Reuters Venezuela on Monday slashed five zeros from prices as part of a broad economic plan that President Nicolas Maduro says will tame hyperinflation but critics call another raft of failed socialist policies that will push the chaotic country deeper into crisis. Streets were quiet and shops were closed…
Read More
By Robert Romano One of the conventional wisdoms to do with the tariffs and duties levied by the Trump administration on steel, aluminum and lumber is that they will lead to higher prices and inflation, hurting producers and consumers, thus stunting economic growth. For example, billionaire Charles Koch warned on July…
Read More
by Jessica Kramer The U.S. saw a 30-year record low for birth rates in 2017, but the country’s increasingly prosperous economy could soon lead to a surge in childbirth. A Gallup poll showed 70 percent of American adults on average preferred having three or more children between 1938 and…
Read More
by William Gallo U.S. President Donald Trump touted the economy’s strong second quarter performance Friday, saying “we’re on track to hit the highest annual average growth rate in over 13 years.” The U.S. economy grew at a 4.1-percent annualized rate in the second quarter, its fastest pace in nearly four…
Read More
By Robert Romano After a rip-roaring 4.1 percent inflation-adjusted economic growth for the second quarter of 2018, the economy under President Donald Trump is making tremendous progress to full recovery, after more than a decade of stagnant growth. The U.S. economy has not grown above 4 percent since 2000, and not above…
Read More
by Fred Lucas In what President Donald Trump called “a very big day for free and fair trade,” he and the leader of the European Union agreed Wednesday to work to end tariffs on nonautomotive products. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Trump met at the White House, then…
Read More
by Printus LeBlanc China has a strategy unlike any the U.S. has faced. In the Cold War with the Soviet Union, it was military force versus military force. China learned a lesson from the USSR and is taking an asymmetrical approach in dealing with the U.S. Yes, China is…
Read More
by Michael Bastasch The battle over the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plan to repeal an Obama-era regulation has been reignited. The Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund and Center for Biological Diversity sued EPA on Tuesday to prevent the agency from repealing regulations on refurbished truck engines, called glider kits. Their suit…
Read More
by James D. Agresti In a New York Times article about President Trump scaling back regulations, reporters Binyamin Appelbaum and Jim Tankersley report “there is little historical evidence tying regulation levels to” economic growth. They support this sweeping claim only with a quote from Jared Bernstein, a former chief economic adviser to…
Read More
by Joseph Sunde Given the breakneck pace of improvements in automation and artificial intelligence, fears about job loss and human obsolescence continue to consume the cultural imagination. The question looms: What is the future of human work in a technological age? Innovators such as Elon Musk and Bill Gates have done their share…
Read More
by Chris White President Donald Trump and activists at the Sierra Club apparently have at least one issue in common: neither one of them like the decades-old free trade agreement the U.S signed with Canada and Mexico. Trump’s agenda prioritizing American manufacturing jobs over those in Canada and elsewhere is placing…
Read More
by Hannah Bogorowski China’s central bank announced late Sunday that it is planning to unleash nearly 700 billion yuan ($107.5 billion) into the financial system by cutting the amount of cash some banks must hold as reserves by 50 basis points. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said on…
Read More
by Michael Sandoval A majority of Americans approve of the economy under President Trump despite controversial immigration policies, according to a CNBC poll released Monday. CNBC’s All-American Economic Survey found 51 percent approve of the economy, an increase of six points since March. Fifty-four percent of Americans rated the economy…
Read More
by Rachel Greszler An economic crisis has engulfed Puerto Rico. The Financial Oversight Management Board, a federally-mandated advisory group, has worked to help Puerto Rico deal with its financial crisis and establish policies that will lead to long-run growth. The board says Puerto Rico must reform its labor market to…
Read More
By Robert Romano When President Donald Trump stood for election in 2016, he set a national goal of getting the U.S. economy to grow 4 percent annually, and maybe even greater than that. Speaking to the Economic Club of New York on Sept. 15, Trump said, “it’s time to establish…
Read More
After years of mundanity surrounding the G7 world trade summit – the once-a-year snore-fest where the six, or seven, (or eight) leaders of the West come together as frenemies to see who can pick each others’ pockets most stealthily – we were treated to perhaps the most entertaining piece of political…
Read More
Tennessee’s unemployment rates remain low and the state added 45,000 jobs the past year, the National Federation of Independent Business said. According to the March 2018 numbers from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, 82 of the state’s 95 counties saw lower unemployment rates that month than they…
Read More
by Will Racke A greater share of small companies in the U.S. are raising wages than at any time in the past three decades, according to a survey released Thursday from the nation’s biggest independent business association. A seasonally adjusted 35 percent of small business owners reported they have increased…
Read More
By Robert Romano He did it. In his continued push for “fair and reciprocal” trade, President Donald Trump has followed through on his promise to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the European Union. The three had been temporarily excluded from…
Read More
by Steve Herman The United States is escalating trans-Atlantic and North American trade tensions, imposing a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports from the European Union, Canada and Mexico that will go into effect on Friday. The move is prompting immediate retaliatory…
Read More
by Jason Hopkins A foreign solar panel company is building a manufacturing facility in the U.S., marking the latest boost in the industry since President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on imported solar equipment. The White House’s recently enacted tariffs on solar panels appears to be working. Hanwha Q Cells Korea Corporation…
Read More
by Peggy Chang The White House says it plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods that contain “industrially-significant technology” as trade talks between United States and China continue. The White House said Tuesday the proposed tariffs are in response to China’s practices with respect…
Read More
by Kyle Perisic An anti-virus company has discovered malware comes pre-installed on Android phones, including on ZTE phones — a Chinese phone company with ties to the Chinese government. “Thousands of users are affected” by the ad-related malware, or adware, according to Avast, the Czech anti-virus company, in its…
Read More
President Trump says American farmers will be big beneficiaries of more trade with China. “Under our potential deal with China, they will purchase from our Great American Farmers practically as much as our Farmers can produce,” Trump said Monday on Twitter. In another comment, he said China “has agreed to…
Read More
The U.S. and China said Sunday they have agreed to back away from imposing tough new tariffs on each other’s exports, a day after reaching an accord calling for Beijing to buy more American goods to “substantially reduce” the huge U.S. trade deficit with China. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin…
Read More
by Michael Bastasch President Donald Trump’s administration’s release of a list of 35 critical minerals highlights just how reliant the U.S. is on foreign imports, according to mining advocates. “What we see is the degree of U.S. dependency — the US is 100 percent import-dependent for 14 of the…
Read More
President Donald Trump says the United States has “little to give” in contentious trade talks with China, and Beijing has a lot to give, because he says the United States for years has been losing trade battles with China. Wednesday, he defended his call to rescue China’s giant technology company…
Read More
President Donald Trump says he is looking for a way to let a Chinese technology firm “get back into business fast” after U.S. trade ruling severely crippled the company. “Too many jobs in China lost,” Trump tweeted Sunday, days after ZTE announced it had ceased “major operating activities.” President Xi…
Read More
by Justin Bogie President Donald Trump on Tuesday submitted a special message to Congress requesting that $15 billion in unspent funding be rescinded. That’s a good first step toward re-establishing fiscal responsibility. Congress should embrace it and quickly adopt the president’s rescission package. Still, the package does nothing to claw back the…
Read More
by Ginny Montalbano Andrew Puzder, former CEO of the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. restaurants, last week spoke to The Daily Signal’s Ginny Montalbano about his new book, “The Capitalist Comeback: The Trump Boom and the Left’s Plot to Stop It.” President Donald Trump tweeted about the book…
Read More