Free Republic

Today I want to consider the outlook for bitcoin. 2014 was its worst year on record. It fell by 67%, from $800 to $320 a coin. In doing so, it beat the likes of the Russian rouble and the Ukrainian hryvnia, to the dubious honour of being the world’s worst-performing currency. You know what the world’s best-performing currency was by the way? Nope, not the US dollar, but the Somali shilling. Yup. It surprised me too. Anyway, back to bitcoin… The bursting of the bitcoin bubble So far, 2015 has not been any better than 2014 for bitcoin. At one...

Big layoffs are coming to eBay. The company is planning to slash 2,400 workers across the eBay and PayPal parts of the business. The cuts will impact 7% of the workforce. The layoffs will be made before the end of March. EBay said it was "simplifying organizational structures" in its quarterly earnings released Wednesday. A company spokesperson told CNNMoney that some of the cuts were to unfilled positions, but would not say how many.

Falling gasoline prices may be great for consumers, but they’re tough on energy firms and their workers. The latest layoffs announcement comes from the oilfield services firm Baker Hughes, which plans to cut 7,000 employees — 11 percent of its workforce. Global oil prices have plunged 60 percent since last June, making some drilling operations unprofitable. “While market demand ended up being more resilient in the fourth quarter than many had predicted, the recent declines seen in rig counts will clearly affect results in 2015,” said company CEO Martin Craighead. Speaking to analysts about the layoffs, he said, “This is...

American Express will slash 4,000 jobs, even as the company reported that fourth quarter earnings were dented by foreign currency movements. Bloomberg reported that the job cuts are part of a restructuring, and a spokesperson said they will cut across the company. In its earnings release, the company said it is taking a pretax restructuring charge of $313 million to "improve operating efficiencies." After the bell Wednesday, American Express reported that fourth quarter profits rose 11% to $1.45 billion, or $1.39 a share, versus an expected $1.38 per share. Revenues rose to $9.1 billion from $8.5 billion, a 7% increase,...

Microsoft gathered a bunch of reporters together in its Redmond, Washington, headquarters Wednesday to show off the next version of Windows, Windows 10, which is expected to come out later this year. You can check out our live blog of the event at the bottom of this page, but here were the highlights: * Holograms. The coolest thing was a set of new products that will let people see holographic images. The hardware is called Microsoft HoloLens and looks a lot like Google Glass. There are also software tools within Windows 10 that will let programmers create apps that use...

hy pay an expensive bulldozer driver for foundation work when a drone from the sky paired with an unmanned bulldozer on the ground can compute 3-D plans and do the job better and faster? Construction workers move over. You are next to be unneeded, unwanted, and unloved. The Wall Street Journal reports Drones’ Next Job: Construction Work. Construction-equipment maker Komatsu Ltd. has plans to solve a potential shortage of construction workers in Japan: Let drones and driverless bulldozers do part of the work. Tokyo-based Komatsu said Tuesday it plans to use unmanned aircraft, bulldozers and excavators to automate much of...

Las Vegas, Nevada - One thing you you’re sure to find at every SHOT Show is something new. A new trigger, new barrel, or new gun to set the shooting world on fire. Or, in the case of the National Rifle Association, a new bike. Designed by the world class production crew over at Orange County Choppers, the NRA debuted an OCC-styled Pro Street bike with bullet-like appearance adorned in a matte gunmetal and black paint job on SHOT Show 2015’s opening day . Donated by Century Arms, the bike is adorned with the NRA seal, Century Arms emblem, and...

Chicago tops the 2014 Bed Bug Cities List for the third year in a row. The list, released by pest control company Orkin, ranks the cities by the number of bed bug treatments Orkin performed from January to December 2014. Bed bugs were in the news throughout 2014 in the Windy City, with reports of the blood-sucking insects on public transit and inside several downtown office buildings, as well as in police headquarters, a fire station, school, library and movie theater. Seven cities made double-digit jumps on Orkin's Bed Bug Cities List compared to 2013, including Omaha, Neb. (+16), Lexington,...

The Apple Watch may be the most anticipated tech product to launch this year, but the company's first stab at the watch market dates back 20 years. Most fans probably don't remember the original Apple Watch. It wasn't a real product for consumers; Apple created a limited number as a promotional freebie for Macintosh users who upgraded to Mac OS 7.5 software. The upcoming high-tech Apple Watch will connect with the iPhone via Bluetooth; the first "Apple Watch" came with scratch resistant glass, a blue bezel, a colorful Apple logo and "Mac OS" emblazoned on the wristband. YouTube user Jonathan...

Does anyone recall an accord that states that every nation importing oil from opec, the bulk of which comes from the middle east, must allow a certain number of muslim immigrants into their nation. I first read of this maybe 8 to 10 years ago. I do not know if it was true. That is why I am seeking it now, to verify.

And we all know that the debt is one of the three most important factors of The State Of The Union. Obama spoke of all of these wonderful things he wants to do over the next few years, mainly free stuff! Yet he never mentioned the overwhelming debt that will eventually collapse the system by 2016. He never brought up the success of his health-care plan. Never mentioned that thanks to him, every household has access to affordable health-care and every household is Saving $2500.00 a year !!

An Illinois pro-life group is calling for lawmakers to correct a wrong related to abortion clinics. Though state law requires the health department to inspect abortion mills anytime it deems necessary, Emily Zender of Illinois Right to Life tells OneNewsNow it is "appalling how the Illinois Department of Public Health can look the other way while Illinois' abortion clinics are providing substandard medical care." "We have found that on average, 40 percent of the clinics in Illinois have gone between 14 and 17 years without a health inspection," she reports. "And abortion clinics in Illinois are only being inspected an...

Oh my goodness. Worst. Speech. Ever. Terrible. Obama didn't reach out, and didn't define anything about democrats or Washington, to inspire anyone. GOP you have your opportunity.

Watch this entrepreneur explain how he was targeted and raided by the federal government for breaking a law, despite language in the law that explicitly said he was acting legally. Bradford Councilman had a business, Interloc, Inc., that utilized an internet database for customers to upload their inventory of rare and out-of-print books while other customers could search the database for books they could not find elsewhere. One day, armed federal agents burst into Councilman’s office and forced him to wait while they searched the premises. The government charged him with creating a separate copy of an email every time...

Hoping to dominate the narrative on a holiday weekend and on the eve of the annual “State of the Union” speech, the Obama White House late Saturday night leaked some of the new tax ideas in their upcoming budget. One tax hike in particular was very odd, since it’s aimed almost exclusively at middle class families with kids–the exact demographic the goodies in the tax plan is targeting. The levy in question would increase taxes on college savings accounts known as “529 plans” (after their section in the Internal Revenue Code). By definition, these accounts are really only used by...

...and oil field workers are complaining at dropping gas prices...why did gas per gallon go up thirteen cents a gallon here in OK?

Obama now has two more years in which to try to destroy the U.S. economy; particularly its manufacturing and energy sectors. The extent to which he is putting in place the means to do that still remains largely unreported or under-reported in terms of the threat it represents. The vehicle for the nation’s destruction is the greatest hoax of the modern era, the claim that global warming must be avoided by reducing “greenhouse gas” emissions.

In spite of the vitriol spewed toward the movie “American Sniper,” Americans flocked to see the Clint Eastwood biopic of the late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in record numbers. The previous record for a movie opening on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend was set last year by “Ride Along,” which opened with $41 million. “American Sniper” is estimated to have more than doubled that, bringing in an astounding $90.2 million.

Here’s something I didn’t know about the Swiss National Bank: “Many economists believe that balance sheet losses are irrelevant for a central bank, so they should play no role in policy. But the SNB is 45 per cent owned by private shareholders, many of whom are individuals, who receive dividends from the SNB. The rest is owned by the cantons, which have been complaining recently about insufficient cash transfers from the SNB.This ownership structure contrasts sharply with most other central banks, which are in effect government departments, wholly owned by the treasury and therefore the taxpayer. The Swiss set-up makes...

 SEE: Cruz: Abolish the IRS January 13th , 2015 ”Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said Monday that Republicans should take advantage of their control of Congress to abolish the Internal Revenue Service. “We need to pass fundamental tax reform making our tax code simpler, flatter, fairer,” he said Monday at Heritage Action’s 2015 conservative policy summit. ”And I’ll tell you, the single most important tax reform, we should abolish the IRS.” What is discouraging is, the above article goes on to say that Senator Ted Cruz ”… acknowledged it’s not really possible to abolish the IRS or adopt a flat tax...