Free Republic

If money is the mother's milk of politics, then Senator John McCain seems intent on going on a hunger strike. Barack Obama has proved to be the most effective fund-raiser in the history of American politics, at a time when McCain seems to be doing all he can to make sure that he cannot raise enough in campaign contributions to stay competitive. If Senator McCain fails in his bid for the presidency, more than any other candidate in recent memory he will well and truly have been hoist on his own petard.

The Obamas often say they would still be in debt if not for his best-selling books, which began to swell the couple's bank account in 2005. In fact, for some period of time, Michelle Obama tells audiences, the couple's college loan payments cost them more than their monthly mortgage. As young lawyers, the Obamas pursued non-profit or public service during much of the 1990s. Obama once said he was so broke when he arrived in Los Angeles for the Democratic National Convention in 2000 that his credit card was rejected when he tried to rent a car. Still, it's hard...

Hello, Hillary? Hate to wake you, but it's 3 o'clock in the morning, and we have a real crisis. It's your campaign, senator. It's Hail Mary time. You've lost the bid for a revote in Florida and, it seems, in Michigan, which means your prospects for prevailing over Barack Obama in the primary popular vote by June are vanishing fast. The Illinois senator, meanwhile, has just delivered a JFK-like speech on race in America--a savvy move that may well have stanched the hemorrhaging of his campaign over the controversial remarks made by his pastor, Jeremiah Wright. The mood could be...

Americans don't understand debt, which may be one reason that they have too much of it, according to a survey released Tuesday. The survey presented 1,000 people with a hypothetical scenario about credit card debt and asked them to compute how long it would take to pay it off. Only 35.9% of the 1,000 respondents could figure out how many years it would take for the amount they owe on their credit cards to double. A full 18.2% did not know how to respond and 31.9% of those surveyed over-estimated the timeframe. The survey by Harvard Business School and Dartmouth...

As we each search for our personal pot of gold, many of us wonder whether the rainbow leading us to a six-figure paycheck has to be so long. We want financially rewarding jobs, but not everyone is eager to commit the time and money necessary to complete a medical or law degree. The good news is that, even though statistics have shown that more education translates to higher earnings, there are still plenty of six-figure salary jobs for those of us who have decided not to take the seven-years-and-a-stethoscope route. The following is a list of seven lucrative fields in...

To most political observers, the near-certainty that John McCain will be the Republican nominee ends any prospects for a Michael Bloomberg candidacy as an independent. Alas, Bloomberg begs to differ. He reportedly sees the current state of play as another opening for his presidential dreams. After telling friends he believes Hillary Clinton will be her party's nominee, Bloomberg said at a recent event, "Hillary should pray I get in the race because that would help her," according to a source quoted in the Daily News gossip column Rush & Molloy. Bloomberg, whose office would neither confirm nor deny he made...

They had small means and big hopes of owning a house. But African-Americans snared in the US mortgage crisis have seen the American dream turn into a nightmare many call "financial apartheid." The storm triggered by risky "subprime" loans has left many in ruins, forced out of their modest homes and furious at falling victim to financial dealings that have taken a particular toll on minority families. "People of color are more than three times more likely to have subprime loans," concluded the organization United for a Fair Economy in a recent report which estimated that minorities have seen between...

What should be Sen. Grassley's next step in his probe of six televangelist ministries? (related article) Forge ahead w/ court orders Be patient and wait Turn it over to the IRS Drop the investigation altogether None of the above

Some modern ministers and ministries spend lavishly. But is that any of Congress' business? November 18, 2007 A U.S. senator is putting a new and troubling spin on the question: "What would Jesus drive?" Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who is pressing tax-exempt churches to be more open about their finances, told The Times that "Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey." Given that example, Grassley asked, "Do these ministers really need Bentleys and Rolls-Royces to spread the Gospel?" Actually, they do, according to a politician who attends a Georgia church that has attracted the attention of...

Insisting "everything is in order" with his organization's finances, the Rev. Al Sharpton brushed off reports yesterday that his group is being probed by the state attorney general. The National Action Network will hand over years of outstanding documents to Andrew Cuomo's Charities Bureau by Nov. 1, under a deal set last year by then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer after a fire in the group's Harlem headquarters destroyed the files, Sharpton said. "The attorney general's office is currently reviewing the matter and the organization is working to bring their filings up to date," said Cuomo's spokesman Jeffrey Lerner. Questions about the...

"According to some US experts, some US$ 20 trillion in worthless securities exist, putting US and European banks are at risk. Asia should avoid the worse. A new North American currency, the Amero, is making news."> According to US financial analyst Mike Whitney[1], a mountain of unfunded, unregulated paper worth more than US$ 20 trillion might be out there [2]. Apparently, no one, neither the general public nor professionals on Wall Street, has yet to realise the extent of the hole, a hole of 20 trillion dollars with no market, nor value. Even if the Federal Reserve were to ease...

Of all the possible vulnerabilities facing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign, Mrs. Clinton has long believed that the one of the biggest was money, friends and advisers say. Some sort of fund-raising scandal that would echo the Clinton-era controversies of the 1990s and make her appear greedy or ethically challenged. As a result, Mrs. Clinton told aides this year to vet major donors carefully and help her avoid situations in which she might appear to be trading access for big money, advisers said. Also to be avoided, the senator said, were fund-raising tactics that might conjure up the Clinton...

Southern donors, lawyers, retirees and investors are major backers to the undeclared candidate's exploratory committee, the Center for Responsive Politics finds. Although Republican Fred Thompson has not officially declared his candidacy for president, he was required to file the financial report for his "testing the waters" efforts by July 31. His "Friends of Fred Thompson" exploratory committee is a 527 committee, which reports to the IRS, not yet a campaign committee that would report to the FEC. Critics have accused Thompson of dodging the disclosure rules that other candidates must abide by, while the former "Law and Order" actor has...

Lives Well-Lived On the other side of the spectrum, I dined last night with an old friend from the glorious street of my childhood, Harvey Road in Silver Spring, Md. Gene Daumit, who was accompanied by his beautiful wife, DeeDee, is a super-smart guy with a Ph.D. from MIT, a major job at a huge chemicals company, a spouse with a great job in real estate, a home and a vacation condo that are both paid for (or mostly paid for), a substantial pension, and impressive savings. As they told me about their life, especially their wildly successful daughters, I...

Smarter people are no better off 12:16 25 April 2007 NewScientist.com news service Roxanne Khamsi Contrary to common expectation, intelligence does not always predict financial wellbeing. Even though smart people earn more, on average, it does not protect them from financial difficulty. New research has found that people who score higher on intelligence tests end up with the same net worth as others when lifestyle factors are taken into account. And the study confirms that you don't have to be smart to be wealthy. The work reveals that while exceptionally smart individuals typically earn more, they are also more likely...

Take steps to get finances in shape Trim expenses this year so you can put more into savings, retirement funds By Gail MarksJarvis Posted January 14, 2007 Just what you need--a few more New Year's resolutions. Yet, if you've already given up on the promise you made to get into shape, perhaps you can try to make your finances a little healthier. And if you are still at it on your workouts or weight-loss program, keep in mind that getting the basics right on your finances can be a lot like losing weight--the hardest part is getting started. When you...

Divorce and lost earning time could put living standards in a free fall late in life. We traveled where we wanted," she said. "He bought me furs and jewelry. We stayed at the best hotels." Then the marriage fell apart. Now 51, Tucker Emerson scrambles to pay the bills and wonders how she will get by in retirement. ...I don't know anyone who can afford to retire, and they're all people my age," said Leslie Clark, 64, a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines Inc. who lives in El Segundo. "Most of the people I know will have to find...

A month after his musical comeback hit a sour note, pop star Michael Jackson has sued his former accountants for breach of duty, claiming they withdrew huge sums of money from his bank accounts but neglected to pay his bills. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court last Thursday and obtained on Tuesday by Reuters, says the accounting firm Bernstein, Fox, Whitman, Goldman & Sloan withdrew $2.5 million a year from Jackson's accounts but failed to properly pay the bills for which the money was earmarked. Representatives for the Los Angeles-based firm were not immediately available for comment. Jackson,...

When San Jose police officer and military reservist Derrick Boler answered his country's call, the city promised to make up the difference between his military and police pay so his family wouldn't suffer financially from his sacrifice. When Boler returned home after 34 months in Iraq, the city handed him a bill for more than $52,000. City officials said they overpaid him by mistake and needed him to repay the difference in three years. With interest. ``I just about had a heart attack,'' said Boler, 42, an 18-year veteran of the San Jose police. Boler isn't the only one. San...

Bush on live webstream from the White House regarding the economy and budget and how well everything is going now, etc. http://www.whitehouse.gov/live.v.ram

WASHINGTON -- Boeing Co. has won a big government contract to provide new high-tech ways to catch illegal immigrants trying to enter the U.S. along the Mexican border, a congressional aide said. The Department of Homeland Security was expected to announce the contract, which has been estimated as high as $2 billion, as early as Wednesday. The congressional aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the department had not yet made its announcement. Boeing was among several major defense companies competing for the job. While other companies' proposals relied more heavily on using flying drones to patrol the border, Boeing...

I attended a recent Investment in China and India Summit hosted by Financial Research Associates. I will use this forum to share some of insights that were given at this summit for the benefit of those hoping/thinking/planning on investing in an Asian country -- China, India, or Japan. Growth Capital- Dominant type of fund in Asia by number, especially in country-focused funds; focused on backing firms that are already established but are looking for capital to support strong growth. Buyouts- True control buyouts are a more recent phenomenon in Asia. Most funds focused on buyouts are larger Pan-Asian funds or...

Despite a plea from the Bush Administration, the New York Times ran a story revealing that the U.S. government was tracking terrorists through their bank accounts. The classified information disclosed in the Times piece was obtained from unnamed sources alleged to be working for the CIA. “The Bush Administration’s claim that this disclosure would aid America’s enemies is ludicrous,” said an unsigned Times editorial. “The Bush Administration is America’s most dangerous enemy. Anything we can do to thwart its evil designs is our patriotic duty. In this regard, strange as it might first seem, the so-called terrorists are actually our...

Higher-ed accreditation practice does not have the trust it once had. Just because a school is accredited, it no longer means that the school can be relied on to deliver quality education. How many full-timers are there? It doesn't matter as much because they are not available. How many books are there in the library? It doesn't matter any more, because nearly all resources needed are now online. How much classroom space is there? It doesn't matter anymore, because students are taking classes online. How stable is the school financially? It matters a lot, because schools ought not be allowed...

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, under federal investigation for possible insider trading, will have a nice nest egg to fall back on when he retires from Congress in January, recording income last year of more than $5 million from his largest blind trust. Frist, R-Tenn., is hardly the richest member of the millionaires' club of Congress, but he and numerous other lawmakers whose financial dealings have been questioned were under scrutiny as House and Senate lawmakers disclosed their finances Wednesday. Rep. Alan Mollohan (news, bio, voting record), D-W.Va., steered millions in federal money to nonprofit groups in his...

Military leaders will press state legislators today to protect the hundreds of thousands of young and impressionable service members who are prime targets for payday loan centers, which can charge a maximum annual rate of 459 percent. The armed forces' top commanders rarely speak out on controversial issues, preferring to find solutions behind the scenes with politicians and Pentagon officials. However, they see payday loans, in which consumers pay an upfront fee for an advance on their next paycheck, as an increasingly unpatriotic distraction from war operations. The top commanders contend that service members are often financially unsophisticated, which makes...

Legislation to restrict public access to financial records in California divorce cases was placed on the Assembly's inactive file Thursday. State Sen. Kevin Murray, a Culver City Democrat who crafted the measure, Senate Bill 1015, shelved the bill after Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez proposed major amendments in response to concerns by various female lawmakers and women's advocacy groups. The bill, as written by Murray, would not limit spouses' access to sensitive financial information but would allow automatic redaction from public files of net worth, annual salary, Social Security numbers, home addresses, and balances of bank or broker accounts upon request...

ALBANY, April 4 — New York State and local governments and their public authorities are circumventing the voters in amassing debt that now amounts to nearly a quarter-trillion dollars, according to a report issued on Tuesday examining public borrowing in New York. The report by the Citizens Budget Commission, a business-backed policy group, presents an exhaustive overview of the extent of borrowing by New York State, its 583 public authorities and its local governments. Legislators have come under withering criticism for passing a budget last week that would more than double the new debt proposed over the next two years...

AN Australian woman's boyfriend dismembered her and kept her remains at home with their children for two days before dumping them into a frozen lake in Sweden. The mutilated remains of former Canberra resident and mother of two Nina Peltonen were found near the crime-ridden industrial town of Sodertalje last Tuesday. Ms Peltonen's 31-year-old partner was charged with murder after he was spotted cutting a hole through the ice of Yngern Lake, south of Stockholm. Last night, Ms Peltonen's family pastor, Jakka Tuovinen, told The Sun-Herald: "It is very hard to know what to say right now. This is a...

The local San Diego FOX-6 Channel has just broken the story tonight that the San Diego Chapter of "Kind Hearts" Charity has also had it's finances frozen for having links to terrorist organizations. Two of the 9/11 hijackers were living and taking flying lessons here in San Diego.

New Year's resolutions are always about doing things, or not doing things. Things like exercising, quitting smoking or otherwise changing your basic daily habits to reach a particular goal. That's why resolutions are so quickly abandoned: They require change. But how about resolving to know things this year? After all, since you were little you looked under the bed and in the closet to make sure the bogeyman wasn't waiting to pounce when the lights went out. Back then you wanted to know, wanted certainty. And there was a warm feeling when you realized there were no dangers lurking. What...

Friction between Warsaw and London over the British proposal for the 2007-2013 EU budget, which could see as much as €14bn ($16.5bn) cut in funds for new member states, is forcing Poland to look elsewhere in Europe for allies in the negotiations. ADVERTISEMENT Britain won a positive image in Poland by being one of only three EU members to fully open its labour markets to the 10 countries that joined in 2004. Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Poland’s the new conservative prime minister, made London – seat of the rotating EU presidency – his first foreign trip after elections in October. But Britain’s...

1. "Our bonuses are really kickbacks."Michael Moskowitz doesn't mince words. "It's the mother of all potential snookering," says the president of New York-based mortgage lender Equity Now, "and it's a game being played on even the most sophisticated consumers." The name of the game is yield spread premiums — and homebuyers often end up the losers. In some circumstances, these premiums are legal, and even helpful: the lender will help you pay closing costs such as the broker's fee; in return, you agree to a higher interest rate over the life of the loan. But things can get a bit...

For most Americans, the influence on the last election of unregulated partisan groups with huge advertising budgets was evidence that campaign finance reform has not gone far enough. But not for a group of brazen House Republicans who are trying to gut 30 years of checks on campaign spending and allow fat-cat donors to once more write six-figure checks to candidates. A shameful bill that would undo much of the post-Watergate reforms is being rushed to the House floor. It would scrap a donor's current limit of $40,000 for candidates across a two-year cycle and let him give $2 million...

Nine years ago, the Navy set out to build a new guided missile for its 21st-century ships. Fiascoes followed. In a test firing, the missile melted its on-board guidance system. "Incredibly," an Army review said, "the Navy ruled the test a success." Recently, the Navy rewrote the contract and put out another one, with little to show for the money it already spent. The bill has come to almost $400 million, five times the original budget. Such stories may seem old hat. But after years of failing to control cost overruns, the most powerful officials at the Pentagon are becoming...

LOS ANGELES, May 19 - For all the flamboyant figures swirling around the criminal trial of Hillary Rodham Clinton's former chief fund-raiser, the most damaging testimony against him may well have come from a tiny woman in Mary Janes who had the manner of a high school accounting teacher. Her name is Whitney W. Burns, and she took the stand for the prosecution on Thursday in its case against David F. Rosen, who was the national finance director for Mrs. Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign. Mr. Rosen is charged with three counts of causing false filings to be made to the...

Last year, the City Council in Baltimore faced a budget shortfall so bad that it considered laying off 186 city police officers, reducing some fire department operations and scaling back trash collection. Then it found an untapped honey pot: cellphones. Starting in August, the city began collecting $3.50 a month from each of Baltimore's 238,000 mobile phone subscribers. The extra income has helped to strengthen the city's finances and is expected to help the city fix up schools and trim the property tax. "I can't remember the last time we've had such an easy budget year," said Sheila Dixon, the...

The year is 2014. The press as we know it no longer exists. Traditional reporting has collapsed. News is churned out by the media giant Googlezon (Google has taken over many companies and joined forces with Amazon). The news consists of blogs, attitudes, discoveries, preferences, claims and random thoughts, gathered and shaped by computers and human editors, and fed back to ordinary people. The New York Times has become a newsletter read only by the elite and the elderly. This is the finding of a clever eight-minute mock documentary, "Epic 2014," produced by the fictional Museum of Media History (in...

Public school administrators say they need more money. They say they don’t have enough money to provide the classroom instruction required by the state. Administrators could well be right about the need to increase funding for instruction, but they’re dead wrong about needing more money. A study commissioned by the Governor’s Business Council finds annual operating costs increased $11 billion dollars from 1997 to 2004. Only $6 billion of this increase can be accounted for by enrollment growth, inflation, and increased costs associated with a growing population of economically disadvantaged students. Yet public schools spent an additional $5 billion above...

If you live in Minnesota, your taxes aren't high enough. That's what the Catholic bishops of Minnesota say, and they should know, because bishops are experts on public policy in general, and fiscal management in particular. (Have you noticed how prudent our bishops have been recently in their handling of their own diocesan budgets?) Frankly, I don't live in Minnesota, and I don't know what the state's tax structure is like. I do have a pretty good idea of how much the Catholic bishops pay in taxes, however. And I'm guessing that while they don't find their tax burden onerous,...

GUEST OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Washington The first thing Democrats must try to grasp as they cast their eyes over the smoking ruins of the election is the continuing power of the culture wars. Thirty-six years ago, President Richard Nixon championed a noble "silent majority" while his vice president, Spiro Agnew, accused liberals of twisting the news. In nearly every election since, liberalism has been vilified as a flag-burning, treason-coddling, upper-class affectation. This year voters claimed to rank "values" as a more important issue than the economy and even the war in Iraq. And yet, Democrats still have no coherent framework for...

MJB Posted on Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:12 pm  Your help is urgently needed – over on the Swift Vets message board there’s a thread that trying to unravel the financial dealings of John Kerry and a number of his key money people. There are some incredible people on this board – NavyChief, who did the leg work leading to Thomas Lipscomb’s recent article that Kerry was the only possible author of the after action report that led to his own Bronze Star medal; Navy Wife – who has helped to compile and post a treasure trove of documents relating...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 - Three aides who helped run a political action committee created by the House majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, were indicted by a grand jury in Texas on Tuesday on charges that included raising illegal corporate contributions and funneling them to state candidates during the 2002 elections. Eight companies were also charged, including Sears Roebuck & Company and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. The 32 separate indictments sprang from a two-year investigation by local prosecutors into Texans for a Republican Majority P.A.C., a political action committee created by Mr. DeLay that spent $1.5 million...

I Eat My Children's Scraps By Robert Brokamp (TMF Bro) August 12, 2004 Last week, I wrote an article ("Do You Want to Work Forever?") that offered possible reasons for why people choose not to save for retirement, and I asked readers for their suggestions. I received several responses: Our consumer society doesn't value saving, people don't know how to delay gratification, and the government taxes us too much, to name a few. But those were from people who actually are saving. What do the nonsavers have to say for themselves? I received some genuinely poignant stories about financially devastating...

Republicans rake in campaign contributions from inside corporate suites while the little guy writes out his meager check to Democrats, right? Actually, no. The Center for Responsive Politics conducted a study of the 2002 Federal election cycle, the most recent cycle with complete data. The Center found that individuals giving $200 or less gave 64 percent of their money to the GOP and 35 percent to Democrats. However, very wealthy contributors who gave one million dollars or more gave 92 percent to Democrats and just eight percent to Republicans. Democrats also benefited from donors giving 100,000-dollars or more while Republicans...

This is a link to the Public Integrity site, and a part of "The Buying of The President, 2004." Interesting read. http://www.publicintegrity.com/bop2004/candidate.aspx?cid=4&act=details

One of every 73 U.S. households filed for bankruptcy last year, an all-time high, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. One of 69 filed in Michigan, ranking the state 19th for the most filed bankruptcies. This comes as no surprise to Pontiac resident Noah Coleman, 22. Coleman said he represents the most poorly educated social class when it comes to financial literacy, and the reason for so many bankruptcies is people are not being taught how to manage their money. A recent survey conducted by Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, a Washington, D.C., firm that works to ensure that...

CINCINNATI - Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) said Tuesday there's no compassionate conservatism in the Bush administration's economic policies, which prompted the president to respond that the economy is strong and growing. "I guess if you want to find something to be pessimistic about, you can find it," President Bush (news - web sites) said. "I'm optimistic," Bush said during a news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the White House Rose Garden. He described the economy as strong and continuing to improve. "I have seen what we have come through. We've been through a recession, a...

July 28, 1868 - Secretary of State Seward certifies the 14th Amendment by executive order. With the passage of time and the incramental, liberal interpretations by both federal and state courts, this noble intention has now the chief factor in the erosion of the sovereignty of the California .March 4, 1933 - Franklin Roosevelt sworn in as President of the United States. A 70 year march into the depths of increasingly liberal governance has followed.April 16, 1999 - Governor Gray Davis unilaterally moves California's appeal of Judge Judith Pfaelzer order to mediation in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The...

Not too long ago the soft, somber undertones of the smallest fiddle in the world could be heard playing in the background to Bill Clinton’s depictions of the hardships of his upbringing. Today we are being serenaded by the mellow and solemn tones of the smallest Stradivarius in the world playing as background to a peek into Howard Dean’s upbringing courtesy of his mother’s interview with the New York Times. The interview illustrates the hardships this poor little rich boy experienced during the days of his youth. From having to accept entitlements from his parents via manipulation of tax loopholes...