Free Republic

News We Can Use

Organizers of next week's “Equal Pay Day”—the day created to signify when women have finally earned enough to make up for last year's wage gap—want the public to believe that the gap between men and women's earnings would be erased if only we had political leaders fully committed to women's equality and the right laws and regulations on the books. But if that's true, then why didn't the wage gap disappear under President Obama? Undoubtedly, Equal Pay Day champions—and groups that creation petitions and send out memes under the title “The Resistance” —are relieved to be able to use this...

African Americans were worse off financially in 2016 than they were in 2000. The median income for an African American household was $39,490 last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released last week. It was $41,363 in 2000. (Both figures are in 2016 dollars, so they have been adjusted for inflation). African Americans are the only racial group the Census Bureau identifies that has been left behind. White, Asian and Latino households have all seen at least modest income gains since 2000.

President Obama’s great stimulus spending and QE programs saw disposable income of average Americans reverse historic trends and stagnate or actually decline. There has been a huge increase in the taxes they have to pay for everything from gasoline to cell phones and property taxes. And since government is responsible for these taxes and the big states are all run by Democrats with liberal news media, these facts are seldom reported. A December 2015 study of the American middle class done by the Pew Research center found that for the first time in over forty years the middle class no...

The Bureau of Economic Analysis’s advance estimate of real gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2017, which was released in April, had the U.S. economy growing at an annual rate of just 0.7 percent. The BEA’s second estimate, which is “based on more complete source data” and which was released today, increases the estimate for the annual rate of first quarter growth in real GDP to only 1.2 percent. In the last quarter of 2016, according to the BEA, real GDP grew at an annual rate of 2.1 percent, while for all of 2016 it grew at only...

With more than half of 2017 still ahead, the retail industry is seeing a record-setting pace for bankruptcy filings and store closings — and more are expected in the not too distant future, despite what most consider a healthy consumer. This tipping point for retail is the result of a number of compounding reasons, but the inability to pay looming, massive debt bills is dealing the final death blow to many. More online shopping Yes, more shopping is shifting online in general, and to Amazon specifically, as in-store shopping traffic and sales trends fall for many retailers and shopping...

Over the past 10-years personal income in the US has increased at a 3.39% annualized rate which is the slowest 10-year annualized growth rate since the data began in 1960. Clearly, there has been a ‘stair-step’ decline in the growth rate of personal income over the past several decades. In the 1980s personal income averaged a 9.5% annualized growth rate, in the 1990s it averaged a 6.4% annualized growth rate, and in the 2000s it averaged a 5.2% annualized growth rate. Thus far in the 2010s, the average annualized growth rate has fallen to 3.9%. [..snip..]

The stock market has been on quite a roll in recent weeks, but signs of trouble continue to plague the real economy. Earlier this week, I talked about the “retail apocalypse” that is sweeping America. Major retail chains such as Sears and Macy’s are closing stores and laying off workers, but I didn’t think that Wal-Mart would be feeling the pain as well. Unfortunately, that is precisely what is happening. USA Today is reporting that approximately 1,000 jobs will be cut at Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas by the end of this month…

Retailers are bracing for a fresh wave of store closures at the start of the new year. The industry is heading into 2017 with a glut of store space as shopping continues to shift online and foot traffic to malls declines, according to analysts ~SNIP~Nearly every major department store, including Macy's, Kohl's, Walmart, and Sears, have collectively closed hundreds of stores over the last couple years to try and stem losses from unprofitable stores and the rise of ecommerce. But the closures are far from over. Macy's has already said that it's planning to close 100 stores, or about 15%...

Americans see themselves as people on the move. When the going gets tough or when opportunity beckons, we get up and go. We move around a lot. Actually, we don't -- or don't nearly so much as we used to. The percentage of Americans moving every year is less than half that of a half-century ago and down significantly since the early 1990s. Some of that decline is a response to the economic cycle. Contrary to widespread impression, mobility tends to decline in bad economic times. The Okies moving from the Dust Bowl to the Central Valley of California made...

Jobs: While economists, the administration and the Fed all trumpet "near full employment," a stark reality intrudes: Most of the jobs created in the last decade have been temp or gig jobs, not permanent full-time work. It's a huge problem. From 2005 to 2015, fully 94% of the 10 million net new jobs were either temporary or contract gigs, says a new study by economists Lawrence Katz of Harvard University and Alan Krueger at Princeton University. The share of Americans — mostly Millennials — now doing what the study's authors call "alternative work" has risen from 10.7% to 15.8%. That...

TylerDurdenDecember 23,2016 Just over six years ago, in December of 2010, we wrote "Charting America's Transformation To A Part-Time Worker Society", in which we predicted - and showed - that in light of the underlying changes resulting from the second great depression, whose full impacts remain masked by trillions in monetary stimulus and soon, perhaps fiscal, America is shifting from a traditional work force, one where the majority of new employment is retained on a full-time basis, to a "gig" economy, where workers are severely disenfranchised, and enjoy far less employment leverage, job stability and perks than their pre-crash peers....

Cannot copy and paste content for some reason

The Obama Legacy explained in just 9 charts. A dead rat could do better.

Federal Reserve officials, amid signs that the U.S. economy soon could shed its long period of stagnation, approved the first interest rate hike in a year Wednesday and said it foresees three more increases next year. The stock market reacted calmly, while the dollar and bond yields rose.

Thanks, Obama! Donald Trump had a rocky campaign. And the transition has been bumpy as well. But he looks to be rolling onto the presidency on the smoothest economic path of any president in a long time. Data ranging from wage and job growth to manufacturing-sector indicators show that Donald Trump is getting an economy in better shape than any new president in a generation. Take a look at the following four indicators to see just how fortunate the President-elect is: GDP Growth The only indicator that shows Trump inheriting a generally weaker economy than is typical is GDP growth....

As the media begins to draw a pretty picture about the November jobs report, namely that unemployment has dropped to 4.6 percent, its lowest level in nine years, they are unlikely to tell you the other part of the story. The labor force participation rate continues to decline and is stuck at a rate we haven't seen since February 1978, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It gets worse. Last month, we lost 4,000 manufacturing jobs, offering more damage to the already 301,000 we've lost since President Obama took office. The Republican National Committee says that is going to change under President-elect...

There is a lot of talk out there about the auto-loan market right now. Hedge fund manager Jim Chanos has said the auto-lending market should "scare the heck out of everybody," while the auto-lending practices of some used-car dealerships has been given the John Oliver treatment on TV. It's a topic we've been paying attention to as well. In a presentation in September at the Barclays Financial Services Conference, Gordon Smith, the chief executive for consumer and community banking at JPMorgan, set out some eye-opening statistics on the market. Now the New York Federal Reserve is taking a closer look...

Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan told Chris Wallace that the Democratic caucus' failure in this past election is due to the fact that their legislators have not concentrated enough on economic issues. Ryan, 43, who is challenging Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for her House Minority Leader position, said "a robust economic message that covers everybody" is the best prescription for Democrats' success in the future.

Donald Trump’s online campaign shop is joining the Black Friday madness. The president-elect’s campaign is cashing in on the busy shopping day by offering 30 percent off his “Make America Great Again” gear, according to an email blast sent Friday. But to score a bargain on The Donald’s retail goodies — including caps, foam fingers and buttons — buyers are required to enter their employer and occupation on the shop’s website. A Trump spokeswoman said the information would be used for future fundraising. “That information is required for all political fundraising,” said spokeswoman Hope Hicks. To tap into the sale,...