Black Friday weekend is just not what it used to be. Despite falling gas prices, stock prices posting records, and buoyant consumer confidence, Thanksgiving weekend sales–in stores and on-line–were down about 11 percent from last year. Five forces combined to
Senator Charles Schumer, in a recent speech, stated President Obama and Democratic majorities in Congress were elected in 2008 to get the economy working for middle class families. Consequently, assigning extraordinary priority to passing the Affordable Care Act was a
President Obama’s decision to ignore the law by granting de facto amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants brought to America as children and those who are parents of children with legal status was a terribly foolish act. It will only serve to
President Obama has a peculiar approach to public policy. Listen to what the radical left wants, or political expediency requires, then make up the facts, twist economics and rewrite the law to suit. Here are four examples. 1. Obamacare When
The mid-term elections made clear American voters want Washington to better address high unemployment and stagnant wages. Yet, on issues ranging from energy to immigration to trade, President Obama continues to put politics ahead of strengthening American families. Senator Mary
Getting elected is tough, but for the new Republican majority in Congress, working with President Obama could prove downright daunting. After the drubbing Democrats took in the mid-term elections, the president oddly pronounced if the GOP has some ideas to
The economy added 214, 000 jobs in October. The pace has picked up over the last year, but it is still far short of the 400,000 per month needed to bring unemployment down to acceptable levels. The official jobless rate is 5.8 percent,
Having won control of Congress, the GOP must now put forward a clear program to create jobs and govern reasonably, lest it give Democrats the upper hand for the 2016 presidential election. In recent months, economic growth has accelerated, but
With control of congress, Republicans could push to lower taxes and repeal the Affordable Care Act, but President Obama has the veto. Instead, a new GOP majority could launch an all-out assault on federal abuses of regulatory powers to defend
Voter discontent will give the GOP control of the Senate, but Americans quickly will become as disenamored with a new cast on Capitol Hill. Paychecks are stagnant and health care and many other things too expensive, but Americans won’t accept
The U.S. economy remains locked in mediocre growth and increasing inequality. To help break that cycle, federal and state governments should cut funding and student assistance at colleges and universities and redirect resources and students into vocational programs. The U.S.
If Republicans win the Senate, President Obama risks another bruising recession if he doesn’t embrace compromise and abandon ineffective populist prescriptions. Slower growth in Europe and emerging markets like China and Brazil threaten U.S. exports and demand for American-made products.
Europe faces yet another recession, and the prospect is shaking global financial markets. To eliminate the persistent threat of collapse, Europe must drop the euro, and Germany must abandon mercantilism. When the euro was adopted in 1999, domestic prices, the
The U.S. economy is underperforming, and the Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policies won’t reinvigorate it. To cope with the financial crisis, President Obama pulled out all the stops–record deficits, bank and automaker bailouts, and sweeping financial reform–but since the
Google is in a row with France about how much corporate taxes it pays. Like the Obama Administration’s outrage about businesses moving headquarters abroad, this dispute demonstrates corporate taxes, along with personal income taxes, are obsolete. Google markets ads in
Despite another seemingly good jobs report, President Obama’s approval rating is lower than a snake’s belly, and Republicans could retake the Senate in November. Missteps in the Ukraine, Iraq, and elsewhere weigh on voters’ minds, but the economy–especially the jobs
Friday, the Labor Department is expected to report the economy added about 215,000 jobs in September, about half of what is needed each month to bring unemployment down to pre-financial crisis levels. The official unemployment rate is 6.1 percent, but
President Obama recently proclaimed climate change, more than any issue, will define the contours of the 21st Century. Powerful men searching for legacy often evoke grand challenges and personal solutions, but climate change is only one of several forces that will
Parents don’t need an army of economists to tell them college is too expensive and too many students will default on their education loans. An economy that creates too few good paying jobs is part of the problem, but colleges
Scots will be worse off if they vote for independence. It’s not good economics and not much else is at stake. Unlike the now dormant, but never dead, separatist movement in Quebec, and rising tide for independence in Catalonia, the
President Obama’s vow to destroy ISIS rings hollow and sets the course for another American misadventure. Along with allies in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, he refuses to grasp that security can’t be purchased on the cheap. The cancer
The bill is coming due for ObamaCare and it’s a whopper. According to Medicare Care’s own actuaries, U.S. health care spending is about to skyrocket. Federal meddling in what was once the finest and most cost-effective health care system on
The economy created only 142,000 jobs in August, down from 212,000 in July, indicating the economy significantly slowed this summer. Jobs creation is well below the pace needed to reemploy all the workers displaced during the financial crisis–the economy is
This Friday the Labor Department is expected to report the economy added 230,000 jobs in August. The pace has picked up a bit but is still far less than needed to reemploy all the prime aged workers displaced in the
Burger King’s effort to acquire Tim Horton’s, a Canadian purveyor of coffee and doughnuts, is a good business decision, but its choice to locate corporate headquarters north of the border would be the direct result of President Obama’s anti-business tax
President Obama, as promised, is changing America. High taxes and abusive enforcement are compelling businesses and ordinary citizens to leave the country altogether. The United States has much higher corporate tax rates than other industrialized countries, and increasingly, the IRS
The Labor Department reported the economy added only 209,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate rose to 6.2 percent, but that hardly tells how tough the labor market has become for ordinary folks. The jobless rate may be down from
Stocks may be near record levels but the bull market is not done. Digital technologies permit businesses to use investors’ cash far more efficiently these days, and could easily push up stock prices another 25 percent. Henry Ford had a
Friday, the Labor Department is expected to report the economy added 235,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate remained steady at 6.1 percent, but that hardly tells the story. The jobless rate may be down from its recession peak
Poverty is as endemic today as it was when President Lyndon Johnson inaugurated the War on Poverty, and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is offering sensible proposals to change things for the better. He would offer states block grants to create
The downing of Malaysia flight MH17 casts new light on just how inept and decadent the United States and Europe have become. Faced with Russia’s annexation of the Crimea and attempts to repeat in eastern Ukraine, the best Western Europe
Testifying before Congress, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Yellen cherry picked data on inflation by noting prices are up, on a year-over-year basis, less than the Federal Reserve’s target of 2 percent. The Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index has accelerated since March
The economy is recovering from a harsher than normal winter, but the pace of growth the balance of this year and next will not create nearly enough decent jobs for the millions unemployed and recent graduates working at venues like
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen will testify to Congress Tuesday and Wednesday about the economy and future fed policy. We won’t learn much about either, because the Fed refuses to recognize the facts on the ground. Its policymaking committee recently
Stocks may be trading near record levels, but the bull market still has plenty of room to run. Changes in technology and the economy that permit businesses to use capital far more efficiently will likely drive equities much higher. In
Stocks may be trading near record levels, but the bull market still has plenty of room to run. Changes in technology and the economy that permit businesses to use capital far more efficiently will likely drive equities much higher. In
Americans keep hoping for a robust recovery — one that delivers better paying jobs and decent returns on retirement savings. Changes in technology and the economy may require that never happens, and government efforts to improve conditions often multiply the
The economy added 288,000 jobs in June. Overall jobs creation has improved in 2014, but it remains far short of the 390,000 needed each month to keep up with population growth and genuinely reduce unemployment, and well less than the
Thursday, the Labor Department is expected to report the economy added 211,000 jobs in May. In line with the pace so far this year, that is far short of what is needed to keep up with population growth and genuinely
Inflation is soaring, and the Federal Reserve is looking away. It has printed trillions of dollars to save big banks from their financial crisis debauchery and to keep interest rates low to spur economic recovery, but those have not improved
