http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/business-news/ en-us Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:30:21 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386907/posts Earlier this week, CFA and ATR sent a letter in support of the "Protect Taxpayers from ACORN Act" to Sen. Johanns, and are urging all Members of the Senate to co-sponsor and otherwise support the legislation, which would keep taxpayers' money out of the corrupt pockets of ACORN and other organizations engaging in voter fraud. From our letter: ACORN, which has a documented history of engaging in voter fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion, misuse of federal funds and other illegal activities, has been the beneficiary of the American taxpayer for far too long. According to a report by the Republican Staff... Americans for Tax Reform http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386907/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:30:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386903/posts The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration wants the federal government to oversee subway and light-rail systems. In the wake of last summer's deadly Metro crash in Washington, D.C., the Obama administration reportedly plans to propose that subway and light-rail systems across the country fall under federal oversight. www.foxnews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386903/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:18:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386899/posts A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a former high-ranking union official and two other men to probation and temporarily barred them from holding labor positions for their roles in a scheme to trade money and gifts for construction contracts. U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith gave Nicholas Manocchio, a former director of the Laborers’ New England Region Organizing Fund, three years’ probation for accepting cash, liquor, rental cars and gift certificates from an undercover FBI agent posing as a contractor seeking business in Rhode Island. Before being sentenced, Manocchio told Smith that he was “ashamed and embarrassed and repentant.”... The Providence Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386899/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:15:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386894/posts Beggars can't be choosers -- unless they're in New York City. Homeless and unemployed, Kenneth Wecker, 62, moved back from Florida to his native city to take advantage of New York's social services -- but he refuses to live in any of the apartments the city has offered him. New York Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386894/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:09:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386869/posts SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders on Sunday supported delaying a legally binding climate pact until 2010 or even later, under a compromise deal for next month's Copenhagen summit."Given the time factor and the situation of individual countries we must, in the coming weeks, focus on what is possible and not let ourselves be distracted by what is not possible," Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told the leaders."The Copenhagen Agreement should finally mandate continued legal negotiations and set a deadline for their conclusion," said the Copenhagen talks host, who flew into Singapore to lay... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386869/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:25:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386850/posts No one ever accused Florida attorney Scott Rothstein of being subtle -- or of skimping. Some investors say they were impressed by the ties Scott Rothstein, left, had with Florida luminaries, including Gov. Charlie Crist, right. .At an Eagles concert this year, Don Henley, the band's drummer, singled out Mr. Rothstein and his wife, Kimberly. "I don't normally do this, but this goes out to Scott and Princess Kimmy on their one-year wedding anniversary," Mr. Henley told the audience as the band ripped into "Life in the Fast Lane," its paean to the perils of excess. Mr. Rothstein paid $100,000... WSJ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386850/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:41:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386779/posts Bad is good. Quagmire is progress. And jobs destroyed are jobs “created or saved,” says the Obama administration. A political columnist points out that “one ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language.” The writer was George Orwell, adding that “political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” Wind power turns out to be central to Obamathink in more ways than one. The... NY Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386779/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:14:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386777/posts Jeffrey Anderson of the NRO health care blog Critical Condition points out an error in the Congressional Budget Office's estimates of how many Americans are uninsured: "By all accounts, the Congressional Budget Office is using the Census Bureau's tallies for the number of uninsured, but the CBO doesn't appear to have read the full Census report. In the very same document in which the now-famous number of 46 million uninsured appears, the Census admits that this number includes roughly 9 million people on Medicaid who were falsely recorded as uninsured. The CBO is not adjusting for this Medicaid undercount. Therefore,... The American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386777/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:02:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386744/posts Jon Corzine is definitely open to running Bank of America. There haven't been any formal talks between the outgoing New Jersey Governor and the board of Bank of America, according to news reports. Part of the reason for this might be that the chairman of the board, Walter Massey, is on vacation. The bank is expected to select someone before Thanksgiving Business Insider http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386744/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:09:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386738/posts Source the Bureau of Labor Statitsics americanobserver.net http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386738/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:54:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386672/posts NOVEMBER 14, 2009 Japan Faces Fear of New Downturn By YUKA HAYASHI TOKYO -- Japan's new government faces a dilemma in trying to prevent a double-dip recession, with recent stimulus efforts due to wane, debt soaring and the economy likely to begin losing steam by early next year. Talk of new stimulus measures to respark the growth is pushing up long-term interest rates, threatening to limit any impact of fresh spending. That, in turn, is forcing officials to look for cuts to offset any new expenditures -- moves that could undermine a recovery in demand, economists warn. Two months after... Wall St. Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386672/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:50:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2384316/posts Warming: After stifling a report questioning the science behind climate change, the EPA is censoring two of its lawyers for saying the proposed solutions are also problematical. The debate isn't over. It's being suppressed. In the proud tradition of EPA whistle-blower Alan Carlin, whose leaked study blew the lid off the EPA's hyped and flawed science behind climate change, two EPA lawyers, Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel, have produced a Web video titled "A Huge Mistake." In it they say cap-and-trade in general and the Waxman-Markey bill in particular are the wrong answers anyway. Williams and Zabel do not deny... Investors.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2384316/posts#comment Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:13:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386638/posts Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Americans received some better than expected news on the unemployment front this week. However, key economic reports provided evidence that burgeoning deficits are only getting bigger for the U.S. economy.Economic data didn't ramp up until later in the week, kicked off by an initial jobless claims number of 502,000 for the week ended November 7. The result was better than expected as estimates called for a much smaller decline to 510,000. Prior week claims were 514,000. Continuing claims also fell more than expected, totaling 5.63 million. Economists were expecting 5.7 million following the 5.77 million reported... All Headline News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386638/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:55:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386620/posts Our company, J.P. Morgan Chase, employs more than 220,000 people, serves well over 100 million customers, lends hundreds of millions of dollars each day and has operations in nearly 100 countries. And if some unforeseen circumstance should put this firm at risk of collapse, I believe we should be allowed to fail. As Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner recently put it, "No financial system can operate efficiently if financial institutions and investors assume that government will protect them from the consequences of failure." The term "too big to fail" must be excised from our vocabulary. But ending the era of "too... The Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386620/posts#comment Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:49:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386594/posts China Quashes Talk Of Letting Yuan Strengthen The Chinese government has sought to distance itself from speculation surrounding a central bank statement earlier this week that was interpreted as a shift in currency policy towards a stronger yuan. By Garry White Published: 9:14PM GMT 14 Nov 2009 The Chinese yuan: friends take a photo in front of a sculpture of a one-hundred yuan banknote in Beijing According to an analysis from Morgan Stanley, the authorities are now seeking to recalibrate the message. In its third-quarter monetary policy report on Thursday, the People's Bank of China left out a standard phrase... The Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386594/posts#comment Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:49:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386597/posts SINGAPORE (AFP) – US President Barack Obama came under fire Saturday from Asia-Pacific leaders for backsliding on free trade at a regional summit devoted to driving the world economy out of crisis. "President Obama is facing severe political constraints that run counter to free trade," Mexican President Felipe Calderon said, complaining about US foot-dragging on full implementation of the NAFTA pact for North America. "The cruel paradox is that within a global economy, what really kills companies is inefficiency and lack of competition. Therefore protectionism is killing North American companies," he said in a speech in Singapore. "So I think... AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386597/posts#comment Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:55:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386586/posts When, in late September, rumors surfaced that Comcast was trying to buy NBC Universal from General Electric, Wall Street reacted with dismay. Grandiose attempts to combine media production and distribution — programming and plumbing — are nothing new in the entertainment business, but they almost always end in disappointment. Witness AOL Time Warner. So what in the world could be prompting the Comcast chief executive, Brian Roberts, to start down this accursed path? I fear that I’m to blame. A few months ago, while stalking the aisles of my local Best Buy, I gave in to techno-temptation. I bought a... New York Times Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386586/posts#comment Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:08:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386539/posts SACRAMENTO — With high unemployment continuing to eat at California's tax revenues, and risky budget gimmicks failing to materialize, the state's deficit next year could hit a staggering $25 billion. If worst-case scenarios hold true, several insiders who track the state's financial picture tell the Mercury News, the deficit through June 2011 would be billions higher than previous estimates. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's best-case estimate earlier this week was half that sum, at $12.4 billion. Assembly Republican leader Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo floated a number as high as $20 billion during water negotiations. "It's not outrageous," one budget expert... Mercury News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386539/posts#comment Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:30:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386535/posts Finally, a chance to vote on President Obama's performance on this Economy-AT&T/Yahoo Poll... This totally unbiased poll asks but one question.. The question is stated very simply... and, to the point. No tricks. No hidden messages. No nothing JUST A SINGLE, SIMPLE QUESTION.. I'm glad that I've been asked to give my opinion to such a poll. I don't know why this hasn't been done before... Yahoo News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386535/posts#comment Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:24:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386465/posts The building at 650 Fifth Avenue was built in the 1970s by the Shah of Iran, who was overthrown in 1979. The US Attorney's office in Manhattan said yesterday that it is seeking control of a 60-percent stake in in the building, now held by the Alavi Foundation, a New York-based charitable group. "The Alavi Foundation has effectively been a front for the government of Iran," said Preet Bharara, the US Attorney in Manhattan. "For two decades, the Alavi Foundation's affairs have been directed by various Iranian officials, including Iranian ambassadors to the United Nations, in violation of a series... Economic Policy Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386465/posts#comment Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:28:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386459/posts I am really not sure who Sandra Rose is. It appears she has some kind of Hollywood celebrity blog, but she sure understands prison, Nancy Pelosi and, it appears, the constitution. She writes: Remember kiddies, if ObamaCare passes and you don’t buy health insurance you’re going to prison. I keep forgetting that you think health care will be free! House speaker Nancy Pelosi (who I think has a touch of Alzheimer’s) confirmed this legislation again today during a press conference. Shomari Stone, KOMO reporter: “Do you think it’s fair to send people to jail for not buying health insurance?” Pelosi:... Economic Policy Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386459/posts#comment Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:21:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386406/posts Breitbart has uncovered then Senator Obama claiming while discussing that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that 9-11 mastermind KSM will get a MILITARY trial, not a CIVIL trial and that such was good http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386406/posts#comment Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:07:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386449/posts It took just five weeks after the WorldCom accounting scandal erupted in 2002 for Congress to pass, and President George W. Bush to sign, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. That... --snip-- The House Financial Services Committee this week approved an amendment to the Investor Protection Act of 2009 — a name George Orwell would appreciate — to allow most companies to never comply with the law, and mandating a study to see whether it would be a good idea to exempt additional ones as well. Some veterans of past reform efforts were left sputtering with rage. “That the Democratic Party is the... NY Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386449/posts#comment Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:08:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386445/posts The Milken Institute is based in Southern California, but its annual survey of business conditions in the nation's cities has almost nothing good to say about California. It heaps praise on Texas - the Austin area was ranked No. 1 on Milken's list of "best-performing cities," released today, while three other Texas cities were listed in the top five, with only No. 3 Salt Lake City cracking that elite list. Cities in recession-wracked California, meanwhile, saw their rankings decline - especially those hit hard by the collapse of the housing market. "Metropolitan areas with a high exposure to durable manufacturing... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386445/posts#comment Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:04:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386437/posts The Federal Housing Administration's capital reserves have fallen to razor-thin levels, increasing the likelihood the agency will eventually require a taxpayer bailout, and adding fuel to the debate about how much support the U.S. should provide to the mortgage market. The FHA has said for months that its reserves for unexpected loan losses would fall short of the required 2% level by this fall. But an audit of the FHA released Thursday showed that reserves have been depleted much faster than the agency and analysts had expected. The FHA's capital-reserve fund fell to $3.6 billion as of Sept. 30, down... The Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386437/posts#comment Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:55:05 GMT