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U.S. job openings rose unexpectedly in January, underscoring a resilient labor market that continues to defy pessimistic forecasts about the impact of President Donald Trump’s economic policies. Job openings climbed to 7.74 million in January, up from a revised 7.51 million in December, according to data released Tuesday by the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The increase surpassed economists’ expectations of 7.6 million openings. The increase in openings was driven primarily by gains in the real estate, construction, retail, manufacturing, and financial sectors, suggesting continued strength in key areas of the economy. Despite widespread media speculation...

History may or may not repeat and may or may not even rhyme. But certain events can only be ignored or dismissed with great peril. Sixty years ago this month, the Congress recklessly and foolishly raced to pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, with just two dissenting votes in the Senate. That law gave President Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to begin a war in Vietnam that the U.S. would eventually lose. The cause celebre was an alleged attack by North Vietnamese PT boats against two U.S. Navy destroyers patrolling off the North Vietnamese coast in international waters. Two days before,...

President Biden’s newest shoes have opened up renewed debate about his health and physical condition, with some speculating they were designed to prevent the president from falling. “Biden’s handlers are forcing him to wear a new pair of ‘lifestyle sneakers’ because he trips so much,” reads a tweet from RNC Research on Saturday, referring to Biden’s new shoes. Observers have likened the shoes to “boat anchors” and “piers,” but the “Inside Edition” report attached to the tweet revealed that the president’s new shoes are actually “lifestyle sneakers” that are made by the shoe brand Hoka. The “Inside Edition” report notes...

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman for the Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, promising that there will be no peace or stability until the "Palestinian nation's" demands are met. In his speech, Netanyahu said, "Many decades of efforts to make peace with Arab Nations have failed because they were based on one false assumption - that the Palestinians must be appeased as a precondition to peace. The Palestinians have much to gain from new peace agreements. They should be part of these agreements, but they should not...

Iranian society is getting increasingly violent. In the past few days, several women have been killed by their husbands in Iran's border cities. An increase in child murder, general murder and family crimes, suicide, and theft, and a decrease in psychological security in society, reflects the rising violence and seems to contribute to more violence.Society does not move toward violence overnight, over a month, or even over several years. Violence is the result of many shortfalls in any society, bringing it to the brink of collapse. At one point, it manifests in the form of a volcanic eruption. The traces...

That the era of stability has ended and a new era of increasingly chaotic volatility has begun is not on anyone's radar as a possibility. The standard debate about the future of the economy is: which will we get, high inflation or a deflationary collapse of defaults and asset bubbles popping? The debate goes round and round in widening circles of complexity as analysts delve into every nuance of the debate. A recent conversation with my friend A.T. raised a third possibility few seem to consider: increasingly chaotic volatility will be the new normal, as wild swings between inflation and...

Most Americans tend to think of private property simply as a home – the place where the family resides, store their belongings and find shelter and safety from the elements. It’s where you live. It’s yours because you pay the mortgage and the taxes. Most people don’t give property ownership much more thought than that. There was a time when property ownership was considered to be much more. Property, and the ability to own and control it, was life itself. The great economist, John Locke, whose writings and ideas had major influence on the nation’s founders, believed that “life and...

BEIJING, Aug. 20 - In keeping with the gold- and diamond-encrusted watches the Communist Party made to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth, Deng Xiaoping is being widely hailed as a visionary who freed China from its socialist straitjacket and created new wealth. Yet influential party elders have used the anniversary, which falls on Sunday, to emphasize the urgency of one great endeavor that Deng never embraced: overhauling the one-party political system. In party political journals and interviews as the Deng centenary has neared, several retired leaders made unusually direct pleas to allow more media freedom and to introduce...

UNRWA, the UN agency for “Palestinian refugees” on Tuesday responded to the U.S. decision to cut the funding it provides to the organization by half. "Given the long, trusted, and historic relationship between the United States and UNRWA, this reduced contribution threatens one of the most successful and innovative human development endeavors in the Middle East," said UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl in a statement. “The reduced contribution also impacts regional security at a time when the Middle East faces multiple risks and threats, notably that of further radicalization," he warned. .....

Ten days ago, we reported that as a result of Obama's vow to extend the Iran Sanctions Act for another 10 years, Iran threatened to retaliate, saying it violated last year's deal with six major powers that curbed its nuclear program. While US officials said the ISA's renewal would not infringe on Obama's landmark nuclear agreement (which may or may not be voided by Trump), and under which Iran agreed to limit its sensitive atomic activity in return for the lifting of international financial sanctions that harmed its oil-based economy, senior Iranian officials took odds with that view. Iran's...

In the last week since Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in a stunning electoral blowout, there have been calls from many on the left to abolish America’s unique presidential election system.It still hasn’t been settled whether Trump or Clinton won the popular vote, but many Democrats are upset about the possibility that their candidate may have won more total votes, yet lost the election.Progressives are taking aim at the Electoral College and want to replace it with a national popular vote. This would both remove the indirect mediation of the electors’ votes, and more damagingly, eliminate the power of states...

Even though the Communist Party of China is officially atheist, and the central government was once wary of religion, subtle signs and increasing activities show there is a changing attitude towards religion in order to unite China and its neighbors. In March last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping stood in the offices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, and extolled the profound impact Buddhism has had on China. "Buddhism originated in ancient India," said Xi, the leader of the officially atheist Communist Party of China. "After it was introduced into China, the religion went...

Three Words Explain Obama’s Visit To Saudi Arabia: Stability Is King Almost 70 years ago, a fading President Franklin Roosevelt, returning from Yalta, held a historic meeting on board a U.S. destroyer with King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia. On Tuesday, President Barack Obama met with King Salman, one of Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud’s sons. Much has changed in the U.S.-Saudi relationship. But the elements that drove FDR and all of his successors to maintain and strengthen those ties—oil and regional stability–are still in place. The United States and Saudi Arabia never shared common values. The arrest and...

Next week, when President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi arrives in New York at the head of the Egyptian delegation to the UN General Assembly he will likely seek to put an end to questions of his legitimacy as head of state. He will also, according to the same diplomatic argument, be ending the “diplomatic isolation” that “some countries” – the reference is always made to Qatar and Turkey – have tried to impose on Egypt. This said, Cairo officials, including the head of the state himself, are aware that when all is said and done, ”the return of Egypt,” as would be...

This week, thanks to a groundswell of opposition from conservative activists, the House Republican leadership decided to delay voting on their continuing resolution. Leadership would never admit it, but they canceled Thursday’s scheduled vote because they did not have enough support from Republican members. Using tactics that only Washington insiders could dream of, House leadership attempted a questionable parliamentary scheme which is known as "deem and pass." The goal was to give Republicans a chance to say they voted to defund Obamacare while simultaneously passing a bill out of the House that funds it. If that sounds confusing, that’s because...

Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, called Tuesday for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down to usher in a new government. In a New York Times op-ed Tuesday, the Massachusetts Democrat appealed to Mr. Mubarak’s sense of nationalism, saying the Egyptian president “must accept that the stability of his country hinges on his willingness to step aside gracefully to make way for a new political structure.”

Germany Accuses US of Indirectly Manipulating Dollar By: Reuters German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle on Saturday took issue with what he called a U.S. policy of increasing liquidity, saying it indirectly manipulated exchange rates. The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to embark on a fresh round of asset purchases to prop up the economy. AP "There was criticism of the American policy of monetary easing, or creating more liquidity," Bruederle said after a meeting in South Korea of finance officials from the Group of 20 economic powers. "I tried to make clear in my contribution to the discussion that...

Imagine being contacted by a real estate agent about a 5,000-square-foot house, only to show up and find a home half the size. Off the bat, the prospective purchaser would have very little trust. Of course the above scenario is purely hypothetical given that a foot is a foot. Since its definition is unchanging, 5,000 square feet means the same today as it did 20 years ago. Whatever the level of trust home buyers have in their real estate agents, square footage will never be a factor; that is, unless the length of the foot is allowed to "float," and...

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2010 – Troops and equipment continue to leave Iraq as the drawdown deadline approaches, and in their place, the Iraqi people are stepping up to take control of their country, a spokesman with U.S. Forces Iraq said. Army Maj. Gen. Stephen R. Lanza spoke yesterday with bloggers on a “DoDLive” Bloggers Roundtable about the progress made not only by Iraqi security forces, but by the nation as a whole over the past year. On June 1, two important milestones occurred in Iraq, providing symbolic and substantive examples of the country and its security force’s growth, Lanza said....

Dear FReepers, Oathkeepers, Tea Partiers, Lurkers and Govenment Shills, How in the world did we allow unelected bankers the right to shoot craps with the economic fortunes of our children and the future of the world. Goldman Sachs has been playing master Loan Shark to reckless governmental leaders around the globe. It's long past time we demand that these hustler's at Goldman Sachs eat their losses! Make them take 'ownership' of this house of cards they have erected upon shifting sands. From today forward their loans and deriviatives are their financial, moral and legal reponsibilty! Mr Blankfien can make everyone...