Free Republic

July 31 marks the 93rd birthday of the world's foremost living economist, Milton Friedman. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Economic Science, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the National Medal of Science, Friedman advances the principles of individual choice by popularizing ideas that include school vouchers and private retirement accounts. Through essays, speeches, and books such as Capitalism and Freedom, and Free to Choose, Friedman champions the ideas of liberty. "Milton Friedman has done more than defend freedom as an abstract ideal," President George W. Bush recently said, "He has creatively applied the power of freedom to the...

For the first time since President Bush took office, an unexpected leap in tax revenue is about to shrink the federal budget deficit this year, by nearly $100 billion. On Wednesday, White House officials plan to announce that the deficit for the 2005 fiscal year, which ends in September, will be far smaller than the $427 billion they estimated in February. Mr. Bush plans to hail the improvement at a cabinet meeting and to cite it as validation of his argument that tax cuts would stimulate the economy and ultimately help pay for themselves. Based on revenue and spending data...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Robust home building and stronger exports helped the economy expand at a faster-than-expected 3.8 percent annual rate in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said Wednesday as it revised its growth estimate up for a second straight time. Initially, the department said gross domestic product -- the broadest measure of total economic activity within the nation's borders -- grew at a 3.1 percent rate in the first quarter, but it pushed that number up to 3.5 percent a month ago before finally revising it to match the 3.8 percent rate posted in the closing quarter of 2004....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. industrial output grew strongly last month while producer prices fell at the sharpest rate in 1-1/2 years amid tumbling energy prices, according to reports suggesting healthy, noninflationary growth. U.S. factories, mines and utilities boosted production by a more-than-expected 0.8 percent in December, leading to a 4.1 percent gain for all of 2004, the best annual showing in four years, a Federal Reserve report showed on Friday. Separately, the Labor Department said producer prices dropped 0.7 percent last month, a sharper-than-expected decline and the biggest since April 2003. Prices were also well contained when excluding volatile food...

Strong consumer spending and business investment and a slightly lower than previously reported trade deficit meant the US economy grew at a 3.9 per cent rate in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said. The upward revision from the 3.7 per cent advance estimate was above consensus expectations and represented a rebound from 3.3 per cent growth in the second quarter. Core personal consumption expenditures inflation, excluding food and energy, the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, was unchanged at a 0.7 per cent rate in the quarter - the lowest reading since the 1960s. The report provided further support...

President Bush plans to overhaul his economic team for the second time in two years and wants to tap prominent figures outside the administration to help sell rewrites of Social Security and the tax laws to Congress and the country, White House aides and advisers said over the weekend. The aides said the replacement of four of the five top economic officials -- including the Treasury and Commerce secretaries, with only budget director Joshua B. Bolten likely to remain -- is part of Bush's preparation for sending Congress an ambitious second-term domestic agenda.

New claims slid 12,000 to 323,000 in the week ended Nov. 20. Economists expected little change. The 4-week average, which smooths out weekly swings, slid 6,500 to 332,000, the lowest in four years. Continuing claims fell 25,000 to 2.755 mil in the week ended Nov. 13 to a 3 1/2-year low. The data signal companies may be less reluctant to hire. More