Free Republic

The IMF was one of the first establishment institutions to admit that inflation was a legitimate threat to the US economy last year, however, they were very late to the game compared to economists in the alternative media. In March of 2021 IMF analysts were still arguing that inflation would be “transitory” despite the enormous $6 trillion covid stimulus in 2020 which was injected by the Federal Reserve directly into US retail markets through covid checks and PPP loans (helicopter money). Nearly all of the IMF’s predictions on inflation turned out to be wrong. This fact should be taken into...

Two years ago, slippers went stratospheric. Normally, they sell in cycles. There is an “on” season for slippers through the fall and winter. Then, sales taper off during the warmer months. But 2020 was different. Slipper sales that April almost doubled versus 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing. Folks were in no hurry to leave their homes. They were dressing for leisure, streaming entertainment, and saving their cash… And while we saw odd bursts in products like slippers, huge swaths of the economy suffered. But today, a big thaw is coming to the global market. Travel plans are...

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” MSNBC Economic Analyst Steve Rattner, who served as counselor to the Treasury Secretary in the Obama administration, warned that there is “a substantial risk” of stagflation because it’s “very hard to reduce inflation without reducing economic growth.” Co-host Joe Scarborough asked, “We are obviously all following what is going on, whether the Fed is threading the needle correctly and some concerns from somebody that you’ve agreed with in the past, Larry Summers, he’s talking about stagflation in the coming months. What are your thoughts about that?”

Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-controlled state legislature have found something to agree on: Pennsylvania’s corporate net income tax, the second-highest in the nation, costs the state more in lost business than it collects in revenue. The legislature should immediately pass the outgoing governor’s proposal to cut the corporate tax from 9.99% to 7.99% starting in 2023. That would move the state outside the top 10 highest CNI states, although it would still leave Pennsylvania at a disadvantage compared to nearby competitors like New York (6.5%) and Virginia (6%). After that, there are two ideas on the table for lowering...

Joe Biden, John Gill or some intern posted on Twitter: "2021 was the greatest year of job growth in American history."

“When the winds of change blow, some build walls while others build windmills..”Evergrande will default, but the Chinese economy will probably avoid a property contagion crisis as the government becomes increasingly interventionist. Longer term, how will China evolve to cope with Covid, Growth and Demographics?I’m going to go off on something of a tangent on China today. It can hardly come as much of a surprise to markets that S&P says Evergrande’s default is “inevitable”. (One of my highly coveted No Sh*t Sherlock awards is on its way to the US debt rating firm for stating the downright bleeding obvious).Evergrande’s...

Economic growth slowed sharply between July and September as the emergence of the delta variant derailed the recovery from the coronavirus recession, according to data released Thursday by the Commerce Department. U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualized rate of 2 percent in the third quarter, according to the Census Bureau’s first estimate. The economy grew at a 6.7 percent yearly pace in the second quarter of 2021, marking a sharp slowdown as the delta surge began. “The increase in third quarter GDP reflected the continued economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A resurgence of COVID-19 cases resulted...

The employment landscape is constantly shifting. While agricultural jobs played a big role in the 19th century, Visual Capitalist's Jenna Ross points out that a large portion of U.S. jobs today are in administration, sales, or transportation. So how can job seekers identify the fastest growing jobs of the future?The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects there will be 11.9 million new jobs created from 2020 to 2030, an overall growth rate of 7.7%. However, some jobs have a growth rate that far exceeds this level. In this graphic, we use BLS data to show the fastest growing jobs—and...

Long before she was tall enough to sit behind a steering wheel, Paula Nelson-Blattner was experiencing the best and the worst of the Howard Frankland Bridge. “As a kid, I was always nervously asking my parents, ‘Did you check your gas?’” said Nelson-Blattner, 52, who got the creeps crossing the concrete span, perched as it is atop golf-tee shaped pillars as far as 58 feet above the waters of Old Tampa Bay. “Of course, once you’re close enough to read the warnings, not a gas station is in sight and it’s far too late to turn back.” The “check your...

Inflation signals climbed in August even while the pace of growth in manufacturing unexpectedly slowed in August, according to a survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Fed’s survey of manufacturers showed the current activity index slipping from 21.9 to 19.4 in August, the regional Fed bank said Thursday. Economists had forecast an increase in the index to 25. Yet the slowdown in the pace of growth did not slow down price increases. To the contrary, the price indexes climbed in August.

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) recently released a list of some of the agency's most impactful road and bridge construction projects to drivers for 2021. UDOT will be working on 185 projects across the state in 2021, with a value of $3.45 billion over the life of the projects, many of which span multiple years. Planned improvements range from repaving rural highways and building freeway-style interchanges to widening and repaving interstates and demolishing and rebuilding bridges. The traffic delays from these projects range from overnight lane restrictions to full road closures with major detours. “These projects are an essential...

TAMPA — Transportation planners are preparing to use new technology to try to solve an old problem — traffic crashes and congestion on Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando. The state Department of Transportation is designing a corridor management system that will relay real time information directly to motorists about congestion, accidents, work zones, weather warnings and even end-of-the-traffic-back-up locations on I-4 and alternate routes. The idea behind so-called connected vehicle technology is to improve traffic flow on the interstate and east-west alternatives without adding new lanes or acquiring new right of way. On Wednesday, Hillsborough’s Metropolitan Planning Organization —...

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. ( I...

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father , I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.( I...

There has been little or no change in the average daily growth of new coronavirus fatalities reported in the United States since early August, a Breitbart News data analysis revealed. The seven-day moving average count of new deaths had plateaued at below 1,200 as of the end of Tuesday, data maintained by the COVID Tracking Project revealed: On Tuesday, the average count of new daily cases recorded over the last week stood at 1,067, less than half of the peak level reported on April 21 (2,467), data from the tracking project showed. Health analysts rely on the seven-day average number...

2019-20 TLM Survey: What We Learned About Latin Mass Attending Young Adults Editor’s note: originally published at LiturgyGuy.com, we are reprinting the following TLM survey results here at the author’s request, as we believe they are of interest to our audience.  Traditional Latin Mass National Adult 18-39 Survey by Fr. Donald Kloster Diocese of Bridgeport, CT revfrkloster@yahoo.com Contributors: Sha Balizet Fisher, Ph.D., Steve Tschopp (Statistics), Brian Williams-liturgyguy.com, Jon Alsenas (Consultants), James Chessman (Webmaster) IntroductionLet us consider Kevin Cotter’s review of Forming Intentional Disciples by Sherry Weddell which appears on the Focus Blog. He lists some alarming statistics. Here are four notable Novus...

Houston is a faraway place on FM 1413 in southern Liberty County, where a driver is more likely to see a pony munching on grass than a shop on the corner. If not for the trees and an electrical transmission line, the sky would be unbroken, horizon to horizon. It soon could look a lot more like other parts of suburban Houston where the Grand Parkway has gone, with cul-de-sacs replacing horse pastures and retail centers sprouting at major intersections.

At the end of 2009, the total federal debt was $12.3 trillion—a staggering amount of money. Now, it stands at an astonishing $23.1 trillion. That’s roughly $180,500 of debt for every U.S. household. It is important for Americans to understand how we got here, and what lawmakers can do to bring back fiscal sanity. Poor Handling of the Financial Crisis The federal government entered the 2010s with sky-high annual deficits. This had two primary causes. First, the Great Recession reduced incomes and profits, which meant a sharp decrease in tax revenue. A slow economic recovery kept tax revenue relatively low...

The American economy grew at a faster pace this summer than estimated earlier. Gross domestic product grew at a 2.1 percent annual rate for the third quarter, the Commerce Department said yesterday in its second estimate of economic growth. That is a substantial boost from the 1.9 percent in the earlier estimate. While businesses pulled back on investment in the summer, likely because of fears of sluggish global growth and uncertainty over the direction of trade and monetary policies, consumers remained confident and spending high, thanks to rising wages and extremely low unemployment.

America needs a bold agenda to solidify the current economic expansion and return hard-earned money to taxpayers. That runs counter to the consensus of those on the left, who want large increases in federal spending and dramatic tax increases to pay for them. Their plans are so expansive that it will require both middle-class payroll tax hikes and broad new taxes on American savers, investors, and employers. Opposing that growth-killing agenda isn’t enough. Conservatives need to draw a stark contrast and push for a second round of tax relief that will let workers keep more of their money, make it...