Free Republic

BILL GROSS: 'We Are Witnessing The Death Of Abundance' Joe Weisenthal Febuary 1, 2012 In his latest monthly letter, PIMCO's Bill Gross has a long philosophical-sounding discussion about credit, delevering, and the difficult task facing Bernanke. The money line is this paragraph at the end: Where does credit go when it dies? It goes back to where it came from. It delevers, it slows and inhibits economic growth, and it turns economic theory upside down, ultimately challenging the wisdom of policymakers. We’ll all be making this up as we go along for what may seem like an eternity. A 30-50...

S&P Sounds Alarm On US, G20 Downgrades Antonia van de Velde, CNBC January 31, 2012 Concerns over the size of United States debt reared their head once again as ratings agency Standard & Poor’s warned that health care costs for a number of highly-rated Group of 20 countries, including the U.S., could hurt growth prospects and harm their sovereign creditworthiness from the middle of this decade. S&P downgraded the United States credit rating for the first time ever in August of last year. "Governments' fiscal burdens will increase significantly over the coming decade, with the highest deterioration in public finances...

No doubt about it, President Obama deseves credit for the Iraq "surge". The AP reported on Tuesday that, "Attacks in Iraq have 'surged' since the U.S. troops left. [Because Obama refused to leave a residual force of U.S. troops in Iraq.] More than 160 people have been killed since the beginning of the year." Clearly, Obama deseves credit for the "surge" in Iraq.....

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. consumers increased their debt in November by a seasonally adjusted $20.4 billion, the largest increase since November 2001, the Federal Reserve reported Monday. Monthly debt rose at a 10% annual rate in November, a much faster pace than had been expected by Wall Street economists.

The Chevy Volt, much like former East Germany’s Trabant, is a centralized government planner’s idea of what an automobile should be. The Trabant, incidentally, was dubbed one of the worst cars produced -- ever. But what government bureaucrats believe is “good” for us generally has little to do with what consumers are looking for. The two concepts are as different as Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan.

You’re the President of the United States that ran the first trillion-dollar budget deficits in American history — and did it all three of your years in office. You’ve demanded two unpopular debt-ceiling increases, including one in the last couple of weeks. You earn millions from the sale of your books and $400,000 a year in salary. What about all of this makes Barack Obama think that joking about whether his credit card works somehow endears the common folk to him?

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Columbia University will offer a new course for upperclassmen and grad students next semester. An Occupy Wall Street class will send students into the field and will be taught by Dr. Hannah Appel, a veteran of the Occupy movement. The course begins next semester and will be divided between class work at Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus and fieldwork that will require students to become involved with the Occupy movement outside of the classroom. The course will be called “Occupy the Field: Global Finance, Inequality, Social Movement” it will be run by the anthropology department. Appel is...

Expiring Ethanol Credit to Add to Gas Price JumpBy WRAL POSTED: 9:04 am EST December 28, 2011 RALEIGH -- Lack of action by state lawmakers and Congress is expected to raise gas prices in North Carolina by more than 8 cents a gallon, starting Sunday. Half of the increase comes from the state. North Carolina's gas tax is linked to the price of gas and is adjusted every six months. Because gas prices have gone up since July, the state tax, which is already one of the highest in the country, is going up by 3.9 cents a gallon on...

In 2008, the United States government and Federal Reserve helped bailout European banks to the tune of trillions of dollars.  The reactions to this by Congress and the public ensured that any future bailouts would have to be performed through the use of a proxy institution. It appears that this proxy institution has been found, as the IMF on November 22nd just opened a new credit facility with the primary purpose of providing liquidity to sovereign nations, especially those currently in the Euro Zone. IMF talking points on new credit facility * IMF APPROVES CREDIT LINE PROGRAM CHANGES TO PROVIDE...

Occupy movement wants to start a financial institutionBy: Dan Schreiber | 11/23/11 2:38 PM Examiner Staff Writer Call it the First Bank of Occupy. The denizens of the embattled tent city on San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza have been pushing for folks to close their accounts at big banks and put the money in credit unions instead. Now, the movement wants to form its own institution to keep their money out of the hands of the reviled 1 percent. A survey circulating Facebook and other social networking sites asks some simple questions that occupiers hope will relay the demand for...

Fitch Ratings Thursday dropped its credit rating on Portugal into junk territory and warned further downgrades were possible, as a recession in the country is increasing challenges for the government to comply with its austerity plans. Fitch lowered the rating one notch, to double-B-plus from triple-B-plus, and maintained a negative outlook. "The country's large fiscal imbalances, high indebtedness across all sectors, and adverse macroeconomic outlook mean the sovereign's credit profile is no longer consistent with an investment-grade rating," Fitch said.

Moody’s Investors Service said it may downgrade the credit ratings of Pennsylvania State University in a sign of the potential scope of the fallout from a sexual abuse scandal at the school. (SNIP) The university now carries high ratings because it has been popular with prospective students, top professors and generous donors, but also because of its efforts over the past 20 years to develop its research capabilities. The university owns the Hershey Medical Center, a hospital that contributed 26 per cent of the school’s $4.6bn in operating revenues in the year ended June 30. Penn State’s football programme contributes...

Jin Liqun, chairman of China's $400 billion sovereign wealth fund considers Europe to be a bad investment at the moment. This is worrisome as European leaders are counting on China to bail the Continent out of its debt crisis. Liqun believes that the problems are caused by Europe's labor laws and welfare system, which distort incentives and deform character. They induce people to become lazy and dependent. Until this is fixed, he doesn't see the point of risking his country's capital there. Lazy, dependent people with an expectation of entitlement and a penchant for violent protest are a poor credit...

are they really free? do they want a credit card # ? are they understandable and offer a real score?

So How Do These Sorts of Crises End? Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis Oct 28, 2011 - 01:38 AM By: Paul Tustain However this crisis is resolved, guess who'll be footing the bill... The World has endured these sorts of crises before. Somehow they come to an end. What happens? Sometimes, someone turns up who can prop up the collapsing debt mountain, and they make it grow higher, for a little bit longer. For a short while they are even called brilliant, but they leave a bigger problem than they started with. Eventually the thing comes crashing down and the...

Link only - Credit Unions Cashing In On Banks Charging Debit Card Fees

Bill Clinton thinks he deserves more credit for reforming welfare and balancing the budget. “I go crazy every time I read the conventional wisdom,” he said Friday night at his presidential library in Little Rock, Ark. “So part of the Republican narrative is that I was ‘saved’ from myself by the election of the Republican Congress [in 1994] that ‘forced me’ to do welfare reform and ‘made the balanced budget possible.’” Clinton said reporters and commentators “keep saying this, overlooking all relevant facts.”

My bank manager visited my shop yesterday with some alarming news. Somebody in England used my business debit card for a series of purchases. No biggie. Just claim fraud and get my money back. Not so fast. Turns out that US businesses are on a card check system for which I needed to sign up in order to have a secure code. Who knew? Now I find I have no recourse for the fraud perpetrated against me. The merchant cannot be required to give me information about the purchaser who stole my identity because I was not registered for a...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. consumers increased their debt by a seasonally adjusted $12.0 billion, or at a 5.9% annual rate, in July, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday.

The Internal Revenue Service allowed undocumented workers to collect $4.2 billion in refundable tax credits last year, a new audit says, almost quadruple the sum five years ago. Although undocumented workers are not eligible for federal benefits, the report released Thursday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration concludes that federal law is ambiguous on whether these workers qualify for a tax break based on earned income called the additional child tax credit. Taxpayers can claim this credit to reduce what they owe in taxes, often getting refunds from the government. The vagueness of federal law may have contributed...

Link only - How Australia got its triple-A credit rating back

Credit card users are so focused on keeping their accounts in good standing that they've driven the rate of late payments down to its lowest level in 17 years. The national credit card delinquency rate, or rate of payments 90 days or more past due, fell to 0.60% in the second quarter, down from 0.92% a year ago. That's the lowest rate since 1994, according to credit reporting agency TransUnion. Delinquencies were expected to drop, but the improvement in that April to June period was faster than forecast. And the improved payment habits came despite increased use of credit cards,...

WASHINGTON - Today, Congressman John Sullivan (R-Tulsa, OK) and two of his colleagues, Reps. Allen West (R-FL) and Bill Shuster (R-PA) sent the following letter to President Obama requesting that he ask for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s immediate resignation. The text of the Sullivan letter is below: “Dear President Obama: The recent decision by Standard and Poor’s (S&P) to downgrade our nation’s AAA credit rating has left our economy on the brink of disaster and created economic turmoil across the world. The American people have lost confidence in your Administration’s ability to manage our economy and major changes, starting with...

  Downgrade U.S. Credit? Why Now? David C. Stolinsky Aug. 11, 2011 On Friday, August 5, Standard & Poor’s, one of the three major credit-rating agencies, downgraded U.S. credit from AAA to AA+. The downgrade was announced after the markets closed, but the reaction was predictable. When markets opened on Monday, gold shot up, reflecting loss of confidence in the dollar and currencies in general, while most stocks fell. The government has been spending money in a way that makes drunken sailors look miserly, first under Bush, and even more under Obama. But what happened now that was any...

Who 'made $10bn on 10/1 bet that U.S. credit rating would be downgraded'? Unknown investor or hedge fund 'made $850million bet' Bet in futures market reportedly done at odds of 10/1 George Soros made similar bet on currency in 1992 But source says he wasn't involved in rumoured trade By Mark Duell Last updated at 10:57 PM on 8th August 2011

Freep this poll: Do you think the tea party is to blame for the downgrade of the nation's credit rating? Yes 21 (5%) No 359(93%) Undecided 0 (0%) Other 2 (0%)

House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) said he was "not ver surprised" by S&P's decision to downgrade the nation’s credit rating and said he would serve on the debt 'supercommittee' if chosen by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). "I'm not very surprised of this downgrade. We more or less saw this coming because we're on the wrong fiscal path," Ryan said on Fox News Sunday. He said the decision was a warning shot that "Washington has not gotten its fiscal house in order." Ryan also expressed concern that a rise in interest rates would add to the deficit. "If...

The U.S. dollar may weaken and Treasury yields rise when Asian markets reopen on Monday, though any selling in response to ratings agency S&P's downgrade of the United States is likely to be tempered by the escalating crisis in the euro zone. The S&P cut in the U.S. long-term credit rating by a notch to AA-plus is an unprecedented blow and results from concerns about the nation's budget deficits and climbing debt burden. It called the outlook "negative," signaling another downgrade is possible in the next 12 to 18 months. "The initial reaction will be a high degree of uncertainty...

One day after lowering the nation’s platinum triple-A credit rating, Standard & Poor’s analysts warned Saturday that the U.S. government could face a second downgrade if the economy continues to struggle and the government fails to make the cuts outlined in the debt ceiling agreement. The ratings agency on Friday downgraded the nation to AA+ for the first time in history, saying partisanship in Washington is preventing dramatic deficit reduction.

Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the nation's credit rating reinforces Democrats' call for increasing tax revenue, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Friday.

Standard & Poor's first-ever downgrade of U.S. Treasury debt could lead to some market tumult next week, investors and analysts said Saturday. Over time, though, the downgrade might do little more than mark a moment in the decline of U.S. economic strength, they said. There may be an "adverse market reaction," said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at research firm Capital Economics. But it "won't be long before the markets focus once again on the economic fundamentals," which he described as "not great." Mr. Dales said "the loss of America's AAA rating is the clearest sign yet that the fallout...

... The mortgage interest deduction, which allows 35 million homeowners to write off their mortgage interest payments, may be in for serious restructuring if ongoing efforts to pare the bulging federal debt are broadened. As part of the just-concluded debt ceiling debate, a bipartisan group of senators known as the "Gang of Six" proposed lowering the limit on mortgages eligible for the deduction from $1 million to $500,000 and restricting the tax break only to primary residences.[snip] In fact, the average value of the deduction increases with income, from $91 for those who make less than $40,000 a year to...

The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday in an unprecedented reversal of fortune for the world's largest economy. S&P cut the long-term US credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on concerns about the government's budget deficits and rising debt burden. The move is likely to raise borrowing costs eventually for the US government, companies and consumers. "The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics,"...

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Tuesday there is "no risk" the U.S. will lose its top credit rating amid a new analysis that revised its outlook on American debt to "negative." Geithner took to the airwaves of financial news networks to push back against a report Monday by Standard & Poor's that lowered its outlook on U.S. debt to "negative," reflecting political uncertainty over whether lawmakers will reach an agreement to address long-term debt.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday, in a dramatic reversal of fortune for the world's largest economy. S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on concerns about growing budget deficits. U.S. Treasuries, once undisputedly seen as the safest investment in the world, are now rated lower than bonds issued by countries such as the UK, Germany, France or Canada.

Highlights: Consumer credit grew to $15.5 billion, to an annual rate of $2.45 trillion in June. Biggest jump in consumer credit since August 2007. Revolving credit (e.g. credit cards) grew 7.9%, or $5.21 billion. Nonrevolving credit (e.g. auto & student loans) grew 7.6%, or $10.32 billion.

On July 13th, the president of the United States angrily walked out of ongoing negotiations over the raising of the debt ceiling from its legislated maximum of $14.294 trillion dollars. This prompted a new round of speculation over whether the United States might default on its financial obligations. In these circumstances, it is useful to recall the previous instances in which this has occurred and the effects of those defaults. By studying the defaults of the past, we can gain insights into what future defaults might portend. The Continental-Currency Default The first default of the United States was on its...

Featured Videos-Neil Cavuto

A total of 60 Bulgarian citizens have now been arrested by police authorities across Europe for participating in a large international scheme for credit card forgery and other crimes.The gang has been active since nine years and has accumulated a fortune estimated at over EUR 50. Around 5000 police officers from Spain Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, Germany, US intelligence agents and experts from Europol have contributed to the operation, codenamed Night Clone Card.The Bulgarian crime ring, which has been described as the world's largest in the sphere of bank card cloning, has been active mostly in Italy, where nine suspects were...

Obama is appointing Elizabeth Warren to head the new and possibly most powerful government agency ever created: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which will oversee and approve every single credit transaction in America. Check out the link provided. Here is another link to a video of House Republicans attempting to stop her nomination. Video

Debt talks to speed up, taxes still a hurdleBy Andy Sullivan and Deborah Charles – 2 hrs 10 mins ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top lawmakers aiming to reach a deficit-reduction deal agreed on Thursday to step up the pace of their talks with a series of meetings next week but said they still disagreed over the need to raise taxes. Vice President Joe Biden and six leading Democratic and Republican lawmakers have now met a half-dozen times as they try to work out their differences and reach a deal to reduce trillion dollar budget deficits. Thursday's Capitol Hill meeting took...

Moody's Investor's Service said it would place the government's Aaa rating under review for a possible downgrade due to the "very small but rising risk" of a short-lived default if the White House and Republican leaders can't agree on raising the nation's debt ceiling, which has already hit $14.3 trillion. Moody's announcement followed the lead set by S&P, which announced in April that it was downgrading the U.S. credit outlook to negative over the nation's mounting debt. The news was just the latest sign of the massive financial problems facing the nation as the economy's recovery sputters. ... Rep. Dave...

You're pretty close to being toast. Nerves are frazzled, homes are being evacuated, jobs lost and families are torn apart. Oh, the rookie Hussein has performed magic, all right. Kinda nuts. But it's what Barry King planned all along. This is his vision. Wealth distribution. And it's only getting started. How do you make it? Old money, new money, food stamps, living with the folks, moving in with the neighbor? How are you doing it? Are there any really good tips to make it through the Hussein years? And don't give me any guff on that '$40k on the credit...

Bush speech after 2005 capture of Saddam: The success of yesterday's mission is a tribute to our men and women now serving in Iraq. The operation was based on the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator's footprints in a vast country.  The operation was carried out with skill and precision by a brave fighting force. Our servicemen and women and our coalition allies have faced many dangers in the hunt for members of the fallen regime, and in their effort to bring hope and freedom to the Iraqi people. Their work continues, and so do the risks.  Today, on behalf of the nation, I thank the members of our...

Chinese labour camp prisoners forced to play online games After a long day of hard labour, scores of Chinese prisoners are now being forced to spend their nights playing online games in order to win credit for their guards, a former inmate has claimed. By Malcolm Moore, Shanghai 9:22AM BST 26 May 2011 A 54-year-old prisoner at the Jixi labour camp in the northern province of Heilongjiang said he was forced to play games on the internet in order to build up credit that was traded by his guards for real money, a practice known as “gold-farming”. In many online...

It’s like watching the same train wreck — twice. Our politicians are starting to commit the same wasteful blunders, resulting in the same perverse consequences, as the Europeans have in pricing carbon dioxide emissions, ostensibly to fight climate change. The harbinger of many bad things to come for us is now happening in B.C. There, the provincial government is forcing the transfer of millions of tax dollars from cash-strapped schools, hospitals and other public institutions, by requiring them to buy carbon offsets. Money which then benefits hugely profitable energy companies like Encana. This is eerily reminiscent of what happened in...

How To Keep A Damaged Financial And Economic System Afloat? Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2011 May 15, 2011 - 12:38 PM By: Bob Chapman The elitists who run America from behind the scenes have serious problems in trying to keep a badly damaged financial and economic system afloat. Ironically, these same characters are the ones responsible for the system and the condition that it is in today. It is not only confined to the US, but it prevails in England, Europe and other countries as well. Central bankers are all in constant touch with each other to employ tactics that...

First let me offer my heartiest congratulations and kudos to our northern neighbors on the almost total obliteration of the liberals in their political offices. May we here in the United States be as fortunate in November, 2012. I’m sorry, America, but I can’t join in the celebration of Osama bin Laden’s demise. It’s not that I am not happy this villain is dead, it’s just that I don’t want to honor the lies that our disgraceful snippet of a deluded leader is slavering all over anyone foolish enough to listen. He is making it sound as if HE planned...

ISLAMABAD, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Urdu TV channel Geo News quoted Pakistani intelligence officials as saying that the world's most wanted terrorist Osama Bin Laden was killed in a search operation launched by the Pakistani forces after a Pakistani army helicopter was shot down in the wee hours of Monday in Abbotabad, a mountainous town located some 60 kilometers north of Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad. At about 1:20 a.m. local time a Pakistani helicopter was shot down by unknown people in the Sikandarabad area of Abbotabad. The Pakistani forces launched a search operation in the nearby area and...

WASHINGTON: For the first time, a top credit ratings agency has seriously hinted the United States might be forced to welch on its debts, a warning experts say could herald dramatic changes for the country and the world. In the world of credit a "AAA" rating is a gold star of approval. Those countries and businesses that have it can borrow extraordinarily cheaply, those who don't, can't.