Free Republic

"Rebuild better" the left says, suggesting a demolition of what we currently have. I say, start with Human Resources Departments. President Biden, his administration, and many others in the US and elsewhere are suggesting that modern Western capitalism is so bad that it needs to be dismantled and replaced with something else. "Rebuild better" they say, which -- among other things -- suggests a demolition of what we currently have. They are partially right. There are some things that exist in America, today, that are so detrimental to our national freedom and well-being that need to be dismantled, but the...

More than 8 million Americans fell into poverty over the past six months as social safety measures put into place at the start of the coronavirus pandemic expired, according to a new study published this week. The report, released by economists at the University of Chicago and University of Notre Dame, found that the nation's poverty rate increased by 2.4 percentage points between June and December, surging from 9.3% to 11.8%. An additional 8.1 million people are now considered poor. At the end of March, Congress passed the massive $2.2 trillion CARES Act to blunt the financial pain of the...

In its final days, the Trump administration is seeking to disrupt the way progressive activists increasingly impose their will on big business: through banks controlling the loan lifelines to the economy. A regulation just finalized (update) aims to prevent lenders from blackballing businesses in industries opposed by the left by requiring banks to demonstrate that their loan decisions are “based on quantitative, impartial risk-based standards,” rather than political or reputational concerns. The proposed Fair Access to Financial Services Rule (FAFSR) is a response to successful pressure campaigns waged by environmental groups and congressional Democrats, which culminated in every major American...

By -6433 That the people who write Salon, or Vox, might not be all and entirely up to date with reality isn’t that much of a surprise. After all, how much reality to you get to encounter living the nice Brooklyn Life? But we would rather hope that those who write the New York Times have a slightly closer relationship with the truth than the arts graduates who can’t do art. Bryce Covert shows us that there are still things the NYT needs to know though: I agree with her on one point: It is the American way to champion...

SAINT PAUL, MN—With Democrats in control of Congress, Americans are looking forward to seeing their elected representatives put the needs of the American people first. Democrats have responded by pursuing the one thing every American affected by devastating lockdowns needs: another Trump impeachment. According to experts, there are millions of struggling Americans-- many of whom are completely destitute-- wondering where their next Trump impeachment is coming from. Local unemployed waitress and single mother Alissa Martins spoke to reporters, saying she is "very happy" about this development. "I haven't made a dime in over 3 weeks," said the struggling young mother....

Officially, it’s all part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s campaign to eradicate absolute poverty in ethnic minority areas by teaching local people new skills to enable them to increase their incomes and improve their livelihoods. These so-called “vocational training programs”, made infamous by the Muslim Uighur camps run in western Xinjiang, have more recently been extended to Tibet. But it is evident from official Chinese declarations in Tibet and Xinjiang that it’s not only about educating “rural surplus workers” in ethnic minority areas Beijing perceives as “backward.” Official Chinese documents on “poverty alleviation” quoted extensively by the non-partisan, Washington-based Jamestown...

Make no mistake about it, socialism won’t lead to equal prosperity. That’s what the idiotic and incompetent democratic socialists like AOC tell us will happen, sure, but it’s not true. If we put a government into power that wants to use its power to create equal economic outcomes for American citizens, then we will all end up starving and equally power. We will not be equally prosperous; that is impossible. Instead, Winston Churchill, in his quote on capitalism and socialism, is right on this issue. Capitalism’s benefit, as he states, is that we’re all unequally rich. That’s because capitalism is...

We’re all familiar with the cycle of poverty in Black urban neighborhoods that Democrat politicians have run for decades. Everybody assumes it’s because Democrats are so wedded to their policies, they keep throwing good money after bad. Maybe that’s not the problem, though. Maybe Black Democrat politicians don’t want to help these areas, and the citizens in those areas don’t actually want to be helped. “Diversity” and “inclusion” are two of the most often heard buzzwords in our lives these days, with a heavy helping coming from the media, of course. Tucker Carlson addressed the subject very well recently in...

A new study makes a startling claim: You have a higher risk of dying from coronavirus if you are poor. A New Study People residing in Scotland’s poorest regions have a higher chance of dying from the novel coronavirus compared to those living in more affluent areas, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Edinburgh and University of Glasgow. Considered the first nationwide study of its kind and published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health—Europe, the research also discovered that patients from the most economically disadvantaged regions were more at risk of intensive care...

The Seattle City Council is considering a measure that would provide exemption from prosecution for any person who suffers from poverty, homelessness, addiction, or mental illness. In 2019 persons in these classifications accounted for 25,993 thefts, 8,442 assaults, 6,430 property offenses, 4,194 frauds, 3,910 trespasses, and 1,640 narcotics violations. Nearly all of those crimes would have been permitted under the proposed new ordinance. Lisa Herbold, the city councilwoman who proposed the legislation, argued that "these unfortunate people who have been victims of society deserve the right to extract just compensation without fear of further punishment. And since these types of...

With far more political acuity than critics expected, President George Bush disarmed world government proponents while promising more aid to developing nations. The U.N.'s High Level Panel on Financing Development concluded its four-day conference in Monterrey, Mexico, without explicit authorization for U.N. taxes on currency exchange, fossil fuels and a host of other tax targets. The conference, publicized as a poverty-reducing initiative, was, in fact, another effort by the U.N. to gain taxing authority. Ernesto Zedillo, head of the U.N. panel, issued a report on June 28, calling for the new taxing authority. U.S. delegates to the conference made it...

We just learned that Professor Walter E. Williams passed away. He was 84 and born in 1936. In my case, I got to know Professor Williams when a fellow conservative gave me Race and Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination? to read. It made so much sense that I gave my copy to another friend, bought a second one and gave it to another friend to read and finally bought my own copy and locked it in my desk so I would never give it away again. What a great book!In the 1990s, the professor became Rush Limbaugh's...

“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck.” ― Robert Heinlein

Please allow me this moment. Last night I went to bed early because I knew the outcome of the election, at least in the public's eye, would not be decided. I woke up this morning to find out I was right. Now I see where states are still play that shouldn't be (Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Georgia) and should be called for Trump, I see states that should have gone Trump but massive voter fraud is underway and threatens to undermine our representative republic (notice I didn't democracy). You see the illegal behavior by the Democratic machine all across the nation...

Guest host Tiffany Cross claimed that, while awaiting the conclusion of negotiations on the new stimulus package, Americans are "starving." Other than people who have fallen off the grid due to addiction or mental illness, perhaps Cross could tell us how many Americans have starved during these negotiations. Even more egregiously, the Rev. William Barber, a poverty advocate and regular MSNBC guest, offered up some statistics that can only be called insane. Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

The number of Americans living in poverty grew by 8 million since May, according to a Columbia University study, which found an increase in poverty rates after early coronavirus relief ended without more to follow. Although the federal Cares Act, which gave Americans a one-time stimulus check of $1,200 and unemployed workers an extra $600 each week, was successful at offsetting growing poverty rates in the spring, the effects were short-lived, researchers found in the study published Thursday.

The Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett provide a fitting warmup act to the presidential election that will follow in a few weeks. The rancor pouring forth from this confirmation flows from the very deep divide in the nation -- conservative versus liberal -- that will decide who will be our next president and what kind of nation we will pass on to our children and grandchildren. Against this background, my organization, Center for Urban Renewal and Education, or UrbanCURE, hosts its annual policy summit in Washington, D.C., where pastors come from all over America and convene...

The UK’s envoy to the World Health Organisation (W.H.O.) has condemned mass coronavirus lockdowns, slamming the “ghastly global catastrophe” caused by crashing the world economy. Dr. David Nabarro from the W.H.O. appealed to world leaders on Saturday, telling them to stop “using lockdowns as your primary control method” of the coronavirus.

According to new official figures, half of Iran’s population live in absolute poverty. The report published by the Statistical Center of Iran also said that Iranians were not able to buy basic groceries. Average Iranians eat 52% less red meat, while those with lower incomes eat 65% less red meat compared to last year, the report said. Iranians are also eating 34% less rice, the country’s staple food. Nine years ago, in 2011, only 18% of the population lived in absolute poverty. Last year, this figure increased to 35%. Currently, 1 USD is trading at 29,750 tomans, an all time...

Sometimes the pressure of Li Ping’s job is so great that he can’t sleep at night. Li was transferred to a remote, mountainous corner of southwestern China in 2016 with a mission to help raise the community out of poverty. Today, Xide county in Sichuan province – the area under Li’s jurisdiction – is on the verge of officially reaching the goal. Xide is one of seven counties in the western part of Sichuan that is still under the poverty line and the community is waiting to hear back from higher levels of government to know if it met the...