Free Republic

Chinese state-owned firm winning contracts to print foreign currencies as country seeks to expand global reach and influence China is printing foreign currencies on a massive scale as Beijing seeks to increase its influence on the world economy and geopolitics. Multiple sources in the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation confirmed to the South China Morning Post last month that money production plants across the country were running at near full capacity to meet an unusually high quota set by the government this year. Most of the demand comes from participants in the “Belt and Road Initiative” and one source,...

This is exclusive, and heart breaking for me and for the family and friends of the great Aretha Franklin. She is gravely ill in Detroit. The family is asking for prayers and privacy. Originally diagnosed with cancer in 2010, Aretha, who turned 76 in March, bravely battled back and refused to be knocked out by illness. Her last performance as on November 2, 2017 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York. Her final public performance was at Philadelphia’s Mann Center in August 2017. It was a miraculous show as Aretha was already then fighting exhaustion and dehydration. Aretha...

India rupee hits SHOCK LOW as Bank of India undertakes emergency intervention The Indian rupee on Monday touched an all-time low of 69.62 per dollar in early trade, tracking broader weakness in other emerging market currencies on concerns of a spill-over from a crisis-hit Turkey. The Reserve Bank of India was seen intervening to stem a sharp fall in the rupee, two dealers said. “The RBI was there to curtail the volatility in early trade, but not in a big way,” said a senior dealer at a foreign bank. The rupee reversed marginally from its record lows to trade at...

Euro sank 13-month low over Turkey's spiralling Lira currency The lira slipped below 7.0 to the US dollar and was down 12 percent on Friday’s value at one point this morning. The currency is collapsing after Donald Trump doubled import duties on steel and aluminium as part of fresh sanctions on the country. The euro had already plunged after the tariffs were imposed on Friday, with the currency dropping to a 13-moth low this morning. .... The euro slid as low as $1.1365 before recovering slightly today. The pound sterling opened at a 13-month low as the dollar continues to...

SAUDI Arabia has scaled back its rate of oil production just one month after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to increase their output. OPEC member Saudi Arabia announced it had cut its oil output by an average of 200,000 barrels per day last month - a move designed to increase demand in an increasingly chaotic oil industry. The US is burying Iran under increasingly harsh sanctions with the aim of reducing their oil exports to nil, while Venezuela, another major oil-exporting country, has also seen its output drop due to economic instability. OPEC said in its...

Trump met Erdogan at a Nato meeting early in June. Their discussions were very friendly, and after they ended, Trump thought they had made a deal: Trump would ask Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to release a Turkish citizen, Ebru Ozkan, arrested because of alleged terrorist links to Hamas, and then Turkey would release pastor Andrew Brunson, who was arrested in Turkey on October 2016 on charges of espionage, which the US considers are bogus charges. So on July 14, Trump called Netanyahu and requested that Ozkan be released, and she was released the next day. But Brunson was not...

Growth: The stronger the economy gets under President Trump, the more desperate his critics are to hand credit over to Obama. Even if that entails changing the past. A recent New York Times story says it all: "An Economic Upturn Begun Under Obama Is Now Trump's To Tout." The article begins by admitting that "by nearly every standard measure, the American economy is doing well," then spends the next 1,400 words arguing that the current good times have nothing to do with Trump's economic agenda. The economy, reporter Patricia Cohen declares, "is following the upward trajectory begun under President Barack...

California’s energy regulators effectively cooked the books to justify their recent command that all homes built in the Golden State after 2020 be equipped with solar panels. Far from a boon to homeowners, the costs to builders and home buyers will likely far exceed the benefits to the state. The California Energy Commission, which approved the rule as part of new energy-efficiency regulations, didn’t conduct an objective, independent investigation of the policy’s effects. Instead it relied on economic analysis from the consultancy that proposed the policy, Energy and Environmental Economics Inc. Its study concluded that home buyers get a 100%...

Despite numerous promises from congressional Democrats and President Barack Obama when they passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the health care law has created far more problems than it has solved. Premiums, deductibles, and health care choices have all worsened since Obamacare went into effect, and there’s no sign America’s health insurance system will improve anytime in the near future.President Trump inherited a health insurance crisis when he took office in January 2017, so he and congressional Republican leaders immediately began to work to implement their plan to replace Obamacare with a more market-centered approach to improving the...

• "We have to realize that perhaps China isn't as strong as when we at first think. China is still figuring out also how to deal with this trade situation, how to ensure the stability of its domestic economy," said Curtis Chin, an Asia fellow at the Milken Institute. • Speaking to CNBC's "Squawk Box," Chin also "totally" disagreed with the view that U.S. President Donald Trump's policies are backfiring. China's power may have been overrated and the U.S. economy is staying strong, meaning that U.S. President Donald Trump has an advantage in the trade war, according to one expert....

German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier launched strong attack on Trump for his tariffs and sanctions. He told Bild am Sonntag newspaper that “this trade war is slowing down and destroying economic growth – and it creates new uncertainties.” Meanwhile, the agreement between the EU and US “can only be first step”. Altmaier emphasized “Our goal is a global trade order with lower tariffs, less protectionism and open markets.” Regarding US sanctions on Iran, Altmaier also pledged the Germany and EU will continue to support companies doing business with Iran. He warned that “we won’t let Washington dictate us with whom...

Unlike the prior administration who was more than willing to give away America’s wealth and power, President Trump understands US economic power. And he is using the wealth and power of the United States to the country’s full advantage. President Trump knows that since the US is holding all of the aces it is time to use them and really start winning. The US economy is the world’s largest America’s economy is bigger than the combined economies of the rest of the G7. Our total annual output which will exceed $20 Trillion this year, is almost 25% of the world’s...

Full Title: VIDEO: Laura Loomer Confronts Democrat Muslim Candidate on Why She Married Her Brother — Is KICKED OFF FACEBOOK after Posting the VIDEO event on Sunday for two Minneapolis area Muslim Democrats. Minnesota state Rep. Ilhan Omar, left, and Rashida Tlaib, a congressional candidate in Detroit held a joint campaign event at the Holy Land deli in Minneapolis. Rashida Tlaib will likely be America’s first female Palestinian and Muslim member of Congress. Rashida celebrated her primary win last week by posting a hateful tweet against Israel. We cannot allow American foreign aid to be used to violate the human...

... New Mexico is finally free of a back-room highway bond deal that kept then-Gov. Bill Richardson out of then-President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet once it was exposed. Back in 2004 and 2006, very few people understood what had been done to get $1.6 billion in state highway bonds used to start a bunch of highway projects and the Rail Runner commuter train. And even fewer knew why a company known as CDR Financial Products Inc. of Beverly Hills, was involved. The Richardson administration wanted the $1.6 billion in bonds to make a big splash on the state’s economy... But the...

Whether the nation’s $1.5 trillion student-debt problem represents a crisis is a matter of debate among policy makers and experts. But ask regular voters what they think and the answer seems pretty clear. More than half of Republicans, 67% of Independents and 71% of Democrats agree that student debt is a crisis, according to a recent poll of 1,000 voters conducted by Lake Research Partners and Chesapeake Beach Consulting on behalf of Americans for Financial Reform and the Center for Responsible Lending, two consumer advocacy organizations. “It’s pretty clear that regardless of political orientation, people see it not just as...

Still, it appears the recovery is finally coming to less educated workers who have missed out on the economic boon that has been great for the wealthy and large corporations. The study found that much of the pickup in participation had come from Americans with some college education or less, as the labor market has tightened and employers have relaxed hiring requirements in order to find workers. Prime-age workers are a major driver of the economy, because they typically have high productivity rates and help push wages higher, spurring increased spending and development. However, the rise in workers for this...

BEIJING (Reuters) - Peter Wang was asleep at his home in Beijing last Monday when police officers arrived before dawn to detain him, saying he had helped organize a protest planned for later that day. Across the city, others who had lost money investing in China’s online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms - including some who had traveled from as far away as Shandong and Shanxi provinces - got similar visits from police. By the time they were released, the demonstration they had planned using social media chat groups had fizzled amid a massive security response around the China Banking and...

Houston chain El Tiempo Cantina appears to have deleted its social media pages, a day after a photo of the restaurant's owner with Attorney General Jeff Sessions drew outrage and calls for a boycott. El Tiempo did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the chain's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages were down Saturday afternoon. On Friday, owner Roland Laurenzo posted a photo with a caption saying it was an "honor" to serve Sessions, who was in town to discuss immigration enforcement with law enforcement officers. The post was quickly condemned by customers, some of whom called for...

A story is supposed to have  two sides, but there is only  one when it comes to President Trump’s foreign policy. Most American media treat his every effort as a savage assault on a harmonious world order. Whether it’s the trade dispute with China, his pushing North Korea to scuttle its nukes or his demand that NATO members spend more on defense, the headlines sound the same shrieking note: “Trump inflames . . . Trump escalates . . . Trump doubles down . . . Trump risks . . .” The parade of horribles continues to this day, but it will be hard to out-fear-monger a Time magazine...

Some of the nation’s largest technology and social media companies have tried to stop Alex Jones and his conspiracy theories. But in a digital world, their attempts seem to have barely slowed him down. After YouTube, Facebook and others this week removed content by Jones and his website, the InfoWars leader, talk show host and Austin resident fired back, accusing the companies of censorship and urging his audience to fight back against what he called an “unprecedented attack.” Meanwhile, Jones’ website and other online platforms have remained popular destinations. InfoWars continues to see more than 1 million page visits per...