Free Republic

Some issues fade; others fester. The Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate for religious charities, hospitals and universities is the festering kind. The initial reaction concerned the rights of institutions. Catholic organizations naturally resent being forced to buy health insurance that covers sterilization, contraceptives and drugs that can end a pregnancy soon after conception. The Obama administration seems to have calculated that, since contraceptives are popular and the Catholic Church is not, the outcry would be isolated. But religious liberty is also popular, given the Constitution and all that.

Pricey picks: Powerball lottery tickets will double in price to $2 beginning in JanuaryBy Associated Press, Published: January 1 DES MOINES, Iowa — Powerball lottery organizers are betting that bigger jackpots will entice more people to play, but gamblers are going to have to dig deeper into their wallets to try their luck. Tickets for the multistate game are doubling in price to $2 beginning Jan 15. While the odds of winning one of the game’s giant jackpots also are improving, those in charge of the lottery are gambling that people are willing to pay more for the hope of...

Expiring Ethanol Credit to Add to Gas Price JumpBy WRAL POSTED: 9:04 am EST December 28, 2011 RALEIGH -- Lack of action by state lawmakers and Congress is expected to raise gas prices in North Carolina by more than 8 cents a gallon, starting Sunday. Half of the increase comes from the state. North Carolina's gas tax is linked to the price of gas and is adjusted every six months. Because gas prices have gone up since July, the state tax, which is already one of the highest in the country, is going up by 3.9 cents a gallon on...

Many people in America believe that wages of employees are as low as they are merely because of “corporate greed” and that companies want to take advantage of their employees. However, most people that think rationally and for themselves don’t believe this. If the leaders of America would let free markets work, companies and corporations would have to offer competitive pay for their workers to beat out competition. Government regulations and minimum wage laws are the reason why unemployment is so high in America, these problems don’t occur because people on Wall Street are greedy. The first and most important...

California's increasing use of renewable power will come at a price, pushing up electricity bills across the state. And while it's impossible to tell how big the cost to consumers will be, some experts fear the total cost of renewable energy in California will be in the billions of dollars. In the next three years, many long-planned solar plants and wind farms will come online, bringing California closer to its goal of getting one-third of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2020. As soon as they start delivering power to utility companies, the utilities' customers will start paying for...

Tide turns against dark pools Shanny Basar and Giles Turner 25 Oct 2011 Some of the world’s largest corporates have expressed concern regarding the growth of trading on dark pools, amid an increase in regulatory activity against the trading venues. A BNY Mellon Global Trends in Investor Relations survey of 650 companies across 53 countries, published today, discovered that a third of respondents believed dark pools “negatively impact global trading markets and that more oversight is necessary.” Peter Kondrup from drinks company Carlsberg said in the survey: “If you take it from our view point, we believe that it definitely...

The decadence of 'dark pool' markets Updated: 2011-11-07 07:49 By Daryl Guppy (China Daily) The collapse of MF Global Holdings again highlights the perils of derivative leverage in a loosely regulated market. It shows the need for genuine transparency in financial markets. The decadence of 'dark pool' markets MF Global had $1.4 billion in equity which it used to run up $44.4 billion in liabilities largely in trading European debt. The collapse of MF Global also dragged down its other trading operations, hitting individual investors and traders who found their accounts frozen and positions liquidated at unfavorable prices. MF Global...

Shortages have more than tripled since 2005, according to the University of Utah's Drug Information Service, and by the end of the year more than 300 products are likely to be back-ordered, in short supply or totally unavailable. Some are anesthetics and pain therapies, others emergency room "crash cart" drugs. But most—about 70% in 2010—belong to the class of drugs known as "sterile injectables" that are mainstays of the chemotherapy arsenal, such as paclitaxel or cytarabine.

Gasoline price in Jasper County, Indiana jumped 26 cents a gallon between 8am and 1pm on Thursday, 13 Oct 2011

...The Labor Department on Thursday said consumer prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in August. The increase was largely responsible for a 0.6% drop in the average hourly wages of U.S. workers, adjusted for inflation. It marked the biggest one-month decline in more than three years. Stripping out the volatile food and energy categories, the “core” rate of consumer price inflation rose a smaller 0.2%. Yet the core rate has also been rising steadily, hitting a 12-month level of 2.0% for the first time since November 2008.

Gold this morning is plunging by the most since December 2008. For those seeking the reason for the sell off, it once again appears that the market is about 24 hours late in processing news that has been out for over a day. One of the main catalysts for today's gold price is the realization that the Shanghai Gold Exchange hiked gold margins by 26%. Of course that this happened not one but two days ago (as we reported) is irrelevant. There are other factors to be sure: on Tuesday holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust , the world's...

For the second time since voters approved California's massive bullet train project, the state on Tuesday raised the total price tag for the first stretch by several billion dollars -- and now the cost for the entire rail line is on pace to skyrocket to an eye-popping $60 billion to $80 billion or even more. The latest estimates put the cash-strapped state even further behind in bankrolling its biggest, and one of its most polarizing, public works plans ever, as California struggles to secure funds from shy investors and broke governments. Still, project officials are ramping up to spend billions...

There’s one question that I’ve been seeing over and over for the last several weeks as the price of gold has taken out its all-time highs and continued a nearly uninterrupted ascent: Should I buy gold now? It’s understandable, especially for people who don’t own precious metals yet. Nobody wants to be the sucker who buys gold at the top, only to watch it crater back to $1200 or below. But here’s some food for thought– The US dollar is shattering historic lows against currencies like the Swiss franc, Australian dollar, and Singapore dollar. Any currency that isn’t a complete...

AEI’s Michael Barone wrote recently about the higher education bubble, which could also described as a “low-interest education loan bubble” to reflect the government’s role in subsidizing higher education, similar to its role in subsidizing homeownership. The topic has been receiving a lot of attention lately, and there is even now a Wikipedia listing for “higher education bubble.”

Hinde Capital's Ben Davies says the debt crises in Europe and the U.S. will lead to only one thing: Gold 2K. He tells King World News: “This has the smell of 1998 when I was trading US government bonds and everyone was away on holiday and problems were beginning to brew. Stock markets were beginning to get violent in reaction to Russia’s problems and it all kicked off in the summer months and people were being called back to their desks. I just have that same kind of feeling now. This is not one I want to fight, the market...

Market regulators forcing short squeezes? Check. Central banks using mob-style gimmicks to push the price of "assets" around? Check. Market confidence back to 100%? We'll have to get back to you on that. Gold spot just touched on a fresh new intraday all time high of just under $1,579... and is going much, much higher. After all, the most important question - Everyone is broke? Check.

US President Barack Obama had made a secret deal with Libyan rebel leaders to capture the freed Lockerbie bomber from Libya and return him to face justice in the US, the Mail on Sunday reported yesterday. The British daily quoted senior congressional sources in Washington as saying that Mr Obama had told the Libyan rebels through intermediaries that a condition of Washington's continued support was that they must hand over Abdelbaset al-Megrahi to US special forces if they enter Tripoli. The mission would involve Megrahi being flown to a neutral Arab country by US special forces and on to the

On Nov. 5, 2009, at the behest of Rep. Michele Bachmann, thousands of tea party activists descended on the Capitol to vent their rage over the health care overhaul bill pending before Congress. The assembled activists chanted, "Kill the bill! Kill the bill!" and waved signs opposing a government takeover of health care — but they may not have known that the same government was paying for the event. According to House expense reports, Bachmann and three conservative GOP colleagues — Reps. Tom Price (Ga.), Steve King (Iowa) and Todd Akin (Mo.) — each paid $3,407.50 that day, a total...

(CNSNews.com) - Senate Democrats are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate possible price-fixing of gasoline by U.S. refineries because “recent reports,” according to the senators, suggest the refiners are trimming supply to keep prices high. But a federal report from November shows that refinery stockpiles started to decline in 2008, if not earlier. At a press conference on Tuesday, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced that they had sent a letter that day to the FTC, “to request the Commission begin an investigation into potential price fixing of gasoline by U.S. refiners.” “Recent...

Can anyone provide a current breakdown of gas prices? I want to forward to my friends who think that Big Oil is the big winner when prices spike up. I'm assuming that all the Fed, State and Local taxes are the main reason. Thanks.

Silver's shine is fading fast, and the market for the precious metal may have reached a top in a speculative, mad dash by ETF investors. "The last move higher over the last month or so has really been driven by the strength of the retail investment demand, so the levels up here are not supported," said Suki Cooper, precious metals analyst with Barclays Capital. "At levels above $40, we've seen some concern rising on the industrial demand side. The last leg higher has been investment-driven, rather than fundamentally supported. In that respect, the correction was due. I would say from...

I woke up at 3 am yesterday morning. It was a bleary-eyed, “oh-God-I-fell-asleep-in-the-chair” awakening. Everything ached. I pushed myself out of the chair planning to stumble to the bed for a few hours of real sleep. I'd nodded off with the TV on, and blazoned across the TV screen was a banner that read "Bin Laden Dead". I thought, "Never heard of that movie before." Then a talking head was on the screen telling how Mr. Terror and his beard had both met their demise at the hands of Navy Seals and Army helicopters. Fascinated, I plopped back down in...

I was just starting to work on a column about silver mania Tuesday morning when a big, beautifully produced ad insert on silver, of all things, arrived with my Financial Times. Proclaiming that “silver is the single greatest profit opportunity of our time,” the insert featured a huge, nearly three-dimensional replica of a one-ounce U.S. silver eagle, with Liberty herself reaching out her hand and In God We Trust right there for all to see. The coin replica, some 3 ½ inches in diameter, shone like a harvest moon, glittering with the possibility of instant riches. And — you just...

There’s something sad about a man so carelessly revealing himself as entirely inadequate to the moment. Government spending is an existential threat to the United States. Whether or not anyone at the White House knows this, the viziers decided to shove the sultan out on stage with a pitifully unserious speech retreating to all his lamest tropes – the usual whiny, petty and unpresidential partisan snippiness, and the ponderous demolition of straw men even he barely bothered to pretend he believed in: Politicians are often eager to feed the impression that solving the problem is just a matter of eliminating...

In case you're not paying attention, the silver market has gone nuts today, surging until near $50, before collapsing to around $46. It's the most controversial, hotly-followed asset class in the world. So what's the real story. Earlier this month, Philip Klapwijk of GFMS presented a very through, complete look at the silver market: from its demand, its production, and where the current market stands in history. It's definitely a great, complete lesson. CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST

These government-issued coupons are good for one gallon of gas at most retailers...  I myself recall seeing them, but until recently never realized their actual worth... You may yourself have a couple laying around-- just a heads-up, now is the time to use them before they lose their value: Just as you were warned back in January...  except instead of four bucks a gallon it's FIVE- and we could be looking at six this summer. Obama's all upset about it -here- ___________________________________________________ More at Reaganite Republican

The US Labor Department said that consumer prices climbed a higher-than-expected 2.7pc in March from a year before. Almost three quarters of the rise was due to surging food and petrol prices, with petrol costs climbing 5.6pc, the ninth straight month of increases. Food rose 0.8pc in March, the largest gain since July 2008. A survey of 41 economists by Bloomberg had on average expected annual inflation to hit 2.6pc. David Wyss, the New York-based chief economist at Standard & Poors, said the inflation was largely as expected, adding: "The Fed is not going to see inflation as a threat...

Have Drivers Finally Thrown in Their Keys? Mass Transit Sees Uptick in Ridership Gas prices are now the highest they have ever been during the month of April and at its fourteenth highest nominal price according to data from the Energy Department going back to 1990. The average gas price is $3.79 per gallon of regular, according to the Energy Department's weekly figures released today, an increase of 11 cents from last week and 93 cents from a year ago. As the average price of gasoline edges closer to $4 a gallon -- with at least one gas station in...

Every now and then, I like to run a comparative screen on my list of over 800 ETFs/ETNs to find those areas of the investable universe which are at extremes relative to the broader stock market, or relative to themselves. Given recent market actions and the incredible resilience risk assets have had as of late, I thought it might be worth identifying those ETFs/ETNs furthest away from their respective 50-day moving averages. The purpose of doing this is to see where the crowd has been putting money to work the most, and perhaps identify contrarian trades. Silver by far and...

FAIRLESS Hills, PA At an event at a Spanish windmill firm in Pennsylvania, President Obama suggested Americans consider selling their gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient cars. The president chided one questioner, saying: "If you're complaining about the price of gas and you're only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know,you might want to think about a trade-in." The Associated Press reported that Mr. Obama made the comment "laughingly." However, the quote has been scrubbed from the original linked page. Fortunately, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit captured a screenshot:

"If you're complaining about the price of gas and you're only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know," Obama said laughingly. "You might want to think about a trade-in."

U.S. gasoline prices soared nearly 9 cents over the last week to $3.68 a gallon, the highest pump price on record for April, the Energy Department said on Monday.The national price for regular unleaded gasoline is up 86 cents from a year ago, based on the department’s weekly survey of fuel prices at service stations. Cleveland and Chicago had the biggest weekly gasoline price increases, rising 19 and 18 cents a gallon, respectively.Drivers paid more for gasoline as rising crude oil costs were passed along at the pump.

Sell first, ask questions later. That appears to be what gold traders did earlier this week, when their actions caused bullion to suffer a huge decline — falling more than $30 alone on Tuesday. Consider whether or not there are good fundamental reasons for gold to have fallen so much. The default explanation, of course, is that bullion’s decline somehow traces back to the Japanese earthquake and the ensuing crisis. But I’m not so sure why. Consider what is perhaps the most-invoked rationale for investing in gold: It’s ability to hedge against worsening inflation. Isn’t that rationale even more compelling...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Oil above $100! Gold hitting new records! Don't fear the headlines. Most market experts think oil and gold prices will settle down as the unrest in North Africa and the Middle East region subsides. In fact, a majority of investment strategists and money managers are leaving their year-end forecasts unchanged, according to an exclusive CNNMoney survey. On average, experts expect gold and oil prices to edge up about 4% by the end of 2011. That would put oil at around $95 a barrel and gold just under $1,500 an ounce by the end of the year....

High pump prices rattle drivers and businessesBy JONATHAN FAHEY and SANDY SHORE The Associated Press Monday, February 28, 2011; 9:12 AM NEW YORK -- High fuel prices are putting the squeeze on drivers' wallets just as they are starting to feel better about the economy. They're also forcing tough choices on small-business owners who are loathe to charge more for fear of losing cost-conscious customers. Gasoline prices rose 4 percent last week to a national average of $3.29 per gallon. That's the highest level ever for this time of year, when prices are typically low. And with unrest in the...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve would react to higher oil prices only if the increases spilled over into broader areas, officials of the U.S. central bank said on Friday, with one policy maker calling the risks "manageable." In a similar vein, an official of the European Central Bank said policy makers should be wary of responding too soon to the recent jump in oil prices as it may be fleeting. Oil prices have risen as political tensions in the Middle East and North Africa have raised fears that the unrest could spread to other major oil-producing countries, stoking...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The prices that American consumers pay for goods and services rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in January, mainly because of higher gas and grocery expenses, according to the latest government data. More than two-thirds of the increase in consumer prices last month stemmed from food and energy, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Yet “core” consumer prices rose a lesser 0.2%. The core data strips out volatile food and energy costs that can make overall inflationary pressure in the economy to seem higher or lower than it actually is. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast the consumer price...

Get ready to pay double or even triple the price for fresh produce in the coming weeks after the worst freeze in 60 years damaged and wiped out entire crops in northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S. The problem started less than a week ago, when our nation was focusing on the Superbowl and sheets of ice falling from Texas Stadium. Farmers throughout northern Mexico and the Southwest experienced unprecedented crop losses. Now devastation that seemed so far away, is hitting us in the pocketbooks. "We've had to double and triple some prices and consumers come in and it's quite...

US Politicians Duped By The Brotherhood In the United States, one individual maintained a pretense of "moderation" which would later embarrass the left and the right. According to the testimony of Dr. Michael Waller to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Abdurahman Alamoudi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. A man born in Eritrea in 1951, he arrived in the US in 1979 and became a naturalized US citizen on May 23, 1996. From 1985 onwards he became involved in many Muslim groups. In 1990 he founded the Washington DC-based American Muslim Council (AMC), which Waller states "has...

After providing a more thorough analysis of the precious metals market Monday morning, given silver's activity yesterday, we felt compelled to continue the discussion. The silver market has been extremely volatile as of late, and the day's action has proven no different. After peaking at 27.95 overnight, silver hovered around unchanged before dropping precipitously for no reason, ending Monday down almost 2%.(Click charts to expand)The large intraday price drop is certainly cause for concern among investors, but digging into Monday's volume action may be a bit more revealing.Both silver futures and the SLV displayed average to light volume. The...

Fuel price rises by 0.76p per litreSat Jan 1, 2011 3:26PM On 1 January, the British government announced an increase in the price of petrol, a condition which led to another 0.76p rise in the price of both petrol and diesel. This is while VAT will rise by 2.5 percent on 4 January. It is also said that another £1,200 is to be added to annual fuel bills due to the rises announced on 1 January, according to the state-run BBC. The AA suggested that these increases would push the cost of a litre of both diesel and petrol up...

It may be the happiest season of the year,but higher oil prices that have translated into gas prices topping $3 a gallon have many motorists frowning.

Gold recently logged a 25% gain so far this year, and many people think it's time to bank gains and head for the benches. While I'm never opposed to grabbing nice gains, I think there are much NICER gains to come in gold. I can give you a list of forces I've told you about before — lack of new supply, new and surging demand from gold ETFs, the world's central banks switching from net sellers to net buyers, and more.But today, I want to tell you about six more forces that will keep the heat on gold at...

Watch live feed of GM stock price!

INDIANAPOLIS, Nov. 18, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "There they go again," said The American Legion's National Commander Jimmie Foster about the recommendations of two debt reduction commissions which would decrease military retirement benefits. "Every time Washington wakes up with a deficit hangover after decades of spending binges, those who study the serious problems of our national debt can't resist the easy but unfair route of trying to balance the budget on the backs of veterans. It is unfair and if these ridiculous proposals are passed into law, it will hurt America's ability to defend itself from our enemies." One panel, chaired...

Nothing matches monetary theory and currency issues as a source of delirium among economists. As the G20 gets underway today in South Korea, name-calling has taken the place of diplomacy. The German Finance Minister called the U.S. Federal Reserve’s US$600-billion money-printing operation “clueless,” while Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says he has “absolute confidence” in the program. Somebody mentioned gold, and the swords are drawn again. Not a chance, said Mr. Carney. A good idea, said Robert Skidelsky, a leading Keynesian who says it’s a golden opportunity to reform the world monetary system. Meanwhile, the man who started the...

Gold is getting crushed today, when priced in silver. This move is insane. Silver is up over 4%, compared to less than 1% in gold.

The price of oil has hit a six-month high after encouraging manufacturing data in the US and China boosted confidence in the global recovery. US light crude oil rose by $2 (£1.25) a barrel or 2.5%, to $83.45, while London Brent rose by $1.90 to $85.04 a barrel. Figures showed that the US manufacturing sector accelerated faster than expected in October, thanks to strong new orders and exports.

One of the most controversial topics in investing is the price of gold. Eleven years ago, gold dropped as low as $252 per ounce. Since then, the yellow metal has risen more than five-fold, easily outpacing the major stock market indexes—and it seems to move higher every day.Some goldbugs say this is only the beginning and that gold will soon break $2,000, then $5,000 and then $10,000 per ounce.But the question is, “How can anyone reasonably calculate what the price of gold is?� For stocks, we have all sorts of ratios. Sure, those ratios can be off…but at least they’re...

Spot gold prices set a fresh record of $1,318.40 per ounce in European electronic trading on Friday, and were recently quoted at $1,315.90 an ounce, up $6.40 from its closing level in New York Thursday.