Free Republic

Macroman wrote: No one detests President Obama more than I, but I must point out two overstatements in this column. 1. "...employment in 2012 is roughly the same as it was back in 2001...Obama has compressed a lost decade into just three years." Labor force participation has been declining since 2000, not just 2008. That seems a partial reversal of the increase that occurred since about 1965. Obama had little to do with any of it. -Polls, Pump, No Friend to Obama Dear Comrade Macroman, Yes, labor force participation rates have been going down since 2000. But to pretend that...

GREAT JOBS REPORT: UNEMPLOYMENT RATE FALLS TO 7.5%, BIG UPWARD REVISIONS, 165,000 NEW JOBS Joe WeisenthalMay 3, 2013The April number is out and it's good all around! This is a major relief for the economy, as people have been worried about slowing data. The 165,000 new jobs was above the 140,000 that was expected. The unemployment rate fell to 7.5%. It was expected to stay flat at 7.6%. And there were big upward revisions to last month, which was originally really weak. Here's what the announcement says about revisions, which were strong for both March and February. The change in...

Goodyear's plant manager placed its bad-news call to City Hall at 7:58 a.m. Thursday: The Union City plant where 1,900 employees make radial tires will close by year's end. "We were just all surprised, I guess," City Clerk Carolyn Moran said, adding most everyone in this border town of 10,200 knows someone who works at the plant four miles north of City Hall. Union City sits at the Kentucky line, 115 miles northeast of Memphis. The area unemployment rate is 9.9 percent. Goodyear's fourth-quarter earnings report, released Thursday, disclosed the Akron, Ohio-based company will take a one-time $160 million charge...

NEW YORK — Insurer Prudential Financial Inc. said Monday that it will take a $100 million charge in the first quarter in relation to the recent health care overhaul legislation. The life insurance and annuities provider said in a regulatory filing that it will take the charge against earnings in the first quarter. Prudential joins a growing list of companies that have said they will take accounting charges because of the health care bills. AT&T said last week it would take a $1 billion charge in the first quarter. AK Steel Corp., 3M Co., Caterpillar Inc., Deere & Co. and...