Free Republic

Mitt Romney is a loser...an election loser. In his 1994 senatorial campaign, he lost by a huge margin (by more than 17 points) in a year when Republicans took over Congress. Despite everyone else’s success, Romney managed to lose. Of all his campaigns he has won only once when he won a single term as governor of Massachusetts, but he quickly tarnished that close victory. After becoming governor in 2002 with Kerry Healey as his running mate, Romney proceeded to mismanage his position so that his approval dropped rapidly into the 40's and then the 30's. He left that mess...

WASHINGTON -- Tensions between the rich and poor are increasing and at their most intense level in nearly a quarter-century, a new survey shows. Americans now see more social conflict over wealth inequality than over the hot-button topics of immigration, race relations and age. The survey released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center highlights U.S. perceptions of the economic divide, an issue that has moved to the forefront in the 2012 presidential campaign amid stubbornly high unemployment, increasing poverty and protests by the Occupy movement.

The last two presidential election cycles have revealed a stinking hypocrisy in conservatives: They profess their love of capitalism and entrepreneurship, but when offered a real capitalist and entrepreneur, they go, “Eek, a mouse!” And they tear him down in proud social-democrat fashion. In the off season, they sound like Friedrich Hayek. When the game is on, they sound like Huey Long, Bella Abzug, or Bob Shrum. Last time around, Mike Huckabee said Romney “looks like the guy who laid you off.” Conservatives reacted like this was the greatest mot since Voltaire or something. To me, Romney looked like someone...

As many as 5 million California property-tax payers who have been taking the entire amount they pay off their state income taxes could see a major cut in their deductions when they file next year. Beginning with the 2012 tax bill (the one due in April 2013), the state Franchise Tax Board will require property owners to break down their property taxes into deductible and non-deductible portions. That means property owners who have been deducting their Mello-Roos fees — often running into thousands of dollars — will no longer be able to deduct those or any other special assessments like...

According to the Quinnipiac Poll released Monday, Romney leads the field among Florida Republicans with 36 percent of the vote, followed by Newt Gingrich with 24 percent, then Rick Santorum at 16 percent. Behind them, Ron Paul has the support of 10 percent of Florida Republicans, Rick Perry has five and Jon Huntsman trails with two percent. The poll also found that 54 percent of Florida Republicans say they could change their minds in the coming weeks.

Accumulated budget deficits of $15.2 trillion and unfunded entitlement liabilities of $117 trillion cannot dissuade Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist and Princeton University professor, from his belief that government must go many trillions more into debt immediately to rescue Barack Obama's presidency. In his latest column extolling the virtues of the late British economist John Maynard Keynes, Mr. Krugman asserts anew that the nearly $800 billion Obama stimulus of 2009 failed to produce 4 million new jobs and keep unemployment under 8 percent simply because it was too small. (He has argued $2.9 trillion of government pump-priming was the...

Innovation is the key driver of competitiveness, wage and job growth, and longterm economic growth. Therefore, one way to approach the question of how to improve the competitiveness of the United States is to look to the past and examine the factors that helped unleash the tremendous innovative potential of the private sector. Among these factors, three pillars have been key: Federal support for basic research, education, and infrastructure. Federally supported research laid the groundwork for the integrated circuit and the subsequent computer industry; the Internet; and advances in chemicals, agriculture, and medical science. Millions of workers can trace their...

Unemployed homeowners will be allowed to suspend or reduce mortgage payments for as long as a year under a new policy announced by mortgage finance firm Freddie Mac on Friday. The new rules take effect on Feb. 1. Freddie Mac will give mortgage servicers the authority to provide six months of forbearance to unemployed borrowers without prior approval, and the agency can approve an additional six months of forbearance after that. Homeowners are still responsible for paying off their full mortgage plus interest after the forbearance period ends. According to a Freddie Mac news release, unemployed borrowers can now avoid...

Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most vibrant middle class that the world has ever seen. Unfortunately, that is rapidly changing. The statistics that you are about to read prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the U.S. middle class is dying right in front of our eyes as we enter 2012. The decline of the middle class is not something that has happened all of a sudden. Rather, there has been a relentless grinding down of the middle class over the last several decades. Millions of our jobs have been shipped overseas, the rate...

By his reasoning, Obama needs to destroy the middle class in order to save it... --snip-- But this isn't just a job killer. It's a middle class killer. "According to EPA's Regulatory Impact Analysis, the final Utility MACT rule will increase electricity rates by up to 6 percent in some regions of the U.S. When combined with CSAPR, electricity rates are expected to increase by up to 23 percent in some areas. National Economic Research Associates projects that Utility MACT and other EPA regulations could increase electricity and other energy prices by $170 billion by 2020." And while your electricity...

... Never before have so many of the unemployed owed their job loss, not indirectly at all, but quite obviously directly, to the intentional, conscious directives of their president and his direct appointees, the czars and cabinet secretaries who have launched a direct frontal assault on industry after industry ever since their appointments. Consider: Car Dealers: In 2009, though everyone knew that the problems dooming Chrysler and General Motors were their enormous property and property tax obligations caused by too big, too old, factories, and their utterly unsupportable labor and pension costs, Barack Obama ordered the closure of over 3000...

The latest census shows that 1 in 2 people have slipped in America and are poor. The tax burden has risen and this idea of socialism has amounted to a charity that costs $9 out of $10 to function. It is now government itself that is the beast consuming everything, not the poor who get table scraps. After the Arab riots in Iran and how they used the internet to organize, I warned that those in Washington in the unelected backrooms were shaking in their boots and would eliminate that threat in the USA. The bill was introduced to allow...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: According to a new study from the Bureau of Labor statics, public school teachers are now the highest paid state workers. Public school teachers. In fact, public school teachers receive more than twice as much in average hourly wages and benefits as workers in private industry, on average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Public school teachers "are paid an average of $56.59 per hour in combined wages and benefits," which is twice the $28.24 an hour in wages and benefits paid to workers in the private sector. Now, some of you are probably saying, "I...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - After nearly 40 years in public education, Patrick Godwin spends his retirement days running a horse farm east of Sacramento, Calif., with his daughter. His departure from the workaday world is likely to be long and relatively free of financial concerns, after he retired last July at age 59 with a pension paying $174,308 a year for the rest of his life. Such guaranteed pensions for relatively youthful government retirees — paid in similar fashion to millions nationwide — are contributing to nationwide friction with the public sector workers. They have access to attractive defined-benefit pensions and...

We know the politicians are lying and breaking the law and yet nothing is done. We know the bankers have broken laws and are not being prosecuted. We taxpayers are being robbed. The corruption is so blatant and yet nothing is being done.

Herman Cain and Our 9-9-9 Plan Will Defeat Barrack Obama Dear Patriot, Last night's CNN debate was my first debate as the clear front runner in the GOP primary. I am truly honored and humbled to be in this position. My recent surge in the polls is a clear indication that America's are hearing my message loud and clear. Friends, I am a problem solver, and America needs a common sense problem solver in the White House! But I need your help today. Most of my GOP opponents are career politicians who have established massive fundraising networks nationwide, and the...

10 Mind Blowing Facts Which Show How Members Of Congress And Federal Employees Are Living The High Life At Our ExpenseOctober 19,2011 If you were asked to guess, what area of the United States would you say has the highest average income? New York City? Los Angeles? Silicon Valley? Well, would you believe that it is actually the Washington D.C. area? Median household income in the region is $84,523, which is the highest in the nation. One of the biggest reasons for this are the huge salaries being pulled down by federal employees in the Washington D.C. area. According to...