Free Republic

Sweden really is annoying. We've made both Germany and Russia look like fools on battle fields. We haven't experienced war for two centuries by now, but we're prepared for the next one. We once were poor, but today, we enjoy a standard of living that clearly is better than that of the average American or any other country on Earth for that sake. Few Americans could afford a car like the Volvo V70 (best selling car in Sweden) and only a small percentage of the American population own second homes (very common in Sweden). Furthermore, my Sweden is more technologically...

Russia may ban cash payments for purchases of more than 300,000 rubles (around $10,000) starting in 2015. The move is expected to boost banks’ cash reserves and put a damper on Russia’s shadow economy. However, the middle class will most likely end up having to pay the price for the scheme....Given the substantial criminal activity and illegal entrepreneurship, the grey and black economies account for 50–65 percent of GDP. Even former Central Bank Chief Sergey Ignatyev had to admit that about $50 billion was taken out of Russia illegally in 2012 alone.

It was very much unavoidable. As of right now, people in Cyprus are hungry for hard cash. For paying in gas stations, even groceries, suppliers want cash. Milk and medicine for your child? Cash only.

Photos: protests in Nicosia • Crucial parliamentary vote delayed until Tuesday • Reports of a rethink on bank savings levy • Vladimir Putin: savings levy is unfair and dangerous • Midday: Markets claw back some losses

Dear Dave, Recently, my husband had to quit his job due to an old back injury. We have $25,000 in debt, but I’ll be receiving a $38,000 inheritance in a couple of weeks. Should we use the money to pay off our debt, or hold on to it in case he needs surgery?KristenDear Kristen,Now is the time to keep the cash piled high. You’re in the middle of an emergency, and that means you push the pause button on your Total Money Makeover and stop paying extra on debt. Surgery is a possibility at this point, plus you may need...

When James Labrecque listed an old safe—to which he did not have the combination—on eBay, the seller warned, "What you see is what you get, no returns, and no money back." A Tennessee man purchased it for $122.93, had a welder cut it open—and found $26,000 inside. The buyer shared the news with Labrecque via a positive review on the auction site, and Labrecque quickly attempted to convince the buyer to give him some of the cash, to no avail. In fact, WMC-TV reports, the buyer quoted Labrecque's own eBay disclaimer right back to him when turning him down. "I...

To the question "Can you use a check ordering from Pizza Hut online?" We have this answer: You can only used a credit card or a Pizza Hut gift card to purchase online, no checks accepted. And, driving up to their window in South Central Texas, the same sign is posted. No checks accepted as of January 1. Wonder how many other establishments are going to do the same? I thought the economy was recovering....

Dear Dave, Our son is graduating from high school next spring. We’ve saved cash to pay for his first year of college, and we have enough in mutual funds to pay for another semester. When should we pull out the money to use for his education? Denise Dear Denise, I wouldn’t touch the money until right before you write the checks. However, I don’t want you to follow my advice just because I said so. My mutual funds have made a little more than 16 percent this year. If they stay at that pace, or if they make just 10...

I have heard conflicting stories as of late. I know Obama has more cash than Romney when looking at the individual accounts. But that doesn't include national committees and Super PACS. What is the current scoreboard? How much covert coordination goes on between candidates, committees, and SuperPACS?

China’s Corporate Cash Crunch, Illustrated 19 September, 2012, 15:00. Posted by Zarathustra Paul J. Davies at FT wrote about China’s cash crunch last week. He found that one-third of companies experienced operating negative cash flow in the most recent quarter. More interestingly, he also found that many of the companies’ cash flow slumps are not seasonal. The fact that the economic slowdown is creating troubles for many Chinese companies is not a secret. Even though the economy is still growing fast relative to many other countries, corporate profitability has been declining. Sales are slowing as the economy slows, while costs...

In the aftermath of one of the worst recessions in history, more Americans have limited or no interaction with banks, instead relying on check cashers and payday lenders to manage their finances, according to a new federal report. Not only are these Americans more vulnerable to high fees and interest rates, but they are also cut off from credit to buy a car or a home or pay for college, the report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said. Released Wednesday, the study found that 821,000 households opted out of the banking system from 2009 to 2011 and that the...

OMAHA, Neb.—State Sen. Brenda Council has apologized for misusing more than $60,000 in campaign donations at casinos and filing false reports to conceal it. Attorney General Jon Bruning says Council agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of filing false campaign reports that omit the casino withdrawals and cash deposits. In a statement, Council says she "made an error in judgment," and that she takes "full responsibility." She says she's receiving professional treatment for a gambling addiction and will not "give up or quit fighting for the issues."

ROME: Italian police Saturday announced a 78 percent jump in the amount of gold, silver and cash they have prevented from leaving the country illegally in the first seven months of 2012. The "Yellow Flame" financial police seized 41 million euros' ($50 million) worth compared with 23.2 million euros in the same period last year, they said in a statement. In addition to large quantities of cash and treasury bills, they seized 88 kilogrammes of gold and 570 kilos of silver, the statement said. Dogs trained to detect the scent of money played their part. A Labrador named Tango nabbed...

(Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee raised $101.3 million in July, turning in another big month of financial strength for their battle to defeat President Barack Obama on November 6. In addition to the July numbers, the Romney campaign also planned to announce on Monday that Romney, the Republican National Committee and state party participants have $185.9 million cash on hand. Romney has been outpacing the Democratic incumbent in fund-raising, and his July total of $101.3 million is another sign that Romney and his allies are on course to wash away any cash advantage...

Never before in history has the great American middle class obsessed so much over financial planning as during the last forty years or so. ... And yet here we are today. According to a recent study by the Employee Benefits Research Institute, fully 44 percent of Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers lack the savings and pension coverage needed to meet basic retirement-age expenses, even assuming no future cuts in Social Security or Medicare, employer-provided benefits, or home prices. Most Americans approaching retirement age don’t have a 401(k) or other retirement account. Among the minority who do, the median balance in 2009...

Democratic Convention Benefits From Corporate Cashby The Associated Press July 21, 2012 Shortly after last year's high-profile announcement that the 2012 Democratic National Convention would be the first in history not to rely on special-interest money, organizers in Charlotte quietly set up a nonprofit entity to rake in corporate cash. Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Duke Energy have all sent checks to New American City Inc., a non-profit entity being run by top officials on the convention host committee. Corporate money is bankrolling operations in direct support of the convention, including paying the salaries of the 41 full-time host...

During the time that President Obama has been in office, he has earned some $2,711,340 from foreign sources. That’s 30.1 percent of Obama’s total income during that time. During that period, Obama forked over $87,429 to foreign countries. Most of that cash comes from book sales. That’s an inordinately large amount of money coming from overseas – far more than the typical American, certainly. And the question becomes whether President Obama is outsourcing his book sales. After all, why not pay American tax rates on that income? Why not ship from the United States, rather than printing abroad?

President Obama’s campaign team and top supporters are telling donors they need to get off the sidelines now so they can compete with GOP super-PACS waging an expected $1 billion campaign against them. The deluge of cash from outside groups backing Republican Mitt Romney has prompted a sense of urgency among Obama’s supporters. Their message to donors is simple: send money now.

The lowest price is usually available only if patients don't use their health insurance. In one case, blood tests that cost an insured patient $415 would have been $95 in cash. A Long Beach hospital charged Jo Ann Snyder $6,707 for a CT scan of her abdomen and pelvis after colon surgery. But because she had health insurance with Blue Shield of California, her share was much less: $2,336. Then Snyder tripped across one of the little-known secrets of healthcare: If she hadn't used her insurance, her bill would have been even lower, just $1,054. "I couldn't believe it," said...

Obama Voters Losing Jobless Benefits Due to the Manipulation of Workforce Numbers May 11, 2012 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Michael in Momence, Illinois. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello. CALLER: Thanks a lot, Rush, first-time caller. I'm calling because I was at the unemployment office just yesterday, and they have tables there where people fill out the paperwork that they have -- RUSH: Wait, wait, wait whoa, whoa, whoa, just a second. I need you to go slow here. CALLER: Okay. RUSH: Why were you at the unemployment office? It may seem like an obvious question, but...

Tennessee police are apologizing after arresting a man for using a $50 bill they thought was fake but that turned out to be real. Police in Shelbyville thought the bill was counterfeit after a convenience store clerk called them. The clerk said a marker used to detect false money didn't show the bill was real. The Shelbyville Times-Gazette reported Officer Brock Horner arrested Lorenzo Gaspar on Friday. But a police evidence technician told the arresting officer that some old bills don't react to the markers. So police gave the money to two banks to check, and they said it was...

An Aldi customer in Milwaukee who shot and wounded an armed robber is suing police for the return of his gun. Nazir Al-Mujaahid had a concealed weapons permit to carry the gun, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blog Proof & Hearsay. In February, prosecutors said Al-Mujaahid was within his legal rights when he shot the man who pointed a shotgun at a cashier and then at Al-Mujaahid, according to a prior Journal Sentinel story. But police are keeping Al-Mujaahid’s gun as evidence in the case against two men accused in the robbery. Wisconsin Carry Inc., a gun rights group,...

Should our fine financial system cease functioning cash will become a rare and precious medium. Over the years Americans have exchanged paper currency with confidence. Yet, today everyone's cash is a digital value out of hand. Our vast nationwide cash money market holdings greatly exceed any paper currency supply making any Bank run a momentary event. Should the financial house of cards crash, holders of green back US Dollars will be able to engage in trade. Gold hoarders will not know what to do. Credit cards won't work. Checks won't either. If you can't barter, cash will be king. Get...

Should our fine financial system cease functioning cash will become a rare and precious medium. Over the years Americans have exchanged paper currency with confidence. Yet, today everyone's cash is a digital value out of hand. Our vast nationwide cash money market holdings greatly exceed any paper currency supply making any Bank run a momentary event. Should the financial house of cards crash, holders of green back US Dollars will be able to engage in trade. Gold hoarders will not know what to do. Credit cards won't work. Checks won't either. If you can't barter, cash will be king. Get...

Update: The pictures can no longer be accessed through Facebook. Screen captures can be found below. The Democratic Party’s newly appointed Jewish outreach liaison is pictured on Facebook in a series of provocative photos with her friends holding dollar bills and referring to themselves as “Jewbags” and the “Jew cash money team.” Dani Gilbert, who has been a staffer in the office of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.), was recently appointed as the Democratic National Committee’s Jewish outreach liaison, according to her Twitter feed. Photos publicly available on her Facebook page depict her engaged in the kind of youthful...

Occupy Wall Street in New York running low on cashBy Michelle Nichols | Reuters – 9 hrs ago NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Occupy Wall Street group in New York is running low on money and on pace to run out by the end of the month, raising questions about the future of the movement that sparked a wave of nationwide protests against economic injustice six months ago. Donations to the group, which raised about $500,000 within weeks of setting up camp in a park near Wall Street on September 17, have slowed and with plans for an American Spring...

Jailed killer had dad, girlfriends cash unemployment checksBy msnbc.com staff A convicted murderer awaiting trial in the Los Angeles County jail system had family cash $30,000 in unemployment checks, the Los Angeles Times reported. Anthony Garcia’s father and two girlfriends reportedly cashed those checks, $1,600 a month, and also deposited money in his jail account and that of other gang members. His father, Juan Garcia, 47, and girlfriends, Sandra Jaimez, 45, and Cynthia Limas, 25, were charged with unemployment fraud, the Times reported.

No MF Global customer cash in JPM account: trusteeBy Nick Brown Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:11pm EST (Reuters) - The trustee managing the assets of bankrupt MF Global Holdings Ltd said none of the roughly $26 million being used to fund the futures brokerage in Chapter 11 is part of a $1.6 billion shortfall in customer accounts. **SNIP** "After an exhaustive investigation - which included the review of volumes of bank statements and an extensive population of cash transaction activity during October 2011 - the trustee does not believe that any of the cash in the JPM account ... represents...

MADISON — Candidate committees can rack up cash in a hurry, especially during a high stakes race. And provisions in election law allow campaigns to invest campaign funds, bolstering — or diminishing — contributions. In the 2011-12 election cycle, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-District 1, raised nearly $2.5 million, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. At the end of 2011, his candidate committee held $4.6 million. In early 1999, Citizens for Arlen Specter, the campaign for the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, sought the opinion of the FEC to determine what could be done with his excess cash,...

MADISON — In 2010, Sen. Russ Feingold raised $13.7 million in his bid for re-election to the U.S. Senate. The long-serving Democrat lost, but he finished with more than $900,000 on hand. The former senator — like all candidates in federal elections — has some options when it comes to handling leftover campaign funds, some allowances that may surprise donors and the electorate at large. With a flood of Republican presidential candidates bowing out of the nomination chase — and in Wisconsin, U.S. Senate candidate Frank Lasee, a GOP state senator from De Pere, doing the same — Wisconsin Reporter...

When last heard from, former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was telling a congressional committee he hadn’t the foggiest idea what happened to $1.2 billion of his Wall Street clients’ money. This, following the $6.3 billion collapse last fall of MF Global, the brokerage Corzine took over after voters ousted him from the Trenton statehouse. The firm went belly-up after Corzine decided to risk pretty much everything on European debt. But an audit couldn’t account for $1.2 billion, and suggested the firm may have illegally mixed client funds with the company’s own. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that...

The Obama re-election campaign has revealed the names who utilised their star power and/or financially endowed friends to shell out cash for his quest to stay in the White House. Included were 61 people who each raised at least half a million dollars. The donations are not based on individual donations, but how much friends of the Obama campaign was able to bring in based on the contributions of their pals and colleagues, a process known as 'bundling'.

In the Washington Times, Charles Hurt writes, “Both Mr. Kerry and Mr. Romney look like they should be cast as president in a made-for-TV movie. But in reality, both are hopelessly out of touch, calculating wax figurines. They both even speak French! In the end, Mitt Romney is John Kerry without the war medals.” Oh, come on, that’s not true. For starters, Kerry doesn’t have his war decorations anymore, since he threw them away. But I know John Kerry. John Kerry’s a blog target of mine. And Mitt Romney is no John Kerry. David Harmer is a California lawyer who...

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/jackson-130783-police-officers.html#ixzz1hkULafXb

A Kings County sheriff's deputy is under arrest for embezzlement after fellow officers set up a sting and caught him stealing $500 from what appeared to be a stash of drug money. Patrol deputy Nick Simpson, 33, a five-year veteran of the department, was arrested Friday, one day after he had been dispatched to a bait car with a hidden video camera, Sheriff Dave Robinson said Monday. What Simpson didn't know was that the car in rural northwest Kings County had been planted with 1 ounce of methamphetamine and $1,760 in cash.

UPPER SAINT CLAIR, Pa. -- Money blew out of an armored vehicle transporting cash in Upper Saint Clair on Wednesday. Investigators said the money was being shipped to the West View Savings Bank when a door on the truck somehow opened. Drivers of a Fidelity Courier Services van said they were alerted by a passing motorist that bags of money were falling from the rear door of the vehicle as it travelled southbound on Route 19. Investigators said some of the cash was recovered by couriers who returned to the scene, but plastic bags containing "well into six figures" worth...

If raising cash is the first presidential primary, the latest round of campaign filings contains early warning signs for Barack Obama in key states that were crucial to his election in 2008. Though he’s raised almost three times as much as Mitt Romney—the former governor of Massachusetts has brought in $32 million—the president is trailing his GOP rival in a handful of battleground states. In both Florida and Nevada, Romney nearly doubled the president’s haul, despite a crowded field of Republican candidates who are also vacuuming up donations. And Romney, of course, doesn’t enjoy the power of incumbency.

The political geniuses in Louisiana have decided they hate poor people so much, they passed House Bill 195—near unanimously! (One nay in the senate.) It bans cash on all second-hand transactions. Now, when a good Louisianian holds a garage sale after a bout of spring cleaning, if they accept cash for their old vinyl collection, they’ve broken the law. Swap meets. Church bazaar sales. Antique stores. Buying used skis off Craigslist. You can’t use cash in the Pelican State. Their stated reasoning is to prevent the sale of stolen goods—their view is cash transactions make it easy for criminals to...

Cold hard cash. It's good everywhere you go, right? You can use it to pay for anything. But that's not the case here in Louisiana now. It's a law that was passed during this year's busy legislative session. House bill 195 basically says those who buy and sell second hand goods cannot use cash to make those transactions, and it flew so far under the radar most businesses don't even know about it. "We're gonna lose a lot of business," says Danny Guidry, who owns the Pioneer Trading Post in Lafayette. He deals in buying and selling unique second hand...

Cold hard cash. It's good everywhere you go, right? You can use it to pay for anything. But that's not the case here in Louisiana now. It's a law that was passed during this year's busy legislative session. House bill 195 basically says those who buy and sell second hand goods cannot use cash to make those transactions, and it flew so far under the radar most businesses don't even know about it. "We're gonna lose a lot of business," says Danny Guidry, who owns the Pioneer Trading Post in Lafayette. He deals in buying and selling unique second hand...

Five foreign men were arrested during a courthouse break-in early on Wednesday and police said they found photographs of public buildings, water systems and malls from various U.S. cities in their van. The men, at least three of whom were in their 20s, will be questioned by a joint terrorism task force including the FBI and immigration authorities, officials said. Bexar County spokeswoman Laura Jesse said three men were found inside the 120-year-old Bexar County Courthouse, a landmark in downtown San Antonio and two in a large recreational vehicle parked in front of the building. She said all five were...

Cold hard cash. It's good everywhere you go, right? You can use it to pay for anything. But that's not the case here in Louisiana now. It's a law that was passed during this year's busy legislative session. House bill 195 basically says those who buy and sell second hand goods cannot use cash to make those transactions, and it flew so far under the radar most businesses don't even know about it.

Anti-Wall Street protests are growing in number across the country and around the globe, but their political impact remains unclear and will likely depend upon their staying power. At a minimum, the protests have become a channel for public anger over rising economic inequality and Washington's ineffectiveness. "They are a pretty good thermometer for the level of discontent in the country," said John Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron. "But the connection between Republicans and Wall Street and the banks will surely be an election issue next year." Romney used...

I thought this was pretty comical...

Reporting from Washington and Sacramento— A suspected embezzlement scheme that has ensnared hundreds of campaign accounts of Democrats has sent candidates scrambling for new cash as they prepare for an election season that could reshape California's political landscape. Just when they need to start hiring staff and commissioning polls, many candidates have no idea how much might have been taken from them or how much they have left, and they cannot find out: As many as 400 political accounts have been frozen by the banks holding the funds since the Sept. 2 arrest of treasurer Kinde Durkee. This January 2008...

Economy: Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is reaching back 50 years for a "trick" to get the economy moving, but it won't work. Our problem today isn't monetary policy. It's government meddling. The idea is simple: The Fed holds $1.7 trillion in Treasury debt. It wants to "rebalance" that by selling short-term debt and replacing it with long-term Treasuries. In theory, that would cut long-term interest rates, boosting investment in both housing and business. Sounds good, but we've tried it before, in 1961. The strategy — dubbed "Operation Twist" — was supposed to keep rates low and give the economy a...

The Left’s working motto consistently turns out to be “do as I say, not as I do.�  How else could they possibly make bold pronouncements to the media but live the exact opposite? The day before his declaration of war on the Tea Party movement, Teamsters President James Hoffa appeared on CNN and deemed American companies as “unpatriotic,� according to the Political Ticker. “I think the president should challenge the patriotism of these American corporations that are sitting on the sidelines,� Hoffa said. “The problem in America isn’t that we don’t have enough money. We’ve got more money than any...

No! Next question. But really, are we okay with this? An actual newspaper (the Austin Chronicle) is running this full-page ad next week? This seems like an awful lot of money to spend on an ad likely to result in a large number of people saying, “No!” emphatically and continuing with their days, but then again, perhaps this lack of acumen is why I am not the president of CASH. And I’m not sure why he chose the “Star Wars” font. Nothing says effective ad-making like “an ad (hominem) hoping to find someone who has had sex with Rick Perry,...

An Austin Ron Paul supporter has taken out a full-page ad in the local alt weekly newspaper seeking any "stripper ... escort ... or 'young hottie'" who has slept with Rick Perry, part of his single-minded jihad against the presidential candidate. Robert Morrow describes himself as a "self-employed investor and political activist" as well as a three-time delegate to the Texas state GOP convention. "Have you ever had sex with Rick Perry?" blares the ad, placed by Morrow in this week's Austin Chronicle. "Are you a stripper, an escort, or just a 'young hottie' impressed by an arrogant, entitled governor...

Ron Paul Supporter Takes Out Full-Page Ad In Texas Paper A full-page newspaper ad by a supporter of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is raising eyebrows, asking, "Have you ever had sex with Rick Perry?" Robert Morrow placed the ad in the Austin Chronicle alt-newsweekly less than one week after the Texas governor threw his hat in the ring for the presidency, Salon.com reported.