Free Republic

One of the real surprises of the past several years is just how well Russia has fared in comparison with the European Union. Whereas, at the start of the financial crisis in 2008-09, Russia’s economy came screeching to a halt and suffered a dramatic fall in output, since 2010 Russia’s has been growing at a steady 4% clip and has fully recovered and surpassed its pre-crisis peak. Russia’s growth rate is decidedly lower than before the crisis but, all things considered, it’s respectable. Although their initial declines in output were much less severe than Russia’s almost 8% plunge, Eurozone economies...

Karl Smith’s co-blogger Adam asks ... [Is] being “free-market” compatible with the belief that a government should set top marginal tax rates to maximize revenue? If your argument is that the government should extract the maximum revenue from high income tax payers so as to reduce the tax payments on lower income tax payers then there is nothing in this that violates free market economics. Free market economists who also support a welfare state, are also conceding that taxes should be collected so as to mitigate the consequences of market outcomes on lower income people. Note, for example, that arguing...

Corn is now trading at new forever-and-ever all-time highs. This is significant. There is a massive seasonal pressure in the corn market that exerts itself at the Fourth of July when the trade feels that any adverse weather is already priced in to the market. We're almost a month past that psychological "seasonal top" and have just broken out to new all-time highs - surpassing 2008. That means that the crop is even worse than the gloomiest-and-doomiest estimates from the first week of July supposed, and that we're not "priced in". GULP. Corn could go parabolic, much like the wheat...

“I, Smartphone” video is based on the essay “I, Pencil” penned by Leonard Read, in 1958, and has had a lasting impact on how we think about the market process. Why would the Institute for Faith, Work and Economics care about how a smartphone is made and why would we want you to care? Because God has given us the market process as the most powerful tool we have in a fallen world to serve each other by using our gifts. Yes, that’s right. Smartphones allow thousands of dispersed people from across the globe to bring their gifts to serve...

-$86.88 (-21.51%)

Just an internal poll, what will the market do at 10:05 this morning when the Obamacare decision is handed down? 1. If Obamacare is upheld? 2. If Obamacare is completely struck down? 3. Only the mandate is struck down?

Due to the extreme volatility some market analysts foresee could result in the coming days, OANDA fxTrade will not accept any trading activity from 6:00 AM EST until approximately 3:00 PM EST, on Sunday, June 17, 2012. OANDA believes the convergence of a major market event during off-market hours represents a potential trading risk and has taken this rare step to protect traders from excessive rate fluctuations.

The miserable American economy - including the dismal jobs numbers released last Friday -- along with the growing crisis in the euro zone in the banking sector, have world markets in a near panic. The Tokyo exchange hit a 28 year low as investors scrambled for the security of Japanese government bonds, which were yielding an astonishing 0.80%. MyWay news: Germany's DAX lost 1.4 percent to 5,963.41 and France's CAC-40 shed 0.3 percent to 2,940.33. Markets in Britain were closed for a public holiday.Wall Street appeared headed for a lower open, with Dow Jones industrial futures shedding 0.6 percent to...

Are Stocks About to Repeat Their Summer Horror Show? Published: Sunday, 3 Jun 2012 | 7:19 PM ET By: Patti Domm CNBC Executive News Editor Like the third sequel to a summer horror movie, stocks are set up for another summer selloff amid fears that the U.S. economy will slide back into recession. “In the last two summers, the final nail in the equities coffin, the thing that pushed it was a double dip scare. We do think the market is going to increase expectations of that in the coming week,” said Barry Knapp, head of U.S. equity portfolio strategy...

Recently, Barack Obama has refrained from mentioning Dodd-Frank as one of his big accomplishments as President. That's fortunate, because had Obama used that as a campaign claim this month, the huge loss taken by JP Morgan and one-time Obama ally Jamie Dimon would have done serious damage. As it is, Politico wonders whether Obama might have a big problem convincing voters that he's done anything significant to address the underlying issues that created the 2008 financial-system collapse: The giant $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase highlights a central problem in President Barack ObamaÂ’s case for a second term: Four...

Concerns grow about a global economic slowdown and a restructuring of the European Monetary Union Gold and silver started off the week by heading downward amid growing perceptions of a global economic slowdown and restructuring of the European Monetary Union (EMU).

Do you ever get the feeling that Rush and Hannity don't really care who wins, just as long as their dollars keep rolling in from us tea party saps. Besides Mark Levin, what prominent talker has gone out on a limb and endorsed true conservative candidates? Everyday we have to here Hannity interview the John McCains of the world. If he truly believed in the conservative movement, wouldn't he be out there trumpeting Richard Mourdock and Don Stenberg like Levin is? As for Rush, he is more interested in commercializing the tea party movement with his "Two if by tea"...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks fell 1% Monday as investors grew concerned about European political uncertainty and another sign of a slowdown in the Chinese economy. France's prime minister Nicolas Sarkozy came in second place in the first round of presidential elections Sunday, and on Monday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte resigned. That combined with a slowdown in China's manufacturing was enough to unnerve investors at the start of what will be a busy week on the economic and earnings front. "The events over the weekend re-ignited concerns that the European community is going to have trouble working out...

The problem is that earnings growth has ground almost to a halt — profits for companies in the S.& P. 500 are expected to grow just 1 percent in the first quarter and 2 percent in the second. That means that the only real hope for additional stock market gains this year is expansion in the P/E ratio, which may be bumping up against a ceiling. “We already got a year’s worth of returns in just three months,” says Mark D. Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott, referring to the first-quarter gain of 13 percent in the S.&...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The golden age for foreclosure squatters may soon be coming to an end now that the $26 billion mortgage settlement has been approved. The settlement, agreed to by the nation's five largest mortgage lenders, is expected to speed up the foreclosure process by providing stricter guidelines for the banks to follow when repossessing homes. The banks involved include Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Citibank (C, Fortune 500), Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) and Ally Financial. Many foreclosures have been in limbo since fall 2010 following the so-called robo-signing scandal, when...

Just when you thought unemployment was dropping and stock markets were surging back, these three analysts today sent out a stark warning to Americans to brace for another financial crash. Trend forecaster Gerald Celente advises buying a gun to protect your family, stocking up on gold if the dollar crashes and planning a getaway, so it’s no shock he’s preparing for an ‘economic 9/11’. Share prices and unemployment are posting their best figures in four years since the recession hit, but Mr Celente, along with authors Harry Dent and Robert Prechter, says the rebound won’t last.

The House yesterday passed a new "reform" measure aimed at curtailing the practice of trading on securities with inside information amongst members of Congress and their staff. Suprise! Some members of Congress were arriving in Congress and becoming rich on the experience. Ever wonder how people go to Congress and become millionaires? The publication last year of a new academic report cleared up for us at least one way the millionaires' club known as Congress benefits.A report from four scholars, Alan J Ziobrowski; James W Boyd, Ping Cheng; and Brigitte J. Ziobrowski, titled Abnormal Returns From the Common Stock Investments...

In terms of sheer numbers, the Type 98 of the People's Republic of China, Pakistan's Al-Khalid, and the Russian Federation's T-90 (including India's licensed T‑90S) will continue to dominate the market, accounting for 54.73 percent of all new tanks rolling out worldwide, worth 43.79 percent of the market, through 2021.

China's move this week to keep its economy afloat isn't generating the big headlines that Europe's actions got, but is no less important in keeping the world's economic engine churning. While coordinated action by the world's other central banks to enhance liquidity for Europe's banks stole the focus Wednesday, China's decision to cut reserve requirements for banks was even more important, some believe. That's because the developed world has come to depend on China for a variety of reasons — from buying up American debt to providing loans to growing businesses to keeping its mighty manufacturing base growing. Easing the...

While everyone was focused on the impending European collapse, the latest soon to be refuted rumors of a quick fix from the Welt am Sonntag notwithstanding, the Bank of International Settlements reported a number that quietly slipped through the cracks of the broader media. Which is paradoxical because it is the biggest ever reported in the financial world: the number in question is $707,568,901,000,000 and represents the latest total amount of all notional Over The Counter (read unregulated) outstanding derivatives reported by the world's financial institutions to the BIS for its semi-annual OTC derivatives report titled "OTC derivatives market activity...