Free Republic

Even 60 Minutes forecasts a major second crash. The fake Obama "bailout" with massive debt, printing money, "cap and tax," healthcare takeover, increasing the debt limit, giving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac another "open season" on taxpayer money ... are setting us up for even worse.

For his first lie in office, Obama said he'd be A model of transparency. On his second day in office, Obama let us see Two brand-new czars And no sign of that transparency. For his third lie in office, Obama said, "Trust me, Three million jobs," Dozens of czars, But no sign of that transparency For his fourth gaffe in office, he made apology To all the world, But no new jobs, To many czars, And no hint of that transparency After five weeks in office, the trend was plain to see: Five dates with wife, Insults to the Queen...

VENEZUELA President Hugo Chavez threatened today to expropriate Toyota's local assembly plant if it did not produce an adequate number of vehicles designed for rural areas. Mr Chavez said his socialist government was going to apply strict quotas regarding the number and types of vehicles firms could produce. He ordered an immediate inspection of Toyota's facilities to see how many "rustic vehicles" they were currently producing. "They'll have to fulfil (the quotas), and if not, they can get out," said Mr Chavez during a televised address. "We'll bring in another company." He said if the inspection showed Toyota was not...

Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits last week declined to the lowest level since September 2008, signaling firings are easing as employers gain confidence in the economic recovery. Initial jobless claims fell by 28,000, more than forecast, to 452,000 in the week ended Dec. 19, from 480,000 the prior week, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance dropped in the prior week to 5.08 million, and those receiving extended benefits decreased. Improving sales combined with increases in production mean companies may not need to trim staff...

Nevada's stimulus-funded weatherization programs are living down to expectations of inefficiency and incompetence. What a surprise. Of all the debt-growing, make-work boondoggles crafted by Congress this year, the "green jobs" grants set aside to make low-income homes more energy-efficient left elected Democrats especially excited: "We're handing out welfare, creating jobs and saving the planet!" The state got $18.6 million in weatherization funds, with the condition that all the money be spent by June 30. About 1,850 homes with incomes at or below 200 percent of the poverty level were supposed to get new insulation, new caulking and the minor repairs...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy grew at a much slower pace than initially thought in the third quarter, restrained by weak business investment and a slightly more aggressive liquidation of inventories, according to data on Tuesday. Growth was boosted by government stimulus programs, including the popular cash for clunkers and tax credit for first-time home buyers, and debate continues to rage over the sustainability of the recovery once government support wanes. Business spending in the third quarter was weaker than the government had estimated last month. Business investment fell at a 5.9 percent rate instead of 4.1 percent, the department...

For the first quarter ever, the number of homes in foreclosure with mortgages serviced by U.S. national banks and savings and loans topped the 1-million mark, according to figures released Monday by the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The percentage of prime borrowers whose loans were 60 or more days past due doubled from the July-to-September period a year earlier. And more than half of all homeowners whose payments had been lowered through modification plans defaulted again. The report, which covers about 34 million loans, or about 65% of all U.S. mortgages,...

Promising change after eight George Bush and Republican dominated years, Barack Obama won the most sweeping non-incumbent victory in over 50 years along with congressional Democrats gaining large House and Senate majorities. In addition, at 56.8%, voter turnout was the highest since Richard Nixon's "secret plan" to end the Vietnam war and his "Southern" and "law and order" strategies beat Hubert Humphrey and independent George Wallace in 1968. On election night, the mood celebrated hope for progressive change, an end to imperial wars, and a new day for America. When word came around 10PM, expectant thousands in Chicago's Grant Park...

Take a look at the future of America at the hands of Democratic leadership!

If I already have health insurance, can I keep it as is? The short answer is: yes. Can I keep my doctors? Again, yes. If I change or lose my job, can I keep the same insurance? No... But the government would set up a new "insurance exchange" that you can buy into. If I'm on Medicare, will there be cuts to my benefits? No - your benefits will not be cut. In fact, the bill would improve your prescription drug coverage. Will taxes go up? In some cases, yes. If I'm uninsured now, how soon do I get the...

WASHINGTON — Ben Nelson has spent his life negotiating big deals, but never one this big. Now he must face the consequences of his decision. It may make him popular at the White House and among some of his fellow Senate Democrats, but his announcement brought swift, scathing denunciations from Republicans — in Washington and in Nebraska. Nebraska GOP chairman Mark Fahleson declared Nelson's decision “the death knell to his political career in Nebraska.” In contrast to the charged atmosphere that has surrounded the health care debate, Nelson has sought to maintain a calm demeanor and downplay the pressure he...

even U.S. banks were closed by regulators on Friday, bring the total this year to 140 as the effects of the credit crisis continued to be felt across the country. What's more, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. established temporary institutions to help close two of the failed banks.

If Senate Democrats want their version of sweeping health care legislation to carry the day, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, said they have a tall order to fill: prove they have written the better bill. Ms. Pelosi, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said House Democrats could live without a government-run insurance plan, or public option, like the one in their bill — if the Senate has a better idea. But even as Ms. Pelosi stressed that she had yet to see the completed Senate bill, she said there were aspects of the House version that were clearly stronger,...

The U.S. government abruptly shelved plans to start trimming its 34% stake in Citigroup Inc., after investors demanded a price so low that the Treasury Department would have lost money on the deal. The embarrassing reversal came two days after the Treasury said it planned to sell as much as $5 billion of stock in the New York company, as part of Citigroup's plan to pay back $20 billion in taxpayer aid the troubled bank received last year.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came to President Obama's aid on health care legislation Wednesday, taking on an enraged liberal base that includes many House Democrats and former party chief Howard Dean. But on Afghanistan, the San Francisco Democrat parted ways with the president, saying she would not ask Democrats to fund Obama's request for more troops. Pelosi backed away from her yearlong crusade for a "public option" of government-provided insurance in health care legislation. "Whatever we have, it will be great," Pelosi said, dismissing the welter of compromises that Senate Democrats have acceded to in their struggle to get the...

An immigration reform organization says the Obama administration has done virtually nothing to stem the tide of illegal immigration since taking office in January. As President Barack Obama approaches the one-year mark of his presidency, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has released a comprehensive report evaluating what the administration has actually done in its claim to have "restored credibility to immigration enforcement." FAIR spokesman Ira Mehlman says if anything, there is less credibility now when it comes to immigration reform. "Not only haven't they done anything, but in fact they have undermined the capacity of this country to...

With three banks that were shuttered Friday, there have been 133 U.S. bank and thrift failures this year, more than five times as many as in 2008. Tougher regulations may accelerate the pace next year. The implosion of several large residential mortgage lenders in 2008 gave way to troubled community lenders, which were hobbled by commercial-construction and real-estate loans that soured. During 2009, many failed institutions were sold to healthier banks, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. agreeing to share in losses on acquired assets. Holding companies taking advantage of generous terms include New York Community Bancorp(NYB Quote), which took...

WASHINGTON — The head of the politically powerful SEIU has sent a letter to members saying the union would continue to stand with President Barack Obama in pushing for health overhaul, "but he must fight for the reform we all know is possible." Andrew Stern and other union leaders are frustrated that the Senate bill has no government-run insurance option and will not allow Americans to purchase Medicare at an earlier age. They are still waiting to see final language in the bill before deciding whether to support the legislation.

Discover Financial Services Inc.'s (DFS) fiscal fourth quarter net earnings were down 14% from a year ago as losses stemming from card loans remain elevated. The company also said it expected losses from souring card accounts to remain at elevated levels the next quarter. The results, announced early Thursday, indicate that consumers remain stressed by high rates of joblessness. Delinquency rates, a key gauge of future losses, continue to rise. This suggests the U.S. is unlikely to experience a smooth economic turnaround. Discover, along with its peers, is also coping with sweeping legislation restricting certain fees and rate increases, which...

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Average life expectancy in the United States has reached almost 78 years, a record high, federal health officials said Wednesday. From birth in 2007, women can expect to live to 80.4 years on average and men to 75.3 years, according to the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "This is great news," Dr. William O'Neill, executive dean for clinical affairs at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said of the overall findings. Many people say the United States health care system is broken, O'Neill said. "But, this is...

WASHINGTON Rushing to lock the nation into expensive health care and climate change commitments, Democrats are in an understandable frenzy because public enthusiasm for both crusades has been inversely proportional to the time the public has had to think about them. And the president pushing this agenda has, with his incontinent hunger for attention, seen his job approval vary inversely with his ubiquity. Consider his busy December – so far. His Dec. 1 Afghanistan speech to the nation was followed on Dec. 3 by his televised "jobs summit." His Dec. 8 televised economics speech at the Brookings Institution was followed...

The new ABC News/Washington Post poll has bad news and good news for the president, whose approval ratings have sunk to an all-time low of 50%. Majorities now for the first time disapprove of President Obama's work on health care (53%) and oppose the health care reform package making its way through Congress (51%). A majority -- also for the first time -- disapprove of the president's handling of the economy (52%). His worst score: handling the deficit; 56 percent disapprove. But 54 percent now approve of the president's performance as commander-in-chief. This was an area of real weakness for...

Of course, Sunday Night Football & NBC won the Sunday night ratings as usual, as NBC averaged a 5.7 adults 18-49 rating on the night, far ahead of second place CBS‘ 2.9 rating, which was itself boosted by an NFL overrun. ABC’s Christmas In the White House special did a 2.8 adults 18-49 rating, lower than the season average for Brothers & Sisters (of 3.17). 10:00 NBC Sunday Night Football: Philadelphia v. NY Giants 7.0 17 17.745 ABC Christmas at the White House: Oprah Primetime Special 2.9 7 11.847 CBS Cold Case / Criminal Minds (repeat)

RASMUSSEN POLL: Obama Job Approval Falls to New Low at 44%... Developing...

NEW YORK - Eight years ago, President George W. Bush stood on a pile of rubble and told New Yorkers, "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." Perhaps President Barack Obama should take a cue from his predecessor and hear what New Yorkers say about his administration's decision to prosecute five Sept. 11 suspects here. Finding a New Yorker who is happy about that is difficult. "I don't see the upside," said Louis Polanco, a retired New York City cop. "The unprecedented...

Even as signs of deflation linger, some investors are moving to protect themselves against any surge in inflation. To defend—and profit—from a big rise in inflation, investors have piled into gold or inflation-protected bonds. In November, investors put $2 billion into inflation-protected mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, according to Morningstar Inc. Another $3.9 billion into went into commodity funds and commodity exchange-traded funds, primarily gold funds. So far this year, those categories of funds have raked in $59 billion. "Investors have a year or two to build a bomb shelter against inflation," says Milton Stern, a principal at Bridgewater Advisors....

Washington (CNN) - Unemployment will go down in the coming year, but that doesn't mean U.S. economic woes are over, two leading economic figures said Sunday. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and Christina Romer, chairman of the White House Council on Economic Advisers, both made qualified predictions for economic growth and decreasing unemployment. Unemployment "is going to be lower," Greenspan said, mostly due to people returning to the labor force. Greenspan noted upcoming boosts to employment, such as more than 700,000 people working in 2010 to conduct the federal census.

It's a good thing the health care debate has moved on to the Senate, because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has completely lost her voice. Her vocal cords have shut down, her husband, Paul, told me when I ran into him at Ron Cowan's holiday party at Teatro ZinZanni the other night. Pelosi has been getting advice from everyone on how to fix it. President Obama told her, "hot water and lemon," at the recent Kennedy Center Honors gala.

CARSON CITY — MGM Mirage has laid off 9,000 employees during the past 18 months. General Motors has cut 13,000 hourly workers during the past year. Nevada government, in contrast, has laid off just 60 employees over the past 18 months. The state government workforce has been largely immune from pink slips since the recession began in 2007, despite Nevada having one of the largest budget shortfalls in the country.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's top economic aide Christina Romer said Sunday that the improving US economy is not yet out of recession, and will not turn the corner until the unemployment picture improves. "The president has always said, and what I firmly believe, is you're not recovered until all of those people that want to work are back to work," said Romer, who heads up the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

WASHINGTON — The top White House economic adviser says "everybody agrees the recession is over" even though many experts predict unemployment could climb higher. Larry Summers says key indicators have shown that the economy is beginning to expand again and that job creation probably will follow. The jobless rate stands at 10 percent. He acknowledges it will take "substantial time" before the economy recovers entirely. But he says that "what we can take satisfaction from is we've walked back from the brink."

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19. Today is the second straight day that Obama’s Approval Index rating has fallen to a new low. Prior to the past two days, the Approval Index had never fallen below -15 during Obama’s time in office (see trends).

42.3% Approve; 48.3% Disapprove more at link

COPENHAGEN — Thousand of protesters from around the globe converged in a parliamentary square here Saturday for what was expected to be the largest demonstration during two weeks of talks on a global strategy to combat climate change. “This is our comment on global warming,” said Jens Kloft, a Danish performance artist. “We want to have an international compromise on global warming -- a better climate, but two more months of summer in Denmark please. Because it’s too cold to be out here.”

Regulators have shut down banks in Florida, Arizona and Kansas, bringing to 133 the number of U.S. banks that have failed to hold up this year against the struggling economy and a cascade of loan defaults. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday it took over Miami-based Republic Federal Bank, with $433 million in assets and $352.7 million in deposits. A bank based in Boca Raton, Fla., 1st United Bank, agreed to assume all the deposits and $267.1 million of the assets of the failed bank. The FDIC will retain the rest for eventual sale. In addition, the FDIC and...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -16. That’s the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President (see trends). The 25% who Strongly Approve matches the lowest level of enthusiasm yet recorded. That’s partly the result of declining enthusiasm among Democrats. While Democrats continue to offer their approval, just 43% Strongly Approve. Among all voters, 36% now believe that the president is...

A tax on banking could be used to pay for combating climate change under plans pushed by Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy today as Britain almost doubled the cash it put up for short-term funding to help developing countries to go green. In a joint statement, they declared: "To ensure predictable and additional finance in the medium term to 2020 and beyond, we should make use of innovative financing mechanisms, such as the use of revenues from a global financial transactions tax and the reduction of aviation and maritime emissions and the auctioning of national emissions permits. We will work...

WASHINGTON — US media and leading opinion makers on Friday had largely positive views of Barack Obama's Nobel Peace award speech in Oslo, with conservatives especially delighted with his choice of words. "We've said before ... that awarding President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize after so short a time in office and so few concrete accomplishments was a mistake," wrote the Los Angeles Times in its newspaper editorial. However the acceptance speech was "a blockbuster even by Obama's lofty standards."

BRUSSELS — The European Union will contribute about $3 billion starting next year to help poorer countries deal with climate change, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain announced on Friday. Yvo de Boer, the head of the United Nations climate office, has called on industrialized nations to give $30 billion fund to the fund in order to help vulnerable countries to begin planning massive engineering projects like building higher sea walls and converting their electricity systems so they rely on low-carbon sources. Poor countries also are seeking a commitment from the industrialized world to provide long-term finance totaling more than...

Last year, my column "Global Warming Rope-A-Dope" (Dec. 24, 2008) started out: "Americans have been rope-a-doped into believing that global warming is going to destroy the planet. Scientists who have been skeptical about man-made global warming have been called traitors or handmaidens of big oil." New evidence proves that climatologists and environmental policy advocates have not only fed us lies, engaged in scientific and academic fraud but committed criminal acts as well. [snip] Last year's column closed with my speculation that if ever "the permafrost returns to northern U.S., as far south as New Jersey as it once did, it's...

ORANGE - Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize today – but the president failed to get a school named after him in the Orange Unified School District. The district's board voted unanimously tonight to deny a petition for a proposed charter school named after Obama. The district held a public forum on Nov. 12 to determine public interest for the proposed charter school – which no one attended. "It's unfortunate that we have to waste our time with this petition as I see it," said school board President John Ortega. "But we have to follow the Education Code and...

As Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, the Dalai Lama told Sky News he believed the award was "a little early". He also cautioned the US president against relying too much on his advisers. The Dalai Lama told Sky News: "I think if you are realistic, it may have been a little early but it doesn't matter, I know Obama is a very able person. "Sometimes these individual persons rely on different advice from different people so like former President Bush junior, as a human being I really love him, really wonderful person, very honest, very truthful....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama has a higher approval rating among Israelis than is widely believed, undercutting arguments he has lost Israeli public support for new peace efforts, a poll said on Thursday. The poll by the Washington-based New America Foundation found that 41 percent of Israelis had a favorable rating of Obama against 37 percent who rated him unfavorably. Despite this, 55 percent of Israelis polled said they thought Obama did not support Israel against 42 percent who said he did -- a reflection of the "complexity of views" about the U.S. leader as he presses both...

President Obama's job approval rating has fallen to 47 percent in the latest Gallup poll, the lowest ever recorded for any president at this point in his term. President Obama's job approval rating has fallen to 47 percent in the latest Gallup poll, the lowest ever recorded for any president at this point in his term. The new low comes as Obama enters the home stretch in his push to enact his signature initiative, an overhaul of the nation's health care system, and escalates America's involvement in the Afghanistan war. Below are comparable ratings for other presidents since Gallup began...

Alec Baldwin, the US actor, has said he has lost interest in acting and considers his film career a failure. "I consider my entire movie career a complete failure," he told the magazine. "The goal of moviemaking is to star in a film where your performance drives the film, and the film is either a soaring critical or commercial success, and I never had that." Baldwin has expressed interest in politics in the past but did not say in the interview what he intended to do if he quit acting.

President Obama on Monday reiterated that he will limit the across-the board pay increase for federal employees to 2 percent in 2010. Obama originally issued the 2 percent recommendation in August. Under federal law, the president has until the end of November to propose an alternative to pay levels set under procedures laid out in the 1990 Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act. Under that law, employees would be due a 2.4 percent base pay raise in 2010, plus locality pay increases averaging 16.5 percent. That total pay increase would cost about $22.6 billion in fiscal 2010 alone, Obama wrote. The...

You might expect Howard Davidowitz of Davidowitz & Associates to backtrack from some of the bearishness he's professed on Tech Ticker (and elsewhere) in the past year. But you'd be wrong. "The consumer is in worse shape since I was here last" in August, Davidowitz says, citing the following: Unemployment has exploded: "We've lost a ton of jobs since I was here last," Davidowitz says, noting the "real" unemployment rate is 17.5%. "That's an astounding number." Housing continues to sink: "The consumers' biggest asset is down trillions" in value while "foreclosures are exploding" and a huge percentage have negative equity...

Americans remain inclined against the health care overhaul in Congress as debate begins on the Senate floor today. The USA Today/Gallup poll released today found 49 percent saying they would tell their representative to vote against the bill and 44 percent saying they would urge a yes vote. That's about the same split as in the survey earlier this month, but a change from 51 percent support and 41 percent disapproval in October. Gallup says: "Republicans are overwhelmingly opposed to new healthcare legislation -- 86% would advise their member of Congress to vote against it, while 12% would want their...

Wetlands from Bangladesh to Florida submerged. Drought and devastating heat in important granaries such as the Yangtze floodplain in China or Ukraine. Rains that come too often or too hard in India or the U.S. Northeast. The list of potentially devastating impacts from climate change is a long one. But with greenhouse gas emissions continuing to climb and concentrations in the atmosphere rising by roughly two parts per million (ppm) a year, climate catastrophes are looking more and more imminent. So how do we keep global average temperatures from warming more than two degrees Celsius? Scientists have begun to turn...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Tibet's exiled Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama entered the climate change debate on Monday, urging governments to take serious action and put global interests ahead of domestic concerns. "In my own case I never use bathtub, only shower. Whenever I leave my room I always put off my light," the Dalai Lama told a news conference. "The elected government, sometimes their number one ... priority is national interest, national economy interest, then global issues are sometimes secondary," said the Dalai Lama. "That, I think, should change. The global issue should be number one. In some cases...