Free Republic

If you haven't read Matt Taibbi's recent Rolling Stone piece on Goldman Sachs, make sure to get your hands on it ASAP. It's a must read on how Goldman Sachs and the U.S. government work hand in glove to produce giant investment bubbles... bubbles that allow Goldman to work over investors for hundreds of billions of dollars. We don't think you can lay all the blame for the housing bubble and the tech bubble at Goldman's feet... but we do find it suspicious that a ton of high level government posts are staffed by Goldman employees. It's close to a...

Goldman Arming Itself? :-> This is a riot (well, ok, I might be a week - or a month early on that): Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- “I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit,” said a friend, who told me of swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who applied to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol. The banker had told this friend of mine that senior Goldman people have loaded up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the...

Nanotechnology – the art and science of manipulating matter at the scale of 1 to 100 nanometers – is a field with seemingly limitless potential. But if researchers and politicians = are not careful, that potential will vanish. Nanotech firms have a choice between being entrepreneurs, or being corporate welfare recipients. They choices they make today could determine whether the future of nanotech is one of dynamism and innovation, or one of dull, bureaucratic stasis. A nanotech boom is already underway. Just this week, the number of products that scientists have invented or improved passed the 1,000 mark. In two...

As consensus builds that the recession is over, some are crediting Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s stewardship and all but re-nominating him by acclamation. But others worry that declaring the recession over is a tad premature. “I would be hesitant to declare the recession over while unemployment remains so dire,” said George Selgin, professor of economics at the Terry College of Business at UGA and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Even if the recession were ending, Selgin thinks it would be a mistake to credit the Fed with the recovery. (It’s not a religious...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The administration of President Barack Obama is considering new bailout initiatives that will allow troubled companies to benefit from rescue programs while avoid restrictions imposed by Congress, The Washington Post reported Saturday. ... Experts at the Obama administration have concluded that this approach is vital for persuading firms to participate in programs funded by the 700-billion-dollar financial rescue package, the report said. The administration believes it can sidestep the rules because, .. it has decided not to provide federal aid directly to financial companies,.. Instead, the government has set up special entities that act as middlemen, channeling...

So what’s in a name? Well, if you read the “Pay for Performance Act of 2009,” the answer would be quite a lot. Under that law, the US government would dictate the wages of all of the employees of companies that take significant bailout money. Read that again: not just caps on the pay of the top executives – the setting of the wages every single employee. The House Financial Services Committee, which is led by chairman Barney Frank (who has no business experience except that which was run out of his home) is pushing for such unprecedented power. Unprecedented...

Welcome to the New Wealth Order. It’s a strange place, kind of a bizarro world, in fact, where “liberal” Democrats focus on Wall Street and ignore Main Street. In this New Wealth Order, it’s not just the valuations of people’s houses that are “upside down,” it’s national priorities that are upside down. And so the Obama administration spends its political capital–and your tax money–redistributing wealth upward. Upward to Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and Greenwich, Connecticut. Does that make sense? Of course not! Unless, of course, you are living in the bizarro New Wealth Order.

CHICAGO Newspapers perform a public service for democracy and should be allowed to operate as tax-exempt non-profits, U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D.-Md., proposed Tuesday. Cardin introduced a bill that would explicitly include newspapers among organizations eligible for 501(c)(3) status. The non-profit status is the same that public radio and television have now. The legislation would give a national green light for newspapers to adopt the so-called Low Profit Limited Liability Company business model, often shortened to L3C. The L3C model, which the Newspaper Guild supports as an alternative newspaper ownership model, is the subject of a feature story in the...

At the same time, the Congress has turned into a seething lynch mob aimed at AIG, the failed insurance giant that has been the recipient of over $100 billion in federal bailout money, and is paying $165 million in bonuses to some employees. At the moment, the state of play is that the House of Representatives has passed a law taxing at 90% bonuses paid to employees of firms that received more than $5 billion in bailout money. For the stock market, this is a rally-killer. Or worse. No one seems to want to determine whether the people getting this...

WASHINGTON -- In his most aggressive outreach yet to the business community, President Barack Obama told some of the nation's leading CEOs that he is ready to talk about lowering corporate income-tax rates and could compromise on his plan to combat global warming. Speaking for more than an hour Thursday to the Business Roundtable, a chief executives organization, Mr. Obama made it clear he wants the business community's cooperation to secure his agenda of expanding the federal role in education, overhauling health care and transforming the energy sector. Pressed on his proposal to rein in the indefinite deferral of corporate...

There's been a shift in the top 10 companies that submitted applications last year as companies scramble to fill the U.S. government's 85,000 randomly selected petitions. On April 1, employers will once again race to file H-1B visa petitions, hoping that their applications will be among the 85,000 randomly selected by the U.S. government, allowing the companies to hire foreign workers for fiscal 2010, beginning Oct. 1. Last year, as was the case in other recent years, Indian outsourcing firms topped the list of employers who received approval to hire H-1B visa workers for temporary jobs in the United States....

FORUM: What's with Hollywood bailout? By RICK REISS - Temecula resident I have always loved the movies. Whether it's a spaghetti Western, a thriller with a hungry shark, a heroic war drama, a romantic comedy or a thought-provoking science fiction film, Hollywood has always had the ability to entertain and enlighten. Yet Hollywood is quickly wearing out its welcome. Case in point: the recently approved California state budget. This newly inked leviathan has a porky provision giving Hollywood $100 million per year in tax incentives. No ---- that is not a mistake. $100 million ---- per year for five years....

WASHINGTON -- The giant stimulus package that cleared Congress Friday includes a last-minute addition that restricts bonuses for top earners at firms receiving federal cash -- including those that already received it -- more severely than the Obama administration's previous pay limits. The most stringent pay restriction bars any company receiving funds from paying top earners bonuses equal to more than one-third of their total annual compensation. That could severely crimp pay packages at big banks, where top officials commonly get relatively modest salaries but often huge bonuses. As word spread Friday about the new and retroactive limit -- inserted...

The day after President Obama's big news conference, and on the day Treasury man Tim Geithner unveiled his Bank Bailout Nation TARP III Plan, stock markets plunged in a vote of no confidence, with the Dow dropping nearly 400 points. Obama got the ball rolling by painting a dismal picture of the economy, saying recovery won't arrive until 2010 at the earliest. He then said only big-government spending can jolt our economy back to life. He also bitterly attacked supply-siders and the Bush tax cuts, especially "tax cuts that are targeted to the wealthiest few Americans." These strategies have "only...

Eat, drink, and be merry -- someone will bail you out. After the humiliation of haggling over bailouts, there comes the post-bailout party. Staff of supposedly ailing companies are living it up on more than a prayer. See where and how they celebrated government money and keeping their jobs.

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama’s administration placed a salary cap of $500,000 on top executives at firms that received bailout money. This sounds like a great move. These corporations failed and went to the government for a handout, so it seems logical that there should be a limit on the amount of compensation their executives should get. It seems morally wrong for a failed company’s top executives to still receive salaries in the millions of dollars. It is a move that is tailor-made to satisfy a disgruntled public in these economic times — a public who can’t understand why...

The investigators concluded that the Treasury under the federal bailout had invested $254 billion into companies but the preferred stock it got in return had a market value at the time of only $176 billion, or 69 percent of what the government paid, according to a congressional oversight panel report scheduled to be released today. Elizabeth Warren, the chairwoman of the panel, said former Treasury secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had promised that the government would buy the assets at their market value and that it was alarming that he didn't do so. "At various points, Treasury has articulated policy...

US officials are examining ways gradually to convert government stakes in banks into ordinary shares as banks accumulate losses, according to people close to the discussions. The point would be to provide a drip-feed of additional common equity as needed to cover losses – without the government owning a larger stake in the banks than is necessary. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will announce the financial sector rescue plan on Monday along with a set of policies designed to reduce foreclosures and boost the housing market. Treasury refused to comment on its deliberations. One idea that has been considered by policymakers...

Here is video of CNBC's Mark Haines on Morning Joe today, where he called liberal blogger Arianna Huffington "clueless" about her call for the government to stop protecting the equity holders in banks. Haines correctly says Huffington "doesn't know what she is talking about." It's refreshing to hear someone be so direct and honest! . . . . . . . (Watch Video)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Banks collecting billions of dollars in federal bailout money sought government permission to bring thousands of foreign workers to the U.S. for high-paying jobs, according to an Associated Press review of visa applications. The dozen banks receiving the biggest rescue packages, totaling more than $150 billion, requested visas for more than 21,800 foreign workers over the past six years for positions that included senior vice presidents, corporate lawyers, junior investment analysts and human resources specialists. The average annual salary for those jobs was $90,721, nearly twice the median income for all American households. The figures are...

Former mayor Rudy Giuliani urged President Obama and others to go slow on cracking down on Wall Street bonuses because they help boost New York City coffers. "If you somehow take that bonus out of the economy, it really will create unemployment," the former two-term mayor said Friday. "It means less spending in restaurants, less spending in department stores, so everything has an impact." Giuliani noted he gauged the city's budget by the size of Wall Street bonuses. "Wall Street has $1 billion, $2 billion in bonuses, the city had a deficit," he said on CNN's "American Morning." "Wall Street...

Though his firm is hemorrhaging cash at such a prodigious rate that bankruptcy may be only weeks away, General Motors’ CEO Rick Wagoner still opted to travel to D.C. by corporate jet rather than use commercial airline service for the trip to testify before congress on behalf of a government bailout of his firm. “It was a way of demonstrating the importance of my message,” Wagoner insisted. “If I take the time or effort to find a cost-effective means of getting to Washington it dilutes the air of desperation we are trying to convey. By dashing off heedless of cost,...

(CNSNews.com) - In April, then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said in Philadelphia, “I’ve fought to pass the Employee Free Choice Act in the Senate. And I will make it the law of the land when I’m president of the United States of America.” President-elect Obama will move into the White House with increased Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate, which also support legislation designed to stem the tide of declining union membership. The bill replaces the secret ballot by allowing union organizers to publicly ask workers to sign a card in favor of unionizing. If a bare majority...

DETROIT, Nov 6 (Reuters) - United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger on Thursday urged the U.S. government to provide another $25 billion in loans to struggling U.S. automakers so that they can meet their health care obligations to over 780,000 retirees and their dependents. "The U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve can help immediately by taking steps to provide liquidity to auto manufacturers so they can get through the difficulties caused by an across-the-board decline in auto sales," Gettelfinger said in a statement released by the union. Gettelfinger joined the chief executives of General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research,...

ATLANTA, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Home Depot Inc's (HD.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) top executive said on Thursday that the retailer opposes the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that would let unions be certified once a majority of employees signed union authorization cards, rather than holding a vote. "We feel very strongly that our associates ought to have the right to a secret ballot," Frank Blake, the retailer's chairman and chief executive, told Reuters after attending an event in Atlanta. U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama, who won election to the nation's highest office on Tuesday, was an original co-sponsor of...

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged President-elect Barack Obama and Congress to refrain from pushing legislation to make organizing unions easier until the economy recovers. The Employee Free Choice Act would force an employer to recognize a union if 51 percent of its workers sign cards stating they want to be represented by a union. An election would not be necessary. The bill is organized labor’s top priority in the new Congress, and unions spent millions of dollars to help elect Democrats in the Nov. 4 election. Unions, trial lawyers and other interest groups that supported Democrats “will expect quick...

Organized labor sees a historic opportunity with Tuesday's election and is counting on the incoming Obama administration to back its agenda in what promises to be a landmark battle with business. At the top of labor's wish list is passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it harder for companies to fight union-organizing drives. "It is the most important issue that we have," said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO. AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka, left, confers with the union's president, John Sweeney, Wednesday. Unions are counting on President-elect Obama to back their legislative agenda. President-elect Barack...

The public was told that to get the needed votes for the rescue bill, pork had to be attached. But did folks really know it included ham for Hollywood? Buried deep in the pages of the $700 billion package are some gift-wrapped goodies for the entertainment industry...

CASH-STRAPPED GENERAL MOTORS, WHOSE SHARES FELL last week to an almost 60-year low, appears likely to seek a loan from the Federal Reserve's discount window. The Fed already is buying shorter-term commercial paper from corporations. Discount-window loans would have a longer maturity. Barron's has learned of the auto maker's expected request from two persons with first-hand knowledge of the situation. GM wouldn't discuss what it termed "a rumor." The Fed also wouldn't comment. But the central bank would be under tremendous pressure to accede to such a request from a centerpiece of Industrial America, after having aided bankers, insurers and...

... The media typically report how each candidate's plan would change the tax code relative to current law: the size of the typical tax cut or increase that accrues to low, middle or high earners. So it is widely reported that John McCain would mostly cut taxes for the rich while Barack Obama would mostly cut taxes for the middle class. But how much a given income group gains or loses from a specific tax reform tells us nothing about either the fairness or efficiency of the tax code after such changes have been implemented. ...But can we conclude that...

Following is the 74-25 roll call by which the Senate approved a $700 billion rescue package for Wall Street aimed at preventing a credit crisis. Voting "yes" were 39 Democrats, 34 Republicans and one independent. Voting "no" were nine Democrats, 15 Republicans and one independent. Democrats - Yes Akaka, Hawaii; Baucus, Mont.; Bayh, Ind.; Biden, Del.; Bingaman, N.M.; Boxer, Calif.; Brown, Ohio; Byrd, W.Va.; Cardin, Md.; Carper, Del.; Casey, Pa.; Clinton, N.Y.; Conrad, N.D.; Dodd, Conn.; Durbin, Ill.; Feinstein, Calif.; Harkin, Iowa; Inouye, Hawaii; Kerry, Mass.; Klobuchar, Minn.; Kohl, Wis.; Lautenberg, N.J.; Leahy, Vt.; Levin, Mich.; Lincoln, Ark.; McCaskill, Mo.;...

s America created its own variety of communism with the U.S. Treasury Department’s bailout of two beleaguered government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE)? According to Rogers Holding CEO Jim Rogers, the answer is yes. “America is more communist than China is right now,” Rogers told CNBC Europe’s “Squawk Box Europe” September 8. “You can at least have a free market in housing and a lot of other things in China. And you can see that this is welfare for the rich. This is socialism for the rich. It’s bailing out the financiers, the banks, the Wall...

A fund that invests cash for about 1,000 colleges and private schools suddenly froze withdrawals this week, leaving school finance managers scrambling to make sure they have enough money for payroll and other bills. For 34 years, colleges and schools parked cash in the now $9.3 billion fund, which offered returns slightly above U.S. Treasury bills. That it now might take years for the institutions to get all of their money back shows how widely credit-market woes are reverberating beyond Wall Street. Monday, Wachovia Corp., the fund's trustee, said it was terminating the fund, liquidating its assets, distributing the proceeds...

Some selected excerpts from the article... "This is what a credit crisis looks like. It’s not like a stock market crisis, where the scary plunge of stocks is obvious to all. The credit crisis has played out in places most people can’t see. It’s banks refusing to lend to other banks — even though that is one of the most essential functions of the banking system. It’s a loss of confidence in seemingly healthy institutions like Morgan Stanley and Goldman — both of which reported profits even as the pressure was mounting. It is panicked hedge funds pulling out cash....

The Senate approved its version of a mammoth bill to rescue the financial services industry Wednesday night, saying changes designed to protect individual investors and small business owners could be enough to persuade reluctant House members to go along with the plan. ....By voting on its own rescue package, the Senate snatched the initiative from the House, which under the Constitution normally acts first on large spending bills. Officials on Capitol Hill told NBC News that Reid was able to exploit a procedural provision to jump the line, seeking to put pressure on House members to get on board. “There...

John McCain, who has thrown himself in to negotiations for a $700 billion legislative package to address the current economic turmoil, continued to sell the proposal to voters today with a distinct populist tone and stern warnings of what congressional inaction could mean for the U.S. economy. McCain has sought to communicate the risks of doing nothing as opposed to passing the unpopular bill that failed by a 205-228 vote in the U.S. House on Monday. The Senate will take up the package tonight and both McCain and rival Barack Obama are scheduled to return to Washington, D.C., to vote...

We still have a chance to defeat the bailout bill. Call your representatives first thing in the morning!!! For the Love of your country do it !!!!

I know, the title is creepy, but before jumping at me, just consider these facts... 1. IT IS THE WORST TIME TO BE IN POWER FOR ANY NATIONAL PARTY America has been suffering the worst economic crisis since 1929. Americans are blaming the party ruling the executive branch for this rout, and that's why McCain numbers are so low. Now think that Obama will begin his presidency with America depressed. The power will be 100% controlled by Democrats, and the anger of the folks will turn against them. 2. DECMOCRATS WILL HATE OBAMA JUST AS THEY NOW HATE THEIR DEMOCRATIC...

Excerpt... SEC. 112. COORDINATION WITH FOREIGN AUTHORITIES AND CENTRAL BANKS. The Secretary shall coordinate, as appropriate, with foreign financial authorities and central banks to work toward the establishment of similar programs by such authorities and central banks. To the extent that such foreign financial authorities or banks hold troubled assets as a result of extending financing to financial institutions that have failed or defaulted on such financing, such troubled assets qualify for purchase under section 101.

The stage is set for someone to play Washington, Lincoln, or Churchill. An entire generation of leadership is failing, as the world watches aghast. Greedy Wall Street hot shots are worse than discredited. Rep. Nancy Pelosi at the hour of national crisis proved why she may well be the worst House Speaker in the history of the Congress. The more Sen. Dodd and Rep. Frank shout and demagogue in front of the cameras, the more desperate we know they are to talk their way out of their own past reckless and unprincipled conduct. Lame duck President Bush is spent, tired...

Banking’s crisis of confidence deepens By Krishna Guha, Harvey Morris and James Politi in Washington and Paul J Davies in London Published: September 30 2008 20:10 | Last updated: October 1 2008 02:54 Wall Street rebounded on Tuesday in spite of a worsening crisis of confidence in the global banking system, as leaders of the US Congress moved to try to salvage the Bush administration’s $700bn (£385bn) bail-out plan. A proposal to increase the ceiling for government insurance on bank deposits to $250,000 emerged as the best hope of swaying reluctant Republicans and Democrats who voted against the bill on...

White House contenders Barack Obama and John McCain sought to persuade skeptical Americans on Tuesday to back a $700 billion Wall Street bailout package and planned to be in Washington on Wednesday to vote on the measure. A day after the U.S. House of Representatives sent global markets reeling by rejecting the financial rescue plan, Senate leaders said on Tuesday they scheduled a Wednesday evening vote on a new version of the measure, including a big increase in the amount of bank deposits protected by the government's insurance program. The campaigns of Democrat Obama and Republican McCain said the candidates...

The defeat in Congress of a proposed $700 billion economic-rescue package followed an intense outpouring of voter anger, fanned by politicians, interest groups and media on the left and right, that overwhelmed calls from the president and top lawmakers to pass the deal. Voters opposed to the deal deluged Capitol Hill with letters, emails, phone calls and faxes over the past week. Some 23,000 signatures were collected over two days by Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent, calling for a five-year, 10% surtax on the wealthiest Americans to help fund the bailout. Some prominent conservatives and bloggers criticized the deal...

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Just back from Washington, D.C., South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham painted a very bleak picture of what he expects for the country if the bailout plan fails. Graham spoke in front of a foreclosed home on Avondale Drive in Greenville. He said if the plan doesn't pass soon, more banks will fold. Businesses will close and people will lose their jobs. As least twice he mentioned that the economy could be headed for a depression.

Not everyone gets the Wall Street-Main Street connection. But they should, because both streets intersect on every block in America. “In the sense that if the credit market dries up on Wall Street, capital will be unavailable on Main Street,” said University of Arizona political science professor Robert Maranto. “So no car loans, house loans, business loans and the like.” In the short run, Maranto explains, there is no reason to panic, but over two years it would lead to higher unemployment. Maranto also reminds that most of Middle America's savings are plowed into the stock markets, “so if the...

Does anyone know of a source for the actual eMail adresses of individual Senators and Representatives? It appears the official government site only allows eMails from people within the state or zip-codes that the elected official represents. I have tried to eMail Representatives from other states and congressional districts and they bounce back as undeliverable because my zip-code is out of their area. I would like a list of eMail addresses I can just use in my own outgoing eMail instead of having to go through the step by step process reqired on the US.gov official sites.

Nancy Pelosi blamed for Wall Street bailout defeat Philippe Naughton It was perhaps the costliest ad lib in political history, 90 seconds of ill-judged, ill-timed bile that helped to kill off any hope of consensus on Capitol Hill. That was the charge against Nancy Pelosi after Congress’s rejection of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan yesterday, a rejection that Republicans blamed directly on her aggressive and overtly partisan speech shortly before the vote. As Speaker of the House and second in line to the presidency after Dick Cheney, the most powerful woman in US political history has never been...

The ultimate example of opportunistic politics before good government was displayed in Washington over the past several days. Political operatives from both sides of the aisle did everything in their power to create a government-based solution to the financial crisis facing our country; a government-created problem. In the end the US House of Representatives voted down the highly contentious Wall Street bailout bill mostly due to the fact that we are within the 30-day window when voters do not forget actions taken by their elected officials. If only the public’s attention were always so focused. In the end 90 House...

Now that the government-heavy bailout of the financial markets has been thumped by the House, Congress must explore a more market-based approach. Republicans and Democrats sent a strong message Monday in rejecting the U.S. Treasury's plan to put up, if need be, $700 billion to take bad debt off Wall Street's ledger.... But in political defeat and financial despair, there is opportunity: • Cut the growth-killing corporate tax rate, "zero out" the capital gains tax and return a prodigious amount of private capital to the market. • Repeal Sarbanes-Oxley. The regulations designed to combat fraud only encumbered many thin-margin smaller...

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES HOLDS A HEARING ON TREASURY DEPARTMENT'S VIEWS ON THE REGULATION OF GOVERNMENT SPONSORED ENTERPRISES SEPTEMBER 10, 2003And I now will recognize the ranking member, the gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. Frank. FRANK: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate hearing from the two Cabinet secretaries, but I just say at the outset that before we move on any legislation, I would hope we would have some additional hearings. And in particular, I think it's important that the variety of groups in our country who care about housing be invited, because that's my major focus here, as it's...