NRD Editor’s Note: This column originally appeared at TheHill.com . By Rick Manning — Perhaps it is time for Congress to zero out the budget of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an agency of the Department of Labor whose data is so important to financial markets that figuring […]

By Bill Wilson — 122,000 fewer Americans had jobs in November than in October, yet the government reports that the unemployment rate declined to 7.7 percent.  This simple fact is why the unemployment rate has become one of the least relevant economic statistics that the federal government […]

By Kevin Mooney — With Obamacare set to go into effect this coming January, the small-and medium sized business that typically create most of the new jobs will be at a severe disadvantage. That’s because the new federal health care law includes provisions that discourage […]

By Robert Romano — Economic growth will slow down to 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter, reports JP Morgan in its most recent forecast , citing “appreciably more inventory accumulation and weaker real domestic final sales, both negatives for current-quarter growth.” Combined with the uncertain outcome of the fiscal cliff negotiations — which threaten tax […]

By Rebekah Rast — Remember back in 2010, when House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi claimed that unemployment benefits create jobs faster than most any other program? To jog your memory, Pelosi said : “It injects demand into the economy.  It creates jobs faster than almost any other […]

By Bill Wilson — Despite higher-than-expected inventories giving the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) a seeming boost in the third quarter — being revised upward to 2.7 percent even as consumer spending was revised down — it may still be premature to pop the bottle of champagne. Average […]

By Bill Wilson — In the past 30 years, the national debt has increased 1,328 percent from $1.1 trillion to $16.3 trillion. From 1952 to 1982, it nearly quadrupled, from about $250 billion to $1 trillion. And from its 1922 level of $23 billion, it increased by […]

By Patrick J. Buchanan — Were the average Republican asked for a succinct statement of his views on taxation, he or she might respond thus: “U.S. tax rates are too high for the world we must compete in. The tax burden – federal, state, local, […]

By Rick Manning — Republicans in the House of Representatives have chosen as a new chairperson for their Conference, Cathy McMorris-Rodgers from Washington State.  McMorris-Rodgers is now the fourth-ranking Republican in the House. McMorris-Rodgers, who was mentioned as a possible vice presidential choice for Mitt Romney, ascended […]

By Bill Wilson — “[T]he only thing that’s worse than cutting national defense is not having any scheduled cuts at all take place.” That’s how Rep. Jim  Jordan, chairman of the House Republican Study Committee, put it recently, in defense of $109 billion of reductions to budget […]