Shoe Giant ‘Steve Madden’ Speeds Up Shifting Production Exit from China Following Trump Victory

Steve Madden

by Ireland Owens   Steven Madden said Thursday that it is accelerating plans to shift production out of China in anticipation of President-elect Donald Trump introducing increased tariffs on imported goods when he returns to office, according to Bloomberg. The New York-based retailer said in a company earnings call Thursday…

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Tech Leaders of Amazon, Apple, Meta, Google Say They Look Forward to Working with Trump

Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy

Jeff Bezos, founder and chairman of Amazon, congratulated President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday for an “extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory” after he defeated Vice President Kamala Harris.

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‘Inspiring and Eye-Opening’: Gen Z’s Interest in Skilled Trades Rises

Blue Collar

Social media’s influence is causing Gen Z’s interest in skilled trades to rise, according to a report by Thumbtack – something a trade organization co-director said is “inspiring and eye-opening.”

“55% of Gen Zers are considering a skilled trade career (up 12% from last year) – including 72% of those with a college degree,” Thumbtack’s report stated.

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Private Sector Jobs Vanish into Thin Air While Feds Add Even More Workers to Payroll

Empty Office

The private sector hemorrhaged jobs in October while the federal government expanded its workforce to even bigger levels, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released Friday.

The U.S. economy lost 28,000 private sector jobs while the federal government added 40,000, BLS data shows. The private sector job losses come amid a disappointing jobs report overall, with the country adding just 12,000 nonfarm payroll jobs — well below the 110,o00 economists expected.

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Biden-Harris Admin Adds Nearly No Jobs in Last Report Before Election

Work meeting

The U.S. added 12,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in October as the unemployment rate remained unchanged, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released Friday.

Economists expected 110,000 jobs to be added in October, far lower than the initially reported 254,000 job gain in September, and that the unemployment rate would hold steady at 4.1%. Previously reported job gains for August and September were revised down by 81,000 and 31,000, respectively, following a trend under the Biden-Harris administration of overestimating employment growth in initial estimates, with the cumulative number of new jobs reported in 2023 roughly 1.3 million less than previously thought.

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U.S. Economic Growth Was Weaker than Expected in Third Quarter

Office Work

The U.S. economy grew at a rate of 2.8% in the third quarter of 2024, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) statistics released Wednesday.

The growth in the third quarter comes after a better-than-expected 3.0% growth rate in the second quarter of 2024, according to the BEA. Economists forecast that GDP would increase by about 3.0% in the third quarter, according to Forecast.com.

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‘Cannot Continue’: Major Automaker Hits the Gas on Cost Cuts amid Tepid EV Demand, Increased Chinese Competition

Volkswagen

Volkswagen (VW) said Wednesday that it needs to cut costs amid slackening consumer demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and weaker car sales in China.

VW’s profits fell 64% in the third quarter of 2024, driving the company’s share price to its lowest level since October 2010. Now, the world’s largest automaker by sales is looking to lower its expenses, with VW’s top labor leader announcing earlier this week that the company was aiming to shut at least three of its German factories, slash wages 10% and lay off thousands of employees.

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VA Reports Housing Nearly 48,000 Homeless Vets in 2024

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced Thursday it housed 47,925 veterans experiencing homelessness in fiscal year 2024, besting an earlier goal.

That’s the largest number of veterans experiencing homelessness the federal agency has housed since fiscal year 2019 and 16.9% over its goal of 41,000.

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GOP Lawmakers Demand Answers from Biden-Harris Admin on ‘Botched’ Rollout of Huge Jobs Revision

Office Work

Republican lawmakers wrote to Department of Labor (DOL) Acting Secretary Julie Su on Friday, slamming the agency for ignoring an oversight request regarding its “botched release” of data that showed the Biden-Harris administration had wildly overestimated job creation.

The August Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release  — which revealed the U.S. economy had created more than 800,000 fewer jobs in the twelve months through March than the administration had claimed — was posted roughly a half hour late, with a slew of Wall Street investment firms obtaining details about the report at least 15 minutes before the public. Republican Reps. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and Bob Good of Virginia issued an oversight request following the incident, which the DOL then failed to respond to, prompting the lawmakers to re-up their inquiry into whether or not the BLS favored Wall Street insiders over the American public, according to the letter obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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North Carolina Government Estimates Hurricane Helene Caused at Least $53 Billion in Damage

Hurricane Helene Damage Clean up

The North Carolina government on Wednesday released an estimate that Hurricane Helene caused at least $53 billion in damage, particularly in the western part of the state.

The state budget office calculated the preliminary amount which also includes potential investments to avoid similar expensive damages during hurricanes in the future.

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Commentary: Biden’s Climate Splurge Gives Billions to Nonprofit Newbies

Solar Panel Installation

Although there isn’t much public information available about the Justice Climate Fund, it appears to have been an overnight success.

After gaining nonprofit status in August 2023, the organization was awarded $940 million by the Biden administration just eight months later in connection with the White House’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which aims to provide financial assistance to reduce carbon emissions and reduce pollution.  

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Existing Home Sales Drop as Presidential Election Approaches

The upcoming presidential election might keep some would-be homebuyers on the sidelines, according to a real estate economist.

Existing-home sales declined 1% in September as prices continued to climb higher, according to figures released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors.

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‘There’s Going to Be Pain’: Restaurant Chains Are Falling Like Dominoes as Inflation Under Biden-Harris Takes Its Toll

Red Lobster

Restaurant chains and operators are slated to have their most bankruptcies in decades apart from 2020, a Wall Street Journal analysis of Chapter 11 filings found Monday.

The bankruptcies seen this year are rivaling those seen during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when restrictions and other pandemic-related disruptions caused the industry’s sales to fall $240 billion, according to the WSJ. The surge in bankruptcies comes as prices have increased over 20% since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, raising operational expenses for restaurants and making customers less inclined to eat out.

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Walz Granted Hundreds of Thousands to Meatpacker That Had Kids Cleaning Processing Plant

Meat Packing Plant

Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz awarded up to $126,000 in taxpayer funds to meat processor JBS after an investigation revealed some of the company’s processing plants were cleaned using child labor.

The U.S. Department of Labor found in February 2023 that at least 31 children were employed “in hazardous occupations to clean dangerous powered equipment during overnight shifts at JBS USA plants,” though they were employed by a third-party cleaning service rather than by JBS directly. Minnesota’s Office of Higher Education then announced a grant in June to fund job training for 28 staff members at the JBS plant in Worthington, Minnesota — a plant at which at least 22 children had been illegally employed to clean.

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ActBlue’s Security Measures Don’t Address Fundraising Loophole Flagged by GOP Lawmakers

credit card

Security measures implemented by the largest payment platform used by Democratic candidates to process political donations failed to address GOP concerns that spurred the payment processor to respond in the first place.

In 2023, Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Republican Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil both raised concerns that ActBlue not requiring users to input a credit verification value (CVV), the three numbers on the back of credit cards, when making donations increased the risk of fraudulent contributions being made. ActBlue has since required that donors using debit or credit cards on their platform input CVVs. The requirement, however, can be easily circumvented by donating through PayPal, Google Pay or Venmo, all of which are still options on ActBlue.

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America’s Largest Retail Group Says Holiday Shopping Sales to Grow More Slowly

Grocery Shopping

The largest retail group in the country says it expects consumers to spend more this holiday season, but the growth in sales will be slower than last year.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) said its 2024 forecast shows winter holiday spending is expected to grow between 2.5% and 3.5% over 2023.

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Commentary: America Needs the Trump Tax Cuts

Tax Cut Bill

The Biden-Harris administration has become synonymous with an economy in tatters. Americans are struggling with rising prices, stagnant wages, and increased obstacles to starting a business, buying a home or retiring. According to the Gallup Economic Confidence Index, Americans’ outlook on the economy from 2021 to 2024 has been negative.

Contrast this with the economic prosperity seen under the Trump administration. America enjoyed energy abundance, skyrocketing wages, a record number of startups and incredible stock market averages. A large part of this success can be credited to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), a tax cut for families and small businesses that fueled one of the strongest economies in decades.

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Commentary: Democrats’ Economic Elitism

Grocery Shopping

Democrats’ display their elitism by using macroeconomic numbers to ignore America’s microeconomic concerns. By promoting the macro-economy, Democrats produced the numbers they now campaign on. However, their macro numbers have come with high inflation that has wreaked havoc on the micro-economies in which most Americans live.

Democrats’ embrace of the macro economy is unmistakable.  Paul Krugman’s recent column (10/8) trumpeted that the “macro” numbers “vindicate Bidenomics.” During CBS’s Sunday (10/6) 60 Minutes interview, Kamala Harris immediately ducked into the macro economy when asked about inflation’s impact on Americans.

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Buying the News: Documenting the Takeover of Local Journalism by Leftwing Donors

American journalism has experienced a spectacular collapse in the last 25 years – daily newspaper circulation has declined from over 60 million subscribers to just over 20 million. And the trend is accelerating: According to the Pew Research Organization, the average monthly number of unique visitors to the websites of the country’s top 50 newspapers plummeted 20 percent in one year from 2021 to 2022.

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Small Businesses’ Uncertainty Hits New High, Survey Finds

Stressed Worker

American small business uncertainty hit an all-time high and optimism remains low just weeks before Election Day, according to the latest survey.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses on Monday released the survey, which showed small business uncertainty rose last month to the highest level ever recorded by NFIB.

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Inflation Ticks Down Less than Expected as Fears of Hot Economy Grow

Couple Shopping

Inflation fell slightly in September amid fears of a hotter-than-expected economy following strong job gains in the month prior, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release Thursday.

The consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of the price of everyday goods, increased 2.4% on an annual basis in September and rose 0.2% month-over-month, compared to 2.5% in August, less than the 2.3% rate that was expected, according to the BLS. Core CPI, which excludes the volatile categories of energy and food, rose 3.3% year-over-year in September, compared to 3.2% in August.

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Catholic Healthcare System Plays Outsized Role in Transgender Surgery, Drugs for Kids: Database

America’s fourth-largest Catholic healthcare system performed so-called gender affirming surgeries on 81 children and prescribed puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to 113 over the past five years, according to a national database launched Tuesday by Do No Harm, which fights identity politics in “medical education, research and clinical practice.”

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U.S. Hospitals Raked in $120 Million Performing Sex Changes on Thousands of Kids, New Data Shows

Surgery

U.S. hospitals charged nearly $120 million over five years for sex-change procedures performed on around 14,000 children, according to new data compiled by medical watchdog Do No Harm.

The first-of-its-kind database, which logs sex-change procedures given to children nationwide between 2019 and 2023, catalogs a total of 5,747 minors who underwent sex-change surgeries, along with 8,579 who obtained puberty blockers or cross sex hormones.

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Stadium and Arena Subsidies Not Worth It for Taxpayers: Report

Jacksonville Everbank Stadium

Professional sports teams and government officials promise tax revenue benefits when taxpayer subsidies are used to build new or renovation stadiums and arenas.

But those benefits consistently do not come to fruition, according to a report from the Tax Foundation.

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Commentary: Modern Society Needs Its Renaissance Men (and Women) More Than Ever

The songwriter, actor, country/western singer, musician, U.S. Army veteran, helicopter pilot, accomplished rugby player and boxer, Rhodes scholar, Pomona College and University of Oxford degreed, and summa cum laude literature graduate, Kris Kristofferson, recently died at 88.

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Former Biden EPA Head and Climate Adviser Admits Green Energy Challenges Underestimated

Former EPA administrator and climate advisor Gina McCarthy was a key backer of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The law set the country on an aggressive march toward greenhouse gas emission reductions, including advancing wind and solar. By some estimates, the green energy credits in the law alone will cost $3 trillion over their lifetimes.

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Purdue Survey Finds More Farmers Worried About Economy

Farmer

Farmer pessimism about the economy is at its lowest in nearly a decade. That’s according to a recent survey conducted by the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture.

The Purdue University-CME Ag Economy Barometer Index for September was at 88. That’s down 12 points from the August survey and 25 from July’s results. It’s also down 18 points from where the index was a year ago, with growers’ concerns for both the future and present leading to steep drops in both subcategories.

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Experts Warn Hackers Can Take Control of EV Features, Even Trigger Battery Fires

In September, thousands pagers and walkie-talkies held by members of Hezbollah exploded. The incident appears to have been the result of explosives hidden within the batteries of the devices by Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, and the Israeli military, then triggered remotely.

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Former RNC Political Director Creates Tool for Voters to See Cost of Living Changes Over the Years

Former political director of the National Republican Convention Gentry Collins discussed the creation of a new tool for undecided voters to use when determining who to vote for in the upcoming 2024 election. 

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Commentary: Harris’ Economic Plan Would Increase Federal Stranglehold on Economy

Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris gave a speech last week to accompany the release of her 82-page economic planning document. While her words were intended to evoke optimism, the implications of the plan are troubling for America’s future.

To begin with, the plan must be placed in context.

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Over 800,000 Fewer Native-Born Americans Are Employed than Last Year

Co-Workers

More than 800,000 fewer native-born Americans are employed than last year as job gains among Americans continue to lag behind those of foreign-born workers, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The number of foreign-born workers employed increased by approximately 1.2 million year-over-year in September, while 825,000 fewer native workers were employed, BLS data shows. The large annual difference is in spite of the roughly 920,000 upward employment fluctuation for native-born workers in September compared to August, after a 1,325,000 drop from July to August.

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September Job Growth Exceeds Expectations as Unemployment Falls

Job Interview

The U.S. added 254,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in September as the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released Friday.

Economists expected 150,000 jobs to be added in September, slightly higher than the initially reported 142,000 job gain in August, and the unemployment rate to remain at 4.2%, according to MarketWatch. Meanwhile, previously reported job gains for July and August were revised up by 55,000 and 17,000, respectively, breaking a trend under the Biden-Harris administration of overestimating employment growth in initial estimates, with the cumulative number of new jobs reported in 2023 roughly 1.3 million less than previously thought.

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‘A Danger to the U.S.’: Coalition Negotiating with Striking Dock Workers Represents China-Owned Shipping Company

Port Workers Strike

The coalition negotiating on behalf of employers in the ongoing dockworkers strike includes a Beijing-based shipping company, raising concern over potential Chinese economic and political influence.

Thousands of dockworkers at 14 different major ports along the East and Gulf Coasts went on strike shortly after midnight Thursday, with experts claiming the move could wreak havoc on U.S. supply chains and cost the economy as much as $5 billion a day. China Ocean Shipping Company’s (COSCO) membership in the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) — the group responsible for hammering out a deal with the port workers — means China could wield significant influence over the labor negotiations, according to experts who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Biden to Stay Out of Port Strike as Trade Flows Halt, Union Boss Threatens to ‘Cripple’ Economy

Port Strike

The White House has remained firm in its position that it will not intervene in negotiations between port workers and dock employers as trade flows screech to a halt and the lead union boss threatens to “cripple” the economy less than 35 days before the presidential election.

A general strike spread across most of the major ports on the U.S. East Coast Tuesday as the labor union representing the workers, International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), said dock employers failed to give in to their demands.

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Swing States Hurting from Inflation, Want More from Trump, Harris on Energy Policies

Oil Rig

Swing state voters are feeling the pain of high prices and want to hear more from presidential candidates about their energy policies, newly released polling data shows.

A new Morning Consult/American Petroleum Institute poll obtained exclusively by The Center Square surveyed registered voters in the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

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U.S. Auto Sales Remain Stuck Below Pre-Pandemic Levels

Car Shopping

U.S. car sales remain stuck below pre-pandemic levels amid a struggling auto market, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Higher borrowing costs and increased prices on new vehicles are two key factors steering consumers away from buying, according to the WSJ. Many customers have looked to lease cars to avoid out-of-pocket costs and have turned to purchasing smaller and more affordable vehicle models.

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East Coast Port Strikes Could Bring Shortages, Rising Prices

Port Workers Strike

Some 50,000 International Longshoremen’s Association members went on strike Tuesday against the East and Gulf Coast ports, snarling the flow of goods in what some predict could be the most disruptive strike in decades.  

The strike, which extends from Maine to Texas, could affect everything from bananas to European beer and automobiles.

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Hurricane Helene’s Cost Could Be 600 Lives, $160 Billion in Damages

Hurricane Helene damage in North Carolina

Six hundred people are unaccounted for, and one of North Carolina’s hardest-hit counties by the remnants of Hurricane Helene on Monday said at least 35 have died.

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California U.S. Rep. John Duarte Unveils Plan to Rescue Bankrupt Farmers from China’s Economic Assault

Texas Farmer in field

Republican California Rep. John Duarte unveiled his plan to save American farmers from possible financial ruin due to long-standing Chinese tariffs in an exclusive interview Wednesday with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Economic Growth, Consumer Spending Rises Three Percent in Second Quarter

People Shopping

Gross domestic product rose at an annual rate of 3% in the second quarter of 2024, showing economic growth and increased consumer spending, according to a report.

The report, released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, shows gross domestic product over the last five years.

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Boeing Union Strike to Pummel Workers and Shareholders, New Analysis Finds

Boeing Workers

The International Association of Machinists (IAM) union strike against Boeing is expected to result in a $1.05 billion loss for the company and its shareholders, as well as a significant loss for its workers and suppliers, according to an analysis by consulting firm Anderson Economic Group (AEG) released Thursday.

Boeing and company shareholders are set to lose an estimated $1.05 billion, with workers and suppliers losing $351 million from Sept. 13 to Friday due to the IAM union strike, according to AEG’s analysis of the company’s lost wages and shareholder earnings. The firm’s report does not estimate separate damages to consumers or customers for the first two weeks of the strike.

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Biden-Harris Admin on Track to Oversee Massive $1 Trillion in Improper Payments, Watchdog Group Finds

Congress Spending

If current trends persist, the Biden-Harris administration will have made over $1 trillion in improper payments by the time President Joe Biden leaves office, according to a report released by the watchdog organization Open The Books on Thursday.

An improper payment is a disbursement “made by the government to the wrong person, in the wrong amount or for the wrong reason,” per federal guidelines. The Biden-Harris administration, between 2021 and 2023, oversaw $801.4 billion in such payments after adjusting for inflation, according to the report.

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Solar Developments Are Spreading Across America, Threatening Farmers and Local Communities

Solar Farm

Fueled by massive federal subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), solar developers are looking to the wide open spaces of rural lands as the best places to site their projects. This is also where much of America’s farm and range land is located, as well as communities that like the existing look and character of their neighborhoods.

Last week, President Biden said of the IRA, “I’m proud to announce that my, uh, my investments, that through my investments, the most significant climate change law ever. And by the way, it is a $369 billion bill. It’s called the — uh, we, we should have named it what it was.”

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U.S. House Moves Forward with Stopgap Spending Bill that Doesn’t Include Election Integrity Law

The Republican majority in the United States House of Representatives is now planning to vote on a stopgap spending bill that will not include a critical election integrity measure that conservatives have been desperately trying to pass.

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Automakers Hit Reverse on Idealistic Electric Vehicle Targets Despite Billions in Biden-Harris Subsidies

Electric Vehicle Charging Station

Automakers have continued to backpedal on electric vehicle (EV) targets over the last year as a slackening of consumer demand has hampered growth despite the billions in subsidies lavished on the industry by the Biden-Harris administration.

A wide array of auto manufacturers have abandoned key EV goals since February, with Volvo, Ford and Mercedes-Benz all dialing back electric quotas or dropping previously planned product lines. The shifts in corporate strategy suggest the EV transition — once touted by auto executives like Ford CEO Jim Farley as the industry’s future — may not be as feasible as once thought due to consumer aversion to lower mileage ranges, a lack of charging infrastructure and higher prices, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Existing Home Sales Slip 2.5 Percent in August as Prices Climb

House for Sale

Existing home sales fell in August, while sale prices continued to climb, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors.

Existing home sales fell 2.5% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.86 million. That’s down 4.2% from one year ago.

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Commentary: An Economy That Serves Nobody Except Those in Charge

Suits

As we outlined in Part One, here in California, we have an economy that would be the fifth largest in the world if it were to be separated as a standing nation. Home to Silicon Valley, Hollywood, world-class agriculture, and medical schools, California is an economic powerhouse.

Yet we, in California, have the highest poverty rate in the nation. We have a majority of the nation’s homeless people. We have the highest overall tax rates in the nation. Our energy costs are double that of the national average. Our per-student spending in schools is well above the national average, yet our students consistently have below-average grade-level test scores. Our major cities are crime-ridden, our power grid is woefully vulnerable, and our beaches are regularly closed due to raw sewage contamination.

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Trump Vows to Tax Mexican Auto Imports by 200 Percent

Car Factory

On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump promised to implement a 200% tariff on all Chinese auto imports from Mexico, with the goal making them “unsellable” in the United States and thus forcing a return to American manufacturing.

As reported by Fox News, the former president made his pledge during a campaign event in Flint, Michigan.

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