Economy

Now we know why Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's de facto dictator, recently handed over responsibility for food production to the military: He's going to need soldiers on farms and elsewhere in the food distribution chain to keep conscripted workers in line. That's because on July 22, now over a week ago, Maduro's government decreed "... that any employee in Venezuela can be effectively made to work…

They call it a comeback. It is true, the U.S. economy is no longer in the depths of what has been called “The Great Recession.” But, in many ways the economy remains “weak.” Overall economic growth remains “subpar” and labor force participation rates remain shocking, not far from 38-year lows. Then of course there’s poverty, food stamp use, weak wage growth and household income struggles. The…

The Washington Post “Fact Checker” column is running its critiques of the Republican convention this week, and in the process is trying again to rebuff a figure of $15,000 per household that I employ as a placeholder for the annual cost of federal regulations.  

The 2016 Republican National Convention brought the radical, left-wing fringe out in Cleveland, and some of the groups’ ideas were downright ridiculous.

It’s almost as if “Net Neutrality” is a Leftist safe word - to be uttered when the free market growing freely causes them too much discomfort. Few things demonstrate the insular Media-Government Bubble better than this:

The latest installment in leftist excuse-making when socialism fails goes into the "It would work if leaders just had the right people handling things" file. It comes in the form of a Friday morning "analysis" at the Associated Press. Writers Jorge Rueda and Joshua Goodman want readers to believe that the economy in the Bolivarian socialist and once fairly prosperous nation of Venezuela would be…

Much like Phil Mickelson took a big early lead in the British Open, Esquire’s Charles Pierce has taken a big rhetorical-excess lead in early blogging about Donald Trump’s VP pick, Indiana governor Mike Pence, calling him a “very strange and completely unreconstructed wingnut” whose paper trail contains “a rich deposit of sweet crude crazy.” Kevin Drum of Mother Jones described Pence as "not…

The media exuded panic surrounding the vote for the U.K. to leave the European Union, commonly called Brexit. Reports after the vote panicked over how much markets had fallen, worried about a potential recession for the UK and otherwise attacked the outcome. 

It would be far too kind to give three cheers to CNN for exposing the disastrous conditions in a children's hospital in Caracas, Venezuela caused by over 15 years of Bolivarian socialism in a July 13 broadcast report. The network gets one hearty cheer for the detailed report's existence. It lost a chance for a second cheer when it failed to mention the country's socialist form of government…

It's a safe prediction that there will be renewed interest in the federal government's perilous financial situation if the country elects someone not named Hillary Clinton as its next president in November. One reason why this prediction is so safe is how little interest there has been in even covering today's news about Uncle Sam's troubling June surplus of only $6.3 billion. The Associated…

Tuesday's coverage at the Associated Press of the deepening humanitarian crisis in the Bolivarian socialist disaster known as Venezuela focused on the conditions in the ever-lengthening lines its citizens must endure in hopes of obtaining enough of the basics of everyday life just to survive. Wire service reports often start off relatively brief and expand as reporters gather more information.…

Back in May, New York Times reporter Mark Landler praised President Obama for saving the U.S. economy and insisting “Many historians agree.” In his “White House Letter” of July 4, “Globalization Demands Obama’s Oratorical Skills,” he went further, calling in Obama to save the world economy against the ugly forces of “nativism and nationalism” of Trump and the Brexiteers with his silver-tongued…

Hillary Clinton’s proposal to spend $350 billion on “affordable” tuition may have been outrageous, but at least it provoked some poignant comments on the pitfalls of big government.

Donald Trump may have hijacked the Republican party, suggests Beutler, but he hasn’t changed its bigoted course -- he’s just put the pedal to the metal. Trump’s campaign has made clear, “even among many conservatives who once denied it,” that “millions of white people believe it’s important to rally behind politicians who support policies that directly or indirectly penalize minorities—and that…