Free Republic

Mississippi is bringing back a “competitive” edge with Gov. Tate Reeves’ (R) signing of legislation to phase out the state income tax, and he discussed what this means for the state during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday. “So this is House Bill 1 that I signed into law on Thursday afternoon. And honestly, Matt, it’s really what I have called Mississippi’s one big, beautiful bill, and it is a bill that does a couple of different things,” Reeves began, explaining that it reduces the sales tax on groceries across the state and, over a period of time, eliminates the...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is under increasing political pressure as she faces a likely competitive reelection fight and legal battles with President Trump. Hochul’s approval rating has been underwater for months as she surpasses the midpoint of her first full term in office and seems likely to have a serious primary battle on the horizon from Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), who has become one of her sharpest critics. Presuming she gets past Torres, popular GOP Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) seems equally likely to run and could give Republicans their best shot at winning New York’s gubernatorial race in...

(NEXSTAR) — While the national housing supply recently reached a four-year high, buying a home in some U.S. cities may be especially difficult in 2025, a new Zillow report suggests. To make its predictions, Zillow reviewed multiple factors — including how quickly homes have been selling, and its own forecast for home value growth — in the 50 most populated cities nationwide. Overall, Zillow’s analysis determined cities primarily on the East Coast could have the hottest housing markets of 2025. For the second year in a row, Buffalo, New York, held the top spot on Zillow’s list. The company pointed...

General Motors (GM) announced Friday it is is laying off some 1,000 workers worldwide, cutting costs as it tries to compete in a crowded global automobile market. The GM workers impacted, mostly white collar, were told early in the morning as they prepared for the weekend. The company confirmed the layoffs in a statement but gave few details, AP reports. The move comes on the back of a recent GM recall for 450,000 vehicles due to a fault in the braking system. “We need to optimize for speed and excellence,” the statement said. “This includes operating with efficiency, ensuring we...

Several Democrats running in competitive House districts this cycle are breaking from President Biden, underscoring growing concerns that the incumbent could be a down-ballot liability following his rocky debate performance in Atlanta last week. Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) have both declared they have no confidence in Biden winning, while Adam Frisch, a Democrat running to fill the seat being vacated by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), said the president should withdraw. Their remarks come amid growing speculation that more members of the party will call for Biden to step aside after the fallout from last week’s...

Japanese competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi, the six-time Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest winner, said he is retiring. Kobayashi, 46, revealed the news in the recent Netflix documentary "Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut" as he embarked on a journey to address health concerns. "I hear people say they’re hungry, and they look very happy after they’ve eaten," he said. "I’m jealous of those people because I no longer feel hunger." Kobayashi's wife, Maggie James, said in the film that he can go days without eating food.

President Biden argued that it never occurred to former President Trump to take a competitive stance against China, while rolling out a slew of actions Wednesday intended to protect the U.S. steel industry from Chinese exports. Biden was in Pittsburgh at the United Steelworkers headquarters touting the new actions, which involves him calling on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to consider tripling the existing 7.5 percent tariff rate on Chinese steel and aluminum imports. The president also said to boost competition with China, he has revitalized partnerships in the Pacific with countries like India, Australia, South Korea, the...

Republican presidential candidate former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that she is planning to stay in the race “as long as we are competitive.” Anchor Kristen Welker asked, “Let’s talk about Super Tuesday. If you wake up on Wednesday and you haven’t won everywhere, would you then have to make the decision that it’s time to drop out of the race?”

Longtime Colorado Representative Ed Perlmutter said on Monday that he will not seek reelection for the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. Elected in 2006, Perlmutter will be the 26th Democrat deciding not to seek reelection in the upcoming midterm elections. Although he only made the decision to retire this year, this is not the first time Perlmutter has considered leaving the House. In 2017 there was speculation that Perlmutter would retire from Congress after a brief but unsuccessful attempt to become the Democratic nominee for Colorado's governor. On Monday, Perlmutter explained that the reason for his departure this year is that...

With dynamic growth and access to capital seen as primary factors for jumping three places, the US has regained its status as being on the cutting edge of competitiveness in a ranking by the IMD think tank. A competitive ranking of 63 advanced economies published on Wednesday showed the United States improving three positions to return to the top spot, overtaking Hong Kong, Singapore and the Netherlands, and leaving Switzerland behind.As the top five most competitive countries in the world remained the same — changing only in their order — the American economy's comeback was mainly driven by economic performance,...

The United States knocked Hong Kong out of first place among the world's most competitive economies — fueled in part by the nation's faster economic growth, Bloomberg reported. Switzerland-based IMD World Competitiveness Center placed Hong Kong second in its annual rankings, edging out regional rival Singapore, with remained in the No. 3 spot from 2017, Bloomberg reported. [snip] Bloomberg pointed out Austria and China both made impressive gains in the rankings of 63 countries: Austria moved up seven slots to 18th place, and China jumped five spots to No. 13. Venezuela ranked as the worst economy, and Mongolia maintained its...

Singapore is currently the most competitive city in the world, beating out New York and London, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which focuses on global research. However, says the EIU, by 2025, New York City will be number one. In order for a city to be globally competitive, it must have a large and growing economy, a good legal system, an inviting and productive culture, good infrastructure and it must have good policy on things that determine long-term stability and success, like the environment. The EIUÂ’s latest report attempts to identify those cities that, as of 2012, best...

...The usual refrain among Republicans is that Congress should always be looking to “return power to the states.” But as George Mason University law professor Michael Greve explains in his book, The Upside-Down Constitution, the manner in which the federal government empowers states matters. Through “competitive federalism,” states are free to tax and regulate their own citizens as they see fit, and citizens and businesses can then move between the states. This is Greve’s Constitutional ideal. But under “cartel federalism,” which is what most of our federalist system has degenerated into, the federal government taxes everyone and then gives grants...

Those of you outside the medical services industry have probably never heard the phrases “DME” (Durable Medical Equipment) or the more formal DMEPOS (Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies). You’ve also probably never heard of Medicare’s DMEPOS Competitive Bidding program, and now that I’ve said it, your first thought is probably, “Hey, bringing competition to the medical marketplace! That sounds like a great idea! After all, competition brings down prices while improving service, right? So who could be opposed to that?” Well, a lot of us, actually. Not because we’re evil monopolists bent on holding onto our little fiefdoms...

The sport of competitive eating was given a shocking reminder yesterday that gorging oneself with a daunting amounts of greasy food in an extremely short period of time may have negative effects on health. A Taiwanese graduate student vying for the "Big Stomach King" contest at Dayeh University died on Tuesday just before he could claim the winning title. The 23-year-old had chowed himself ahead of 30 other teams by consuming two buns filled with rice and cheese and helping himself to some of his teammates food as well. He was on course to win the annual campus event when...

Competition and democracy go hand in hand. After races that came down to the narrowest of margins in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, Americans are getting used to hard-fought, close presidential elections -- and the 2008 campaign is the most electrifying in years. Both Democratic candidates have won more primary votes than any previous nominee. Both have ushered new voters into the process, as has the sheer closeness of the campaign. But real competition is still a rare commodity in the House of Representatives, which the Framers designed to be hard-fought. For all the talk of thin majorities...

Just about every day for about two months now, we've all been reading columns from the talking heads telling us that "Candidate X is finished." Of course, the identity of "Candidate X" has varied depending on which of the heads is doing the talking and at which point in time. (The one constant has been Fred Thompson, whose political demise has been predicted by the partisans of Rudy and Mitt since around April of last year.) As of late, the "dead" candidates have generally Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and (of course) Fred Thompson. Before that, it was Mike Huckabee and...

The ERC should give a sharper focus to European research Europe has a new flagship agency to fund the brightest ideas in science. The European Research Council (ERC) has been given a budget of 7.5bn euros (£5bn) to 2013, and will focus solely on fundamental, or "blue skies", study. It is hoped the initiative can find the breakthrough thinking - and eventually new products and services - to keep the EU's economy globally competitive. The ERC was formally inaugurated at a meeting in Berlin attended by the German Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel. She said the Council would become "a...

The U.S. dropped to sixth place from its previous first-place position in the 2006-07 World Economic Forum’s Global Competitive Index (GCI) rankings. The U.S. fares better in this year’s "Ease of Doing Business" report, published by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, where we rank third behind Singapore and New Zealand. A remarkable story is unfolding around the globe, as the Doing Business study reveals. The report quantifies significant, widespread and aggressive reform activity in countries that aim to improve their economic and business climates. Georgia, Romania and Mexico are the top-three reformers. China and France make the top-ten...

Hey, New York, check out the exotic "imports" - from Detroit. Detroit. Now that the media din has successfully canonized literally every import brand imaginable, no matter what the pedigree, and instilled a Detroit = Bad, Imports = Good mentality in the American car buying public, New Yorkers attending the New York Auto Show this week owe it to themselves to check out the "exotic" import offerings from the Motor City. And if they would take their import-oriented blinders off long enough, they would be shocked at the sheer number of competitive offerings from GM, Ford and the Chrysler Group....