Free Republic

Banks are growing increasingly confident in the capabilities of online banking, according to Steven Reider, the founder and president of Bancography, an Alabama-based consulting firm that advises banks on branch planning and strategies. That confidence can lead to significant savings since the average freestanding bank branch costs around $2.6 million a year. In just two months, Bank of America's 41 closures might have saved it almost $100 million. .....And now, credit unions are playing a more significant role than ever before - offering very similar services to traditional banks and eating up a share of the market. Unlike banks, their...

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was hilariously heckled by a New Yorker in her district, who asked if she would condemn Hamas and quizzed her on her knowledge of the three branches of government, referencing a past gaffe. The heckler also called her “a loser” and sarcastically praised her performance. “Oh, AOC! Oh, hey… you’re gonna condemn Hamas and the terrorist attacks here or what?” “Do you know the three branches of government yet?” they yelled. “It’s executive, judicial, and legislative branches,” he said sarcastically. “You’re doing a great job,” he added with sarcasm.

Major US banks are continuing to close branches across the US, leaving an increasing number of Americans without access to basic financial services. Bank of America axed 21 branches in the first week of October, according to a bulletin published by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Friday. Wells Fargo shuttered 15, while US Bank and Chase reported closing nine and three respectively. In total, some 54 locations had either closed or were scheduled to close between October 1 and October 7. Of the overall closures, three were in Louisville in Kentucky. Eight of the 21...

Germany’s largest lender is set to shut over a quarter of its branches across the country as the company goes through a major restructuring process. The closures are set to take place over the next few months, with 188 of Deutsche Bank’s 723 branches nationwide due to close their doors. […] After recording colossal losses of around €7 billion in 2015, the Frankfurt lender is desperately seeking ways to cut costs. […] The bank said it hopes to redirect funds to digital banking, in which it hopes to invest €750 million by 2020. …

JPMorgan Chase plans to close 300 bank branches over the next two years, about 5 percent of the total, as more customers move online and the bank seeks to cut costs. The closures are part of a $1.4 billion cost-cutting plan the bank announced for this year. The latest developments were revealed during the bank's annual investor day conference Tuesday. Online and mobile banking have become increasingly popular and that trend is expected to continue. The shift online has begun to make brick-and-mortar branches less necessary and, frankly, expensive. Tellers handled only 42 percent of all bank deposits last year,...

The greatest distinguishing factor between countries in which there is some freedom and those where authoritarian governments manage personal behavior is the Rule of Law. The idea that the very laws that the government is charged with enforcing could restrain the government itself is uniquely Western and was accepted with near unanimity at the time of the creation of the American Republic. Without that concept underlying the exercise of governmental power, there is little hope for freedom. The Rule of Law is a three-legged stool on which freedom sits. The first leg requires that all laws be enacted in advance...

As the remnants of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now regroup in order to bring chaos to the 2012 election cycle, ACORN’s renamed New York chapter is teeming with activity. The successor organization, called New York Communities for Change (NYCC), operates out of the same office on Nevins Street in Brooklyn that is home to ACORN and its partisan arm, the socialist Working Families Party of New York. Longtime ACORN leader Jon Kest is executive director of NYCC. Kest is the brother of Steve Kest, former executive director of ACORN, who has joined fellow radical community organizer Van...

I guess Senator Chuck Schumer didn’t take civics very serious while in school. On CNN over the weekend, Chuck Schumer boldly or stupidly declared his own version of the three branches of government to be the House, the Senate, and the President? Just imagine if Sarah Palin had said this; it would be on continuous rotation on the main stream media. CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO Now just in case you didn’t quite catch what Schumer said, here’s the transcript (via Hot Air): "So I would urge my Republican colleagues, no matter how strong they feel — you know,...

Muhammad Al-Sheikh put things in proper perspective when he wrote a column in the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah entitled ‘Thank you America’ in which he reminded the Saudis of a history with the United States that spans six decades. It was the late King Abdul Aziz (founder of modern Saudi Arabia) who chose to allow Americans to come to the Saudi Kingdom in search of oil. Aziz was also responsible for choosing capitalism over communism after WWII, allowing a country with nothing to grow enormously wealthy and powerful. Muhammad Al-Sheikh writes, “We must admit that our relations with America were the...

A government of the people, by the people, for the people ... of power The judicial branch of our government has come in for increasing criticism in recent years and it seemed to peak in the Terri Schiavo incident. Unfortunately, the concern of the people over the actions of the judicial have somewhat masked the concern of the people over the actions of the legislative branch, the Congress. Abe Lincoln's famous saying that Americans like to quote does not totally stand up as to how Congress actually performs. When it comes to Congress, or even to state legislatures, you have...

First, let us understand what the Terri Schiavo matter was not about: Despite ideological diatribes from David Corn at The Nation, this was not "an ugly big-government attempt to intervene in a family conflict" designed to appease "religious right crusaders." Despite ranting from Robert Scheer, also at The Nation, this was not "egregious political opportunism and shameless trafficking in human misery," and the citation of dubious polls won't validate Scheer's hope that the majority of Americans want to see a helpless woman starved to death by judicial order. And despite hysteria from the Los Angeles Times, this was not "a...

Countless conservatives fear the quickening onset of judicial activism. Challenges that never would have passed the laugh test in days of yore are passing the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to find sympathy from our Supreme Court. We all remember Michael Newdow, aptly named “America’s least favorite atheist” by Time Magazine. The man had the hubris to charge that our Pledge of Allegiance was an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion, due to the inclusion of the phrase, “under God.” While it is unremarkable that a wannabe Perry Mason would allege anything to argue before our nation’s highest court, the...