Economy News
The Daily Signal reports on economy news with analysis and commentary on growth, recession risks, employment, and financial trends.
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opinion
Americans Need Answers As New Tariffs Hit
The long U.S.-China trade war is about to hit another mile marker. New tariffs, announced in May on $200 billion worth of imports from China, and $60 billion worth of exports to China, go into effect June 1. Tariffs are a tax on American consumers and businesses, and the administration has already begun a process… -
opinion
10 Ways Heritage’s Budget Plan Cuts Unfair Handouts and Waste
The federal government has more programs than anyone can ever hope to count. Each year it spends trillions of dollars, much of which is wasted or used for politically connected groups. This has shamefully saddled America with a disastrous debt of $22 trillion—the equivalent of $173,000 for every household in America. All of this might… -
opinion
The Blueprint for a Balanced Budget That Can Still Cut Taxes
If Congress doesn’t act, Americans’ taxes will automatically increase in the coming years. The 2017 tax cuts are temporary, and some of those taxes are scheduled to start increasing in three years’ time. Last year, American families of four saw their taxes cut by an average of $3,000. The typical taxpayers benefited from getting to… -
news
Federal Transportation Officials Launch Probe of Chick-Fil-A Bans
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Friday that it will investigate whether two airports violated federal law or transportation regulations by denying a contract to Chick-fil-A on religious grounds. “The Department has received complaints alleging discrimination by two airport operators against a private company due to the expression of the owner’s religious beliefs,” DOT said… -
opinion
Heritage’s ‘Blueprint for Balance’ Has Real Fixes for Our Spending Crisis
Among the many things that frustrate Americans about Washington, D.C., is the unwillingness—not inability, but unwillingness—to solve problems. One of many examples is the U.S. national debt, now more than $22 trillion and counting. As Heritage Foundation President Kay Coles James has written, “The federal budget is at the core of our political system. Everything… -
opinion
Skyrocketing Debt Too Important to Be Paired With Spending Deal
Two major issues that Congress will be forced to confront in the coming weeks and months are the debt limit and the future of the Budget Control Act discretionary spending caps. A report from The Hill indicates that negotiations are underway between Congress and the Trump administration to combine a two-year budget caps deal with… -
news
Heritage Foundation Blueprint Would Balance Budget While Cutting Taxes, Stressing Defense
Balancing the budget while reducing taxes and prioritizing national defense are the main goals in a blueprint for smarter government spending released Monday by The Heritage Foundation. The think tank’s new “Blueprint for Balance” “lays out an agenda both for our long-term governing vision [and] what our conservative policy priorities [are] that we want lawmakers… -
opinion
3 Reasons Why USDA Shouldn’t Give Special Aid to Farmers Hit by Tariffs
Last July, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it was going to provide $12 billion in aid to help farmers with the “trade damage” from numerous trade disputes. That was supposed to be a one-time relief package, but there was little reason at that time to think it would stop with the $12 billion…. -
opinion
Obstacles to a Trade Deal Come From Both Beijing and Washington
It’s been almost two years since the U.S. and China entered negotiations, and those talks are still dragging on. No one knows the true progress of these talks except for what’s been reported through anonymous sources, or the occasional update from the White House. But as things stand, the talks have not sufficed to stave… -
opinion
He Was an Antifa Activist. Then He Took an Economics Class.
Gabriel Nadales is that rare young adult who became more conservative in college. Once an activist on the left, he started questioning his beliefs after studying economics—and now he promotes free speech at colleges. Read the interview, posted below, or listen to the podcast: Or watch the interview: We also cover these stories: President Donald… -
news
Raising Budget Caps Is ‘Last Thing We Need’ With $22 Trillion Debt, Lawmaker Says
Republicans in the conservative House Freedom Caucus are opposing Democrats’ attempts to increase discretionary spending despite a national debt of more than $22 trillion. “Our country is $22 trillion in debt,” the group said in a statement released Friday. “The spending caps are one of the few tools left to slow down the runaway growth… -
opinion
Here’s My Plan to Fix Student Debt Without Raiding Taxpayers
Confounded by rising piles of student debt, cash-strapped graduates across the country are realizing that their degrees don’t offer enough bang for the buck. It’s time we rethink the way students pay for college. College is an investment. The conventional wisdom tells us to borrow for college now and be proportionally rewarded in the job… -
opinion
David McCullough’s ‘The Pioneers’ Is a Rebuke to Our Entitlement Mentality
In a country preoccupied with presidential candidates preaching extreme liberalism and even unabashed socialism comes America’s greatest living historian, David McCullough, with a new and needed book. It’s called “The Pioneers,” and the subtitle is its theme: “The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West” (Simon & Schuster). Nowadays, while students… -
opinion
A Higher Minimum Wage Fails in California
Issues such as job losses and automation have become concerns for the American people as technology transforms our economy. Some have proposed universal basic income and other policies to salve these problems, but they risk sapping the dignity of work and creating a kind of bifurcated warehouse society with huge numbers of people barely skating… -
opinion
Parsing the President’s Tweets on Tariffs Amid China Trade Talks
It’s crunch time in U.S.-China negotiations, and President Donald Trump may have just thrown negotiators under the bus. Over the weekend, Trump tweeted that perhaps trade talks with China aren’t going as well as we’ve been led to believe. This prompted domestic and international markets to respond with pessimism. For almost a year now, tariffs… -
opinion
Poorest Americans Are Benefiting Most From Strong Economy
It’s hard to escape the good economic news these days. New reports show that in the first quarter of 2019, the U.S. economy grew by 3.2%, outpacing expectations by almost a full percentage point. In the month of April, unemployment fell to a 50-year low of 3.6%. Businesses continue to add hundreds of thousands of… -
opinion
New Jobs Report Shows Record Unemployment Lows for Hispanics, Women
It’s time to celebrate: We have the lowest unemployment rate in 49 years, and wages continue to rise—especially for lower-wage workers. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor statistics reported that in April, the economy created a whopping 263,000 jobs, and the U-3 unemployment rate—the one commonly cited—fell from 3.8% to 3.6%. The alternate measure for… -
opinion
This Labor Department Decision Could Save Uber, Lyft, and Other App-Based Platforms
Internet platforms and their workers are facing a tough question that is unique to our time: Are gig workers, such as Uber drivers and TaskRabbit providers, independent contractors or employees? The answer to that question has far-reaching implications, including potentially the end of gig work altogether. If gig workers are deemed “employees” under law—as some… -
opinion
Advancing Economic Freedom Is Key to Realizing Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative
Highlighting her recent trip to Africa, Ivanka Trump penned a commentary that makes a strong case for the Trump administration’s Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative. “Despite the incredible difficulties they face, women in Africa are already transcending poverty, creating jobs, and pioneering a brighter future,” the first daughter wrote in an op-ed for CNN…. -
opinion
Across the Globe, ‘Outperformer’ Nations Show Economic Freedom Fuels Wealth and Prosperity
A recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute affirms that the recipe for wealth and prosperity encompasses economic freedom as its main ingredient. As a vital component of human dignity and autonomy, economic freedom is valuable as an end in itself. Just as important, however, is the fact that economic freedom provides a proven pathway…