Free Republic

Extortion: Radical Democrat activist groups stand to collect millions from Attorney General Eric Holder's record $17 billion deal to settle alleged mortgage abuse charges against Bank of America. Buried in the fine print of the deal, which includes $7 billion in soft-dollar consumer relief, are a raft of political payoffs to Obama constituency groups. In effect, the government has ordered the nation's largest bank to create a massive slush fund for Democrat special interests.

U.S. banking giant Citigroup Inc. said this week it would charge $15 per month for checking account holders who kept a balance below $6,000. The firm's move comes on the heels of Bank of America's announcement this week that it would charge $5 for most debit card holders and sparked at least one desertion, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday. Cheryl Holt of Burbank, Calif., said she was "on my way out the door right now … off to start a new account at my nearest credit union." "Should have done it years before," she added. Holt said she received...

It wasn’t that long ago that currency speculator George Soros was traveling the globe urging regulatory crackdown on the same financial sector that has allowed him to become a billionaire 14 times over. In late 2008 the preachy political radical who has given more than $8 billion to charities and left-wing causes lectured a congressional committee. “The entire regulatory framework needs to be reconsidered and hedge funds need to be regulated within that framework,” he pontificated.Soros got his wish, and the lawmakers his money helped to install in Congress dutifully approved the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act...

As the Democrats attempt to blame former President George W. Bush for all the ills of the current economy, it is worthwhile to remember that the collapse of the housing market due to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans that should have never been approved was the driving force behind the economic collapse of 2008. President Bush, along with other Republicans like John McCain had tried to move legislation to deal with the loans being given to people who simply could not afford to buy a house. But Democrats led by Barney Frank insisted on their social engineering policy that...

Under a little-noticed provision of the recently passed financial-reform legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission no longer has to comply with virtually all requests for information releases from the public, including those filed under the Freedom of Information Act. The law, signed last week by President Obama, exempts the SEC from disclosing records or information derived from "surveillance, risk assessments, or other regulatory and oversight activities." Given that the SEC is a regulatory body, the provision covers almost every action by the agency, lawyers say. Congress and federal agencies can request information, but the public cannot. That argument comes despite...

WASHINGTON – Congress sent legislation to President Barack Obama Thursday that imposes sweeping new regulations on Wall Street and creates new protections for millions of consumers. The Senate's 60-39 vote came nearly two years after a financial crisis knocked the economy to its knees.

Within a week or so, if not sooner, we can expect the Dodd-Frank Act to become law....there remain hidden provisions that will have more impact than has been generally recognized. This column will focus on three: (1) the whistleblower bounty provisions of the act, which create unprecedented incentives; (2) the act's "clawback" provisions, which potentially affect all current and former "executive officers" of a listed company but that are expressed in vague language of uncertain scope; and (3) its approach to the extraterritorial application of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, where the act expressly reverses some aspects...

Apparently, Fannie and Freddie are the new Batman and Robin. At least they seemed more like heroes than villains in a July 6 ABC News story about the troubled housing market. Reporter Rich Blake gave the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac credit for "propping up" the flailing housing sector: "As perplexing and disturbing as this economic brainteaser may seem, the housing sector would be in even worse shape if not for those twin government sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both in government conservatorship and bleeding assets," Blake wrote. Blake was downbeat about the situation...

Big changes are in store for the banking system should Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be revamped or eliminated—both of which are being discussed by housing experts and government officials to deal with the distressed real estate market. As the system works now with the two entities, Fannie and Freddie , banks write the mortgages, but they rarely hold them. The mortgages are sold off into pools, known as mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Fannie and Freddie guarantee the mortgage payments, so that the MBS buyer, be it the Chinese government or an American pension plan, has the security of the US...