Free Republic

The pace of job cuts by U.S. employers accelerated at the start of 2024, a sign the labor market is starting to deteriorate in the face of ongoing inflation and high interest rates. That is according to a new report published by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which found that companies planned 82,307 job cuts in January, a substantial 136% increase from the previous month. However, that is down about 20% from the same time one year ago. It marked the second-highest layoff total for the month of January in data going back to 2009. "Waves of layoff announcements hit U.S.-based...

The campaign manager for Georgia GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker told campaign staff on Tuesday that the fundraising has surged for the Republican since he denied anonymous allegations about an alleged abortion. Scott Paradise, Walker’s campaign manager, told campaign staff this morning that the Daily Beast story accusing Walker of encouraging a woman — who has remained anonymous — to abort their unborn baby in 2009 is a “setback,” but fundraising has surged since he denied the allegations, according to a Gabby Orr, a CNN reporter.

Some Americans may be reminded of the words of one-time New York gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillan — the rent is still "too damn high" — with the latest rental data showing a 17% surge in major U.S. cities from a year ago. Renters paid a median monthly rent of $1,807 in March, according to Realtor.com. That double-digit spike even outpaced an 8.5% increase in consumer prices during the same period, with inflation hitting a 40-year high in large part due to higher costs at the gas pump.

SACRAMENTO - California lawmakers should scale back a planned increase in education funding, raise the gas tax and let college fees rise, state Legislative Analyst Liz Hill said Thursday in her annual critique of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget. The nonpartisan analyst recommended cutting $2.3 billion from Schwarzenegger's proposed $125 billion spending plan for fiscal 2006-07, including slashing $1 billion from education. Her recommendations, she said, would help reduce the state's long-term structural budget deficit and eliminate some of the "autopilot" spending measures that tie state officials' hands in designing budgets. "If you think of California as a patient fighting...

NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va., Aug. 29, 2005 – USS Saipan, USS Nashville and USS Nicholas returned to Naval Station Norfolk Aug. 25 from a three-month “surge” deployment. The ships surged May 25 under the Navy’s Fleet Response Plan. The Navy developed FRP to find new ways of operating, training, manning and maintaining the fleet so as to improve combat power and readiness, particularly in the ongoing battle against terrorism. Unlike most ships, these three deployed with less than two months to prepare, but the sailors on board understood why, said Vice Adm. Mark Fitzgerald, Commander U.S. 2nd Fleet, at the...