Free Republic

Civil right leader Rev. Jesse Jackson paid enormous tribute to the late Martin McGuinness this week in a rousing speech to open the Museum of Free Derry. Comparing the Derryman, who died earlier this year after a short illness, to the likes of Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela, the activist laid a wreath at the Sinn Féin leader’s grave, meeting with other members of the political party to pay tribute. “It was a great honor to welcome the Rev. Jesse Jackson to Derry today, as he laid a wreath at the grave of Martin McGuinness, accompanied by Martin’s...

One of the Obama administration's final major labor regulations could deprive millions of retirement savers investment advice from financial professionals, according to a new report.The Department of Labor proposed the Fiduciary Rule in April 2015, which would allow regulators to oversee the relationship between retirement account advisors and their clients to ensure that the former were completing trades for the sole interest of their clients. The rule was approved in 2016 under the leadership of Labor Secretary Tom Perez, now the head of the Democratic Party."In 2016, the Department took a historic step to protect the savings of America's workers—the...

Diane Abbott says she has changed her mind on the IRA since the 1980s - and likened it to changing her hairstyle. The shadow home secretary was asked by Andrew Marr if she still thought "a defeat for the British state would be a great liberation". "I had a rather splendid afro at the time. I don't have the same hairstyle, I don't have the same views," she said. Home Secretary Amber Rudd later said she had changed her own hair many times, but not her views on terrorism. The pair vying to be the next home secretary were interviewed...

This is a tax question for next year, not this one. I take 3 or 4 distributions from an IRA. Each time they ask me if I want taxes withheld but I say no. It's not a lot of money, less than $20k/year but at what point will the IRS start to penalize me for not paying a portion in advance? The ideal scenario would be for me to pay whatever I owe each year at tax time but I'm afraid they will fine me more than I would even owe for not paying taxes X amount of times during...

Submitted by Joseph Jankowski via PlanetFreeWill.com Georgetown Professor Michael Eric Dyson is proposing the idea that white people should have an ‘Individual Reparations Account’ to make donations to black institutions and individuals. The idea is part of his forthcoming book, “Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America.” Dyson made the argument during an interview with Ana Marie Cox in the January 8 edition of the New York Times Magazine. From the interview: At the end of your sermon, you do a “benediction” section, in which you talk about making reparations on the local and individual level: donating to...

snip Economist Teresa Ghilarducci, director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, says she offered assurances at union board meetings and congressional hearings that employees would have enough to retire if they set aside just 3% of their paychecks in a 401(k). That assumed investments would rise by 7% a year. snip Ms. Ghilarducci wants to ditch the 401(k) altogether. She and Blackstone Group President Tony James are recommending a mandated, government-run savings system that would be administered by the Social Security Administration and managed by investment professionals. While both are Democrats, they believe their solution has bipartisan appeal....

Nearly a third of retirees are playing chicken with one of the steepest tax penalties out there — and they are running out of time. IRS rules on so-called required minimum distributions generally kick in once you reach age 70½. For 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans, it's either when you turn 70½. or you retire, whichever is later. If you've inherited an IRA, you might also be subject to RMDs, even if your own retirement is years away. How much you need to take is usually based on the account balance at the end of the previous year, and...

The law, which took effect Saturday, allows Pennsylvania to seize some retirement accounts three years after they're presumed abandoned - regardless of the account owner's age. Previously, the state waited until individuals reached age 701/2 before seizing retirement accounts and liquidating the portfolios. Now, older folks and famously contact-averse millennials could be affected. Valley Forge-based Vanguard, with more than $3 trillion in assets, isn't happy about the state's budget-inspired change and plans to join forces with others in the financial industry to repeal the law next year. ... For those who opt to communicate electronically, the "lost contact" trigger is...

A bloody outrage: The decorated Para facing prosecution 44 years after shooting dead an IRA killer - while the blood-soaked men of terror know they'll never face justice (thanks to Blair's squalid 'peace' deal) Soldier C faces prosecution for shooting the IRA commander Joe McCann The 65-year-old had been cleared of any wrong-doing over killing in 1972 Thought case is politically motivated and designed to appease IRA families Meanwhile, suspected IRA terrorists avoid prosecution due to Blair's deal Soldier C is a man who rarely shows emotion. Having served his country for 23 years in both the Parachute Regiment and...

The Central States Pension Fund has no new plan to avoid insolvency, fund director Thomas Nyhan said this week. Without government funding, the fund will run out of money in 10 years, he said. At that time, pension benefits for about 407,000 people could be reduced to "virtually nothing," he told workers and retirees in a letter sent Friday. In a last-ditch effort, the Central States Pension Plan sought government approval to partially reduce the pensions of 115,000 retirees and the future benefits for 155,000 current workers. The proposed cuts were steep, as much as 60% for some, but it...

A vote by Britain to quit the European Union might reignite conflict in Northern Ireland because it would re-erect a border through the country, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Thursday. […] The minister said that an Irish representative had once told him that the conflict in Northern Ireland was currently quiet “because there are no borders in Ireland.” But if the United Kingdom were to quit the EU, “there will be a border again between Ireland and Northern Ireland. And that could at least have the potential of rekindling a conflict that has seemingly calmed down,” he said....

President Obama’s regulators aren’t slowing down, alas. And on Wednesday they unveiled another part of their plan to push Americans out of private investment accounts and into government-run plans.

If you thought Obamacare was terrifying, just wait until you read about what President Obama's regulatory agencies are planning to do with your retirement savings. According to an alarming report in the Wall Street Journal, government regulators at the Labor Department will be implementing new rules at the end of the year that will eventually force private retirement investments into government accounts. How? By making private investment options, specifically IRAs, too burdensome, a liability and expensive. Bolding is mine.

New York state representative Peter King is not one to hold his tongue on his true feelings about anything, so did you think the outspoken pol wasn’t gonna dig in on Ted Cruz today? Fuhgeddaboudit. During an appearance on The Joe Piscopo Show Thursday morning, Rep. King slammed the Texas Senator amid the controversies he’s facing in — and prior rhetoric about — New York. Just twelve days before the New York primary, Cruz is on major damage control on the campaign trail after a disastrous day in the Bronx saw Cruz getting booed, heckled, and become subject of a...

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) on Tuesday shied away from throwing his support behind either Donald Trump or John Kasich, instead stressing his position on the third Republican running for president. "I can tell you one thing: I would never vote for Ted Cruz," King, a former backer of Marco Rubio, said during an appearance Tuesday afternoon on CNN. King has long criticized the Texas senator, including telling him in January to "go back under a rock" after the candidate questioned Trump's "New York values." Cruz has since emerged as the top challenger to Trump and several former rivals, including Jeb...

A suspected member of an Irish Republican Army splinter group was charged Saturday with trying to kill a Northern Ireland prison officer by placing a booby-trap bomb under his vehicle as police warned of rising security risks as Easter approaches. Dozens of armed riot police were deployed inside Belfast Magistrates Court to control a rowdy crowd supporting 45-year-old Christopher Robinson, who offered no plea to two charges of attempted murder and possession of a homemade bomb. Robinson was arrested following the March 4 attack on an off-duty prison officer, who was seriously wounded when a bomb exploded beneath his van...

According to financial research firm ICI, total retirement assets in the Land of the Free now exceed $23 trillion. $7.3 trillion of that is held in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). That’s an appetizing figure, especially for a government that just passed $19 trillion in debt and is in pressing need of new funding sources. Even when you account for all federal assets (like national parks and aircraft carriers), the government’s "net financial position" according to its own accounting is negative $17.7 trillion. And that number doesn’t include unfunded Social Security entitlements, which the government estimates is another $42 trillion. The...

Tuesday, the White House unveiled a plan to overhaul retirement savings that is eerily similar to ObamaCare in at least three fundamental ways. Introduced as a “Fact Sheet” on WhiteHouse.gov, Pres. Obama’s plan to revamp retirement savings mimics his controversial healthcare law: Individual participation is required, not optional, There’s an employer mandate, State-run marketplaces are created The employer mandate would require employers to “automatically enroll their workers in an IRA” – with, or without, their consent – making employee participation compulsory:

President Barack Obama will pitch some new proposals to expand access to retirement savings accounts and revisit some old ones when issuing his budget next month. [...] The White House says Obama's proposals, if enacted, would provide more than 30 million people access to a retirement account. The biggest chunk of that increase would occur through legislation requiring employers that don't offer a retirement plan to automatically enroll their workers in an Individual Retirement Account. The employers that did so would get a tax credit of $3,000 to help them offset the administrative expense. The proposal was also part of...

A former soldier has been arrested by detectives investigating the events of Bloody Sunday in Londonderry. Thirteen people were killed when British paratroopers opened fire on a civil rights march through the city in January 1972. A fourteenth died later. The 66-year-old is a former member of the Parachute Regiment. He was detained in County Antrim on Tuesday by the PSNI's Legacy Investigation Branch. He is the first person to be arrested as part of the investigation.