Free Republic

The so-called Green New Deal that was recently posted as a congressional Resolution and endorsed by many high-profile Democrats is essentially a twenty-first century version of the 1888 utopian novel, Looking Backward, by the Marxist-inspired writer Edward Bellamy. The main character of the novel, one Julian West, falls asleep for 113 years and awakes in the year 2000 delighting in the fact that America had been turned into a socialist utopia. A major theme of the novel is that all the evils of society can be eradicated by more-or-less totalitarian government controls, mandates, and regulations. That is also the theme...

If Joe Biden does run for president Opens a New Window. , it will be the culmination of two years of weighing the issue while meeting with donors, many of them Wall Street executives -- and nearly duking it out with one of them along the way. Of course, the former vice president's path to run for president in 2020 Opens a New Window. didn't literally begin on the corner of Wall and Broad Streets in lower Manhattan. But as FOX Business has reported, financial sector donors have been at his side from nearly the moment he began thinking about...

The long-running battle between the gig industry and the Big Apple has taken yet another turn. Despite the best efforts of Uber and Lyft to find some sort of compromise and accommodation with the municipal government of New York City, new laws were passed that put a cap on new licenses for ride-hailing vehicles and mandated a minimum hourly wage for drivers. This was done knowing full well that it undercuts the entire concept of ride-sharing services. And now Uber is joining Lyft in taking the city to court over these restrictions. (CNBC) Uber sued New York City on...

New York State managed to draw significant national media attention this week when Amazon decided to cancel its plan to open a new HQ in Queens. AOC, who apparently now runs the Democratic Party, immediately declared victory, having ensured that a caravan of tens of thousands of new, well-paying jobs wouldn’t invade the area. But as difficult as it may be to believe, that wasn’t the worst economic news New Yorkers had to face.The less reported story had to do with Governor Andrew Cuomo’s plan to save the upstate region by investing in “green technology” companies, presumably also bringing...

Last week in Viareggio, Italy, the citizens paraded with a huge float depicting President Trump as Hercules. Looking at his many accomplishments against countless enemies and political opponents, the depiction was not inapt. Like Hercules, he defeated the Queen of the Amazons, and this week, he's going on to clean out the Augean Stables. In this respect, he's aided by the utter stupidity of his opponents. A. The Green New Deal For decades now, under the guise of environmental protection, the far left has tied down America's economy. It's been largely gradual, hidden in fancy language and supported by those...

Full title: Southwest Airlines declares an 'operational emergency' due to grounded jets and 'threatens to fire mechanics who don't show up for work' as hundreds of planes are delayed or canceled Southwest Airlines has declared an 'operational emergency' due to grounded jets and threatened to fire mechanics who don't show up for work, according to reports. In a company memo seen by CNBC the carrier said notes from doctors were needed if they were 'alleging illness' after an unusually high number of planes needed maintenance work. Hundreds of their planes were delayed Friday, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Up to...

The national debt hit $22 trillion this week. You won’t find many in either major party who think this is a healthy development. But isn’t part of the reason people vote Republican because that party presents itself as fiscally responsible compared to Democrats? For as long as the debt has grown, Republicans have been promising to stop it. Yet, in 1981 the national debt topped $1 trillion after former President Ronald Reagan’s first year. When former President George H.W. Bush left office in 1993, it was more than $4 trillion. His son, former President George W. Bush, would push it...

The following, written in 1940, is excerpted from Interventionism, An Economic Analysis, which was originally part of Nationaloekonomie, the German predecessor to Human Action. Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini constantly proclaim that they are chosen by destiny to bring salvation to this world. They claim they are the leaders of the creative youth who fight against their outlived elders. They bring from the East the new culture which is to replace the dying Western civilization. They want to give the coup de grace to liberalism and capitalism; they want to overcome immoral egoism by altruism; they plan to replace the anarchic...

Bill de Blasio: The Path Amazon Rejected It could have answered the concerns of citizens. Instead it bolted. By Bill de Blasio Mr. de Blasio is mayor of New York City. Feb. 16, 2019 The first word I had that Amazon was about to scrap an agreement to bring 25,000 new jobs to New York City came an hour before it broke in the news on Thursday. The call was brief and there was little explanation for the company’s reversal. Just days before, I had counseled a senior Amazon executive about how they could win over some of their critics....

The February 15, 2019, shooting at Henry Pratt Company (HPC) occurred even though HPC is a gun-free zone. Crime Prevention Research Center reported, “This attempted mass public shooting occurred in yet another gun-free zone. 98% of mass public shootings since 1950 have taken place in areas where people can’t defend themselves.” Georgia Carry also posted a photo of a sign indicating no guns allowed on HPC’s front door to its Instagram account.

The environmentalist movement was never about smog, pollution or even global warming. In the minds of naive people who fell for the propaganda, it was. But the reality was always implicit. The environmentalist movement was always about control. And shame. The “Green New Deal” has exposed the environmentalist movement for what it is. It has made the insanity explicit. If you want to sum up environmentalism, you might call it urban religion. It’s an expression of guilt. “You live in a land of plenty. It’s shameful.” Today’s environmentalists are the modern Puritans. They’re repressive, shaming and hostile to comfort and...

A White House study released on Friday found that President Donald Trump’s Obamacare reforms will save Americans roughly $450 billion over the next ten years. A White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) study released on Friday found that Americans will save $450 billion through Trump’s Obamacare reforms. The CEA suggested that Trump’s repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate and the expansion of short-term insurance plans and Association Health Plans (AHPs) will save Americans billions over the next ten years. The White House also suggested that the benefits of Trump’s deregulatory actions saved Americans billions, increased access to more health...

If you’re terrified of guns, or if you want all power to collect and reside in the hands of “the authorities,” then background checks are not the wrong thing. Background checks are a tool for control over the population. But they don’t control crime. They don’t even address crime. Democrats know this, or should. These checks are something the organizers of this free country could not even imagine, much less sanction. Your acquisition of power (firearms) is supposed to stand totally apart from government reach. But that’s philosophical, too deep for many modern citizens. It’s hopelessly arcane for typical public...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) earned praise from “drug justice” advocates after criticizing a growing marijuana legalization and business model that is paving the way for white male investors to reap major profits after minorities spent decades in prisons for selling pot. She made her comments during a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing this week on banking services for the burgeoning cannabis industry as more states legalize the sale and use of marijuana. She suggested the growing industry was “compounding the racial wealth gap” by allowing wealthy white-dominated companies to gain a quick advantage in the industry. She complained that communities...

Littering on Everest is a significant issue, both on the base camps and higher up the mountain itself. In recent years both Nepal and China have implemented measures to try to force climbers to bring their waste down with them, and not leave it on the mountain. Nepal in 2014 began charging a $4,000 garbage deposit that would be forfeited if climbers fail to return with their trash. The government of the Tibet Autonomous Region statement announcing the closure called for further action to protect Mount Everest, saying that workers had collected some 9 tons of trash from above 17,000...

Stocks surged on Friday amid increasing hopes for a U.S.-China trade deal as equities posted another solid weekly gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 443.86 points to 25,883.25 as J.P. Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs outperformed. The S&P 500 gained 1.1 percent to close at 2,775.60, led by the energy and industrials sectors. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.6 percent to end the day at 7,472.41. Energy shares were boosted by higher oil prices. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 2.2 percent to $55.59 per barrel. Bank stocks also rose broadly. The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) climbed 2.25 percent. Goldman...

Amid all the hoopla about Democrats wanting to raise taxes on the rich, they are quietly working on a bill that would increase taxes on every working family in America. Why? To fund expanded benefits for baby boomers hitting retirement. The Social Security 2100 Act would hike the combined payroll taxes paid by workers and their employers from 12.4% today to 14.8% by 2043. The bill would also apply the payroll tax on incomes over $400,000. According to the Social Security Administration, in the first 12 years alone, this would amount to a $1.5 trillion tax hike. Once the tax...

WASHINGTON — What is happening to the Democrats? Captivated by a handful of liberal superstars, they are venturing where the party has long feared to tread: Steep taxes on the rich. Abolishing an immigration enforcement agency. And proposing a sweeping Green New Deal that calls for an “economic transformation” to combat climate change. On Thursday, newly-elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led a chorus of cheers as Amazon announced it was abandoning plans to build a sought-after headquarters in New York City. Activists berated the online giant for a $3 billion package of tax breaks she said the city could better invest...

Democrats are starting to figure out that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the gift that keeps on giving . . . to Republicans. A few days ago, Nancy Pelosi disdainfully dismissed Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal as "the green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they’re for it, right?” On today's Morning Joe, there was consensus condemnation of Ocasio-Cortez's opposition to NYC's deal with Amazon to establish an HQ in NYC, which contributed to Amazon's decision to cancel its plans. Donny Deutsch put it in starkest terms, saying Ocasio-Cortez is "extremely dangerous," and "does not know what...

The Latest on President Donald Trump and border security (all times local): 11:25 a.m. Congress' two top Democrats say they'll use "every remedy available" to oppose President Donald Trump's declaration of an emergency to shift billions of federal dollars into building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (puh-LOH'-see) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday they'll take action "in the Congress, in the Courts, and in the public." They say Trump's decision to declare an emergency is unlawful. They say it would "shred the Constitution" by usurping Congress' power to control spending.