Free Republic

Italian automaker Fiat (FIA.MI) is looking for partners to manufacture its Alfa Romeo brand and its 500 subcompact in North America. Although the company hasn't finalized plans for its return to the U.S. market, an announcement could come later this year, Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne said Friday. "The U.S. market is very large, and we're not looking to occupy a premier position," Marchionne said. "But I think we do have a couple of brands and products that we can sell successfully there."

Chrysler now has a partnership with China-based automaker Chery to rebadge a small car for the South American market, a partnership with Volkswagen to build VW-badged minivans, and a brand new deal with Nissan in which it will supply the Japanese automaker a full-size truck in exchange for a new small car. Rumor has it that the Cerberus-owned automaker isn't done shaking hands quite yet. The latest partnership may involve Italian automaker Fiat, as reported by the German newspaper Handelsblatt. According to the paper, the deal with Fiat would involve freeing up some of Chrysler's production capacity in the U.S....

How is Money Created? By Mike Hewitt The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago used to publish a pamphlet entitled Modern Money Mechanics, which explains M1, M2, and M3. It is a truly fascinating read. That pamphlet is no longer in print, and the Chicago Fed has no plans to re-issue it. However, electronic copies are available (see link).In it, the process by which the Fed creates money "out of thin air" is detailed. Consider the opening paragraph:"Money is such a routine part of everyday living that its existence and acceptance ordinarily are taken for granted. A user may sense...

An affiliate of U.S.-based buyout firm Carlyle Group has defaulted on about $16.6 billion of debt and expects its lenders to seize remaining assets as the global credit crunch tightens around leveraged investors. Carlyle Capital, a fund listed in Amsterdam, said in New York on Wednesday that negotiations with lenders deteriorated late in the day after a drop in the value of its mortgage investments which it said would result in margin calls of $97.5 million on top of the $400 million it was already facing. A "successful refinancing is not possible," Carlyle Capital said, after trying for the past...

Frontal Assault on Freedom: FBI Raids Liberty Dollar Posted by BJT on Nov 15, 2007 Read this email closely. I just got it this morning. Those of you who consider the gold standard a quaint anachronism, pay extra close attention. If Ron Paul supporters, gold standard advocates and the Liberty Dollar were nothing but harmless kooks, why would the FBI raid their offices when no crime was ever committed? This is a currency competing with the USD, yes, but they never, but never make the claim that it is legal tender or anything other than what it is: private currency....

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer shook his head. He rolled his eyes. He even grimaced once or twice as he listened to Chief Justice John Roberts read the majority opinion in the school diversity case on Thursday. As the high court ended its term, Breyer showed obvious disappointment with the opinion. For liberal members of the court, it was not the only time this year their emotions surfaced during normally placid readings of the court's opinions.

On Tuesday president Hugo Chavez forced ConocoPhillips, Chevron, and Exxon Mobil to cede operational control over their multi-billion dollar projects to the Venezuelan government. With their backs to the wall, these oil companies are "negotiating" the terms of their surrender, and trying to get some "compensation" for the property being stolen from them. "President Bush should do something to protect the assets of American companies in Venezuela," said Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. "It is disgraceful that while Chavez steals American property Bush says nothing and does nothing." "At a minimum," Dr. Brook said, "Bush...

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry ordered today that schoolgirls in Texas must be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, making Texas the first state to require the shots. The girls will have to get Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer. Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass laws in state legislatures across the country mandating it Gardasil vaccine for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government,...

December 06, 2006 Milton Friedman, 1912-2006 by Hans F. Sennholz Few American economists have wielded as much influence on economic thought and policy as the late Milton Friedman. He was an articulate and ardent advocate of free markets and personal liberty. In 1962, his CAPITAL AND FREEDOM, which continues to be in print with nearly one million copies sold, pointed the way not only to economic but also political freedom. A year later his MONETARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 1867-1960, co-authored with Anna Schwartz, cast a new light on the Great Depression and the policies that caused it. He...

In a rather bizarre ruling that has marine industry officials worried, Judge Robert G. James of the United States District Court, Western Division of Louisiana, has said that it is criminal trespass for the American boating public to boat, fish, or hunt on the Mississippi River and other navigable waters in the US. In the case of Normal Parm v. Sheriff Mark Shumate, James ruled that federal law grants exclusive and private control over the waters of the river, outside the main shipping channel, to riparian landowners. The shallows of the navigable waters are no longer open to the public....

FIAT and CREDIT – “The coming Financial Holocaust�   By Nigel Maund June 1, 2006   clivemaund.com Setting the Scene This article builds on earlier essays by the writer based on a similar theme. However, as the reader will see, this gold boom cycle will be like none before it, and, as is often the case in human affairs, events of the past, whilst similar in outline, may differ significantly from presently unfolding events. To quote Winston Churchill, they are "variants on a familiar theme". That theme is determined by repetition of man's own inherent weaknesses: lust, greed and...

Gold Soars to New 25-Year High Above $725 Email this story NEW YORK Gold prices surged to a new 25-year high above $725 an ounce Thursday, on inflationary worries expressed by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Persistent concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions also lifted the metal, which is viewed as a hedge against currency weakness, inflation and geopolitical instability. The June gold contract rose as high as $728 an ounce Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its strongest level since 1980. It eased back in morning trading to $726.50, up $20.80 on the day. The gains came despite the dollar's...

You must have heard that "Americans are spending everything they're making and more, pushing the national savings rate to the lowest point since the Great Depression." That line from Associated Press writer Martin Crutsinger was echoed on TV and in most newspapers, provoking columnists and editorial writers to bemoan the "savings crisis." The analogy with 1933 was designed to equate a low savings rate with hard times. Actually, the savings rate is usually highest in recessions, because of fear and because recessions crush our nest eggs. The savings rate rose above 10 percent during the stagflations of 1974-75 and 1980-82...

A man accused of selling a MARTA token to a passenger having trouble with a token machine must stand trial on the criminal charge. Judge Stephanie Davis decided Tuesday that Donald Pirone's case should be bound over to state court for trial. Pirone could face a year in jail. An officer spotted Pirone selling the token on Nov. 30 inside the West End subway station. Following a 1992 state law that prohibits passengers from selling tokens, the officer handcuffed Pirone and gave him a citation. Pirone says he was trying to help a fellow passenger. He says he did not...

How the gold standard contributed to the Great Depression. There always seem to be voices raising the possibility that a return to a monetary gold standard could solve all our problems. Among those championing this meme this week were Chris Mayer at Daily Reckoning, Robert Blumen at Mises Economics Blog, and some of my fellow blogjammers. Under a pure gold standard, the government would stand ready to trade dollars for gold at a fixed rate. Under such a monetary rule, it seems the dollar is "as good as gold."Except that it really isn't-- the dollar is only as good as...

IRAN: LATE FIAT LONER BECOMES 'ISLAMIC MARTYR' Tehran, 15 Nov. (AKI) - A demonstration in front of the Italian embassy in Tehran, more than 100 university events marking the anniversary of his death and a 'documentary' about his life to be aired on Iranian state television. The subject of such obsessive interest in Iran is the late Edoardo Agnelli, heir to Italy's most famous industrial family, the Agnellis, who own the FIAT motoring empire. Under an Iranian urban myth, recently resuscitated and embellished, Edoardo Agnelli's suicide five years ago was 'a Zionist plot' to rob him of his inheritance because...

Following reports at the weekend that the new Fiat Panda would feature in the latest James Bond film "Casino Royale", the news left a lot of fans stunned that 007 would be seen in such a low-key car, especially considering the car he last drove in "Die Another Day" - the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. Confirmation has come today from an Italian report (home of Fiat) that the Panda will indeed feature in the 21st film of the series - shooting begins in January 2006. According to the report, "The Turin automaker has confirmed the startling news that in his...

With Fiat's Decline, Turin Needs Corporals of Industry By Steven Pearlstein Post Friday, July 1, 2005; D01 TURIN, Italy Italy is a country with many small businesses but too few entrepreneurs -- the kind of ambitious owners who aim to grow their businesses rapidly and generate substantial wealth for themselves, their investors and their community. Partly this is a reflection of the European disease, where growing beyond a micro-business automatically brings a union into play, along with the full complement of stifling government regulations and taxes. And in part, it is a cultural artifact in a country with two ideological...

"An almost hysterical antagonism toward the gold standard is one issue which unites statists of all persuasions. They seem to sense - perhaps more clearly and subtly than many consistent defenders of laissez-faire - that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that the gold standard is an instrument of laissez-faire and that each implies and requires the other. In order to understand the source of their antagonism, it is necessary first to understand the specific role of gold in a free society. Money is the common denominator of all economic transactions. It is that commodity which serves as a medium...

"An almost hysterical antagonism toward the gold standard is one issue which unites statists of all persuasions. They seem to sense - perhaps more clearly and subtly than many consistent defenders of laissez-faire - that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that the gold standard is an instrument of laissez-faire and that each implies and requires the other. In order to understand the source of their antagonism, it is necessary first to understand the specific role of gold in a free society. Money is the common denominator of all economic transactions. It is that commodity which serves as a medium...

How do you start an article on the subject that is so surreal that it has to be unbelievable? Government-sanctioned murder of an innocent woman has just completed its course. What are we going to do? Tyranny by our judicial system has just executed what I never thought could happen in the United States of America. A woman, who was brain-damaged, not dying, was murdered. It’s true our country has completed its journey into the “Orwellian” state. Help me understand this; we have a president who can enact war upon another country without congressional blessing, but President Bush couldn’t intervene...

At some point, perhaps in the not too distant future, the Terri Schiavo case may prove to be the seminal event that sparked the final days of the once-respected and essential soul of America. That which makes the Terri Schiavo case and controversy unique is neither that she has been on feeding and hydration tubes, nor that they were removed so that she would finally and inexorably die. Rather, it is that we, as a nation, have been intimately involved in the death watch and a media event…that of the murder of an innocent woman. I have heard estimates that...

Even his most ardent opponents are wont to acknowledge Justice Antonin Scalia's intellectual brilliance. If you’ve never watched his devastating fire handily blasting the drunken jurisprudence of postmodernism, you owe yourself a read some evening. It’s an irreverence that arouses the highest form of wrath: that of a left that has been not only defied, but mocked. His specialty is dismembering an opponent with his own weapon. He does it calmly and with a deftness that immobilizes any liberal mind that has been dealt such a terrifying dose of simplicity. Our $164,000 a year is buying us a lot. Contrary...

Fiat Faces Future on Its Own After Securing $2 Billion From General Motors ROME (AP) -- Fiat SpA faced the challenge of managing its troubled auto division on its own Monday -- but it will have the help of $2 billion from General Motors Corp. to be paid in a deal that releases the U.S. auto giant from an obligation of buying Fiat's car unit. In an agreement announced Sunday, the two companies dissolved a 2000 partnership pact including an option that could have forced GM to buy the 90 percent of Fiat Auto SpA that it did not already...

MILAN (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. will pay Fiat 1.55 billion euros ($1.99 billion) in a deal to drop an option which would have forced the U.S. giant to buy the Italian firm's loss-making car unit, GM said in a statement. In the statement, GM said both the Fiat-GM Powertrain and the purchasing joint ventures would be dissolved. GM will also acquire an interest in "key strategic diesel engine assets and other important rights" through the deal. GM will return its 10 percent stake in Fiat Auto. A mediation process to sort out the row over the put option ended...

<p>Don't look now, but the long-suffering U.S. dollar is enjoying a mini-rally. Will earnings suffer?</p> <p>NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - If you're an American planning a trip this spring to Europe, the United Kingdom or Australia, have we got good news for you: the U.S. dollar looks like it's making a comeback, meaning your vacation will be a little bit cheaper than last year, when the greenback was getting hammered.</p>

Portland, Oregon -- Wednesday, March 04, 2004, four of the county commissioners, all females, stood before the cameras and said that when they discovered a law was unconstitutional, it was their job to fix it. This is what Oregon politicians actually think, and is proof that educationally-speaking, some chilluns have been left behind in this state. These four, deciding on their own that homosexual marriage is required by the constitution, raised the flood gates, and all hell broke loose in the Beaver State's largest city. MA, NY and SF are not going to outshine PDX. Approaching the Superintendent of Education,...

Should unelected officials be allowed to order the confiscation of some or all guns and ammunition in the United States? This is the question posed by Sen. Jon Corzine (D., N.J.) and Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D., R.I.), in their proposed Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act. As one might suspect, the bill is about neither firearm safety nor consumer protection, but is an especially clever stratagem by the gun-prohibition lobby. The Kennedy-Corzine bill would give the Treasury Department and the courts nearly unlimited powers to restrict firearms manufacture and sales, and to confiscate guns. *snip* The social problem with guns...

Uttering the standard liberal cliché a few years ago, Richard Reeves described "representatives of the new South" as "Republicans of old Puritan definition, righteous folk afraid that someone, somewhere, is having fun." (I'll skip the context of Reeves' insight, except to note that apparently aging liberals view sodomy with the chubby intern in the back office as "having fun.") Like all beliefs universally held by liberals, Reeves's aphorism is the precise opposite of the truth. It's the blue states that are constantly sending lawyers to the red states to bother everyone. Americans in the red states look at a place...

LLCPostings4  OCCASIONAL POSTINGS FROM THE FILES OF GOLDEN SEXTANT ADVISORS LLC   The Once and Future Money by Bob Landis   [Note: Presentation to the 2003 Spring Conference, “Beyond the Storm,” hosted by Sage Capital Management, Inc., Houston, Texas, March 12, 2003. The views expressed are mine alone, and not those of Sage Capital.]  Good afternoon. I’m delighted to be here today. It’s an honor to speak to a gathering of smart and successful people. And it’s a privilege to share a podium with some of the best living minds in economics. I’d like to thank my friend Tony...

MILAN (Reuters) - Fiat on Saturday raised the possibility of changing a key agreement with General Motors Corp. that allows the Italian industrial group to sell the remaining 80 percent of its loss-making car arm to the U.S. automobile giant. In a statement after a meeting with creditor banks, Fiat said the basic points of the 2000 accord with GM "are still valid." {snip} Fiat in 2000 sold 20 percent of its car division Fiat Auto to GM and secured an option to sell it the rest from 2004, a prospect which is unlikely to be welcomed by the Detroit...

"...I don't know why it is not obvious that borrowing for consumption merely brings future consumption forward to today, which means that there will be a corresponding less consumption tomorrow, and finally that tomorrow is, consulting my calendar, now. Perhaps if you are very, very quiet and you listen real, real closely, you can hear them actually thinking, 'How can tomorrow be now? It ain't logical! Tomorrow is tomorrow, and it sure ain't now!'..." The Mogambo Guru - The cockroaches that infest Washington DC are all venturing out into the light to criticize or defend the new Bush budget. The...

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi suggested a witty and non-traditional way out off the complicated situation. He suggested that the laid-off workers not become frustrated and to join the country’s “shadow economy.” NEWS.Ru informs that the Italian prime minister is sure that “these people may have even higher wages in the shadow than at Fiat.”

MILAN (Reuters) - A crude bomb has been found outside the Milan headquarters of carmaker Fiat and another has been discovered outside a labour union building near the city, police say. The devices, neither of which exploded, were found amid renewed concern about terrorism in Italy, where an economist working on controversial labour reforms was shot dead in March. An employee of a Fiat dealership found the device at the company's headquarters in a Milan suburb, said Marco Rizzo, a colonel with Italy's carabinieri police force. Rozzo told Reuters a timer appeared to have been set for later on Monday....