Free Republic

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg dismissed the idea that Washington, DC, is experiencing a rise in crime, pointing out that a “lot of energy” was going into painting the narrative. During an interview with MSNBC host Jen Psaki on Sunday, Buttigieg highlighted how he was able to “safely walk” his dog in the nation’s capital without any problems. Buttigieg, like many other elected officials, is provided with a security detail.

Job growth surged in March, as employers added 303,000 positions and the unemployment rate edged down, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Why it matters: The U.S. labor market has proved remarkably resilient over the last year, as employers keep seeking workers despite a bumpy economic environment. The latest numbers affirm that strength, handily beating analysts' forecasts. By the numbers: The jobless rate fell as more people entered the work force — a good sign for growth potential. The labor force participation rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to 62.7%. Average hourly earnings were up 0.3%, and are up...

The jobless rate rose to 3.9%, up from 3.7% in January, even as employers added 275,000 jobs, the Labor Department said. Its monthly report is being closely watched for clues into how the world's largest economy is absorbing the jump in borrowing costs since 2022. The latest numbers sent mixed signals. Overall, analysts said there was little in the report to fuel major worries or raise fears that the economy would be harmed by higher interest rates. "Overall things still looking good," said Harvard professor Josh Furman, a former economic advisor to Barack Obama, on social media, while adding that...

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell is not known for his resolve. It’s the main reason why the new and emerging consensus among Wall Street Fed watchers is that he will cut interest rates at least twice this year despite signs of persistent inflation, the Post has learned. If the CEOs and top executives who follow the Fed can be believed — and these folks have sources inside the central bank’s building in DC — Powell is already brushing off last week’s high inflation reads as a likely anomaly. His first rate cut since he started to raise them in March...

As a follow up to my thread* discussing (among other things) wimpy kitchen faucet flow rates, I stumbled across this single temperature (almost always cold water) faucet at my local Menards: https://www.menards.com/main/kitchen/kitchen-faucets/plumb-works-reg-single-handle-drinking-water-faucet/5146ss/p-1444429309019-c-8509.htm That's more like it, as the faucet has a flow rating of 4.94 gallons per minute (18.7 liters per minute) at 60 psi. Now, that's getting somewhere! Somewhere on Amazon I found a somewhat similar unit from so "never-heard-of-'em" Chinese brand, said faucet rated at 6.something"gallons per minute. Unfortunately I did not save the item to my Amazon "list" or cart "save for later", and now I can't...

The US Federal Reserve’s favored measure of inflation ticked higher last month, according to government data published Friday, indicating that its long-running battle against rising prices is not over yet. The latest announcement will likely ensure the US central bank keeps interest rates on hold at its next decision announcement on Wednesday, as policymakers continue talks on when to start cuts. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose at an annual rate of 2.6 percent last month, unchanged from November, the Department of Commerce said in a statement. On a monthly level, headline PCE inflation rose by 0.2 percent...

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, the first time in nearly two years that the central bank paused rates over the course of two consecutive meetings. Since March 2022, the Fed has hiked the federal funds rate from near-zero percent to a range of 5.25 to 5.5 percent in an effort to curb rampant inflation. Price growth upeneded the economy in the wake of the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which helped push volatile energy prices higher.

The U.S. added 187,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.8 percent in August, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department. The jobs report showed the labor market plateaued in August as the Federal Reserve considers another interest rate hike. Economists expected the U.S. to have gained 170,000 jobs and maintain the July jobless rate of 3.5 percent, according to consensus estimates. While the jobless rate rose 0.3 percentage points in August, the labor force participation rate rose 0.2 percentage points after being largely flat since March. The Fed has hiked interest rates to their highest level...

Last year, production at American factories increased — and so did the production of factories themselves. According to data from the Census Bureau released last week, construction spending by US manufacturers more than doubled over the past year. For April 2023, the annual rate reached nearly $190 billion compared with $90 billion in June 2022, with manufacturing accounting for around 13% of non-government construction. The US government has offered billions of dollars in subsidies for the production of electric vehicles and solar panels to compete with countries such as China and to fortify US leadership in sectors including clean energy....

Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in April to hit an annual increase of 4.9 percent, according to inflation data released Wednesday by the Labor Department. That’s the lowest annual inflation rate since April 2021. The consumer price index (CPI), which measures everything consumers spend money on from rent to gasoline, showed inflation accelerating slightly in April, in line with expectations but falling on an annual basis. Economists had been expecting prices to accelerate by 0.4 percent in April, up from 0.1 percent in March, and projected annual inflation to hold steady at a 5 percent.

We are truly addicted to gov! Or at least cheap money from The Federal Reserve. March’s ADP job report shows the US economy only added 145k jobs as The Fed removes its punch bowl. For the moment. Its simply irresistable for the government to turn back on the printing press. The US economy is slowing.

Federal Reserve officials expect the unemployment rate to reach 4.5 percent by the end of 2023 as interest rate hikes slow the economy, according to projections released Wednesday. That’s an uptick from the current 3.6 percent unemployment rate, indicating that Fed officials predict that millions of Americans could lose their jobs this year as the U.S. economy grapples with higher interest rates and the aftereffects of a banking crisis. However, the jobless figure is lower than the Fed’s 4.6 percent estimate released in December. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) released its projections after the panel agreed to increase interest...

I have good news bad news for you. The good news? US existing home sales SOARED in February. Up 14.5% MoM in February to 4.58 million units SAAR sold. The bad news? On a year-over-year basis, existing home sales plunged -22.64%. And the median price of existing home sales declined slightly to -0.2% YoY. Dr. Jill Biden gets a professional clothing designer to rate her wardrobe.

The average credit card interest rate for retail stores has hit a record high of 26.72 percent while general purpose credit cards now charge an average of 22.6 percent, according to a study released Monday by industry group Creditcards.com. The rise in annualized percentage rates (APRs) comes as the Federal Reserve is raising the rates at which banks can borrow money from each other, making financing more expensive throughout the economy. Twenty-four credit cards on the market now charge 30 percent, including cards from retailers Dick’s Sporting Goods, Burlington and Wayfair. That’s ten times what the Fed was telling banks...

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved a fourth consecutive three-quarter point interest rate increase and signaled a potential change in how it will approach monetary policy to bring down inflation. In a well-telegraphed move that markets had been expecting for weeks, the central bank raised its short-term borrowing rate by 0.75 percentage point to a target range of 3.75%-4%, the highest level since January 2008. The move continued the most aggressive pace of monetary policy tightening since the early 1980s, the last time inflation ran this high. Along with anticipating the rate hike, markets also had been looking for language...

U.S. economic growth rebounded during the third quarter after six months of steady declines, according to data released Thursday by the Commerce Department. U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at annualized rate of 2.6 between July and September, up from declines of 1.6 percent in the second quarter and 0.6 percent in third quarter of 2022, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday. That means that if the third quarter’s pace of growth lasted 12 months, the U.S. economy would have grown 2.6 percent by the end of that time. Economists expected U.S. GDP to rise at an annualized rate...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — New Hampshire officials are warning residents to prepare for higher utility bills, with electricity rates expected to rise this year and one utility proposing more than a 100% increase. According to the Office of the Consumer Advocate, several factors are at work in driving up energy costs. One is that New England heavily relies on natural gas, which means our electric bills in the region are tethered to the global market, which has been shaken by the war in Ukraine. "Unfortunately, I have to deliver the bad news that consumers can expect some pretty drastic increases in...

Stubbornly hot U.S. inflation is fueling bets that the Federal Reserve will get more aggressive about trying to cool price pressures and even potentially ditch its own forward guidance by delivering a jumbo-sized interest rate hike in coming months. Fed policymakers had already all but promised half-point interest rate hikes at their meeting next week and again in late July, following May's half-point hike and the start of balance sheet reductions this month. That would be more policy tightening in the space of three months than the Fed did in all of 2018. On Friday, traders of futures tied to...

<p>As China faces a scenario of negative population growth, the government has started to force its citizens to marry early and have at least three children each. The administration has also begun rolling out various contests as bait, reported Geo Politica.</p>

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point as the most aggressive step yet in its battle against generational highs in inflation. Along with the move higher in rates, the central bank indicated it will begin reducing asset holdings on its $9 trillion balance sheet. The Fed had been buying bonds to keep interest rates low and money flowing through the economy, but the surge in prices has necessitated a dramatic rethink in monetary policy.