Free Republic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtOtV-gE3YQCoronet Films (also Coronet Instructional Media Inc.) was a producer and distributor of American educational films from 1946 to the early 1970's founded by David A. Smart. The company produced instructional short films aimed at young teenagers and high school students which were produced by dozens until the mid-1950s when production tapered off. Social guidance on topics such as dating, family life, courtesy and citizenship were typical themes of the films with occasional educational topics such as the solar system and the human body. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronet_Films

The Market Ticker Commentary On The Capital Markets Monday, January 5. 2009 Posted by Karl Denninger at 21:06 (Page 1 of 330, totaling 659 entries)» next page The Price of Capitalism As a followup to my previous Ticker ("There Is No Unicorn That Craps Skittles") I wish to address the myriad people who have written over the years about the "E-Viles" of debt-based monetary systems, which inherently ends up in a call to bar the imposition (or payment) of interest, or at least a ban on private collection of interest.The problem with this folks is that it won't work.Let's...

"So you think that money is the root of all evil?" said Francisco d'Aconia. "Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only...

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Thursday hailed with apparent relief the end of 'free market dogma,' saying he would now work to build a 'progressive era' around the world. 'When the history books come to be written, 2008 will largely be remembered for the scale of the great economic and financial crisis. A year in which an old era of unbridled free market dogma was finally ushered out,' Brown said in his New Year's day message to the nation. 'And I want 2009 to be the year when the dawn of a new progressive era breaks across the world: purposeful...

The Left has edited the political dictionary in a way that determines how we are able to think about politics and ideology. A prime example is the word, "Capitalism," an invention of the silly and evil Karl Marx. It is instructive how deeply this semantic pathology has reached that people who passionately opposed the manifest horror of socialism reflexively reach back to words like "Capitalism" to describe what they believe to be good. "Capitalism," of course, simply does not exist. It never has. Using this word to describe the vast oceans of human relationships which Marx sought to bottle up...

"The collapse of Communism as a political system sounded the death knell for Marxism as an ideology. But while laissez-faire capitalism has been a monumental failure in practice, and soundly defeated at the polls, the ideology is still alive and kicking..."

Ironically, 2008 is on pace to be a slightly cooler year in a steadily rising temperature trend line. Experts say it's thanks to a La Nina weather variation. While skeptics are already using it as evidence of some kind of cooling trend, it actually illustrates how fast the world is warming.

The Bambu rolling-paper company is smoking mad at a Barack Obama-loving artist for using its iconic packaging on T-shirts that show the president-elect smoking a joint. Seamus McGovern and his "Love Fatigues" Web business were hit with a trademark-infringement suit for putting Obama's name and face on the beige and white cover of "the world's finest rolling papers." The Manhattan federal court case claims the $22 "Obambu" shirts expose Bambu to "criticism and scorn" because they show Obama smoking weed, and could "confuse the consuming public" into believing they came from the company.

It's not easy being Alan Greenspan these days. As the former Federal Reserve chairman, he urged government regulators to take a light touch while banks like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers buried themselves—and the economy more generally—under a mountain of debt. Now that his reputation is plummeting faster than the stock market, he's been forced to admit a "flaw" in his hands-off ideology. Of course, things look entirely different to members of "free-market advocacy groups," as they like to be called. One such group is the Ayn Rand Institute, named after the matriarch of the movement, whose antigovernment and anti-regulation...

The black soot that big rig trucks belch from their chugging diesel engines may soon become a thing of the past. In one of the more far-reaching smog regulations that California has ever proposed, state air regulators are considering a first-in-the-nation plan that would require nearly every privately owned, heavy diesel truck in the state to install a filter that would reduce emissions of soot from their rigs by 85 percent. The new regulation would affect 1 million truckers, half of them registered out of state who regularly drive on California freeways. If approved by the California Air Resources Board...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California's utilities, refineries and large factories must transform their operations to cut greenhouse gas emissions as part of a new climate plan before state regulators. On Thursday, the California Air Resources Board was expected to adopt what would be the nation's most sweeping global warming plan, outlining for the first time how individuals and businesses would meet a landmark 2006 law that made the state a leader on global climate change. It would hold California's worst polluters accountable for the heat-trapping emissions they produce _ transforming how people travel, utilities generate power and businesses use electricity. At...

The main organic and structural solution to the current mortgage and credit crisis -- and subsequent Wall Street panic and government bailout -- is to immediately terminate all those "government sponsored enterprises." This certainly seems to be the root of the problem. These state-backed banks have an unfair advantage over legitimate banks, and thus tend to destroy them -- while conducting business badly. Such GSEs, with their unnaturally low interest rates, significantly distort the mortgage and credit markets, and ultimately hurt pretty much everything they touch. They fundamentally attack economic freedom and capitalism, and have no right to exist. The...

Over at the HuffPo, a hippie-dippy writer named Stephen Mo Hanan punched up a post called "Why Save Capitalism?"In case you're wondering, yes, this is the typical short-sighted, tie-died, socialistic, Commie-symp wail-fest against capitalism, Now I'm not stupid enough to forget that capitalism is also a system that has allowed a substantial though relatively small group of human beings to amass titanic wealth and, so to speak, to capitalize on that wealth by exercising transformative power over the whole planet and everyone on it. If they were all wise and benevolent, that might be a satisfactory arrangement; they aren't, and...

Every passing day brings more news of more financial bailout requests and more congressional promises for more taxpayer funded bailouts. It’s as if the concepts of freedom and capitalism have gone completely missing in Washington DC today. What started a few weeks ago as a $70 billion dollar mortgage crisis (caused by congressional Democrats) has fast become a multi-trillion dollar international disaster that crosses all industry boundaries. According to the same illustrious leaders in Washington DC who caused all of it to begin with, only printing more play money and putting American taxpayers even deeper in multi-generational debt, is the...

We are a nation of riches. We have resources. Why is the profit motive and Capitalism under attack recently. The US was built on free-market principles and the Democrats seem hell-bent on tearing it down. What can we do about evil among us(dems). Im so sick and tired of bashing by the left here. There seem to be so many infiltrators. Ive been lurking for some time now and I feel its time to fight back. The BC issue seems to be going nowhere, even though its evident that Obama is not a citizen Im so frustrated right now that...

Every passing day brings more news of more financial bailout requests and more congressional promises for more taxpayer funded bailouts. It's as if the concepts of freedom and capitalism have gone completely missing in Washington DC today. What started a few weeks ago as a $70 billion dollar mortgage crisis (caused by congressional Democrats) has fast become a multi-trillion dollar international disaster that crosses all industry boundaries. According to the same illustrious leaders in Washington DC who caused all of it to begin with, only printing more play money and putting American taxpayers even deeper in multi-generational debt, is the...

Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics: Let's rumble! New war between aging 'Capitalism 2.0' and new green 'Capitalism 3.0' By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch Last update: 7:15 p.m. EST Dec. 1, 2008 Comments: 68 ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- America is in a historic transition, watching the passing of the Reagan-Bush era. Only a few weeks to go. Yet pain is everywhere -- the economy, housing, jobs, prices, markets, terror -- and we grow more anxious, impatient and uncertain each day. Elections were a temporary distraction. All this was foretold: "The Gods have two ways of dealing harshly with us. The first is...

Sarah Palin, like many others who hunt their own food, is the ultimate conservationist. She will not kill all the moose and caribou in Alaska, knowing that it would not serve her interest in having moose and caribou chili for years to come. And she won't kill the alpha leaders, knowing how valuable they are to a healthy and prosperous population. She is smarter than Pelosi, Frank, Dodd, Reid, and yes, Obama. But Liberal so-called brainiacs want to deplete your most valuable resource: capitalism. The middle class working stiff is the most amazing cash crop the world has seen. If...

Both state and federal governments in the United States ought to take a very simple lesson from America's first failed experiment with socialism. The Pilgrims are generally credited with starting the Thanksgiving tradition . . .

The threat looming from China is not to do with cheap exports but the "dooming of democracy", former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten has told the BBC. Lord Patten said China promoted the idea that one could get rich without needing democracy - and such an idea posed a threat to the West. He said regional bodies such as Asean should be strengthened so they could do more to tackle regional problems.

All those folks who unloaded their sport-utility vehicles when gasoline shot past $4 a gallon this summer might be developing a case of seller's remorse. Americans love their wheels. The bigger the better, if the past is any guide. The ideals of personal freedom and mobility embodied in the automobile haven't changed in the least. So, no surprise, with gas prices down around $2 again, the much-maligned SUV is making something of a comeback.

ABC has Gotcha Gibson. NBC has Williams. CBS has Couric. Fox has............ Nothing. There is no national broadcast coming from Fox news. This needs to change.

We warned you about Obama and his supporters, and now . . .More . . .

For all of the talk about “change!� in this election, the incoming president’s political party, and perhaps the president-elect himself, seems stubbornly resistant to it. Joseph Schumpeter famously — and admiringly — wrote about the “creative destruction� inherent in the actions of the free market. I refuse to use the word “capitalism� in this context, because it’s really a Marxist term and doesn’t capture the essence of a system in which individuals and corporations freely exchange goods and services without government interference, if indeed it ever did. When so-called “capitalists� who run the finance, real estate, insurance, and now automotive...

The idea that some recipients of tickets to the inauguration of Obama might prefer to sell them than to attend has riled Senator Barbara Feinstein (D-Calif.). Even though the nominally “free” tickets have not yet been distributed, offers to sell them have already popped up on “E-Bay” and “Craig’s List.” “These tickets are given out to the people we want to attend,” Feinstein complained. “They’re intended as rewards for loyalty and hard-work on behalf of the Democratic Party. Resale of these tickets is disrespectful and represents the kind of capitalistic exploitation we need to stamp out in this country.” Feinstein...

While others are finding it fashionable to bash capitalism, President Bush continues to defend the free market system--rightly so--as the best in the world. The President spoke about the economy today in his weekly radio address, which was recorded and released this morning. (Transcript) The benefits of free market capitalism have been proven across time, geography, and culture. Around the world free market capitalism has allowed once impoverished nations to develop large and prosperous economies. And here at home, free market capitalism is what transformed America from a rugged frontier to the greatest economic power in history. Tonight, President Bush...

WASHINGTON -- For the past seven years, according to Rep. Jim Moran, "We have been guided by a Republican administration who believes in the simplistic notion that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it." Actually, that "simplistic notion" has been the linchpin of the American system of free enterprise for the past two centuries. It has served to make the United States the most bountiful, wealthy and charitable nation on earth. Yet Moran says that system "doesn't work in the long run." My fellow Americans, welcome to the long run. The coincidence of an economic downturn and our...

The president reminds the president-elect that free-market capitalism is the best path to prosperity. President George W. Bush came out fighting for free markets with a strong and stirring defense of American capitalism on the eve of the G-20 World Economic Conference. Stocks soared 550 points Thursday as Bush's luncheon speech was played live on all the major cable networks. It was as though Mr. Bush was trying to leave an economic-primer to his successor-elect Barack Obama. Markets cheered because it's the best thing they've heard in many weeks. Here's one of several great passages from Bush: "At its most...

The business world's verdict is in on president-elect Obama: Socialism sucks. The DOW has lost almost 14% of its value in the one week following The One's election. Before Nov 4 the market's had been recovering from the previous low of 8200. That low is likely gonna be just a nostalgic memory soon. Sorry, Peggy; you'll be paying for your own gas and mortgage...

Defenders of the free market are often accused of being apologists for big business and shills for the corporate elite. Is this a fair charge? No and yes. Emphatically no—because corporate power and the free market are actually antithetical; genuine competition is big business’s worst nightmare. But also, in all too many cases, yes —because although liberty and plutocracy cannot coexist, simultaneous advocacy of both is all too possible. First, the no. Corporations tend to fear competition, because competition exerts downward pressure on prices and upward pressure on salaries; moreover, success on the market comes with no guarantee of permanency,...

Will Americans vote for a culture that respects human Life, or for a culture of Death? Will Americans vote for Freedom or Free-Stuff? Will Americans vote for victory in the war on terror or retreat from the war on terror? Will Americans vote for candidates with a track record of accomplishment, or candidates with a track record of serving only themselves? Will Americans vote for a known American hero, or a known friend to terrorist, communists and racists? Will Americans vote for individual Liberty, or for government control of everything? Will Americans vote to uphold their Constitution, or to re-write...

Should the government assist Indian banks and companies that have borrowed billions abroad, and suddenly find it difficult to repay maturing loans because the global financial crisis has frozen money markets? Russia and Mexico have thrown lifelines to their debt-laden companies. Korea has guaranteed $100 billion of foreign bank loans. Should India do something similar? Only on a very limited scale, if at all. Indian companies have borrowed $150 billion abroad. This is spread over hundreds of companies, and the big borrowers are financially sound. That cannot be said of all Russian tycoons. If global markets remain frozen, Indian companies...

Ok, I'm a fed up veteran. I can't stand still any more. We need to get busy countering the 24/7 efforts by the progressives and I'm going to get something going. I don't have much for resources, but I have some good ideas and a ton of determination. I have set up and run my own small businesses before so this will not be rocket science, but after searching (googling etc) I don't see info on how to properly set up a 527.

Saudi Cleric Who Taught in U.S. On Al-Majd TV: 'Allah Be Praised, America Is Collapsing'; 'Will The West Acknowledge the Collapse of Capitalism[?]... They Have Begun to Adopt the Principles of Islamic Economy'; 'Either They [The U.S.] Were Accomplices In 9/11, Or Else They Carried It Out' The following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi cleric Abd Al-'Aziz Fawzan Al-Fawzan, that aired on Al-Majd TV on October 7, 2008. Sheikh Al-Fawzan is a professor of Islamic law at Imam Muhammad bin SaudUniversity in Saudi Arabia. In the past, he taught at the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in...

Part of the reason that liberal bias in the elite media exists is that not enough conservatives and libertarians decide to get involved in journalism, especially straight news reporting. One of the best organizations on the right trying to combat this is the Phillips Foundation which has a program that pays generous amounts of money to encourage people to get involved in producing high-quality journalism that can really make a difference. If the idea of this appeals to you, consider applying for the 2009 Phillips fellowships. Full-time fellowships pay out $50-75,000 to successful applicants. Part-time ones pay $25,000.

Socialism USA We Communists believe that socialism is the very best replacement for a capitalist system that has served its purpose, but no longer meets the needs and requirements of the great majority of our people. We believe that socialism USA will be built according to the traditions, history, culture and conditions of the United States. Thus, it will be different from any other socialist society in the world. It will be uniquely American. A life free of exploitation, insecurity, poverty; an end to unemployment, hunger and homelessness. An end to racism, national oppression, anti-Semitism, all forms of discrimination, prejudice...

Tax Policy: Democratic nominee Barack Obama touts his tax plan as just a way to "spread the wealth." But to us it looks like something quite different: a declaration of war on capital.Obama has described his plan to hike taxes as "neighborliness," "patriotism" and "justice." In fact, it's the widest-ranging assault on capital — and those who create it — in at least a generation, possibly longer. Look at just a few of the things he and congressional Democrats have in mind: Higher taxes on successful entrepreneurs (anyone earning over $250,000), higher taxes on capital gains, higher taxes on dividends,...

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Jennifer Bouani, the author of Future Business Leaders' SeriesTM, a new and unique set of adventure books that teach kids about capitalism, entrepreneurship and business. She started the series in 2006 with Tyler & His Solve-a-Matic Machine, which won the 2007 iParenting Media HOT Product Award. Her second book, Tyler Passes the Golden Key, was recently published in June 2008 and is an Award-Winning Finalist in the Children's Fiction category of the National Best Books 2008 Awards, sponsored by USA Book News. To learn more about the Future Business Leaders' SeriesTM visit boujepublishing.com. FP: Jennifer...

We are experiencing the devastating consequences of a chain of major economic policy errors, which, to use a current cliché, created the perfect storm. These government blunders temporarily paralyzed the global credit system and are now sending the U.S. and Europe into recession, while sharply cutting back Asia's growth rates. Left to its own devices, the credit crisis, which began in August 2007, would have crushed economies as severely as did the Great Depression. Belatedly, but thankfully, governments recognized that the only way to get credit flowing again was for them to make quick and direct massive infusions of new...

Yes, we're dummies. You. Me. All 300 million of us. Clueless. We should be ashamed. We're obsessed about the slogans and rituals of "democracy," distracted by the campaign, polls, debates, rhetoric, half-truths and outright lies. McCain? Obama? Sorry to pop your bubble folks, but it no longer matters who's president. Why? The real "game changer" already happened. Democracy has been replaced by Wall Street's new "disaster capitalism." That's the big game-changer historians will remember about 2008, masterminded by Wall Street's ultimate "Trojan Horse," Hank Paulson. Imagine: Greed, arrogance and incompetence create a massive bubble, cost trillions, and still Wall Street...

The AP reports Sen. Barack Obama, in Florida yesterday, said Sen. John McCain "is offering only 'wishful thinking, outdated ideology' to an economy in crisis, seeking to capitalize on the main issue that is propelling him forward in the race for the White House." The Politico adds Obama said McCain "'has failed to fully acknowledge' the extent of the economic crisis." The New York Times reports Obama invited "Democratic governors and supportive business leaders to amplify his plan to pass an economic stimulus package to help create jobs across America." The CBS Evening News said the panelists, "all supporters...

The free-market system, it is now fashionable to say, is to blame for the current financial crisis. By way of rejoinder, a growing cohort of commentators have argued that the crisis should be understood not as a failure of free-market economic theory but as its vindication. They argue that the U.S. government perverted the wisdom of the market by encouraging banks to make loans no rational actor would make -- and that the players took the risks they did because they held a reasonable expectation of a government bailout should things get hairy. The problem, in this view, is not...

It is hard to imagine we’ve heard the last of Barack Obama’s interactions with William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright. But lately John McCain seems much more interested in talking about another Obama encounter. It’s the now infamous conversation Obama had with “Joe the Plumber”--and one particular phrase that Obama uttered in the course of it.For those who may have been in hibernation the last few days, Joe the Plumber--whose real name is Joe Wurzelbacher--met Obama during an Ohio campaign event last weekend. Wurzelbacher was concerned about Obama’s tax plan, which would raise taxes on wealthy Americans. In the course of...

ABC's Sam Donaldson has validated Joe the Plumber's worst fears: socialism has indeed washed over capitalism. Maybe worse, Donaldson is clearly less unhappy about this than our new campaign spokesman from Ohio. Such appeared to be the case when the former White House correspondent published a rather ominous commentary at ABCNews.com Tuesday both in written and video form (emphasis added, h/t Extreme Mortman via Glenn Reynolds):

A simple way to look at socialism compared to USA capitalism.A non-scientific and very simple way to compare the impact of socialism by comparing nominal GDP, labor force and population of various countries. In my analysis I compare GDP (Gross Domestic Product), Population and Labor force between United States and 6 socialist countries. The choices were arbitrary but since we are always hearing France and Sweden are the models of socialism that work, I started researching there. I have included three of our most liberal states in the mix since they all have a lot of socialistic type programs and...

Wealth redistribution is one of the core tenets of Socialism: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” Expressing a desire to “spread the wealth around,” indicates that Sen. Obama favors the Socialist dogma of income or wealth redistribution. This means he favors social/economic engineering; where those who possess less are afforded more at the demise of those who dedicated themselves to earning more.

In the third presidential debate, McCain referred to Obama as Senator Government, an obvious slip of the tongue, but nevertheless somewhat appropriate as a characterization of his policies and underlying ideology. Joe, “the Plumber”, Wurzelbacher was referred to and even directly addressed quite frequently during the debate by both candidates. . . . “Senator Government vs. Joe The Plumber” highlights the choice in front of Americans in this election. It is a choice between an ideology undergirded by Capitalism and an ideology undergirded by Socialism. . . . Obama had significant involvement with socialists during his time in the Illinois...

The global economic crisis is a result of the "comprehensive failure of extreme capitalism," Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Wednesday as he took aim at bulging executive pay packets. The centre-left Labor Party leader named greed and fear as the "twin evils" at the root of the financial sector collapse, which began in the United States and swept the world. "What we have seen is the comprehensive failure of extreme capitalism -- extreme capitalism which now turns to government to prevent systemic failure," Rudd told the National Press Club in Canberra.

Don't Blame Capitalism Amid the chaos of recent days, as the federal government has taken gargantuan steps to stabilize the financial markets, realigning the U.S. economic system in the process, comes a nearly universal consensus: This crisis resulted from government reluctance to regulate the unbridled greed of Wall Street. ... For the political left, which has long championed the need for such limits, this crisis is the opportunity of a lifetime. ... The United States reached its economic preeminence on the strength of its free markets. So far, the economic disaster exacerbated by government policies is creating opportunities for further...

Iranian leaders say the world financial crisis indicates the end of capitalism, the failure of liberal democracy and divine punishment -- marking the superiority of the Islamic republic's political model. "The school of Marxism has collapsed and the sound of the West's cracking liberal democracy is now being heard," supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday, recalling the fate of the Soviet Union. Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is backed by Khamenei, said on Tuesday that "it is the end of capitalism." Such convictions can be traced back to the ideals of the 1979 Islamic revolution, which Ahmadinejad has...