Free Republic

The fact that American living standards have broadly stagnated, and for some segments of the population have declined, should be cause for real concern to the ruling class. America ran out of frontier when we hit the Pacific Ocean. And that changed things. Alaska and Hawaii were too far away to figure in most people’s aspirations, so for decades, it was the West Coast states and especially California that represented dreams and possibilities in the national imagination. The American dream reached its apotheosis in California. After World War II, the state became our collective tomorrow. But today, it looks more...

Living standards in Britain continue a death spiral as wages fail to outpace inflation amid soaring energy costs, according to new data. Bloomberg, citing data from the Office for National Statistics, said average earnings excluding bonuses for February dropped 1.3%, the most since 2013. Negative real wage growth indicates millions of Britons are falling behind despite a strong labor market. Unemployment fell to 3.8% in the three months through February, the lowest since late 2019 and on par with levels from the 1970s. However, the hot labor market will force the Bank of England to raise interest rates in May,...

In an unprecedented emotional speech to the North Korean people, Kim Jong-un wept and apologized for failing to raise the nation’s standard of living. Just minutes before, Kim was seen grinning like a schoolboy in his first visit to a strip club as he reviewed a massive military parade that featured huge new ICBMs. Kim has been full of surprises recently, and this appears to be another calculated move to buttress his “man of the people” cred. But that’s not going to put food in people’s bellies after a summer of crop failures and natural disasters that have made feeding...

A woman who woke up from a thirty-year coma in 2018 would be forgiven if she looked around and came to believe our world is falling apart.Cable news and social media are a steady drumbeat of negativity. There is a sense the world is not right.Russian collusion. Xenophobia. Antifa. Unite the Right. Stormy Daniels. #MeToo. Mass shootings. The Deep State. It’s a cacophony of angst, outrage, and political anger.The woman who emerged from her coma would have little or no idea that the world is experiencing an economic miracle, just as most people today do not. But it’s happening...

There's a lot of economic anxiety in America today, so it's no surprise that the Federal Reserve has discovered substantial pessimism about Americans' own personal financial situation. The Feds most recent survey shows that 1/3 of Americans believe themselves to be worse off 5 years after the recession ended.Wall Street Journal: More American households say they are worse off  rather than better five years after the recession, a new Federal Reserve survey found. The report, released for the first time on Thursday, found 34% of households said they were “somewhat worse” or “much worse” financially in 2013 compared to 2008....

Poor families in Britain are struggling to provide basics for their children as the cost of living rises faster than wages and benefits, research released by a charity Monday suggested. The cost of raising a child during the first 18 years of life rose 4 percent to £148,105 ($230,376) last year, while average earnings rose 1.5 percent and safety net benefits rose 1 percent, according to the report from the Child Poverty Action Group. … The report comes as Britain’s coalition government, elected in 2010, imposes tough austerity measures to reduce the nation’s budget deficit. Those programs include limiting benefit...

The 75 percent reduction in Americans' standard of living shows just how costly the regulatory state has been for the country over the last 56 years. Federal Regulations Cut Standard of Living by 75 Percent Over 56 Years The New American 27 June 2013 The 20th annual snapshot of the federal regulatory state published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) last month announced the arrival of an unhappy milestone: Regulatory costs now equal more than half of all federal spending. Put another way, the real cost of government in the United States is half-again as much as the federal...

Debt, debt and more mounting debt is plaguing countries around the globe. In this U.S., states across the country face a collective $125 billion shortfall for fiscal 2012, while Congress is facing a budget gap nearly 10 times that size. PIMCO founder and co-CIO Bill Gross has previously said that if the United States were a corporation, no one in their right mind would lend us money. For the last decade, we’ve been “relying on the kindness of strangers” to help cover our debts, he tells Aaron in the accompanying clip. By “strangers” he is referring to our foreign counterparts,...

Scandinavia has been rated as the best place to live, that’s according to a ranking by Reader’s Digest. Using a range of environmental and social indicators based in part on the UN’s Human Development Index, the survey rates countries on care of the environment and quality of life for their citizens. Finland tops the 141-nation list, followed by Nordic neighbours Iceland and Norway, with Sweden coming in at fourth place. And the Swedish capital comes top of the Reader’s Digest ranking of 72 world cities when it comes to quality of life. Cities were rated according to quality of public...

Norway has more millionaires, measured in US dollars, than any other country in the world in terms of its size.

"The development of the Norwegian economy is very good," she told Parliament, citing strong growth, low inflation and the lowest unemployment rate in 20 years. "At the same time, the use of capacity in the economy is high." She said the risk of wage and cost increases that could hurt Norwegian industry had prompted the government to hold back of revenues from oil and natural gas production that make the nation a major world exporter.

No malice. I think nations ought to compete, in a benign way. - That's what the game of constructive capitalism should look like. My home country, Sweden, has been chasing the US in the (nominal) GDP/capita development area for several quarters now and finally it seems we have surpassed the US in this respect. Silly pursuit? Yes, most Swedes (and probably Americans too) think it is, but personally I think competition of this sort always is good natured and constructive in nature. Swedes probably understand more about the US (and have closer cultural bonds to the US) than most other...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The North American Free Trade Agreement has lowered the standard of living for workers in the United States, Mexico and Canada, according to a new report. Signed in 1994, the trade deal was touted as a win-win situation for all three signatories. But the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think-tank, said that NAFTA has led to cuts in social spending and prompted wages to stagnate or even fall. "Twelve years later, it is clear that the costs to workers outweighed the benefits in all three nations," the report said. "Workers' share of the gains from rising...

If a capitalist corporation gets to be a big success, it inevitably finds itself in the cross-hairs of leftist political activists who don't much like capitalism, and especially don't like large corporations. In the 1980s, General Motors found itself in this position when Michael Moore made the movie "Roger and Me." More recently McDonald's has been a target, attacked by (among other people) film maker Morgan Spurlock in "Super Size Me." Wal-Mart, now the largest business corporation in the world, could hardly escape the activists' ire. The huge retailer has been charged with underpaying and mistreating its employees, destroying communities,...

Otherwise eco-activists will keep the world’s poor impoverished, hungry, and disease-ridden. The litany of alleged offenses follows a script: fragile ecosystems, environmental devastation, irresponsible investment, huge profits, human rights violations, indigenous people imperiled. So do the demands: transparency, accountability, ethics, social responsibility. The tactics are equally familiar. Launch website, issue denunciations. Enlist grade school teachers whose students can write letters to the CEO. Harass the CEO at home. Stage protests at corporate offices. Claim to be stakeholders who must be given a role in all decisions, so that company policies henceforth reflect activist demands. Confrontational? Disingenuous? Of course. Effective? Absolutely....