Free Republic

Two members of Congress are asking if the Treasury Department disproportionately targeted more Republican or conservative owned auto dealerships during the government-lead restructuring of General Motors in 2009. Breitbart.com reported today that Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Jim Renacci (R-OH) released a letter asking Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to release documents regarding the process and methodology that determined which GM dealerships were closed.

While hindsight may always be 20/20, foresight should be pretty clear in many instances as well. The Fisker failure was one of these times. Many saw the folly in spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to support the green debacle. In fact, the Associated Press has reported that even the Obama Administration had warning of the Fisker loan risks back in April of 2010 when the Energy Department began emailing their concerns. Congress will be holding hearings starting today to address the scandalous waste of taxpayer money on Fisker. Reuters states one of the goals of the hearing, "'The...

I can just imagine Jay Leno taking to the streets in order to ask the average American citizen, “What do you think about Cyprus?� More than likely, the answer would be, “I really prefer oak or maple for my flooring, I never really thought about cypress.�  Jay would reply with, “No, the country Cyprus.  The IMF, EU, and ECB, the “troika,� just put a tax on bank accounts.  Well, no.  Actually, they just stole a portion and froze the rest of the money in spite of the increased guarantees.�  The average American would then respond, “There’s a country named Cyprus? ...

Good morning and welcome back to the land of anarchy where contracts and guarantees don’t mean anything anymore. Over the weekend, as I’m sure you’ve already heard, Cyprus and the EU and the IMF (and the U.S. Treasury which is part of the official decision-making body at the IMF) all decided that it was in society’s best interests to confiscate the money in people’s checking and savings accounts. Not all of it, at least not yet.But as there’s a ton of confusion and misdirection about what this latest round of theft of private capital and descent into anarchy really is,...

In 2010, Michigan had an annual unemployment rate of 12.5 percent. Then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm told lawmakers to expect a $1.58 billion deficit in the following year and to expect a $263 per pupil cut for K-12 education. Yet, the state played a part in allowing one of the most lucrative companies in the world to post a record $4.8 billion in profits by handing it nearly $40 million in film tax credits. That was the year Disney made the movie, "Oz: The Great and Powerful," and received $39.7 million of the $75.2 million the state of Michigan handed out to...

In other words, inside the Beltway, if the dollar numbers associated with shenanigans are big enough, they don’t call it a “crime,” they simply call it “policy.” That is, past a certain point, the money amounts are so huge that the whole system is implicated in the corruption. And nobody in DC wants to see that, lest the taxpayers out in flyover country start to wonder if there’s something systemically wrong with Washington. And so, through the power of spin, and with the complicity of the MSM, massively awful actions--the bank bailouts being the most spectacular example--are declared to be...

Many speak; but not nearly enough listening. More must 'wake up' and damn the bonds of political correctness - restore 'critical mind' - so that America can recover it's original-intent purpose. Lt.Gen. Jerry Boykin; 'Special Forces'; Green Beret. . .taught at Hampden-Sydney; now Exec.Vice President/Family Rersearch Council - 'owns' his credentials; and so, has both credibility and authority. A video link to share. Lt.Gen.Boykin: marxist insurgency link Further hand/in/hand verification: http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/why

FORMER GOLDMAN BANKER: I Miss The Great Recession Already Michael, Bankers AnonymousJanuary 24, 2013 I’m just going to come out and say it, ok? I miss the Great Recession already. I miss it for two reasons: first as an investor and second as a human. The Investment Side of the Great Recession As an investor, the Great Recession represented the good times, now past.[1] Recessions – or at least their financial unfolding via changes in asset prices – cause not only wealth destruction, but also wealth creation. For investors[2] in particular, a recession is often necessary in order to deploy...

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Even as it runs ads thanking America for a $182 billion bailout, insurer AIG might join a lawsuit claiming that shareholders were unfairly hurt by the terms of the federal rescue that kept it out of bankruptcy four years ago.

In the wake of the financial meltdown, President Barack Obama derided Wall Street bonuses as “obscene,” calling them examples of “fat cats who are getting awarded for their failure.” But now, Mr. Obama has announced that he will nominate as his next Treasury secretary Jack Lew, a man who in 2009 bagged a $950,000 bonus after his bank, Citigroup, received billions in a taxpayer-funded bailout. Mr. Lew is the former chief operating officer of Citigroup’s Alternative Investments unit—a group that bet billions against homeowners paying their mortgages.

Inouye reported ownership of Central Pacific shares worth $350,000 to $700,000, some held by his wife, at the end of 2007 [5]. The shares represented at least two-thirds of Inouye's total reported assets. Inouye has requested a delay in filing his annual financial disclosure for 2008, which was due this spring, and he declined to provide the current value of his investment. Since the end of 2007, the bank's stock has lost 79 percent of its value. Central Pacific was founded in 1954 by a group of World War II veterans including Inouye who were emerging leaders in Hawaii's Japanese...

A struggling Hawaii bank received a $135 million federal bailout last fall two weeks after staff from the office of Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, a big investor in the bank, called federal regulators about the aid application, according to a report in ProPublica Tuesday. Bank regulators had designated Central Pacific Financial as a marginal candidate to receive federal assistance, according to documents cited in the report. But soon after the phone call from Inouye's office, the Treasury directed millions of dollars to bolster the bank's capital reserves. Inouye, D-Hawaii, owns shares in the bank that totaled between $350,000 and $700,000...

The Coming Derivatives Panic That Will Destroy Global Financial Markets Stock-Markets / Financial CrashDec 05, 2012 - 04:24 AM By: John Rolls John Rolls Submits, Michael Snyder writes: When financial markets in the United States crash, so does the U.S. economy. Just remember what happened back in 2008. The financial markets crashed, the credit markets froze up, and suddenly the economy went into cardiac arrest. Well, there are very few things that could cause the financial markets to crash harder or farther than a derivatives panic. Sadly, most Americans don't even understand what derivatives are. Unlike stocks and bonds, a...

Thousands of German workers at Opel cars will lose their jobs in another round of cuts announced this week by the car maker’s owner General Motors. As many as 2,300 people have already been let go. … The company lost half a billion dollars in Europe alone in the third quarter, when it produced just 196,000 cars—down from 270,000 in the same quarter last year. …

Regardless of who the President is after this close election, the equity markets and the U.S. economy are in trouble. Debt has spread throughout the Western world. The fallout is political dissonance, growing economic hardship and, in some places, mob violence.Ground zero for the spreading fear and panic is Greece, which was once the worldÂ’s greatest civilization and the birthplace of democracy, poetry and philosophy.There is violent evidence of the contradiction from what the ancients taught and what is unraveling in Greece. It would all just be another boring story at the end of the news day, except there is...

I missed this piece from Steven Rattner (who was a key figure in the Obama auto bailout) when it appeared in the NY Times a couple weeks ago. Tacitly acknowledging that costs are going to soar out of sight, Rattner opens with this frank admission: “We need death panels.” Jonah Goldberg wonders: When can Sarah Palin expect her letter of apology?” Rattner goes on to back away from “death panels,” but instead uses the R-word: rationing. Well, maybe not death panels, exactly, but unless we start allocating health care resources more prudently — rationing, by its proper name — the...

It's nearly impossible to find a subject on which the left and right agree in modern-day America. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I'm sure that the current Congressional gridlock is driving the centrists and moderates of both parties absolutely nuts. While the gridlock will undoubtedly remain until one party achieves some sort of clear edge in November, I believe that there are a few topics on which many on the left and the right do agree. First and foremost, there's the issue of corporate welfare. Chances are, you don't like corporate welfare. Neither do I. Nobody does, and who would? Big business...

Bicycles instead of cars? Dense apartment clusters instead of single homes? Community rituals instead of churches? "Human rights" instead of religious freedom? The UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) which met June 3-14 [1996]in Istanbul, painted an alarming picture of the 21st century community. The American ways-free speech, individualism, travel, and Christianity-are out. A new set of economic, environmental, and social guidelines are in. Citizenship, democracy, and education have been redefined. Handpicked civil leaders will implement UN "laws", bypassing state and national representatives to work directly with the UN. And politically correct "tolerance"-meaning "the rejection of dogmatism and absolutism"...

Readers with long memories may recall that Charles E. Wilson, president of General Motors and nominee for secretary of defense, got into trouble when he told a Senate committee, "What is good for the country is good for General Motors, and what's good for General Motors is good for the country." That was in 1953, and Wilson was trying to make the point that General Motors was such a big company -- it sold about half the cars in the U.S. back then -- that its interests were inevitably aligned with those of the country as a whole. Things are...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department has said the auto industry bailout will cost taxpayers $3.4 billion more than previously thought. Treasury now estimates the 2009 bailout will eventually cost the government $25.1 billion, according to a report sent to Congress on Friday. That is up from the last quarterly estimate of $21.7 billion. Since the $80 billion bailout of the auto industry, Detroit's big automakers have moved from crisis to profit. GM and Chrysler were put through government-funded bankruptcies that slashed costs and debt. Treasury has so far recouped about half of what was extended in grants and...

A recent column in which blogger Matt Lewis questioned the conservative credentials of Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, got a lot of attention on our Web site. A number of Daily Caller readers have commented about Ryan, saying he has cast votes they disagree with, particularly in favor of the $700 billion TARP bailout for Wall Street, the auto bailouts and the taxes on AIG bonuses. Here’s how Lewis put it: "Though he talks like Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman, some of Ryan’s most high-profile votes seem closer to Keynes than to Adam Smith. For example, in the span of...

The epidemic of home foreclosures has been made far worse than necessary due to the banks' unwillingness to work with homeowners. Although Congress has passed numerous laws to force the banks to assist homeowners, the banks have found ways not to comply. The banks also brazenly break other laws to further their profits at the expense of homeowners, most recently by falsifying interest rates in the LIBOR scandal.Regular middle class Americans everywhere have unjustly lost their homes to foreclosure. They ended up in homes they could not sell due to the Federal Reserve Board, not their own actions. The Fed manipulates...

Business General Motors GM profits slip 41% as European struggles take their toll America's largest car firm made $1.5bn in the second quarter of 2012, with European division reporting operating loss of $361m Share 531 Email Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 August 2012 09.25 EDT General Motors GM's CEO Dan Akerson said: 'We have more work to do to offset the headwinds we face.' Photograph: Jeff Kowalsky/EPA General Motors' profits fell 41% in the second quarter as troubles in Europe undercut strong sales in North America. America's largest automaker made $1.5bn in the second quarter of 2012, compared with $2.5bn...

After dutifully abiding by EU fiscal rules, Finland's tiny population remains surprisingly phlegmatic about bailing out less disciplined euro zone members, and is mostly clinging on to its faith in the single currency project. That faith has been tested as a succession of struggling nations make ever greater demands on the sounder economies in the currency bloc, but it is not yet at breaking point. "We had to sort out our own problems ourselves in the past. That's why people are asking, do we have to help others?" said Maija Siirala, a freelance dressmaker and alterations specialist. Finland, one of...

Twenty four centuries ago Socrates argued that the greatest of evils and the only evil worse than doing wrong was getting away with it. Since we experienced the economic near-collapse four years ago, we have also witnessed complete and utter failure in the administration of justice. Senior levels of the Department of Justice, of the banking industry, of the political system, are all “getting away with it.”Is there any chance that Covington and Burling, the firm which represents JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, B. Of A., Wells Fargo, etc., and spawned AG Eric Holder and AAG Lanny Breuer,...

A few weeks ago, Politico lavishly praised bipartisanship in Washington saying “Don’t look now, but the Senate’s actually working.” The story could have been subtitled “Taxpayers, grab your wallets,” because bipartisanship in Washington usually leads to bigger government. Today, we are learning about the latest example of bipartisan insanity as we hurry toward the fiscal cliff. As most Americans are rightly focused on the impending Obamacare court decision, Democrat and Republican leaders are quietly planning to combine a new highway bailout with a student loan bailout. All of this is to be paid for by raising new taxes and raiding...

A continuation of bailouts in Europe could ultimately spark another world war, says international investor Jim Rogers. As an alternative, he recommends a combination of capitalism and socialism to weed out weak European banks and companies and to support the strong. “This is how we got into World War II,” Rogers tells Yahoo, referring to Europe’s handling of its financial crisis. “Add debt, the situation gets worse, and eventually it just collapses. Then everybody is looking for scapegoats. Politicians blame foreigners, and we’re in World War II or World War whatever.” The Rogers solution: “Let the people who have failed,...

In an official campaign kick-off speech, given earlier this month, Congressman Allen West covered a wide spectrum of issues educating his audience on where he stands on the issues that drive public conversation today. One topic that drew heavy applause was the idea of government bailouts.

Mitt Romney maintains that "President Barack Obama is holding on to the government's stake in General Motors to avoid an embarrassing financial loss before the election, and says he'd sell the stock quickly if he wins the White House," according to the Detroit News, which recently interviewed the Republican presidential candidate. "There is no reason for the government to continue to hold (its GM stake)," Romney tells the news outlet. "The president is delaying the sale of the shares to try and avoid the story that the taxpayer took another loss. I would get the company independent from the government...

Bank of America has started sending letters to thousands of homeowners in the United States, offering to forgive a portion of the principal balance on their mortgages by an average of $150,000 each. The reduction for qualifying homeowners could amount to monthly savings of up to 35 percent on mortgage payments, Bank of America said in a news release on Monday evening.

A couple of stories surfaced recently that should be of concern to voters that are analyzing how a Romney presidency would differ from the current administration. President Obama has a track record that can be examined to get a grasp of his agenda, but Governor Romney needs to further explain his positions on two key areas that many voters would expect to see a divergence with our present leader. The reports bring in to question whether or not Romney would be any different from the administrations over the past 12 years when it comes to dumping billions of taxpayer dollars...

A couple of stories surfaced recently that should be of concern to voters that are analyzing how a Romney presidency would differ from the current administration. President Obama has a track record that can be examined to get a grasp of his agenda, but Governor Romney needs to further explain his positions on two key areas that many voters would expect to see a divergence with our present leader. The reports bring in to question whether or not Romney would be any different from the administrations over the past 12 years when it comes to dumping billions of taxpayer...

One of Mitt Romney's top advisers said Saturday that President Obama's decision to bailout Chrysler and General Motors was actually Romney's idea. "[Romney's] position on the bailout was exactly what President Obama followed. I know it infuriates them to hear that," Eric Fehrnstrom, senior adviser to the Romney campaign, said. "The only economic success that President Obama has had is because he followed Mitt Romney's advice."

I’ve often described Barack Obama as a European-style politician. He has the kind of big government mindset that would fit comfortably in Brussels or Paris. If he had been born in Provence instead of Hawaii, I’m sure he would have gravitated to the Elysée Palace or challenged Herman Van Rompuy for the presidency of the European Council. He has been the most Eurofederalist of American presidents, actively backing the European Project—to the extent that his vice president, Joe Biden, even declared Brussels to be “the capital of the free world”.It is not hard to see why François Hollande, the Socialist...

In written remarks distributed before a campaign speech to the United Auto Workers Union, Vice-President Joe Biden praised President Obama’s courage for bailing out General Motors and Chrysler. “Where others might have been deterred by property rights or contracts, President Obama charged in, unafraid,” Biden remembered. “He put your jobs, your interests ahead of all else.” Biden urged union members to keep this in mind come election day. “Some may put their trust in the law,” Biden said. “But I say having a guy you can trust at the wheel trumps anything that might be written down in a statute...

Danielle, who is my right hand assistant that manages my life, pointed out to me that born on today which is called “Pi Day” in most math classes was none other than Albert Einstein (March 14th, 1879 – April 18th, 1955). While he taught in Princeton, I was far too young to have ever met him. Although his IQ score was 160, there are many others who score much higher in different fields. Yet the key to Einstein’s mind lies not in his theory of Relativity, but in his Five Maxims for Achieving Excellence. 1. Imagination is more important than...

While talking about capitalism last week, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore got it right. Sort of… On Thursday, he said this about the United States’ economic structure: “While we believe that capitalism is fundamentally superior to any other system for organizing economic activity, it is also clear that some of the ways in which it is now practiced do not incorporate sufficient regard for its impact on people, society and the planet.” Taken by itself, that statement is completely true: Capitalism is the best economic system available, and the version America has been practicing for years is badly flawed....

General Motors told 1,300 employees at its Detroit-Hamtramck factory that they were being “temporarily laid off” for five weeks as the company halts production of the Chevrolet Volt, the Detroit Free Press reports. “Even with sales up in February over January, we are still seeking to align our production with demand,” said GM spokesman Chris Lee. “We needed to maintain proper inventory and make sure that we continued to meet market demand,” he told The Hill in a phone interview.

NASHUA, N.H. - (AP) -- President Barack Obama, turning his political sights on snowy New Hampshire, demanded that Congress eliminate oil and gas company subsidies that he called an outrageous government "giveaway." Though politically a long shot, the White House believes the idea resonates at a time of high gasoline prices. "Let's put every single member of Congress on record: you can stand with oil companies or you can stand up for the American people," Obama said. The president also said GOP charges that his policies are driving up gas prices won't pass "a political bull-detector" test and pointed to...

Plunging deeper into the farce-hole, the FT reports tonight that Obama's foreclosure settlement with the banks over their improper seizure of tax-paying US citizens' homes will in fact be subsidized by those very same US taxpayers. It is a hidden clause (that has not been made public yet) that allows the banks to count future loan modifications under the $30bn (taxpayer funded) HAMP initiative towards their $35bn agreement to restructure obligations under the new settlement. As the FT goes on to note, BofA will be able to use future mods made under HAMP towards the $7.6bn in borrower assistance it...

With sales and profits up at General Motors, proponents of the 2009 automotive bailout for GM (and Chrysler) now assert the taxpayer-financed rescue was a success. In a visit to Michigan in late January, U.S. President Barack Obama argued the deal saved jobs. Canadian politicians, including Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who last summer incorrectly asserted taxpayers received all their money back, have made similar boasts. Given the revisionist history in play, let’s place that 2009 deal in proper ­context. It’s no surprise that GM and Chrysler are doing better. Relieve any company of its debt through bankruptcy and stuff it...

President Barack Obama, whose economic acumen was shaped by left-wing, Big Government ideologues, wants to fix the housing market mess that government, in large part, is responsible for creating. His plan to tax big banks to raise money to guarantee refinanced loans for existing homeowners to lower their monthly payments is fundamentally flawed, almost certainly won't pass Congress, but it is political pandering of the first order. In an election year, is anyone surprised he would push something he knows won't happen while positioning himself as Rescuer-in-Chief? He can always blame Congress when it doesn't come to pass. The rest...

Ex-President George W. Bush tells auto dealers he'd bail out automakers again

Refinancing mortgages... a plan pushed by Glenn Hubbard, Dean of Columbia business school, also a top economic advisor to GOP hopeful Mitt Romney.

Detroit - Factory workers at Chrysler are getting $1,500 profit-sharing checks next month, a sign the automaker’s turnaround is succeeding. About 26,000 union-represented workers in the U.S. should get the payments, according to Chrysler’s contract with the United Auto Workers union. The profit-sharing figure is based on an Associated Press analysis of company earnings, and the labor contract formula for profit-sharing. Chrysler would not say how much the workers will get. But the formula in its new four-year contract with the UAW shows that the checks will be about $1,500. The checks are based on Chrysler’s $2 billion operating profit

Washington - Lest anyone doubt his solidarity with the American blue-collar worker, President Obama left the office Tuesday afternoon and spent some quality time with a Camaro. He never cranked up the stereo and took it for a spin, of course, but rather admired it on the showroom floor of the Washington Auto Show. But the photo op with the classic American muscle car gave Obama the chance to brag that the 2009 bailout he pushed through Congress ended up saving the big automakers. “The U.S. auto industry is back!” Obama declared. Cars are becoming a regular talking point for...

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, President Obama today acknowledged that he has made mistakes during his presidency but defended the steps his administration has taken to create jobs and improve the economy. "I second-guess constantly… I make a mistake, you know, every hour, every day," he told ABC News' Diane Sawyer, laughing. "There're always things that you're learning in the job. And I have no doubt that I'm a better president now than the day I took office just because you get more experience. But when you look at the broad outlines of what we did, had it...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A government watchdog says U.S. taxpayers are still owed $132.9 billion that companies haven't repaid from the financial bailout, and some of that will never be recovered. The bailout launched at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008 will continue to exist for years, says a report issued Thursday by Christy Romero, the acting special inspector general for the $700 billion bailout. Some bailout programs, such as the effort to help homeowners avoid foreclosure by reducing mortgage payments, will last as late as 2017, costing the government an additional $51 billion or so. The gyrating...

Rumor has it that in a matter of days, after months of negotiation with big banks, the White House may announce a settlement that would let the banks off the hook for their role in the foreclosure crisis -- paying a tiny fraction of what's needed in exchange for blanket immunity from future lawsuits.