Free Republic

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There are three distinct factors that are driving these markets right now: earnings, Europe and China. Let’s break it down, shall we? Earnings. I’ve talked a lot about the lowering of expectations for corporate earnings and how they might have gotten too low over the course of the last couple of months. I also said that we could see some upside surprises. Financials, which everyone expected to be absolutely horrible, aren’t looking quite as bad as we thought. In addition to Citi, Bank of America, of which I’m a fan, came out ahead. Goldman Sachs missed—and not as closely as...

This is a big story that you're not hearing much about. cites a forbidden source: This is nearly a half-trillion dollars that the Federal government is on the hook for, which might not be showing up in deficit numbers. Another "perfect storm."

Sorry, But Housing And Car Sales Just Do Not Show A Coming Recession New Deal democrat, The Bonddad Blog Oct. 6, 2011, 1:45 PM ECRI's recession call has justifiably gotten much coverage. On the other hand, many have noted the lack of transparency of their method, making reliance on them a matter of trust rather than testing. An alternative to their approach is based on the research of UCLA Anderson School Prof. Edward Leamer. Prof. Leamer made an excellent presentation (pdf) about the progression of business cycles at Jackson Hole in 2007. It is research I have relied on many...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The home-buying season was a bust. March through August are typically the peak buying months. But this time, Americans bought fewer new homes in that stretch than in any other six-month period since record-keeping began a half-century ago. And sales of previously occupied homes didn't fare much better. They nearly matched 2009's total for the peak buying months. And that was the worst since 1997. Combined, total sales this spring and summer were the weakest on records dating to 1963. The figures underscore how badly the housing market is faring and suggest that a recovery is years...

Washington frog named official amphibian Mon Apr 30, 11:32 PM ET OLYMPIA, Wash. - Thanks to a group of third-graders, Washington state now has an official amphibian — the Pacific chorus frog. Gov. Chris Gregoire, wearing a toy frog on her forefinger, signed the bill Monday, bantering with the students from Olympia who brought the legislation forward as a class project. "There, you got a bill passed, and that's a really, really big deal," the governor said. "You made a law today." The students researched amphibians that inhabit Washington, and in a move Kermit would love, they chose the Pacific...

The myth of eternal Franco-American friendship is fair game. John J. Miller, a journalist with National Review, and Mark Molesky, assistant professor of history at Seton Hall University, offer a counter-myth: that France has directed unstinting malice against America from the beginning. The book opens with a blood-curdling narrative of the Deerfield massacre (1704), when Indians abetted by French-Canadian authorities attacked English settlers in western Massachusetts. They killed men, women, and children, scalped some of the victims and ate some of their flesh, and abducted hostages. The writing has verve, and the reader’s face tingles with anger.But Miller/Molesky’s account is...

The US is currently going through the peculiar process of deciding which Democratic presidential candidate will stand against George Bush in November. The aversion to Bush, at home and abroad, makes us forget how many people support this spokesman for another America sure of its superiority and its values. There was a commercial that aired on Iowa television in which the-then front-runner for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Howard Dean, was blasted for being the choice of the cultural elites: a "tax hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left- wing freak show" who had no business...

IN LATE DECEMBER, Mohamed Hussein Fadlallah, spiritual leader of the Lebanese radical organization Hezbollah, released to the Western media a letter in which he complained of a "stripping of liberties from Muslims, even when they have not disobeyed the law," and warned of an emerging climate "hostile to religion and to Muslim citizens." The tone was not unusual for a Hezbollah letter. What was unusual was the addressee. For the broadside was launched neither at George Bush nor at John Ashcroft but at French president Jacques Chirac, who until recently was hailed as a hero among Arab radicals for his...

In France, a bloody political battle is taking place between the ageing President Jacques Chirac and his younger protege, the Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. His omnipresence in the media has led to calls for a Sarkozy-free day Forty-eight-year old Mr Sarkozy has dared to suggest in public that Mr Chirac should not seek a third term in office, but retire to make way for a younger man. Mr Sarkozy clearly has someone in mind for the top job - himself. As the minister, nicknamed Sarko, is currently more popular in the polls in France than his boss, Mr Chirac, that...

Talks collapsed over Mr Pinault's possible cooperation US prosecutors are to pursue a criminal probe into French bank Credit Lyonnais' purchase of insurer Executive Life. Prosecutors allege that the bank used illegal front companies to take over Executive Life in 1991. The announcement of an investigation follows a failure of the French and US Governments to agree a settlement. A successful prosecution could result in Credit Lyonnais losing its valuable US banking licence, as well as possible sanctions against individuals. At the centre of the case is French tycoon Francois Pinault, who allegedly looked after Executive Life's assets in...

Local roads are described as "death traps" Five people have died as torrential rain and high winds brought serious flooding to south-eastern France. Forecasters warned of further downpours, as the floods blocked roads, disrupted rail services and forced more than 9,000 people to flee their homes. France's second-biggest city Marseille was declared a disaster area. After visiting the worst-affected area, French President Jacques Chirac said the victims could count on the solidarity of the rest of the nation. The French Government announced it was giving 12 million euros ($14m) in initial emergency fund for the region. As well as...

And the rise of an Islamist-leftist alliance. Paris Much of present-day French politics springs from the panic of April 21, 2002, when Jean-Marie Le Pen's fascistic National Front outpolled the ruling Socialist party to finish second in the opening round of France's presidential elections. Jacques Chirac, of course, easily won reelection two weeks later, with 82 percent of the vote, by rallying the entire left around his moderate-right party. But the first order of business for Chirac's prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, was to reassure voters that he had taken full account of what a close call it had been for...