Free Republic

A report that Amazon would display price increases due to tariffs on its goods — which the company has since denied — landed CEO Jeff Bezos a phone call from President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Breitbart News can confirm. CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene, citing two senior White House officials speaking anonymously, reported that Trump personally called Amazon’s founder to confront him about the report. A source familiar verified to Breitbart News that there was a call between Trump and Bezos in the morning. Punchbowl News first reported on Amazon’s alleged plan “to showcase how much tariffs were contributing...

A recent survey reveals that over 40 percent of Tesla owners say they have experienced vandalism targeting their vehicles, but less than 20 percent regret buying a car from Elon Musk. Kelley Blue Book reports that a new study conducted by Guardian Service, a company specializing in helping consumers find insurance plans, has found that a significant portion of Tesla owners are facing vandalism and targeted hostility. The survey, which polled 508 Tesla owners, aimed to shed light on how these incidents, coupled with rising insurance costs, are reshaping the EV ownership experience in America. According to the findings, 40...

Construction of former President Barack Obama's long-awaited library and museum in Chicago began with ambitious plans for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) but is now plagued by huge cost overruns, delays and a $40.75-million, racially charged lawsuit filed by a minority contractor. From the outset, the endeavor touted DEI as a key part of enshrining Obama's legacy at the 19.3-acre site, where costs have ballooned from an initial $350 million to $830 million in 2021 based on its previous annual reports, with no publicly available figures available for updated projected costs. The project set out "ambitious goals" for certain construction...

Egg-flation is getting the Big Apple scrambled. The price of eggs is so clucking ridiculous that New York City’s food carts, bodegas and delis are charging more for the iconic — and usually affordable — bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. Cafe Manhattan in Midtown put up signs last week declaring all egg sandwiches will have a $.50 surcharge — and its manager Gin Yun told The Post he still can’t make ends meet because he’s shelling out four times more than just a few months ago to buy cartons. “Oh my God, the price of eggs has gone crazy,” Yun...

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.) said mass deportations could cause a spike in costs for American families, including at the grocery store. President-elect Trump has repeatedly pledged large-scale deportations of illegal immigrants, which could greatly impact the workforce. “What we also see, I think, under mass deportations, as you’re going to see further cost for American families going up if you start deporting the agricultural workforce and people in the essential jobs that are putting food on the table, grocery costs are only going to go up,” Barragán said during a Wednesday afternoon MSNBC appearance. She...

They need more room at the inn. New York City’s use of hotels as emergency shelters to house migrants will continue for the foreseeable future, The Post has learned, as the Department of Homeless Services is seeking a contract with hotels to provide a total of 14,000 rooms to shelter migrants at least through next year. The city projects that spending on housing for migrants over the past two years and this fiscal year combined will surpass a staggering $2.3 billion — much of it on rent paid to hotels in the Big Apple. About 150 hotels are currently sheltering...

A list published by GOBankingRates is going viral because it shows just how much it costs to live in America’s 50 biggest cities in 2024’s economy. The list, put together by measuring data from US Census, Zillow, BestPlaces and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, determines “living comfortably” as needs not exceeding 50% of one’s income. This is known as the 50-30-20 rule or plan, where 50% of one’s income meets the costs of living, 30% is expendable, and 20% remains in savings. Of the top eight most expensive cities in the US, California’s biggest population hubs take up a whopping...

Vice President Kamala Harris championed the administration’s so-called “Bidenomics” as costs dramatically soared for American families. Costs increased on average across the board by about 20 percent under the Biden-Harris administration. Popeyes, Taco Bell, and Chipotle, for example, raised prices by at least 75 percent, according to the Food Institute. At least five times Harris praised the policies that fueled the rising costs: July 24, 2023: “Bidenomics is working” August 3, 2023: “Bidenomics is working” August 4, 2023: “Bidenomics is working” August 8, 2023: “Bidenomics is working” August 15, 2023: “Bidenomics is working” Harris will have a difficult time convincing...

Policies subsidizing generators, utilities, and unreliable energy have raised the cost of electricity in Texas by $19.9 billion in 2023, constituting 42.7 percent of total electricity costs. In a study published Wednesday by the Energy Alliance, the group found that the total government-imposed cost of electricity in the Texas Interconnection operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas was $84.3 billion. Texas state and local governments are responsible for causing 85.7 percent of that $84.3 billion. “The massive increase in subsidies has done nothing to address the primary cause of unreliability in the Texas market, renewable energy,” stated Bill Peacock,...

According to a report from the nonprofit group Child Care Aware of America, child care costs have surged significantly, surpassing average rent payments for families with more than one child across all 50 U.S. states. Here are the key findings: National Average: The national average cost for child care increased by 3.7% from 2022 to 2023. Families with two kids in a child care center pay an average of about $20,000 yearly across the Midwest, South, and West. In the Northeast, the cost is even higher, exceeding $32,000 annually.

Fast food is no longer healthy for your wallet. Common fast food favorites increased in price under President Joe Biden’s so-called Bidenomics. Fast food inflation has a disparate impact across racial and ethnic groups due to different levels of fast food consumption. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 42.4 percent of non-Hispanic black adults consume fast food, compared with 37.6 percent of non-Hispanic white adults, 35.5 percent of Hispanic adults, and 30.6 percent of Asian adults. The higher price tag of popular foods may be creating political problems for Biden. Thirty percent of black men and...

It is more expensive than ever to buy a home in the U.S., according to a new report from the real estate company Redfin. The median home price hit a record $383,725 during the four week period ending April 21. That’s up 5.2 percent from a year ago, Redfin found, one of the largest leaps in home prices since October 2022. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit 7.1 percent this week, the highest it’s been since November 2023. Mortgage rates dipped briefly at the end of last year after the Federal Reserve signaled it would cut interest rates this...

As Tax Day passes on Monday, the cost of illegal immigration to American taxpayers has hit an unprecedented level on President Joe Biden’s watch. The latest estimates, published by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) last March, show that millions of illegal aliens residing across the United States cost taxpayers more than $150 billion annually. The FAIR report stated: At the federal, state, and local levels, taxpayers shell out approximately $182 billion to cover the costs incurred from the presence of more than 15.5 million illegal aliens, and about 5.4 million citizen children of illegal aliens. That amounts to...

Nike is laying off 2% of its corporate workforce as it contends with weaker consumer spending. 'The actions that we’re taking put us in the position to right-size our organization to get after our biggest growth opportunities as interest in sport, health and wellness have never been stronger," Nike said in a statement to FOX Business. Starting Friday, more than 1,600 positions will be cut as the company tries to increase its investment in high-priority areas such as running, women's clothing and its Jordan brand, CEO John Donahoe told employees, according to a memo seen by The Wall Street Journal.

If you want to see Christian McCaffrey face off against Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas on Sunday and don’t yet have a ticket, it’ll cost you. The cheapest seat in Allegiant Stadium is going for $7,439 just hours before kickoff. The highly anticipated Kansas City Chiefs versus San Francisco 49ers game is expected to draw record eyes on television between rising interest in football and the attendance of pop superstar Taylor Swift getting her fans involved.

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — For several years, a problem has been brewing for Lockheed Martin’s F-35: future upgrades will make the jet run even hotter than it does now, more than its current cooling system is believed to be able to handle. In the near term, Pentagon officials expect that a high-profile upgrade to the plane’s F135 engine will avoid most of these cooling issues. But in the longer term, the military fears future aircraft upgrades needed to keep pace with threats decades down the line will push the heat factor even higher, and officials have recently suggested they’re casting...

The rising costs of living over the last few years have driven the younger generation to make “drastic sacrifices” in order to reset their financial stability or be able to own a home in the future. Younger people are opting to live in cost-effective vans and showcase their tiny living quarters on TikTok to the fascination of the internet. Michael Alberse, a TikToker with 57,000 followers, moved into a van one year out of college while working at Google at the age of 22, which changed his financial future “forever” and paved the way to homeownership. “I chose to live...

Everyday costs incurred by American workers since President Joe Biden assumed office are only “more expensive on paper,” New York Times economic reporter Jeanna Smialek wrote Wednesday about the “good news” economy. Members of the establishment media constantly appear to use a semantic trick to express optimism about the president’s economy, when, in fact, Americans are very unhappy about the increased costs: Gallup: 61 percent of Americans say price increases caused them financial hardship. CNBC: A record high 66 percent of Americans are “pessimistic” about the future of Biden’s economy. Lending Club: 62 percent of adults in December said they...

The goods and services American workers could afford with $100 in 2020 now cost $119.27, a recent Bloomberg report found. The increased prices will likely impact the 2024 election results since they come after President Joe Biden implemented his economic policy of so-called “Bidenomics.” Over half of voters in key swing states said grocery prices are the top way inflation has impacted their budget, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult survey.

The typical American household must spend an additional $11,434 annually just to maintain the same standard of living they enjoyed in January of 2021, right before inflation soared to 40-year highs, according to a recent analysis of government data. Such figures underscore the financial squeeze many families continue to face even as the the rate of U.S. inflation recedes and the economy by many measures remains strong, with the jobless rate at a two-decade low. Even so, many Americans say they aren't feeling those gains, and this fall more people reported struggling financially than they did prior to the pandemic,...