Free Republic

In an interview with Ezra Klein of Vox, President Obama said traditional market forces that used to redistribute income are failing and the time for government to do it instead has arrived. The interview, which ran today, was conducted January 23. Touting what he referred to as inclusive capitalism, Obama made the case for what actually sounds a lot like socialism. So part of our job is, what can government do directly through tax policy? What we’ve proposed, for example, in terms of capital gains — that would make a big difference in our capacity to give a tax break...

Until very recently, Minnesota law capped the salary for commissioners of state departments at 85 or 95 percent of the governor’s salary. A law passed in 2013 changed that cap to 133 percent, and now Gov. Mark Dayton has used that change to raise the salaries of most of his cabinet. Overall, the higher salaries will cost taxpayers an additional $802,990 per year for the 27 affected positions. Dayton’s 2015 salary is $123,912, meaning the new maximum is $164,803. None of Dayton’s commissioners are earning that maximum, even after this year’s raises. The previous highest salary earned by a commissioner...

After spending millions of dollars to help elect a Republican House and Senate, Capitol Hill sources report Las Vegas gambling mogul Sheldon Adelson received a private briefing with Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee in the second week of January. The meeting sends a strong signal that the billionaire, who is one of the most generous contributors to Republican candidates and campaigns—ever, will not retreat away from his desire to outlaw legal and regulated Internet gaming by the states. Sources familiar with Adelson's lobbying describe the meeting as both a strategy session and an update for the gambling mogul....

Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene, who made his fortune by betting against homeowners in the mortgage and credit crisis, has been mouthing off about the lifestyle that the rest of us enjoy. He thinks it’s too much — even though he owns America’s most expensive single-family house! The former U.S. Senate wannabe took advantage of his presence at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland to tell a worldwide audience via Bloomberg News that we, the common people, need to have fewer things. ... Greene is also known in these parts for making contractors who work on his $36 million-,...

On Tuesday night, Senator Ted Cruz appeared on Fox News to respond to the State of the Union address — and talked about how the US economy was only working for the "top 1 percent," who he said have gotten "fat and happy" under Obama's administration.(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Cruz's rhetorical move is unusual for a prominent Republican, particularly a presidential contender. This emphasis on the "the 1 percent" has long been condemned by many in the party as class warfare. For instance, Sen. Marco Rubio said in 2012 that "convincing one group that their life isn't doing better because another is doing too...

The US Postal Service plans to sell 56 buildings — so it can lease space more expensively — and the real estate company of the California senator’s husband, Richard Blum, is set to pocket about $1 billion in commissions. Blum’s company, CBRE, was selected in March 2011 as the sole real estate agent on sales expected to fetch $19 billion.

Gas prices are plunging across the country, a product of surging U.S. energy production that has put the country in the same company as Saudi Arabia and Russia. However, in a strange twist of fate, that same dynamic is bringing to the fore a topic once thought to be anathema, especially in a Republican-dominated Congress: higher gas taxes. The drop in fuel prices has occurred for a record 102 consecutive days, according to the AAA, putting more than $14 billion of disposable income in consumers' pockets. However, the federal gas tax has been lodged at 18.4 cents for more than...

While Miami-Dade residents were strike recently with new, rare fee hikes on vital east-west arteries, Gov. Rick Scott was rewarding his farming regressive supporters with $9 million to build and urge their toll-free roads. So while down south we compensate a way, a folks adult north who minister reduction to state revenues get a giveaway ride. Poor timing? Irony? A giggle to go with a slap to a pockets of Miami-Dade’s toll-payers? The governor’s proclamation from Tallahassee was all those things — and came by approach of press releases finished with difference of regard from a prolonged register of who’s...

After a week of passionate debate and late night votes, the Senate passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill this Saturday that will keep the entire federal government, except the Department of Homeland Security, funded through September 2015. Here are three lessons conservatives should take away from the ordeal: 1.Corporatism is King - Money talks and activists walk. That is the sad lesson from a $1.1 trillion spending bill that included huge payoffs to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Citibank, and corporations that use taxpayer subsidized loans to invest overseas. Meanwhile, House leaders did nothing to stop President Obama's executive amnesty other than...

Mark Levin ripped Republicans a new one tonight as he opened his show tonight, saying that he is one inch away from leaving the Republican Party. He starts in hard, asking Republicans if they think this is a joke, if they think they can just lie to Republicans and conservatives with impunity about defunding Obamacare and fighting Obama’s illegal amnesty. He points out that Republicans go on and on about an imperial president and his illegal amnesty and they can’t even vote on a point of order challenging Obama. Levin says the Constitution is in tatters and that the Republican...

As they're sorting through requests for more funding from programs and agencies next legislative session, state lawmakers are likely to be asked to help out a huge New York City-based nonprofit: the National Football League. 2015 is the year when any additional tax exemptions for the league related to the 2018 Super Bowl would likely be passed, and stadium officials have confirmed they will be making requests. The question of what exactly Minnesota taxpayers would be giving the NFL as part of hosting the game has been in limbo since Minneapolis' bid was accepted by league owners in May. As...

We shall see. Gruber has had plenty of help. The President, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Kathleen Sebelius are more to blame for Obamacare’s troubles than Mr. Gruber even if he is the program’s “architect.”Jonathan Gruber in his now famous panel discussion at Penn simply told the truth as he saw it. A key reason, the key reason, Obamacare limped its way across the finish line was because of the deception employed by its champions. The ignorance of the American people, Gruber explained, was to be manipulated for their own good, and it was. And truly, from start to finish...

Given that our Commander in Chief is a surprisingly decent firearm salesman, it’s a little odd that one of America’s most prolific gun manufacturers might soon be facing an agonizing financial death. But, that’s exactly where Colt is headed if things don’t change drastically. It takes a very specialized form of failure for a gun company to miss out on the Obama-inspired run on guns, the “assault weapon” craze of the 2000’s, and the proliferation of Concealed Carry in the 1990’s, but that’s exactly what happened. And, worse, this isn’t Colt’s first foray into fiscal failure. In fact, this...

What’s the easiest way to avoid getting sued by the Obama Administration? Well… If you come up with an answer, let the rest of us know. A company that has supported the President and his Affordable Care Act, is currently being sued by Obama for following the law. (Wait… “Affordable” Care Act? Can we sue Democrats for false advertising yet?)Welcome to Obama’s America. Where you can literally get sued for trying to comply with the law. (Boy… That’ll teach you.)Honeywell International Inc., and two smaller firms, are being sued for taking advantage of a specific provision in the ACA that...

Monthly job reports on payroll employment and the unemployment rate hide the massive job creation and job loss that occurs in the economy. This turnover challenges the state’s ability to influence job creation by offering tax money to select businesses to locate their business in Michigan. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Michigan’s private sector created 193,208 jobs in the first quarter of 2014 and lost 179,299 jobs in the same period. The job creation was caused by 40,862 existing businesses adding to their payroll plus the opening of 11,150 new business establishments. The losses were caused by 41,565...

After already receiving a controversial $1.6 billion construction loan from U.S. taxpayers, the wealthy investors of a California solar power plant now want a $539 million federal grant to pay off their federal loan. "This is an attempt by very large cash generating companies that have billions on their balance sheet to get a federal bailout, i.e. a bailout from us - the taxpayer for their pet project," said Reason Foundation VP of Research Julian Morris. "It's actually rather obscene." The Ivanpah solar electric generating plant is owned by Google and renewable energy giant NRG, which are responsible for paying...

<p>I feel like I have to say this every time a story like this comes out of California, and stories like these come out of California all the time.</p> <p>California’s health insurance exchange has awarded $184 million in contracts without the competitive bidding and oversight that is standard practice across state government, including deals that sent millions of dollars to a firm whose employees have long-standing ties to the agency’s executive director.</p>

Crony Christianity challenges the separation of Church and State. Crony Christianity is the collaborative arrangement between government and Christian faith-based organizations whereby government funds Christian organizations to deliver goods and services that advance the political agenda of the government. Any government. The crisis surrounding the flood of unaccompanied alien children into the U.S. has promoted crony Christianity. It is a variation of the spider’s web of similar arrangements, spun between businesses and government, that we call crony capitalism. The Players The five players in crony Christianity are: (1) the bureaucrats who run ecclesiastically-related organizations; (2) the church laity aligned with...

A Dallas hospital's bizarre bungle of the first U.S. case of Ebola leaves me wondering: Is someone covering up for a crony billionaire Obama donor and her controversy-plagued, taxpayer-subsidized electronic medical records company? Last week, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital revealed in a statement that a procedural flaw in its online health records system led to potentially deadly miscommunication between nurses and doctors. The facility sent Ebola victim Thomas Duncan home despite showing signs of the disease -- only to admit him with worse symptoms three days later. Hospital officials, who came forward "in the interest of transparency," initially cited workflow...

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...