Free Republic

Three provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill are designed to boost worker pay and encourage business investmentNational Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett joins 'Sunday Morning Futures' to weigh in on the potential economic fallout if Trump’s tariffs are struck down in the Supreme Court and rising tensions over China’s rare-earth minerals.Democrats’ favorite word lately is "affordability." They have painted the false narrative that the election of socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani in solidly blue New York City or Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger in solidly blue Virginia were somehow referenda on President Donald Trump’s agenda. This fallacy not only ignores the...

For millions of Americans relying on Social Security, small changes to the formula that calculates annual benefit increases can have an outsized impact. Social Security checks are a cornerstone of retirement income for over 50 million Americans, and Congress is now considering legislation that could reshape how those benefits adjust for inflation. It comes as Americans of all ages continue to navigate rising costs. In October, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that benefits would grow by 2.8 percent in 2026 through the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Yet for many retirees, even modest increases barely keep pace with the real...

During last week’s excruciating Oval Office make-nice between an insultingly buddy-buddy American President and a fraudulently obsequious New York City mayor-elect, the contest was over which pol was the more patronizing. At one point Trump graciously granted his petitioner permission to call him a “fascist” while clearly implying the guy’s OTT campaign rhetoric had been embarrassing. Donald Trump sat regally on his throne, patting Zohran Mamdani’s arm while commending “Attaboy!” as if petting a golden retriever that had fetched a ball. For his part, Mamdani stood mutely by the Resolute desk with cartoonish humility, hands over crotch. This cowed performance...

At least one Republican senator has said that the U.S. government cannot afford a Trump administration proposal to send out $2,000 tariff-derived rebate payments. “If we’re bringing in revenue through the tariffs, that ought to be applied to reduce the deficit, not just to make cash payments to Americans,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) told Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo on Monday. Bartiromo then told him: “It sounds like you would vote ‘no’ in terms of $2,000 checks going to individuals.” He added that “we can’t afford it” and that he wishes the U.S. government was “in a position to return the...

DoGE has been DoGE’d. The once fearsome government efficiency office has been shut down eight months before its contract officially ends in July 2026. What was supposed to be an organization that exploded traditional ways of running the federal government has turned into a damp squib. It was established by President Trump on the first day of his second term in office. Headed by Tesla chief Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (who resigned early on to run for Ohio governor), it struck the kind of fear into government bureaucrats that a visit from the Red Guards might instill during...

Medicare beneficiaries are bracing for one of the steepest cost increases in years as Medicare 2026 premiums rise sharply across multiple parts of the program. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, seniors will see a significant jump in Part B premiums, rising health care costs, fewer Medicare Advantage options, and meaningful changes to prescription drug coverage. Even for retirees who rely heavily on Social Security, the increase in Medicare 2026 premiums will eat into much of next year’s cost of living adjustment. With household expenses already stretched by high prices for food, utilities, housing, and medical care,...

New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said Friday he expects the central bank can lower its key interest rate from here as labor market weakness poses a bigger economic threat than higher inflation. With divisions in the central bank running high over the future of rates, Williams took the side of the doves who still see policy as a bit restrictive when it comes to economic growth. “I view monetary policy as being modestly restrictive, although somewhat less so than before our recent actions,” he said in remarks for a speech in Santiago, Chile. “Therefore, I still see room...

Summary DOGE disbanded eight months ahead of scheduled end in July 2026 Former DOGE employees take new roles in administration Elon Musk initially led DOGE, promoting its work on social media WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate, ending an initiative launched with fanfare as a symbol of Trump's pledge to slash the government's size but which critics say delivered few measurable savings. "That doesn't exist," Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told Reuters earlier this month when asked about DOGE's status. It is...

Walmart is proving to be America’s antidote to the cost of living crisis. A growing number of Americans are heading to Walmart for groceries and clothing as inflation and high prices squeeze their budgets: Walmart’s business in the United States is surging and it’s gaining market share from rivals, the company said Thursday in its quarterly financial report. Walmart has used its massive size and scale to drive down prices and pour billions of dollars into investments such as raising wages, sprucing up stores and building a logistics network for online shopping. These investments are paying off for Walmart at...

Notionally, Americans have never been better off. The ructions in tech stocks over the past few weeks cannot detract from the fact that the US economy has been outgunning other developed economies all century. The overall graph of real disposable income for Americans continues to trend upward, almost as if the sharp dip during the pandemic had not happened. That is certainly not true everywhere: in many countries, Covid has been followed by stagnation in GDP and wages. Yet, for all the wealth generated, many Americans simply do not feel that they are living in a thriving country. On the...

What’s clear is that the 2024 election was not the final boss. It didn’t destroy wokeism. You have to picture the spider in The Lord of the Rings, Shelob, crawling back into her cave after being stabbed by Samwise. Is she injured? Yes. Dead? No. She will probably be back to kill you. Republicans and pundits and podcasters will come up with all sorts of reasons for the latest losses (including blaming the Jews), but it comes down to fundamentals. Ground game. Optics. And of course, “It’s the economy, stupid!” The GOP has no ground game in part because it...

“We’re gonna be issuing dividends later on, somewhere prior to — the middle of next year, a little bit later than that,” he said, noting it would include “Thousands of dollars, for individuals of moderate income.” [Scott] Bessent also floated a rough income limit of $100,000 that would disqualify higher income families from receiving the dividend.

Mississippi turns a corner, but can the federal government?The future for our state looks bright. In just the past five years, Mississippi has seen more economic growth than in the entire 15 years before that combined.We’re on track to phase out the state income tax entirely, allowing families to keep more of what they earn. Mississippi has attracted a surge of new investment, and for the first time in years, our workforce participation rate is finally heading in the right direction.Zoom out, and the picture gets even better. Contrary to the endless gloom from the pundits, the American economy has...

Time is short for the Trump administration. Last week's elections were a setback, but not a devastating one: New Jersey is still a blue state, and while Virginia went red four years ago, it's been trending Democratic for more than a decade. Republicans also fared poorly in Pennsylvania, however, an all-important presidential battleground. Democrats even made inroads deep into the South, taking two state senate seats in Mississippi -- ending a GOP supermajority -- and picking up city council spots in South Carolina and Florida. With results like these, the Republicans' razor-thin majority in Congress won't survive the midterm elections...

Vice President JD Vance says that mass immigration under former President Joe Biden significantly skyrocketed the cost of rent and home prices.In an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, Vance attributed sky-high home prices to record-setting illegal immigration under Biden — noting that flooding the housing market increases prices on Americans, particularly those first-time home-buyers.“To me [this] is maybe the most important because I care so much about our young people being able to afford a good life, a lot of young people are saying, ‘Housing is way too expensive,'” Vance said: Why is that? Because we flooded the country...

President Donald J. Trump inherited an economic mess when he took office. Years of mismanagement under Biden, his incompetent Administration, and Democrats in Congress — who spent years insisting inflation was “transitory” while doling out trillions in new spending and dramatically upscaling government — brought the country to the brink of economic ruin.Since Day One, the Trump Administration has been on a mission to tame Biden’s inflation crisis, stop the sky-high Biden price increases, and lower costs for everyday families — and while it can’t happen overnight, evidence shows the trend is in the right direction.President Trump tamed Biden’s inflation...

Homeowners vote red. Renters vote blue. Will President Donald Trump's 50-year mortgage make a red voter out of you? That is what the president hoped on Saturday, when he posted the idea of stretching out the customary 30-year repayment terms for home mortgages to 50 years. Turns out, that idea is smoke and mirrors. But at least Trump is recognizing that home affordability is a real crisis, not fake news. "Affordability" is the campaign pledge that produced big wins on election day, and most of the winners were Democrats. Affording a home is increasingly out of reach. The median age...

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order allowing a range of food products, including coffee, bananas and beef, to escape his sweeping tariffs. The move comes as his administration faces mounting pressure over rising prices. While Trump previously downplayed concerns about the cost of living, he has focused on the issue since his Republican Party's poor performance in last week's elections. The dozens of products included on the White House's list of exemptions range from avocados and tomatoes to coconuts and mangoes. These goods, the Trump administration said on Friday, cannot be produced in sufficient quantities domestically. Trump...

A sweeping new analysis of tariff policy spanning 150 years suggests that the economic establishment may have fundamentally misunderstood how tariffs affect prices and employment, a finding with profound implications for understanding President Donald Trump’s trade policy and the proper response by the Federal Reserve. Researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco examined major tariff changes from 1870 through 2020 across the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. Their conclusion challenges the conventional wisdom that dominated economic policy debates in recent years: when countries raise tariffs, prices actually fall, not rise. “We find that a tariff hike...

VIDEOELBOWS UP CANADA!!!A few months ago, Mark Carney ran for Prime Minister of Canada on a platform of going ELBOWS UP in defiance of the USA and especially Donald Trump. So how did that work out? Well, despite Carney having been hyped as a (globalist) economics expert, Canada is now in such a bad way economically that their soaring inflation has caused the leftwing CBC to now hype the supposed joys of buying EXPIRED food products at discounted prices.Expired Mayo. YUMMIE!!! That very special taste due the aging process with an undertaste of sublime salmonella makes Expired Mayo a gourmet...