Free Republic

When President George W. Bush nominated Henry Paulson to serve as Treasury Secretary, Republicans raised a red flag that Paulson, who, along with his wife, has strong ties to the Democrat party, would not be an honest broker with Republicans. That seems to have been borne out, with sources inside of Treasury reporting that Paulson briefed Sen. Barack Obama and his campaign advisers on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout plan before offering such a briefing to the McCain campaign. In fact, the McCain campaign had sought a similar briefing several days ago as word spread that a bailout...

WASHINGTON - Auto industry allies hope to secure up to $50 billion in government loans this month that would pay to modernize plants and help struggling car makers build more fuel-efficient vehicles. With Congress returning this coming week from its summer break, the industry plans an aggressive lobbying campaign for the low-interest loans. The situation is growing dire after months of tumbling sales, high gasoline prices and consumers' abandoning profitable trucks and sport utility vehicles. Lawmakers authorized $25 billion in loans in last year's energy bill to help the companies build fuel-efficient vehicles such as hybrids and electric vehicles. With...

When I was young, jobs grown-ups had were doctors, plumbers, lawyers, dentists, stock brokers and so on. I had never heard of "Community Organizer" until this Presidential season. What is this job and how does it connect with important current issues? Today, the Department of the Treasury exerted a conservatorship over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at the cost of billions to taxpayers. The role of community organizers like ACORN and Barak Obama played in our present financial dislocations may be more direct and pervasive than what first meets the eye. The present subprime financial strains have as its genesis...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Sunday seized control of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N), in what could be the biggest federal bailout in U.S. history in a bid to support the U.S. housing market and ward off more global financial market turbulence. "Our economy and our markets will not recover until the bulk of this housing correction is behind us," U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said at a news conference. "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are critical to turning the corner on housing." The two companies, publicly traded but also serving a government...

The Treasury said its senior preferred stock purchase agreement includes an upfront $1 billion issuance of senior preferred stock with a 10% coupon from both Freddie and Fannie, quarterly dividend payments, warrants representing an ownership stake of 79.9% in each firm going forward, and a quarterly fee starting in 2010...

As if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't have enough troubles with the state's $17.2 billion budget mess, now comes word that there may be a move afoot to recall him. Well-placed Sacramento sources tell us the state's politically powerful and well-financed prison guards union has lawyers drawing up language for a recall initiative. Word is, the union will decide within the next couple of weeks whether to hit the streets with petitions. Recalling Schwarzenegger - who himself rode into office with the 2003 recall of then-Gov. Gray Davis - is probably a long shot at best. Still, Schwarzenegger has angered fellow...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Federal officials unveiled an extraordinary takeover on Sunday of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, signaling the most dramatic move to date aimed at shoring up the nation's housing market.

At a press conference held today, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson outlined the details of the bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Among the highlights. The Treasury will not bailout common or preferred shareholders. The Treasury expects that this will result in some small banks failing who hold large preferred positions. The Treasury will ensure that Freddie and Fannie maintain positive net worth by buying Preferred stock in them when necessary...

Battered by weak sales, declining market share and miserable credit ratings, Detroit's Big Three automakers are now turning to the US government for help. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC will be launching a campaign in the coming days to secure at least 25 billion dollars in federal loans to help get past the current economic malaise. "This isn't a bail out," said Greg Martin, Washington spokesman for GM, the largest US automaker which has been awash in speculation for months that it is running short of cash. "These are direct loans that we have to pay...

Critics of the lottery call it nothing more than a scam that sells hopes and dreams to the poor. Is this true? Does the lottery target the poor? See for yourself here in this installation of "Geeks on Caffeine." Note: The author requests that you visit his web site and refrain from pasting the cartoon within the thread. Thanks!

Friday 29 August 2008 Friday 29 August 2008 The authorities have lied, and I am not glad Dr Michael Fitzpatrick, author of 1987’s The Truth About the AIDS Panic, says it is a shame that AIDS insiders did not expose the myths and opportunism of the AIDS industry earlier. But still, better late than never.Dr Michael Fitzpatrick There is a widely accepted view that Britain was saved from an explosive epidemic of heterosexual AIDS in the late 1980s by a bold campaign initiated by gay activists and radical doctors and subsequently endorsed by the government and the mass media. According...

California 'Central Planning'   If you live in California,  you already know  that the Inmates have taken over the Asylum.    ...If you don't want to end up 'living in a condo by the Railroad Tracks', do yourself a favor and either phone, or fax a letter to, Governor Schwartzenegger TODAY, urging him to oppose, and NOT sign SB 375.   See: http://reason.org/commentaries/staley_20080826.shtml for details... (...and see below for Arnold's fax number/address.) http://www.seadogbytes.com/sbimages/SB375_Steinberg.jpg   Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 445-2841, ext. 0 (and tell them you oppose SB 375) Fax: (916) 558-3160  

VALLEJO — A federal judge ruled Friday that Vallejo is eligible for municipal bankruptcy protection, setting the stage for a major battle over possible dissolution of city employee union contracts. The decision came less than a week after the close of a monthlong court clash between the city and union attorneys. City insolvency challengers, including three major unions, had argued that the city did not meet the legal requirements for bankruptcy protection. U.S. Chief Judge Michael McManus soundly rejected that contention in a 52-page ruling. With bankruptcy protec-tion, the city may adjust its debts without immediate reprisal from its creditors....

[Scroll half way down page for article]...“My feeling is, if the Treasury comes in with any kind of money whatsoever, shareholders of Fannie and Freddie will get wiped out or diluted away in an extreme manner,” says FBR capital markets senior analyst Paul Miller on Fast Money.

WASHINGTON — An important account in the federal Highway Trust Fund will run out of money this month, a situation that could hamper completion of road and bridge construction projects across the country, Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said on Friday. Because the trust fund’s highway account is draining away, the Transportation Department will have to delay payments for projects, Ms. Peters said at a news conference. Since money from Washington typically pays 80 to 90 percent of the cost of federally aided road work, states with shaky finances may have to consider curtailing projects. Ms. Peters said her department...

This week, the state budget impasse took on a poignant dimension with detailed coverage of the human toll of Sacramento's fiscal paralysis. The most alarming stories involve nonprofit health care providers under contract to the state to help tens of thousands of ailing residents. Without a budget, these providers are now being forced en masse to borrow money from any willing party to keep operating and keep their clients healthy. But what these stories often left out is the state's ability to ameliorate this pain even without a budget. If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature were willing, stopgap funding...

The government has formulated a plan to put troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under federal control, dismiss their top executives and prop them up financially, federal officials told the two companies yesterday, according to three sources familiar with the conversations. Under the plan, which could prompt one of the most sweeping government interventions in the workings of financial markets in U.S. history, federal officials would place the firms under a conservatorship, a legal status giving the government the option and time to restructure and revive the companies, the sources said. The value of the companies' common stock...

The US Treasury has moved closer to a rescue plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two struggling government-sponsored mortgage groups whose fate is key to the future of the US housing industry and financial markets. The exact form of the proposed government rescue remained unclear, but share prices for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined 30.3 per cent and 26.6 per cent respectively in after-hours trading, reflecting investor concerns that the rescue plan would wipe out holders of equity in the groups while guaranteeing their debt. Speculation has been building that the government would need to act following...

When the price of crude oil shot up from $100 in early March to $145 in early July, several old friends in economics and journalism blamed it on the Federal Reserve. The low fed funds rate caused the dollar to fall, they argued, which fueled a boom in commodity prices. Even the price of rice was blamed on Ben Bernanke. The Fed was said to be printing money with abandon, even though the monetary base is up 2% over the past year. Now that the dollar has been rising and commodity prices falling, consistency requires the Fed's critics to explain...

A nice-sounding bill called the "Global Poverty Act," sponsored by Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Barack Obama, is up for a Senate vote on Thursday and could result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States. The bill, which has the support of many liberal religious groups, makes levels of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations. Senator Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has not endorsed either Senator Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. But on Thursday, February 14, he is trying to rush Obama's...

JOHN W. SCHUTT, Jr. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Candidate for School Trustee, District E MEDIA RELEASE September 4, 2008 Complaint filed with Nevada Commission on Ethics against Trustee Janison Ethics complaint filed against Clark County School Trustee Terri Janison On September 3, 2008 Clark County School Trustee District E candidate John W. Schutt Jr. filed an Ethics complaint with the Nevada Commission on Ethics against Trustee Terri Janison. This complaint was filed on behalf of the citizens of Clark County due to Janison’s continued unethical behavior. The basis of the complaint is the thousands of dollars that Janison has taken from various construction companies...

New Jersey taxpayers will have to shell out more than $36 million in coming years to cover school administrator retirement payments as more than 30 school administrators are due six-figure retirement packages, according to a new state analysis. The state initiated the study, and new rules on retirement packages, after it was reported that retired Keansburg Superintendent Barbara Trzeszkowski was due $740,876 in unused sick time and other buybacks. That led to lawmakers to place caps on new contracts. The state Attorney General's Office is trying to get a judge to nullify the payment to Trzeszkowski. Meanwhile, the new numbers...

The failure of Alpharetta’s Integrity Bank has likely wiped out the investments of some notable Atlantans, including CNN anchor Lou Dobbs and a legislator that serves on the state Senate’s bank committee.

The government has formulated a plan to put troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under federal control, dismiss their top executives, and use government funds to prop them up, government officials told the two companies yesterday, according to sources familiar with the conversations. Under the plan, the federal government would place the firms in a legal state known as conservatorship, the sources said. The value of the company's common stock would be diluted but not wiped out while the holdings of other securities, including company debt and preferred shares, would be protected by the government. As the pace...

The government's key cooperator in the investigation of a Sussex County company that made and sold defective air filters to the military for use in tanks was placed on probation for two years yesterday for his role in the scheme. Robert J. Spadaro, 67, of North Port, Fla., was also ordered to serve four months of home confinement with electronic monitoring and to make restitution of more than $380,000. He was spared a fine by U.S. District Judge William H. Walls in Newark because it was determined he had no ability to pay. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Moscato described Spadaro,...

It stands to reason that the chief of New Jersey's largest and arguably most complex school system would draw the highest pay, as retired Newark superintendent Marion Bolden did in her final year, with a $260,000 salary plus perks. Other large districts like Elizabeth, Toms River, Paterson and Jersey City follow suit, with their leaders all in the upper echelons making more than $220,000 last year, according to new state data on the salaries and other compensation of more than 3,600 administrators. But reflecting what has increasingly become a free-agent market for top administrators, enrollment is apparently just one factor...

Las Vegas - The Nevada Financial Institutions Division (FID) today announced that it has taken possession of Silver State Bank and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver.

WEST BRIDGEWATER — No, it isn’t a scene out of “The Simpsons” — the town of West Bridgewater has been charged $2,000 for radioactive kitty litter found in a trash Dumpster. A trash bag filled with the contaminated litter was discovered during a scan for radioactive material at the SEMASS waste facility in Rochester. It is believed to have come from a West Bridgewater cat receiving radiology treatment for cancer whose owner neglected to properly dispose of the litter. The scans for radioactive material became mandatory for SEMASS after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Brian Adams, a spokesman...

The presidential election could have a profound effect on health care, who gets it, and who pays for it. There are 45.7 million uninsured people in the United States [including all of "God's children"...or are they going to be counted as insured because they have access to the ER?], according to Census figures released late last month. That figure includes 2.8 million in New York state. Americans—primarily businesses—pay $15 billion a year in taxes to care for these individuals. Both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, have offered “universal care” plans to address the issue and rein in skyrocketing...

The government inadvertently offered people who wanted a duck something altogether different. The Fish and Wildlife Service isn't going to remedy the error because doing so would cost too much. That's according to this wire service report, "Gov't Error Sends Callers To Sex Line: People Hoping To Order Duck Stamps Greeted By Phone-Sex Line Due To Printing Mistake": People calling a federal phone number to order duck stamps are instead greeted by a phone-sex line, due to a printing error the government says would be too expensive to correct. The carrier card for the duck stamp transposes two numbers, so...

California's building codes, plumbing standards and criminal laws can be found online. But if you want to download and save those laws to your computer, forget it. The state claims copyright to those laws. It dictates how you can access and distribute them -- and therefore how much you'll have to pay for print or digital copies. It forbids people from storing or distributing its laws without consent.

Earlier this month, a California activist began gathering signatures to put a state wealth tax on the ballot. The measure would impose a new 35% income surtax (in addition to federal taxes and the existing 10.3% top state rate), and penalize people who leave the state by seizing 55% of assets exceeding $20 million. The money raised would be used to eliminate the state's budget deficit and for purchasing controlling shares in large corporations. The 17.5% surtax is unusual because it would be on a taxpayer's total (not marginal) income whenever it exceeds $250,000, with another additional 17.5 percent tax...

WASHINGTON, DC - The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a ruling today requiring all warning signs to carry warning labels, effective immediately. The requirements apply to all warning signs placed since 1974, and call for stiff fines for non-compliance. The Administration hopes the move will help stem the growing warning sign injury crisis...

ERWIN — Two Hispanic men on their way to Knoxville as part of the deportation process were released Tuesday before they arrived, Unicoi County authorities said Thursday. County Jailer Rita Williams said superiors of two Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees ordered Gregorio Estala Rodriguez and Primitivo Estala Rodriguez to be let go because the New Orleans office, where the men eventually were headed, had been closed temporarily due to Hurricane Gustav. “It’s frustrating for us to know that we got illegal aliens that are breaking the law,” Sheriff Kent Harris said Thursday. “That’s a group we don’t want to have...

I found myself groaning when Ridge and Graham took the RNC stage. I sought the remote when Biden talked. I saw Trent Lott and looked for moth balls. I hadn't seen him since Katrina. Then an even odder thing happened. I saw Kay Bailey Hutchison and Nancy Pelosi and found myself rebuking them both and wishing to God that we could just take a broom and start sweeping out Washington D.C. I discovered it's not a “women in politics” thing for me. I found I just relish new blood in both parties.

T. Boone Pickens, Scam Artist, Given Eminent Domain Authority in Texas!By Cary Wesberry • August 2, 2008 All-around jerk T. Boone Pickens has managed to swindle Texas into giving him eminent domain powers.  The State Legislature changed State Law allowing two residents in Roberts County to vote and create a municipal water district, thereby giving them the power to confiscate private property.  The two voters were Pickens’ wife and manager of his ranch.   Regardless of T. Boone Pickens, those responsible for this abomination in my State Legislature need to be held responsible for their probable criminal activity in working behind the backs of the People...

Every state has its share of crony capitalism, but Big Oil and the GOP political machine have taken that term to new heights in Alaska. The oil industry, which provides 85% of state revenues, has strived to own the government. Alaska's politicians—in particular ruling Republicans—roll in oil campaign money, lavish oil revenue on pet projects, then retire to lucrative oil jobs where they lobby for sweetheart oil deals. You can love the free market and not love this.

Daniel Congiolosi is sure it won't be long before energy is so expensive he won't be able to pay the bills. When that happens, he will be ready. This spring, he tripled the size of his garden. He's rushing to install a hand pump on the well, build a concrete-lined root cellar and get an ice house ready before next summer. Thanks to soaring oil prices, he'll be able to pay for it all. Americans have been hit hard by months of $120- and $130-a-barrel oil, but in Alaska, they've hit the jackpot. Congiolosi this month expects a check from...

The Prince George's County Sheriff's Office has concluded in an internal review that its deputies were justified when they shot and killed two dogs belonging to the mayor of Berwyn Heights during a July drug raid, Sheriff Michael Jackson said yesterday. The sheriff said that one dog was engaging an officer and that the other was running toward a second officer at the time the black Labs were shot, but the ruling did not satisfy the mayor, who said the inquiry was incomplete and misleading. Jackson released the results of the review in response to a scientific examination of the...

Dramatic Debt by: Irene Warren, September 04, 2008 The film I.O.U.S.A. premiered in home-town theatres across America in August, but is now available online for viewing, makes no bones about it: America is in financial crisis. Director Patrick Creadon and Former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker and others make it perfectly clear: If we don’t do something soon, America could find itself shipwrecked and drowning in an ocean of debt. Creadon and Walker take you on a rollercoaster ride across the country, while explaining America’s fiscal policies and financial debt and how it could impact our personal pocketbooks right here,...

Those who love New Orleans say Hurricane Gustav is proof that the billions of dollars spent to protect the city and bring it back to life after the devastating 2005 storm season was worth it. But what if Gustav had been stronger, a category 4 instead of a 2, and hit the city directly instead of 70 miles to the west? Would it be worth the cost to rebuild New Orleans again if the storm caused widespread destruction as Katrina did? "That's a question that was there before and after (Hurricane) Katrina, and I think is going to come to...

Our US currency used to be coins of silver and gold. We then began issuing gold and silver certificates, that were less risky (and heavy) than carrying silver and gold around, but they could be redeemed for their value in gold and silver. These certificates or notes, had value that was based in a tangible, physical asset. Today being off the gold standard for over 30+ years, we have federal reserve notes that do not have value based in anything phyically tangible. They have 'value' because it is now based in the 'confidence' people have in the US dollar. Whatever...

All schools tell kids to study hard so they can make money. Why not admit it? These days, if a child asks why he should care about doing well in school, what kind of answer does he get? He gets the same answer from every source: from parents, teachers, and school administrators; from movies and TV shows; from public service announcements, social service programs, and do-gooder philanthropies; from celebrities, athletes, and actors; from supporters and opponents of education reform; from everybody....

The federal government says it has no choice but to reluctantly keep distributing to millions of waterfowl hunters a toll-free phone-sex-service number that features a breathy woman promising callers that they can "talk only to the girls who turn you on" for $1.99 per minute. About 3.5 million federal "duck stamps," featuring artwork by a Plymouth artist, are affixed to a card that bears the misprinted number, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday. All waterfowl hunters age 16 and older must buy and carry the current Migratory Bird Conservation and Hunting Stamp, commonly known as the duck stamp....

In 2001 and 2003, President George W. Bush proposed and Congress passed a series of tax cuts to reinvigorate the economy and reduce the government’s burden on workers’ paychecks. Because of opposition to these measures from some in Congress, they were implemented as temporary tax cuts, all of which will expire by January 1, 2011. The uncertainty of their future has an effect on present-day spending by businesses and individuals, who know that they may have to pay higher taxes in the future. Today’s economic recovery provides some evidence that the Bush tax cuts worked as intended. If Congress is...

** EXCERPT ** WASHINGTON – At the National Governors Association conference where she first met John McCain, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had other business: making her case to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne against classifying the polar bear as a threatened species. Months later she sued Kempthorne, arguing that the Bush administration didn't use the best science in concluding that without further protection, the polar bear faces eventual extinction because of disappearing sea ice as the result of global warming. Palin, McCain's vice presidential running mate, has had frequent run-ins with environmentalists. In her 20 months as governor, Palin has questioned...

On tax policy, Alaska governor Sarah Palin has a rather uninspiring, albeit brief, record. The following is some information gleaned from State Tax Notes. Palin supported and signed into law a $1.5 billion tax increase on oil companies in the form of higher severance taxes. One rule of thumb is that higher taxes cause less investment. Sure enough, State Tax Notes reported (January 7): “After ACES was passed, ConocoPhillips, Alaska's most active oil exploration company and one of the top three producers, announced it was canceling plans to build a diesel fuel refinery at the Kuparuk oil field. ConocoPhillips blamed...

Obama is a great leader. He can fire people up and get them to do what he wants. He does smart speeches that promise everyone everything they need and make us feel good about our country and how much greater our government could be.But I don't think our next president being a great leader is a good thing. I'm worried about someone smarter than Bush taking over that tremendous power. Charisma and ambition increase my fear exponentially, and a great leader scares me to death. We need someone stupid enough to understand that the president of the United States can't...

A few weeks ago, I wrote a column arguing that readers will miss the mainstream media when we’re gone. Oh sure, bloggers have a lot of spicy opinions. But when it comes to investigating important stories, they don’t hold a candle to big, deep-pocketed, old-fashioned newspaper writers and broadcast media outlets. Imagine my embarrassment, then, when it turned out this week that the flagship newscast on the biggest, deep-pocketeddest, old-fashionedest Canadian media outlet of them all — the taxpayer-funded CBC — got suckered into reporting a story that the blogosphere chewed up, debunked, and spit out two days earlier. The...

Business leaders, trade unions, community activists and the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency say they are on the verge of an agreement that could help provide access to middle-income construction jobs for disadvantaged Angelenos. Under a policy approved this year by the redevelopment agency and the Los Angeles City Council and endorsed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, officials are ironing out the final details of a system under which low-income residents would be hired on some construction projects that use Community Redevelopment Agency funding. The Construction Careers and Project Stabilization Policy has won the backing of elected officials, religious...