Category: Economy

Biden Moves to Shift Power over Defense Contracts to Climate Activist ‘Cabal’ Bent on Curtailing Economic Growth

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden White House is pushing to give veto power over major Pentagon contracts to a group of climate activist groups that advocate for establishing “guardrails” on economic growth, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation.

The White House proposed a rule in November that requires major contractors for the Department of Defense (DOD), NASA, and Government Services Agency (GSA) to submit climate-related goals to a consortium of activist organizations, called the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), for validation. If the SBTi rejects the contractor’s plan to reduce emissions, the company would no longer be eligible to compete.

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DOD ‘Bait and Switch’ with Emergency and Licensed COVID Vaccines Killed Student, Lawsuit Alleges

Just the News

The Pentagon conducted “human experimentation without consent” by falsely advertising a COVID-19 vaccine under emergency use authorization as fully licensed, a “bait and switch” that killed a college student, according to a new lawsuit against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin by the student’s estate.

George Watts was waiting for FDA approval of Pfizer’s Comirnaty to fulfill the COVID vaccine mandate at New York’s Corning Community College, which provided a 35-day grace period for compliance following Comirnaty’s Aug. 23, 2021, approval, the filing states.

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Texas Governor Aims to Eliminate Property Taxes

The Center Square

Gov. Greg Abbott says his goal is to eliminate homeowners’ property taxes in the state of Texas. He says it’s possible to achieve over time because of the significant economic growth of the state.

All three Republican leaders, Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Speaker Dade Phelan, have pledged to reduce property taxes and made it a legislative priority.

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California Senate Passes $25 Minimum Wage for Healthcare Workers

The Center Square

A $25 minimum wage bill for healthcare workers was passed on Wednesday in the California Senate. The partisan bill did not receive a single Republican vote in its 21-11 passage. Authored by Senator Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), and championed by the Service Employees International Union, the bill proposes to increase the state’s minimum wage for healthcare workers.

Healthcare workers at general acute care hospitals, acute psychiatric hospitals, medical offices and clinics, behavioral health centers, dialysis clinics and residential care centers as well as as certified nursing assistants, patient aides, technicians, and food service workers, among many others can all expect a wage increase, if the bill becomes law. All paid work performed on the premises of any covered health care facility, regardless of the identity of the employer qualifies for the increase.

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Commentary: Green Energy Has a Dirty Secret

Virginia Star Staff

As with most things espoused in the name of social progress, the left’s aggressive push for EV technology conveniently forgets the lives of those affected by it the most.

“On my watch, the great American road trip is going to be fully electrified…you can get up to $7,500 on a new electric vehicle,” Biden exclaimed during a photo-op in a shiny electric Hummer. I bet that tax credit will come in handy when the average American is forced to buy a $60,000 EV after gas-powered cars are banned outright.

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Small Businesses Struggle to Fill Job Openings, Report Finds

The Center Square

A newly released survey of small businesses shows that nearly half are having trouble filling job openings.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses released the survey, which found that 44% of small business owners report being unable to fill current job openings, a full 20 points higher than the average reading over the last 49 years.

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Economy Added 339K Jobs in May, Nearly Double Wall Street Expectations

Just the News

U.S. employers have added roughly 339,000 jobs in May, and the monthly unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, from a five-decade low of 3.4% in April, according to a Labor Department report released Friday.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% for the month while on an annual basis, wages increased 4.3%, which was a 0.1 percentage point under the estimate.

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Commentary: Don’t Believe The Jobs Day Hype — Americans Are Still Getting Poorer

Virginia Star Staff

Friday’s jobs report shows 339,000 jobs were created in May, beating expectations again. While Democrats and the media celebrate, the labor market condition is not as strong as this topline number suggests.

The report shows that real wages continue to decline. For the 26th consecutive month, average wages grew slower than inflation. The Biden presidency will forever be marked as one where Americans got poorer and saw their living standards decline.

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Commentary: The Real Cost of the Debt-Ceiling Deal

Virginia Star Staff

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spent weeks of negotiating to authorize $4 trillion in new deficit spending over the next two years. This means that our national debt will be $35 trillion in 2025. The interest cost will be up to $1.4 trillion annually, only a small amount less than the current cost of national defense and Social Security combined. This staggering debt undermines the future prosperity of every American.

Federal spending contributes to a sense of entitlement, including for every person receiving federal largesse. Think of the adverse impact of federal student loans. President Barack Obama promised that government-granted student college loans would be more efficient, but these loans have, in fact, ballooned the cost of college. Concurrently, colleges have reduced quality outcomes and propagandized students, undermining our society because many students are hopelessly in debt. Now, progressives in Congress want to terminate the provision requiring repayment of student loans. For many of our young workforce, the burden of high student loans precludes marriage and buying a house.

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Virginia Gov. Youngkin Eliminating Degree Requirement for Many State Jobs

The Center Square

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is taking historical measures by eliminating degree requirements and preferences for nearly 90% of commonwealth classified positions.

The new “landmark” hiring preferences will provide equal consideration for all qualified applicants and allow state agencies to broaden their recruitment and talent pool.

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Bud Light Shells Out $200,000 to LGBT Business Organization amid Dylan Mulvaney Backlash, Cratering Sales

Virginia Star Staff

Bud Light is making a $200,000 donation to the National LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) to support “economic opportunities and advancements for LGBTQ+ Americans,” according to a press release from its parent company Anheuser-Busch.

The company suffered significant losses after many Americans began a boycott of Bud Light earlier this month, after the brand created a special beer can for transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney. In the wake of the fallout, Anheuser-Busch released a statement Monday, saying that it was “extending [its] partnership” with NGLCC by donating $200,000 to the Communities of Color Initiative (CoCi) and the CoCi Biz Pitch program.

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DeSantis Blasts McCarthy Over Budget Deal for ‘Careening Towards Bankruptcy’

Admin

by Harold Hutchison   Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida ripped House Speaker Kevin McCarthy early Monday over the debt ceiling deal, calling it “totally inadequate” when it came to addressing spending. “Prior to this deal, Kayleigh, our country was careening toward bankruptcy and after this deal, our country will…

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Nuclear Energy Renaissance Emerges as Counterbalance to Democrats’ ‘Green New Deal’

Just the News

by Addison Smith   Alternative clean energy plans to the Democrats’ Green New Deal are getting a boost from a new generation of nuclear energy technology, which can produce zero-carbon emission electricity with a much smaller footprint than earlier reactors. The innovations and advances of the nuclear power industry are…

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McCarthy-Biden Debt Deal Eliminates Unspent COVID Funds, Blocks IRS Expansion and Reforms Permitting

Just the News

The debt limit deal struck late Saturday between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden rolls back some of Washington’s massive spending while delivering other conservative priorities like blocking new taxes and requiring some welfare recipients to work, according to a summary obtained by Just the News.

McCarthy described the deal as an “agreement in principle,” and it rolls back domestic spending to fiscal year 2022 levels while limiting “top line federal spending to 1% growth for the next 6 years.”

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Poll Shows a Majority Support Easing Perimeter Rule around Reagan National

The Center Square

A recent poll shows a majority of northern Virginia residents support expanding the flight distance perimeter around Reagan National Airport, allowing the airport to accommodate more routes, thus making fares more competitive, according to supporters of the measure.

Recent legislation introduced by Utah congressmen Burgess Owens and Hank Johnson, known as The Direct Capital Access Act, part of the 2023 Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization bill, would allow for the increase and creation of longer-haul flights in and out of Reagan. The legislation would add 28 flights in and out of the 1960s-era perimeter rule for incoming and outgoing flights.

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States See Chinese Purchase of Farmland as a Threat to National Security

The Center Square

Several states have already banned or are considering banning foreign ownership of farmland from U.S. adversaries such as China, a trend that has its recent roots in North Dakota.

Chinese food manufacturer Fufeng Group purchased 370 acres of land for a corn milling plant in Grand Forks in November 2021.

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Virginia’s Miyares Joins Lawsuit Against Robocall Company

The Center Square

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has joined a nationwide lawsuit against Avid Telecom for “violating” the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for allegedly “facilitating billions of illegal robocalls.”

Miyares is joining a bipartisan coalition of 48 attorneys general from across the country in filing the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. 

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Tax Documents Show Black Lives Matter Lost Millions in 2022

Virginia Star Staff

The official Black Lives Matter organization lost millions of dollars in 2022, according to recently unearthed tax returns.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the Black Lives Matter Global Foundation Network saw a deficit of $8.5 million in 2022, and also lost $10 million from its investment accounts. In addition, the group recorded a loss of $961,000 on a securities sale of $172,000, amounting to a roughly 85 percent loss as a result of the transaction.

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Virginia Records the Largest Job Increase in Nearly a Decade

The Center Square

Virginia’s labor participation rate rose to the highest recorded in nearly a decade, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics.

April’s labor force participation rate increased by 0.3% to 66.2%, the highest since June 2014. The labor force in the commonwealth has risen by 21,687 this month. The BLS recorded more than 25,000 Virginians were employed in April than in March – leading the decline in unemployment to 3.1%.

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House Follows Senate in Voting for Resolution to Halt Tougher EPA Vehicle Emission Standards

Virginia Star Staff

The GOP-led House on Tuesday voted in favor of a resolution to strike down the Environmental Protection Agency’s  emissions restrictions for heavy-duty trucks. 

The joint-chamber resolution, which passed the House by a 221-203 vote, was introduced by Republican lawmakers in February via the Congressional Review Act (CRA) – a law that allows Congress to reverse rules made by a federal agency.

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GOP Lawmakers Raise Concerns About WHO’s Pandemic Preparedness Treaty, US Involvement in Agency

Just the News

The World Health Organization, widely considered the most powerful health authority in the world, is pursuing a Pandemic Preparedness Treaty that critics say could make the organization even more powerful and jeopardize U.S. sovereignty.

The United Nations-affiliated WHO says the draft treaty – or “zero draft” – is designed to protect the world from future pandemics and last December announced that member states “agreed to develop the first draft of such as a legally binding agreement.”

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Fraud Report: $38 Million in Pandemic Relief Aid Sent to Dead People

The Center Square

Data scientists from the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee identified nearly $38 million in potentially improper or fraudulent pandemic loans were obtained using Social Security Numbers of dead people.

The loans were made through both the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and Paycheck Protection Program.

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Commentary: Any Debt ‘Default’ Will Be Biden’s Choice

Admin

There’s enough revenue to pay interest on the debt even if the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling is reached.

Meaning, if the U.S. defaults on the debt on June 1, it will be because President Joe Biden chose not to make principal and interest payments on U.S. Treasuries out of existing revenue, for which there is more than ample revenues to service and refinance up to the current debt ceiling limit, $31.4 trillion.

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Americans’ Inflation Pain Hits a New High

The Center Square

Regardless of a slowdown in the rise of inflation, Americans report that higher prices are causing financial hardship, a new poll indicates.

Gallup released the poll data Thursday, which found that 61% of those surveyed say price hikes have caused financial hardship, up from 49% in January of last year. That 61% figure is a high point for Americans since Gallup began tracking the data in 2021, when inflation was growing faster.

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Virginia Revenue Collections Remain Ahead by Nearly $500 Million

The Center Square

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin says the commonwealth is ahead almost $500 million for the year-to-date general revenue collections – consistent with a prior forecast.

The revenue collections in the first 10 months of the fiscal year were 2.7% higher – adjusted for policy or timing impacts. Although, the unadjusted revenue collections were down 8.2% in April, a 0.9% reduction for the fiscal year-to-date.

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Disney Scraps New $1 Billion Florida Project amid DeSantis Feud

Virginia Star Staff

The Walt Disney Company has canceled plans to build a $1 billion installation in Florida amid an ongoing legal and political fight with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The project, known as the Lake Nona Town Center, included plans to build office space for the company near Orlando, Florida, and would have created upwards of 2,000 jobs with an average salary of $120,000 a year, according to the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity. Its cancellation was announced in an email to employees by Disney’s chairman of Parks and Resorts, Josh D’Amaro, on Thursday.

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Americans’ Views of Housing Market Worse than After 2008 Market Crash

The Center Square

Americans’ views of the housing market have plunged as interest rates continue to rise because of government-fueled inflation.

Gallup released new polling data showing that only 21% of Americans say now is a good time to buy a house, down 9 percentage points from the previous year. This year and last year during the Biden administration are the only times that fewer than half of Americans said it was a good time to buy a house since Gallup began asking in 1978.

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Rural Virginia Communities to Receive Broadband Grants

The Center Square

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced funding to provide 20 predominantly rural, underserved communities with broadband access.

More than $59.5 million in grants will be made through the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative, supplying broadband access to nearly 30,000 homes, businesses and community institutions, such as schools, libraries, public safety centers and health care providers.

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Vice Media Files for Bankruptcy to Ease Sale to Investors Including Soros Fund Management

Just the News

Soros Fund Management (SFM) and other investors will buy Vice Media for about $225 million after the media company filed for bankruptcy protection Monday.

The digital media company was once valued at $5.7 billion, but is now relying on funds from bidders to continue operations until its sale is finalized in the next two to three months, according to a Monday press release. SFM was founded and is chaired by left-wing billionaire and philanthropist George Soros and is the principal asset manager for the Open Society Foundations, of which Soros is the founding chair.

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‘Anti-Capitalist’ Cafe Closes Down After a Year Due to a Lack of Capital

Admin

The Anarchist, a Canadian coffee shop dedicated to fighting capitalism, is going out of business on May 30, about one year after its opening due to a lack of capital, according to its owner. The café sold coffee and tea alongside books and merchandise promoting radical leftist ideas, and was ardently anti-capitalist. The business was unable to obtain enough capital to stay in business during a slow winter season, the cafe’s owner, Gabriel Sims-Fewer, wrote in an online announcement about the closure.

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U.S. Faces ‘Significant Risk’ of Breaking Debt Ceiling in First Weeks of June: CBO

The Center Square

The U.S. government faces a significant risk of not being able to pay its bills in the coming weeks without an increase to the debt limit, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday.

The warning comes as Democrats and Republicans remain far apart on negotiations over the debit limit. The debt ceiling is the maximum amount of debt the U.S. Department of the Treasury can issue.

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White House Aiming for Two-Year Deal on Debt Ceiling as Talks Stall: Report

Virginia Star Staff

White House staff are reportedly pushing a deal on the debt ceiling as talks between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden on a potential raise of the debt limit have been delayed.

The White House is seeking a debt-ceiling increase that would push back the borrowing limit by two years, according to Politico. In exchange, they are reportedly agreeing to caps on “discretionary” spending, which refers to all congressional appropriations excluding Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security and some minor programs, according to Politico.

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New Bank Fees to Cover Bailouts Could Be Passed on to Customers, Experts Say

Virginia Star Staff

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced a proposal on Thursday to charge new fees to replenish funds spent bailing out Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank depositors in March that will cost Americans, according to experts who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Under the proposal announced at the FDIC Board of Directors Meeting, the regulator would charge special assessment fees to an estimated 113 banks, mostly those with over $50 billion in assets and none under $5 billion in assets. The banks will pass the costs on to their customers, according to economists who spoke to the DCNF.

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Report: U.S. Economic Development Departments Pay Big Money for Few Gains

The Center Square

While billion-dollar economic development incentives are heavily expanding across the country, the agencies in charge of handing out those incentives claim to create or retain 625,000 jobs in their most recent fiscal years, according to a new report.

The Center for Economic Accountability tallied up the jobs claimed as part of incentive packages in the 50 states and Washington, D.C. and found job total would be less than 5% of the 15 million to 17 million jobs naturally created in the United States economy each year.

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Commentary: U.S. Government Will Not Default on Loans If Congress Doesn’t Raise the Debt Ceiling

RealClearWire

Contrary to widespread claims that the U.S. government will default on its debt if Congress doesn’t raise the debt limit, federal law and the Constitution require the Treasury to pay the debt, and it has ample tax revenues to do this.

Nor would Social Security benefits be affected by a debt limit stalemate unless President Biden illegally diverts Social Security revenues to other programs.

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U.S. Crude Oil Production Approaches Pre-Pandemic Levels

The Center Square

For the first two months of 2023, production of crude oil in the U.S. neared pre-COVID levels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The production of crude oil in the U.S. in January and February was the most since March 2020 when the pandemic hit.

The U.S. produced 12.54 million barrels of crude oil per day in January and 12.48 million barrels per day in February. That represented the highest levels since 12.80 million barrels per day in March 2020.

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Commentary: The Biden Admin Doesn’t Care About Creating Jobs – They Even Say So

Admin

Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the quiet part out loud last week. As the executive of our public lands agency, she does not believe that Americans need jobs because there are already so many jobs available. It’s better to lock up land, and lock down mining because who wants those jobs, when there are so many others?

Before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Haaland told Sen. Josh Hawley, “Senator, I know that there’s like 1.9 jobs for every American in the country right now. So, I know there’s a lot of jobs,” which was her explanation for canceling cobalt mining permits for Twin Metals Minnesota, an underground mine proposed for the northeastern part of the state. America won’t need those jobs, she was saying.

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