The cost of housing surged in July, accounting for nearly 90 percent of total inflation, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released Wednesday.
Shelter costs rose 5.1 percent year-over-year and 0.4 percent month-over-month, after rising 0.2 percent in June, the BLS showed. The 0.4 percent monthly increase was greater than Bank of America economists’ expectations of 0.3 percent, according to investment research firm Morningstar.
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Vice President Kamala Harris is poised to roll out a proposal to impose a federal ban on supposed corporate “price-gouging” on food and groceries, according to The Hill.
Harris will announce the plan during a Friday speech detailing her economic agenda in North Carolina, where she will blame corporate consolidation and greed for the increased prices Americans are paying for their food and groceries, according to The Hill. The proposal to attribute inflation to corporate greed echoes a common refrain from the Biden administration, which has consistently tried to pin responsibility for inflation on price gouging instead of its massive spending agenda.
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Consumer prices rose again last month after dipping in June, according to newly released federal inflation data.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday released its Consumer Price Index, a key marker of inflation, which showed that consumer prices rose 0.2% in July, part of a 2.9% increase over the past 12 months.
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Newly released federal inflation data shows that the Producer Price Index, a leading marker of inflation, rose last month.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the data, which showed a 0.1 percent increase in July, part of a 2.2 percent increase in the previous 12 months.
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So far in the fiscal year 2024, the federal government has had to borrow about $5 billion every day.
The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday the federal budget deficit was $1.5 trillion for the first 10 months of fiscal year 2024, which covers October through July.
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With a looming deadline to fund benefits to about 7 million veterans in October, and Congress out until Sept. 9, Maine Sen. Susan Collins and six colleagues have filed legislation to get full funding.
A Republican and independent are among the six. Veterans Affairs is facing a deficit of about $15 billion the remainder of this year and next – a deficit larger than the annual budget of the Environmental Protection Agency, says one senator.
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Brittney Pearson was a mother of four and 24 weeks pregnant when she was diagnosed with breast cancer—a tragic enough situation. To make a bad situation worse, though, the Sacramento native was pregnant as a surrogate mother for a gay couple.
Upon being informed of the cancer diagnosis, the two men demanded that Pearson abort the child.
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Between safety and reliability issues, as well as a dearth of charging stations, electric vehicle owners have been having quite a bit of buyer’s remorse, and now they may have another reason to go back to gas cars — EVs are rapidly depreciating.
Rental company Hertz announced in 2021 it would buy 100,000 EVs from Tesla, only to find lackluster interest from renters. In January, the Hertz announced it was selling off 20,000 of the vehicles, with prices as low as $25,000. Vehicle depreciation cost the company $588 million in the first quarter of this year compared to the last quarter of 2023.
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Former President Donald Trump blamed the Monday stock market dive on Vice President Kamala Harris in a series of Truth Social posts.
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According to the Associated Press, the Nikkei closed down 4,451.28 points at 31,458.42 on Monday after it went down 5.8 percent on Friday, marking the worst two-day decline ever.
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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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The executive director of a large LGBT nonprofit allegedly spent the organization’s money on a lavish personal lifestyle, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
Sarah Kate Ellis, chief executive of GLAAD, an LGBT advocacy group, spent large sums of donor’s money on expenses such as remodeling her home office with a chandelier, renting a Cape Cod property, first class flights and luxury hotels, according to the NYT’s review of expense reports from January 2022 to June 2023. The expenses may be in violation of both the organization’s guidelines and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules, legal experts told the NYT.
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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 House Judiciary Committee has sent letters to over 40 American and foreign companies asking for documents related to what it claims are “collusive” activities as part of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM).
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The national debt surpassed $35 trillion on Monday for the first time in U.S. history as exorbitant federal spending continues under President Joe Biden.
Since Biden was inaugurated, the national debt has increased by over $7 trillion, from $27.7 trillion on January 20, 2021 to now over $35 trillion as of July 29, 2024. If the debt were to be divided among the roughly 258.3 million adults in the U.S., each adult would have roughly $135,500.
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The American job market has significantly downshifted as consumers, who drive the economy, are tapped out from the ongoing cost-of-living crisis under the Biden-Harris administration.
According to Friday’s employment report, only 115,000 jobs were created in July (67,000 using the more accurate household survey).
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The U.S. added 114,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in July as the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released Friday.
Economists anticipated that the country would add 175,000 jobs in July compared to the 206,000 added in initial estimates for June, and that the unemployment rate would remain stable at 4.1%, according to U.S. News and World Report. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell noted in a press conference on Wednesday that a continued slowdown in the labor market could be a sign of further softening in the economy and contribute to a possible cut to the federal funds rate and an easing in harsh credit conditions that have weighed on Americans.
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Based on data from a U.S. Treasury report, the federal government has amassed $142 trillion in debts, liabilities, and unfunded obligations. This staggering figure equals 93% of all the wealth Americans have accumulated since the nation’s founding, estimated by the Federal Reserve to be $152 trillion.
Unlike other measures of federal red ink that cover an arbitrary period, extend into the infinite future, or ignore government resources, the figure of $142 trillion applies strictly to Americans who are alive right now and includes the government’s commercial assets. Thus, it quantifies the financial burden that today’s Americans are leaving to their children and future generations.
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The devastation Hurricane Beryl left in its wake is estimated to cost taxpayers nationwide between $28 billion and $32 billion, according to an AccuWeather analysis. The losses to Texas, which was hardest hit, are estimated to be several billion.
Hurricane Beryl made landfall near Matagorda, Texas, on July 8 as a Category 1 storm. It then made its way northeast, fueling tornadoes in eastern Texas and western Louisiana, up into Arkansas and Missouri. The storm turned into a tropical rainstorm moving into the Midwest and New England, causing flooding, localized tornadoes and strong winds.
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If past performance is the best predictor of future performance, President Trump has proved his bona fides when it comes to fortifying American energy dominance.
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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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A Mississippi-based telecoms and technology company swiftly pulled its advertising from the 2024 Olympics after drag queens apparently mocked the Last Supper during the opening ceremony.
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said during a speech in Belem, Brazil, on Saturday that the price tag for a global transition to a low-carbon economy amounts to $78 trillion in financing through 2050.
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Giving Americans $1,000 per month in taxpayer-funded guaranteed income makes them worse off, says a new three-year, 3000-participant study. The National Bureau of Economic Research’s massive study found recipients and their partners work and earn less, with the negative effect on wages and earnings getting worse over time.
While proponents of universal basic income theorized such programs would improve non-economic metrics for recipients, the study surprisingly showed leisure time only increased as recipients spent less time on sleeping, child care, community engagement, caring for others, and self improvement. Transfers also reduced recipients’ non-transfer incomes significantly, with the study finding “for every one dollar received, total household income excluding the transfers fell by at least 21 cents, and total individual income fell by at least 12 cents.”
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The United States is producing more oil now than any nation in the world has ever produced. In 2008, the U.S. produced only 5 million barrels of oil a day. Last year, the country produced 13 million barrels daily.
The United States’ record-breaking production is often used to knock back the argument President Joe Biden’s energy policy aims to minimize domestic fuel fuel production – to cut carbon emission and make way for more renewable energy.
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BlackRock began renaming environmental, social and governance (ESG) earlier this year. It’s now calling it “transition investing.”
The company recently updated its climate and decarbonization stewardship guidelines. The document makes no mention of ESG, but it shows in many ways, the world’s largest investment manager with $10 trillion in assets under management is still pursuing many of the same goals.
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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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The U.S. economy grew at a rate of 2.8 percent in the second quarter of 2024, according to gross domestic product (GDP) statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on Thursday.
Higher growth in the second quarter follows poor growth in the first quarter of 2024, which measured 1.4 percent after being revised down from an initial estimate of 1.6 percent, according to the BEA. Economists expected that GDP would increase by around 2.1 percent in the second quarter of 2024, in line with typical U.S economic growth rates.
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More than 78 percent of U.S. adults say they are concerned about the energy bills, according to a recent CNET Money survey.
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The national debt has surpassed $34.9 trillion for the first time in U.S. history.
It did so as the federal government’s “borrowing binge and spending spree continues,” EJ Antoni, an economist with the Heritage Foundation, said.
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The U.S. subsidiary of a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer and its top executive have given hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash to Democrats in recent years.
Stella Li, a top executive for BYD Americas, and the company itself have given tens of thousands of dollars in campaign cash to Democratic candidates and organizations in California and beyond over the past decade, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of federal and state political spending records. Based in China, BYD is the biggest EV producer in the world, and Congress moved in January to ban the Pentagon from buying its batteries due to security risks, according to Bloomberg News.
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The population bust has made its way into popular discussion about the looming issues we face as a country and a world. After centuries with a growing population, humanity is finally projected to begin to shrink by the end of this century.
The realization of the downsides of fewer brains has dawned on many, including Elon Musk, who views it as a major problem:
Government workers are reportedly in a state of panic over the prospect of former President Donald Trump winning another term in office, according to E&E News.
Bureaucrats up and down the federal hierarchy are concerned that a second Trump administration could cost them their jobs and put an end to liberal programs they worked to implement under President Joe Biden, E&E News reported. Trump has, if elected, pledged to implement reforms that would allow him to fire up to 50,000 civil servants at will, with the former president singling out workers who are incompetent, unnecessary or undermine his democratic mandate.
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For over a half century the proponents of DEI and its intellectual precursors have fought from high ground, not from a moral position, but a tactical and strategic one secured by Marxist indoctrination that has pervaded nearly every corner of society.
The deliberate and methodical campaign has successfully muted public criticism, although privately most Americans felt that there is something terribly wrong with a philosophy that prioritizes appearance over ability. DEI’s commanding role in all branches of the military has resulted in no tangible benefits but a myriad of failures—falling morale and standards, recruitment shortfalls, plummeting public confidence in the military, poor leadership, and with the exception of the Marine Corps, the inability to fulfill basic mission requirements at an acceptable level.
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Paul Fishbein’s conviction on rent fraud charges in New York City last year was a feast for the tabloids.
The story was crazy enough to get readers to click. Prosecutors said that Fishbein, 51, somehow convinced local housing agencies that he owned dilapidated apartment buildings that he didn’t, enabling him to move in tenants and skim government rent subsidies meant for lower-income, disabled, and elderly residents. Fishbein kept the con going for more than years. His take: $1.8 million.
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The United States is producing more oil now than any nation in the world has ever produced. In 2008, the U.S. produced only 5 million barrels of oil a day. Last year, the country produced 13 million barrels daily.
The United States’ record-breaking production is often used to knock back the argument President Joe Biden’s energy policy aims to minimize domestic fuel fuel production – to cut carbon emission and make way for more renewable energy.
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The National Football League earned more than $13 billion and distributed more than $400 million in 2023 to each team from national revenue, Sportico reported.
The record distribution comes as teams across the league continue to push for public incentives for new stadiums and renovations.
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The second quarter of 2024 saw the rate of office vacancy in the United States hit a record high total of 20.1 percent, according to Moody’s tracking.
As reported by Axios, the rise in office vacancy in the last several months has been unusual compared to past trends, as such rates usually only rise during economic downturns. Thus, the rate continuing to increase despite the economy remaining relatively stagnant is an indication of consumers’ and business owners’ ongoing negative sentiments about the current state of the economy.
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Virginia has again ranked first in CNBC’s annual America’s Top States for Business index, its sixth time topping the chart since CNBC started the survey in 2007.
States are ranked on 128 metrics in 10 “broad categories of competitiveness” selected through consultation with business and policy specialists and the states.
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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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The call and text message records of tens of millions of AT&T wireless customers and other non-AT&T customers were exposed in a huge data breach in mid-to-late 2022, the company said on Friday.
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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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It’s summer, and the Sierra Club says: “This is climate change in action. We are living it.”
The United Nations’ secretary-general declares that “a fossil fuel phaseout is inevitable.” And The Lancet, a respected medical journal, insists that nations must swiftly transition away from hydrocarbons.
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President Joe Biden has spent $225 million paying hundreds of White House staffers since the 2021 fiscal year, federal records show.
The president’s spending on staffers totaled $60.8 million for the 2024 fiscal year, marking the highest level adjusted for inflation recorded over the past two presidential administrations, according to an analysis conducted by Open The Books. Biden employed over 500 staffers in three of the four fiscal years he has been in office, including 565 during the 2024 fiscal year, a headcount benchmark not hit since the Nixon administration in 1971.
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The number of insured unemployed individuals increased by 26,000 to 1,858,000, in the week ending June 29, the highest level since November 2021.
Seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims reached 238,000, marking an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 234,000.
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Economic issues dominate the list of top concerns for Pennsylvania voters ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, a new poll finds.
A quarter of voters in the swing state ranked “inflation/cost of living” as the No. 1 issue facing Pennsylvanians in a survey released Tuesday from the Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative-libertarian think tank in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
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Capitalism is disappearing, but Socialism is not replacing it. What is now arising is a new kind of planned, centralised society which will be neither capitalist nor, in any accepted sense of the word, democratic.
George Orwell wrote those words nearly 80 years ago.
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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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Imagine going to gas stations to fill up your car and finding that two out of ten times, the pumps aren’t working.
That’s what electric vehicle owners are facing, according to a study by the Harvard Business School and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
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