Free Republic

New York residents could face skyrocketing heating bills under the state’s new “green” policies — which may not even have a significant impact on greenhouse-gas emissions, a new study warns. A review by the Empire Center for Public Policy says the state’s new rules will push homeowners to buy expensive electrified heat pumps while being forced to phase out their natural gas, oil and propane systems. But even then, the new electrification policy could only have a negligible impact on greenhouse emissions while burning up homeowners’ wallets, according to the analysis, “In Cold Reality: The Cost and Challenge of Compulsory...

Colorado, one of the most pro-abortion states in the country, is “a leading provider nationwide of abortions through telehealth clinics,” Axios reported on Monday. The share of abortion pills provided via telehealth in Colorado increased to 20 percent in March 2023, up from 14 percent in April 2022, according to the report, which cited the Society of Family Planning. The proportion of telehealth abortions in the state is three times the national average of 7.4 percent

Property Insurance experts are weighing in on one state senator’s call for another special session to address the skyrocketing cost of property insurance for millions of Floridians. Gov. DeSantis is also urging patience, and quote “knocking on wood that we won’t have a big storm this summer.” “So knock on wood (that) we won’t have a big storm this summer,” he also said. “Then I think you’re going to start to see companies see an advantage.” “We have seen some projections that other companies may decide to take similar actions and withdraw from the state,” Friedlander said. “But we have...

More Americans are taking on credit card debt as skyrocketing inflation for basic necessities continues to burden families. In a recent survey from CreditCards.com commissioned by YouGov, 60 percent of Americans have been carrying monthly credit card debt for at least 12 months –– a ten percent increase from 2021. Furthermore, 40 percent of those who carry balances say they have been doing so for at least two years, 28 percent for at least three years, and 19 percent for at least five years. The survey also shows that 59 percent of American credit cardholders earning less than $50,000 carry...

Rents across the United States have hit a record high, with the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment now reaching nearly $1,500 a month, according to the Zumper National Rent Index. The sky-high rents are up almost 12 percent compared to the same time last year, the analysis finds. The jump in rents now beats out last year’s record rents.

After eight years of driving for Uber with a perfect 5-star rating, Richard Martin is considering changing gears — not because he dislikes the work, but because California’s soaring gas prices are making his career unsustainable. “I moved to San Diego from the Los Angeles area a little over eight years ago, and I thought I would do this for a couple of months,” Martin, 60, told The Hill. “I left the other day, and I couldn't believe that I had over 12,500 rides.”

All the war talk is turning out to be great for bitcoin. It's been on fire since January, 2017 when it for the first time reached $1,000 U.S. Dollars. It's now worth 3 times the price of gold. I bet it will be up to $5,000 in early September and over $7,000 by the end of October. We will see how it plays out.

During Sunday’s Good Morning America, ABC finally became worried about “skyrocketing” illegal immigration and the strain on resources. But it was not illegal immigration into the United States they were fretting about, but that into Canada. “Illegally crossing the border, fueled by fears after recent immigration raids and uncertainty over President Trump's executive order,” announced co-anchor Dan Harris during the opening tease, “Can Canada handle this new influx?” “Yeah, we're watching scenes of immigrants and their families, with young children, fleeing the U.S., crossing illegally, all hoping to begin the process of emigrating there as refugees,” co-anchor Paula Faris reiterated...

As gas prices rose in 2008, network reporters mentioned President Bush in 15 times as many stories than they brought up President Obama in a similar period in 2011.Bush drew gallons of coverage in 2008. Comparing a 20-day span of rising gas prices in 2008 to 24 days of rising prices in February 2011, the Business & Media Institute found the networks did more than 2 ½ times as many stories during the Bush years versus Obama.(Snip)The national average for gasoline hit $3.36 on Feb. 28, the highest ever for the month of February according to The Associated Press.

To look at the soft-focus propaganda pictures of Venezuela's Castroite Chavez government, you'd think Venezuela's state oil company was not about producing oil, but rather rehabilitating life's down-and-outers. The Venezuela Information Office's Web site shows smiling, supposedly contented beneficiaries of the bountiful, beneficent state oil company, which is somehow turning singers into systems engineers, and you're supposed to feel good. But that's not what's going on for workers inside the huge Venezuelan state oil company. The remnants of the once-mighty PdVSA are battling the Chavez government in a contract dispute over three miserable dollars a day in wages. Inflation from...