York City has become painfully unaffordable. In June 2026, renters paid an average of $5,408 for a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, while even the average studio reached $4,014. It isn't difficult to understand why young New Yorkers are frustrated, or why socialism is starting to sound appealing. Underneath that anger is a very real problem. Young New Yorkers aren't wrong for being frustrated. Housing has become unaffordable, and they are right to demand better solutions. But is socialism the answer? The Marxist Lens: Tenant vs. Landlord Before asking whether socialism can solve New York’s housing crisis, we...

The Democratic nominee for Colorado's Third Congressional District, Dwayne Romero, has made housing affordability a tent-pole issue for his campaign, accusing "Wall Street behemoths" of "buying up homes and driving up rents." Yet, for years, his real estate firm has made big money selling multimillion-dollar luxury homes in Aspen, where residential property is so expensive that even the city's doctors and lawyers can't afford to live. Romero also holds stakes in BlackRock, Blackstone, and Airbnb, his personal financial disclosure shows. Romero told a Grand Junction news outlet that his top priority is "affordability" and that "prices and housing costs" is...