Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
1/8/2024 6:47:56 AM
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The headlines on Friday were that the economy created 216,000 jobs, more than expected and a sign of continued strength in the economy.
“This morning’s report confirms that 2023 was a great year for American workers,” President Joe Biden said.
Hurray!
But wait a minute. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) previously reported that there were 157,087,000 “non-farm payroll” jobs in November. The number of these jobs in December, it now says, was 157,232,000.
That’s a gain of only 145,000.
So how did Biden manage to claim that the economy created 216,000 jobs in December?
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
1/4/2024 6:40:36 AM
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Just as President Joe Biden starts showering hundreds of billions more of taxpayers’ money to “electrify” the nation’s fleet of automobiles, the bottom is falling out of the EV market.
The latest indication is the sharp drop in prices for used EVs.
A report from iSeeCars.com, a search engine for auto buyers, found that the average price for all cars declined 5% in 2023 compared with 2022.
But the resale price EVs plunged 33%. While a used EV sold for an average of $52,821 in 2022, it went for less than $35,000 in 2023,
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
1/3/2024 6:25:20 AM
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After spending three years largely ignoring the border, the mainstream press is suddenly all over it, with headlines blaring about a “surge,” “crisis” and “call for action.” Why now?
Last week CNN reported that a “December migrant surge” at the southern border was the “largest in more than two decades.” Several other news outlets used similar language. The New York Times warned that “surging” Mexico border crossings “push U.S. resources to the brink.” In another story, CNN even described the situation as a “crisis.”
Weirdly, the press is even exaggerating the current “surge.” Consider that CNN story, which says:
Issues & Insights,
by
Terry Jones
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
1/2/2024 7:59:00 AM
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As nearly all parts of the political spectrum agree, average Americans are extremely unhappy these days. The latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows that a hefty majority sees the federal government’s recent performance as the cause of their disgruntlement.
With news stories regularly highlighting widespread anger among voters, we asked the following question for our December national online poll, taken from Nov. 29-Dec. 1 by 1,464 adult registered voters: “Which of the following best describes how you feel about the federal government?”
Respondents were then given four possible responses: “satisfied,” “frustrated,” “angry,” and “not sure.”
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
12/29/2023 9:44:44 AM
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For decades, Americans have been told that the only humane, decent health care system is one run by the government. The oft-uttered complaint is that it’s a shame that the richest country in the world doesn’t have universal medical care. The reality is that the universal systems in other wealthy nations are cruel, cold bureaucracies.
If there are any doubts that this is true, look northward, to Canada, where waiting lists for treatment are leaving “patients frozen in line,” Pacific Research Institute President and Chief Executive Officer Sally Pipes recently wrote in Forbes.
“When everyone within a country is trapped in a public health insurance system,”
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
12/28/2023 9:08:52 AM
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The Golden State’s leftist Democrat-dominated legislature loves to grandstand as a champion of the downtrodden and the working poor, even if the policies they enact end up hurting those people the most. That’s certainly the case with the state’s minimum wage hike, which is set to hit in 2024.
The state will raise its overall mandated minimum-wage rate from $16 an hour to $16.50 an hour overall, starting in 2024. But some industries will get an even bigger wage shock: fast-food minimum wages go up to $20 an hour starting in April. Meanwhile, workers in the health care industry will
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
12/27/2023 8:48:30 AM
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The only thing more uplifting than watching several prominent liberals drift rightward is the cluelessness of those on the left as to why it’s happening.
This drift is obvious enough, since it includes journalists once heralded by the left such as Matt Taibbi (who won a Young America’s Foundation award) and Glenn Greenwald, and Democratic politicians, including Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (whose speech at a Daily Caller award ceremony drew many loud cheers from the conservative audience), and Sen. John Fetterman (who recently declared that “I am not a progressive”).
Celebrities such as
Issues & Insights,
by
Terry Jones
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
12/26/2023 9:06:31 AM
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Despite a multi-year campaign by the White House and its allies to convince the public that the economy is booming, the vast majority of Americans say they’re worse off today than they were four years ago. And despite claims that partisanship is driving the public’s sour mood, negative views about the economy and President Joe Biden’s performance are almost universal.
That’s according to the latest I&I/TIPP poll of likely voters, which finds that 58% say they aren’t better off than they were four years ago – before the COVID-19 pandemic – while only 34% say they are.
Meanwhile, a mere 23% of
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
12/22/2023 8:59:25 AM
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Jill Biden’s creepy video, featuring a troupe of tap dancers showing off the garish Christmas decorations in the White House, prompted one journalist to comment that they are “really going for the Hunger Games as this year’s Christmas theme.”
While they’re prancing around in the capital, out in the districts everyone else is struggling to pay the sky-high cost of this festive season.
Are you traveling to be with friends and family? Airfares are 18% higher than they were Christmas 2020. And if you try to cut costs by driving, gasoline prices are 45% higher.
Buying food for your guests will cost 20% more
Issues & Insights,
by
Andrew I. Fillat
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
12/21/2023 7:33:57 AM
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The following is a letter, edited for relevance to a broader audience, sent to Section D, Harvard Business School (HBS), Class of 1972. The first year at HBS is spent entirely with one’s section. Its purpose was to explain my resignation as section secretary after the Harvard Board affirmed support of Claudine Gay as its president, and antisemitic intimidation remains unpunished.
To my section mates:
On the Dec.4 congressional hearing the university president, its meaning, and its fallout: There is no question it was political theater. But that does not invalidate its usefulness. The state of higher education is now front-and-center and that is very much needed. Too many colleges
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
12/21/2023 7:18:53 AM
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Jill Biden’s creepy video, featuring a troupe of tap dancers showing off the garish Christmas decorations in the White House, prompted one journalist to comment that they are “really going for the Hunger Games as this year’s Christmas theme.”
While they’re prancing around in the capital, out in the districts everyone else is struggling to pay the sky-high cost of this festive season.
Haven’t bought a Christmas tree yet? It will cost you about 10% more than last year, which is on top of the 10% increase the year before, and 10% the year before that.
The American Christmas Tree Association found that 78% of consumers are concerned about inflation this year.
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
12/19/2023 12:48:12 PM
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In a rare show of bipartisanship, 84 Democrats joined 219 Republicans on a resolution condemning antisemitism on college campuses and calling for the presidents of Harvard and MIT to resign after they refused to condemn student calls for genocide of Jews at a House hearing. The University of Pennsylvania’s president, who was also at that hearing, has already stepped down.
But even if all three of them were gone, so what?
The problem is far wider and much deeper than antisemitism at three elite schools. And if you want to stamp out intellectual and moral rot driving it, start by