Free Republic

Migration and free trade impose huge unrecognized costs on ordinary people, says a Nobel-awarded Princeton economist who previously supported the unpopular, elite-backed policies. “I used to subscribe to the near consensus among economists that immigration to the US was a good thing,” Professor Angus Deaton wrote in a post for the International Monetary Fund. He continued: Longer-term analysis over the past century and a half tells a different story. Inequality was high when America was open [to migration], was much lower when the borders were closed [to migrants], and rose again post Hart-Celler (the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965)...

In the aftermath of the pandemic, wealth inequality in the United States has intensified, according to reports from the New York Fed and Reuters. This outcome aligns with expectations, given the surge in financial assets that largely exclude those with minimal net worth. Individuals without exposure to these assets rely solely on earnings growth to accumulate wealth, further widening the economic gap. A concerning trend accompanies this disparity. Credit card debt witnessed a significant uptick, surging by 14.5% in the fourth quarter of 2023, as reported by CNBC. This increase places additional financial strain on individuals grappling with a lack...

Let’s face it: income inequality in our country has gotten out of hand. I know that these words sound like a Marxists slogan. Marxists will always grab at a shred of truth to push their destructive economic policies in the name of fairness. We all know (those of us with functioning brains) that there is no fairness in the world, and there never has been, and there never will be. That does not excuse us from being wary of the extreme divisions arising from unhealthy income inequality. There does exist a point where we cannot ignore the issue as libertarians...

In the intricate web of economic indicators, the perils of relying on averages come to light, exposing the stark reality of worsening inequality. Beyond the glossy surface of seemingly prosperous financial landscapes, a deeper dive into individual income data reveals a challenging narrative for the bottom 80 percent. Bank of America’s assertion that credit card delinquencies are on the rise is a somber note in the symphony of economic statistics. While, on average, households may boast flush liquid assets, the truth lies in the nuanced story of individual struggles within the lower income brackets. This narrative is intimately tied to...

There’s apparently no end to how far the mainstream operatives will go in their quest to destroy the virtues of the West, and a USA Today article published last week is a prime example.The man behind the piece, Daniel de Visé, essentially implies that anyone not born into tremendous wealth doesn’t have a chance at success, and those who are rich only got that way by mere circumstance and birthright, overtly implying that capitalism has caused this problem and that, we must work harder for equality.There are huge problems with de Visé’s article, but I will do my best to...

Bidenomics, which Bumbling Biden can’t explain, and his Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre only utters “top down was a failure, we are trying the opposite!” Sorry Karine, Bidenomics personifies top down economic (mis)management where DC picks winners and losers as opposed to the free market. Under Biden’s corrupt administation, it is more like an economic FLEA market. Where the fleas get crumbs and the 1% get all the steaks and champagne. Bidenomics is a confluence of insane levels of Federal spending and horrid Fed monetary policy, particularly in reaction to Covid. Then we have 3 consecutive quarters of declining household...

Former President Barack Obama called out what he perceived as a double standard in media coverage of the tragedy of the OceanGate Titan submersible versus the migrant boat that sank off the coast of Greece last week. In an interview with CNN host Christiane Amanpour in Athens, Greece Thursday night, the 44th president railed against "inequality" in our "democracy" and claimed the fact that news of the missing OceanGate sub dominated the news cycle, while the sinking of a migrant boat in the Mediterranean Sea did not, is an example of this "inequality." Obama noted that "democracy is not going...

Charles Calomiris has a splendid WSJ review of a great book, "The Myth of American Inequality" by by Phil Gramm, Robert Ekelund and John Early. It is a "'a truth universally acknowledged,' according to the Economist magazine in 2020" that little progress has been made in raising average American living standards since the 1960s; that poverty has not been substantially reduced over the period; that the median household’s standard of living has not increased in recent years and inequality is currently high and rising Most of all the last one. All of this is false. Most of all the last...

Inequality is not the same as unfairness. For example, small children are not the equals of adults. There is no unfairness in that. On the contrary, try to imagine the disaster that would ensue if three-year-old children were expected to earn their own living. True, we are all equal in many respects, particularly in regard to our God-given rights (which are different from the contrived rights invented by the social left). But there are also many inherent inequalities among people — so many as to make it obvious that we cannot reasonably hope for equal outcomes. This is patently true...

Just imagine a world in which, almost overnight, the transport system breaks down. Flights across the world are cancelled, leaving thousands of travellers stranded far from home. Airports are crowded with mobs of angry, frightened people. Even greater throngs descend on the railway stations, desperate to squeeze on to the horribly overcrowded trains.

The percentage of wealth owned by the top 1% keeps rising over time. Who's to credit or blame?Data Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Fed), Chart by MishThis data series compiled by the Fed started in the third quarter of 1989. The most recent data is from the third quarter of 2021.If you have not seen charts of this series before, the numbers may seem shocking. 1989 Q3 vs 2021 Q3 PercentagesTop 1% Then 23.6%, Now 32.1%90th to 99th Percentile Then 37.3%, Now 37.5%50th to 90th Percentile Then 35.6%, Now 27.9%Bottom 50% Then 3.7%, Now 2.5%Gains or...

In some ways, we sympathize with Neel Kashkari's fake "concern" about the unprecedented wealth inequality that has emerged in the US in recent years and which has resulted in a slow, methodical and relentless destruction of the US middle class ... or rather make that precedented because there was another time when the top 0.1% had amassed as much wealth and it was just before the Great Depression.After all, who hasn't seen charts such as these showing the tremendous divergence in income earned by America's Top 1% at the expense of the middle and lower classes:Or that the top 10%...

Inequality in employment, education and earnings has cost the U.S. economy nearly $22.9 trillion over the past 30 years, a sum that is likely to increase as minority populations expand, according to a new paper from economists including Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly. “The opportunity to participate in the economy and to succeed based on ability and effort is at the foundation of our nation and our economy,” the authors wrote. “Unfortunately, structural barriers have persistently disrupted this narrative for many Americans, leaving the talents of millions of people underutilized or on the sidelines. The result...

Inequality is almost universally condemned by the intellectual elite. But most of the rest of the world doesn’t think inequality is such a bad thing. According to polling by Gallup, there are 138 million people in the world today who would like to immigrate to the United States. Most of these people are poor. They tend to live in egalitarian surroundings – they and their neighbors are all equally poor. (The country with the highest percentage of would-be immigrants is Liberia.) Yet they want to come to a country with a great deal of inequality, knowing they would start out...

The White House, under fire about their use of migrant children detention centers that Democrats ripped into under former President Donald Trump, noted Thursday that the facilities are providing educational services — even as schools nationwide struggle to reopen. Asked about the uptick of migrants at the border — as well as progressive Democrat backlash to the Biden administration’s handling of it through the use of detention centers, White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the effort as humane....

Fidelity, the largest 401(k) provider in the US, has just released its third-quarter analysis titled "Building Financial Futures" that outlines the number of 401(k) millionaires hit a new high during the pandemic, reported WaPo. Fidelity said client balances of more than one million dollars for 401(k) accounts increased to 262,000, up 17% from the previous quarter. The number of IRA millionaires also increased to 234,000, up 15% in the quarter. Both breached the highs recorded in4Q19 when Fidelity reported 233,000 401(k) millionaires and 208,000 IRA millionaires.Market performance was primarily the reason for increases in 401(k) account balances in 3Q20. Despite...

While a majority of American families have discussed Black Lives Matter and police brutality in the wake of ongoing protests about racial inequality, only a minority of them, regardless of political affiliation, see it as an important issue, according to a recent poll. The latest American Family Survey, released on Tuesday, was conducted between July 3 and July 14 for a partnership between the Deseret News and Brigham Young University’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. The study explores several areas of family life, including relationships, economics, politics, health and culture. The market research and data analytics firm...

New York (CNN Business)Bank of America is donating $1 billion over the next four years to community programs and small businesses to help address economic and racial inequality that has been exacerbated by Covid-19. CEO Brian Moynihan said in press release Tuesday that "underlying economic and social disparities" were made worse by the pandemic and mentioned the nationwide protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody has "created a sense of true urgency."

The coronavirus lockdowns are America’s most regressive government actions since the draft. Even as liberals have quickly noted the virus’s disparate incidence, they have ignored the inequities of government responses. Ironically, these responses have been most regressive in states with the most “progressive” governments. In just four months, coronavirus has gone from takeoff to lockdown in the U.S. America’s first Wuhan virus case appeared on Jan. 21, and the first American died Feb. 12. California went into lockdown March 19, followed by New York the next day, and New Jersey on March 21. Two months later, America is only now...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) may be 78, but he’s 78 going on 30. He thinks like a millennial. And he’s got the energy and the political passion to match. A lot of millennials want free stuff — and Bernie is the guy who wants to give it to them. A lot of millennials think socialism is a great idea. So does Bernie. Bernie doesn’t simply want to change a few things about America so that they match his vision of what this country ought to be. That would be, to him anyway, like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic....