Free Republic

The bottom line is Jerome Powell has screwed up. No, that’s not from President Trump. That comes from legendary investor Louis Navellier.In yesterday’s Special Market Podcast in Growth Investor, Louis weighed in on President Trump’s attacks on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell:The latest criticism is, President Trump wants to get rid of Jerome Powell. Ok, well, unfortunately, I have to agree with him because Powell is fighting a mythical inflation that hasn’t occurred yet.We’re not going to have more tariffs other than the Chinese tariffs because everybody is caving. Everybody is meeting with the administration; everybody is dropping their barriers....

Global markets are increasingly unstable as sovereign debt burdens grow, social unrest brews, and confidence in traditional systems erodes. Against this backdrop, Martin Armstrong, founder of Armstrong Economics and creator of the Economic Confidence Model, brings rare insight into the cycles reshaping the world. In this conversation, Armstrong breaks down how centuries of historical data, political shifts, and rising debt pressures are converging into a major global reset. From sovereign defaults to civil unrest, he explains why the patterns are undeniable—and what they mean for the future of markets, governments, and society itself.

A federal judge on Friday blocked President Trump’s executive order to strip federal workers of their ‘collective bargaining’ rights. Last month President Trump issued an executive order blocking hundreds of thousands of federal workers in HHS, Veterans, Treasury and other federal agencies. The National Treasury Employees Union sued the Trump Administration in response to the executive order. US District Judge Paul Friedman, a Clinton appointee, blasted Trump earlier this week during a hearing on this case. “So, he’s willing to be kind to those that work with him, but those that have sued him, those that have filed grievances, those...

President Donald Trump hinted overnight at a potential easing of the trade war with Beijing, suggesting that the current 145% tariffs on Chinese goods “could come down substantially”—though he added, “but it won’t be zero.” The trade news extended beyond China as Vice President Vance continued his four-day visit to India, raising new hopes for a swift trade agreement. According to Bloomberg, citing sources, the Narendra Modi-led administration may have extended an olive branch to the Trump administration by potentially lowering trade barriers for U.S. motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson, specifically for motorbikes with engine capacities over 750cc or more in India....

So far, American consumers have been shielded from much of the impact. But as the world of international shipping adjusts to his policies, the president is facing a potential reckoning. With the US-China trade war starting to gum up container traffic between the world’s two biggest economies, freight companies are warning of plunging bookings and a surge in “blank sailings” – where ports are skipped or voyages are called off altogether. Earlier this week, America’s most powerful retail executives trooped into the White House to deliver a blunt prognosis: tariffs on Chinese goods risked causing “empty shelves” in two weeks...

This was a really interesting couple of pieces I came across this morning, especially after writing that piece on all the student loan defaults. It seems there might be a trend back towards the trades beginning to appear among the Gen Z crowd. Some of the reasons seem obvious to me - the bloated cost of a college education, for one, and the ubiquitous nature of the sheepskin being required for even entry-level jobs now. If everyone needs a college degree, doesn't that necessarily dilute the value of earning one? ...That’s in part because of the cost of getting a...

Wolves in California are costing ranchers millions of dollars far beyond just the price of cattle killed, .. A Wyoming rancher says the secondary costs of predation are well-known here. ... As California’s wolf population expands, the predators there are costing ranchers millions — not just in value of the cattle killed, but through collateral effects as well ... one wolf can cause $69,000 to $162,000 in “direct and indirect losses from lower pregnancy rates in cows and decreased weight gain in calves,” .. Those results should come as no surprise to Wyoming ranchers, Jim Magagna, executive vice president of...

China just raised the stakes in its standoff with Washington. Despite President Trump's recent attempts to dial down the rhetoric and hint at possible tariff relief, Beijing isn't budging. A spokesperson from China's Commerce Ministry flatly rejected any notion of progress, calling U.S. claims of renewed dialogue groundless. The message: if the U.S. wants to talk, it needs to first undo the damagestarting with a full rollback of unilateral tariffs, now as high as 145%. China also made it clear that future talks hinge on more than just kind words; Washington needs to get serious about core issues like sanctions...

An interesting report from the U.K reflects British government officials who feel their legal position against ‘free speech’ in Great Britain is now part of the negotiations for President Trump’s tariffs. Essentially, the tariff discussion is encompassing more than just tariffs; if the nation does not support traditional freedoms and liberty, they could face stronger tariffs from the USA.The messenger for this dynamic is not coincidentally Vice President JD Vance, who aligns closely with the tech platforms. The tech control agents are bitterly opposed to President Trump’s tariff position, and this nuance is quite possibly a way to give the...

The founders learned this week they aren't getting their business back and their foundation is getting audited. There is a battle under way over the ownership and identity of the iconic ice cream brand Ben and Jerry's — and its radical leftist founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, appear to be losing badly. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal indicated that Cohen was trying to gather investors to buy back the brand that he and Greenfield sold to Unilever 25 years ago. This buyback initiative came just weeks after Unilever removed the company's anti-Trump CEO Dave Stever, allegedly on...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Why not tax the millionaires?As Congress begins drafting a massive package for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” with trillions of dollars in tax breaks and federal program cuts, it’s a question that won’t seem to go away.Trump himself has mused he’d “love” to tax wealthier Americans a little bit more, but the Republican president has also repeatedly walked it back. This week, the president dismissed a tax hike as “disruptive” when asked about it at the White House.But still it swirls.And it’s setting up a potential showdown between the old guard of the Republican Party, which...

A Chinese-owned and operated factory complex in Ohio illegally imported workers from China, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio. Last week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio released a statement saying that federal officials had seized $126 million in assets related to an investigation into illegal staffing and money laundering. “It is alleged that many of the workers were illegally smuggled into the United States, primarily through Mexico, and encouraged to travel to the Dayton area to be employed by one of the target entities and serve as a workforce...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has ordered the Justice Department to investigate the Democratic Party’s top fundraising platform, the latest example of Trump using the tools of the government to go after his political opponents. Trump, in an executive order signed Thursday, directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate allegations that Republicans have raised that ActBlue allows illegal campaign donations. Democrats, who had anticipated they would be targeted, condemned the move Thursday and ActBlue called it an “oppressive use of power” by the White House.......

“I’ve never seen anything like this.” — Donald Kenkel, Cornell University. Last week, the New York Times discovered that President Donald Trump was serious when he promised to liberate the economy from the oppressive weight of the regulatory state, describing it as “deregulation on a mass scale.” Cornell’s Donald Kenkel, who was chief economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers in the first Trump administration, told the Times that “It’s going on much more quietly than some of the other fireworks we’re seeing, but it will have great impact.” Great, indeed. In both senses of the word. Gutting...

New York Attorney General Letitia James has tapped criminal defense attorney Abbe Lowell — who previously defended Hunter Biden against federal tax and gun charges — as she fights mortgage fraud allegations. Lowell, a partner at the Winston & Strawn LLP law firm, was hired by the Office of the New York State Attorney General and not retained personally by James, according to the Times Union. The decision to hire Lowell, a prominent white-collar defense lawyer, was based in part on the AG’s office belief that the bombshell criminal referral filed by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte earlier...

China has quietly exempted from tariffs some semiconductors made in the United States, in an attempt to protect its leading technology companies from a bitter trade showdown with President Donald Trump.Levies on at least eight classifications of U.S.-made microchips have been dropped to zero, instead of the 125 percent retaliatory tariff rate Beijing has imposed on all other U.S. goods, Caijing, a Chinese financial media outlet, reported Friday.The article was later deleted. But two importers who spoke to The Washington Post confirmed that certain semiconductors are now exempted from tariffs. One company in Shenzhen listed the exemptions on social media...

@Rightanglenews BREAKING - Sen. Rand Paul is co-sponsoring a bill to strip President Trump’s authority on tariffs and hand the power to Congress, just weeks after voting against Trump’s budget.

"There cannot be "U.S. energy dominance" and $50 per barrel oil; those two statements are contradictory. At $50-per-barrel oil, we will see U.S. oil production start to decline immediately and likely significantly (1 million barrels per day plus within a couple quarters),” an executive at an exploration and production firm said. Another executive put it even more bluntly, “The administration’s chaos is a disaster for the commodity markets. "Drill, baby, drill" is nothing short of a myth and populist rallying cry. Tariff policy is impossible for us to predict and doesn't have a clear goal. We want more stability.”

Higher mortgage rates and concern over the broader economy are making for a weak start to the all-important spring housing market. Sales of previously owned homes in March fell 5.9% from February to 4.02 million units on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s the slowest March sales pace since 2009. Sales were 2.4% lower than in March 2024 and slumped across all regions month to month. They fell hardest in the West, the priciest region of the country, down more than 9%. The West, however, was the only region to see a year-over-year...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:Section 1. Background. The United States has a core national security and economic interest in maintaining leadership in deep sea science and technology and seabed mineral resources. The United States faces unprecedented economic and national security challenges in securing reliable supplies of critical minerals independent of foreign adversary control. Vast offshore seabed areas hold critical minerals and energy resources. These resources are key to strengthening our economy, securing our energy future, and reducing dependence on foreign suppliers...