Free Republic

The Chinese economy just surpassed the U.S. economy to become the world’s largest in terms of purchasing power, according to the International Monetary Fund.The IMF measures economic strength by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in both market exchange rates and average purchasing power, the latter being where China has overtaken the U.S. with a GDP of $17.6 trillion by the end of 2014 — 16.4 percent of the world’s purchasing power. The U.S. will close out the year with a purchasing-power adjusted GDP of $17.4 trillion, or 16.2 percent of the world’s total.Financial Times predicted the change in April and illustrated...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has called for congressional hearings regarding conduct at the Federal Reserve following the ProPublica and This American Life report from last week, told NPR in an interview on Wednesday that the report, “tells us exactly what we already knew.” Warren told NPR’s Steve Inskeep that the report, “ultimately this report tells us exactly what we already knew—that the relationship between regulators and the financial institutions they oversee is too cozy to provide the kind of tough oversight that's really needed.” […] Listening to the tapes, Warren said two things jumped out: the lack of truthful...

A top Boeing official criticized Congress on Tuesday for failing to pass a long-term reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank. He also argued that an extension of the Bank’s charter until next summer leaves supporters in a worse position than they were in before. “Mostly far-right political consultants, think tanks and congressmen banded together in a fit of ideological road rage to kill the bank,” Boeing senior vice president Timothy Keating said in prepared remarks at an aerospace conference in Everett, Wash. “The temporary extension recently enacted in many respects leaves us worse off than before,” Keating continued. “The extension is...

The median American household saw its net worth decline by 36 percent during the Great Recession. That is a hard reality. A Republican held the White House when the crash hit, and voters, in no mood to be charitable, blamed the GOP. Besides, Democrats were ready with an explanation that slid right into an existing groove of American thinking: The financial crisis was caused by Republicans going easy on their big banker friends. By 2012, the recession had been over for three-plus years, and yet the average American saw little improvement. Average net worth continued to drift downward. Long-term unemployment...

Last year I took an Ethics class at school. Our professor gave us a lecture about the pros and cons of Capitalism. And at the end of the lecture, he asked us if we could define "crony capitalism". We all drew a blank. We'd all heard the phrase, but we didn't quite understand it. So he broke it down to us in very simplistic terms: "Let's sat that you own a cow. And your neighbor owns one hundred cows. But he's so greedy that he wants your cow, too. So he bribes corrupt politicians to pass laws that will take...

Democrats convened their real presidential convention for 2016 a bit early. In NYC.At the U.N. In what is becoming a proxy for what the public believes is the Democrat National Committee, the media, world government organizations and activists who think that some small, few men should decide what every other man gets to have—or not have—met in public and private in New York City this week. They harangued and proselytized, raised money and “awareness” in a purely show-business attempt to re-set the agenda off their failed policies.If only by sheer volume of their arguments, they have tried to convince America...

House Republicans are preparing a continuing resolution to keep the government open. In doing so, they’ve decided to be total sluts for K Street and Wall Street. The Crony Capitalists, emboldened by the Chamber of Commerce’s help during primary season, are doing some very unusual things. Here’s what I hear is happening. First, they will reauthorize the Ex-Im bank, which is something K Street is desperate to see happen. Second, current reports are that they will spend more than the original Paul Ryan — Patti Murray deal that had included a tax hike. However, that is subject to change. Third,...

Sen. Ted Cruz is launching an effort to push the House into a continuing resolution that funds the government into the next Congress. “It would be a serious mistake for House Republicans to pass a Continuing Resolution that would ensure that Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats would come back to Washington, after many of them will have likely lost their seats, for a no-holds barred lame duck session where they will be free to pass legislation that the American people will never be able to hold them responsible for,” the Texas Republican said in a statement provided to CQ...

It's official. Chrysler has now wholly-merged with Italian auto maker, Fiat. It had taken a bit over five years for Fiat to gain total control of the bailed out, once-American Chrysler Corporation. Back in June of 2009, President Obama gifted (payment was made in the form of "technology") an initial 20% stake in Chrysler to Fiat as part of his orchestrated auto bailout process. Fiat parlayed that into full ownership and is now showing its gratitude to the American taxpayers who helped fund the deal by relocating Chrysler's headquarters to London ; a move which will lessen the company's...

When Barack Obama and the Democrats on Capitol Hill forced the $800 billion stimulus bill into law, they insisted that waste, fraud, and abuse would not be tolerated. They put “Sheriff” Joe Biden on the case in March 2009, with Obama warning stimulus recipients that “around the White House, we call him the Sheriff — because if you’re misusing taxpayer money, you’ll have to answer to him.” The Department of Transportation employees gathered for the speech laughed at that statement, according to the White House transcript — and well they should have. An in-depth report from McClatchy and ProPublica...

Two Planned Parenthood chapters, two United Way organizations, a food bank association and a Catholic hospital system are among 90 nonprofit groups that will receive a total of $60 million to help people sign up for health insurance, the Department of Health and Human Services announced today. Planned Parenthood chapters in Montana and Iowa received grants totaling about $500,000. Ascension Health, the nation’s largest Catholic hospital system, won a $241,000 grant to help people in Kansas. The Ohio Association of Food Banks will receive a $2.1 million grant. Florida Covering Kids & Families, based at the University of South Florida,...

Congressional Republicans keep saying they oppose Obamacare. Yet they’re refusing to take the simplest and easiest action against it. The way the law is designed, insurance companies get taxpayer subsidies if they incur big losses on the exchanges. That guarantee has encouraged them to participate in the exchanges. It has also enabled them to charge lower premiums, since they do not have to cover their risks. Republicans could force supporters of Obamacare to defend these taxpayer subsidies by advancing legislation to stop them, as Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Representative Tim Griffin (R., Ark.) have proposed. But their colleagues...

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg is returning to lead the financial data and news company he founded in 1981 but left to serve three terms in City Hall. The company, Bloomberg LP, said Wednesday that current CEO Daniel Doctoroff will step down at the end of the year. Doctoroff was a deputy mayor under Bloomberg. His departure makes way for Bloomberg to take back the helm of the company, of which he still owns more than 85 percent. …

During the interview, Ryan addressed several issues on which conservatives have been critical of the Republican Party, from perpetuating crony capitalism to immigration. Perhaps most interesting was the congressman’s defense of votes he and fellow Republicans took in favor of TARP and the 2009 auto bailout, and his belief in the efficacy of a short-term reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank. When asked how his votes for TARP and the auto bailout comport with the populist, free market philosophy Rep. Ryan espouses in his new book, noting that he "did not enjoy" such votes, Ryan justified them on grounds of "defensive...

How’s this for a depressing passage: “There’s just a lot more regulation going on,” Zelizer said. “There’s a lot of intersection between the economy and Washington.” “There’s just a lot more regulation going on.” My liberal friends, “regulation” is the mother’s milk of the crony capitalist state, the “fascist light” state. Our system of “regulation” is in most regards now just a vehicle for rent seeking. Blindly defending regulations in 2014 because liberals are supposed to be for regulation, is to give power to a vested corporate oligarchy. Am I saying that all regs are bad? No. Am I saying...

In what might have appeared to be a minor political event a few weeks back, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called congressman Tom Marino (R-PA) “insignificant” and “inconsequential” in a debate on the House floor. Why would the former House Speaker insult a colleague in such a manner? She didn’t count her way to this assessment; Democrats do not hold a majority of the House. Nor did she reason her way to this position, as there was nothing in Rep. Marino’s argument on the immigration issue that raised empirical red flags. Perhaps it was a momentary lapse in judgment in the midst...

"The public be damned!"— William H. Vanderbilt, railroad magnate, 1882 A shattering new study by two political science professors has found that ordinary Americans have virtually no impact whatsoever on the making of national policy in our country. The analysts found that rich individuals and business-controlled interest groups largely shape policy outcomes in the United States.This study should be a loud wake-up call to the vast majority of Americans who are bypassed by their government. To reclaim the promise of American democracy, ordinary citizens must act positively to change the relationship between the people and our governmentThe new study, with...

A startling new political science study concludes that corporate interests and mega wealthy individuals control U.S. policy to such a degree that "the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy." The startling study, titled "Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens," is slated to appear in an upcoming issue of Perspectives on Politics and was authored by Princeton University Professor Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Professor Benjamin Page. An early draft can be found here. Noted American University Historian Allan J. Lichtman, who highlighted the...

Comcast and Time Warner Cable are spending more than $130,000 on a dinner to honor one of the federal regulators who will rule on their controversial merger plan, according to records of the companies’ contributions. The fundraising event for the Walter Kaitz Foundation will honor Federal Communications Commission panel member Mignon Clyburn as an advocate for diversity.

Pennsylvania has turned its back on small business owners, according to a recent survey. […] “After a two-month survey of thousands of small business owners nationwide, we’ve heard directly from Pennsylvania’s small businesses that the state could do more to support them,” said Jon Lieber, chief economist of Thumbtack.com. “Creating a business climate that is welcoming to small, dynamic businesses is more important than ever, and Pennsylvania’s small businesses think the state could do a better job.” […] Marie Page, owner of Marie Page Cleaning Service in Reeders, said […] “We are taxed like crazy. It is hard to get...