Free Republic

For those eager to put some math to the rhetoric coming from the White House over the president's jobs creation plan, and that should be everyone, here is a quick and dirty estimate based on the numbers being thrown around of a 2% GDP increase in year 1 and 1.9 million jobs created or saved... most saved, as in those you can't really quantify. Said otherwise, roughly a $300 billion increase in GDP yields 1.9 million jobs. So far so good. Now since the president is proposing to pay for the program over 10 years, let's assume the $475 billion...

Yukio Hatoyama, the new Japanese Prime Minister, has stunned a nation already mired in huge public debt by unveiling the country’s biggest ever postwar budget: a 92.3 trillion yen (£630 billion) spending spree aimed at “saving people’s lives”. The unprecedented budget, which supposedly shifts Japan’s fiscal spending focus “from concrete to lives”, comes amid rising concern about the solidity of sovereign debt in the world’s second-largest economy. The new budget will require additional debt issuance of Y44.3 trillion — within the Government’s expected band, but still at a level that will raise Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio to nearly 195 per cent....

We had a phenomenally successful "Find Your Dream Home Weekend" this past Saturday and Sunday. Over 200 homes participated and for some, there were 20 to 30 people through during a two-hour span. Talk about a revolving door! This activity is both encouraging and critical. Buyers are energized! Also important this past week was the Treasury Department's announcement (March 4th) of the program guidelines that are expected to become standard industry practice in pursuing affordable and sustainable mortgage modifications. The immediate concern for consumers is how they can get access to the funds. So the question becomes, what's in it...

In their annual forecast edition, the editors of BIG GOLD asked Casey Research Chairman and contrarian investor Doug Casey to provide his predictions and thoughts on issues everyone's thinking about these days. Read what he has to say on the economy, deficits, inflation, and gold... The $1.1 Trillion Budget Deficit My reaction is that the people in the government are totally out of control. A poker player would say the government is "on tilt," placing wild, desperate bets in the hope of getting rescued by good luck. The things they're doing are not only unproductive, they're the exact opposite of...

The first jewel that jumps out is $100,000 for .........doorbells??? Browse around. It will make you laugh, and then weep.