Free Republic

January 1978 “Whatever Happened to Free Enterprise?” Ronald Reagan Most recently known for his bid for the 1976 Republican presidential nomination, Ronald Reagan is distinguished for his successful careers in motion pictures, broadcasting, and politics. Mr. Reagan was a player and production supervisor of television's "General Electric Theater" for eight years and hosted and acted in the "Death Valley Days" television series. For many years he owned and operated a horse breeding and cattle ranch. Elected California's 33rd governor in 1966, he was re-elected in 1970. After leaving office in early 1975, Governor Reagan began a daily radio commentary program,...

In February 2006, Norm Feck learned that the city of Parker, Colorado was thinking about annexing his neighborhood, Parker North. Feck attended a meeting on the annexation, realized that it would mean more bureaucracy, and concluded that it wouldn’t be in Parker North residents’ interest. Together with five other Parker North locals, he wrote letters to the editor, handed out information sheets, formed an Internet discussion group, and printed up anti-annexation yard signs, which soon began sprouting throughout the neighborhood. That’s when annexation supporters took action—not with their own public campaign, but with a legal complaint against Feck and his...

Lenders must consider borrowers' ability to pay the full cost of the loan WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Cracking down on exotic mortgages that have exploded in popularity in recent years, U.S. regulators told banks Friday that they've got to make sure that borrowers can actually pay back the full amount of the mortgage. Exotic products, such as interest-only or payment option adjustable rate mortgages, allow borrowers to trade lower initial payments for higher payments later. But such products have raised red flags at the Federal Reserve and other banking regulators as more institutions offer them and they become available to a...

Five years ago, AT&T was fined millions of dollars and was required to adopt strict disclosure requirements after state regulators determined that the company had engaged in misleading marketing practices. Last week, AT&T told the California Public Utilities Commission in a regulatory filing that it will no longer follow those requirements. The telecom giant is taking advantage of new rules that allow California phone companies to unilaterally change certain regulatory provisions without prior approval from state officials. AT&T says the disclosure requirements, which forced the company to always reveal to new customers its cheapest service first and to seek permission...

Three US congressmen are pushing for an amendment to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), the law designed to make executives more accountable, in a bid to water down the regulations for medium-sized companies. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat, has joined Republicans Tom Feeney and Pete Sessions to introduce an amendment to the Act that would exempt companies with a market value of less than $700m (£377m) or annual revenue of less than $125m and fewer than 1,500 shareholders from having to comply with the regulations. The unusual cross-party move comes just days after Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, the two top executives...

RUSH: Now, I want to get back to this gasoline business because I, ladies and gentlemen, was a bit flippant with a caller from Farmington, New Mexico -- and her name was Elizabeth, and she was upset at the price of gasoline, and I wasn't flippant... Well, I was flippant. We had a call from an Exxon station owner. What was his name? I'm having a brief mental block on his name. Brett, what was the Exxon gas station owner's name? Okay. Well, whatever. This guy, it's a good thing he called this program, because if he'd have called a...

(Editor's Note: The following is the 31th of 100 stories regarding government regulation from the book Shattered Dreams, written by the National Center for Public Policy Research. CNSNews.com will publish an additional story each day.)Jay Montfort's Sour Mountain Realty is a family-owned New York company that has had a tough time with New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The story begins early in the last decade, when owner Jay Montfort decided to operate a surface mine. Immediately after he filed the required permit application to the DEC, Montfort found himself bogged down in a complicated and time-consuming process....