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Category: Economy
August 20, 2024
William Upton
Economy
Immigration

Illegal Immigration Is Costing This State Over $100 Million A Year.

Illegal immigrants are costing Mississippi taxpayers over $100 million annually, according to a new report released by State Auditor Shad White. The study examines the cost borne by taxpayers to provide education, healthcare, and incarceration for the state’s illegal immigrant population. Meanwhile, the state estimates there are currently 22,000 illegal immigrants residing in the state—comprising over a third of Mississippi’s total foreign-born population.

“Mississippi’s illegal immigration problem is spiraling out of control and is costing taxpayers millions,” White said in a statement regarding the data. The State Auditor added: “Our public schools, hospitals, and prisons will continue to lose massive sums of money that we could have spent on our own citizens if this problem is not solved.”

While the Mississippi Department of Education is barred from documenting the legal status of students and their families, analysts with the State Auditor’s office estimate over 2,500 illegal immigrants are enrolled in K-12 schools. The state’s education funding formula allocates education dollars based on the number of students enrolled in a school—with an additional 15 percent in funding available for students who struggle with learning English. The report estimates that the education cost of Mississippi’s illegal immigrants is upwards of $25 million annually.

The auditor’s report shows, however, that the cost of healthcare for illegal immigrants is by far the biggest drain on the state’s coffers. White’s office estimates that the state spends over $77 million every year on healthcare for illegals—factoring in emergency room visits, lack of insurance, and Medicaid services for U.S.-born children of noncitizens.

Tthe State Auditor’s office also estimates that the cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants until they can be transferred to federal immigration authorities costs the state upwards of $1.7 million annually.

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Illegal immigrants are costing Mississippi taxpayers over $100 million annually, according to a new report released by State Auditor Shad White. The study examines the cost borne by taxpayers to provide education, healthcare, and incarceration for the state's illegal immigrant population. Meanwhile, the state estimates there are currently 22,000 illegal immigrants residing in the state—comprising over a third of Mississippi's total foreign-born population. show more
August 19, 2024
William Upton
Economy
Election 2024

Top Obama Economist Slams Kamala’s Pricing Policies as ‘Not Sensible.’

A top economist who served in the Barack Obama government is blasting Kamala Harris‘s price control plan—among other economic proposals—as being “not sensible policy.” Jason Furman, an economist and professor at Harvard University who served as the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council under Obama, is warning that Harris’s proposal to cap the prices of grocery items could pose significant market disruptions and lead to unintended consequences for consumers.

Furman noted that if prices are not allowed to rise with demand, companies could instead choose to constrict supply, meaning fewer goods will enter the market for consumers to purchase. “This not sensible policy and I think the biggest hope is that it ends up being a lot of rhetoric and no reality,” the Harvard economist said in a recent interview.

What Furman details is a scenario that has played out in other countries that have engaged in aggressive price controls, which resulted in a drastic reduction in available food supplies. This has resulted in so-called breadlines in countries like Venezuela and the former Soviet Union.

Even the Washington Post‘s far-left columnist Catherine Rampell has panned the idea. “At best, this would lead to shortages, black markets and hoarding, among other distortions seen previous times countries tried to limit price growth by fiat,” she wrote. “At worst, it might accidentally raise prices.”

Price controls can also impact the market beyond just the cost of goods. The National Pulse reported last week that when former President Richard Nixon enacted wage and price controls in 1971, the economy went into what has been termed “The Nixon Shock.”

The aftermath saw the U.S. dollar plunge by nearly a third of its value during the 1970s, and stagflation crippled the U.S. economy throughout the decade.

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A top economist who served in the Barack Obama government is blasting Kamala Harris's price control plan—among other economic proposals—as being "not sensible policy." Jason Furman, an economist and professor at Harvard University who served as the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council under Obama, is warning that Harris's proposal to cap the prices of grocery items could pose significant market disruptions and lead to unintended consequences for consumers. show more
August 19, 2024
William Upton
Economy
Election 2024

Massive Revision to U.S. Employment Numbers Expected on Wednesday.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is expected to issue a major revision to employment numbers on Wednesday. The agency is set to announce its preliminary benchmark revision to the 2024 establishment survey.

Some preliminary estimates and indicators suggest the agency could announce a downward revision of around one million jobs between April 2023 and March 2024.

A downward revision of the one million jobs would suggest that the U.S. job market and economy are far weaker than the corporate media and Biden-Harris government has let on. Further, the revision will likely fuel additional concerns that the BLS and other agencies under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have essentially ‘cooked the books’ to the ultimate detriment of the American people.

Such dramatic revisions are rare but not unprecedented. Earlier this year, the nonpartisan California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) released data showing that all of the state’s reported job gains were, in fact, unrealized. While the state had reported significant job gains throughout the year, the LAO data revealed that the early benchmarks used to estimate job numbers in the state skewed the data in too positive a direction.

The National Pulse reported earlier this month that the July jobs report fell significantly short of estimates, though an unexpected jump in the national unemployment rate may be the more significant data point.

July’s unemployment spike suggests to some economists that the U.S. has entered a recession based on the Sahm Rule, named for a former Federal Reserve economist. The rule dictates a recession is underway if the unemployment rate—based on a three-month moving average—jumps by half a percent from its low in the past year.

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The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is expected to issue a major revision to employment numbers on Wednesday. The agency is set to announce its preliminary benchmark revision to the 2024 establishment survey. show more
Image by Gage Skidmore (CC)
August 17, 2024
Economy
Election 2024

Here’s Where Tim Walz’s Minnesota Ranks for Businesses (It’s Not Good).

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) is slamming Kamala Harris‘s 2024 running mate, Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), for economic policies he claims have harmed the state. Emmer asserts that Walz’s leadership has driven Minnesota toward economic trouble, emphasizing that high tax rates under Walz’s administration have exacerbated financial strains for residents and businesses.

According to Emmer, Minnesota now has one of the highest tax rates in the country, which has been further increased under Walz’s governorship. Emmer contends that Walz has pushed the state “on a course to economic disaster” by mishandling the state’s budget surplus and imposing additional taxes. During Walz‘s tenure as governor, Minnesota depleted a $17.5 billion surplus and introduced $8 billion in new taxes and fees.

Data from the Tax Foundation—cited by Emmer—shows that Minnesota ranks among the worst states for business taxes, holding the 44th position out of 50. Emmer suggests that this situation has resulted in residents and businesses leaving the state in significant numbers. The National Pulse previously reported that under Walz, Minnesota has only grown at half the rate of the Biden-Harris economy at large. Meanwhile, energy costs in the state have soared—with industrial electric rates, specifically, being nearly 30 percent higher than the national average.

Employment growth has also lagged under Walz, with Minnesota’s job growth at 0.5 percent from January 2019 to June 2024, compared to the national increase of 5.8 percent over the same period. Emmer argues that Walz’s economic agenda—if applied nationally—could hinder the U.S. economy.

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House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) is slamming Kamala Harris's 2024 running mate, Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), for economic policies he claims have harmed the state. Emmer asserts that Walz’s leadership has driven Minnesota toward economic trouble, emphasizing that high tax rates under Walz’s administration have exacerbated financial strains for residents and businesses. show more
August 16, 2024
William Upton
Analysis
Economy
Election 2024

Kamala Says She Wants to Cap Prices, But There Is A BIG Catch.

Kamala Harris is set to announce a proposal on Friday that would bar what she claims is grocery price gouging by American corporations. While on the surface, the Harris proposal might have some political appeal, the history of attempts to directly cap and regulate prices—both in the United States and abroad—has not yielded the results politicians have promised.

The Harris campaign and progressive activists have embraced the grocery price cap idea after struggling to shed voter negativity toward the Biden-Harris government’s handling of the economy. Under Harris’s watch, rampant inflation caused by a series of major Biden spending bills saw grocery prices spike by upwards of 30 percent. However, tackling these increases through government-mandated prices isn’t the solution, many economists argue.

In 1971, then-President Richard Nixon enacted price and wage restrictions, which—along with the abandonment of the Breton Woods monetary system—resulted in the “Nixon shock.” The aftermath saw the U.S. dollar plunge by nearly a third of its value during the 1970s. Compounded by former President Carter‘s loose fiscal policies, stagflation crippled the U.S. economy throughout the decade.

Additionally, the dollar volatility forced the Japanese central bank to directly intervene in its monetary system to prevent the Yen from appreciating against the dollar, which would have triggered a carry trade unwind. Interestingly, a similar scenario already resulted in a massive drop in Japanese markets last week—with cross-contagion sparking ongoing volatility in U.S. markets as well.

Aside from the Nixon experience, the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez‘s 2003 attempt to enact price controls resulted in bread lines and civil unrest in the country. After Chavez extended the price controls directly to farmers and the value of agricultural goods sold to supermarkets, the Venezuelan farming industry nearly collapsed—and resulted in starvation.

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Kamala Harris is set to announce a proposal on Friday that would bar what she claims is grocery price gouging by American corporations. While on the surface, the Harris proposal might have some political appeal, the history of attempts to directly cap and regulate prices—both in the United States and abroad—has not yielded the results politicians have promised. show more
August 15, 2024
William Upton
Economy
Election 2024

Biden Says Kamala Shares Blame for His Terrible Economic Record, Rising Recession Fears.

Former Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who was forced out of the 2024 presidential race in July following a disastrous debate with former President Donald J. Trump, appears unconcerned about helping his replacement, Vice President Kamala Harris, to win in November. On Thursday, Biden was caught on camera outside the White House—en route to a campaign event for Harris in Maryland—and asked about the new candidate’s attempts to distance herself from his economic record.

“How much does it bother you that Vice President Harris might soon, for political reasons, start to distance herself from your economic [record]?” a reporter asked Biden. The 81-year-old Democrat responded: “She’s not going to.”

The Harris campaign has been attempting to distance itself from the Biden-Harris government’s high-inflation economic record since the two Democrats took office in 2021.

Harris claims she will now tackle inflation and reduce prices—which saw historic increases under the Biden-Harris government. Political observers have noted that Harris is almost acting as if she’s never met Joe Biden, whom she’s served as vice president for the last three-and-a-half years.

THE BIDEN-HARRIS ECONOMY.

Before exiting the presidential race, Biden faced strong political headwinds among voters for his handling of the U.S. economy. Under the Biden-Harris government, the growth in net worth of American households lagged far behind growth under President Trump.

Opinion polling in April showed that over 50 percent of Americans rated the Biden-Harris economy as “poor,” and 84 percent said their financial situation would remain the same or worsen under another four years with a Democrat in the White House.

Meanwhile, rampant inflation—spurred by the Biden-Harris government’s out-of-control spending—saw prices rapidly rise, making everything from housing to groceries unaffordable for millions of Americans. The National Pulse reported in May that the cost of menu items at McDonald’s has risen 40 percent since 2019.

Even more concerning is a study indicating that the “American Dream” largely became unaffordable under Biden and Harris. Those wishing to live a standard American lifestyle must now earn over $100,000 in all 50 states. In at least 29 states, individuals must aim to earn over $150,000 to maintain a comfortable standard of living.

Americans’ economic struggles under the Biden-Harris government have also sparked renewed recession fears. Market volatility and worrying financial indicators have led some analysts to believe the U.S. has entered or will soon enter a severe economic downturn.

WATCH:

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Former Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who was forced out of the 2024 presidential race in July following a disastrous debate with former President Donald J. Trump, appears unconcerned about helping his replacement, Vice President Kamala Harris, to win in November. On Thursday, Biden was caught on camera outside the White House—en route to a campaign event for Harris in Maryland—and asked about the new candidate's attempts to distance herself from his economic record. show more
August 14, 2024
William Upton
Economy
Election 2024

Here’s How Kamala Is Killing the Bitcoin Price.

Cryptocurrency values are tumbling on fears that Kamala Harris could win the White House in November’s U.S. presidential election. The price of Bitcoin began to slide after the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee—who replaced the 81-year-old Joe Biden after he dropped from the race in July—overtook former President Donald J. Trump in online betting markets.

“Our interpretation of current market sentiment is that a Trump win is bullish, and Harris win is bearish (at least in terms of the immediate market reaction),” a recent report from Berstein—a private wealth management firm—reads. Since Harris secured the Democratic Party’s nomination on August 4, Bitcoin’s value has slid 3 percent.

The driving factor behind the cryptocurrency price slide has been the perception that a win by former President Trump would be a boon to crypto markets. While speaking at The Bitcoin Conference in late July, Trump announced his plan to create a national Bitcoin reserve should he be returned to office in November.

“If we don’t do it, China and others are going to be doing it,” he said, adding: “This [Bitcoin] is the steel industry of 100 years ago.”

Meanwhile, market analysts see a potential Harris government as overly hostile to cryptocurrencies. Under the current Biden-Harris regime, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler has aggressively attempted to regulate Bitcoin and other crypto tokens.

Under Genlser’s leadership, the agency has acknowledged that some see its actions as anti-innovation. However, the SEC insists it has proper legal jurisdiction to regulate cryptocurrencies as a traded security.

While the value of some cryptocurrencies appears to have begun a recovery, Bitcoin has yet to recover to its all-time high of $73,700 in March.

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Cryptocurrency values are tumbling on fears that Kamala Harris could win the White House in November's U.S. presidential election. The price of Bitcoin began to slide after the Democratic Party's presidential nominee—who replaced the 81-year-old Joe Biden after he dropped from the race in July—overtook former President Donald J. Trump in online betting markets. show more
August 12, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Economy
Immigration
UK

DATA: Vast Majority of Jobs Created Since Pandemic Have Been Taken by Migrants.

Newly released data suggests the vast majority of jobs created in Britain since the Wuhan virus pandemic have been taken by migrants. The figures, acquired by lawmaker Neil O’Brien from His Majesty‘s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), equivalent to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), show the tax agency had 1.481 million more “employments” on the books in December 2023 compared to December 2019. Non-European Union migrants account for 1.465 million of these.

Only 257,000 more employments were recorded for British nationals, and employments of European Union (EU) nationals dropped by 242,000. “Employments” are not a perfect measure of job creation, as they do not account for the self-employed, and foreigners who arrived in Britain before age 16 are counted in the British figures. Still, they provide a better picture of the state of the British jobs market.

Nationals of some foreign countries have taken many more new jobs than British nationals, with Indian employments up by 488,000 and Nigerian employments up by 279,000.

Notably absent from the above figures are people working illegally, who are not included in HMRC’s records. These are likely substantial, with the black economy in Britain estimated to be worth many tens of billions of pounds.

The Joe Biden–Kamala Harris regime in the United States is overseeing a similar transformation of the jobs market. Its supposed jobs recovery results almost entirely from an increase in migrant labor.

The National Pulse reported earlier this month that native-born Americans have suffered 1.2 million job losses over the past year, while foreign-born employment has risen by 1.3 million.

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Newly released data suggests the vast majority of jobs created in Britain since the Wuhan virus pandemic have been taken by migrants. The figures, acquired by lawmaker Neil O'Brien from His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), equivalent to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), show the tax agency had 1.481 million more "employments" on the books in December 2023 compared to December 2019. Non-European Union migrants account for 1.465 million of these. show more
August 12, 2024
Wake Up Right
Economy
Election 2024

Copycat Kamala Steals Trump’s ‘No Tax on Tips’ Policy.

Kamala Harris plagiarized Donald Trump’s popular ‘no tax on tips’ campaign policy, even unveiling it in the same city as her Republican challenger.

The details: During a rally on Saturday, Harris pledged to “eliminate taxes on tips” for service workers.

Back up: More than two months earlier, on June 9, Trump unveiled his proposal, saying: “We are going to not charge taxes on tips.”

Trading places: Adding to the shamelessness, Harris even unveiled her copycat plan in the same city where Trump did—Las Vegas, Nevada.

Trump reacted, posting on Truth Social: “Kamala has no imagination, whatsoever, as shown by the fact that she played “COPYCAT” with, NO TAXES ON TIPS!”

Hypocrite: Earlier this year, Kamala bragged on X that she was “proud to cast the tie-breaking vote to pass our Inflation Reduction Act.”

However, she failed to mention that the Inflation Reduction Act included strict new rules meant to crack down on service workers’ underreported tips.

Big picture: Harris has been the Democrat nominee for three weeks, but has yet to release a policy platform and has not sat for an interview or press conference to discuss her policies.

Maybe tomorrow Harris will release her plan to ‘build the wall’…

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Kamala Harris plagiarized Donald Trump’s popular ‘no tax on tips’ campaign policy, even unveiling it in the same city as her Republican challenger. show more
August 9, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Economy
Election 2024

Kamala’s VP Wannabe Tim Walz Levied WHOPPING 95% Tax on Zyn.

Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), tapped as Kamala Harris‘s running mate in the upcoming presidential election, approved an astonishing 95 percent tax on Zyn, the popular tobacco-free nicotine product, in the North Star State this year. Previously, the tax on “moist snuff” did not include Zyn, as it contains no tobacco, but the law was amended to gouge users of Zyn and “similar tobacco-free product[s] containing nicotine” in May.

The tax on cigars, including premium cigars, smoking tobacco, chewing tobacco, e-cigarettes, and vapor products in Minnesota is also set at 95 percent.

As Governor, Walz has created a new payroll tax, raised taxes on retail deliveries, motor vehicle sales, corporate income tax, and net investment income, and reduced itemized deductions. He also greenlit local sales and purchase taxes in the seven-county metro area surrounding the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Under his stewardship, the North Star State has seen GDP growth less than half that of the wider economy under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and a substantial net outflow of taxpayers. Meanwhile, energy costs have climbed 30 percent higher than the national average.

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Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), tapped as Kamala Harris's running mate in the upcoming presidential election, approved an astonishing 95 percent tax on Zyn, the popular tobacco-free nicotine product, in the North Star State this year. Previously, the tax on "moist snuff" did not include Zyn, as it contains no tobacco, but the law was amended to gouge users of Zyn and "similar tobacco-free product[s] containing nicotine" in May. show more