The Federal Reserve Bank

Under the guise of “helping” parents deal with stress, the Biden administration is plotting a dramatic expansion of government into the home. In short, federal authorities are seeking to take on even more responsibilities traditionally associated with the family while drugging ever larger numbers of Americans. Critics, though, are sounding the alarm. Among other concerns, opponents are warning of a...

Bet_Noire/iStock/Getty Images Plus The “Beige Book,” released every six weeks by the Federal Reserve, provides anecdotes from business owners on the state of the economy from their regional perspectives. The latest report, released early this week, confirms the economy’s slowdown and likely slide into recession.From the Boston district: “Retailers aimed at gently lowering their average prices to consumers … by...

Ron Paul The Penn Wharton Budget Model, a think tank headquartered at the University of Pennsylvania, recently released a study claiming former President Donald Trump’s economic plans would add about four trillion dollars to the national deficit over ten years while Vice President Kamala Harris’s economic plans would add about two trillion dollars.Vice President Harris would increase the deficit largely...

Evgenia Gordienko/iStock/Getty Images Plus John W. Broomes, a Trump-nominated judge of the U.S. District Court in Kansas, opened the door (just a crack) to the first real potential challenge to the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA). He ruled on Wednesday that charges against a defendant for possessing two machine guns be dismissed. At issue is the law 18 U.S.C....

Baris-Ozer/iStock/Getty Images Plus Talker Research, formerly OnePoll U.S., reported that six out of 10 Americans believe the U.S. economy entered a recession 15 months ago. Further, they believe it won’t end until the middle of 2025. Major Media Head Fakes The “head fake” news today reporting that weekly and continuing unemployment claims dropped by 7,000 and retail sales increased in...

The global financial markets experienced a significant shock on August 5, 2024, as fears of a potential US recession triggered a widespread sell-off across various asset classes. This article explores the causes and consequences of this market crash, its impact on different sectors, and the role of the Federal Reserve in stabilizing the situation. The Catalyst: Weak US Economic Data...

We are currently seeing an acceleration of the corporate consolidation of the entire global agri-food chain. The high-tech/big data conglomerates, including Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Google, have joined traditional agribusiness giants, such as Corteva, Bayer, Cargill and Syngenta, in a quest to impose their model of food and agriculture on the world. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is also involved (documented in...

zimmytws/iStcok/Getty Images Plus While all the public attention is on a tumultuous presidential campaign and on war in the Middle East, another story — one that has received scant media attention in recent months — registered another major development on Monday. Yesterday the official national debt surpassed $35 trillion for the first time, very much on schedule. At its current...

Whisper Conn’s, Inc. is a 134-year-old retailer in the southeast United States operating more than 550 stores and employing nearly 4,000 people. By the end of October, the retailer that offers consumer electronics, appliances, and furniture will cease to exist. Creditors will lose an estimated $2 billion in loans they cannot recover, and stockholders will suffer a complete loss of...

In this insightful episode of “The Liberty Report,” host Alex Newman welcomes Thomas DiLorenzo, president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and a renowned economist, to discuss critical issues surrounding America’s economic landscape. They analyze the Republican Party’s internal conflict over economic policies, the pros and cons of tariffs, and the significant role of the Federal Reserve in the nation’s...

Ron Paul The 2024 Republican platform promises that, if Donald Trump returns to the White House and Republicans gain complete control of Congress, they will reduce inflation. The platform contains some proposals, such as reducing regulations and extending the 2017 tax reductions, that may help lower prices in some sectors and spur economic growth. However, the GOP platform does not...

In the Spring 2024 issue of Free Society, a magazine published by the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, they introduced their Defending Globalization Project. Scott Lincicome is Vice President of General Economics at Herbert A. Stiefel Trade Policy Center. As the magazine says, “Scott Lincicome is leading this Institute-wide effort to make the case for the free movement of goods,...

zimmytws/iStock/Getty Images Plus Friday’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) confirms the two reports released on Wednesday: The U.S. economy continues to slow, while workers’ wages remain way behind inflation.The top line number of new jobs created — 206,000 — is phony. The BLS reported that downward revisions of previously reported new jobs in April and May...

Veronique de Rugy The United States is full steam ahead into uncharted fiscal waters, with rapidly growing federal debt promising a choppy economic future. Candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump have added trillions to the national debt during their recent presidential administrations, leaving America at a critical juncture that demands urgent, bipartisan action.If you read this column, you know the...

bunhill/iStock/Getty Images Plus Two reports released on Wednesday reveal a weakening U.S. economy. The Labor Department announced that jobless claims, i.e., layoffs, rose to 238,000 last week, near a one-year high. And the private payroll processor ADP reported that the economy generated just 150,000 new jobs last month, falling below a muted estimate by Wall Street Journal economists of 160,000.In...

sefa ozel/iStock/Getty Images Plus In the real world where Americans live, gas, food, and other consumer prices have risen dramatically since President Joe Biden took office.Prices at the grocery store are out of sight. Filling the gas tank practically requires a second mortgage. And forget buying a home at today’s prices and mortgage interest rates. Apartment rents are zooming.But in...

My longtime prediction that the Fed will not be able to kill inflation without destroying the economy is showing itself true in articles about hand-wringing from multiple directions today. The short of it is that the Fed either wins inflation but drives us deep into recession, or it rushes to bail out a collapsing economy but lights inflation fully back...

Ron Paul American Compass, a think tank promoting a conservatism lacking even a rhetorical commitment to free markets, recently called for Republicans to support tax increases. The organization claims a GOP embrace of higher taxes will enable the uniparty’s left (Democratic) and right (Republican) wings to create a deficit reduction plan balancing tax increase with spending cuts.American Compass is correct...

G0d4ather/iStock/Getty Images Plus In the first several years of the 21st century, federal policies encouraging banks to grant mortgages to borrowers who couldn’t repay them, government purchases of mortgage-backed securities, and other housing-market interventions led to skyrocketing housing prices and record consumer debt, precipitating the 2008 crash.Yet the Biden administration, having learned nothing from this fiasco, has enacted similar policies...

Thinkstock As the U.S. economy continues to slow, job openings are declining. They peaked at more than 12 million in March 2022. Today the Labor Department reported just eight million openings in April, the lowest number since February 2021.The U.S. economy has been generating about 234,000 new jobs a month over the last year. The upcoming report due Friday from...