Free Republic

With more than half of 2017 still ahead, the retail industry is seeing a record-setting pace for bankruptcy filings and store closings — and more are expected in the not too distant future, despite what most consider a healthy consumer. This tipping point for retail is the result of a number of compounding reasons, but the inability to pay looming, massive debt bills is dealing the final death blow to many. More online shopping Yes, more shopping is shifting online in general, and to Amazon specifically, as in-store shopping traffic and sales trends fall for many retailers and shopping...

As the debate over the merits of an online sales tax policy that would allow states to collect tax from vendors outside their state boundaries brews, a lobbyist for the National Retail Federation, a group supporting the proposed legislation, dismissed the United States Constitution as an “18th-century document.”“The industry is evolving very rapidly, and the law today is a 20th-century interpretation of an 18th-century document that is holding back the entire retail industry as it adapts to 21st-century consumer preferences and demand,” David French, senior vice president for government affairs at the NRF, said in a statement provided to the Wall...