Free Republic

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Hundreds of top economists and other experts, including former U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, called on Friday for the world to set up an independent international panel on income and wealth inequality. The call in an open letter came before the Group of 20 summit in South Africa next weekend, when a report on global inequality chaired by Nobel Prize-winning American economist Joseph Stiglitz is due to be presented to world leaders. That report, which was released this month, said that the world is facing an inequality emergency as well as a climate emergency,...

President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he will give a $2,000 check to every American, which will come from the tariff revenue collected by the administration. “A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that those against tariffs are “fools.” While this proposal would likely need to be passed by Congress, it resembles legislation introduced this summer by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-Mo.) this summer, to give $600 tariff rebates to nearly all Americans and their dependent children. “My legislation would allow hardworking...

Zohran Mamdani campaigned on making MTA buses free, freezing rents, launching universal childcare, and raising the minimum wage to $30.New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani promised during his campaign that he would make public buses free for New Yorkers as part of a wide-ranging list of ambitious goals, which included freezing rents, creating no-cost child care, and raising the minimum wage to $30 by 2030. The democratic socialist, who turned 34 years old last month, beat former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the general election on Nov. 4. The closely-watched...

Senate Republicans are discussing voting on a bill that would prevent millions of low-income Americans from losing access to food aid on Nov. 1.The bill from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) would fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for the duration of the shutdown, which on Wednesday entered its 22nd day. The Department of Agriculture warned earlier this month that if the government shutdown dragged on “there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation.”Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in a brief interview that senators were discussing “some options,” though...

The Trump administration has agreed to cancel student debt under programs it had partially blocked, reopening a path to student loan forgiveness for millions of borrowers. The outcome is the result of an agreement reached on Friday between the U.S. Department of Education and the American Federation of Teachers, a union. In the agreement, the Trump administration said it will again process student loan forgiveness for eligible borrowers in two income-driven repayment plans — the original Income-Contingent Repayment plan and the Pay as You Earn plan — as long as those programs remain in effect. President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful...

Millions of student loan borrowers will see the “light at the end of the tunnel” after the Trump administration agreed to reinstate loan forgiveness plans it had partially blocked following a court battle. The Trump administration reached an agreement with the American Federation of Teachers to approve student debt cancellation for millions of borrowers who continually make their regular payments. The AFT and Department of Education came to an agreement Friday to begin cancelling student loans for borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans... “This is a tremendous win for borrowers. With today’s filing, borrowers can rest a little easier,” said...

A UN conference to boost support for global development aid begins on Monday as US funding cuts jeopardise the fight against poverty. But key player the United States is snubbing the biggest such talks in a decade, underlining the erosion of international cooperation on combating hunger, disease and climate change. UN sustainable development goals set for 2030 are slipping from reach just as the world's wealthiest countries are withdrawing funding for development programmes. President Donald Trump's gutting of the US development agency USAID is the standout example, with Germany, Britain and France among other rich economies making cuts when faced...

Donald Trump used videos of a Marxist firebrand politician to highlight the alleged persecution of white farmers in South Africa as the country’s president sat beside him. The US president dimmed the lights at an Oval Office meeting to play clips of Julius Malema, known for his anti-white rhetoric, who was this month blocked from visiting Britain. Mr Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party won just under 10 per cent of the vote at last year’s general election with a platform feeding on the disillusionment of many young black voters who have not seen their lives improve, despite the abolition...

The South African president’s office vowed Wednesday to fight the “treasonous act of misinformation,” which it blames for spreading abroad what it considers false narratives about the persecution of white Afrikaners. The warning came two days after the first charter flight of several dozen Afrikaner refugees arrived in the U.S. On Tuesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa called the refugees “cowards” for “running away” — a sentiment that his party, the African National Congress (ANC), echoed. The ANC claimed that the Afrikaners were not being persecuted, while faulting them for abandoning “transformation,” a policy of racial economic redistribution. Ramaphosa’s representative, Minister in...

Aubrey Bertram was starting to imagine her life without student debt. Bertram, a staff attorney at Wild Montana, a nonprofit that works on land conservation in the state, had just around two and a half years left of payments before her $247,804 federal student loan balance would be excused under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Bertram took out her loans in law school knowing that she’d work in public service and pursue PSLF. “That was the only way taking on this debt made any sense,” Bertram said. Millions of other student loan holders are in the same frustrating limbo...

Foreign Exchange: Thailand's ham-fisted capital controls, announced Tuesday, sought to halt the baht's rise. But all that did was knock $23 billion in value from Thai stocks and rattle world markets. It's not the answer. What it actually shows is that the caretaker military regime, in power since its September coup, isn't quite up to the task of running Thailand's economic powerhouse. Thailand's markets, which have done well this year, don't need new controls. What they really need are the same thing Thailand's people need — more freedom, economic and political. Thailand's government Tuesday told foreign investors they would no...

BANGKOK, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Tuesday said part of the government's vaunted 450 billion baht ($13.1 billion) "digital wallet" handout will be distributed in cash, in another change to its flagship populist policy. Details are still being finalised and will be announced in a policy statement to parliament, she added. The digital wallet handout had previously entailed transferring 10,000 baht ($292) in credit to 50 million Thais via a smartphone application to spend in their localities within six months.

More Than 1 Million Families Will Get a Supplemental Payment of up to $330 per Child Through the Empire State Child Credit $2.6 Billion Delivered to New Yorkers in Supplemental Payments Since 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised a planned tax overhaul would increase inflows to the state budget, benefit low-income families and provide long-term stability for Russian corporation -snip- Now the government is looking to raise taxes for almost the first time since Putin took over in 2000 -snip- But with a war to fund, the Ministry of Finance (MinFin) intends to slowly move towards a more progressive system of taxes to boost revenues. At the same time Putin made expensive spending pledges to the population in March as part of the 12 National Projects that were launched in 2019 and need...

The Pentagon’s surprise decision to withdraw $2.5 billion in funding for Intel’s semiconductor manufacturing plans has created a significant shortfall in the company’s expected incentives under the CHIPS Act. Bloomberg reports that the semiconductor industry’s path to revitalization has hit a snag as the Pentagon abruptly scrapped its plan to contribute $2.5 billion toward Intel’s chip manufacturing grant under the CHIPS Act. This move has disrupted the distribution of funds from the legislation, leaving the Commerce Department scrambling to fill the substantial funding gap. According to people familiar with the matter, the Pentagon’s withdrawal occurred in the days leading up...

Introduction We are living in a time of grassroots demands to transform our built environment and our relationships with one another and the earth.2 To abolish prisons and police, rent, debt, borders, and billionaires.3 To decommodify housing and healthcare and to decolonize land.4 To exercise more collective ownership over our collectively generated wealth.5 Some of us are reimagining the state. Others are dreaming of moving beyond it.6 But these are more than dreams. These are demands for a democratic political economy. These demands increased in volume this year as the violence of policing continued, the fires burned in California and...

Governor Kathy Hochul of New York announced a substantial $46 million grant initiative aimed at supporting more than 1,400 households in achieving affordable homeownership. This financial aid will primarily assist low- and moderate-income families, facilitating essential home repairs, safety modifications, and replacing older manufactured homes. Additionally, the program includes providing down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers. Governor Hochul emphasized the importance of this investment in the face of rising housing costs, positioning it as a crucial step in New York’s battle against the housing crisis. This move aligns with the Governor’s ambitious $25 billion Housing Plan, which intends to create...

Joe Wurzelbacher, otherwise known as ‘Joe The Plumber’ passed away at the age of 49 from pancreatic cancer, a source confirmed to the Daily Caller. Wurzelbacher, who became well known during the 2008 presidential campaign after confronting former President Barack Obama about whether or not his tax plan would end up costing him more, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early 2023. Conservative radio host Derek Hunter shared the news of Wurzelbacher’s passing in a post on Twitter on Sunday afternoon. “Horrible news. My good friend Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, passed away this morning at the age of...

Denver City Council member Candi CdeBaca, who is running for re-election, says white owned businesses should be taxed extra and redistributed to black owned businesses.

A new Biden administration rule that is set to go into effect will force homeowners with good credit to pay more on their mortgages in order to subsidize loans to high-risk borrowers.According to a new, insane Biden Admin rule, people with good credit will be assessed higher mortgage rates to subsidize riskier loans to people with lower credit. Homeowners will now be punished for being responsible.Biden's attack on success in the name of "equity" continues.