Free Republic

"I was close to Chavez, but now he wants me dead." The million dollars from Chavez to Al Qaeda is just the tip of the iceberg in a long series of connections between worldwide terrorist organizations and the Venezuelan strongman, according to one of those who knows most about Chavez and the inside of his presidential palace: His former personal pilot. Major Juan Diaz Castillo is the man who flew the equivalent of Air Force One. In this interview with Venezuela's weekly news-magazine Zeta, he reveals formerly unpublished details of the operations that Chavez had him organize. By Maria Angelica...

I've cruised the gold posts, not sure where I saw it, but if someone has the photo of the gas station sign posting gas price, sign said something like, "No cash, No credit, Gold or Silver only." I would sure like to have it. Thanks.

Stock Market And Gold Crash, Are We About To Repeat 2008? Stock-Markets / Financial Crash Dec 07, 2009 - 09:34 PM By: Graham_Summers A few weeks ago on November 10, I wrote an article Three Reasons Gold Might be Making a Head Fake. In it, I noted that Gold’s recent rally was largely due to Dollar devaluation (Gold had failed to hit new highs in other world currencies) as well as several other factors that disconfirmed the precious metal’s explosive rise. I wrote: Unless we start seeing confirmations of Gold’s breakout coming from other precious metals or gold mining stocks,...

DETROIT — Edward E. Whitacre Jr., the new chief executive of General Motors, has one big advantage as he tries to turn around the automaker — a stockpile of cash G.M. workers awaiting an announcement at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant on Monday that the company will invest to build the Volt, a battery-powered sedan, at that location. G.M. may spend to speed development on the Chevrolet Volt. G.M. had already pumped up its vehicle-development programs since emerging from bankruptcy with $42.6 billion in cash reserves, the bulk of which came from the government.

What a difference a week can make. Last Friday reports were just starting to surface of Tiger Woods automobile accident. Since that time at least three women have come forward saying they were Woods' mistresses. Also rumors of domestic violence causing the car accident are running rampant. Tiger's life has definitely changed. Rachel Uchitel, the first woman who was romantically linked in the Tiger Woods affair scandal was reportedley paid off to keep quiet about the situation. Now RadarOnline is reporting that Uchitel told friends that she and Tiger would do drugs before having sex. Whether it is a coincidence...

Selling candy didn't raise much money last year, so a Goldsboro middle school tried selling grades.

Major Companies Hoarding Cash, Preparing for Second Wave of Financial Crisis By Rocky Vega 11/02/09 Stockholm, Sweden – If you’re looking for insight into how you should be responding to the “recovery” in the US economy, there’s actually a glimmer of sanity coming leading US companies. Right now major American companies are storing up more cash than at any other time within the past 40 years. According to media reports, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase among others are saving “as if another financial crisis were on the way.” Even the vice president of equity research at Rochdale Securities Dick Bove said,...

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — October 29, 2009 — Today the Department of Transportation and White House chose to respond to an analysis Edmunds.com released Wednesday that looked at auto sales this year and what sales volumes would have been had the popular Cash for Clunkers program never existed. At issue is one point of the analysis showing the taxpayer cost for every incremental vehicle sold was $24,000. To be clear, Edmunds.com is not disputing the government's statements regarding total voucher applications, vehicles sold or voucher values. The key question is how many of these sales would have occurred anyway. Apparently,...

American taxpayers paid a lot of cash for those clunkers: $24,000 for each new car sold, according to a study released Wednesday. The government could have done almost as well by just giving away cars for free, instead of creating an elaborate incentive program, according to an analysis by the automotive information firm Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, Calif. ... to look at how many people purchased cars that otherwise wouldn’t have been bought. The firm says that number is about 125,000 cars. By that measure, the government spent $24,000 to generate each sale of a new car. In all, the...

Dede Scozzafava, the GOP nominee in a key upcoming House special election, is running dangerously low on campaign cash, according to several GOP sources familiar with her spending and fundraising. While Scozzafava’s official fundraising numbers will not be known until next Thursday, the third-quarter Federal Election Commission reporting deadline, the GOP sources acknowledged to POLITICO that she’s unable to compete financially with her two opponents. Scozzafava supporters blame her cash crunch on the Washington Republican establishment, which they contend has not embraced her campaign enthusiastically. They specifically point to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, whose committee has been virtually...

The ASPIRE Act

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is long gone; Rick Warren, just an Inauguration Day memory. The hordes of ministers around town who were hoping they'd somehow wind up with the first family in their pews have (mostly) given up. The president has been pastorless for quite a while now. Well, sort of. Seventy miles from Washington's prying eyes, Barack Obama has been attending church from time to time at Camp David, where services are led by a 39-year-old Navy chaplain with a famous last name, a compelling life story and a fervent belief in a God who works miracles. Carey Cash,...

China state firms told to hold cash, hedge carefully BEIJING, Oct 12 — China's biggest state firms must highlight that "cash is king" in their 2010 budgets and control trading in financial derivatives, China's state asset watchdog said. The State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) gave few details about its plans for derivative losses made by China's state firms. But SASAC said in a notice issued over the weekend that it did not want state firms to speculate in derivatives in 2010. "Any budget for financial derivatives should stick to the principal of risk hedging, and any trading scale...

Chicago Tour Bus Used To Move Pot, Cash NationwideBy TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press Writer Oct 6, 2009 6:31 pm US/Central CHICAGO (AP) - The purple tour bus rumbled toward Arizona. On board were 15 passengers, all promised $1,000 and a hotel stay. Stuffed into the luggage compartments, in four black duffel bags, was $1.4 million. Trailing the bus were Wisconsin Department of Justice agents, heading straight into a case that reads like a crime novel. A Detroit drug lord named Adarus Mazio Black was using the tour bus to smuggle his cash and dope across the country and was so...

The Financial Crash, U.S. Dollar, Cash and Gold Sep 16, 2009 - 09:21 AM By: Tarek_Saab With the Dow continuing its steady climb into September, economists are giddy with enthusiasm as they usher forth a stream of emotional pontification throughout the news media. Calls for a new bull market and an end to the recession are increasing with the rising levels of optimism (see: MarketWatch). How anyone can be bullish on stocks despite the innumerable economic warning signs is beyond my comprehension. The recent figures in the Daily Sentiment Index reporting that traders are 89-90% bullish is a testament to...

As we all know, Joe Wilson spoke FOR US last night.... And that can just not be allowed, he must be DESTROYED. 9,000 Individual Contributors have sent money to his opponent, Rob Miller, in the last 15 hours, via just ONE website, ActBlue. 3,846 KOS KLOWNS have donated over $135,000 ALONE. Could Freepers donate that kind of money to a single candidate in the same amount of time?? We have NOTHING that even comes close to competing with this, and this should serve as a MASSIVE wakeup call for us, to get it together, FAST... ActBlue cleared FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS...

Some of the drivers that bought new cars through cash for clunkers are learning that it wasn't quite the deal they hoped for. Keloland Television: But many of those cashing in on the clunkers program are surprised when they get to the treasurer's office windows. That's because the government's rebate of up to $4500 dollars for every clunker is taxable. "They didn't realize that would be taxable. A lot of people don't realize that. So they're not happy and kind of surprised when they find that out," Nelson said. We imagine that MOST people didn't know the rebates were taxable......

Frustrated with delays, rejections and computer-system crashes, several New Hampshire auto dealers are making car buyers pledge to cover rebates if the federal government doesn't come through with checks under the Cash for Clunkers program. Auto dealers say they are doing so because the federal government is a clunker when it comes to sending out rebate checks of $3,500 or $4,500 per car. The New Hampshire Auto Dealers Association created the draft agreement earlier this month and sent it to members, said President Peter McNamara. Some dealers aren't using the agreement. Others are negotiating the agreement into the deal. McNamara...

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Thursday that after a "wildly successful" run, the "Cash for Clunkers" program will end on Monday. “This program has been a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump starting a major sector of the economy and putting people back to work,” LaHood said. “At the same time, we’ve been able to take old, polluting cars off the road and help consumers purchase fuel efficient vehicles.” The CARS program has recorded more than 457,000 dealer transactions worth $1.9 billion in rebates, LaHood said. The program has provided rebates of up to $4,500 when people turned in...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration plans to end the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program on Monday, giving car shoppers a few more days to take advantage of big government incentives. The Transportation Department said Thursday the government will wind down the program on Monday at 8 p.m. EDT. Car buyers can receive rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models. "It's been a thrill to be part of the best economic news story in America," Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "Now we are working toward an orderly wind...

The Transportation Department says it'll soon announce a plan for winding down the popular but problem-plagued car buyer program. The government will announce a plan as soon as tomorrow for winding down its popular but problem-plagued "cash for clunkers" program. The announcement by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood came as a New York dealership group said that hundreds of its members had stopped doing clunker transactions because of delays in getting reimbursed by the federal government.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood assured car dealers Wednesday that they will be reimbursed for the money they have fronted to customers buying vehicles under the Cash for Clunkers program. LaHood was responding to complaints over a backlog of rebate payments. Dealers must cover customer rebates out of pocket and wait for reimbursement from the federal government. Some have said their reimbursement requests have not been approved, leading to a cash crunch. That’s key because dealers typically borrow money to put new cars on their lots and must repay lenders within a few days of a sale. “I know dealers...

Cash Bribes for Clunkers Alexis de Tocqueville said, "The American republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's own money." The U.S. Congress is unconstitutionally bribing the American people with $4,500 to buy cars in the "Cash for Clunkers" program. Many struggling families can't afford new cars and rely on the purchases of used vehicles. Hundreds of thousands of cars are being traded in and destroyed, not resold. This takes thousands of used cars off the market, driving prices upward. In turn, this dries up the supply of used parts thus...

I was chatting with a friend last night. He told me that due to the fact that many junkyards do not want cars without engines and trannys the dealers that accept "Ca$h for Clunkers" can re-sell the "Clunkers". Anyone else hear of this potential loophole?

Here are the new top-ten lists for the Cash-for-Clunkers program as of last night. Among the 184,304 purchases so far, here are the top ten purchased cars: 1. Toyota Corolla 2. Ford Focus FWD 3. Honda Civic 4. Toyota Prius 5. Toyota Camry 6. Hyundai Elantra 7. Ford Escape FWD 8. Dodge Caliber 9. Honda Fit 10. Chevrolet Cobalt Note that six of the ten, and four of the top five, are Japanese models. Now, here are the top ten trade-in "clunkers": 1. Ford Explorer 4WD 2. Ford F150 Pickup 2WD 3. Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD 4. Jeep Cherokee 4WD...

Top Democrat predicts extension of 'cash for clunkers' planTue Aug 4, 4:22 PM WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Democratic leader of the US Senate Harry Reid on Tuesday predicted that Congress would this week extend a wildly popular plan to entice Americans to trade in gas guzzling cars. The "Cash for Clunkers" plan, which offers drivers up to 4,500 dollars to replace obsolete autos with more fuel efficient models, exhausted its one billion dollar budget in a weeklong spree which boosted depressed car sales. Senate Majority leader Reid said after a meeting with President Barack Obama that despite congressional wrangling over...

Cash From Clunkers Let’s have a $4,500 subsidy for everything. Americans are streaming back into auto showrooms, and one reason is the “cash for clunkers” subsidy. Democrats are naturally claiming this is a great success, while Republicans are claiming that because the program has run out of clunker cash so quickly, this proves government can’t run the health-care system. How do we elect these people? What the clunker policy really proves is that Americans aren’t stupid and will let some other taxpayer buy them a free lunch if given the chance. The buying spree is good for the car companies,...

"The jolt the program delivered to an ailing auto industry even made a believer of U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-1, who voted Friday to pump more money into it after opposing all other economic stimulus programs, including the initial Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS."

New Delhi, Aug 1, 2009: Will cash for clunkers destroy second hand car market in the US? Many people are asking the question ever since the cash for clunkers program was introduced by the Federal government just a week ago. Yesterday the Federal government put its stamp on extension of the program and the increased funding for people who wanted to get rid of their gas guzzling clunkers. The US House gave its nod to the extension of the program and 2 billion dollars more in funding. This will give some hope to clunker owners who thought that they may...

Press reports late Thursday said the government's Cash Allowance Rebate System could already be out of money, hitting a major speed bump and possibly causing dealers some drama. ... CARS works this way: Owners of a 1984 or newer vehicle getting 18 mpg or less in combined highway/city ratings can trade in their so-called "clunkers" for more fuel-efficient new cars (in some cases only a few extra miles are required). For their trouble, owners get $3,500 to $4,500 of taxpayer money and their old vehicles' engines are destroyed so they won't end up back on the road. That last part,...

Why are we destroying perfectly good tools as a nation with this "Cash for Clunkers" program? Here is a video on what they do to the vehicles that are traded in for this program. Here's a description from the video site: This is a video document showing how to seize an engine under the Cash for Clunkers program...After draining the engine oil the vehicle is filled with approximately two-three quarts of salt/water/silica mix. The vehicle is then started and ran till the engine seizes. Enjoy! I drive a 20 year old car that I love. (Sure it's bluebook value may...

Set to expire at the end of October, the government announced that it would suspend the program Thursday evening, only six days into the program...

If you watch television you’ve seen the ads: “So bring in that old jalopy and get up to $4500 towards the purchase of a new or select used vehicle. That’s right get up to $4500 for that old piece of junk, plus you keep the rebates. You have to hurry! Since funds are limited for this program it’s first come first served!” Well we’re about to find out just how limited those funds were. The Obama administration’s cash-for-clunkers program has been such a “success” that in just the first week of full implementation, the $1 billion originally allocated for the...

LaHood sounded a bit vicious in explaining the process, describing it as essentially a “murdering” of the car. After a deal is made with a car dealership, sodium silicon is poured onto the car, the engine then fogs, and is towed away, he explained. “The car is dead,” LaHood said. “We kill the car.”

The government updated their cars.gov website this morning by changing the start date for the CAR Allowance Rebate System (informally known as Cash for Clunkers.) Before the website update, the program was to begin on July 24th. The cars.gov homepage now claims the program will start on July 27, or Monday. From the cars.gove website: Starting on July 27, consumers will be able to take advantage of this program and receive a $3,500 or $4,500 discount from the car dealer when they trade in their old vehicle and purchase or lease a new one. Many news outlets, including ABC News...

SNIPPET: "Aleem N. is then accused of then having transported the equipment and money to al-Qaida contacts in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. Sermet I. visited Aleem N. many times at his apartment in the town of Germersheim in western Germany, prosecutors said. The German of Pakistani heritage, who has been identified by his family as Aleem Nasir, went on trial in December in Koblenz, also charged with membership in Al Qaeda. A verdict is expected next Monday. In another linked case, prosecutors in March charged 31-year-old Omer O. with membership in Al Qaeda on allegations he was collecting money and...

EXCLUSIVE: $25 Charge To Attend Michael Jackson Memorial Posted on Jul 02, 2009 @ 03:15PM Fans who wish to attend Michael Jackson's star-studded memorial service at Staples Center will have to shell out $25 to sit in the stands, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively. Family, friends and VIPS will have seats on the main floor for The Tuesday, July 7th Staples service, first reported by RadarOnline.com, while the general public will be plucking down $25 to sit in the stands. The memorial service will feel like a concert production featuring guest speakers, a lot of music and video screens inside and...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The top-performing letter that predicted the Crash of 2008 now predicts a confiscatory Franklin D. Roosevelt-style "bank holiday." But it's surprisingly sanguine about stocks -- in the (very) short term. The Harry Schultz Letter (HSL) was my pick for Letter of the Year in 2008 because it really did predict what it rightly called a coming "financial tsunami." But its performance in 2008 was still terrible, albeit arguably for technical reasons. ( See Dec. 28, 2008, column.) Now HSL has bounced back big-time. ( See April 13 column.) Over the year to date through May, it's...

CASH is accelerating down the path to extinction as new technologies threaten to mark the end of loose change within a decade. Bank and credit union bosses say cash won't be alone, with wallets and credit cards also likely to disappear too. They told The Advertiser's round table forum that cash and cards will be replaced by computer chips embedded in mobile phones, watches or other portable devices. Australian Central chief executive Peter Evers believes cash will be replaced for most transactions in five-to-seven years. "Cash will disappear as there will be other forms of carrying cash, stored value in...

SACRAMENTO – California plans to accelerate its ongoing campaign to sweep more dirty cars off the streets while Congress duels over high-profile “cash for clunkers” legislation. In Sacramento, the Air Resources Board this month is expected to approve a $30 million expansion of a program that pays motorists $1,000 to turn over their heavy-polluting vehicles for dismantling. The goal is to scrap 15,000 vehicles on top of the more than 18,000 crushed on average each fiscal year. In Washington, two competing $4 billion measures are being driven more by a desire to spark flagging auto sales than an interest in...

Note: The following text is a quote: Obama Administration Announces National Strategy to Reduce Drug Trafficking and Flow of Bulk Cash and Weapons Across Southwest Border Today, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Department of Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Director of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske released President Obama’s strategy to stem the flow of illegal drugs and their illicit proceeds across the Southwest border and reduce associated crime and violence in the region. The National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy directs federal agencies to increase coordination and information sharing with state and local law enforcement agencies, intensifies national...

Let's get a grip on reality. The bear market ended March 9, and the end of the worst recession since the 1930s--or is it the mid 1970s--is plainly in sight. About $120 billion has been pulled out of global money market funds since mid-March; yet money market assets are still equal to 50% of the S&P 500 market cap. That is huge potential buying power. Since 1990, money market assets have averaged about 20% of the S&P 500 market cap. There must be a horde of perplexed investors, like Croesus, who have been hoarding cash at no yield because risk...

NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - A U.S. Federal bankruptcy judge approved on Thursday a request by mall owner General Growth Properties Inc GGWPQ.PK to use cash collateral to fund business operations during its bankruptcy. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper, approved the request at the company's first day in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Judge Gropper said the company has told him it has $140 million in unencumbered cash in the bank that it wants to use to finance its operations during the bankruptcy, while it waits for approval of a debtor-in-posession (DIP) bankruptcy loan.

April 6, 2009 Dear Friend of Liberty, Campaign for Liberty’s very own Steve Bierfeldt has become an unexpected Internet sensation -- and the latest target of over-reaching federal government agents. You see, Steve was detained by Airport Police and TSA officials shortly after the Campaign for Liberty regional conference in St. Louis. The officials rudely berated and harassed Steve for 30 minutes in a secluded room at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Fortunately, Steve was able to record nearly all of the interrogation with his cell phone. Steve’s alleged “crime”? Carrying $4,700 in checks and cash from Campaign for Liberty, along...

The show-me state made the news recently when the Missouri Information Analysis Center, a state-federal law-enforcement partnership, released an inflammatory report alleging that libertarians, constitutionalists, supporters of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and other people skeptical of powerful government should be considered as potential terrorists-in-the-making. The controversial document has since been withdrawn, but you have to wonder when a twenty-something official with Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty gets rousted by TSA agents in the St. Louis airport for carrying ... cash. Steve Bierfeldt, Director of Development for the organization, kept his cool during the encounter. We know that because he activated...

Among the bills signed into law by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on Friday is House Bill 1568, which bans the use of cameras to catch motorists running red lights. Mississippi joins at least eight other states in banning the automated technology, including neighboring Arkansas.

If you’ve considered selling some of your unused gold jewelry for some cash at $900+ an ounce, you might be in for a very rude awakening. Selling gold jewelry is pretty easy, even if you spend the extra time to avoid the scam artists and rip-offs, but the reality is that whatever you sell will be melted down and the gold will be reused. Since it will be melted and reused, you will only be paid for for the gold in the piece minus whatever markup and fees that the buyer has. $900 an ounce sounds pretty good, but you...

Just when you thought it was safe to start checking your e-mail and snail-mailboxes again, possibly the two biggest names in political fundraising today are hitting the money trail again. President Barack Obama. And Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Is this a very early pre-season matchup for 2012, at least moneywise? The new president will headline an event for the Democratic National Committee in Washington on March 25, just before he starts his first overseas trip as chief executive. It will be an early test of Obama's presidential moneyraising skills, given the complications of a sour economy and what D.C. Democrats...

A 16-year-old Rosemount student handed out $100 bills to fellow students Tuesday as if they were jelly beans. When asked where he got the money — he had given away about $11,000 — he first said it was his allowance. Later, when pressed by a teacher, he admitted he found it in a ditch.

The Bank of England is expected to announce it will "print money" - and could cut the base rate of interest to a record low. The Sky News Money Panel has said the policy of "printing money" should be carried out now before the slump gets even worse. The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee is expected to announce it is giving the go-ahead to quantitative easing to boost the amount of money in circulation. It is also expected to cut the interest rate by 0.5% to a record low of 0.5%, experts say. But it is the likely introduction...