Free Republic

How corrupt is the United States? The day after the Justice Department launched an investigation into Wall Street short sellers the largest document storage facility, TD Ameritrade Bartlett Warehouse, went up in flames.

More than $100bn has been wiped off US banks’ value as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank continues to send shockwaves throughout Wall St. Trading was temporarily halted in dozens of regional banks this morning as shares fell by up to 75 percent, despite Joe Biden’s assurances that ‘US banking is safe.’ Major US banks were also affected by the crash as fear spread throughout the market, with Wells Fargo plummeting 7.5 percent, Bank of America falling 7.4 percent, Citigroup plunging 5.8 percent and JP Morgan down 2.7 percent. US President Joe Biden insisted that the system was safe after...

“Wall Street and the Chamber of Commerce want to do a favor for the Chinese Communist Party so they can get a favor in return and make money on their short-term balance sheets, while increasing the risk of American investors, in a Chinese Communist Party that’s building the machine that’s attacking our democracy and our way of life. … And they’re willing to sell out America’s national security to do it.”

@schwartzbCNBCNEW: Wall Street will finish the 2020 election spending just over $74 million backing Joe Biden's run for president, topping the amount toward President Trump. It's more than what President Obama saw from the securities and investment industry.

CNBC host Jim Cramer gave Massachusetts Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren an unintentional boost when he said that Wall Street executives are privately telling him that “She’s got to be stopped!” On Tuesday’s edition of CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Cramer told co-hosts David Faber and Dominic Chu that Wall Street executives are quaking in their boots at the prospect of a Warren presidency. He began by talking about Wells Fargo’s struggle to find a new CEO. “I still wonder what it’s like to have no CEO. In the end, I know, Elizabeth Warren don’t listen, I favor...

To a small group of pump-and-dump traders with no scruples, Jordan Belfort—the poster-child for the ‘Wolf of Wall Street’—is an idol; to most others, including the judge in his case, he’s a deadbeat who’s only paid a small fraction of the tens of millions he owes his victims in restitution. Belfort is famous for being played by Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street—the already iconic 2013 film that definitively introduced us to the boiler-room beasts, and the over-the-top pump-and-dump schemers that are a black stain on the trading floor. And Wednesday, during a garnishment hearing in New York...

In pop culture, somehow women can only be praised by painting them as superior to men. The latest example of this can be seen in the "Fearless Girl" statue. On Wall Street, back in 1989, an artist made a statue of a raging bull. The statue, "Charging Bull," was meant to symbolize the power of the stock market when it is on an upswing. But then a second artist, Kristen Visbal, commissioned in 2017 by investment management firm State Street Global Advisors to promote its 'SHE' gender diversity index, decided to put a statue of a girl, her arms akimbo,...

<p>Bank of America has a recession warning that's downright 'scary'</p> <p>There's a chilling trend in the market, and it could wreak havoc on your portfolio, a top market watcher said.</p> <p>"We are seven years into a full-fledged, all out, central bankers doing everything they can to stimulate demand," Bank of America-Merrill Lynch's head of U.S. equity and quantitative strategy Savita Subramanian recently warned on CNBC's " Fast Money ."</p>

NEW YORK — Wall Street is getting ready to go nuclear on Donald Trump. Terrified that the reality TV star could run away with the Republican nomination and bring his brand of anti-immigrant, protectionist populism to the White House, some top financiers are writing big checks to fund an effort to deny Trump a majority of delegates to the GOP convention. The effort is centered on the recently formed Our Principles PAC, the latest big-money group airing anti-Trump ads, which is run by GOP strategist Katie Packer, deputy campaign manager for Mitt Romney in 2012. The group, initially funded by...

Former Rep. Ron Paul is lashing out at Ted Cruz, calling the GOP presidential contender too close to Wall Street. "People are liking Cruz. They think he's for the free market, and he's owned by Goldman Sachs," the former Texas lawmaker said on Fox Business Network's "Varney & Company," according to Politico. "I mean, he and [Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton] have more in common than we would have with either Cruz or [Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump] or any of them so I just don't think there is much picking," Paul added.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks sank on Thursday, with the S&P 500 posting its biggest one-day percentage drop since April 10 on news that a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet crashed near the Ukraine-Russia border. Investors sold stocks in a move to avoid risk and poured money into safe-haven investments like gold and U.S. government bonds as the crash stoked concerns that the conflict in Ukraine might widen after U.S. sanctions against Russia were announced late Wednesday. The United States said the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 was "blown out of the sky," probably by a ground-launched missile. The jet had...

The strongest and fastest people on Wall Street faced off this weekend to determine who is the best athlete. Wall Streeters ranging in ages 22 to 62 participated in the annual RBC Decathlon at DaSilva Memorial Stadium at St. Johns University in Queens on Sunday. In a span of four hours, the athletes completed a 400 meter run, football throw, pull ups, 40 yard dash, dips, 500 meter row, vertical jump, 20 yard shuttle, bench press and an 800 meter run. The annual event raised $1.4 million for pediatric cancer research and treatment at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Mark...

Nothing complicated here. In order to strengthen his hand in negotiations, the president’s decided to try to kickstart a hopefully not-too-damaging market sell-off over the debt ceiling. The more the Dow drops tomorrow, the more Boehner and other moderate Republicans will think twice about letting this process play out all the way up to the deadline on October 17th. And if the market doesn’t dive sharply enough — maybe “only” 200 or 300 points — he can always nudge it again next week with more dire rhetoric. It might take losing a thousand points or even two, but damn it,...

WMBF News Sports Director Jason Belk confirmed with a source close to the university's program earlier Tuesday morning that Joe Moglia, former coach of the United Football League's Omaha Nighthawks, will take over for David Bennett. Moglia has experience with college football, working as a defensive coordinator at Dartmouth College from 1981 to 1983. In 1983, Moglia went to work for Merrill Lynch for 17 years and then became the chief executive officers at Ameritrade Holding Corp in 2001. He then stepped down as CEO, moving to a voluntary assistant coach position for the University of Nebraska's football program and...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The worst week for U.S. stocks in two months ended with investors mostly on the sidelines on Friday as they wait for politicians in Europe and the United States to tackle festering debt problems.

<p>The Occupy Wall Streeters are about to create chaos for 99 percent of the city.</p> <p>In one of the largest demonstrations in recent city history, the anti-greed rabble plans to swarm the subways, take over the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down the stock exchange today.</p>

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Anti-Wall St protesters plan to join New York City's Halloween parade on Monday and although several people have been arrested at recent rallies for wearing masks, demonstrators will have a free pass for the holiday. New York state has a law that bans masked gatherings and police have enforced the rule at protests by the Occupy Wall Street movement against economic inequality, which set up camp in a park in the city's financial district on September 17. But the law, dating back to 1845, allows people to wear masks if it is for "a masquerade party...

President Barack Obama’s new senior campaign adviser is a longtime Wall Street lobbyist, and has the potential to damage the president’s aspirations to appeal to the protesters currently “occupying” New York City’s Zuccotti Park. Obama’s new adviser, Broderick Johnson, has an extensive history of lobbying for big banks and corporations, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In 2007, he lobbied for JP Morgan Chase and in 2008 Johnson lobbied for Bank of America and Fannie Mae. From 2008 through 2010, he lobbied for Comcast and in 2011 he lobbied for Microsoft. Johnson is currently a partner at D.C.-based communications...

With the Occupy Wall Street protests gaining steam in the U.S., it seems obvious to link it with the other grassroots movement that recently shook up American politics — the Tea Party. My colleagues' pieces number among a flurry of others pondering the parallel. Michael Scherer recast Occupy Wall Street as the Tea Party of the American left. Roya Wolverson suggested how the two movements, coming from diametrically-opposed sides of the political spectrum, could find common ground (and perhaps actual policy influence) in their mutual distaste for a Washington dominated by the vested interests of corporations. But while the similarities...

NEW YORK (AP) -- The protesters at the heart of the Occupy Wall Street movement were planning a day of rest Sunday, a day after rallies across the globe drew thousands who marched and chanted and, in some cases, grew violent. ... In Chicago, Sunday began with much more activity. At least 175 people were arrested in the early hours after refusing to obey a police order to leave a park that closed at 11 p.m.. They were in somewhat of a contrast to demonstrators elsewhere, .. Still, the arrests were mostly peaceful, the Chicago Tribune reported. Over the course...