Free Republic

House Budget Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., tells Bob Schieffer that President Obama's State of the Union address was "predictable" and explains why he doesn't think Congress will accomplish much this year.

Milton Freidman made Phil Donahue look like a complete fool (mot a difficult task, even then)in this film clip of an interview from about 1980. It is particularly applicable to todays economy, and should be force fed to all OWS freaks when they finally get sense enough to come in out of the cold....

In the 1990s, Herman Cain went to Washington and fought against minimum-wage hikes, worked to make welfare reform succeed, and advocated free trade. He did so, not from a perch at a conservative think tank, but as chairman and CEO of the National Restaurant Association. Cain didn’t just use the National Restaurant Association to further free-enterprise aims. He also worked to make the group significantly more influential than it had been. (Cain even started calling the group the NRA, because he was so convinced the group would become more influential than the gun association that he refused to worry over...

[snip] Everywhere I go, I am met by California taxpayers and business owners who love their state. But they share the stories of their search to go elsewhere – or else their exit plan if things get much worse, economically. Some of this is idle chat, but many people are serious,... .....Californians have always embraced a form of exceptionalism, believing that the normal rules don't apply out here. But while I love that the old Midwestern and Eastern social mores don't matter so much on the Left Coast, there's no escaping the laws of economics. Entrepreneurs go into the private...

Governor Rick Perry has signed "The Baker's Bill", leading Texas bakers in hope for another source of income, all while staying in their home. KLTV's Annette Falconer talks with one east Texas baker, who can't wait to start her baking business. It's the day that can't come too soon for baker, Stephanie Frazier. "September first you'll hear me calling around saying, hey, would you like a cookie?", says Frazier. Governor Perry signed the "Bakers Bill", allowing bakers like Fazier to sell their non-perishable goodies. "If you had a kitchen under the same roof where people slept, you were not allowed...

Ayn Rand is recapturing the hearts of American conservatives. The Cold War writer’s individualist philosophy is back in fashion among the Republican faithful. Her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged has just been released as a movie and while critics call it slow and two-dimensional, Tea Partiers are queuing around the block to see it. Something about Rand’s take-no-prisoners prose strikes a chord with people exasperated by Obama’s tax-and-spend liberalism and desperate for a road-map to liberty. But Ayn Rand is not a natural pin-up for American conservatives. Her individualism went beyond libertarianism. It was an exciting, revolutionary mix of greed, atheism,...

I am glad that Ayn Rand has been resurrected as of late, although, as an avowed atheist, she had no confidence in the afterlife, but rather, she bet everything on this earthly, materialistic life. Financial advisor Don Luskin, one of my favorites on Larry Kudlow's CNBC economy program, has written a beatifying piece on Ayn Rand in the Wall Street Journal, which exalts Rand to superheroine status, despite the fact that she was quite the unrepentant adulteress, pro death abortionist, God-denier, and ultra narcissist. Strangely enough, Ayn got her "big break" by working in the ancient movie King of Kings...

Just as the government is trying to prevent people from investing in anything other than T-Bills by raising taxes on taxable interest and dividends to confiscatory levels, it's also trying to prevent you from parking your wealth in assets, like gold, that compete with the paper dollars issued by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury. A press release from Rep. Anthony Weiner, Democrat of New York, not yet (as of this instant) posted on Mr. Weiner's Web site, announces that a September 23 hearing of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection (a subcommittee of Rep. Henry Waxman's Commerce...

The truth is that not even the Franklin Roosevelt Administration was as hostile to and ignorant about free enterprise as this Administration is. Almost every action Obama officials take underscores their belief in the stereotype that businesspeople are mostly amoral, corner-cutting, consumer-shafting, pollution-loving menaces. The economy itself needs to be tightly controlled and rigidly guided by Washington mandarins because free markets are inherently and destructively unstable. Incrementalism and the velvet glove over an iron fist are Obama's preferred methods. Thus, it will take several years for surviving health care companies to become full-fledged vassals of the federal government, which will...

Happy Now?What’s at stake in America’s battle over free enterprise.  On May 13, 2009, at Arizona State University, Barack Obama delivered his first commencement address as President of the United States. At one of the most frightening economic moments in America’s history, it was a chance to be a mentor, a teacher, and the nation’s inspirer-in-chief. Did the president urge the graduates to get out there and create the growth and jobs our country needs? Did he inspire them to be the next generation of great American innovators and entrepreneurs? No; instead, he told the graduates that people who “chase...

America faces a new culture war. This is not the culture war of the 1990s. It is not a fight over guns, gays or abortion. Those old battles have been eclipsed by a new struggle between two competing visions of the country's future. In one, America will continue to be an exceptional nation organized around the principles of free enterprise... --snip-- To win, the 70 percent majority must come together around core principles: that the purpose of free enterprise is human flourishing, not materialism; that we stand for equality of opportunity, not equality of income; that we seek to stimulate...

The Senate version of financial regulation hits Wall Street harder than expected, with some analysts estimating it could cut the profits of major financial institutions by roughly 20%. Guy Moszkowski, an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch who follows banks and securities firms, estimates that derivatives account for half of all trading revenue at the biggest firms. The legislation could cut derivatives-related revenue by 30% to 50%, according to Mr. Moszkowski. Insurers also have expressed concerns that toughened derivatives regulation would interfere with routine portfolio-hedging activities.

Thank the Fiscal Conservative climate set by the States' Elected Republicans From Eric Dondero: Number one again. The Lone Star State has just been rated as "America's best state in which to do business." And my homestate scored that distinction far above all others. The Republican Party of Texas reports:The Lone Star State stands alone as America’s best state in which to do business. That’s how more than 600 CEOs across America rate Texas. Chief Executive Magazine polled a total of 651 corporate CEOs, who, for the fifth year in a row, gave Texas top honors for the state’s openness...

“Tax the rich” has been the inveterate battle cry of liberals from the beginning. The left believes in creating massive entitlement and welfare programs all in the name of fairness. Equal rights, it seems, don’t apply to the wealthy. Ironically, the idea only ends up hurting the very people it’s supposed to help. Early in 2009, Maryland raised its tax rate to 6.25% for income earners of $1 million or more and saw a decline in tax revenue as high-income taxpayers emigrated to tax-friendlier states. While it may seem that few families make an income of a million dollars, sole...

In America, we are beginning to sense a nasty reality that President Obama must acknowledge: Our worst economic problems lie ahead, and fixing those problems is going to hurt — plenty. Our federal government now runs a con game that promises people a level of financial security impossible to deliver. Honoring Medicare and Social Security obligations alone will require confiscatory taxation capable of killing off prosperity. And so it is time to cure our nanny-state insanity and get back to basics.

Bill Gates is the world’s richest person, but what kind of power does he have over you? Can he force your kid to go to a school you do not want him to attend? Can he deny you the right to braid hair in your home for a living? It turns out that a local politician, who might deny us the right to earn a living and dictates which school our kid attends, has far greater power over our lives than any rich person. Rich people can gain power over us, but to do so, they must get permission from...

Doug Flutie, one of the most inspirational players in college football history, and Curt Schilling, a great Red Sox pitcher who won a World Series for his team, both supported Scott Brown for the Senate. There is no reason to doubt that these popular, respected men helped bring attention and support to the Brown campaign. Tim Tebow is appearing in an ad during the Super Bowl which has a profoundly life-affirming statement — the sort of personal arguments against abortion which it is impossible to contradict. Other college football superstars have made the same sort of appeal. Colt McCoy and...

As the year 2010 begins and Congress once again considers enacting laws that some believe endanger the free enterprise system and personal liberties, a collection of essays in Liberty Versus the Tyranny of Socialism are timely.

City Newspaper: So you don't share the same views as the Obama administration on how to get out of this recession and grow the economy? Mark Zupan: No, I don't. I think we need to have a little more humility and trust in what common men and women are able to accomplish, compared to a few policy makers.

How does Israel—with fewer people than the state of New Jersey, no natural resources, and hostile nations all around—produce more tech companies listed on the NASDAQ than all of Europe, Japan, South Korea, India, and China combined? How does Israel attract, per person, 30 times as much venture capital as Europe and more than twice the flow to American companies? How does it produce, for its size, the most cutting-edge technology startups in the world? There are many components to the answer, but one of the most central and surprising is the Israeli military's role in breaking down hierarchies and—serendipitously—becoming...

The free-enterprise system is under attack as government gets bigger and more intrusive, and the stakes never have been higher, speakers and panelists said yesterday at the Virginia Chamber of Commerce 2009 Conference on Virginia's Future. Capitalism, far from being the cause of today's crisis, is its only cure, said the lead speaker, BB&T Corp. Chairman John Allison.

In his weekly column and recent New York Times Magazine story, “How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?” Paul Krugman blasts economic theory, argues against free markets and says that the country needs more taxpayer-funded “stimulus,” not less. He also faults economists for not predicting the crisis. In an essay on his web site, John H. Cochrane, finance professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, wonders “How did Paul Krugman get it so wrong?” An excerpt: It’s fun to say we didn’t see the crisis coming, but the central prediction of the efficient markets hypothesis is precisely...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxnBSb4OKeU

Imagine a large city, such as my home town, Detroit used to be, before liberalism destroyed it. Imagine that, in this city, a developer offers to buy a plot of land on which to build a multi-story office building. The upper floors will provide space for visionary entrepreneurs to start new businesses and to expand existing ones, create new products, new services and above all, new jobs. The ground floor will be retail space, providing much-needed products and services to the people who work in the offices above and to the rest of the city, too. And of course, for...

Henry Hazlitt once said that good ideas have to be relearned every generation. Among the intellectuals of our time, capitalism is wildly unpopular. This in spite of the fact that it is the only social system that has permitted prosperity and flourishing. Why they continue to oppose the free market in the face of such evidence is a matter of debate. Some have argued that intellectuals dislike capitalism because they feel it doesn't offer them just rewards for their labors. Indeed, academic books do not sell particularly well, and it is easy for the dedicated scholar to feel a degree...

The people of the United States find themselves in the midst of a severe recession, with unemployment higher than it has been in many years, housing prices cratering, retirement plans collapsing, and their lifestyles constricting. The financial industry collapsed. We had to come to the rescue, pouring our own futures into saving the banks, brokerages, and insurance companies from their own greedy foolishness. The stagnant American automobile industry was imploding, and the people had to bail them out too, further mortgaging the future of their children. Our politicians responded to this catastrophe by spending our future for us, and then...

The congressional election in 2010 may become a battle between Democrats running for reelection and the organized business community.

"At the end of the twentieth century, as we look back over a seventy-year Socialist experiment and an equal period of capitalistic Western prosperity, one thing becomes clear. Economic freedom is not a superfluous footnote to to other freedoms, but a prerequisite to the existence of all other freedoms. Even liberal Sweden attests to this. As the years have gone by, Sweden's coercive Socialist economic policies have increasingly spilled over into other areas to the point that civil liberties of all kinds are threatened. Religious freedom, educational freedom, and the freedom to raise one's children according to one's own beliefs...

In Our Hands, Part 1: How We Got What We Have - Wilding Picture Productions, Inc. How economic progress comes from the accumulation of privately owned tools of production; demonstrates the need for tools by showing a young couple with their infant child in a wilderness with nothing but natural resources and their hands. Keywords: Cold War; Free enterprise; Anti-communism In Our Hands, Part 2: What We Have - Wilding Picture Productions, Inc. Strengths of the American free enterprise system and how it meets the needs of its citizens. Keywords: Cold War; Economics In Our Hands, Part 3: How To...

Take for example the cigar I happen to be puffing on while I write this wonderful article this beautiful evening. I freely exchanged a certain number of dollars, which I earned by the sweat of my brow, for this wonderfully made cigar. The manufacturer of the cigar, and the store in which I purchased it from, gladly exchanged their fine product for the certain number of dollars that I paid for it.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today announced that it would develop a sweeping national advocacy campaign encompassing advertising, education, political activities, new media, and grassroots organizing to defend and advance America’s free enterprise values in the face of rapid government growth and attacks by anti-business activists. “Supporters and critics alike agree that capitalism is at a crossroads,” said U.S. Chamber President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue. “It’s time to remind all Americans that it was a free enterprise system based on the values of individual initiative, hard work, risk, innovation, and profit that built our great country. We must...

A battle royal is brewing on Capitol Hill for an already bruised business community. The Treasury Department this week is expected to unveil its plan for revamping the patchwork of agencies that oversee the financial industry. Judging from the talk of add-ons from Congress and even the White House, some business lobbyists figure the package might as well come with Santa wrapping, tinsel and lights. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has announced that he wants to attach a “shareholder bill of rights” to the package. And the White House is talking about adding a consumer board to the regulatory mix. Both...

To many in Old Town Alexandria, the sex shop that opened recently on King Street is nothing short of scandalous, a historical desecration just blocks from the boyhood home of Robert E. Lee. But to Michael Zarlenga, it's justice. Zarlenga spent $350,000 on plans to expand his hunting and fishing store, the Trophy Room. He worked with city officials for almost two years and thought he had their support -- until the architectural review board told him he couldn't alter the historic property. Furious and out of money, Zarlenga rented the space to its newest occupant, Le Tache. "I can't...

On February 16, the United States will celebrate the birth of one of its greatest—and least acknowledged—entrepreneurs: George Washington. Washington's political and military exploits are of course well-known: He was a member of colonial Virginia's House of Burgesses and a delegate to the Continental Congress; he led the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and won a hard-fought victory for independence; and he served as the first president of these United States. Yet his business ventures are impressive in their own right. During America's time as an English colony, Washington ran a fishing operation that processed 1.5 million fish per...

The pound suffered its weakest annual performance for 15 years in 2007, as markets bet that 2008 will be a miserable one for the British economy. The sterling exchange rate index has weakened by 6.7pc in the past six months But despite the chaos caused by the credit squeeze, London's blue chip index the FTSE 100 has risen by 3.8pc since the start of 2007, along with a host of other equity markets around the world. Although sterling rose yesterday against other world currencies, it has fallen by 6.1pc in the past year, which is the biggest annual decline since...

Respect Blackwater The firm's operations in Iraq are not sordid -- they're just business Monday, November 5, 2007 By ROGER ROLAND The frenzied debate over the role of Blackwater USA in Iraq has resulted in more misconceptions than truths. The most common myth, propagated by the media and some politicians, is that Blackwater's private security contractors are mercenaries working for the United States military. This simply is not the case. Blackwater's contractors do not support U.S. armed forces in battle against terrorists and insurgents. They are not soldiers, but rather a corps of professionals who provide personal security to American...

The power of unions, however, is still entrenched by the closed shop policies in the majority of American states. Closed shop laws require that if workers are unionized at a company, then all new workers are forced to unionize as well. As a result of their gaining membership by coersion and state-sanctioned monopoly, unions' membership far exceeds their true popularity. As a result, well-meaning union-led efforts often end in strikes and lockouts that end up banning their own workers, without their consent, from actually working. As a result of their disproportionate monopoly power, unions remain (not surprisingly) formidable political machines....

Lock of Che Guevara's hair to be sold Mon Sep 3, 12:51 PM ET MIAMI - A former CIA operative and Cuban exile plans to auction what he says is a lock of Che Guevara's hair, snipped before the Argentinian revolutionary and friend of Fidel Castro was buried in 1967. Gustavo Villoldo, 71, was involved in Guevara's capture in the jungles of Bolivia, according to unclassified U.S. records and other documents. He plans to auction the hair and other items kept in a scrapbook since the joint CIA-Bolivian army mission 40 years ago. "It's time for me to put the...

<p>PARIS -- French libraries are said to file their nation's constitutions -- there have been more than a dozen since 1789; the current one is a relatively ancient 49 years old -- under periodicals. Now Nicolas Sarkozy, France's peripatetic new president, has created a commission on constitutional reform. The commission includes Jack Lang who, as minister of culture in 1983 under President Francois Mitterrand, staged a sublimely unserious conference on the (supposed) world economic crisis, featuring the likes of Sophia Loren, Susan Sontag and Norman Mailer.</p>

Gov. Romney Stops At Logan Lemonade Stand Way cute interview with little girl

Business execs arrested for refusing to cut prices By Angus Shaw ASSOCIATED PRESS July 9, 2007 HARARE, Zimbabwe – Police arrested 16 more business leaders in a crackdown on those suspected of violating the government's order to slash prices by 50 percent, the official media reported yesterday. The mandated price cuts ordered more than two weeks ago are a desperate attempt to confront inflation that has spun out of control during Zimbabwe's economic crisis. The falling prices have caused stampedes, panic buying and near-riots. Among those arrested in the latest sweep were the directors of Edgars, a leading clothing and...

Those of us in the conservative movement have always been friendly to the business community. We believe in low taxes, a light touch on regulation, and we're stalwart champions of the free market. When liberals start talking about limiting CEO pay, harassing Wal-Mart, beating up on oil companies, or generally trying to place new burdens on the businesses, it's always movement conservatives who rise to their defense, even though it's sometimes not in our best political interests. Yes, we probably do fight a little harder because we view businessmen as political allies, but we genuinely, in our hearts and souls,...

When a tanker-truck fire caused the Interstate 580 connector to collapse in early May, some transportation officials feared that it could take months to rebuild this key link of the Bay Area's freeway network. Yet, amazingly, the MacArthur Maze connector reopened at 8:40 p.m. Thursday after a mere 26 days. Motorists on Friday morning honked their horns in gratitude, apparently stunned -- along with the rest of California -- that a state-financed public works project could be completed in such quick time. For that, credit goes to a decision by Caltrans and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to provide a financial bonus...

Interstate 580 through the MacArthur Maze reopened at 8:40 p.m. Thursday -- just 26 days after a gasoline-fueled inferno caused it to collapse. The first vehicles rolled east on I-580 from the Bay Bridge toll plaza and passed over the 165-foot stretch of newly laid freeway. A short time earlier, workers ripped canvas and plastic blankets from the concrete roadway poured Sunday afternoon, spritzed the deck with curing compounds, applied lane stripes and gave it a good sweeping. "First of all we want to thank everyone for their patience,'' said Bob Haus, spokesman for Caltrans after the reopening. Asked why...

What would President Reagan do? JACK KEMP - COPLEY NEWS SERVICE May 2, 2007 As the Republican candidates all gather at the Reagan Library for their first debate of the presidential campaign, what follows is my advice on “what would Ronald Reagan do?” I'll start with the economy and follow later with foreign policy. In giving thought to what Reagan would do about tax and budget policy, we must never forget the times in which he led our nation. When he was first sworn in in 1981, Reagan faced a divided government, an economy in deep recession with rising prices...

Many French people say they are anti globalisation, but paradoxically France has launched dozens of world beating brands and grown rich on free trade. A poll recently conducted by an American university sent shock waves through the Finance Ministry in Paris. Researchers found that only just over a third of French people think a free market economy is the best system to develop the country. By way of contrast, the survey found that a majority of citizens in 19 other countries were in favour of the free market, including 65% of Germans, 59 % of Italians, 66% of the British...

Certificate of need bill to start journey By Travis Fain TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER ATLANTA - Gov. Sonny Perdue waded deep into one of the most contentious issues of this General Assembly session Thursday - what to do about the state's certificate of need program, which governs hospital expansions. Perdue is backing a bill that would reform the process and ease requirements for surgery centers looking to offer one or a few specific types of surgery as opposed to a full range of procedures available from a hospital. Most legislators said Thursday that they haven't yet read House Bill 568, some...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryMarch 10, 2007 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       In Focus: President's Trip to Latin America THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Today, Laura and I are in Latin America, where we are visiting five countries: Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico. These countries are part of a region that has made great strides toward freedom and prosperity in the past three decades. They have raised up new democracies. And they have undertaken fiscal policies that have brought stability to their economies. Yet despite the progress we have seen, many citizens in...

Over the past decade, the expression public-private partnership has crept into our publiclexicon. What is a public-private partnership? What purposes were they supposedlycreated to serve? What, on the other hand, is free enterprise? Are the two compatible?In answering these questions we shall see that although advocates of public-privatepartnerships frequently speak of economic development, public-private partnershipsreally amount to economic control—they are just one of the key components of thecollectivist edifice being built up around the idea of sustainable development. Within theeconomic arena of sustainable development is the emergence of what we might call softfascism: a system that fits the dictionary definitions...