Free Republic

U.S. economic growth was much weaker than expected to start the year, and prices rose at a faster pace, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services produced in the January-through-March period, increased at a 1.6% annualized pace when adjusted for seasonality and inflation, according to the department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for an increase of 2.4% following a 3.4% gain in the fourth quarter of 2023 and 4.9% in the previous period. Consumer spending increased 2.5% in the period, down from a 3.3% gain...

Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in April to hit an annual increase of 4.9 percent, according to inflation data released Wednesday by the Labor Department. That’s the lowest annual inflation rate since April 2021. The consumer price index (CPI), which measures everything consumers spend money on from rent to gasoline, showed inflation accelerating slightly in April, in line with expectations but falling on an annual basis. Economists had been expecting prices to accelerate by 0.4 percent in April, up from 0.1 percent in March, and projected annual inflation to hold steady at a 5 percent.

High speed rail is a glamorous idea -- it's fun to imagine a train streaking through the cornfields from Chicago to St. Louis in four hours. Less glamorous are some of the fixes that need to be made to Chicago's notoriously slow freight rail system. Talk about projects like "signalize interlocking" and "grade separation," and eyes glaze over. But the promise of faster passenger rail is inextricably linked to the down-and-dirty business of freight. To make passenger and commuter trains move faster, you have to get the boxcars out of the way. And to do that, there needs to be...

The Legislature has missed the deadline for adopting a 2007-08 state budget after managing to accomplish the task last summer. As in past showdowns, the media's impatience with Republicans who won't just give the Democratic majority what it wants could not be more plain. One account depicted the GOP's push for $2 billion less in spending – so the “operational” budget would balance – as a squabble over a “fraction” of state spending. We think GOP lawmakers have a very powerful argument – one that's extremely similar to those made by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. The state's finances are...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California's elementary and high school students are still improving their standardized test scores, but results released Monday indicate they're not improving as rapidly as before, state education officials said. According to the results of the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program, fewer students are moving from the lower scores of basic, below basic and far below basic to the higher levels of proficient and advanced. The test compiles the results of two tests given to students in grades 2-11 and measures how well students are learning California's academic standards. "This is not where we want to be. This...

American advance slowed by surrender of Iraqis By Chris Tomlinson, near Karbala, Iraq 31 March 2003 US soldiers south of Baghdad advanced 10 miles through the Iraqi desert yesterday, having their first face-to-face meeting with civilians and detaining dozens of prisoners. The 1st and 2nd Brigades of the 3rd Infantry Division moved forward in the vicinity of Karbala, 50 miles south-west of Baghdad. One battalion, conducting a sweep on the US troops eastern flank, near the Euphrates river was slowed by the surrender of dozens of Iraqi soldiers. The men of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment advanced with...