Free Republic

America is only four months into the second term of Barack Obama and already one of its most promising industries is suffering from a pair of grossly obtuse government agencies who have banded together to aid a foreign state-owned company at the expense of domestic firms. It all begins and ends with Etihad Airways, the government-owned flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates that has enjoyed uncommonly generous subsidies and courtesies from the U.S. government. The Department of Homeland Security announced earlier this year it had designs on establishing a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) pre-clearance facility at Abu Dhabi...

Is your business involved in manufacturing, research and development, clean or renewable energy, generating electricity, or nuclear power? Did it open after January 1, 2002? Is it creating jobs that provide health care benefits conforming to the requirements laid out in Obamacare? Congratulations; under Texas House Bill 3390, your company may qualify for a break on its school district taxes. For everyone else, bad news; the albatross that is Obamacare still hangs around your neck. The new legislation, just placed on the House agenda Thursday, decries the difficulty our state’s high property taxes create for attracting capital-intensive industries like manufacturing....

Those who dare to step out and report on well-heeled and well-connected Washington insiders like liberal Democrat Terry McAuliffe, the founder and former chairman of GreenTech, find themselves the victims of smear campaigns and lawsuits...

Out of the entire universe of those who could have won the first phase construction contract for California’s high speed rail boondoggle, who would stand out as the last person who would win it if there were no political patronage. Put another way, who is the most likely person to win it if there is political patronage? Both questions have the same answer: Richard Blum, the husband of California senator Diane Feinstein. So, who won the contract? Blum, of course, as the principle owner of Tutor Perini, the lead firm in the three-firm consortium selected by the California High Speed...

Dirty Business as Usual at California High Speed Rail From the article: Out of the entire universe of those who could have won the first phase construction contract for California’s high speed rail boondoggle, who would stand out as the last person who would win it if there were no political patronage. Put another way, who is the most likely person to win it if there is political patronage? Both questions have the same answer: Richard Blum, the husband of California senator Diane Feinstein. So, who won the contract? Blum, of course, as the principle owner of Tutor Perini, the...

According to the study, the current food stamp Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card industry is dominated by three main players: J.P. Morgan Electronic Financial Services, Affiliated Computer Services, and eFunds. Together they collect money from 49 states and three territories. In fact, since 2004, 18 of 24 states that contract with J.P. Morgan have paid more than $560 million to the financial monolith.

Since last weekend, Mr and Mrs Regular Citizen have been denied the access people used to be granted to tour the White House, purportedly because of the clampdown on federal spending since the "sequester" that imposed cuts across the board. And their cancellation is an austerity measure that saves a pittance, while more frivolous taxpayer funding for items like the White House dog walker continues. Meanwhile, noble Americans can buy time with the president for a suggested donation of $500,000 to his new campaign group, Organising for Action.

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Terry McAuliffe has touted his business expertise as a qualification for office despite criticisms that he has opened plants outside of the Old Dominion and relied on cronyism to fuel his success in the private sector. Speaking at a Saturday gathering of Arlington County, Va., Democrats, McAuliffe recounted a long business career, starting at age 14 when he wheeled buckets of tar around Syracuse, N.Y., filling potholes.McAuliffe told the crowd he would put in place policies to spur employment. “We want our five children to stay in Virginia,” which requires a strong job market, he said.“Other...

A health insurance company headed by an old friend from Obama's days as a community organizer got a $340 million federal loan to establish Obamacare co-ops in New York, New Jersey and Oregon despite having a chronic record of consumer and regulatory complaints. The New York-based Freelancers Insurance Company has been rated the "worst" insurer for two straight years by state regulators, and data compiled by a national insurance association show an extremely high rate of consumer complaints. The firm was founded in 2008 by Sara Horowitz, who worked with Obama before his career in elective politics to launch Demos,...

<p>Obama — ticked off by Rice’s treatment and still emboldened by his convincing victory over Mitt Romney — courted confrontation when he tapped Hagel.</p> <p>If true, this is outlandish. The president would imperil national security out of spite? .........</p>

President Obama's greatest strategic accomplishment during his first term was his recruitment of big business to join the existing collection of special interest groups within the Democratic Party. The national impact of Obama's collusion with big business can't be overlooked. Big business helped deliver his biggest political achievement, ObamaCare, and it recently contributed to his victories with the fiscal cliff negotiations and the temporary extension of the debt ceiling. The addition of huge corporate lobbying infrastructures to the existing left-wing coalition of unions, environmental activists, minority and feminist interest groups will fundamentally transform the special interest lobbying force in Washington....

On Friday, the New York Times Television section highlighted tonight's Sean Hannity one-hour special “Boomtown,” a program featuring Government Accountability Institute President and Co-founder Peter Schweizer and Breitbart News Executive Chairman and Government Accountability Co-founder Stephen K. Bannon. 9 P.M. (Fox News) BOOMTOWN: WASHINGTON, THE IMPERIAL CITY In this edition of “Hannity,” the host, Sean Hannity; Peter Schweizer, the president and co-founder of the Government Accountability Institute; and Stephen K. Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News and co-founder of the Government Accountability Institute, investigate what they call crony capitalism among the city’s power elite and the tactics used by...

Because accepting donations from those distasteful, money-grubbing corporations is just not acceptable --- except, you know, when you really need the money.In 2008/2009, President Obama’s inaugural committee (amidst much self-promoted fanfare, I might add) decided to buck precedent and announced that they would not be accepting corporate donations or individual donations in excess of $50k in a grandiose display of thwarting special interests.Now, of course, the situation is quite different --- worn-out donors and a still-"recovering" economy mean that the inaugural committee is totally okay with corporations and the wealthy possibly ingratiating themselves with Team Obama. It is what it...

You may be sick of hearing about him again, but Warren Buffett did huge damage serving as Obama’s useful fool last year. Dupes comprise a long, dubious tradition in American history. Over 200 years ago, George Washington warned the nation about “dupes” in his historic Farewell Address. Such warnings would echo from the founding of the republic through the Cold War. During the Cold War, “dupe,” like the associated word, “useful idiot” — attributed to Vladimir Lenin — became an everyday term. Dupes were legion during the Cold War, a unique breed of (largely) left-leaning Americans who, unwittingly, allowed or...

In a post yesterday, James chronicled the rampant cronyism which characterized the so-called fiscal cliff deal. This morning Arthur Brooks appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box and revealed some startling facts on the same topic. Here’s a partial transcript of the interview. JOE KERNEN: The fiscal cliff fight’s over, a battle that is still looming large. Our guest host today is Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, author of “The Road to Freedom.” Arthur, I want to just start just quickly with you. OK, your point — and we were talking about it in welcome, it’s good to see you — out of the $62...

Kailua Hawaii is situated on the East coast of the island of Hawaii, about a 14 mile drive from the Honolulu airport and much closer even to Kaneohe Marine Air Base. It's home to about half a dozen exclusive hotels and it is also the Obama family vacation destination. Last year Obama's dog Bo visited some damage to the property the Obama's rented so this year Obama issued an Executive Order guaranteeing that the taxpayers of the United States would make good for any damage Bo left this year. It seems Barack Obama needs constant reminding that he is the...

News that the Treasury Department's Inspector General has opened an investigation to determine whether three solar companies inflated the cost of their work to increase the payments they would receive from the government should send shivers down the spine of the taxpayer-subsidized green energy industry.The Washington Post reports that SolarCity, SunRun and Sungevity have received subpoenas from the Treasury Department’s office of inspector general for financial records to justify more than $500 million in federal grants and tax credits the firms tapped for performing work. The probe seeks to determine whether the companies accurately reported the market value of...

It’s a lucky thing for Tesla Motors shareholders that the U.S. Department of Energy loves the company’s loan applications. Without the hundreds of millions of dollars has received from the federal government this year, the electric-car maker’s financials would be gasping for air as 2012 winds down. Given the ugly state of Tesla’s finances — and the company’s sky-high valuation: almost $4 billion — it will rank among the top candidates in Silicon Valley for a 2013 stock collapse, unless it receives significantly more cash next year. The Palo Alto, Calif., company’s financials are, in fact, in worse shape even...

Here's more evidence that government "cures" are inevitably worse than the "diseases" they seek to wipe out. Buried in the trillion-dollar stimulus law of 2009 was an electronic medical records "incentive" program. Like most of President Obama's health care rules, this top-down electronic record-sharing scheme is a big fat bust. Oversight is lax. Cronyism is rife. The job-killing and privacy-undermining consequences have only just begun. The program was originally sold as a cost-saving measure. In theory, modernizing record-collection is a good idea, and many private health care providers have already made the change. But as with many government "incentive" programs,...

The Romney campaign spent an estimated $356 million between January 1, 2011 and October 17, 2012 in its unsuccessful effort to defeat incumbent President Barack Obama. According to Federal Election Commission documents, as reported by OpenSecrets.org, $33 million of this amount was paid to two consulting firms with ties to key staffers at both the Romney campaign and the RNC. Targeted Victory LLC, a Minnesota company with executive offices in Virginia, was paid $17 million for digital communications by the Romney campaign. FLS Connect LLC, an Arizona corporation with headquarters in Minnesota, was paid $16 million for voter contact and...

But the sources say the new decision is driven by pragmatism: The president and his team just wrapped up the most expensive campaign in history — with costs topping $1 billion — and they’ve determined that their donors are simply tapped out. The cost of an Inauguration can run into the tens of millions. Obama spent $47 million in 2009. And raising that in a matter of six weeks is too difficult without throwing open the flood gates, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The inaugural fundraising team will be screening each corporate donation. Those determined to...

Watch this new holiday-themed video that asks the following question: Why does the government force us to spend billions each year on corporate welfare?

While her defenders in the Congress and the media have tried to level the charges that any investigation in Susan Rice's role into trying to mislead the public about the nature of the Benghazi attacks is racist and sexist attack, most people forget about her history of cronyism and lies.

(Reuters) - The Obama administration provided struggling battery maker A123 Systems Inc with nearly $1 million on the day it filed for bankruptcy, the company told lawmakers investigating its government grant. The company, which makes lithium ion batteries for electric cars, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month after a rescue deal with Chinese auto parts supplier Wanxiang Group fell apart. That same day, October 16, A123 received a $946,830 payment as part of its $249 million clean energy grant from the Energy Department, the company said in a letter, obtained by Reuters, to Republican Senators John Thune and...

The son of a prominent Virginia congressman agreed to help an undercover reporter forge documents in what he thought was an illegal voting effort aimed at re-electing the president, a just-published video reveals. After raising legal and practical concerns, Patrick Moran, son of Virginia Democrat James Moran, encouraged the reporter to create phony utility bills that would allow others to cast multiple votes in the November 6 election. Supporters of stronger voter ID laws seized on the video as evidence of widespread corruption among liberal get-out-the-vote organizations. “What he’s doing is soliciting fraudulent voter registrations and fraudulent ballots, and that’s...

It is no secret that President Obama’s and green-energy supporters’ (from both parties) foray into venture capitalism has not gone well. But the extent of its failure has been largely ignored by the press. Sure, single instances garner attention as they happen, but they ignore past failures in order to make it seem like a rare case. The truth is that the problem is widespread. The government’s picking winners and losers in the energy market has cost taxpayers billions of dollars, and the rate of failure, cronyism, and corruption at the companies receiving the subsidies is substantial. The fact that...

Special interest groups have long been working with the government to get more and more resources, helping to increase our national debt. Just how much of our debt do you now owe? You can find out in seconds by visiting this site.

Cronyism: Did the Obama administration stiff a group of non-union workers and pay off a political ally in the 2009 auto bailout? Yes, it did, says the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. When the administration turned General Motors into Government Motors in 2009's M&A of the automaker, it made sure that retirees from Delphi Corp. who were members of the United Auto Workers didn't lose a dime from their pensions. The White House, though, was not as generous with the nonunion retirees from GM's parts supplier. Roughly 22,000 Delphi retirees who were salaried employees and not members...

Ask most Americans about the big-spending government policies of the last few years, and they will tell you the programs have failed. In a February 2012 poll from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, 66 percent of Americans said the federal government is having a negative impact on the way things are going in this country (versus 22 percent who say the impact is positive). A majority disapproves of the president’s 2009 stimulus, and according to a 2010 CNN poll, about three-quarters of Americans believe the money was mostly wasted. Of course, the measure of economic success is not public opinion,...

In this week's duel of "gotcha" recordings, Mitt Romney sounds callous toward those who have grown dependent on government programs. But President Obama may have more to fear from the latest reminder that he "believes in redistribution" of wealth. After all, it was around this point in the 2008 campaign that a confident and cruising Obama campaign was put on the defensive after its candidate gave a revealing answer to a question posed by Joe (the Plumber) Wurzelbacher. "When you spread the wealth around," candidate Obama opined, "it's good for everybody." Would a President Obama be as hostile to American...

Check this out. During the lead up to the terror attacks on our embassies, the Obama regime sponsored a trip to Egypt. Officials from the State Department, as well as Soros lackey [and communist] John Podesta were part of the group touring Egypt and looking for ways to make money by teaming up with our enemies. From the Washington Free Beacon: [emphasis mine] A delegation of American business leaders with lobbying ties to relatives of a top Obama administration adviser wrapped up a four-day tour in Egypt aimed at laying the groundwork for increased economic cooperation on Tuesday, as violent...

Otter Tail Corp. said Thursday that it has sold its wind tower manufacturing business, DMI Industries, to Trinity Industries of Dallas for $20 million. The Fergus Falls, Minn.-based conglomerate, which also owns Otter Tail Power Co., said it closed on the sale of the property, plant and equipment at its Fort Erie, Ontario, plant on Thursday, Sept.6. The sale of its DMI plants in West Fargo, N.D. and Tulsa, Okla., plants will close in November and December respectively. Trinity Industries makes wind towers, rail cars and other products that require heavy metal fabrication, Otter Tail spokesman Michael Olsen said. Otter...

Children used to have aspirations to achieve greatness in the private sector. But what are they learning now?

Breaking news: The Fishwrap of Record has finally discovered that the Obama administration gives its Chicago corporate pals special access to power and regulatory favoritism. On Thursday, The Not-So-New York Times published an A1 story titled "Ties to Obama Aided in Access for Big Utility." Everyone, put on your shocked faces! "With energy an increasingly pivotal issue for the Obama White House," the Times intoned, "a review of Exelon's relationship with the administration shows how familiarity has helped foster access at the upper reaches of government and how, in some cases, the outcome has been favorable for Exelon." You mean...

Children used to have aspirations to achieve greatness in the private sector. But what are they learning now? Watch this video at Fox Nation and click "Fire it up!" on the top left if you really like it.

WASHINGTON – A veteran Wall Street executive who performed an independent review that exonerated the Obama administration's program of loans to energy companies contributed $52,500 to re-elect President Barack Obama in the months since completing his work,

We Can’t Wait: Obama Administration Announces Seven Major Renewable Energy Infrastructure Projects that Would Power 1.5 million Homes to be Expedited WASHINGTON, DC – Today, as a part of his We Can’t Wait initiative, President Obama announced that seven nationally and regionally significant solar and wind energy projects will be expedited, including projects in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Wyoming. Together, these job-creating infrastructure projects would produce nearly 5,000 megawatts (MW) of clean energy – enough to power approximately 1.5 million homes, and support the President’s all-of-the-above strategy to expand American made energy. As a part of a Presidential Executive Order...

How do we stop cronyism? By using Crony Clean™, the spray that breaks down bureaucracy! Watch this new video now!

Hey, remember when Nancy Pelosi and a gaggle of Democratic women vowed to eradicate Washington's culture of corruption? Tee-hee. Instead of breaking up the Good Ol' Boys Club, Capitol Hill's leading liberal ladies have established their very own taxpayer-funded Sisterhood of the Plundering Hacks. This week, the names of two of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's gal pals surfaced in a mortifying, Animal House-style scandal. If the allegations of whistleblowers pan out, DHS may soon be known as DSH: The Department of Sexual Harassment. According to FoxNews.com's Judson Berger, DHS chief of staff for Immigration and Customs Enforcement...

Catholic Elites have become part of the problem .. despite good work they do. Video: The Catholic Elite

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) has been working to secure sweetheart deals for Chinese green energy firms, according to reports. Reid, who last week hosted the fifth annual National Clean Energy Summit at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, has been “pulling strings behind the scenes” for months on behalf of ENN Mojave Energy, a Nevada subsidiary of the Chinese-owned ENN Group. After more than two years of secret negotiations beginning in 2009, lawmakers in Clark County, Nevada, unanimously agreed to sell 9,000 acres of public land to ENN for the bargain price of just $4.5...

Full title: Here are 56 reasons why Barack Obama is a lying, lawbreaking, warmongering, corrupt cronyist, who loves corporate lobbyists and Wall St., and who has no respect for the Constitution, limited government, rule of law, individual freedom, civil liberties, the taxpayers, or sick people who have prescriptions for medical marijuana 1) Carried out military interventionism In June 2011, U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said that Obama had violated the Constitution when he launched military operations in Libya without Congressional approval. 2) Gave a no-bid contract to Halliburton In May 2010, it was reported that the Obama administration had selected...

Can you imagine if the Olympic races were determined not by how fast the runners were, but instead how well they knew the referees? That’s what cronyism does: it means that companies can be successful by being friendly with government instead of by serving their customers. This video shows what a crony Olympic race would look like:

Those wondering why the Department of Justice has refused to go after Jon Corzine for the vaporization of $1.6 billion in MF Global client funds need look no further than the documents uncovered by the Government Accountability Institute that reveal that the now-defunct MF Global was a client of Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer’s former law firm, Covington & Burling. There’s more. Records also reveal that MF Global’s trustee for the Chapter 11 bankruptcy retained as its general bankruptcy counsel Morrison & Foerester--the very law firm from which Associate Attorney General Tony West came to...

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. is the corporate welfare arm of state government. The state agency provides tax breaks and outright cash subsidies to select corporations and developers chosen by legislators and bureaucrats. The MEDC’s website contains press releases going back to 1998, when the agency was created by a Republican governor with bipartisan votes in the House and Senate (it replaced another agency, the “Michigan Jobs Commission”). There are a lot of them — several press releases a week in most years. Newspaper readers around the state have often seen these turned into “news” stories about particular corporations getting...

Can a President seeking re-election with a stagnant economy and high unemployment really be winning the jobs argument against a man who backed hundreds of thriving businesses? Can a President who sank taxpayer dollars into green-energy failures now succeed by attacking an opponent who funded winning start-ups with his own money? Yes, President Obama's attacks on Mitt Romney and the company he founded, Bain Capital, are deceptive and hypocritical. But Team Romney is compounding the damage from this character assault by conceding too much of the Obama critique. When attacked for "outsourcing jobs," the Romney camp responds by saying that...

When big business and big government get too friendly with each other, everyone else ends up paying the bill. This new video highlights the revolving door cronyism between business, especially finance, and government. For more material on cronyism, visit Crony Chronicles.

A bill passed recently by the Michigan Legislature would repackage a failed Granholm-era corporate subsidy program called the “Centers of Energy Excellence” under a new title, “Centers of Innovation.” House bill 5477, would make changes to various programs administered by the Michigan Strategic Fund. Among the changes are allowing taxpayer dollars to be used to match “collaborative partner” or third party funds and increasing to 25 percent from 15 percent the amount of subsidy money that can go toward overhead costs. The bill also replaces the term "energy excellence" in the statute with different labels such as "innovation" or “competitive...

Lisa Madigan swept into the Illinois attorney general's office almost a decade ago as the can't-miss, up-and-coming daughter of the state's most powerful politician. Today her father, House Speaker Michael Madigan, still commands the spotlight. Ms. Madigan, who was supposed to be governor by now, shows no sign of upstaging him. By all accounts, she was deeply involved in the signature issue involving state attorneys general ...