Free Republic

This is the first of a three-part series Doomsaying, as Jonah complained to God, is a game that a doomsayer cannot win. This applies in spades to predicting a financial crisis. If proven wrong, the doomsayer is discredited. If proven right, he may be blamed for helping to precipitate the crisis by undermining public confidence. Far be it from me, therefore, to predict a US financial crisis in the coming months. However, indicators that a US financial crisis might occur during this session of Congress, described by this first part of a three-part essay, warrant prompt attention, especially by the...

“CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil reported how he and his team couldn’t find anybody outside a New Hampshire grocery that was “feeling good about the economy.” While previewing an upcoming CBS News segment set to air on Sunday, Dokoupil mentioned how people complained about higher food prices, despite macro signs that the economy is improving. The co-host claimed that President Biden continues to try and sell his economic achievements — aka “Bidenomics” — ahead of the 2024 presidential election. While speaking to local New Hampshire CBS anchors, Dokoupil reported, “People are really bummed out about the economy here in New...

“Since 2009, this has been 100% artificial, unprecedented money printing and deficits; $27 trillion over 15 years, to be exact. This is off the charts, 100% artificial, which means we’re in a dangerous state,” Harry Dent told Fox News Digital. “I think 2024 is going to be the biggest single crash year we’ll see in our lifetimes.” “I’m the guy that’s praying for a crash while everybody else is not. We need to get back down to normal, and we need to send a message to central banks,” he continued. “This should be a lesson I don’t think we’ll ever...

Barack Obama is concerned about Joe Biden's prospects for next year's election and 'feels that Democrats very well could lose', according to a report. With Donald Trump edging ahead in polls, and concerns about the president's age, immigration, Israel policy and economic plan denting confidence, a person described by The Wall Street Journal as being familiar with Obama's thinking said the former president was troubled. Trump leads by 2 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.

The thrill has gone from all the BIG spending bills from Biden. After its surprising bounce last month (on a seasonally-adjusted basis, because it crashed NSA), US Industrial Production was expected to decline 0.3% MoM in October. It was worse – down 0.6% MoM from a downwardly revised September print (from +0.3% to +0.1%). October’s decline is the worst since Dec 2022 and the YoY drop of 0.8% is the worst since the COVID lockdowns. AND Federal stimulypto is wearing off (M2 Money growth surge peaked in February 2021, but has slowed into negative growth starting in August 2022. Notably,...

Our long slide toward economic oblivion continues, and survey after survey has shown that most Americans are deeply unsatisfied with the current state of the U.S. economy. Inflation is out of control, most Americans are getting poorer due to the rapidly rising cost of living, the housing bubble has started to burst, and the commercial real estate market is a giant mess. But employment is supposed to be our bright spot. The Biden administration continues to tell us that the unemployment rate is less than 4 percent and that there are lot of jobs available for those that want them....

Rapidly rising food, housing, medical, and tuition prices are squeezing Americans, and many do not understand the real cause of their falling living standards...That confusion opens the door for opportunistic politicians who promise supposed freebies to ease the pain of inflation. Many, unfortunately, succumb to this siren’s call.Perverse as it is, the policies offered to people suffering from inflation create even more inflation. In other words, inflation has a way of perpetuating itself, much like a heroin addiction.We are already seeing cockamamie schemes in the US, like “inflation relief checks,” which attempt to solve the problems of inflation by creating...

The US economy is in the middle of an unusual “stagflation” period and lacks enough workers to meet spiking demand because of the Biden administration’s policies, FedEx founder and chairman Fred Smith said. Smith delivered his grim view of the economy after stocks tanked on FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam’s warning of a looming “worldwide recession.” The FedEx chairman blamed government programs that poured money into an overheated economy for sapping demand from the labor market. “We’re sort of in a stagnation, stagflation period, because you have this tremendous demand, but we’re still one percentage point, in terms of lower labor...

Oil prices slumped Monday, falling by more than 3% on fears that slowing global economic growth will weigh on crude demand ahead of likely new large interest rate hikes by a number of central banks, including the Federal Reserve. By 08:35 ET (12:35 GMT), U.S. crude futures traded 3.4% lower at $81.88 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 3% to $88.59. U.S. Gasoline RBOB Futures were down 2.8% at $2.3474 a gallon. Both benchmarks suffered their third consecutive negative week last week, and this selling has continued Monday as traders fretted that aggressive monetary tightening by a number of...

Walmart, Target, Macy’s and Kohl’s are among retailers that have recently said they are canceling some orders to better balance inventory levels, a replay of a strategy used at the start of the pandemic. Other steps retailers are using to clear inventories as spending has slowed on some non-discretionary categories are employing markdowns and packing away products for the following year. The elevated inventory levels also reflect intentional over-buying to mitigate shortages and the easing of supply chain constraints. One risk of canceling orders is straining or damaging relationships with trading partners. After the pandemic arrived, many retailers were called...

While speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) reacted to the Biden administration reportedly looking to increase energy imports from Iran and Venezuela by calling for a return to prior energy production policies to boost domestic energy production. CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju asked, “So, should the administration ease restrictions on production?”

The U.S. Treasury is reporting a record amount of taxes collected in the first two months of fiscal 2022 (October, November) — $565,135,000,000. The federal government also collected a record $282,094,000,000 in individual income taxes in the first two months of this fiscal year.