Free Republic

The passing of Bernard Lewis last week at the age of 101 recalls to mind perhaps his most famous book title about the Muslim world, What Went Wrong? But maybe a successor of sorts has been found in Duke University economist Timur Kuran, who has a long article forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Literature that paints a pretty bleak picture of the economic and social structure of Islamic nations. Just check out the abstract of the article, which is bland in language but harsh in its conclusions:

America’s current economic situation is not one of financial security or encouraging growth. Below the surface of our 106+ month-long “recovery,” now the second longest on record, is a sense of anxious anarchy in American households. Working men and women are struggling to make ends meet and many are simply not working at all. The real story that is not being told by the mainstream media is how close we are to an epic collapse. You have to work! Not sure if you have been following this story or not, but a 30-year-old man from New York has just been...

There has been little room for optimism in recent predictions on Turkey’s economy, but even among pessimistic company, one strategist’s comments on Turkey to Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung came off as bleak. Turkey has already entered an economic crisis and can expect a “massive” fall in the value of the Turkish lira by the period after the June 24 elections “at the latest,” Turkish daily Cumhuriyet quoted economist Russell Napier as saying. After years of steady decline, the lira’s fall has accelerated sharply in recent weeks, repeatedly hitting record lows against the dollar and leading losses in emerging markets...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to promote economic mobility, strong social networks, and accountability to American taxpayers, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Purpose. The United States and its Constitution were founded on the principles of freedom and equal opportunity for all. To ensure that all Americans would be able to realize the benefits of those principles, especially during hard times, the Government established programs to help families with basic unmet needs. Unfortunately, many of the programs designed to help families have...

BISBEE — Over the next three years, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors will be busy trying to reach the goals of the Strategic Plan they and county staff developed. Supervisors Ann English, Pat Call and Peggy Judd have agreed to the ambitious agenda that reflects the determination to make the county government more efficient and effective, to improve the county’s economic position, and to continue to maintain and improve infrastructure. Over the past few months, the supervisors met with department heads and County Administrator Ed Gilligan to focus thoughts, determine feasibility and set timelines. They met with Facilities Director...

Turkey’s defence corporation Aselsan could be one of the first economic casualties of the ongoing Turkish military operation in northern Syria, after it was forced to cancel its planned secondary public offering to foreign investors. Aselsan is the world’s 58th largest defence company, with exports accounting for a large portion of its annual revenue of $1.7 billion. It is also a main provider of equipment and electronic defence systems for the Turkish military. The proposed secondary public offering fell through due to the lack of a suitable offer, a company representative said in a statement to the Istanbul Stock Market.

January 20, 2017 Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. Shocking the world, the former reality TV star and real estate developer defeated both a vast field of Republican candidates and the Clinton machine. Liberals have been melting down all year while the non-status quo president attempts to upend DC and make America great again by focusing on growing the economy as opposed to opening our borders, entering into ill-fated trade deals, and destructive climate pacts that merely aim to signal how enlightened we are as a nation. February 12, 2017 North Korea launches...

Now that we are a full year into President Trump’s increasingly consequential first term, it is long past time to give him complete ownership of the American economy. If it seems odd to do so after only a year, that is due to former President Barack Obama, who never stopped blaming his predecessor for a recovery that never arrived because Obama could not stop sabotaging it with his anti-growth policies and anti-free market rhetoric. Even lying conspiracy theorists in the media and Democrat Party backed by a special prosecutor, even the gale force wind of hate and lies, have not...

In a speech to the CLSA Investors’ Forum in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Breitbart Executive Chairman Steve Bannon stated that to avoid a trade war, China must cease its economic war on America. In a separate interview on Tuesday with David Martosko of The Daily Mail, Bannon mentioned President Trump’s planned visit to China in November to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and attend economic summits. Bannon said Trump will seek common ground in a new trade relationship with China because “[t]here’s too much at stake to slip into a trade war right off the bat.” “I think...

**SNIP** Democratic leaders shared few details to preserve suspense around the plan, which is scheduled to be unveiled Monday at an event in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, where the party hopes to defeat incumbent Rep. Barbara Comstock (R). But some lawmakers, aides and outside advocates consulted on the new agenda said that it is expected to focus on new proposals to fund job-training programs, renegotiate trade deals and address soaring prescription-drug costs, as well as other issues. It is also expected to endorse long-held Democratic principles, including “a living wage” of $15 per hour and already unveiled spending plans for...

Here's something really laughable. At the top of the hour I'm sitting here and I'm looking at the television. I was in Snerdley's office looking at television and I was watching MSNBC, and they're talking to the governor who was the architect of the highest unemployment rate in the country: Jennifer Granholm in Michigan. The Michigan unemployment rate is 15.1% (probably a little higher than that, even, if you count the U6, people that have given up looking). Now, what is the architect of the largest, highest unemployment state in the country doing at that jobs summit? What in the...

An economic adviser of President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that the transition team was working on plans for a tax code overhaul that would be “the biggest tax changes since Reagan.” Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker who is considered a leading candidate for Treasury secretary in the Trump administration, told reporters at Trump Tower in New York that the team was hard at work on an economic plan. “We’re working on the economic plan with the transition, making sure we get the biggest tax bill passed, the biggest tax changes since Reagan, so a lot of exciting things...

From a rigged economic system to a rigged political system our once proud Republic has devolved to a dysfunctional oligarchy masquerading as a functional democracy According to Albert Einstein, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” If We the People want to restore the Republic we will have to rise above the shop worn politics presented by the two-headed party of power and as described by the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media.

The following is adapted from a speech delivered on July 11, 2016, at Hillsdale College’s Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C., as part of the AWC Family Foundation Lecture Series. In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels wrote that “the history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles.” Today the story of American politics is the story of class struggles. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. We didn’t think we were divided into different classes. Neither did Marx. America was an exception to Marx’s theory of social progress....

Gov. Rick Snyder has issued an executive order that some economic experts fear repeats a mistake made by the previous administration — trying to plan the state’s long-term economic future. While the executive order aims for long-term goals, they caution that officials have been unable to foresee much more immediate events about which they had a good deal of information. The executive order was filed in June with the Secretary of State and calls for a commission to recommend a “comprehensive economic vision” for Michigan for the next 20 years. The order asks for “long-term economic development tools” and strategies...

Monday, August 8, 2016: Donald J. Trump will deliver remarks at the Cobo Center. Live stream coverage begins at 11:45 AM ET. LIVE Stream: Donald Trump Delivers Remarks in Detroit, MI 8/8/16https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHGnr7dPRU8  

At the RoboUniverse expo in New York City, robots of all shapes and sizes were being put to work. Companies showed off automated machines designed to perform tasks that many humans would consider less than desirable. “There are certain tasks in our society… that will stay on and not be attractive for humans to do. And we cannot get rid of them if we want to live our lives in the usual fashion,” said Preben Hjørnet, founder and CEO of robotics startup Blue Workforce. “Robots have no conscience, no self-awareness, so they’ll never be social,” Hjørnet added, “But they don’t...

President Barack Obama responded to reports of slow job growth Friday by blaming Republicans who have opposed parts of his economic agenda. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report found the economy added 242,000 new jobs in February. The latest number highlights a long-running trend of slow, yet positive, economic growth. Obama credits the growth to his agenda but its slowness to Republicans for their opposition to his plan. “The plans that we have put in place to grow the economy have worked,” the president declared in the Oval Office. “They would work even faster if we did not have...

Economist, radio host, and CNBC senior contributor Larry Kudlow appeared on Breitbart News Daily Friday morning to discuss economic issues in the presidential race, including his support for Donald Trump’s economic platform, with some disagreement about the best way to handle unfair Chinese trade practices.

Economist, radio host, and CNBC senior contributor Larry Kudlow appeared on Breitbart News Daily Friday morning to discuss economic issues in the presidential race, including his support for Donald Trump’s economic platform, with some disagreement about the best way to handle unfair Chinese trade practices. Breitbart News executive chairman and host Stephen K. Bannon asked Kudlow to comment on the rise of “populist, nationalist” economics, as personified by Trump and his supporter Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and the challenge this movement presents to free-trade orthodoxy, which Bannon described as a “fetish” in certain intellectual quarters.. “Well, I may be...