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Another huge value-de stroying hurricane is about to slam America, destroying billions of dollars of value. Another Katrina? No, another Christmas. This voluntary December calamity is explained in a darkly amusing little book about the size of an iPhone. "Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays" comes from a distinguished publisher, Princeton University Press, and an eminent author, Joel Waldfogel of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton business school. He says that the crux of Yuletide economics, which common sense suggests and research confirms, is:

In our American society, what a person finds important, of value, is vitally connected to what one’s society finds important. The safety of a nation is surely related to what it values. Good and healthy values maintain the existence of a nation. Our “UNALIENABLE RIGHTS. . . Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” are in jeopardy. They are not to be transferred to a new owner. “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). As our nation abandons its historic healthy foundation, it will be unable to survive the tests of rightness and...

Despite signs that the real estate market is bottoming out, millions of homeowners are likely to find themselves in worse shape within the next two years. Nearly half of the nation’s 52 million mortgage borrowers will have negative equity by the end of the first quarter of 2011, up from the 14 million at the end of this year’s first quarter, according to estimates in an Aug. 5 report by Deutsche Bank (DB). With so many borrowers underwater – or owing more on their home than it’s worth – the risk is high that they’ll default and their homes will...

Fiscal Policy: Given the number of new tax ideas making the rounds, you'd think we were in a rip-roaring expansion. But we're not, and new taxes are exactly the wrong thing to be proposing.In addition to kicking up taxes on the so-called wealthy, various members of the current administration seem to have lots of new ideas for separating Americans from their money. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's top aide, is health care adviser to Obama's budget director, Peter Orszag. He wants a 10% value-added tax (VAT), similar to the European Union's, to "pay" for health care reform....

With budget deficits soaring and President Obama pushing a trillion-dollar-plus expansion of health coverage, some Washington policymakers are taking a fresh look at a money-making idea long considered politically taboo: a national sales tax. Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax -- called a value-added tax, or VAT -- has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity. At a White House conference earlier this year on the government's budget problems, a roomful of tax experts pleaded...

by Gina L. DiorioNote: Yesterday marked the 149th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life – more commonly known as The Origin of Species. I wrote the following piece several years ago but believe this week in particular merits its reprint here. ***Revival of the Fittest: The Reestablishment of ManHumanity is in danger of extinction. Earth’s physical environment does not seek to destroy the human race; neither does any non-human species attempt to extinguish it. Rather, humanity presents...

Steak or salmon? Try Big Mac or Gordita. The high-end restaurant business is bracing itself for a slowdown as customers opt to save instead of spend. That’s good news for fast-food chains like McDonald’s. In October, sales at the Golden Arches jumped 8.2% globally, thanks in part to their budget-friendly dollar menu. But how far can your dollar go when it comes to taste? We asked Zach Brooks, editor of SeriousEatsNewYork.com and founder of MidtownLunch.com, to taste-test the best deals at five fast-food chains with outlets throughout the five boroughs, and dish on his findings. KFC“I love fried chicken. The...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2008 – The Joint Staff’s operations director told participants in the third annual America Supports You National Summit here today it would be impossible to put a price tag on what they give the country’s men and women in uniform. Army Lt. Gen. Carter F. Ham told more than 180 representatives of 122 troop-support groups at the Pentagon for the all-day summit that the work they do and the support of the American people provide “the center of gravity for our operations.” Troops rely on equipment, supplies, food and other resources to carry out their mission. But...

Chris Meney | Friday, 31 August 2007 Marriage deserves more because it gives more The continued provision of preferential support for parents and children over other types of unions is vital for society. The ongoing debate in Australia over the access of same-sex couples to social benefits and so-called entitlements is a distraction from the real issue at hand. The real issue is not one concerning any infringement of rights. Rather, it is about what heterosexual marriage can offer society that other forms of relationships cannot. Married heterosexual unions are not simply a legal invention with an associated bunch...

DALLAS, May 3, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today expressed thanks to Americans who support the troops and urged people to check out the Defense Department’s America Supports You program. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates delivers a luncheon speech to the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce, May 3, 2007. U.S. Air Force photo by Michael Tolzmann   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates told several hundred members of the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce here that he’s grateful for the support many are providing their employees serving in the National Guard and reserves. “You value these...

What price tag would you put on your house: a real estate agent's suggested price, the price a nearby home recently sold at, an appraiser's estimate, or another number? ...Location, location, location" still applies — now more than ever, agents and appraisers say. Home values can vary by whether the neighborhood's clean and quiet, in a good school district or even by its proximity to an upscale supermarket. So factor area amenities into the pricing equation ...Great kitchens and baths, with new fixtures, help sell homes. But buyers are getting more energy-conscious and real estate agents say efficient heating and...

The rise of the self-esteem movement From the late 1960s on self-esteem became a fashionable and influential idea. One of the first exponents was a young psychology professor called Stanley Coopersmith from California. A more influential figure was Nathaniel Branden. Branden was a psychtherapist and devotee of the philosopher Ayn Rand. He has written countless books on self-esteem and is considered the intellectual father of the self-esteem movement. As we shall see in another section, Branden’s work is sophisticated and his definition of self-esteem, and notions of how it can be boosted, is a far cry from the exhortations to...

I shall refute here the proposition that “the economic value of all goods and services is derived from the cost of their production and ultimately from the labor expended on their creation—be it measured in terms of the time, effort, or disutility required to produce the goods or services in question—and the labor expended on the creation of goods necessarily endows them with economic value.” This proposition is the essence of the labor theory of value, a false view nonetheless embraced by such notable thinkers as Thomas Aquinas and Adam Smith and used by Karl Marx to justify socialism. I...

Almost a year after its last flight, NASA has begun the countdown to attempt a flight of the space shuttle this coming weekend (weather permitting — a tropical disturbance currently in the Caribbean threatens Cape Canaveral and central Florida with rain, clouds, and lightning, which could potentially result in repeated daily postponements until the system moves on). If they do launch, it will be only the second flight in the almost three and a half years since the loss of Columbia over the skies of Texas on February 1, 2003, and the first since last summer’s return to flight, in...

Workers pour a concrete foundation in front of an unfinished housing development in a Denver, Colorado suburb April 19, 2005. The pace of U.S. housing construction rose more than expected in May after three months of declines as groundbreaking on both single-family and multifamily units jumped, a government report showed on Tuesday. (Rick Wilking/Reuters) The pace of U.S. housing construction rose more than expected in May after three months of declines as groundbreaking on both single-family and multifamily units jumped but permits for future projects fell, a government report showed on Tuesday. The Commerce Department said May housing starts...

KABUL, Afghanistan, May 11, 2006 – The Afghan National Police recently took major strides toward recognizing the equal rights of men and women, as well as the important contributions made by its female officers. Gen. Aziza Nazeri (center), the Afghan National Police''s most senior female officer, presides over the Gender Awareness Day conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 8, as Gen. Ahmad Madadzai and Jerilyn Glick Holsapple look on. Madadzai is head of the Human Rights Department of the Ministry of Interior, and Holsapple is a special agent with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Photo by Staff...

Part of the problem is that the people who decide national policy are headquartered in Washington, D.C., where large plots of private property are rare. Those of us who live in urban or suburban areas imagine endangered species protection to be as simple as being kind to blue whales, grizzly bears and bald eagles. We don’t stop to consider the dilemmas facing people thousands of miles away from us. Bill Snape, Chairman of the Endangered Species Coalition, is an example of one who lives in either ignorance or denial. “There just aren’t private landowners that I can identify where the...

CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) -- A tiger's roar might be scary, but Australian researchers have found that the predator's poo is just as potent. Researchers at the University of Queensland said on Friday they had successfully trailed a tiger poo repellant, warding off wild goats for at least three days.

Selfishness Has Its Value to the EconomyBy Peter Brown Self-interest gets a bad rap these days. It is both the driving principle of capitalism and a fact of human nature. And, it explains so much about many Americans' ambivalence toward Wal-Mart. A survey of attitudes toward the nation's largest retailer among New Yorkers, who might be expected to be among the least supportive of the firm and its practices, explains much about that love/hate relationship. They don't like the company and wish it were operated differently. But in a New York minute they are on their way to shop there....

A new site promises sophisticated home valuations and -- one day -- an end to 6% commissions. NEW YORK (MONEY) - Say "goodbye" to appraisers -- and possibly real estate agents. At least that's the promise of Zillow.com, launched Wednesday, which is headed by the founder of Internet travel company Expedia........... Plug in an address and you get a price. You can even pull back to a satellite photo of a particular street, complete with price estimates for every house on the block. Those price guesses, which the branding-savvy Zillow folks call a "Zestimate," take into account the size of...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27, 2005 – Insurgents targeted the Baghdad's Palestine Hotel for its inherent media value, a senior U.S. military official said today during a news conference in Baghdad. "Half the battle is in the battlefield of the media," Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said. "The terrorists will use the media as a combat multiplier to hide their limited capabilities." The general said terrorists recognize the value of the media. Al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, expressed this sentiment in a letter to Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, believed to be leading insurgent...

Like many motorists, Albert Menaster has watched with alarm as gasoline prices zoomed past $3 a gallon. But when he drives his 1998 Ford Windstar into Silverlake 76, Menaster stops at the lone full-serve nozzle, where customers can bark a command heard mostly in old movies: Fill 'er up! ADVERTISEMENT In a world gone self-serve, Menaster belongs to a pool of full-serve holdouts who pay as much as 50 cents more per gallon than their self-serve brethren. If he pumped his own gas, Menaster could save $4.50 with each fill-up. But he and others say not even the unrelenting rise...

As they happily watch their houses swell in value, Americans are changing their attitudes toward mortgage debt. Increasingly, a home is no longer a nest egg whose equity should never be touched, but a seemingly magical ATM enabling the owner to live it up or just live. Homeowners took $59 billion in cash out of their houses in the second quarter, double the amount in the 2004 quarter and 16 times the average rate of the mid-1990s, according to data released this month by mortgage giant Freddie Mac. People are cashing out so quickly that the term "homeowner" may soon...

Though assisted dying seems to have been out of the news, several quiet developments have furthered its cause in the UK. First we have the highest judge in the land, Lord Chief Justice Woolf, supporting a move by the Home Office to set gradations of sentences for murder. When asked about mandatory sentences, Woolf noted the differences in murder: 'If you intend to kill someone deliberately then a life sentence may be the only appropriate sentence. But you can have someone who has a relative who is suffering pain of severity which someone in my position can only try to...

I still think the chickens -- big budget deficits, huge trade deficits and crushing consumer debt -- will come home to roost. The dollar will fall, interest rates will rise and the economy will stumble -- just later than everyone predicted. The predictions made at the beginning of 2005 were a victim of lag, one of the worst problems in economic forecasting. Economics is relatively good at telling us what should happen next, but it's downright awful at telling us when next is. For example, if consumers keep borrowing more and more to spend more and more, at some point,...

Sometimes it seems as if liberals have a genius for producing an unending stream of ideas that are counterproductive for the poor, whom they claim to be helping. Few of these notions are more counterproductive than the idea of "menial work" or "dead-end jobs." Think about it: Why do employers pay people to do "menial" work? Because the work has to be done. What useful purpose is served by stigmatizing work that someone is going to have to do anyway? Is emptying bed pans in a hospital menial work? What would happen if bed pans didn't get emptied? Let people...

Hate wasting good bandwidth on a vanity. I figured if anybody knew the answers to my qustion it would be a freeper. I have received from a deceased relative a deleon no 4 knife. The handle is stag and the blade is appx 3 inches long. I believe it is a skinning knife but does not have a gut hook. It appears to be one of deleons earlier knives. It is well worn with the blade having some marks and the handle has lost its whiteish yellow colour. I dont have a digital cam right now so I cant post...

Democratic Party rethinks take on abortion Democrats studying how to regain votes they lost over 'moral value' issues Sunday, March 6, 2005 By Mary M. Shaffrey JOURNAL WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON When it comes to the issue of abortion, the Democratic Party is at a crossroads. The majority of the party, including its chairman, its previous presidential nominees as far back as one can recall, and most grass-roots activists as well as national leaders are decidedly for abortion rights. They favor minimal restrictions on access to abortion. "We are a very pro-choice country," said Karen M. White, the national political director...

John does not allow selling of items on FR and rightly so. My husband of 21 years, Dennis passed away on Oct 29th of a sudden massive heart attack. He was a 2 way radio tech for 34 years. There is a signaficant amount of test equipment, portable radios, and transmitter items that must be dealt with. The items are not part of any business, just what he's collected over the past several years in doing his job or left over from a defunct business.I am NOT trying to sell anything here, BUT I need help in assessing if these...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Emerging market shares trading in New York were struggling to get a clear direction early Thursday afternoon in thinly traded volumes ahead of the holidays. Most Latin American stocks were heading south except for some Brazilian ones, and among Asian shares, Indonesia and Taiwan were making moderate gains. Traders said stocks here were generally tracking their domestic counterparts. Meanwhile, Russia's biggest shares were posting substantial gains, with the country's largest mobile operator Mobile Telesystems (MBT), or MTS, rising 4.1% to $123.91 after Germany's Deutsche Telekom (DT) said it would sell a 12% stake in the company. The...

Twenty years from now, what might the world’s most precious, depleting, natural resource be? Oil? Steel? Lumber? How about working-age adults who are still contributing to a nation’s entitlement programs rather than receiving benefits from them? Want to know how short the future supply of such people is? Well, across the globe, nations like Japan, Australia, and Singapore are actually begging their child rearing-age population to procreate. For instance, according to the Tokyo correspondent for the BBC: Japan currently has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. [And] the government says that unless the trend is reversed quickly,...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

America’s privilege, the world’s worryNov 10th 2004 From The Economist Global Agenda The dollar plumbed new depths against the euro this week. The greenback’s fall has unnerved European policymakers. But it is their Asian counterparts who have most reason to worry CHARLES DE GAULLE, founder of France’s fifth republic, famously resented America’s paramount position in the global economy of the 1960s. The United States, he complained, enjoyed an “exorbitant privilege”. Because its currency, the dollar, served as the world’s reserve asset, America could live beyond its means, unconstrained by the periodic shortages of foreign exchange that haunted other, less privileged...

<p>Except for the presidential election, the most important election this year will take place on April 27 in Pennsylvania. No, it's not the "American Idol" finals. It's even more important than that. That's the day of the Republican primary pitting a great Republican, Pat Toomey, against the 74-year-old, Ira Einhorn-defending alleged "Republican," Arlen Specter.</p>

Bob Dole Slams Kerry By Andrew L. Jaffee, August 23, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Nothing has really changed for Democratic hopeful John Kerry, except that real war veterans, like Bob Dole, are questioning the “superficial wounds” and resulting “medals” he received during four (4) months service in Vietnam. Kerry is still flailing, trying to cover up a career punctuated by extreme left-wing politics and flip-flopping by talking to voters about his military service. He squandered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention by trying to convince Americans that his tour of duty in Vietnam will make him a great commander...

Last week, Juliet Eilperin reported in the Washington Post(1) that "House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) would like to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and replace the current tax system with either a flat tax, a national sales tax or a value-added tax." As reported, Hastert suggests that a new tax system would increase productivity and "double the economy" over the next 15 years. "All of a sudden, the problem of what future generations owe in Social Security and Medicare won't seem so daunting anymore," The Post reports Hastert wrote. "People ask me if I'm really calling for the elimination...

Ken Lay of Enron Indicted and Arrested By Andrew L. Jaffee, July 8, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Enron’s ex-Chairman of the Board has been indicted and arrested on charges connected with his former company’s implosion in 2001. Corporate executives at Enron engaged in all sorts of financial manipulations to pump up the company’s stock price. They created complex “partnerships” to hide company debt from shareholders. In 1998, Enron’s share price was at about $20. By 2000, it hit $90. By 2001, the company’s stock was worthless. Enron’s collapse wiped out billions in shareholder value and employee pensions. Democratic Presidential hopeful John...

LOS ANGELES, April 2, 2004—Jody Eldred Productions today announced it has just completed filming and is in the final stages of production on an inspirational documentary called, “Changed Lives: Miracles of The Passion,” which will air nationwide Easter weekend. With rave reviews from Diane Sawyer on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s “Scarborough Country,” this one-hour T.V. special was shot in High Definition and documents the true stories of people whose lives have been forever changed by Mel Gibson’s incredible motion picture “The Passion of The Christ.” “I knew instantly that people’s lives were going to be...

September 16, 2003 11:54 PM Quincy diocese to consider leaving Episcopal Church By Stephanie Massick, Staff writer Chicago Street Decorating Center The Episcopal Diocese of Quincy has drafted several resolutions that, if approved, would separate it from the Episcopal Church of the United States. This follows the church's decision in early August to confirm an openly gay man as bishop. In a 62-45 vote, the Episcopal General Convention confirmed the election of the Rev. Gene Robinson -- who has lived with his male partner for 13 years -- as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. ``There is no precedent...

OrbDev Appeals To State Dept For Eros Rent Ruling Carson City - Aug 28, 2003 Orbital Development reports that it has received an official response from the United States Department of State in regard to that company’s "Eros Project" which was initiated to establish official respect for property rights in Space. Orbital Development, in the course of its Eros Project , has claimed and owns Asteroid 433 Eros since 03 March, 2000. On 12 February, 2001 the United States landed the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft on the privately owned planetoid, prompting OrbDev to send an invoice to NASA for parking &...

European officials are increasingly alarmed by the surging value of the euro, fearing that it could be the death-blow for scores of struggling companies and drive Germany deep into recession. While the European Commission and Central Bank both welcome the 25pc rise in the euro against the dollar over the last year as long-overdue, clear dissent is emerging from those states hit hardest by the economic downturn and those that depend heavily on exports outside the eurozone. Their concerns coincided with comments from John Snow, the new US Treasury secretary, who told a confirmation hearing that the Bush administration would...

Put down the lipstick if you value his sperm December 10 2002 at 07:32AM By Laura MacInnis Washington - Everyday exposure to a chemical ingredient used to preserve many cosmetics and fragrances may contribute to sperm damage in adult men, according to a study published on Monday. In one of the first studies of the effects of substances known as phthalates on humans, Harvard University researchers found signs of correlation between exposure to a common type of the chemical and damage to the DNA of human sperm. The study, published in the government journal Environmental Health Perspectives, does not show...

The Canadian dollar has been dropping in value since Trudeau and his fellow Liberals got control of the Canadian government -- 30 years. At that time it was worth $1.10 US but now it is down close to 60 cents. Sometimes it goes up a cent and the Liberals celebrate but the overall direction is down. Eventually socialist Canadian politicians will have to consider dollarization or consider a dollar worth a dime.