Free Republic

The shortfall for fiscal 2008 is even larger than had been feared. It is likely to be a key issue as the presidential race winds down. Compounding terrible economic news, budget officials announced Tuesday that the federal deficit has soared to a record $455 billion, injecting new urgency into the closing days of the presidential campaign about spending in Washington, including efforts to stem the financial disaster. The final accounting for fiscal 2008 produced a larger shortfall than had been projected, reflecting the start of federal efforts to address the economic emergency. It is certain to become a significant issue...

POSTED: 9:35 am EDT October 15, 2008 UPDATED: 10:11 am EDT October 15, 2008 CLEVELAND -- The FBI has raided the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority Wednesday morning, officials say. Other buildings are expected to be raided throughout the day. The raid at the CMHA's West 25th Street location is being conducted as part of federal corruption probe. In June, several homes and county offices were searched by the FBI and IRS as part of the probe.

If you live in New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont, the price you pay for energy will soon include a new tax: carbon credits. Energy consumers in ten northeastern States are going to see their bills rise and probably not even know why. They will assume that it is tied to the cost of oil, natural gas, or coal, but it does so only obliquely. If you believe that the use of these energy sources are producing huge amounts of carbon dioxide (C02) and other greenhouse gases that will doom the...

When Californians go to the polls in November, they’ll finally vote on a project they’ve heard about since 1995: high-speed rail. Proposition 1A asks state voters to approve $10 billion in bond sales to start construction the largest public works project in state history: an 800-mile rail system that would run from San Francisco to Los Angeles with stops in Bakersfield, Fresno and other Central Valley cities. Local support comes form groups and individuals who see the need for better a transportation system and the regional economic benefits it will bring. But with a hefty price tag — about $33...

For all the talk of weaving public housing residents into the fabric of the city, the Chicago Housing Authority's ambitious Plan for Transformation includes this inconvenient fact: When the plan is complete, nearly 1 of every 10 of those families will live more than 100 blocks south of the Loop, tucked amid landfills, industrial parks and a sewage treatment plant. Mayor Richard Daley declared eight years ago that Chicago would end "the failed policies of the past." Yet a Tribune investigation found that the city has pumped hundreds of millions of federal tax dollars into housing complexes that preserve the...

If you thought the New Left was dead in America, think again. Walk through just about any of the nation’s inner cities, and you’re likely to find an office of ACORN, bustling with young people working 12-hour days to “organize the poor” and bring about “social change.” The largest radical group in the country, ACORN has 120,000 dues-paying members, chapters in 700 poor neighborhoods in 50 cities, and 30 years’ experience. It boasts two radio stations, a housing corporation, a law office, and affiliate relationships with a host of trade-union locals. Not only big, it is effective, with some remarkable...

The new kid at the Treasury hasn't quite learned you really can't talk in public about what you are really up to at Treasury. New Interim Secretary of the Office of Stability, Neel Kashkari, has been caught on tape providing the true details of what Treasury is up to. This will get him muzzled pretty fast, but it provides us the opportunity to see the scheming going on at Treasury... the conference call took place the night before the House rejected the rescue plan on September 28, which passed days later on October 3. The date is important because Kashkari...

Barack Obama's presidential campaign is getting a bargain for the half-hour of Oct. 29 primetime it's bought on CBS and NBC. The Democratic presidential candidate's camp is paying under $1 million to each network to run the programming it will produce for the first half-hour of primetime that Wednesday night, less than a week before the election. This is considerably less than the networks would otherwise get for the 10-11 ad "units" they run during that half hour, between 8 and 8:30 p.m. Obama is not getting a price break; the campaign will be charged what's called the "lowest unit...

Our elections serve as an example of free choice and peaceful transfer of power to the world where too many people are denied the right to vote and a new governing authority comes in during a bloody coup. That's why allegations of rampant voter registration fraud and electoral fraud throughout Ohio and the country are all the most disturbing. But what makes me angry - and what makes a lot of my constituents angry - is that an organization at the heart of this controversy is receiving federal tax dollars. For years, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now...

Main Street Bank, Northville, Michigan, was closed today by the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC approved the assumption of all the deposits of Main Street Bank, by Monroe Bank & Trust, Monroe, Michigan. All depositors of Main Street Bank, including any with deposits in excess of the FDIC's insurance limits, will automatically become depositors of Monroe Bank & Trust, and they will continue to have uninterrupted access to their money. Depositors will still be insured with the new institution. Therefore, there is...

Meridian Bank, Eldred, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial Professional Regulation-Division of Banking, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC approved the assumption of all the deposits of Meridian Bank by National Bank, Hillsboro, Illinois. All depositors of Meridian Bank, including any with deposits in excess of the FDIC's insurance limits, will automatically become depositors of National Bank, and they will continue to have uninterrupted access to their money. Depositors will still be insured with the new institution. Therefore, there is no need for customers to change...

Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott speaks to a crowd of thousands who gathered at Germain Arena at a rally for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speak on Monday, Oct. 6, 2008, in Estero. His comments about U.S. Senator Barack Obama brought national attention to the rally. David Albers/ Staff BONITA SPRINGS — Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott’s now infamous appearance at Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s public rally has caught the attention of federal officials. Scott is under federal investigation for wearing his uniform during the campaign stump, a spokesman for the Office of Special Counsel said on Tuesday. The...

John McCain called for suspension of the requirement that retirees must begin liquidating their retirement accounts when they reach age 70 and a half, the latest economic policy rolled out by the Republican presidential candidate. The Arizona senator announced the plan at a rally Friday morning in La Crosse, Wis. Buried a third of the way through his typical stump speech, McCain said his priority was to “protect investors – especially those relying on their investments for retirement.” “Current rules mandate that investors must beginning to sell off their IRAs and 401Ks when they reach age 70 and a half,”...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Friday the U.S. government was moving aggressively to address the financial markets crisis, but he acknowledged that anxiety was feeding on itself as stocks continued to plunge. "The United States government is acting; we will continue to act to resolve this crisis and restore stability to our markets," Bush said in an eight-and-a-half minute statement in the White House Rose Garden aimed at calming Americans' growing fears. The credit markets have remained largely frozen despite coordinated interest rate cuts by central banks and government intervention to safeguard deposits and provide additional...

NEW YORK, NY (October 10, 2008) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that his office has filed a lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court against Arbitron, the largest media ratings company for the radio market in the United States. The lawsuit accuses Arbitron of deceptively claiming that its Portable People Meter (PPM) system is valid, fair, and representative of diverse radio markets. It also charges Arbitron with failing to disclose important flaws in the PPM methodology to broadcasters, advertisers, shareholders and the public, including serious shortcomings in the accuracy of the new system and its inadequate representation...

On Nov. 4, Maine voters will be asked to repeal a package of tax levies passed earlier this year by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. John Baldacci. Without hesitation, voters should blacken the “yes” box on their ballots next to Question 1, The People's Veto, which reads:

A federal judge on Wednesday allowed the criminal charges against Sen. Ted Stevens to stand, but he delivered a sharp blow to the government by throwing out key evidence in the case. Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, in the second time in as many weeks, rejected a defense motion to declare a mistrial or dismiss all seven felony charges facing the Alaska Republican, but he scolded the government for keeping key evidence from defense lawyers that they could have used during cross-examination and their opening argument. “I don’t doubt you take your jobs seriously, what I have doubts about is whether...

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks Sunday at a rally at Memorial Stadium at Asheville High School in Asheville, N.C. A Lufkin, Texas, woman was recently visited by Secret Service agents following a call from a Texarkana-based Obama volunteer. Associated Press A telephone request from the Obama Volunteers of Texarkana asking a Lufkin, Texas, woman to vote for Sen. Barack Obama has prompted an investigation of a perceived “death threat” against the presidential candidate. But Jessica Hughes, who was questioned by the Secret Service about her alleged remarks, said the events were “like a high school rumor.” Hughes...

The Securities and Exchange Commission's ban on short selling, which sparked a series of similar bans around the globe, was intended to be a "time out" and "restore equilibrium to markets." By the time it expired Wednesday night, the general view was that it added to market confusion and didn't do much to halt the slide in financial stocks. "I think what we did was we gave these stocks an artificial boost for a while, but it was pretty short-lived," said Charles Jones, a professor at Columbia Business School. "It was just like a glass of orange juice, and then...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- You've got to give California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger credit for being the first to stick his hand out. Even before the vote on the $700 billion bailout bill last week, the wily Terminator of fiscal discipline had a letter on the desk of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson making the case for a $7 billion loan to keep the nation's most populous state running past October. Arguing that California -- and many other states -- have been frozen out of the credit markets like a subprime homebuyer, Schwarzenegger said the state needs the money to pay teachers,...