Free Republic

Grocery prices fell on the whole in April for the first time in 12 months, according to data released Wednesday by the Labor Department.

President Javier Milei of Argentina continues to stun his critics with an economy that has outperformed expectations and continues along an ambitious path for national security, including pursuit of a NATO global partnership. "The fact that you have a president, head of state, who is defending the free market, who is defending the role of entrepreneurs and businessmen as creators of value and just defending deregulation when the tendency in Latin America and much of the West has been to regulate the economy . . . I think that's very positive, not only for Argentina, but for the region as...

I never imagined that we would ever see a time when it takes $177,798 for a family of four to live comfortably in the United States. Unfortunately, that day has arrived. Our leaders have been pursuing highly inflationary policies for many years, and now we have reached a point where inflation is wildly out of control. In fact, the latest wholesale inflation figure that was released on Tuesday came in much higher than expected. Sadly, this is just the beginning and we are in far more trouble than most people realize.According to an incredibly shocking new study, most Americans do...

s the nation’s $34 trillion-plus debt remains top of mind for some on Capitol Hill, polling has shown Americans have also grown more concerned about the country’s balance sheet. Although Washington is deeply divided over how to tackle the nation’s deficits, there has been some momentum among House Republicans for a special commission to explore ways to improve the country’s fiscal trajectory. Those efforts have fueled concerns about cuts to key programs seniors rely on, like Social Security and Medicare. But experts warn the potential consequences of higher debt could impact all Americans.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told MSNBC on Wednesday there was “no question” that the economy under President Joe Biden was “strong” and “doing well.” After MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle asked Romney during an interview why he was so optimistic about the future of the country, Romney replied, “First of all, America is an extraordinarily resilient country.” He explained, “We just had this extraordinary pandemic, and yet our economy is strong, low levels of unemployment, it’s extraordinary, and it’s not because the president is pulling all the levers in the right way. No, it’s not. It’s because the American people are...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has turned to climate change to explain how the state went from a $100 billion surplus two years ago to a $28 billion deficit, which would have been even higher prior to drastic actions last month. As CalMatters noted, deficit estimates ranged from $38 billion to $73 billion: That prompted Newsom and the Legislature to take “early action” last month to reduce the deficit by more than $17 billion ahead of the regular budget process. Their plan included some program cuts, but mostly relied on new revenue, internal borrowing and funding delays and shifts for...

Credit card delinquencies are on the rise, as research from the New York Federal Reserve shows nearly a fifth of borrowers are “maxed-out.” According the new report, issued by the bank’s Center for Microeconomic Data, household debt rose by 1.1 percent, or $184 billion, in the first quarter of the year, bringing the total to $17.69 trillion. “In the first quarter of 2024, credit card and auto loan transition rates into serious delinquency continued to rise across all age groups,” Joelle Scally, regional economic principal within the household and public policy research division at the bank, said in a statement....

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers signed a letter to President Biden, pleading with him to act on high grocery prices that have been slow to fall as inflation has come down. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., led the letter Monday morning, calling on Biden to "exercise your executive authority to take additional action to address rising food prices without congressional action." The letter amassed 40 Democratic signatories between the House and Senate, including senators Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and representatives Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., among others. The lawmakers acknowledged "Americans are facing sky-high...

Actor John Leguizamo wants Latinos to stop blaming President Joe Biden for the economy, telling them to instead blame record-high consumer prices on COVID and Trump. In a Salon interview last week, John Leguizamo was reacting to recent polling figures showing former President Donald Trump gaining ground among Latino voters. “Because Latinos, they’re blaming him [Biden] for the economy, which they shouldn’t be because COVID was the culprit and Trump not handling COVID was the culprit in damaging our economy,” he said. “But our economy is doing great. It’s just inflation that’s messing up everybody’s paycheck. So I understand that.”

Could a second Biden term be more injurious to the economy than his first term? It seems unimaginable given the first three years gave us 20% inflation, a $2,000 loss in average real incomes for the middle class, 6 million added illegal immigrants, a war on American energy that has caused gas prices to rise by more than 40% to $3.64 a gallon, the collapse of our many major cities, another $6 trillion added to the national debt, the unaffordability of new homes, and the chaos on college campuses. So what's the encore to that abysmal performance? What will Bidenomics...

(The Economic Collapse Blog)—You can get a really good idea how the U.S. economy is doing by watching restaurants in your area. When the economy is booming, restaurant parking lots are full and chains are feverishly establishing new locations. But when the economy is struggling, restaurants get a lot less traffic and poor performing locations get shut down. Sadly, in 2024 it appears that a “restaurant apocalypse” has started to sweep across America. Most people have very little discretionary income to spend as a result of our cost of living crisis, and that is particularly true for our young adults....

Inflation at the wholesale level rose much more than expected in April, the latest sign that price pressures within the economy remain elevated and difficult to tame. The Labor Department said Tuesday that its producer price index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level before it reaches consumers, rose 0.5% in April from the previous month. On an annual basis, prices remain up 2.2% — the highest level since April 2023. While the monthly gain is notably higher than the 0.2% increase forecast by LSEG economists, the headline figure is in line with expectations.

Could a second Biden term be more injurious to the economy than his first term? It seems unimaginable given the first three years gave us 20% inflation, a $2,000 loss in average real incomes for the middle class, 6 million added illegal immigrants, a war on American energy that has caused gas prices to rise by more than 40% to $3.64 a gallon, the collapse of our many major cities, another $6 trillion added to the national debt, the unaffordability of new homes, and the chaos on college campuses. So what’s the encore to that abysmal performance? What will Bidenomics...

A majority of voters (51 percent) believe their financial position is worse off under President Joe Biden’s economic policies, a Financial Times/Michigan Ross poll recently found. Biden’s poor economy for Main Street is the number one issue facing voters in the 2024 election. The average Wisconsin family lost $21,981 because of the increased cost of living under Biden, the Republican National Committee estimated in May. In Biden’s America, a McDonald’s Big Mac burger, a medium beverage, and a medium fry meal costs $18 in some locations, up $10 from 2018 when former President Donald Trump was in office.

Americans consistently voice their disapproval on the state of the economy in recent polls, largely because of the stratospheric cost of living. But apologists for the Biden administration point to the low unemployment rate of 3.9% in April as proof of the economy’s strength. Yet this is a hollow talking point since the real unemployment rate is likely between 6.5 and 7.7%. The unemployment rate is the percentage of people in the labor force who don’t have a job. That means the unemployment rate can change if either the number of people unemployed or the total size of the labor...

A just-released report from Scholaroo indicates that the U.S. national average for credit card debt has escalated to $6,555, with New Jersey residents leading the nation with an average debt of $8,155 per credit card. Scholaroo, a national firm matching college students with potential scholarships, surveyed more than 2,000 people across the United States during the final quarter of 2023.Coming in at a close second is Connecticut, with an average debt of $8,011 per credit card, followed by Maryland, New York, and Alaska—all with average credit card debts of more than $7,600 per card. Rounding out the top 10 states...

If you haven’t tuned into the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting to see highlights, a certain moment is grabbing headlines but another more nuanced one is where your attention should go.The most poignant moment of the day was when Warren turned to his new right-hand man Greg Able but invited former lieutenant Charlie Munger for his views. The simple question “Charlie?” was enough to melt hearts as it became clear the one-two punch duo of Charlie and Warren that had been a staple of these Woodstock for Capitalists meetings for decades still lived on in Warren, and is a habit...

As a Breitbart New item described it, there’s been a “narrative collapse” on the left, because the open borders mass migration scheme embraced by the globalist politicians in the West “has not actually stimulated the economy” as they promised, and has also been found to be “a major drag on public services and the housing sector.”No kidding?Here are the details, from journalist Kurt Zindulka:While globalist advocates of mass migration argue that it increases tax revenues and lifts overall GDP, thereby giving governments talking points, on an individual basis there is a different story.According to data from the Organisation for Economic...

Barry Sternlicht, a prominent figure in the real estate industry as the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, has sounded the alarm regarding the precarious state of regional and community banks across the United States. His apprehension stems from the challenges faced by these institutions amid the current economic landscape characterized by higher interest rates, increasing vacancies, and inflationary pressures. Sternlicht’s concerns point to a potential wave of bank failures, with implications for the broader financial system.

resident Biden dismissed polls showing voters disapprove of his handling of the economy and trust former President Trump more on the issue Wednesday. "We've already turned it around," Biden insisted when asked by CNN host Erin Burnett about low consumer confidence about the economy, including housing costs going up, real income adjusted for inflation going down, and weak economic growth since Biden took office. Biden cited a survey indicating the American people "think their nation is not in good shape, but they’re personally in good shape," before asserting, "The polling data has been wrong all along." He knocked polling methodology,...