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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has said it will increase its audit rates of wealthy taxpayers and large corporations by 50 percent.
The post IRS to Increase Audit Rates of Wealthy Taxpayers by 50 Percent appeared first on Breitbart.
Experts, including one of the world's top researchers on the Uyghur genocide and a senior official in the Department of Labor, told Congress this week that legitimate audits to inspect for slave conditions and other forced labor in China, especially in the occupied Uyghur region, are "impossible."
The post ‘The Only Ethical Response Is Divestment’: Experts Tell Congress Auditing for Slavery in Chinese Factories Impossible appeared first on Breitbart.
The Federal Reserve admitted yesterday that progress on inflation has stalled and that it will take longer for the Fed to achieve the confidence it needs to cut interest rates.
The post Breitbart Business Digest: The Fed Finally Realized Progress on Inflation Has Stalled appeared first on Breitbart.
Immigrants "are what makes us strong," Joe Biden told a May 1 fundraiser for pro-migration groups in Washington, D.C.
The post Joe Biden: ‘Immigrants Are What Makes Us Strong’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Multinational automaker Stellantis is making a big hiring push for low-wage engineers in Brazil, India, Mexico, and Morocco after laying off 400 Americans in its engineering, software, and technology departments months ago.
The post Stellantis Hiring Engineers in Low-Wage Brazil, India, Mexico After Laying Off 400 American Engineers appeared first on Breitbart.
Kroger and Walt Disney are reportedly exploring joining forces in a retail streaming deal that would involve bringing Disney+ to the food retailer's grocery delivery program.
The post Kroger, Walt Disney Explore Joining Forces in Retail Streaming appeared first on Breitbart.
An unexpected slump in productivity raises unit labor costs and risks higher inflation.
The post U.S. Productivity Slumped In First Quarter appeared first on Breitbart.
President Joe Biden says, “I know how to make government work!”
You’d think he’d know. He’s worked in government for 51 years.
But the truth is, no one can make government work.
Biden hasn’t.
Look at the chaos at the border, our military’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, the rising cost of living, our unsustainable and record-high debt …
In my new video, economist Ed Stringham argues that no government can ever work well, because “even the best person can’t implement change. … The massive bureaucracy gets bigger and slower.”
I learned that as a consumer reporter watching bureaucrats regulate business. Their rules usually made life worse for consumers.
Yet politicians want government to do more!
Remember the unveiling of Obamacare’s website? Millions tried to sign up. The first day, only six got it to work.
As vice president then, Biden made excuses: “Neither [Barack Obama] and I are technology geeks.”
Stringham points out, “If they can’t design a basic simple website, how are they going to manage half the economy?”
While bureaucrats struggled with the Obamacare site, the private sector successfully created Uber and Lyft, platforms like iCloud, apps like Waze, smartwatches, etc.
The private sector creates things that work because it has to. If businesses don’t serve customers well, they go out of business.
But government is a monopoly. It never goes out of business. With no competition, there’s less pressure to improve.
Often good people join government. Some work as hard as those in the private sector.
But not for long. Because the bureaucracy’s incentives kill initiative.
If a government worker works hard, he might get a small raise. But he sits near others who earn the same pay and, thanks to archaic civil service rules, are unlikely to get fired even if they’re late, lazy, or stupid.
Over time, that’s demoralizing. Eventually government workers conclude, “Why try?”
In the private sector, workers must strive to make things better. If they don’t, competitors will, and you might lose your job.
Governments never go out of business.
“Companies can only stay in business if they always keep their customer happy,” Stringham points out. “Competition pushes us to be better. Government has no competition.”
I push back.
“Politicians say, ‘Voters can vote us out.’”
“With a free market,” Stringham replies, “The consumer votes every single day with the dollar. Under politics, we have to wait four years.”
It’s another reason why, over time, government never works as well as the private sector.
Year after year, the Pentagon fails audits.
If a private company repeatedly does that, they get shut down. But government never gets shut down.
A Pentagon spokeswoman makes excuses: “We’re working on improving our process. We certainly are learning each time.”
They don’t learn much. They still fail audits.
“It’s like we’re living in ‘Groundhog Day,’” Stringham jokes.
When COVID-19 hit, politicians handed out almost $2 trillion in “rescue” funds. The Government Accountability Office says more than $100 billion were stolen.
“One woman bought a Bentley,” laughs Stringham. “A father and son bought a luxury home.”
At least Biden noticed the fraud. He announced, “We’re going to make you pay back what you stole!”
No. They will not. Biden’s Fraud Enforcement Task Force has recovered only 1% of what was stolen.
Even without fraud, government makes money vanish. I’ve reported on my town’s $2 million toilet in a park. When I confronted the parks commissioner, he said, “$2 million was a bargain! Today it would cost $3 million.”
That’s government work.
More recently, Biden proudly announced that government would create “500,000 [electric vehicle] charging stations.”
After two years, they’ve built … seven. Not 7,000. Just seven.
Over the same time, greedy, profit-seeking Amazon built 17,000.
“Privatize!” says Stringham. “Whenever we think something’s important, question whether government should do it.”
In Britain, government-owned Jaguar lost money year after year. Only when Britain sold the company to private investors did Jaguar start turning a profit selling cars that people actually like.
When Sweden sold Absolut Vodka, the company increased its profits sixfold.
It’s ridiculous for Biden to say, “I know how to make government work.”
No one does.
Next week, this column takes on Donald Trump’s promise: “We’ll drain the Washington swamp!”
COPYRIGHT 2024 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.
The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation.
The post ‘Make Government Work’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.
Peloton, the once-thriving fitness company, has hit another rough patch as it struggles to regain its footing in the post-pandemic era. CEO Barry McCarthy is now stepping down after the company's share price dropped about 92 percent during his tenure.
The post Spinning Wheels: Peloton CEO Steps Down amid More Layoffs, 92% Drop in Stock Price appeared first on Breitbart.
Google has reportedly laid off hundreds of employees from its "Core" organization while relocating positions to India and Mexico.
The post Google Lays Off Hundreds from ‘Core’ Teams, Shifts Roles to India and Mexico appeared first on Breitbart.
Former President Donald Trump has secured an additional $1.6 billion worth of shares in Trump Media, according to a regulatory filing this week.
The post Donald Trump Awarded 36 Million More Trump Media Shares Worth $1.6 Billion After Hitting Price Benchmarks appeared first on Breitbart.
Former President Donald Trump vowed to end President Joe Biden's electric vehicle (EV) mandate, which he says would "kill" Michigan's economy and benefit China, if elected while speaking in Freeland, MI, on Wednesday night.
The post Trump Vows to End Biden’s ‘Insane Electric Vehicle Mandate’: Would ‘Kill Michigan’s Economy’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Republicans looking out across the chaos that has engulfed American campuses should take Richard Nixon's advice: "Never murder a man who's committing suicide."
The post Breitbart Business Digest: Biden Is the Chaos Candidate appeared first on Breitbart.
President Joe Biden's mass migration is boosting inflation, chiefly by raising housing prices, according to the Economist, a U.K.-based pro-globalism magazine.
The post Globalist Magazine Admits Joe Biden’s Migration Spikes Inflation appeared first on Breitbart.
The vast majority of respondents in a YouGov/Economist poll believe that President Joe Biden's America is "out of control."
The post Poll: Nearly Seven in Ten Think Joe Biden’s America Is ‘Out of Control’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Former President Donald Trump vowed in Wisconsin to trash President Joe Biden's so-called "Bidenomics" and reinstate "MAGAnomics" upon victory in November.
The post Donald Trump Vows to Trash ‘Bidenomics,’ Reinstate ‘MAGAnomics’ appeared first on Breitbart.
The Fed chair does not see a rate hike coming but he acknowledged that recent setbacks on inflation mean the current rate policy will last for longer than anticipated.
The post Powell Says A Fed Hike Is ‘Unlikely’ But Wait For Cuts Will Take Longer appeared first on Breitbart.
Donald Trump is expected to lay out the horrible effects Bidenflaiton has had on Wisconsin families at a rally in Waukesha on Wednesday.
The post Donald Trump at Rally: Wisconsin Families on Average Lost $20K-$30K Due to Bidenflation ‘Tax’ appeared first on Breitbart.
China's TikTok appears to be probing ways to avoid paying Apple's 30 percent commission on digital purchases made through its iOS app.
The post China’s TikTok Tests Bypassing Apple’s Commission on In-App Purchases appeared first on Breitbart.
California State Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) is pushing a bill that would restrict expedited airport screening by for-profit companies such as Clear, which charges $189 per year to move passengers to the front of the TSA security line.
The post California Democrat Wants to Restrict Expedited Airport Screening appeared first on Breitbart.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a preliminary investigation into Ford's BlueCruise driver assistance system following two separate fatal crashes that occurred at night. BlueCruise joins Tesla's Autopilot as the second driver assistance program to face federal scrutiny.
The post Ford ‘BlueCruise’ Driver Assist System Under Federal Investigation After 2 Fatal Crashes appeared first on Breitbart.
Elon Musk's recent decision to fire Tesla's entire charging team has reportedly already led to the company pulling back on its plans to expand the Supercharger network. EV owners already face difficulties finding working charging stations, especially during busy travel times, and these difficulties aren't likely to be lessened anytime soon.
The post Tesla Backtracks on Supercharger Expansion Plans After Firing Entire Charging Team appeared first on Breitbart.
Federal Reserve officials agreed on Wednesday to hold interest rates steady for the sixth consecutive meeting, signaling that it is willing to keep rates at the highest level in more than two decades for longer than previously expected and noting that progress on bringing down inflation has stalled.
The post Fed Keeps Rates Unchanged, Noting Progress on Inflation Has Stalled appeared first on Breitbart.
Job openings fell but private sector quits rose.
The post Job Openings Slip To Three Year Low appeared first on Breitbart.
Retail giant Walmart announced Tuesday it is shutting down all of its health centers, but did not give a date for the closures.
The post ‘A Difficult Decision’: Walmart Closing All Health Centers, Citing ‘Lack of Profitability’ appeared first on Breitbart.
A rare miss on profits for the fast-food chain.
The post McDonald’s Earnings Dragged Down By Inflation And Israel-Hamas War Boycotts appeared first on Breitbart.
Florida's hospitals were hit with a massive $566 million loss just in 2024 from the costs of unpaid bills that illegal aliens incurred.
The post Illegal Immigrants Cause $566 Million in Unpaid Healthcare Burden on Florida appeared first on Breitbart.
As the evidence keeps pouring in that the U.S. is still mired in an inflationary economy, the possibility that the Federal Reserve will be forced to increase interest rates can no longer be ignored.
The post Breitbart Business Digest: It’s Time for the Fed to Start Talking About Hikes appeared first on Breitbart.
Despite the Biden administration's attempts to convince Americans that the economy is improving, consumer confidence has been sliding for the last three months.
The post Consumer Confidence Unexpectedly Slumps To Lowest Level In Nearly Two Years appeared first on Breitbart.
The odds of a Fed cut are evaporating amid the blaze of hotter than expected inflation figures.
The post U.S. Labor Costs Jump, Indicating Rising Inflationary Pressures appeared first on Breitbart.
Shares of Elon Musk's Tesla went up 15 percent on Monday after the electric carmaker reached a key milestone to roll out its advanced driver-assistance technology Full Self Driving (FSD) in China.
The post Comrade Elon: Tesla Shares Rise 15% After Sweetheart Deal with Chinese Government appeared first on Breitbart.
European regulators have launched an investigation into Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, escalating pressure on the tech giant to bolster its safeguards against misinformation and foreign interference on Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp ahead of pivotal EU elections.
The post EU Launches Investigation of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Meddling in Elections appeared first on Breitbart.
Tesla has reportedly laid off hundreds of employees, including senior executives and a majority of its Supercharging team. The desperate move comes on the heels of a major recent layoff of 14,000 workers, part of what Musk claims is an "absolutely hard core" plan to cut costs at the struggling EV company.
The post Elon’s Pink Slips Strike Again: Tesla Axes More Jobs, Including Senior Execs and EV Charging Team appeared first on Breitbart.
The Dave & Buster's entertainment restaurant will soon offer customers social wagering through its app for those who play arcade games including Hot Shots basketball and Skee Ball.
The post VIDEO: Dave & Buster’s to Offer Betting on Arcade Games Through App appeared first on Breitbart.
I am so old, I can remember when “public servants” used to earn less money than they could have expected in the private sector. But those days are long gone. Now, government employees have the rest of us by the throat. Our tax dollars are enriching them, on the average, far beyond what they could earn anywhere else.
This is from Stephen Moore’s Committee to Unleash Prosperity:
The average cost for a government employee in December was $60 per hour, or 40.5% more than his or her private sector counterpart.
Benefits to government employees cost 80.3% more.
This chart shows the numbers:
I would think that if we looked at federal employees, the discrepancy would be even greater. And government employees pretty much can’t be fired, either, so they have these sweet gigs forever.
One interpretation of these numbers is that the rest of us are just serfs on the government’s plantation.
DEI (racial and other quotas) is intrinsically evil. At The Hill, Matt Cole and Chris Nicholson reveal a shocking, practical downside to DEI hysteria: “DEI killed the CHIPS Act.”
The issue is critical because Taiwan now produces 90% of the world’s advanced microchips, and China has indicated its intention to annex Taiwan in the near future. So the CHIPS Act sought to incentivize chip production in the U.S. Unfortunately, that isn’t what is happening.
Handouts abound. There’s plenty for the left—requirements that chipmakers submit detailed plans to educate, employ, and train lots of women and people of color, as well as “justice-involved individuals,” more commonly known as ex-cons. There’s plenty for the right—veterans and members of rural communities find their way into the typical DEI definition of minorities. …
***
Because equity is so critical, the makers of humanity’s most complex technology must rely on local labor and apprentices from all those underrepresented groups, as [the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company] discovered to its dismay.Tired of delays at its first fab, the company flew in 500 employees from Taiwan. This angered local workers, since the implication was that they weren’t skilled enough. With CHIPS grants at risk, TSMC caved in December, agreeing to rely on those workers and invest more in training them. A month later, it postponed its second Arizona fab.
Now TSMC has revealed plans to build a second fab in Japan. Its first, which broke ground in 2021, is about to begin production. TSMC has learned that when the Japanese promise money, they actually give it, and they allow it to use competent workers. TSMC is also sampling Germany’s chip subsidies, as is Intel.
It isn’t only TSMC that is being stymied by DEI:
Intel is also building fabs in Poland and Israel, which means it would rather risk Russian aggression and Hamas rockets over dealing with America’s DEI regime. Samsung is pivoting toward making its South Korean homeland the semiconductor superpower after Taiwan falls.
In short, the world’s best chipmakers are tired of being pawns in the CHIPS Act’s political games. They’ve quietly given up on America. …
[C]hipmakers have to make sure they hire plenty of female construction workers, even though less than 10 percent of U.S. construction workers are women. They also have to ensure childcare for the female construction workers and engineers who don’t exist yet. They have to remove degree requirements and set “diverse hiring slate policies,” which sounds like code for quotas. They must create plans to do all this with “close and ongoing coordination with on-the-ground stakeholders.”
No wonder Intel politely postponed its Columbus fab and started planning one in Ireland.
Access to microchips is a national security issue, as well as being fundamental to a modern economy. And yet Congressional majorities care more about DEI shibboleths and feeding pork to their constituencies than about American security and prosperity. Of course, that isn’t really an irony. The whole point of DEI is hating America, and if it imperils our security and our prosperity, so much the better.
Earlier today, I posted the official GOP response to Joe Biden’s SOTU hate-fest, by Senator Katie Britt. Britt’s speech was an impressive performance in its own way; if I were a Democrat, I think she would scare me.
But for us data guys, Stephen Moore’s Unleash Prosperity Hotline has the numbers:
A lot of tall tales and a few outright fabrications in the Biden speech last night – and far too many to enumerate here. But we will revisit three here.
“My administration cut the deficit by $1.7 trillion.”
This isn’t just a little bit false, it’s an extraordinary and audacious misstatement of fact. The baseline deficit over 10 years, as measured when Biden came into office versus the latest forecast, shows nearly $6 trillion added to the debt since Biden arrived on the scene.
So how does a $6 trillion addition of red ink possibly equate to a $1.7 trillion reduction in the deficit. Someone didn’t pass his basic math exam in high school.
“We will make the rich pay their fair share.”
The top 1% of American tax filers now pay an all-time record high 46% of taxes. This is according to Biden’s own IRS. Does he think the rich should pay ALL the taxes?
That is actually a good question. I think that for many Democrats, the answer may be Yes. But within reason, experience shows that lower rates mean higher collections, especially from high earners.
“I inherited an economy [from Trump] that was on the brink…”
Actually, the economy grew by – ready for this? 33% in the third quarter of 2020 and 4.1% in the 4th quarter of 2020. The economy was in a full-scale COVID recovery when Biden came into office.
Oh, and Inflation was 1.4%.
Gas prices were $2.39 per gallon.
If you think of it as a relay race, Trump handed the baton to Biden in first place, with a rapidly growing lead. But Biden tripped over his own feet–both literally and figuratively–and turned the strong position that he inherited (and not only economically) into a fiasco. That I why I don’t see how he can be re-elected, despite Trump’s manifest flaws.
If you don’t get the Unleash Prosperity Hotline, you should. You can sign up for its frequent and always informative emails here.
Brian Deese is “an MIT Innovation Fellow, focusing on the impact of economic policies that strengthen the United States’ industrial capacity and on accelerating climate investment and innovation.” Before that, Deese assisted Joe Biden as Director of the National Economic Council. Asked in 2022 how American families could cope with surging gasoline prices, the NEC boss said, “this is about the future of the liberal world order, and we have to stand firm.” As Sir Bedevere(Terry Jones) might say, who is this who is so wise in the ways of economics?
Deese is the son of Boston College political science professor David Deese, who “researches the international and comparative politics of energy and climate policies worldwide.” Brian’s mother, Patricia Stanton, served as deputy commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and assistant commissioner of waste prevention at the state Department of Environmental Protection.
At Middlebury College Deese earned an undergraduate degree in international politics and economics. He got into Yale Law School but left a few credits short of graduation to work for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Composite character president Obama tapped him to help out with climate change.
In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Obama touted the “amazing” Brian Deese, who “engineered the Paris Agreement, the Aviation Agreement,” and “may have helped save the planet.” The auto industry was also in trouble.
“The wunderkind in charge of saving our auto industry is a 31-year-old with about as much experience as a summer intern,” noted Glenn Beck. “Despite having no formal business education, no business experience and no auto industry experience, 31-year-old Brian Deese is now in charge of dismantling General Motors.” David Sanger of the New York Times also weighed in with, “Meet the 31-Year Old in Charge of Dismantling GM.”
In 2017, Deese became a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. From there it was on to BlackRock, where Deese headed the sustainable investing division, advising clients on meeting environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. Deese was reportedly bagging some $2.8 million a year, and building a net worth of $4 million.
In June of 2021, the amazing Deese outline his vision for a “new industrial strategy,” an “activist government,” approach including “targeted public investment, public procurement, climate resilience and equity.” As Deese contends, “markets on their own will not make investments in technologies and in infrastructure that benefit an entire industry.”
And so on, in what Olson Johnson of Blazing Saddles might call “authentic statist gibberish.” Or, in the style of Monty Python, the wealthy MIT Innovation Fellow could qualify for “upper class twit of the year.”
Jeffrey Anderson presents a comparative analysis of presidents and inflation. The mainstream press to the contrary notwithstanding, he explains what Biden has done to make us feel so black and blue. It’s not our imagination. It’s the inflation, stupid! See his City Journal column “No great mystery.” Anderson manages to review the data and perform the analysis with a sense of humor.
The daycare minders at the White House have persuaded Biden to single out “shrinkflation” as the villain. However, “shrinkflation” reflects “inflation.” It is a manifestation of rising prices. Sentient observers understand that Biden economic policies have triggered the inflation that we have suffered, just as they understand that Biden’s senescence has slowed the windmills of his mind. Biden trusts we won’t notice he indicts himself when he decries “shrinkflation.”
Biden’s daycare minders take us for fools. Thus the administration’s critique of Republicans for causing the invasion of illegals that Biden invited, facilitated, and denied. They think we are stupid.
We hear that Biden threatens to point the finger at alleged corporate wrongdoing as the source of our pain in tonight’s State of the Union address. For some reason or other this wave of alleged wrongdoing has run riot under the regime of…Joe Biden. It was somehow held in check under the regime of…Donald Trump. James Bovard seeks to immunize us against the foolishness of the Biden party line in his New York Post column “Joe Biden’s State of the Union ‘shrinkflation’ swindle.”
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