Free Republic

The United States could soon become a large-scale Spain or Greece, teetering on the edge of financial ruin. That’s according to Donald Trump, who painted a very ugly picture of where this country is headed. Trump made the comments during a recent appearance on Fox News’ “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.” According to Trump, the United States is no longer a rich country. “When you’re not rich, you have to go out and borrow money. We’re borrowing from the Chinese and others. We’re up to $16 trillion in debt.” He goes on to point out that the downgrade...

It certainly isn't breakfast at Tiffany's, but New York's homeless are getting something pretty darn close. A Chinese recycling billionaire has promised $300 and a high-priced lunch to 250 residents of Manhattan's shelters at the Boathouse restaurant in Central Park, according to NBC New York. As guests lunch on sesame-seed encrusted tuna, beef filet, and berries with creme fraiche, host Chen Guangbiao, will serenade them by singing "We are the World." Guangbiao, 46, says that he is trying to deconstruct the image of wealthy Chinese spending too much on luxuries by having this event.

It’s the greatest migration of wealth ever to hit humanity: The unprecedented flood of money, four times the size of the US gross domestic product, that will be passed along to a younger generation over the next half-century. Fueled by rising asset prices worldwide and entrepreneurship, America’s multimillionaire and billionaire baby boomers have embarked on an unprecedented $59 trillion transfer of their fortunes, according to researchers. The cream of America’s 1 percent have already started spreading their money around like confetti to charities, foundations, trusts — and to their Gen X and millennial heirs.

Controversial billionaire Chen Guangbiao placed a full-page advertisement in Monday’s New York Times and a half-page advertisement in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, inviting 1,000 underprivileged Americans to dine with him. “I want to spread the message in the US that there are good philanthropists in China and not all are crazy spenders on luxury goods”. Chen said he was “teaming up with a famous American charity to host a charity luncheon for 1,000 poor and destitute Americans, who each will receive 300 dollars”. The underprivileged will be invited to the Boat House restaurant in New York’s Central Park, where Chen...

That’s $2 billion with an uppercase B! Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has apparently won the bidding war Thursday for the Los Angeles Clippers with a staggering $2 billion offer for the NBA franchise, according to the L.A. Times. The frenzied battle to get the team from Sterling drove the franchise’s price sky high for a team that Forbes estimated was worth at $575 million in January of 2014.

Billionaire oligarch Petro Poroshenko says he would not let rebel-held east Ukraine become another Somalia as he prepared to take over the presidency with a clear signal from Moscow that it is ready to work with his government. Poroshenko has moved swiftly to stamp his authority as Ukraine's new leader after claiming victory in Sunday's presidential election, with partial results showing he trounced his rivals in the first round. He said Ukraine would press on with an offensive to crush the pro-Russian separatists waging an insurgency in the eastern industrial belt, despite Moscow warning it would be a "colossal mistake"....

* The Facebook founder pledged $100million to Newark schools in 2010 to bring sweeping educational reforms * However, most of the money has been spent on labor contracts and consulting fees * The money has had little impact on student performance so far In his first major show of philanthropy, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made a splash by announcing his plan to give $100 million to help turn around Newark, New Jersey's public schools in an appearance on Oprah in 2010. But nearly four years later, Zuckerberg's money has run out, having been spent mostly on labor contracts and consulting...

TEHRAN, Iran – A billionaire businessman at the heart of a $2.6 billion state bank scam, the largest fraud case since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, was executed Saturday, state television reported. Authorities put Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, also known as Amir Mansour Aria, to death at Evin prison, just north of the capital, Tehran, the station reported. The report said the execution came after Iran's Supreme Court upheld his death sentence. Khosravi's lawyer, Gholam Ali Riahi, was quoted by news website khabaronline.ir as saying that his client was put to death without any notice.

When (not if) will we get the world's first trillionaire, and who shall it beThe world will get it first trillionaire in (drum rolls here please…) 25 years. That’s according to economic forecasters (they’re paid to do such things you know) and even as no one – that is, no one person – is even close to being a trillionaire, the widening disparity between the haves and have-nots means that, by 2040, the world is likely to see its first trillionaire (we’re talking US dollars here). #1 Bill Gates The current titleholder of the world’s richest person is obviously in...

An environmental advocacy group backed by hedge fund tycoon Tom Steyer is set to unleash a seven-state, $100 million offensive against Republican "science deniers" this year, a no-holds-barred campaign-style push from the green billionaire that could help decide which party controls the Senate and key statehouses come November. The Steyer-backed outside group, NextGen Climate, has billed itself as a progressive, pro-environment counterbalance to the wealthy oil and gas industry -- as well as the primary foil to the pro-business Koch brothers and their well-funded conservative donor network. The outfit, launched last year by the San Francisco billionaire, has already pledged...

London is home to 72 of Britain’s 104 sterling billionairesLondon has more billionaires than any other city in the world, and Britain has more billionaires per head of population than any other country, new data showed on Saturday. The survey of Britain’s super-rich compiled for the Sunday Times newspaper is likely to prompt debate in a country where many still struggle financially and where food banks are a fact of life, despite economic growth recently returning to levels not seen since the 2008 financial crash.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is being called "the true face of abortion." The Media Research Center's Culture and Media Institute discovered that Buffett gave roughly $1.2 billion to abortion groups around the world between 2001 and 2012. That's potentially enough money to abort the entire population of Chicago -- or more than two-and-a-half million lives. Among the groups Buffett helped fund are Planned Parenthood, NARAL and the Population Council. The biggest portion, almost $300 million, went to Planned Parenthood. The major media outlets often report on Buffett's "philanthropy," but they've ignored his billion dollar abortion funding. "The liberal media love...

May 13, 2014 marks one year since Philadelphia abortion Dr. Kermit Gosnell was convicted of first-degree murder “in the deaths of three babies who were delivered alive and then killed with scissors at his grimy, ‘house of horrors’ clinic,” according to AP. Gosnell instantly became the face of abortion in in the prolife community. But there’s another, more recognizable face pushing abortion in the U.S. – liberal billionaire Warren Buffett. The so-called “Oracle of Omaha” has donated more than $1.2 billion to abortion organizations from 2001 to 2012.

Every year FORBES crunches the numbers to find out which Americans rank the richest–and each year it gets harder to join the exclusive Forbes 400 list. But you don’t have to inherit a fortune to become a Forbes 400 billionaire. In fact, the majority of our Forbes 400 members–273 of them–scrapped their way onto our list through their own efforts.

The Democracy Alliance takes pains to ensure that its work disbursing millions of dollars to top left-wing organizations remains secretive and free from public scrutiny. But a document left on the floor of the group’s recent gathering reveals for the first time the names of a number of individuals involved in the effort. It lists new Democracy Alliance “partners,” individuals who every year must pay $30,000 in dues and contribute at least $200,000 to the groups that DA supports. It also reveals names of DA “advisers,” foundation participants, and individuals getting a “sneak peek” at the group’s activities. Among its...

by Nick Sorrentino"Much has been made recently of the rich gaming the system for their own benefit. Of a new “guilded age.” Socialist economist Thomas Piketty’s new book has been getting rave reviews from all over the establishment because it makes the case that very powerful people with nearly bottomless bank accounts have gamed the system and that government induced redistribution is in order. And indeed the rich have gamed the system for their benefit, but as Matthew Continetti points out, the game the super rich want to play for the most part is not one of free markets and...

Do I have any issues with a Tom Steyer using any of his legitimately earned billions of dollars to donate to political causes, candidates, campaigns, and super PACS in which he believes? Absolutely not. Do I have a problem with Tom Steyer smearing other billionaires for doing so, funding a perniciously targeted misinformation campaign full of flat-out falsehoods against the Keystone XL pipeline, and pretending that he has some sort of imagined moral high ground in this arena? Yes, yes I do. Via Politico: Liberal billionaire Tom Steyer insisted Tuesday that heÂ’s not the leftÂ’s version of the Koch brothers....

While the White House has continually threatened further sanctions against Russia for non-de-escalation (even as it un-de-escalates itself), the specifics of the additional sanctions have been sparse. German CEO warnings over blowback from economic sanctions... the "nonsense" of replacing Russian gas with US gas... the Russian warnings of "interdependence" and "boomerangs"... all reduce the West's arsenal of financial sanctions. But, as The Times of London reports, perhaps the US has found a crucial pain point for Putin - a sanctions regime that would target Putin's personal wealth, which includes a reported $40 billion stashed in Swiss bank accounts. As The...

As a child growing up in rural India in the 1960s and 1970s, Naveen Jain would gaze up at the moon and imagine a life beyond his modest surroundings. Today he's still gazing at the moon, but for far different reasons. Jain, 55, is co-founder of Moon Express, a Mountain View, Calif.-based company that's aiming to send the first commercial robotic spacecraft to the moon next year. This serial entrepreneur-he founded Internet companies Infospace and Intelius-believes that the moon holds precious metals and rare minerals that can be brought back to help address Earth's energy, health and resource challenges. Among...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid uses his official position to beat up on people. In private he may be a very nice man. In public he’s a thug and a bully who takes advantage of the way the U.S. Constitution immunizes him for any damage he may do to the reputations of others to attack everyone from those he’s called “shadowy billionaires” to ordinary, run-of-the-mill Americans who now find themselves stuck with health insurance plans they don’t like and with out-of-pocket expenses they cannot afford. It may not be fair to hold Reid accountable for what he has been saying...