Free Republic

Elizabeth Zemba of Mt. Pleasant, a daily Pennsylvania Turnpike traveler, turned to art and creativity to express frustration with the highway's ever-rising tolls. She created an Internet meme. A photo of a turnpike tollbooth is overlaid with the logo: "Pennsylvania Turnpike re-inventing highway robbery since 2009." For many, annual turnpike toll increases simply have become too much to bear. Two weeks ago, a coalition of truckers and motorists advocates filed a class action suit against the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, PennDOT and Gov. Tom Wolf, seeking to recoup "excessive fees" that went to underwrite projects other than the operation of the...

Just a few days ago, shareholders of Tesla approved an almost comical pay package for their cult leader CEO Elon Musk that could potentially put $50 BILLION in his pocket over the next decade. Let’s put this figure in perspective: at $5 billion per year, Musk would make more than every single CEO in the S&P 500. COMBINED. In other words, if you add up the salaries of all the CEOs of the 500 largest companies in America, it would still be less than the $5 billion per year that Mr. Musk stands to earn. That’s pretty astounding given that...

If you're a parent, you've had at least one passing discussion on the closure of Toys R Us. The mega-giant toy chain that ruled the childhoods of many of today's parents is shuttering nearly 200 stores this month. While bankruptcy is the official reason, it isn't the only or perhaps even the biggest reason why Geoffrey the Giraffe is being sent to the big zoo in the sky: Debt. Competition from online retailers like Amazon, as well as cheaper big-box stores like Wal-Mart and Target. Yes, bad customer service, too. All of these are the most commonly cited reasons...

fter months of delays, discussions and last-minute attempts to avoid an unfortunate financial necessity, the inevitable has finally happened to one of America’s biggest entertainment companies: iHeartRadio has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The radio titan officially filed for protection late on Wednesday, ending speculation that has been swirling for months. The company has been suffering due to more than $20 billion in debt. That load, which has been crippling the entertainment giant for a decade now, is a result of a 2008 leveraged buyout that also saw the company rebrand into the conglomerate the world knows now. iHeart announced...

The chain — whose history traces back to a post-World War II baby furniture store — has spent many decades as the country's largest dedicated toy emporium. Today's parents are the millennial generation who grew up with the Internet and approach purchasing decisions and time they spend with children differently from baby boomers. Generally, foot traffic is falling at brick-and-mortar stores. And children are playing differently than they used to decades ago.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/american-chopper-star-paul-teutul-sr-files-for-bankruptcy/ar-BBJLnuK?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=ientp

Remington Outdoor announced plans to file for bankruptcy on Monday, succumbing to a “Trump slump” that whacked sales by 30 percent in its most recent quarter. https://nypost.com/2018/02/12/gunmaker-remington-filing-for-bankruptcy/

U.S. firearm manufacturer, Remington Outdoor Company, said it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but stay in business throughout the process. "Difficult industry conditions make today's agreement prudent," said Jim Geisler, Remington's executive chairman, in a statement released by the company on Monday.

One of the biggest U.S. gun manufacturers is taking steps toward filing for bankruptcy, according to Reuters news service. Remington Outdoor Company Inc. has “reached out to banks and credit investment funds in search of financing that will allow it to file for bankruptcy,” Reuters reported Thursday evening, citing “people familiar with the matter.” According to those sources, the debt-ridden company missed a payment on its debt this week and is seeking “debtor-in-possession financing” that would let the company continue operations once it went bankrupt.

The United States is effectively bankrupt, but that doesn’t matter to the GOP. Once evangelists of fiscal responsibility and scourges of deficit spending, Republicans today glory in spilling red ink. The national debt is now $20.6 trillion, greater than the annual GDP of about $19.5 trillion. Alas, with Republicans at the helm, deficits are set to continue racing upwards, apparently without end. This flood of red ink will increase. Last year the Congressional Budget Office figured the U.S. was going to again run trillion dollar deficits around 2022. An extra $10 trillion would be added to the deficit over the...

WHDH) — Former electronics giant Circuit City says it is making a comeback. Circuit City made the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show, which is being held this week in Las Vegas, according to a CNBC report. The retailer will launch a retail website on Feb. 15, CEO Ronny Shmoel said.

Over in one corner sat Alice, a strong-minded 27-year-old who always said what she thought, regardless of how much it might hurt someone else. In the other corner was Sarah, a thirtysomething high-flier who would stand up for herself momentarily - then burst into tears and run for the ladies. Their simmering fight lasted hours, egged on by spectators taking sides and fuelling the anger. Sometimes other girls would join in, either heckling aggressively or huddling defensively in the toilets. It might sound like a scene from a tawdry reality show such as Big Brother, but the truth is a...

In the fall of 2015, a year before the presidential election, the Democratic National Committee, we now know, was bought for the equivalent of a pawn shop by the campaign of Hillary Clinton. The party organization was still deeply in debt from the 2012 campaign, owing millions to banks and vendors, burning through what little cash it had at a stunning rate of some $3 million to $4 million per month. By August 2015, the DNC was becoming unable to make payroll and approaching the equivalent of bankruptcy, according to a former senior party official, who requested anonymity, arguing that being quoted publicly...

John O'Connor of the AP has just broken the news that the unpaid bills of the Great State of Illinois have reached the awe-inspiring sum of $16.5 billion. Illinois is chasing a moving target as it tries to dig out of the nation's worst budget crisis, and a review obtained by The Associated Press shows $7.5 billion worth of unpaid bills – as much as half the total – hadn't been sent to the official who writes the checks by the end of June. Although many of those IOUs have since been paid, a similar amount in unprocessed bills has replaced...

The southern, privately built section of Texas 130, which has been an obstacle course of bumps and cracks since shortly after its October 2012 opening, will see $60 million of pavement repairs over the next year in 35 spots between Mustang Ridge and Seguin. Crews in many cases will be removing five feet or more of the road’s “sub-base,” the treated and compacted soil layers that underlie the highway’s asphalt driving surface, replacing it with soil with different, stronger properties, and then repaving those rehabilitated sections. Some repairs will also include installation of impermeable layers of soil alongside the road...

Puerto Rico, already trying to dig itself out of a historic financial crisis, is now facing a direct hit by a major hurricane that could destroy any progress the U.S. territory has made under a year-old economic rehab plan ─ and set it back further. Hurricane Maria is forecast to hit Puerto Rico early Wednesday, testing the local government's ability to respond to a humanitarian disaster. While the Caribbean island of 3.4 million people is accustomed to tropical storms, it hasn't been hit by a Category 4 or 5 hurricane since 1928.

Toys 'R' Us is working to put together a loan to fund its operations in a potential bankruptcy filing that could come before the holiday sales season, according to people familiar with the matter. The toy merchant's move underscores the deep distress rippling through retailers of all sizes as consumers increasingly shop online at sellers such as Amazon.com Inc or go to discounters such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc . A spokeswoman for Toys 'R' Us did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The people could not be identified because the bankruptcy plans are not yet public. The Wall...

Toys 'R' Us is working to put together a loan to fund its operations in a potential bankruptcy filing that could come before the holiday sales season, according to people familiar with the matter. [Snip] The retailer had already said it was working with an investment bank to assess options for about $400 million in debt that comes due next year. Buyout firms KKR & Co LP and Bain Capital LP, together with real estate investment trust Vornado Realty Trust, took Toys 'R' Us private for $6.6 billion in 2005. The deal saddled the company with debt, limiting its ability...

A resident of my city of Pacific Grove recently did a huge service on Facebook by linking to a site that gives pay and pensions for state and local government workers. It's breathtaking. Question: Who received the highest pension in 2017 and how much was it? Answer: Ronald D. Miller. $366,529.20. Mr. Miller was on the teaching faculty at the University of California, San Francisco. The 7th highest pension, by the way, was received by someone I know and like: Richard W. Roll, the well-known finance professor at UCLA. So this is not a gotcha. It's simply pointing out...

Democrats led by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are still complaining that bankers did not go to jail for the 2008 banking crisis. That is despite, as previously written about in this column, the crux of the problem was the federal government. Likewise, that is despite the fact the government let well-connected Democrat Jon Corzine slide for actual crimes at MF Global Holdings, also previously written about. Yet they nailed Eric Bloom with highly questionable charges and conduct at trial by the prosecution.After a four-week trial and only three hours of deliberation by the jurors, Eric Bloom, CEO of Sentinel...