Free Republic

Leftist activists have already been pushing Mastercard, Visa, and others to expand their ban beyond illegal activities, with the eventual goal of demonetarizing opposing political views.Last week, Mastercard, Inc., announced new rules for banks processing credit card payments to pornography websites, designed to combat child pornography and sex trafficking. Unfortunately, for a country whose corporate overlords refuse (or are unable) to distinguish between intrinsic evil and prudential policy judgments, this promising development will likely also serve as a beta test to further attack conservative groups.In December, Mastercard and Visa banned the use of their credit cards on the Pornhub website...

Dear Mr. Chairman:  (Dear Madam Chairwoman:)In accordance with section 303(a)(6)(A) of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (the “Act”) (50 U.S.C. 4533(a)(6)(A)), I transmit herewith notice of a shortfall in the defense industrial base relating to production capability for ultra-high and high temperature composites (U/HTC) for hypersonic, strategic missile, and space launch systems and of action to remedy that shortfall.  The Department of Defense will take actions to develop and purchase equipment and materials needed for creating, maintaining, protecting, and expanding production capability for ultra-high and high temperature composites for hypersonic, strategic missile, and space launch systems.I have...

The Export-Import Bank – the poster child for corporate welfare – was due to expire at the end of September. But it has been given a temporary reprieve while congressional leaders plot to renew it on the sly by attaching it to a must-pass spending bill, meaning the bank will never get the scrutiny taxpayers deserve. Ex-Im subsidizes export transactions using sweetheart terms – including below-market-rate loans – that are backed by the American taxpayer. According to the bank’s website, the agency provides financing when “private sector lenders are unable or unwilling to” and “assumes credit and country risks that...

Self-described socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced on Twitter late Tuesday that she will join California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters on the influential House Financial Services Committee, which oversees Wall Street and the housing industry. California Rep. Katie Porter, Michigan's Rashida Tlaib, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley have also reportedly been tapped for the committee by Democratic House leaders, and a vote finalizing their appointments is expected within days.

As the leadership in the House of Representatives is soon to be turned over to Democratic control come the new year, predetermined members are set to take the reigns of power. Members include the soon to be Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the one and only Representative Maxine Waters - who is set to take over as Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee for the 116th Congress. Last Friday, Waters wrote in a statement, “I am honored to have been selected by my colleagues to be the first Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee in the 116th Congress." Here...

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said banks "are a little bit worried that the Republicans will not perhaps be in charge" heading into today's vote, as Democrats taking back the House majority would likely mean she would be in charge of the House Financial Services Committee. The current chairman, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), is among the powerful House GOPs who chose to retire this year instead of run for re-election. The most senior Republican on the panel after Hensarling is Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.). "This is America. We solve our political differences at the ballot box," Hensarling said after...

London-based banks HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc tumbled in Hong Kong after early results from Britain’s European Union referendum indicated greater support for an exit than academics had forecast. HSBC, which made about a third of its 2015 revenue in Europe, fell as much as 3.1 percent and Standard Chartered as much as 3.7 percent. Financial institutions including JPMorgan Chase & Co., HSBC and Deutsche Bank AG warned ahead of Britain’s vote that they could shift some operations from London if the U.K. left the EU. HSBC would probably move about 1,000 investment bankers to Paris in the...

Maxine Waters — the fiery liberal from Los Angeles known for calling House Republican leadership “demons” and threatening to nationalize oil companies — has gone from the scourge of Big Business to a sympathetic ally for corporate America. It’s no accident. Waters is executing this transformation by seizing on the growing divide between conservative Republicans and Big Business and leveraging her position as the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, where in the coming weeks she will play a role in the battles over extending a terrorism insurance program and the Export-Import Bank. A large part of her...

Wall Street executives already are bracing for the possibility that Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) will take over as the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee from Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). Waters is in line for Frank’s spot and could become chairwoman of the panel if Democrats retake the House. Frank will announce Monday that he will not seek another term in the House. The California liberal is seen as to the left of Frank, the architect of 2010’s Wall Street reform bill, on financial issues. While banks and other financial institutions often battled Frank, he was seen as...

You would think that a bill supported by nearly three-quarters of the legislature should be a breeze to become law. Not so in today's House of Representatives. The legislative system has become so convoluted and corrupted that not even the legislators know what is in the bills, where the bills are being written, or what bills are pending. Given the current system, it should come as no surprise that a bill which would allow the Congress to audit the Federal Reserve should be stalled in a committee and will soon die. H.R. 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009,...

Sen. Tim Johnson is expected to take the reins of the Senate Banking Committee next year following Chairman Chris Dodd’s decision not to run for re-election, according to sources. A spokeswoman for Johnson confirmed that the South Dakota Democrat is "next in line for the position." "Now that Chairman Dodd has made his future plans known, Sen. Johnson is ready to assume the role," she said. "He is more than up to the task and has the confidence of the Majority Leader and his colleagues on the committee." Johnson is currently the No. 2 Democrat on the Banking Committee, but...

WASHINGTON - During consideration of H.R. 3126, legislation to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee voted to pass an amendment offered by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) that will make ACORN eligible to play a role in setting regulations for financial institutions. The Waters amendment adds to the CFPA Oversight Board 5 representatives from the fields of "consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights, representatives of depository institutions that primarily serve underserved communities, or representatives of communities that have been significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgages" to join Federal banking regulators in advising the...

Are consumers "protected" when they are denied the opportunity to buy products and services that are available to others? Is that what consumers want?...These are the questions raised by the Obama administration's proposal for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Traditionally, consumer protection in the United States has focused on disclosure. It has always been assumed that with adequate disclosure all consumers -- of whatever level of sophistication -- could make rational decisions about the products...No more. If the administration's plan is adopted, many consumers will be told that they cannot have particular products...because they are not sophisticated, educated or intelligent...

Back in August, during the panic over mortgages, Alan Greenspan offered reassurance to an anxious public. The current turmoil, the former Federal Reserve Board chairman said, strongly resembled brief financial scares such as the Russian debt crisis of 1998 or the U.S. stock market crash of 1987. Not to worry. But in the background, one could hear the groans and feel the tremors as larger political and economic tectonic plates collided. Nine months later, Greenspan's soothing analogies no longer wash. The U.S. economy faces unprecedented debt levels, soaring commodity prices and sliding home prices, to say nothing of a weak...

March 30, 2008 Manufacturing’s comeback chance Economic Outlook David Smith WITH apologies to any of them who might be reading this, is it time we dumped the investment bankers, accountants and consultants and concentrated on the people who make things, Britain’s manufacturers? Does the credit crunch - a term Mervyn King has now taken to using - mark the point at which we should go back to basics, by rediscovering the things that made Britain great? A week in which Jaguar and Land Rover have been sold to India’s Tata may seem a curious time to be asking such a...

No Fidelity to Hub: Up to 1,500 employees to exitBy Scott Van Voorhis and Jay Fitzgerald Friday, January 6, 2006 - Updated: 12:14 AM EST The Hub’s battered job base buckled yesterday, with Fidelity Investments confirming plans to export jobs to Rhode Island in a move that could pull as many as 1,500 workers out of downtown Boston.       The move by one of Boston’s oldest and largest employers, first reported in yesterday’s Herald, will eventually send 800 workers to a new building in the works on Fidelity’s growing, Smithfield, R.I., campus. In the meantime, 400 of those workers...

CHICAGO -- Consumer confidence in the security of online financial services has declined considerably, in response to continual reports of identity theft and phishing scams, experts told UPI's The Web. "There's been a loss of trust in the channel, but not in specific brands," said Bruce Cundiff, a research analyst with Javelin Strategy & Research in Pleasanton, Calif., producer of a new report called "Phishing: Consumer Awareness and Behavior." By Gene Koprowski