Free Republic

On Wednesday, the country hit a sad milestone: Inflation under President Biden hit 20 percent. The dollar’s value has plummeted under his watch. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also confirmed that the consumer price index is resurgent and growing faster than average wages. Combined with weak GDP growth, this data shows the U.S. economy is reentering stagflation. Historic inflation is causing declining living standards and a cost-of-living crisis. Under Biden’s presidency, grocery prices have increased by nearly one-third and gas has risen by 50 percent. It feels like every daily convenience — from a turkey sandwich to some handyman help...

ROCK SPRINGS — The tenant of a downtown Rock Springs embroidery shop recently requested permission to open a coffee shop in the same space but was denied because of the city’s fire code regulations. Now the business, Nell’s Coffee at 204 Elk St., has closed and moved to a new location at 1100 Elk St. The 204 Elk St. building’s owner Rick Milonas has taken the city to task over its building code that forced the move. In July, he threatened to sue the city over it. Milonas said it would cost $500,000 to add fire sprinklers and bring the...

Sam Bankman-Fried: I don’t know where $10 billion went. The Pentagon: We don’t know where $2.2 trillion went. The IRS: You just sent $601.37 don’t forget to report it.” The Biden administration is recruiting 87,000 IRS agents, allegedly to keep an eye on billionaires. .. aiming at the little fish of the gig economy instead. Taking payments for a side hustle via PayPal or Venmo? Not only is the IRS reminding you those payments are taxable income, it’s deputizing those payment companies to snitch on you. ... But wait — it gets worse. People get payments through these companies for...

"I direct that any additional resources… shall not be used to increase the share of small businesses or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels,” Treasury Secretary Yellen wrote to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig. That directive has been used by media "fact checkers" to deny that the massive increase in IRS personnel under Biden’s Inflation Increase Act will also increase audits of the middle class. Yellen’s statement initially seems reassuring until you look closely at its curious language. Treasury Department spokeswoman Julia Krieger used the same phrasing when claiming that "audit rates relative to historical...

The new federal vaccine requirement announced by President Joe Biden has created another worry for large businesses: With help wanted signs up almost everywhere, some could lose valuable employees or won’t be able to find new ones. Biden announced sweeping new orders Thursday that will require employers with more than 100 workers to mandate vaccinations against COVID-19 or offer weekly testing. The new rules could affect as many as 100 million Americans, although it’s not clear how many of those people are currently unvaccinated.

COVID shutdowns championed by U.S. governors and D.C. bureaucrats are responsible for destroying nearly 40% of small businesses since the virus was unleashed on the world—and we know now that it was for little to no damned good reason. A study by the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences revealed recently that shutdown orders made little to no difference in COVID’s impact. ... While bureaucrats gave Walmart, Costco, Lowe’s, and other big-box stores “essential” status, allowing them to stay open during the COVID pandemic, 38.9% of America’s small businesses, the providers of most of the country’s jobs, were forced...

While corporations are leading our government by the nose, small business is more often an unwilling victim, pleading for any path they can to survive their rulers.WASHINGTON, D.C. — In big cities across America, we have seen some laugh-out-loud-ridiculous “COVID-prevention” measures in bars and restaurants. No menus allowed. Masks off when you’re at a table. Masks on when you go to the bathroom. Disposable cups only. “Hold a minute while we wipe down the chairs.” Leave your name and your phone number (even though no mythical “contract tracer” would call were you to turn into a literal COVID cyclone). To...

Maryland lawmakers advanced a bill Monday that would prohibit stores from providing plastic bags to customers starting July 2022. An iteration of this legislation passed the House and was voted out of the Senate Finance Committee last year, but it did not reach the Senate floor due to the abbreviated legislative session. With an amendment from Del. Brian Crosby (D-St. Mary’s) that would allow orchard farmers to provide plastic bags to customers for its fruits and vegetables, the Plastic Bag Reduction Act, sponsored by Del. Brooke Lierman (D-Baltimore City) and Sen. Malcom Augustine (D-Prince George’s), moved out of the House...

Barstool Sports Founder Dave Portnoy exemplified the Christmas spirit by raising millions of dollars to help small businesses suffering under state-imposed lockdowns. The “Barstool Fund” has amassed a whopping $6,687,624 with 60,929 supporters so far. The funds have already helped 19 small businesses.

“The self-respecting small home owners and shop owners are the unprotected and undefended victims of every race riot.” -Ayn Rand If there is one word that will eventually come to describe the summer of 2020, it will be “riots.” We have seen the violent, riotous instincts of Democrats on full display as Antifa thugs attack conservatives and BLM Marxists smash shop windows and loot the contents of every business they come across. Both conservatives and liberals have been all over the media talking about these riots. Conservatives insist that the so-called “peaceful protesters” are really violent mobs of looters and...

How pandemic policy has benefited the corporate elite.. If one were to consider the upward transfer of wealth and market share to Big Business since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, one would think such economic changes were intended. After all, it’s no secret that the interests of politicians and the corporate elite align more often than not. As we near a year of lockdowns and sheltering in place, the long-term effects of pandemic policy on the economy are becoming clearer. Almost every piece of legislation ostensibly designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus and protect workers has wreaked...

Did the salon owner make Pelosi make an appointment? Did she make her take her mask off? Of course not. There is no politician in Washington so insulated from criticism as Nancy Pelosi. Still surrounded by all the good wishes of sycophantic journalists in awe of her previous tenure as Speaker, in DC Pelosi gets away with saying a wide variety of crazy things, committing herself to extreme positions, and engaging in pointless and occasionally self-damaging battles. Any outside perspective would see her as flailing and ineffectual. But in Washington, she is the Grand Dame of Capitol Hill who can...

One in every five small businesses say they will not be able to stay open if economic conditions don't improve in the next six months, and a similar number say they can only last a year. The survey from the National Federation of Independent Business, a trade group for small businesses, found that while many businesses expected to stay afloat, the pandemic was hitting significant numbers in devastating ways. “The health crisis is not impacting small businesses equally,” said Holly Wade, NFIB director of research and policy analysis. The pandemic, she said, was forcing small businesses to adapt to abrupt...

State Dining Room3:32 P.M. EDTTHE PRESIDENT: Okay, thank you very much. It’s an honor to see you all today on this beautiful afternoon — White House.We’re here today to discuss our efforts to support our nation’s small businesses — working very hard — and safely reopen America. And that’s what’s happening. We’re doing record numbers. We’re doing numbers like nobody has ever seen before, actually.I’m thrilled to be joined by two good friends of mine: Governor Pete Ricketts of Nebraska — Pete, thank you very much; and a man that I’m going to see a little bit over the...

Democrats took aggressive social distancing action to combat coronavirus, but they’re throwing their arguments out the window when it comes to rioting and protesting. That contradiction is growing and is increasingly dangerous to them. The longer the protests continue, the more opportunity for Middle America and moderate voters to make that connection and turn on Democrats. As coronavirus entered America, state and local governments responded with an unprecedented lockdown of society and the economy, leaving almost 43 million people to file for unemployment in the past three months. In the first quarter, the economy shrank 5 percent, and the Atlanta...

The Department of Labor reported Thursday that another 2.4 million Americans filed for unemployment last week continuing a nine-week stretch of new jobless claims shattering the previous record for the most first-time filings in a single week. More than 38 million Americans have now filed for unemployment since pandemic lockdowns initiated an economic self-destruction wreaking havoc on American livelihoods and contributing to the great anxiety that the pandemic presents to a nation in distress. The April jobs report released from the Department of Labor this month shows the U.S. reached record levels of unemployment within the span of just two...

Maurice Fayne, aka Arkansas Mo, 37, who stars in Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, was charged with bank fraud for his use of the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program, created to help struggling businesses weather the coronavirus economic shutdown. The Department of Justice accused Fayne, who's from Dacula, Georgia, of using more than $1.5 million of the small-business relief loan proceeds to purchase $85,000 in jewelry, including a Rolex Presidential watch, a diamond bracelet, a 5.73-carat diamond ring for himself, and to pay $40,000 for child support. Federal agents also searched his home and seized approximately $80,000 in cash,...

The first recorded instance of coronavirus community spread in California was tracked to a nail salon, Gov. Gavin Newson said Thursday. The governor made the revelation as he explained why Golden State manicurists aren’t slated to reopen Friday, when other businesses, including clothiers, sporting-goods stores and florists will resume limited operations. “This whole thing started in the state of California — the first community spread — in a nail salon,” Newsom said during his daily briefing. “I’m very worried about that.”

East Room 3:16 P.M. EDT  THE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you very much everyone.  This is a great honor.  And I see you have social distance on your mind and that’s a very good thing.  Jovita, congratulations.  Tremendous job you’re doing.I want to thank everyone for being at the White House — a very special house, a very special place.  No matter where you go in the world, they love the White House.  And being here in the East Room of the White House in particular, where so many important functions have taken place over the years.And today, we’re really...

Wisconsinites are signaling they're done playing political games and aren't buying into the idea that they're 'Safer at Home.' MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin stay-at-home orders were supposed to expire Friday. Instead, thousands of disgruntled Wisconsinites descended upon the capitol in protest after the Evers administration extended the Dairy State’s so-called Safer at Home order another month. Endless blaring honks turned to white noise as vehicles backed up East Washington Avenue before circling the capitol, with many waving signs and flags out of windows and sun roofs. One man drove a Yukon decked out with Trump 2020 gear, pulling a trailer...