Free Republic

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) celebrated Wednesday as his state became the world’s fourth-largest economy — albeit one that cannot fix homelessness or protect its citizens from devastating wildfires. Newsom’s office cited data indicating that California had surpassed Japan and that only the U.S., China, and Germany had larger economies, in terms of total output. He boasted in a press statement: California isn’t just keeping pace with the world—we’re setting the pace. Our economy is thriving because we invest in people, prioritize sustainability, and believe in the power of innovation. And, while we celebrate this success, we recognize that our...

President Donald Trump’s first 100 days haven’t even been completed yet and CNN is already whipping out "Great Depression" scare porn to describe the current stock market under his administration. No, you didn’t misread that. “We’re suddenly talking about the Great Depression when discussing Trump’s stock market,” read the insane April 22 headline of CNN Business Executive Editor David Goldman’s latest anti-Trump flapdoodle. “Trump’s stock market is throwing off some jaw-dropping statistics. How extraordinary? We’re now making comparisons to the Great Depression,” he continued. Making freakishly outlandish claims seems to be a trend for Goldman, as he’s the same so-called...

Veteran reporter Bob Woodward said Monday on MSNBC’s “Inside” that President Donald Trump is “throwing bombs of ignorance” onto the U.S. economy. Woodward said, “He thinks tariffs are good remedy. Well tariffs are a tax on consumers. I mean consumers wind up paying. There may be some benefit but if there was real benefit we’d feel it in the economy now. And we basically have a good economy that he’s meddling with in a way, throwing bombs of ignorance right in the middle of a process that, you know, should be allowed to go on naturally. It’s a shame and...

Inflation risk has been a significant topic of discussion in the mainstream media for the last few years. Such is unsurprising given that inflation spiked following the pandemic in 2020 as consumer spending (demand) was shot into overdrive from stimulus payments and production (supply) was shuttered. To understand why that occurred, we need to revisit “Economics 101.”“In economics, inflation is a general increase in the prices of goods and services. Changes in inflation are a function of fluctuations in actual demand for goods and services (also known as demand shocks, including changes in fiscal or monetary policy or recession), changes...

Once again, Zillow has downgraded its 12-month forecast for national home prices. On Wednesday, Zillow economists published their updated forecast model, projecting that U.S. home prices, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index, will fall 1.7% between March 2025 and March 2026. Back in March, Zillow downgraded its 12-month outlook for U.S. home prices to +0.8%. In February, Zillow downgraded its 12-month outlook to +1.1%. And at the start of the year in January, Zillow’s 12-month national home price forecast was +2.9%. Why does Zillow keep downgrading its national home price outlook? | Fast Company Newsletters “The rise in...

Has anyone noticed the MSM is now broadcasting store closings, lay offs, recession, etc. to frighten the sheeple. Meanwhile, legitimate job creation (private sector) is on the rise, prices are dropping! Funny they hid all the recession talk during the installed pedo's regime. Even with two quarters of GDP down.

In the tariff war between China and the United States, a lot of chatter in the Pravda Media is about Xi Jinping's defiance, his outreach to European countries and other less important but collectively significant developing countries, and his retaliatory moves against America. They make it sound like China has a lot of cards to play in the trade war with America. China has put civilian government officials on a "wartime footing” and ordered a diplomatic charm offensive aimed at encouraging other countries to push back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs. https://t.co/rZWU2zsARQ— The Japan Times (@japantimes) April 14, 2025Collectively,...

A federal judge threw out a U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule Tuesday that capped all credit card late fees at $8. U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas approved a joint motion from a coalition of six business and banking groups, including the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the CFPB to scrap the rule, which was established last year. The ABA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were among the plaintiffs that challenged the rule in U.S. District Court for Northern Texas, arguing the bureau exceeded its statutory authority....

From ancient Rome to modern America, the impulse to wall off economies in times of crisis has proven consistently disastrous. Whether through tariff wars, currency debasement, or autarkic fantasies, economic nationalism has repeatedly triggered collapse -- not recovery Politicising structural economic fundamentals always leads to chaos, as history tells us. In the early 1930s, American President Herbert Hoover faced an agonising decision. The global economy, already reeling from the crash of 1929 and the calamity of the Great Depression, presented Hoover with mounting demands from his supporters for protectionism as a means of shielding the American economy from further harm....

WASHINGTON — Russia could be forced to end the war in Ukraine because it will run out of money to pay its troops, according to experts at the DC-based Institute for the Study of War. The country has burned through roughly half of its $106 billion liquid sovereign-wealth fund, which is used to pay troops’ salaries and new recruits bonuses, experts said. Moscow can likely only afford another 12 to 16 months of fighting at its current pace, with about 30,000 to 45,000 Russian troops killed or injured in Ukraine each month since its 2022 invasion began, ISW’s Russia team...

Former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claimed Friday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are doing “immense damage to our economy.” Yellen said, “This is the worst self-inflicted policy wound I’ve ever seen in my career inflicted on our economy. The Trump tariff plans are doing immense damage to our economy. You can see that in the stock market, in the impact of these tariffs are expected to have on American households. And we’re even beginning to see what looks like a flight away from dollar-based assets in the financial markets, which is a really scary development.”...

PM Keir Starmer will aim to pass an emergency law on Saturday to "take control" of British Steel's plant in Scunthorpe, which is running out of raw materials to make steel The potential closure of Scunthorpe's British Steel plant would be devastating for workers and their families, the GMB union says If passed, the new law will give power to Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds to direct and control British Steel - and could allow nationalisation later down the line The PM and Reynolds expressed disappointment in British Steel's Chinese owner Jingye, which says it has been losing around £700,000 a...

Venture capitalist and at one point Democratic donor Chamath Palihapitiya evaluates the trade war between the United States and China and examines President Donald Trump’s economic agenda on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’ Video is 7:15 minutes long.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy admitted he would “absolutely” vote for the Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections if President Trump continues to rattle the economy with his sweeping tariff war. The 48-year-old, who voted for Trump in the last election, told CNN Wednesday that he would still give the commander-in-chief a chance to prove his sweeping levies — but wouldn’t rule out jumping ship if the stock market continues to flounder. Asked if he’d be willing to ditch the GOP if the market doesn’t improve, Portnoy responded: “Yeah, absolutely.” “I was never some crazy MAGA guy,” the Barstool honcho...

<p>The Communist country of 1.3 billion people has shifted that much cash into amping up its factories in just four years in an effort to overwhelm manufacturers around the world with an influx of cheap goods.</p><p>President Trump’s 125% tariff on all Chinese imports into the US...is actually just the latest protective measure against China.</p>

..With these three rounds of additional tariffs and other measures, the effective U.S. rate on Chinese goods is about 65 percent. If he goes ahead with the 50 percent levy, the rate hits 115 percent. China this year added retaliatory tariffs of 10 percent and 15 percent on certain American products... Xi, despite best advice from around the world, has continually rejected consumption as the basis of the Chinese economy. .. Xi Jinping certainly does not believe in empowering citizens. Moreover, as Zongyuan Zoe Liu writing in Foreign Affairs notes, the Communist Party leadership also abhors consumer spending, believing "consumption...

Debt, illegals, outsourcing -- the United States is heading for a catastrophic fall. Trump understands this. Middle-class America is rapidly going the way of the dinosaur and the dodo bird. And California, where mansions and homeless people abound, is the template Democrats want to bring to America as a whole. Because it suits their needs. Big money donors and poor people in crisis who think they need ‘compassionate’ Democrats’ help. The ‘American Dream’ was that any normal person who worked hard and saved could have a house and a relatively comfortable — and meaningful — life, expecting to live better...

As President Trump rolls out his economic program, there’s one question I haven’t seen asked much: What if it works? Trump’s supporters are rooting for its success. His opponents, out of a mixture of envy and self-interest, hope it craters. But what would actually happen if Trump achieves his aims? The White House hasn’t released a single integrated document spelling out its economic plan. But based on the moves made so far, and comments from Trump’s top economic aides, the outlines of his goals are coming clear. First, he’s looking to increase wages for working-class Americans, the core basis —...

It was imperative to get the administration’s tariff communications aligned, Bessent told Trump, and more focused on the endgame for Americans: better trade deals with foreign nations, according to people familiar with the conversation.

"Ah, the delicious smell of peak fear on Sunday/Monday...and max NOISE on X." —Raoul Pal That ruckus you hear in the capital markets is the sickening howl of the Fugazy Economy meeting its extinction. Fugazy means fake, unreal, dishonest, misaligned to what societies need to thrive. Fugazy means mis-using the time-value of things that purport to be wealth to multiply fake wealth in the hands of a few at the expense of the many. The pernicious effects of that system are visible all across the ruined landscape of our country, a nation of broken cities, failed towns, and a demoralized...