Free Republic

What do you get when you mix Democratic fat-cat donations, Big Labor favors, pharmaceutical lobbying and Beltway business as usual? Answer: another toxic half-billion-dollar Barack Obama-approved crony deal. Move over, Solyndra. Here comes Siga-Gate. This latest Chicago-style payoff on your dime involves a dubious smallpox drug backed by a liberal billionaire investor, along with a former union boss who was one of the White House's most frequent visitors. They're the "1 percent" with 100 percent immunity from the selectively outraged Occupier mobs that purport to oppose partisan government bailouts and handouts to privileged corporations. Ronald Perelman is the New York...

Steve Schwarzman, billionaire head of buyout giant The Blackstone Group, shocki , shockingly likened President Obama's threat to impose higher taxes on private equity firms to Adolf Hitler's invasion of Poland. "It's a war," declared Schwarzman, speaking at a private board meeting of a nonprofit organization. "It's like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939." Schwarzman's over-the-top comments reportedly stunned those in attendance. Yesterday, Schwarzman said he was sorry about his choice of words, but he wasn't backing away from the issue. "I apologize for what was an inappropriate analogy," he said. "However, the fundamental issue of the administration's need to...

Private equity firm Blackstone Group [BX 11.60 -0.03 (-0.26%) ] does not expect a mass exodus of investors from Australia's mining sector if a proposed 40 percent tax on the sector is introduced. Speaking to reporters, Blackstone Advisory Partners Vice Chairman Byron Wien also forecast gold [XAU 175.57 -3.18 (-1.78%) ] would rise to around $1,500 an ounce from around $1,210 currently as more market players seek safe-haven type investments.

The NYPost is reporting that Blackstone's president, Tony James, is throwing a party at his house for Nancy Pelosi. Their sources tell the Post that the party is meant to encourage Pelosi to vote against the proposed tax rate increase on carried interest, the profits people make on money they have invested. Raising taxes on carried interest is a hot topic because carried interests isn't really income, but some people want to tax it as if it were. Currently carried interest is taxed at 15%. The proposed tax rate for carried interest is the same as the income tax rate,...

China's giant sovereign wealth fund revealed it has accumulated stakes totalling $US9.6 billion ($A11.1 billion) in major US companies including Coca-Cola, Apple and Goodyear following a buying spree last year. Most of the stakes are small, reflecting China Investment Corp's strategy of avoiding politically sensitive acquisitions. But they highlight its growing presence in global markets as it invests a portion of Beijing's $US2.4 trillion ($A2.78 trillion) in foreign reserves. The holdings were disclosed Friday in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that listed shares traded in the United States. CIC, one of the world's biggest investment funds,...

It is hard to believe, but a majority of Americans (including Christians and conservatives) seem oblivious to the fact that there is a very real, very legitimate New World Order (NWO) unfolding. In the face of overwhelming evidence, most Americans not only seem totally unaware of this reality, they seem unwilling to even remotely entertain the notion. On one hand, it is understandable that so many Americans would be ignorant of the emerging New World Order. After all, the mainstream media refuses to report, or even acknowledge, the NWO. Even "conservative" commentators and talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh,...