Free Republic

Private sector job creation slowed further in November and wages showed their smallest growth in more than two years, payrolls processing firm ADP reported Wednesday. Companies added just 103,000 workers for the month, slightly below the downwardly revised 106,000 in October and missing the 128,000 Dow Jones estimate. Along with the modest job growth came a 5.6% increase in annual pay, which ADP said was the smallest gain since September 2021. Job-changers saw wage increases of 8.3%, making the premium for switching positions the lowest since ADP began tracking the data three years ago.

URBANDALE, Iowa — Longshot Republican presidential candidate Doug Burgum insists he’s staying in the 2024 race at least long enough to “beat expectations” in January’s Iowa caucuses — a goal which he joked should be easy to meet, since he has “the lowest expectations.” The billionaire North Dakota governor failed to qualify for the third RNC debate earlier this month, is unlikely to make the stage for the next debate Dec. 6 in Alabama, and is averaging just 2.7% support in the Hawkeye State, according to RealClearPolitics — a mere 44.3 percentage points behind former President Donald Trump. So what,...

Gross domestic product (GDP) levels came in hot in the second quarter, growing at a 2.4 percent rate that marked the fourth straight quarter of positive growth and underlined the resilience of the U.S. economy. Economists polled by Bloomberg had been expecting GDP growth of around 1.8 percent, meaning the 2.4 percent growth was a pleasant surprise — especially with other recent data indicating slowing inflation. The numbers from the Commerce Department are the latest sign of strength in the U.S. economy, and they come a day after the Federal Reserve reversed its March prediction of a “mild recession” to...

The U.S. added 339,000 jobs in May and the unemployment rate rose to 3.7 percent, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department. The job market scrambled the expectations of economists in May. Expert forecasters projected a gain of roughly 195,000 jobs last month, according to consensus estimates, but for the jobless rate to stay largely even at 3.5 percent. The jobless rate has bounced between 3.4 percent — its level in April — and 3.7 percent since March 2022. The Labor Department also revised March and April’s job gains up by a combined 93,000 jobs, the latest sign...

Former President Trump blamed the “abortion issue” for Republicans underperforming expectations in the 2022 midterm elections. Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday that many in the GOP handled the issue poorly, especially those who “firmly” insisted on no exceptions to bans on the procedure, including in instances of rape and incest. He also said he is not to blame for the party’s performance, responding to many in the GOP who have pointed to him as a reason for its losses.

Tesla’s Q3 sales of its cars and SUVs broke records as the company's factory in Shanghai got past pandemic-related supply chain issues but still fell far short of expectations The electric vehicle and solar panel company said Sunday it sold 343,830 cars and SUVs in the third quarter, compared with the 254,695 deliveries it made from April through June.

President Joe Biden continues trumpeting his agenda on the fundraising circuit even as he quietly prepares his supporters for a Republican takeover. “If we lose control of the House and Senate, we have a different world,” Biden told supporters in New York City on Wednesday. “I’ll be spending all my time with the veto pen, but it won’t be a lot of initiatives.” During his fundraising trip through New York City, the president spoke to donors about “enormous, enormous, enormous opportunity” in the next few years of his presidency, but he is also setting the stage to hold his ground...

Another day, another contradictory economic data point.Just one business day after the latest UMichigan report showed consumer sentiment in January tumbled to the lowest level since 2011, driven in large part by the continued surge in inflation expectations which hit a whopping 5.0% for the 1-year window, the highest since 2008 and a remarkable 3.1% for the 5-10 year period, the highest since 2011 and following a relentless increase over the past two years… … moments ago the NY Fed published its own contradicting view on the critical issue of consumer inflation expectations – critical because the higher it rises,...

Consumers’ short-term inflation expectations reached a record high in October, according to survey results released Monday by the Federal Reserve of New York. Heads of households surveyed by the New York Fed expected consumer prices to rise by a median of 5.7 percent over the next year, according to the bank’s October Survey of Consumer Expectations. The one-year inflation rate projected by consumers rose 0.4 percentage points since September and reached the highest level since the survey began in 2013. The median expectation for the inflation rate for the next three years stayed even at 4.2 percent, a record set...

The U.S. economy added 266,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate rose to 6.1 percent, an unexpectedly poor showing falling well below expectations. The meager showing exposed unexpected gaps in a recovery that some economists were fretting would "overheat" by recovering too quickly. "For those who feared the US economy would overheat, the bigger risk may be that it is undercooked," said The Atlantic Council's Josh Lipsky.

Bad teaching is a common explanation given for the disastrously inadequate public education received by America’s most vulnerable populations. This is a myth. Aside from a few lemons who were notable for their rarity, the majority of teachers I worked with for nine years in New York City’s public school system were dedicated, talented professionals. Before joining the system I was mystified by the schools’ abysmal results. I too assumed there must be something wrong with the teaching. This could not have been farther from the truth. Teaching French and Italian in NYC high schools I finally figured out why...

New statistics released by the Congressional Budget Office projected record breaking GDP growth throughout 2018; smashing expectations and signaling a robust US recovery under President Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress. According to CNS News, the strong data shows Gross Domestic Product growing by at least 3.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017 to the fourth quarter of 2018; the highest level of growth seen in at least 15 years. “In CBO’s projections, real GDP expands by 3.3 percent this year and by 2.4 percent in 2019,” says the CBO report. “It grew by 2.6 percent last year.” “In our economic...

Speaking at a Rotary Club gathering in Kentucky on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vented about how President Donald Trump's lack of political experience has led to him setting “excessive expectations” for legislative priorities. McConnell, R-Ky., told the group in Florence that he found it “extremely irritating” that Congress has earned the reputation of not accomplishing anything. “Part of the reason I think that the storyline is that we haven’t done much is because, in part, the president and others have set these early timelines about things need to be done by a certain point,” said McConnell, a Republican...

Many people are wondering how it’s possible to track the CoC/Wall Street Jeb Bush election strategy, outlined here. While I usually don’t post these types of research material links (it can get rather wonky), perhaps this will assist readers in understanding what leads to our road-map. Since the advent of the Citizens United decision, the GOPe affiliates have used Super-Pacs to fund political candidates. Unfortunately, this means you don’t get to see the actual donors to those PAC’s – which means there’s an additional curtain to the donor. The development of, and refinement of, this strategy (which took place in...

A senior Cuban official said Tuesday that restoring diplomatic ties with the United States won’t immediately lead to a full relationship between the Cold War foes after a half-century of enmity. The message appeared designed to lower expectations a day before the arrival of the highest-level U.S. delegation to Cuba in decades and just before President Barack Obama made his case in the State of the Union Address for seizing the opening with Cuba by ending the U.S. trade embargo of the island. […] The Havana talks start Wednesday morning. But the high-ranking Cuban diplomat said Tuesday: “Cuba isn’t normalizing...

A majority of Americans now define success as not falling behind. They worry that fundamental changes in the economy are making it more difficult for them—and their children—to get ahead. The road still rises. But the climb is steeper, and the falls are more frequent. That’s the view of prospects for upward mobility in the modern American economy that emerges from the latest Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll. Although an overwhelming majority of Americans still define the U.S. as “the land of opportunity,” nearly as many agree that getting ahead is more difficult for workers today than it was for...

So the seemingly unexplainable happened yesterday, the US Supreme Court upheld Obamacare. Republicans have promised an immediate repeal should they sweep the elections come November, but that's not a slam dunk. It should be, but we know their track record. If the Republicans don't sweep both Houses of Congress and the White House (including enough votes to avoid a fillibuster in the Senate), what happens next? What can we expect to see with the implementation of this law? Little things, big things...describe it here. I think that new identification will be coming down the road ASAP. This won't be in...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It was not just U.S. Democratic voters who were looking forward to "hope and change" when Barack Obama became the 44th U.S. president. Around the world, many anticipated the United States would behave very differently under the new leader. They wanted to hear less about Americans swaggering and throwing their weight around. Some, perhaps, wanted more talk of U.S.-style freedom and democracy, but not if it meant Washington imposing its will. ... A scandal over the hiring of prostitutes by the U.S. Secret Service in Colombia, killings and Koran burnings in Afghanistan and drone strikes in Pakistan...

The nonprofit organization said its consumer-confidence index declined to 39.8 in October from a September level of 46.4, which was upwardly revised from a prior estimate of 45.4. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected a reading of 46 for October; when the economy is growing at a good clip, confidence readings are at 90 and above... ...The Conference Board’s expectations barometer fell to 48.7 in October from 55.1 in September. The percentage of those who expected business conditions to be “better” in six months declined, while most expected the same conditions...

"The federal risk pool has definitely provided critical access, in some cases lifesaving access, to health insurance," said Amie Goldman, chair of a national association of state high-risk insurance pools. "That said, enrollment so far is lower than we would have expected." California, which has money for about 20,000 people, has received fewer than 450 applications, according to a state official. The program in Texas had enrolled about 200 by early September, an official in that state said. Goldman, who runs the pool in Wisconsin, said they've received fewer than 300 applications so far, with room for about 8,000 people...