Free Republic

All aboard the Bidenomics Crazy Train! Let’s see. We have inflation that is eroding wage growth so that REAL wage growth is negative. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration and Congress are spending like they can print infinite amounts of cash with no consequences. The result? The Federal government is paying nearly $1 trillion in interest on an annualized basis. On the corporate side, we are seeing a surge in bankruptcies. As Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld and Sabrina Fortin show in the graphic below, based on data from S&P Global, corporate bankruptcies in 2023 are surging… U.S. Corporate Bankruptcies Grow So far...

It’s NOT always sunny in Philadelphia. Particularly when the Philly Fed non-manufacturing survey screams stagflation (a nauseating combination of economic slowdown and inflation). After a positive surprise in July, Philly Fed’s non-manufacturing survey slumped back into contraction in August (from +1.4 to -13.1). Additionally, while respondents continue to expect a growth over the next 6 months, that optimism is fading rapidly… Source: Bloomberg On a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, the Philly Fed Services survey plunged to -20.0 – practically its lowest level since the COVID lockdowns… Source: Bloomberg Under the hood it’s even uglier with stagflationary impulses rearing their ugly heads. Price...

As massive consumer tailwinds like excess savings fade, one wonders what — if anything — could help fuel the next leg of the consumer spending boom that has been juicing economic activity.In a research note Tuesday, Wells Fargo economists Tim Quinlan and Shannon Seery put a spotlight on a potential whopper: home equity."Strong home price appreciation in the years following the pandemic may be an underappreciated tailwind for the household sector," the economists wrote. "The total value of the U.S. single-family market breached $40 trillion last year, and the mix between debt and equity has shifted over time with the...

Biden: “Its my Presidency and I’ll lie if I want to.” As well as demolish the economy to serve his Progressive green energy agenda. One of the casualties? Yellow trucking. Carrier Yellow Corp. ceased all operations at 12 p.m. Sunday, according to a notice on the gates at its terminals. Its stock price is now sub $1. Separate internal documents showed the procedures for closing the facilities as well as “talking points” to be used when informing union employees not to show up for their shifts. The documents indicated the company plans to issue a public statement Monday updating “the...

Last Monday I pointed out that China’s foreign minister Qin Gang had suddenly vanished and hadn’t been seen in three weeks. Officially, he was said to be ill but unofficially there rumors that he’d done something potentially embarrassing to the party. Today, Qin was officially removed from his post and replaced, once again suggesting that whatever led to his disappearance was seen as a career-ending mistake.Mr. Qin was abruptly removed as foreign minister on Tuesday after having disappeared from public view for 30 days. The move ended the career of a diplomat who had leaped to the top as one...

Jane is a junior doctor working several extra locum shifts to make ends meet. Burnt out after the pandemic, and struggling with her physical and mental health, she would really like to take unpaid leave, but she cannot do so. Last month, her landlord hiked up her rent, then served her with an eviction notice when she said she couldn’t afford it. She now has to move for the fourth time in three years, and is back in a flat-hunting market where rents are higher everywhere. Trapped in her job, with her accommodation options diminishing and her time permanently constrained...

In December 2021, when the 30-year fixed mortgage rate still averaged 3.1%, a borrower could get $700,000 mortgage that required monthly payments of principal and interest of just $2,989. Fast-forward to Wednesday, and a $700,000 mortgage taken out at the current average mortgage rate of 6.90% would equal a $4,610 per month payment, which is $583,000 more over 30 years than that mortgage issued at a 3.1% rate. When adding on insurance and taxes, that monthly payment could easily top $6,000. Not to mention, that calculation doesn't account for the fact that U.S. home prices in June 2022 were 12%...

No search results. Using statistics from the Department of Labor, The Wall Street Journal reports that real hourly wages during the Biden presidency have declined. When Biden took office in January 2021, the average hourly wage adjusted for inflation was $11.39. Now, 29 months later, it stands at $11.03, a 3.16% decline. Stephen Moore of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity reports that the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that in the month of June, the largest growth in employment in the U.S. economy came from government. Government net increase in employment in June was 60,000...

A British cancer charity is under fire after suggesting that vaginas be alternatively referred to as “front holes” or “bonus holes.” Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, a UK charity dedicated to providing support to both “women and people with a cervix,” partnered with the LGBT Foundation to publish a new glossary of “inclusive” terms in order to cater to trans-identified individuals. “Using the correct language when referring to someone’s gender identity is a simple and effective way to demonstrate support and recognition,” the charity states on their website. “If incorrect language is used without being corrected, it can cause someone to...

On Sunday, James S. Crown died in an unusual single-car accident, reportedly on a motorsport racetrack at a “member-owned country club” in Aspen, Colorado. The Pitkin County Coroner’s Office said in a statement that “The official cause of death is pending autopsy, although multiple blunt force trauma is evident.” The Sheriff’s Office indicated that the earliest new information would be made available to the public is next week. In August of last year, Wall Street On Parade made a referral to the U.S. Department of Justice involving James S. Crown, who was a long-term member of the Board of Directors...

Bidenomics? Yes, an economy where inflation crushes the middle class and low wage workers with 2 years of negative wage growth and now 24 or the last 25 months of negative growth rates of Pending Home Sales YoY. After existing home sales were flat and new home sales exploded higher, pending home sales once again are the tie-breaker on May’s housing market (and were expected to decline 0.5% MoM). The actual print was considerably worse than expected, down 2.7% MoM (and April was revised down from unchanged to -0.4% MoM). Pending Home Sales were down -20.8% YoY in May. This...

(RTTNews) - The Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday unexpectedly showing a sharp increase in new home sales in the U.S. in the month of May. The report said new home sales soared 12.2 percent to an annual rate of 763,000 in May after surging 3.5 percent to a revised rate of 680,000 in April. Economists had expected new home sales to slump 1.2 percent to an annual rate of 675,000 from the 683,000 originally reported for the previous month. With the unexpected spike, new home sales reached their highest level since hitting a rate of 773,000 in February...

The heart of Markowitz’s research was grounded in the basic relationship between risk and rewardHarry M. Markowitz, an economist who launched a revolution in finance, upending traditional thinking about buying stocks, died Thursday in San Diego. He was 95. Markowitz won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1990 for his breakthrough research in stock market investments, what became known as ‘modern portfolio theory’, widely referred to as MPT. The death, at a hospital, was caused by pneumonia and sepsis, Mary McDonald, a longtime assistant to Markowitz, said, the New York Times (NYT) reported. In 1952, he published his...

Alexander Soros, the 37-year-old son of legendary investor George Soros, has taken over the reins of his father's empire in what is seen as a 180-degree departure from his previous playboy image. He also sits on the investment committee of Soros Fund Management, which has assets worth $25 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. Alexander — who goes by Alex — is now at the helm of George Soros' Open Society Foundations, or OSF, where he plans to continue supporting causes his father championed, such as voting and abortion rights, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Connor Hughes and his wife Brieanne both grew up outside Philadelphia. They met working at an ice cream shop in high school and stayed together during college despite going to different schools. Hughes says they’ve both been fortunate enough to find decent-paying jobs, and they’ve been smart with their money, knowing in the back of their minds that they wanted to buy a house one day, with more than $100,000 saved. They’ve even got a baby on the way. There’s just one problem: They’re losing hope of finding anything affordable in south Jersey and ever moving out of their two-bedroom...

Consumer confidence fell in May as Americans became more pessimistic about the labor market, on top of elevated anxiety over inflation. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell to 102.3 in May from 103.7 in April. It’s the fourth time in five months that overall U.S. consumer confidence has declined.

When candidates run for public office — local, state, or federal — they campaign on some careful blend of their résumés, their personalities, and their political issues. Thus it has always been, and thus it will always be, in a republic. "Vote for me because I have the experience to do it well," or "Vote for me because I'm so much like you, I'll represent your interests," or "Vote for me because we agree on these twenty or thirty specific issues." But there is something going on that we don't usually expect, and while it's been in process for a...

U.S. businesses slightly lowered their inventories in March as spending tightened and consumers prioritized services over goods. Business inventories declined by an adjusted 0.1% in March after being flat in February, data from the U.S. Commerce Department showed Tuesday. February's reading was revised from an initially estimated 0.2% increase. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected inventories would be flat. Inventories rose by 0.7% at retailers, were flat at wholesalers and slid 0.8% at manufacturers. On an annual basis, total business inventories were up 6.5%, the data showed. The ratio of inventories to sales, which hints at how many...

Who knew? Progressive economists are now attacking economics. According to Burton Abrams "progressives in the Democrat Party, backed… by left-wing sociologists and political scientists": deny basic economic principles and theory. They deny that incentives matter, that markets work better than government dictates, that scarcity and opportunity costs exist, that the laws of supply and demand are operative, that benefit-cost analyses have merit, and that economic efficiency makes consumers and producers better off. Okay, fine. So how do progressive experience things? They rely heavily on the vaguely defined concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In other words, politics. In another proof...

A government debt default would be catastrophic for the US economy, sparking mass unemployment, payment failures, and interest rates rising "into perpetuity," according to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. "Since 1789, the United States has paid all of our bills on time, and it should stay that way," Yellen said at a Washington conference on Tuesday, warning of an economic disaster if the US failed to meet its debt obligations. A debt default will likely result in the government failing to make key military and social security payments, she speculated, and would cause mass layoffs of government officials. Households would...