Free Republic

A Senate panel on Tuesday approved legislation that would provide banks and credit unions with relief from some of the stricter regulatory requirements put in place after the 2008 financial crisis. The bill, which was approved by a 16-7 vote, raises the threshold at which bank holding companies are considered too big to fail, thus subjecting them to financial stress tests and a capital-planning review. The threshold would increase from $50 billion to $250 billion. The panel rejected an array of amendments that senators said could unravel a bipartisan agreement crafted over several months. The bill is much narrower than...

My wife and I have an account with one of the large mutual fund companies. We were just informed that the state is getting ready to seize the account because it is considered abandoned. We have had the fund for about 12 years with the dividends and capital gains automatically deposited in our bank account. After calling the fund we were told that even though there have been approximately 150 automatic transactions on the account over the last 12 years they did not count as activity and so the state is preparing to seize the account. We were told we...

Two years ago, I wrote a column that frightened a lot of people. Now, I’m going to scare you again — this time, maybe even more. That column, which appeared on Sept. 24, 2015, explained that it had become easier for states to confiscate people’s bank, money market and other financial accounts because they were “abandoned.” So-called escheatment laws have been on the books forever. But states have been changing the rules so that it has become simpler for them to consider an account dormant — and then take it over. It’s a great scam for states that are desperate...

[I begin] with the story of a series of Socialist scholars conferences that Barack Obama attended when he lived in New York City between the years 1983 and 1985. And when I finally reconstructed what had gone on at these Socialist conferences that Barack Obama attended, I truly was amazed because what I saw was a kind of map of Barack Obama’s entire subsequent political career. It was at this Socialist conferences in New York in the mid-’80s that Barack Obama encountered the groups, the strategies, and the mentors who would guide him throughout his entire political career. [T]hese Socialist...

EXCLUSIVE: Tech company which maintained Hillary's secret server was sued for 'illegally accessing' database and 'stealing White House military advisers' phone numbers' The Internet company used by Hillary Clinton to maintain her private server was sued for stealing dozens of phone lines including some which were used by the White House. Platte River Networks is said to have illegally accessed the master database for all US phone numbers. It also seized 390 lines in a move that created chaos across the US government. Among the phone numbers which the company took - which all suddenly stopped working - were lines...

European Union states are considering measures which would allow them to temporarily stop people withdrawing money from their accounts to prevent bank runs ... The move is aimed at helping rescue lenders that are deemed failing or likely to fail, but critics say it could hit confidence and might even hasten withdrawals at the first rumors of a bank being in trouble. The proposal, which has been in the works since the beginning of this year, comes less than two months after a run on deposits at Banco Popular contributed to the collapse of the Spanish lender. It also come...

Though belated, the recent ordinance empowering the Reserve Bank of India to ensure recoveries from wilful defaulters is a step in the right direction. However, a lack of legal authority was never a barrier in the government’s ongoing war against corruption, black money and bad debts. Be that as it may, it is imperative for the government to demonstrate tangible results that would carry conviction with the masses. If only it were to examine the anatomy and modus operandi of national highway projects, it would discover a large-scale plunder of public money waiting to be booked. The usual contractor-engineer-politician troika...

House Republicans voted Thursday to replace the 2010 Dodd-Frank law with their own sweeping financial regulatory measure, the Financial Choice Act.The bill passed 233-186, with no Democratic support. One Republican, Walter Jones of North Carolina, voted no.Authored by Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the conservative chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, the bill is perhaps second only to the healthcare legislation Republicans passed last month in its scope and significance. Like the healthcare bill, it would undo one of Obama's top legislative achievements, the new rules imposed on the financial sector in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis....

In the land of NIRP refugees and “Reverse Yankees,” who will get crushed? At the end of the week, something special happened, something totally absurd but part of the new normal: the average yield of euro-denominated junk bonds – the riskiest, non-investment-grade corporate bonds – dropped to the lowest level ever: 2.77%. April 26 had marked another propitious date in the annals of the ECB’s negative yield absurdity: the average euro-denominated junk bond yield had dropped below 3% for the first time ever. By comparison, what is considered the most liquid and safe debt, the 10-year US Treasury, carries a...

Guccifer 2.0, has released files pertinent to the Clinton Foundation. Banks that received TARP fund sent kickbacks to Democrat polls to bribe them to vote for the TARP bailouts.   When Obama demanded that congress approve more bailouts between 2009 and 2011, it seemed as if kickbacks were offered to Democratic politicians from the big banks, but through the Clinton Foundation. This included Hillary, who was to ensure that the bailout got approved. Clinton aided the big banks in bribing the Democrat politicians. “Democrats funneled tarp funds back to their PACs! That’s taxpayer bailout money that went right to...

As John F. Kerry tries to bounce out of Boston and into a decisive fall campaign lead, a skeleton from the past will slink out of jail - possibly looking to score headlines and undercut the new nominee. David Paul, a central figure in a 1980s savings and loan scandal, is set to be sprung from a halfway house in Miami Sunday - a decade after his conviction on 97 counts of banking fraud. TV news outlets are scrambling to line up the first interview, hopeful the long-silent Paul might spill some beans about his close fund-raising ties to Kerry...

Stocks drop after Trump says he's actively considering breaking up big banks Headline only at this time.

Her daughter, Karen, has scooped up nearly $650,000 in payments from Mama Waters’ slate mailer operation for her federal campaign committee since 2006, the Washington Free Beacon reported this week. And Mama Waters owes her well-heeled daughter an additional $108,000. Waters also mau-maued the House Veterans Committee into hiring two black staffers. And she walked away with a slap on the wrist from the toothless House Ethics Committee in 2012 after being charged with multiple ethics violations related to her meddling in minority-owned OneUnited Bank. Reminder for all the new fangirls and fanboys suffering from Maxi-mnesia: Her husband, Sidney, was...

North Korea is so isolated that rather than bring the Internet to its hackers, it brings them to it—in a swank hotel in China. The luxury hotel that has been called a command post for North Korean hackers would make for a unique holiday getaway and give you lots to talk about back home. “Surprisingly Great Hotel - Clean, Tasteful.... and North Korean!” says a trip advisor review for the Chilbosan Hotel in Shenyang, China. For just $53, you get “a deluxe twin room,” including a North Korean breakfast considerably more substantial than those enjoyed by the vast majority of...

A huge range of security exploits, said to be worth over $2m if sold on the black market, have been leaked online.The tools are said to have been created by the US National Security Agency (NSA), and accompanying documents appear to indicate a possible breach of the Swift global banking system.Such a hack could have enabled the US to covertly monitor financial transactions, researchers said.The files were released by Shadow Brokers, a hacking group that has previously leaked malware.If genuine, it represents perhaps the most significant exposure of NSA files since the Edward Snowden leaks in 2013.On Twitter, Mr Snowden...

U.S. security and law-enforcement officials say they have fresh evidence of recent efforts by Iran to evade sanctions and acquire metals from China used in high-tech weaponry, including long-range nuclear missiles. Iran's efforts are detailed in a series of recent emails and letters between Iranian companies and foreign suppliers seen by The Wall Street Journal. Business records show one Iranian company, ABAN Commercial & Industrial Ltd., has contracted through an intermediary for more than 30,000 kilograms (about 66,000 pounds) of tungsten copper -- which can be used in missile guidance systems -- from Advanced Technology & Materials Co. Ltd. of...

France's Marine Le Pen is the biggest risk to European stability, Credit Suisse said in a guide launched on Thursday to help investors navigate the upcoming "defining" months facing the continent. Analyzing possible outcomes in the Dutch, French and German elections as well as Britain's triggering of Article 50 to kick-start Brexit and Greece's debt negotiations, Credit Suisse strategists offered three scenarios for Europe's immediate future.     Scenario one, billed as "positive" by Switzerland's number two bank, sees pro-European, centrist candidates winning in France and Germany when the key continental powers vote in April and September, respectively.    ...

World leaders and economists are pushing harder than ever toward a cashless society. With anti-cash measures already being tested in Europe and the Third World, itÂ’s only a matter of time until the global elite push for the same in the U.S. Will globalistsÂ’ dream of a cashless society soon become reality? Plotting in Switzerland Last month, members of the World Economic Forum, more commonly known as the Davos Elite, met for their annual gathering in Switzerland, and the pursuit of a global cashless society was a major topic on their agenda. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, a key member...

This year’s U.S. election completely shocked the world. It seemed clear that Hillary Clinton was backed by the big banks and other elite groups to run the American empire, and Wikileaks further helped to illustrate how corporate and financial interests control the presidency. This is exactly why Trump’s election came as such a surprise, and why mainstream media continues to demonize him. Of course, his many and obvious flaws make it easy for them to do so, but in an age where mainstream media completely controls the thoughts and perceptions of the masses, it is important to remember that...

A historic partnership has been born between OneUnited Bank, the largest Black owned bank in the country, and #BlackLivesMatter to organize the $1.2 trillion in spending power of Black America and launch the “Amir” card during Black History Month. Both OneUnited Bank and #BlackLivesMatter are strong advocates for the empowerment of Black people, and have taken special care to communicate this focus through their messaging and their work. #BlackLivesMatter was sparked by the acquittal of the killer of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin and founded in 2013 as a rallying cry to decree that while every human life matters, it is...