Free Republic

What happens when the silent majority stand up in full force and elect a president entirely focused on advancing the interests of Main Street over Wall Street? What happens when that President takes office and begins systematically instituting a comprehensive series of economic policies that are targeted to Make America Great Again?

Lower-wage retail jobs in particular were among the big gainers as a tighter labor market forced employers to shell out a bit more. After a slow start to 2018 on the pay-raise front, workers in the United States are starting to benefit from the strong economy: Wages across all jobs climbed by 2.2% year over year in July, according to data provided by Glassdoor. "[This] is the fastest wage growth we've seen in more than a year," said Glassdoor Chief Economist Andrew Chamberlain in an email. "As employers raise wages to hire amid low unemployment across the country, it's a...

Two employees of a North Shore assisted living center were booked with cruelty to the infirmed after they "cheered on" one resident as he beat up another, the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office reported Wednesday (Aug. 1). Latricia Johnson, 20, of Ponchatoula, and Tykeshia Berry, 30, of Hammond, were also booked into the parish jail with being a principal party to an aggravated second-degree battery and criminal conspiracy. The two suspects neglected to obtain medical treatment for the 22-year-old victim of the beating, who sustained serious injuries to his face and leg, the Sheriff's Office reported in a news release.

Out of Control: Without question, the IRS can be one of the most punitive and punishing of all federal agencies. A government running a chronic multi-trillion dollar debt needs every penny it can get. But should American taxpayers have to shell out millions of dollars annually to pay shoddy, underperforming, and — in many cases — dishonest and threatening workers? Apparently so.

A labor shortage issue is increasingly weighing on small businesses around the country. This comes despite record-high confidence on Main Street. In May, one-third of small-business owners reported job openings they could not fill, and 12 percent reported using temporary workers. Mike Fredrich shows off unmanned presses in his Manitowoc, Wisconsin, company. They're ready to start production at MCM Composites, a 55-person enterprise that makes custom thermoset molding. The only problem? Fredrich has no one to operate them. "These tools are heated to 300 degrees," he said. "But we're not running them. Had we had the people for the first...

Job growth for foreign born workers is growing more than twice as fast as it is for native born American citizens, newly released labor data reveals. According to the May 2018 Jobs Report, employment for foreign born workers grew three percent over the last year. In the same time period, employment for native born Americans grew less than 1.5 percent. Job growth for foreign born men also has continued growing faster than job growth for native born men. In the last year, employment for foreign born male workers has grown 2.7 percent, while employment for native born male workers has...

Nancy Pelosi Backtracks on ‘Crumbs’ Tax Reform Comment: ‘We Are Thankful Whenever Workers Get Bonuses’ House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) backtracked on her “crumbs” comment about tax reform, admitting that “we are thankful whenever workers get bonuses.” Pelosi admitted in a tweet on Thursday, “Certainly we are thankful whenever workers get bonuses. But it is incredibly telling that companies by-and-large chose to give out one-time bonuses, and not long-term raises.” Pelosi’s backtrack is a stark contrast to comments she made in February where she called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act “unpatriotic” at a town hall in Arizona.

At least 10 construction workers died and several were injured after a partially constructed bridge in central Colombia collapsed on Monday. The laborers were working on the bridge's drainage system when the incident occurred. The victims fell 280 meters (920 feet) into a ravine in Chirajara about 95 kilometers (60 miles) from the Colombian capital of Bogota.

SOUTHINGTON, CT — In alphabetical order, a majority of Democratic and one unaffiliated candidates for governor endorsed the idea of installing electronic tolls on Connecticut’s highways and received applause for it. The nine candidates participated in a forum Friday sponsored by the Connecticut Construction Industries Association. The same group sponsored a similar forum in December for the Republican gubernatorial candidates as well. None of the candidates who are still in the “exploratory” phase of their campaigns for governor were invited to either forum — only the declared candidates. The problem: Connecticut’s special transportation fund will start running a deficit in...

SILVER SPRING, Md. (ABC7) — MS-13 members held a Purple Line construction worker at gunpoint inside of a seemingly vacant building slated for demolition, police say. The two-story single-family house, which has since been torn down, was located at 807 University Boulevard East in Silver Spring - roughly a quarter-mile south of Piney Branch Road. The Maryland Transit Authority purchased the property to make way for the 16-mile light rail system that will link downtown Bethesda with the New Carrollton Metro station. According to Montgomery County Police, the Purple Line employee entered the abandoned structure around 8 a.m. on Tuesday,...

Thomas Frank, the author best-known for "What's the Matter with Kansas?" who's also a Washington political journalist, places the blame for the election of President Donald Trump squarely on the back of the Democratic Party and its abandonment of working-class Americans. "They love it when unions work hard for them and give them campaign funds," Frank said in a telephone interview. "But they aren't deeply concerned with the problems faced by working-class people," he said. "They need to stop taking those people for granted." What they got in exchange for that neglect was Trump, he said. Frank will be in...

I recently had the opportunity to read "The Creature from Jekyll Island" by G. Edward Griffin, a prodigious tome dealing with the circumstances surrounding the creation of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. I was taken aback by some of its provocative assertions. America joined World War I largely to help a few bankers profit off the war (despite a long-standing Monroe doctrine that prohibited our involvement in European affairs) The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 was supported by international financial interests in order to destabilize Russia and steal the wealth of the Russian people; and So-called "foreign aid" is merely a...

It's possible Illinois is about to come down with a statewide case of Seasonal Affected Disorder. The season is construction, which an old joke says is one of two in Illinois. The disorder is the continuing one in Springfield, where the ongoing budget crisis is about to shut down road projects during the height of that season. And the affected are everyone from officials who work to put needed projects together, to the drivers who have to negotiate construction zones and torn up streets. In Aurora, workers last week got the barriers and cones out to reduce Farnsworth Avenue, near...

Workers at McLane drive forklifts and load hefty boxes into trucks. The grocery supplier, which runs a warehouse in Colorado, needs people who will stay alert — but prospective hires keep failing drug screens. “Some weeks this year, 90 percent of applicants would test positive for something,” ruling them out for the job, said Laura Stephens, a human resources manager for the company in Denver. The state’s unemployment rate is already low — 3 percent, compared to 4.7 percent for the entire nation. Failed drug tests, which are rising locally and nationally, further drain the pool of eligible job candidates....

Workers making preparations for Saturday's Kentucky Derby worry that anti-immigrant fervor in Washington could cause many of them to be deported.

Globalist French President candidate Emmanuel Macron faced animosity from workers at a Whirlpool plant facing closure during a campaign visit after anti-mass migration candidate Marine Le Pen made a surprise visit hours earlier. What started as a planned campaign stop to visit the union bosses of a Whirlpool plant facing closure in Amiens ended in disaster for Mr. Macron after a surprise visit from his presidential rival. Mr. Macron was shoved and shouted at by workers who may lose their jobs as the factory is scheduled to be relocated to Poland next June French broadcaster BFMTV reports. The 39-year-old Presidential...

Earlier this month I was asking what, if anything, was going to happen with the Obama era refugee deal which had been struck with Australia. They’ve got thousands of migrants, primarily from Iraq, Syria and other troubled regions, basically stuck in some island camps where they are coming into conflict with the local residents. The United States had said that we would be taking more than a thousand of them off their hands, but the President somewhat famously referred to it as “a dumb deal” he would have to study. I suppose the study period is over because we got...

After being rescued from bankruptcy earlier this week, [Sungevity] fired more employees with no formal notice – and changed its name to Spectrum Solar.

Remember that time, roughly two months ago, when President Trump promised not to roll back an order protecting the rights of LGBTQ workers? Yeah, well, he lied. Surprise! On Monday, Trump signed an executive order revoking key parts of previous orders by President Obama, which had effectively banned federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Under Executive Order 13673, which Obama issued in 2014, companies receiving federal contracts in excess of half a million dollars were required to demonstrate they had complied with a set of 15 federal or state labor laws over the...

As union honchos for government workers describe it, the paycheck protection legislation that passed the state Senate last month amounts to a political gag order on workers. But if there's any actual “gagging” going on, it's in attempting to swallow this union shibboleth. The Senate bill bars state, local government and school district employers from deducting any portion of union dues from workers' paychecks that fund political activity. Deductions for contract negotiations and other costs remain unchanged.