Free Republic

The U.S. economy nearly stalled in the first quarter as weakness overseas hurt exports and frigid weather curtailed business investment. While the latest figures are "certainly eye catching, we do not find it to be representative of the underlying health of the U.S. economy," said Richard Moody, chief economist at Regions Financial Corp. "Anyone tempted to panic ... should just take a breath." The latest numbers continue a familiar pattern. The nation's economic recovery, which started in mid-2009, has been marked as much for its choppiness as its slow pace.

"They sent us letters. They phoned it in. They asked their retailers, you know, in their neighborhood, where do I find a card that says this?” Hallmark Creative Director Derek McCracken told NPR. “And again, loss of job, like any loss, is a grieving process. And so we have to acknowledge as soon as possible what had happened and then try to support them. So that's where we kind of offer more cards on the, you'll get through this, versus dwelling on the loss of the job itself.”

With the report released today that showed unemployment climbing to 9.1% and all indications pointing to a slowing economy, one has to ask, how is Obamanomics working out for America? Take a look at these numbers since Obama took office in 2009: 1. 23.7% increase in unemployment. 2. 35.1% increase of food stamps recipients. 3. Number of long term unemployed has increased 146%. 4. The national debt has increased 32.2% from $10.627 trillion to $14.052 trillion. 5. Americans considered to be in poverty has increased 9.5%. There is more than enough blame to go around, but what we need are...

WASHINGTON -- Unemployment rose in nearly all of the 372 largest U.S. cities in January compared to the previous month, mostly because of seasonal changes such as the layoff of temporary retail employees hired for the holidays. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate rose in 351 metro areas, fell in only 16, and was unchanged in 5. That's worse than December, when the rate fell in 207 areas and increased in 122. Other seasonal trends, such as the layoff of construction workers due to winter weather, also contributed to the widespread increase. Nationwide, the unemployment rate dropped...

Like many Democrats over the past 40 years, Barack Obama has hoped that his association with unpopular liberal positions on cultural issues would be outweighed by pushing economic policies intended to benefit the ordinary person. In his campaign in 2008 and as president in 2009 and 2010, he has hoped that those he characterized to a rich San Francisco Bay area audience as bitterly clinging to guns and God would be won over by programs to stimulate the economy and provide guaranteed health insurance. At least so far, it hasn't worked, as witnessed by recent statements by some of the...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A city official in Ohio says President Barack Obama misspoke this week when he cited a local project as a stimulus success. At the home of a Columbus architect, Obama said his administration's economic program had helped his host because the man was working on a new police station funded in part with stimulus dollars. But Columbus city finance director Paul Rakosky says the project is actually converting a vacant building into a new police crime lab, and he says no stimulus money is involved. Rakosky, who's a Democrat, says the funding originated in Congress. Asked...

ALEXANDRIA, La. -- "I don't make jokes," said Will Rogers, "I just watch the government and report the facts." If he were still alive, the famous humorist would have a field day with the current crop of Washington politicos. For instance, consider the following projects funded by "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009". At least some of the money doled out in the stimulus package might as well have been flushed down the toilet. It was intended to create jobs and promote investment and consumer spending in the short term. How does $199,862 to help indigenous Siberian communities...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The federal government announced Friday that it is relaxing some rules to make it easier for communities to spend funds on redeveloping abandoned and foreclosed properties. The changes, effective immediately, will allow cities, counties and states to buy properties in mortgage default and uninhabitable homes with lingering code violations through the $4 billion Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The program was started in the midst of the nation's foreclosure crisis, but a year later about a third of more than 300 local governments that got grants have barely made a dent in them, according to a recent report...

Regulators have shut down banks in Florida, Arizona and Kansas, bringing to 133 the number of U.S. banks that have failed to hold up this year against the struggling economy and a cascade of loan defaults. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday it took over Miami-based Republic Federal Bank, with $433 million in assets and $352.7 million in deposits. A bank based in Boca Raton, Fla., 1st United Bank, agreed to assume all the deposits and $267.1 million of the assets of the failed bank. The FDIC will retain the rest for eventual sale. In addition, the FDIC and...

Conservative author and columnist Tim Carney doesn't believe President Obama is a socialist, as do some other right-wingers. Rather, Mr. Carney says the president better fits the description of a "corporatist" who melds big business and government together to create mutually beneficial relationships between political leaders and wealthy corporations that employ high-powered lobbyists to help them get richer. Mr. Carney explains it all in his new book, "Obamanomics," which follows his first book, "The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money." "Obamanomics" has an entire chapter to devoted to the business dealings of General Electric, a...

Congress has agreed to step away from its promise to pass expansive health bills before its August recess as the president wanted. It would have bordered on legislative malpractice for the House to have rushed to pass its bill last week as its leadership hoped to do, considering that most members still have not read the 1,017-pager. Here are just four things that promise to radically change some people's health experiences—and everyone's relationship with the government—even if you are now among the happily insured. 1. Health choices commissioner. 2. Health Benefits Advisory Committee. 3. Federal penalties. 4. Money from the...

The city of Los Angeles was awarded a $16.3-million, three-year grant today for 50 new police officers as part of the nation’s federal economic stimulus package. But city officials had hoped to be able to hire up to 450 officers through the program to help flesh out the city’s police force. The Justice Department was flooded with applications for $8.3 billion in grants and 39,000 officers -- leading the agency to cap the number of officers awarded to individual agencies. At the time L.A. officials applied for the grant they did not know that federal officials were going to institute...

President Obama devoted nearly $60 billion of his stimulus package to building a new green-based economy rich in renewable energy and strategies to cut carbon. But despite the price tag, not one green job yet exists. No one can yet agree on what a green job actually is. The working definition paints a broad stroke: a job that's good for the economy while simultaneously healing the earth. But that leaves lots open to interpretation—natural gas is technically a cleaner fuel than crude oil, but it's still unsustainable—making it difficult, if not impossible, to measure whether eco-based jobs are being created...