Free Republic

Occupy San Francisco demonstrators and student protesters have taken over the lobby at a Bank of America branch in the city’s financial district, chanting “We are the 99%!”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama signed off Friday on the first three — and possibly last — free trade agreements of his administration, deals with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama that could be worth billions to American exporters and create tens of thousands of jobs. The three deals were years in the making, and the difficulty of bringing them to fruition make it unlikely there will be another bilateral trade agreement during Obama's current term. Obama signed them with none of the ceremonial fanfare that normally accompanies such triumphs. Republicans, while supportive of the deals, continue to find fault...

Amazing and first-hand account.

This is a tribute with the comforting words of President Bush throughout.

The selling continues today on high volume. AOL bought HuffPost a few months back for $300M. I bet they regret it now.

AOL's earnings were terrible today. Many investors are blaming the Huffington Post which AOL bought for $300M a couple months ago.

President Obama has done nothing to earn his Nobel peace prize, but after yesterday's performance at the White House podium no one should begrudge him an Oscar. His performance was mean-spirited, petulant, more politically vicious than anything we ever heard from Richard Nixon -- and altogether a total crock of you-know-what. But it served the president's purpose, which is to avoid having to make the one choice he fears most: either cutting back government entitlements, or going down in history as the American president who defaulted on our country's debt and drove the world's most productive economy over a cliff.

President Obama, seeking a Republican agreement to raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by Aug 2, will not insist that any deal include an end of President Bush's controversial tax rates on the wealthy. Obama's tactics are coming into clearer focus: they involve seeking higher taxes not on a broad swath of high income earners but on a narrower band of the super rich, such as owners of private jets. This means that those who earn $250,000 have got a reprieve.

President Barack Obama spoke to LGBT supporters (and generous contributors) at a gala fundraising event in New York City Thursday night. Because of the event's location and timing -- smack in the middle of the New York state legislature's debate on gay marriage -- the president was under intense scrutiny; some same-sex marriage backers hoped (despite warnings to the contrary) that the president might finally offer them his unequivocal support. They were almost universally disappointed. "Instead of discussing his stand on the issue -- one on which his aides have said he’s 'evolving' -- the president described the battle underway...

Can it be that just 30 months after the Panic of 2008, some smart bankers have forgotten the main lesson of the financial system's epic fail? Not too long ago, virtually every large financial institution in the U.S. stood at the precipice of failure, in large measure because they didn't have anywhere near enough capital to back the debt they had accumulated. You would think that it would be obvious that regulators should err on the side of caution when drafting new capital requirements. You would think that bankers who survived September 2008 would appreciate the toxic combination of arrogance...

"Tapper asked Clinton, “Why not got to Congress?” “Well, we would welcome congressional support,” the Secretary said, “but I don't think that this kind of internationally authorized intervention where we are one of a number of countries participating to enforce a humanitarian mission is the kind of unilateral action that either I or President Obama was speaking of several years ago.”

Intro by George Will and excellent speech by Gov. Daniels. Mitch Daniels at CPAC

Looks to me like all that bluster on the floor the other day from Weiner was a big charade to cover for the fact that the Dems were afraid to put this bill up for a straight vote. Weiner then proceeded to blame the Repubs. Scarborough for once has it right.

When the latest unemployment figures are announced on Friday, all of Wall Street will be watching. But for Richard Berner of Morgan Stanley and Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs, the results will be more than just another marker in an avalanche of data. Instead, the numbers will be a clue as to which of the two economists is right about where the American economy is headed. Their sharp disagreement over that question adds yet another twist to the fierce rivalry between the firms, Wall Street’s version of the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite lawmakers' last-minute change to win his vote, Republican Sen. Scott Brown said Wednesday he needs more time to study a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations before committing his vote. His stance leaves Democrats short, for now, of the 60 votes they need to overcome procedural hurdles to the bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate will have to wait until after the weeklong July 4 congressional break to take up the bill. The House was expected to vote on a final, combined House-Senate bill, late Wednesday afternoon.

What if you pulled an all-nighter in college, only to have the professor tell you your work wasn’t good enough and demand a re-write of your paper? That could be the fate of the House and Senate on a massive financial regulation bill to restructure the banking and lending industries. Conferees from the House and Senate met for the past three weeks trying to reconcile differences in a financial regulatory bill approved by both chambers. A conference committee is where lawmakers meet to forge a final measure before it goes to the president. The conferees met all day last Thursday,...

The smooth passage of the final Wall Street reform bill later this week just got tougher. Senate Democrats on Monday were scrambling to secure the60 votes they need to overcome a GOP filibuster following the death of Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and critical comments by Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, a moderate Republican who had been supportive of the legislation. The hang up for Brown: A provision that would charge banks and hedge funds a new tax to pay the $19 billion ten-year tab for implementing the new reforms. A Brown spokeswoman on Monday reiterated that Brown "cannot support any bill...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Moving to clear away an obstacle to passage of a Wall Street reform bill, key U.S. senators have struck a compromise balancing state and federal powers in bank consumer protection, aides said on Tuesday

Democratic leaders gave notice late Monday that they intend to wind down the weeks-long debate over new financial regulations, even as lawmakers continued to churn through proposed changes to the massive bill.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Nine people have been indicted in federal court on charges they accessed President Barack Obama's student loan records