We’ve all heard it: “You can’t make somethin’ out of nothin’.” Or so it would seem, though president elect Donald J. Trump appears destined to try if his plan to create new American cities out of currently mostly barren federal lands ever comes to fruition.
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The unemployment rate in the U.S. ticked upwards to 4.2 percent in November, with 161,000 additional Americans saying they are unemployed in the latest household survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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All I want for Christmas is a DOGE!
While this isn’t a typical holiday request – more likely people would prefer a furry, friendly kind of animal who greets them at the door to a static, cold, unfeeling stack of program cancellation papers – this year, in 2024, The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is all the rage simply because the new non-government advisory board will bring something new and novel to the Washington swamp, an entity focused on cleaning up the gargantuan fiscal mess in the nation’s capital rather than bent on creating new complications.
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The average American household credit card balance as of the third quarter of 2024 was about $10,757 after adjusting for inflation, according to a new study.
The personal-finance website WalletHub on Friday released its new Credit Card Debt Study, which found that consumers added $21 billion in debt during the third quarter of 2024.
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A Federal Reserve program aimed at bolstering small and medium-sized businesses may now be financially burdening some of them, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Fed introduced the Main Street Lending Program (MSLP) in 2020, which provided loans to small and mid-sized businesses that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some business owners are having difficulty affording to pay off the loans amid rising interest rates and a surge in inflation since 2020, experts told the DCNF.
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Federal pricing data released this week for consumer and producer prices shows that inflation rose last month.
Harvard professor and former economic advisor to President Barack Obama Jason Furman said the consumer data could show a “resurgence of inflation” not to the ultra high levels in recent years but to more recent elevated data.
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Inflation rose slightly in October despite a massive slowdown in job growth in the same month, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report released Wednesday.
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Gaining momentum two weeks from Election Day, Donald Trump is laser focused on voters’ top priority of making America safe and affordable again. But after spending hours comforting families victimized by murder, rape and other border crimes, the former president told Just the News he also is open to creating a federal compensation fund for Americans harmed by illegal immigrants let into the country under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The idea of a border crimes reparations fund like the one created for the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks has been floating around conservative circles for months, including in Congress where Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., even introduced the concept before it stalled.
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Democrats’ display their elitism by using macroeconomic numbers to ignore America’s microeconomic concerns. By promoting the macro-economy, Democrats produced the numbers they now campaign on. However, their macro numbers have come with high inflation that has wreaked havoc on the micro-economies in which most Americans live.
Democrats’ embrace of the macro economy is unmistakable. Paul Krugman’s recent column (10/8) trumpeted that the “macro” numbers “vindicate Bidenomics.” During CBS’s Sunday (10/6) 60 Minutes interview, Kamala Harris immediately ducked into the macro economy when asked about inflation’s impact on Americans.
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American small business uncertainty hit an all-time high and optimism remains low just weeks before Election Day, according to the latest survey.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses on Monday released the survey, which showed small business uncertainty rose last month to the highest level ever recorded by NFIB.
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Inflation fell slightly in September amid fears of a hotter-than-expected economy following strong job gains in the month prior, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release Thursday.
The consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of the price of everyday goods, increased 2.4% on an annual basis in September and rose 0.2% month-over-month, compared to 2.5% in August, less than the 2.3% rate that was expected, according to the BLS. Core CPI, which excludes the volatile categories of energy and food, rose 3.3% year-over-year in September, compared to 3.2% in August.
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Former political director of the National Republican Convention Gentry Collins discussed the creation of a new tool for undecided voters to use when determining who to vote for in the upcoming 2024 election.
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Gross domestic product rose at an annual rate of 3% in the second quarter of 2024, showing economic growth and increased consumer spending, according to a report.
The report, released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, shows gross domestic product over the last five years.
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Existing home sales fell in August, while sale prices continued to climb, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors.
Existing home sales fell 2.5% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.86 million. That’s down 4.2% from one year ago.
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As the nation reels from a second cowardly attack on former President Donald Trump’s life, it is increasingly clear the radical left refuses to tone down their hateful rhetoric against Trump even if it threatens his life repeatedly. The American people, however, want to put Trump back in charge of the two most pivotal issues facing the country – the economy and immigration.
Just five days after the contentious debate between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris blatantly exposed the mainstream media’s allegiance to the radical left, Trump fended off yet another attack on his life. On Sunday Trump was on what should have been a secure West Palm Beach golf course, only to be threatened once again by a radical extremist with a weapon.
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Inflation fell in August amid fears of an economic slowdown following two straight months of disappointing job gains, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release on Wednesday.
The consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of the price of everyday goods, increased 2.5% on an annual basis in August and rose 0.2% month-over-month, compared to a 2.9% year-over-year rate in July, according to the BLS. Core CPI, which excludes the volatile categories of energy and food, rose 3.2% year-over-year in August, compared with 3.2% in July.
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Friday’s jobs report reveals accelerating weakness in the American economy. Only 142,000 jobs were created last month, below expectations. Half of new positions were created in the unproductive government or quasi-government healthcare and social services sectors.
A record 8.2 million Americans have second jobs. So far this year, the number of unemployed Americans has increased by one million.
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Economists anticipated that the country would add 161,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in August compared to the 114,000 added in initial estimates for July, and that the unemployment rate would fall to 4.2%, according to MarketWatch. The job gains follow a disappointing July report and a downward revision of over 800,000 jobs that the Biden administration had claimed to create between April 2023 and March 2024.
Meanwhile, previously reported job gains for July were revised down from 114,000 to 89,000 while gains for June were lowered from 179,000 too 118,000.
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With inflation remaining stubbornly high, many Americans have been forced to choose whether to pay for more groceries to feed their families, or to pay their energy bills to keep their families cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
According to CBS News, this new trend has been referred to as “energy poverty,” when Americans are unable to pay their energy bills or otherwise afford utilities. On average, households that spend 6 percent of their income or more on energy bills alone are considered to be in “energy poverty.” Currently, 1 in 7 American households spend approximately 14 percent of their income on energy.
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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday indicated the bank is prepared to start cutting its key interest rate from its 23-year high, as inflation falls to more historic rates and the job market cools.
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Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is taking fire for her new “price-gouging” ban that critics say is little more than communism-style “price controls” where government heavily regulates industries.
Harris’ effort to address elevated consumer prices hits at a key pain point for Americans, but the details of how Harris plans to go about fixing that problem will be the subject of close scrutiny when she lays out the plan at a North Carolina rally Friday. Harris is expected to unveil a broader economic plan at the same rally, but so far there are few details on specifically how she will address inflation. Prices have risen more than 20% overall since she and President Joe Biden took office.
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The already-long 2024 presidential campaign has become the strangest in modern history.
Here are ten unanswered questions that illustrate how and why we’ve entered this bizarro world:
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The U.S. unemployment rate once again ticked up in the month of June to 4.3 percent as another 352,000 Americans said they were unemployed, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Markets are crashing in response.
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Shoplifting has soared in the U.S. in 2024, forcing many stores to leave cities and continuing a trend in recent years.
Shoplifting has risen 24 percent in the first half of 2024 alone, according to newly released data from the Council on Criminal Justice.
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The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it will not yet cut its benchmark federal funds rate in what is predicted to be the last in a streak of pauses as inflation and debt continues to cripple Americans.
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The Federal Reserve is expected to hold the bank’s key interest rate steady this week. Traders currently expect three rate cuts this year beginning in September.
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Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate for the first COVID-19 stimulus package in 2021 which led to inflation, in what critics call a sign of what’s to come in a possible Harris administration.
Harris, who is the President of the Senate, has cast the most tie-breaking votes in the Senate of any vice president, a total of 33 thus far. Her second tie-breaker was for the stimulus package at the beginning of the Biden administration, which has significantly impacted the economy, as inflation has skyrocketed.
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Evictions are soaring, and Americans can’t pay the rent, potentially throwing hundreds of thousands of families out of their homes at a time when homeless shelters are jammed to the rafters with 10 million illegal immigrants.
It’s a useful reminder that the problem with our ruling elite isn’t just President Joe Biden’s dementia. They’ve made a very big bed we’re all going to be lying in.
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Whether the economy is currently bubbling along or facing a slowdown, a slow-motion disaster is about to create a real crisis for the government, our future politics, and the shrinking middle class. Half of households have no retirement savings.
This is just one of many shifts in the economy that reflect the declining fortunes of the middle class. Wages have remained mostly flat for most workers—particularly those without a college degree—since the early 1970s. Recent high rates of inflation further cut into the ability of the self-identified middle class to make ends meet. But the biggest change has been the abolition of employer-provided pensions and their replacement with rickety and self-managed 401k savings plans.
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The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted prior to the weekend assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, found that likely voters said inflation/price increases (45%), illegal immigration (36%) and the economy/jobs (28%) were the issues that matter most to them heading into the November election.
The poll was conducted in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights from July 8-11 and surveyed nearly 2,300 likely voters, including 1,006 Republicans, 1,117 Democrats, and 172 true (non-leaning) independents. It has a margin of error of 2.1%. The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll is one of only six national tracking polls in the United States.
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Joe Biden’s escalating dementia and the long media-political conspiracy to hide his senility from the public are the least of the Democrats’ current problems.
Biden’s track record as president may be more concerning than his cognitive decline. He has literally destroyed the U.S. border, deliberately allowing the entry of more than 10 million illegal aliens. His callous handlers’ agenda was to import abjectly poor constituencies in need of vast government services without regard for the current struggles of a battered American middle class and poor.
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Small businesses cite inflation as their number one concern, according to new survey data.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses released the survey results Tuesday, which show that 21% of small business owners cite inflation as “the single most important problem in operating their business,” more than any other issue.
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Inflation ticked down slightly year-over-year in June as rising prices continue to weigh on average Americans’ finances, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release on Wednesday.
The consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of the price of everyday goods, increased 3.0 percent on an annual basis in June and decreased 0.1 percent month-over-month, compared to 3.3 percent in May, according to the BLS. Core CPI, which excludes the volatile categories of energy and food, remained high, rising 3.3 percent year-over-year in June, compared to 3.4 percent in May.
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The U.S. added 206,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in June as the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released Friday.
Economists anticipated that 190,000 jobs would be added in June, far fewer than the initially reported 272,000 gain seen in May, and the unemployment rate would remain steady at 4%, according to U.S. News and World Report. Strong topline job gains in recent months have led some top economic officials, like Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, to push back against claims that the economy is stalling, despite slow economic growth and high inflation.
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Due to inflation eating away at earnings and less supply of affordable housing, the majority of Americans today cannot afford median rent prices, according to a new report by the real estate company Redfin.
The analysis comes as other reports indicate that both homeowners and renters are struggling with high housing costs due to inflationary pressures, an inflated housing market, low supply and demand for affordable housing.
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Home prices hit a record high in May despite falling demand and sales activity, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The national median home price in the United States is now $419,300, a 5.8% increase from a year earlier and a new record high, according to the The Wall Street Journal. The record high comes as homeowners remain unwilling to list due to high mortgage rates.
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Newly released federal inflation data showed that inflation slowed in recent weeks.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Consumer Price Index, which showed that overall consumer prices paused in the month of May after rising 0.3 percent in April.
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The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept its key interest rate but signaled one cut is expected before the end of the year.
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A large portion of small business owners are concerned about their future amid wider financial stress under President Joe Biden, according to a new poll from the Job Creators Network Foundation (JCNF) obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Around 67 percent of small business owners were worried that current economic conditions could force them to close their doors, ten percentage points higher than just two years ago, according to the JCNF’s monthly small business poll. Respondents’ perceptions of economic conditions for their own businesses fell slightly in the month, from 70.2 to 68.1 points, with 100 points being the best possible business conditions, while perceptions of national conditions increased from 50.4 to 53.2 points.
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Homeowners across the U.S. are seeing skyrocketing insurance rates, increased deductibles, excluded protections, and canceled policies.
Insurers say that they’re having to adjust to changing conditions to remain profitable. Among the problems they blame is inflation, rising construction costs, and costs associated with regulatory compliance. But many insurers are also blaming climate change for driving extreme weather events and increasing losses, and much of the media coverage is zooming in on this narrative.
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As inflation continues to rise this year, small businesses are feeling the pain.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses released a survey of small business owners Tuesday that found the nation’s job creators cite inflation as their top concern more than any other issue.
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Inflation ticked down slightly year-over-year in April but still remained high as rising prices continue to take a toll on average Americans’ finances, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release on Tuesday.
The consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of the prices of everyday goods, increased 3.4% on an annual basis in April and 0.3% month-over-month, compared to 3.5% in March, according to the BLS. Core CPI, which excludes the volatile categories of energy and food, remained higher, rising 3.6% year-over-year in April, compared to 3.8% in February.
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A measure of wholesale inflation that tracks prices before they reach consumers surged to its fastest annual rate since April 2023, according to new data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The producer price index (PPI) rose 0.5 percent in April, totaling a 2.2 percent annual rate, far higher than estimates that the index would rise 0.3 percent in the month, according to the BLS. The report adds to fears that inflation is once again surging following the consumer price index jumping to 3.5 percent in March, up from 3.2 percent in February and far from the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target.
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With inflation, high-interest rates and slowing economic growth already stressing Americans heading into the 2024 election, another reason to worry about the Biden economy has cropped up: distressed banks in danger of failing.
Last month U.S. regulators seized a bank known as Republic First Bancorp and agreed to sell it to Fulton Bank.
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Americans are less confident about the economy, according to a new survey.
Gallup’s recently released economic confidence rating dropped from March to April as inflation remains elevated. Just after the polling was conducted from April 1-22, the federal government released underperforming Gross Domestic Product data.
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A German discount grocer has seen an increase in business from American customers over the last year, as inflation remains stubbornly high and presents an ongoing threat to Americans’ financial security.
The Daily Caller reports that Aldi, the German-based grocer, saw a staggering 26% increase in foot traffic at its store in March compared to March of 2023. This rise far surpassed increases at other popular grocery store chains, including the 6% year-over-year increase at Kroger and the 15% increase at Trader Joe’s.
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Many companies are looking to cut down on their debts as recent high inflation reports have made borrowing more expensive as the prospect of interest rate cuts by central banks diminishes, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Even companies with already high credit outlooks are deleveraging to boost their rating with top agencies and reduce debt costs that have increased along with interest rates, while firms with lower ratings are needing to cut debt to maintain profitable operations, according to the WSJ. Investors have had to adjust their view about when interest rates might decline in recent weeks as persistently high levels of inflation have made it less likely that central banks around the world, including in the U.S., will cut interest rates, reducing the cost of holding debt.
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U.S. annual economic growth measured just 1.6 percent in the first quarter of 2024, following a report of persistently high inflation in March of 3.5 percent year-over-year. The combination of both low growth and high inflation, in conjunction with continuously high amounts of government spending and debt, has led to signs of stagflation in the U.S. economy, which wreaked havoc on U.S. consumers throughout the 1970’s, according to experts who spoke to the DCNF.
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In addition to measuring foreign exchange rates, an economist is using the price of a hamburger to examine inflation.
The Economist magazine developed the Big Mac index in 1986 as an informal way to determine the “purchasing power parity” of different countries and currencies. B. Ravikumar, senior vice president and deputy director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, recently used the Big Mac index to analyze the U.S. consumer price index, which is widely used as the authoritative inflation measurement.
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The latest Harvard Youth Poll reveals President Joe Biden has lost significant ground with voters under thirty compared to four years ago, with a 20-point decline among young men. While young Americans give Biden low marks on foreign policy and economic issues including inflation, housing, and the job market, immigration is a leading factor in young people’s departure from Democrats.
Biden currently leads Trump by thirteen percentage points (50 percent to 37 percent) among registered voters under thirty in the Harvard Youth Poll, a slightly higher margin than he has led by in other recent polls that include young people as a subset.
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