Free Republic

Everyone knows that the US government is bankrupt and has been for many years. Whenever the chattering classes talk about cuts, it’s only about cuts over the course of 10 years. Which is a dodge, a fraud. Partly because most of the supposed cuts will be scheduled for the end of the period, but also because new programs, new emergencies and hidden contingencies are guaranteed to creep in, offsetting any announced cuts. The anticipated $2 trillion deficit for 2024 isn’t a temporary worst case; it’s the rosiest possible scenario. People thought I was joking when, asked how bad the Greater...

U.S. corporate bankruptcies have reached their highest level since 2010. Many American companies have been stumbling in the wake of the pandemic due to increasing interest rates, supply-chain issues, and rising costs. Several of the firms have filed for bankruptcy after access to low interest loans and access to easy money began to wane. “For 2009, there were 118 bankruptcies through April. In COVID-impacted 2020, there were 71 bankruptcies. In 2023, there have been 70. This is the third worst start to the year since 2000,” said Mike Shedlock, an economist. The Federal Reserve is predicting a mild recession by...

Behind closed doors, the report is already making the rounds in expert circles: if you follow the rules of sound commercial accounting, the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) has lost its equity and is, as common language would have it, bankrupt. What happened? During spring 2020 (i.e., in a period of extremely low interest rates), the Fed purchased large amounts of government bonds and mortgage bonds to support the economy and financial markets during the covid crisis. The Fed paid for the purchases by issuing vast amounts of new central bank money. This has created an enormous “money surplus” in...

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday after the home goods retailer failed to secure funds to stay afloat. The Union, New Jersey-based home goods retailer filed for bankruptcy in a District of New Jersey court, listing both its estimated assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion and $10 billion, according to a court filing. Bed Bath & Beyond said that it has received a commitment of approximately $240 million in debtor-in-possession financing from Sixth Street Specialty Lending Inc, according to a separate statement. The company added that its 360 Bed Bath...

The top general in the U.S. military warned Thursday that not supporting Ukraine now would lead to a massive increase in future defense budgets -- and global conflict that has been avoided since World War II ended."If that rules-based order, which is in its 80th year, if that goes out the window, then be very careful," Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley testified to Congress on Thursday. "We'll be doubling our defense budgets at that point because that will introduce not an era of great power competition. That'll begin an era of great power conflict. And that'll be...

Ford reported that it’s going to lose $3 billion on electric cars in 2023. Unlike most automakers, Ford reports its electric vehicle numbers separately, but experts estimate that most car companies are losing similar amounts on the dead end business. Ford’s investment in Rivian’s electric cars can’t be helping. Last year the startup electric pickup truck maker was spending $220,000 to make the electric vehicles that it sells for $81,000. That’s bad news for George Soros and for CalPERS: California’s massive public employees retirement fund and a ticking time bomb which owns hundreds of thousands of shares in Rivian. GM...

The conscripts and contract soldiers in Russia are not paid promised salaries, allowances and social benefits. According to the calculations of the news outlet, since the beginning of March 2023, the salaries of the servicemen have been delayed or not paid at all in 52 regions of Russia and in occupied Crimea. ...According to Dmytro Loboyko, the Head of the Regional Studies Centre, people from the Russian hinterland associated "the hope of qualitatively changing their lives, but they had to face reality" with payment for participation in hostilities.

A familiar face from a past economic disaster could be on the verge of profiting off the current Silicon Valley Bank calamity. SVB, taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation at the request of California regulators, is arguably the second-biggest bank failure of its kind in America — but that clearly doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to capitalize off of its collapse. According to a report from Bloomberg, the managers of the investment banking arm of Silicon Valley Bank, SVB Securities, are seeking a “management buyout of the business.” They are reportedly looking to expedite a deal because regulators...

Underwear giant Victoria's Secret has been shaken by controversy because of its politically correct campaigns with obese feminists. Now the Swedish business has gone bankrupt, reports Ecommerce. The company Amarla Retail AB, which runs the Swedish company, has been hit with significant loss figures lately according to Ehandel. The stores in the Mall of Scandinavia, the Galleria in Stockholm and Femman in Gothenburg will be open for a while. Bankruptcy manager Lars Lundberg says the plan is to "try to keep the stores open and maintain sales as before, but now under the hat of the bankruptcy estate".

The Bundestag calls on the country to negotiate with Russia 'with an open mind', as anti-Russian sanctions begin to take their toll on the deteriorating economy and energy scarcity. In a tweet on Thursday, German left-wing politician and chairman of the Bundestag committee on energy, Klaus Ernst, referenced statements by Chancellor Olaf Scholz that the sanctions should not hit Europe harder than Russia itself: “We have now imposed seven packages of sanctions and Gazprom is making record profits. At the same time, we are threatened with a wave of bankruptcies. Therefore: negotiate with Russia with an open mind". ...

Here we go, 12 years of free schooling is not enough.

Celsius Network, once a titan of the crypto lending world, is in bankruptcy proceedings and facing down claims that it was running a Ponzi scheme by paying early depositors with the money it got from new users. Some of the 1.7 million customers ensnared by the alleged fraud are now directly pleading with the Southern District of New York to help them get their money back. Christian Ostheimer, a 37 year-old living in Connecticut, wrote in a letter included in court exhibits that he trusted Celsius with his retirement savings and has lost more than $30,000, which has brought him...

Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt because it offered bondholders payments in rubles, not dollars, credit ratings agency S&P has said. Russia attempted to pay in rubles for two dollar-denominated bonds that matured on April 4, S&P said in a note on Friday. The agency said this amounted to a “selective default” because investors are unlikely to be able to convert the rubles into “dollars equivalent to the originally due amounts.”

He’s between a rock and a hard drive. The Delaware computer repair shop owner who alerted the FBI to Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop before ultimately taking it to Rudy Giuliani says he’s faced harassment from Big Tech, the IRS and other government agencies ever since, and now faces bankruptcy.

Under the innocuous title of "infrastructure," a revamping of our society into a socialist state is hurtling through the Senate. A vote is expected as early as Wednesday on the first of two infrastructure bills that constitute a federal takeover of everything from child care to state transportation systems. While our highways could use some repair, these Democrat-written bills are about nearly everything other than highway funding. The $3.5 trillion Democratic version includes federally controlled universal preschool, taxpayer-subsidized child care, low-income housing, free community college and more leftist fake energy projects like clanky windmills. Child care, free indoctrination at community...

President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Department of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, divvied out millions in taxpayer funds during her two terms as Michigan governor to alternative energy companies that eventually went bankrupt. In one instance, Granholm’s administration provided a $9.1 million refundable tax credit to a renewable energy company registered to the address of a single-wide trailer and run by a convicted embezzler named Richard Short. Short was found to be in violation of his parole and sent back to prison after appearing on stage with Granholm in 2010 to accept assistance from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority, according...

I don’t know about anyone else in Congress but Rep. Jim Jordan is concerned about autocratic lockdowns in this country. Business closed by government mandate until further notice, or until they go bankruptWell honestly, I think they were pretty clear on the subject.“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Founding Father Benjamin Franklin But never mind the founders, what would our great thinkers of today, like renowned NYT economist Thomas Friedman, say? I can’t say for sure but I can guess, given his 2009 wistful yearning for America...

We knew it was a bad time for commercial real estate. We didn't imagine it was this bad. Among CEOs, 76% told Fortune their company will need less office space in the future. And 28% say they'll need a lot less office space. That's the finding from a Fortune survey of 171 CEOs in collaboration with Deloitte between September 23 to 30.*

Remington filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in July. That was after a failed attempt to sell the company to the Navajo Nation and despite the biggest gun-buying boom in the history of the world. Since then, the company has been trying to sell off its various brands and operating units. Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that . . . Firearms maker Remington Outdoor Co. has agreed to sell its ammunition business out of bankruptcy to South Carolina-based investment firm JJE Capital Holdings LLC for $65 million plus the assumption of liabilities, subject to better...

Pier 1 Imports is calling it quits. The bankrupt home-goods retailer has asked a court for permission to liquidate its remaining 540 stores once they reopen after coronavirus-driven lockdowns, ending a 58-year legacy of selling glassware, wicker furniture and other home decor. Pier 1 said it is in talks with several prospective buyers to sell its remaining assets, including its intellectual property and e-commerce business, during a court-supervised auction on July 15. The company has tapped Gordon Brothers to begin liquidating its locations this weekend across the US, according to court documents. “It is now clear that Pier 1’s future...