Free Republic

We've been focusing a lot on President Obama's foreign policy, from Ukraine to Libya to Syria to Iraq to Israel and Iran. However, get ready for ObamaCare to make a return engagement to our front pages, and politics as well. Sally Pipes posted some numbers yesterday that won't make Democrats happy, especially those in tight elections: "Get ready to pay more for health insurance next year, compliments of Obamacare. A new analysis from PricewaterhouseCoopers projects that average premiums for policies sold through Obamacare’s exchanges will increase 7.5 percent in 2015. In nearly one-third of the 29 states that PwC investigated,...

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies -- including Wal-Mart. In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized. According to about a dozen Wal-Mart employees who attended such meetings in seven states, Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Someone is going to have to pay all the extra costs of making toys safer. For now, toy makers and retailers are sharing the burden, but that's only expected to last until the holiday season. Next year, American consumers will be facing price increases of up to 10 percent to pay for the industry's increased vigilance after more than 3 million lead-tainted toys from China were recalled worldwide since June. That means a $6.99 Barbie doll could go up to about $7.70, or a $70 child-friendly digital camera could retail next year for almost $80. A...

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Sirius Satellite Radio is not ruling out a price increase for its basic subscription service in light of its arch rival's fee hike announced earlier this week, CEO Mel Karmazin told analysts Wednesday. Karmazin, who spoke at a Bear Stearns media conference in Florida, said XM Satellite Radio's announcement Monday that it would raise in early April its basic monthly subscription fee by 30 percent, to $12.95 a month, "opens up all kinds of options" for Sirius. Until now, Sirius (Research), while smaller than XM with just more than 1 million subscribers, has been the more...