Free Republic

I know many claim things are better but the there are 0.97 open jobs to every 1 unemployed...Businesses are closing right and left..Banks are in trouble, repos are at record levels, Credit Card defaults are at atmospheric levels. Beginning to look like 1929...the beginnings of it anyway...Let them eat cake I guess... October layoffs Amazon 30,000+ UPS 46,000 Target 1,800 Paramount 1,000 Applied Materials 1,400 Sika 1,800 And many more

Quote of the week: “Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair. “ - Sam EwingThe ‘debasement trade’ has been gathering momentum all year, but it's really gathered momentum in the financial media lately. And then just to keep everyone on their toes, the gold price took a tumble on Tuesday. So what is the debasement trade? Is it real, and should you be following it?In this piece, we’ll unpack what debasement really means, why it’s driving markets today, and how to think about real assets,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is looking to provide an additional $20 billion in financing for Argentina through a mix of financing from sovereign funds and the private sector.That would come on top of the $20 billion credit swap line that the U.S. Treasury pledged to Argentine President Javier Milei and his government this month to bolster the South American nation's collapsing currency.“We are working on a $20 billion facility that would complement our swap line, with private banks and sovereign funds that, I believe, would be more focused on the debt market,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters...

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the midst of a federal government shutdown, the U.S. government’s gross national debt surpassed $38 trillion Wednesday, a record number that highlights the accelerating accumulation of debt on America’s balance sheet. It’s also the fastest accumulation of a trillion dollars in debt outside of the COVID-19 pandemic — the U.S. hit $37 trillion in gross national debt in August this year. The $38 trillion update is found in the latest Treasury Department report, which logs the nation’s daily finances. The U.S. hit $34 trillion in debt in January 2024, $35 trillion in July 2024 and $36...

Senate Republicans are discussing voting on a bill that would prevent millions of low-income Americans from losing access to food aid on Nov. 1.The bill from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) would fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for the duration of the shutdown, which on Wednesday entered its 22nd day. The Department of Agriculture warned earlier this month that if the government shutdown dragged on “there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation.”Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in a brief interview that senators were discussing “some options,” though...

According to Kirill Dmitriev, the tunnel with a railroad and cargo link, will unlock joint resource explorationMOSCOW, October 17. /TASS/. A tunnel crossing the Bering Strait and connecting Russia and Alaska can take less than eight years to build, at the cost that does not exceed $8 billion, Special Presidential Envoy for economic cooperation with foreign countries and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev said. "Imagine connecting the US and Russia, the Americas and the Afro-Eurasia with the Putin-Trump Tunnel - a 70-mile link symbolizing unity. Traditional costs are $65bln+, but the Boring Company [tunnel construction...

“Mr. Trump has promised working-class tax cuts and protection for working-class social insurance, such as Medicaid,” Hawley wrote. “But now a noisy contingent of corporatist Republicans — call it the party’s Wall Street wing — is urging Congress to ignore all that and get back to the old-time religion: corporate giveaways, preferences for capital and deep cuts to social insurance.” Hawley has consistently spoken up about his opposition to the House plan to use Medicaid cuts to pay for the party-line megabill. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has been charged with finding at least $880 billion in federal spending...

Gold is in the middle of what looks like an unstoppable bull run. It has already punched through $4,000 an ounce. At the rate the price is rising, it may well go to $5,000 within a few weeks, and perhaps even $6,000 as the next year unfolds. There have been lots of different explanations for this, from the looming collapse of the dollar, to secret Chinese buying, to the conspiracy theories circulating on the wilder fringes of the internet, such a secret plot to re-establish the gold standard, or attempts to replace all the metal that is meant to be...

House Speaker Mike Johnson defended himself and fellow GOP leaders after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized them for lacking a plan to deal with the expiring COVID expansion of Obamacare subsidies. “There’s a lot of work that’s been done on that,” Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said Tuesday. “It’s implied as if this has been some sort of ignored issue. It’s not that at all.”Ms. Greene, Georgia Republican, took to social media on Monday to announce her support for extending the enhanced Obamacare subsidies, which Democrats are demanding to reopen the government.It was a notable break from other right-wing lawmakers who...

Some estimates suggest that half of all white-collar jobs will disappear as artificial intelligence advances. How will older white-collar workers displaced in the AI revolution fare? Our recent book, “American Idle: Late-Career Job Loss in a Neoliberal Era,” summarizes interviews we conducted with 62 baby boomers who lost their white-collar jobs during another unemployment crisis: the 2008 Great Recession and its sluggish recovery. Statistics show that workers over age 50 experienced the highest rates of long-term joblessness. Their layoffs also coincided with a precarious stage of the life course: “too young to retire but too old to start all over,”...

Partisan bickering overshadows real questions about taxes and the size of America’s government.As the partial government shutdown enters its second week, neither party is leveling with the American people about the hard choices required to get federal spending off a fiscally ruinous trajectory.President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats used covid-19 to justify chasing the mirage of a European-style welfare state without raising the necessary taxes to pay for it. Now, prodded by the left, party leaders have shut down the government in a bid to permanently extend what was sold in 2021 as emergency subsidies to help people struggling during...

@SenRandPaul I joined @LlamasNBC on @NBCNews and made it clear: I refuse to add $2 trillion more to the debt, no matter which party demands it. Republicans and Democrats both flip-flop for politics. I won't back endless deficits or Biden-era spending levels.

Roughly 42% of younger working Americans — spanning Gen Z, millennials and Gen X — report having no spare savings after covering their basic living expenses, according to the analysis, which surveyed about 3,600 workers and 1,500 retirees. Among those just getting by, about three-quarters said they are struggling to save for retirement, the survey found. The share of U.S. workers in this precarious financial position has grown significantly since 1997, when 31% lived paycheck to paycheck, according to Goldman. The investment bank projects that figure could climb to well over half of Americans by 2033 as essentials like housing...

@RonPaul President Trump is considering "stimulus" checks (again). We should all remember the last time that President Trump sent out "stimulus" checks. It was the "CARES Act," which ignited the massive inflation that we're still suffering from today. How can a government that has no money, that racks up record deficits, be in a position to give out "rebates" anyway? They're not. Tariffs revenues (that Americans overwhelmingly pay) don't put the government into the black, and capable of giving "rebates." The government is way in the red. That means the "stimulus" checks will have to come from the Fed counterfeiting...

The Trump administration is planning to roll out the first tranche of bailout payments for farmers in the coming weeks, likely using billions of dollars in funding from an internal USDA account, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter. But it won’t be enough: USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation fund — which President Donald Trump previously tapped to provide $28 billion in farm aid during his first-term trade war with China — has just $4 billion left in the account. Trump officials, including those at the Treasury Department, are looking at how to tap tariff receipts or other...

President Trump said Thursday he’s still weighing the idea of giving Americans up to $2,000 in rebates derived from the revenues his tariff agenda has generated. Trump’s proposal to share some of the hundreds of billions of dollars the federal government has collected since he slapped foreign nations with steep levies in April comes as the Supreme Court is slated to hear arguments in a case next month that will decide whether the president has the power to impose such sweeping global tariffs. “They’re just starting to kick in,” Trump said of the tariffs in an interview with One America...

THE PENTAGON — Shockwaves have rippled across Washington in recent days following surprise orders from Secretary of Defense (and also War and also Pew Pew) Pete Hegseth that the entirety of U.S. military leadership would muster aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico on Tuesday.“This gathering is of the highest secrecy and importance to our national security,” said Hegseth, “which is why I have ordered every general- or flag-grade officer assemble at a highly secure location on Tuesday, September 30, at 12:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, 10 digit grid 0033566203 on your Quantico 1:50,0000 special if you’ve got one. All hands, no...

The National Debt IssueAmerica’s national debt is a ticking time bomb, exploding right under our noses. As of September 2025, the gross national debt has ballooned past $37 trillion, a staggering figure that’s not just numbers on a ledger but a crushing burden on every hardworking American. Interest payments alone are gobbling up 17% of federal spending, sucking the life out of our economy like a vampire at a blood bank.But here’s the good news: President Donald J. Trump, in his triumphant return to the White House, is unleashing a crypto revolution that’s poised to slay this debt dragon. These...

Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth were accused of 'condescending and insulting' America's top generals and admirals at a highly anticipated summit on Tuesday. The president and Secretary of War hosted hundreds of military chiefs at Marine Corps Base Quantico on Tuesday, for a meeting they hoped would inspire the nation and revolutionize America's fighting force. But ex-Pentagon chiefs warned that the political speeches, which meandered through various topics from fat soldiers to Joe Biden's autopen, risked alienating the top brass. A former national security official told the Daily Mail that he found it 'incredibly condescending ... and a highly inappropriate...

WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump warned congressional Democrats on Tuesday that allowing the federal government to shut down at midnight would allow his administration to take "irreversible" actions including shutting down programs important to them. "We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like," Trump said in remarks to reporters from the White House Oval Office."You all know Russell Vought," Trump added, referring to the director of the Office...