Free Republic

Can we call them hate marches now? On Saturday in London there was yet another gathering of frothing Israelophobes. Another noisy assembly of bourgeois leftists and radical Islamists. Another long trudge through the city by that unholiest gang of Waitrose shoppers and jihad fanboys, of plummy liberals and the people who’ll be giving them a hundred lashes if the Islamic Revolution ever sweeps Britain. And this time the mask was well and truly off. This was no ‘pro-Palestine’ march – it was a viscerally anti-Israel march that frequently crossed the line into something even darker. Into the darkest hatred of...

US 30-year mortgage rates are above 7% as The Federal Reserve slowly withdraws its Covid-related monetary stimulus and attempt to combat near 40-year highs in inflation under Biden (aka, Bidenflation). However, the US Treasury 10-year yield is down -12 basis points this morning. And we have an important predictor of recession, the Treasury 10yr-3mo yield curve. And if the Republicans win The House (and maybe the Senate) at the midterms, Biden can blame Republicans for the recession. Joe Biden, Hunter and Biden’s brother James must be singing “Damn, it feels good to be a Biden!“

Okay, today I suppose I’m trying to outdo myself for “old schoolishness”! This is a protocol I’ve been using to help restore function to my injured shoulder, as well as to help decompress my spine. WATCH VIDEO. I tweaked the shoulder a year ago doing bench dips. I overextended the movement, which isn’t that hard to do, it’s one reason why the exercise—and regular dips too—can be dangerous to the shoulder girdle. Don’t get me wrong—dips can be an excellent chest, shoulder, tricep, and serratus anterior muscle (over and above the ribcage) exercise. But you have to be very careful...

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen said the markets may be wrong this time in trusting the yield curve inversion as a recession indicator. “Historically, it has been a pretty good signal of recession, and it think that’s when markets pay attention to it, but I would really urge that on this occasion it may be a less good signal,” Yellen said on Fox Business Network. “The reason for that is there are a number of factors other than market expectations about the future path of interest rates that are pushing down long-term yields.” The yield on the benchmark 10-year...

During the 20th century the Neronic cross or pentagram became the symbol for the "peace" movement. It was the arch-communist Bertrand Russell who adapted the sinister Neronic cross as the now famous peace symbol because he himself was a determined enemy of Jesus Christ and Christianity.

Pfizer just announced, that based on the Treasury Departments new rules, just created, that they will NOT be moving forward with the merger / inversion.

They're quite happy with "strategic patience" and "leading from behind" when it comes to bloodthirsty terrorists, but let a corporation seek to lower its tax bill . . . time for action! You can usually tell where people’s hearts really are by what animates them. There are situations when they know they’re supposed to look and sound passionate. And then there are situations in which they really are. There was much fire-breathing on Capitol Hill yesterday, not because of the growing urgency to stop the next ISIS beheading, burning, drowning or mass shooting - but because a U.S. corporation found...

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told members of Congress Wednesday that he will announce a new administrative effort this week to stop corporate inversions, as attempts at legislation to stop companies from moving their headquarters out of the U.S. have failed. Lew said in a letter to lawmakers that he would issue "additional targeted guidance to deter and reduce further the economic benefits of corporate inversions." Lew first took action to undercut the tax benefits of inversions in September 2014, announcing several specific rules meant to prevent companies from moving their headquarters abroad for tax purposes and limiting the tax breaks...

The Treasury Department has unveiled new regulations aimed at reeling in tax-dodging U.S. corporations trying to take advantage of friendly international tax codes. Snip "U.S. companies are currently taking advantage of an environment that allows them to move their tax residence overseas in order to avoid paying taxes in the United States without making significant changes in the nature of their overall business operations," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told reporters Thursday as he announced his department's new corporate inversion guidelines. Snip Those on the right generally want to avoid sweeping tax increases for American corporations, while proposals brought forward by...

Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul are strong advocates of limited government. They are gifted spokesmen for free markets, and they are heroes for taking on the GOP establishment on issues such as overspending and civil liberties. That is why their embrace of the value-added tax (VAT) in their presidential campaigns is so baffling. VATs are the revenue engine of big-government welfare states, not a proper funding source for the small federal government that both senators favor for America. Cruz and Paul propose to rip up the current tax code and replace it with individual income taxes at low, flat...

It appears Lazard's investment banker Antonio Weiss' "help" in tax inversions is not 'unpatriotic' enough to scare President Obama off - as we suspect Weiss' bundling and donating help more than offset any ethical challenges. However, in a somewhat eye-opening financial disclosure, Bloomberg reports that Obama's nominee for undersecretary of Treasury for domestic finance, has between $54 million and $203 million in assets spread across various family trusts and his anticipated compensation in 2014 is between $5 million and $25 million. It's good to know the 'people' are well-represented once again in Washington...

Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie Inc. said it was re-evaluating its planned $54 billion acquisition of Shire PLC in light of new U.S. rules making it harder for American companies to lower taxes through overseas deal making. The rethink is the most dramatic fallout so far from a broad crackdown by Washington on so-called inversions—takeover deals structured to relocate tax domiciles of U.S. companies overseas to capture tax benefits.

To hell with Obama–be un-American. I am! Our country has a great future. But it’s too popular. The U.S. of A. is 23% of global GDP yet sports 28 of the world’s 50 biggest stocks. American markets have outpaced foreign ones for seven years. These things fluctuate. Yes, America has inherent advantages that few see. When I was a young man in the 1970s, tech firms were scattered across the developed world. Since then America has come to dominate tech, almost totally. The largest official non-U.S. tech stock is China’s Tencent Holdings , which really isn’t a tech outfit at...

U.S. companies face a kind of double taxation--taxing both domestic and foreign earned corporate income--and we are the only major industrial nation to do this to our businesses New Inversion Rules Seek to Punish Businesses, Not Raise Revenue The Department of the Treasury announced last night that it has implemented new rules aimed at making it more difficult for U.S. companies to move their headquarters abroad, which is known as an “inversion”. The rules take immediate effect. Interestingly enough, when Obama began his crusade against inversions earlier this summer, Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew was adamant enough that rules...

<p>The Obama administration is highly exercised about “inversion,” the practice by which an American corporation acquires a foreign company and moves its headquarters out of the U.S. to benefit from lower tax rates abroad.</p> <p>Not fair, says President Barack Obama. It’s taking advantage of an “unpatriotic tax loophole” that hardworking American families have to make up for by the sweat of their brow. His treasury secretary calls such behavior a violation of “economic patriotism.”</p>

The Obama administration is highly exercised about "inversion," the practice by which an American corporation acquires a foreign company and moves its headquarters out of the U.S. to benefit from lower tax rates abroad. Not fair, says Barack Obama. It's taking advantage of an "unpatriotic tax loophole" that hardworking American families have to make up for by the sweat of their brow. His treasury secretary calls such behavior a violation of "economic patriotism." Nice touch. Democrats used to wax indignant about having one's patriotism questioned. Now they throw around the charge with abandon, tossing it at corporations that refuse to...

With Congress on August recess after failing to agree on a plan to help fix the country’s pressing immigration problems, President Obama is poised to take matters in his own hands with executive actions. Whether the president will act without Congress on immigration and other pressing issues has as emerged as a thorny political question. Critics argue he is intent on violating the Constitution to achieve his political agenda, while supporters say he is being forced into action because of the Capitol Hill dysfunction. Speculation that Obama will act during August recess is not unfounded. He has issued at least...

A little less than two years ago, Gregory D. Wasson, the chief executive of Walgreen, sought a series of tax breaks from Illinois, where his company is based. “We are proud of our Illinois heritage,” he said at the time. “Just as our stores and pharmacies are health and daily living anchors for the communities we serve, we as a company are now recommitted to serving as an economic anchor for northeastern Illinois.” The state gave Walgreen $46 million in corporate income tax credits over 10 years in exchange for a pledge to create 500 jobs and invest in upgrading...

The U.S. corporate tax code has come under far more scrutiny than Pfizer in the wake of the giant drug maker’s announcement last week that it hopes to avoid billions of dollars in federal taxes by moving its legal address to London. “The quotes we’ve seen from the politicians so far don’t in any way seem to be criticizing Pfizer. They’re laying the blame on the tax system that Pfizer has to work with,” said corporate tax expert Robert Willens. “Historically the company itself got blamed,” Willens added. “There’s been a shift in that dynamic. Now the system seems to...

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq: The Kurdish security contractor placed the black plastic box on the table. Inside was a new Glock 19, one of the nine-milimeter pistols that the United States issued by the tens of thousands to the Iraqi Army and police force. This pistol was no longer in the custody of Iraqi Army or police officers. It had been stolen or sold, and it found its way to an open-air grocery stand that does a lively black-market business in police and infantry arms. The contractor bought it there. He displayed other purchases, including a short-barreled Kalashnikov assault rifle with a...