Free Republic

Ferguson has allowed its focus on revenue generation to fundamentally compromise the role of Ferguson’s municipal court. The municipal court does not act as a neutral arbiter of the law or a check on unlawful police conduct. … Our investigation has found overwhelming evidence of minor municipal code violations resulting in multiple arrests, jail time, and payments that exceed the cost of the original ticket many times over. One woman, discussed above, received two parking tickets for a single violation in 2007 that then totaled $151 plus fees. Over seven years later, she still owed Ferguson $541—after already paying $550...

The first civil war was truly about state’s rights. The next one will be also! The president is not a stupid man. He may be cunning, devious, easily given to retribution, a monstrous ideologue, an Islamic terrorist denier, and a socialist at heart. But he is not stupid. On the other hand he is not that smart. His actions betray his intellect. What he does with executive orders and lawless edicts and vetoes shows that he is more of an accomplice than a leader. In his measured and reluctant “fight” against ISIS, Obama shows his deference to Islam. By setting...

Unless Congress takes action, the U.S. will hit its debt limit on Mar. 16, but would begin taking "extraordinary measures" to finance the government on a temporary basis, according to the U.S. Treasury. In a Friday morning letter to House Speaker John Boehner and other House and Senate leaders, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that his office will be forced to suspend the issuance of State and Local Government Series securities on Mar. 13 unless the debt limit is decreased. "Accordingly, I respectfully ask Congress to raise the debt limit as soon as possible," Lew wrote in his letter. The...

03/05/2015 Simon BlackTyler Durden It’s entirely possible that we may see interstellar space travel in our lifetime. And what a dream that would be. But in the meantime, for anyone that’s losing patience with space technology, I would recommend you visit Japan. Because for anybody that has been here, this place is as close as it gets to being on another planet.Japan is a land of irony and dichotomy. It is one of the most conservative cultures in the world, while simultaneously being one of the most perverted. Business culture here is yet another thing that seems totally alien. Creativity...

New numbers show that Northstar Commuter Rail Line ridership is down and, after five years of operation, an important goal has not yet been met. Metro Transit numbers show ridership in 2014 was down 8 percent for weekday rides. In 2008, Metro Transit had a goal of removing 5,000 cars from the road by encouraging commuting on Northstar. However, only about 2,500 commuters ride during the week, which is well below the goal set seven years ago. Taxpayers paid $315 million to build the Northstar system. Approximately $15 million each of the five years it's been running for operations and...

In a valedictory speech at the weekend of characteristically Latin American duration – a mind-numbing three hours – the Argentine president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, claimed that her country was the only one in the world to have reduced its national debt over recent years. I doubt she is right about being alone in this “achievement” – there must surely be others - but even if she is, I’m not sure that reduction in the national debt via the mechanism of default is anything to boast of. Only Kirchner could think this a matter of national pride. Nonetheless, where Argentina...

The debt-plagued city of Chicago took another financial blow late Thursday when Moody's Investors Service downgraded the city's debt rating, citing its overwhelming pension burden. Even if recent state pension changes survive a court challenge, the ratings statement said, "we expect Chicago's unfunded pension liabilities — and the costs of servicing those liabilities — to continue to grow, placing significant strain on the city's financial operations." The drop, to a rating of Baa2, could drive up borrowing costs for the city and cause problems with some of Chicago's current interest-rate swap contracts.

How are the United States' historic budget deficits, money-printing and depressed economy any different from the country's that have experienced hyper-inflation? The three-part answer is:(1) we don't have any problems selling our debt(2) we aren't actually printing money; and (3) the United States is a highly productive economy that is nothing like bombed-out Budapest.

In 2008, the nation entered into a financial crisis widely believed to have been caused by excesses in the residential mortgage industry. By 2010, the nation thought it had put in place a series of measures that not only would resolve the crisis but would insure that it never happened again. Yet, here we are in 2015 looking at another potential mortgage crisis. Only this time it is different. In 2008, funds flowed in waves into the mortgage industry. In 2015, it appears the funds are drying up. The solutions to the problem in 2010 and thereafter included: Suing and...

Most Americans spend their lives working for others, paying off debts to others and performing tasks that others tell them that they “must” do. These days, we don’t like to think of ourselves as “servants” or “slaves”, but that is what the vast majority of us are. It is just that the mechanisms of our enslavement have become much more sophisticated over time. It has been said that the borrower is the servant of the lender, and most of us start going into debt very early into our adult years. In fact, those that go to college to “get an...

If anyone has stopped to ask just why global central banks are in such a rush to create inflation (but only controlled inflation, not runaway hyperinflation... of course when they fail with the "controlled" part the money paradrop is only a matter of time) over the past 5 years, and have printed over $12 trillion in credit-money since Lehman, the bulk of which has ended up in the stock market, and which for the first time ever are about to monetize all global sovereign debt issuance in 2015, the answer is simple, and can be seen on the chart below....

We think we’ve found the closest thing you will ever see to a scholarly defense of George W. Bush. “Let me begin by acknowledging that George W. Bush is unlikely to be remembered as a great president,” Stephen F. Knott of the Naval War College wrote in an article which appeared in Citizens and Statesmen last year. “Bush’s management of the war in Iraq and of the aftermath of Hurricane Kartrina, his share of responsibility for the collapse of the economy in 2008, his contribution to the national debt, his excessive loyalty to incompetent subordinates (George Tenet) or to disloyal...

Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has spelled out the negotiating strategy of the Syriza government with crystal clarity. “Exit from the euro does not even enter into our plans, quite simply because the euro is fragile. It is like a house of cards. If you pull away the Greek card, they all come down,” he said. “Do we really want Europe to break apart? Anybody who is tempted to think it possible to amputate Greece strategically from Europe should be careful. It is very dangerous. Who would be hit after us? Portugal? What would happen to Italy when it discovers...

A Greek exit from the euro would see the euro collapse like a house of cards, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis warned in comments that triggered a spat with Italy. "Greece's exit from the euro is not something that is part of our plans, simply because we believe it is like building a house of cards. If you take out the Greek card, the others will collapse," Varoufakis said in an interview with Italian public broadcaster RAI that was aired on Sunday. Varoufakis also incurred the wrath of his Italian counterpart Pier Carlo Padoan by comparing Italy's problem with its large...

Debt is about more than just money. It's about the end of expectations and the death of hope In a speech at the Department of Homeland Security, Obama declared that he wants to “replace mindless austerity with smart investments that strengthen America”. Those “smart” investments scattered across a gargantuan $4 trillion budget include a $500 million Green Climate Fund for the Third World and $105 million to help the government build better websites. Obama is fond of putting the word “smart” in front of stupid ideas to make them seem less stupid. The $4 trillion budget is actually as stupid...

It’s hard not to notice one of the prevailing narratives coming out of the Occupy Wall Street protests: the weight of student debt. As one scholar summed up the grievances at the “We are the 99 percent” blog through a computer-scripted textual analysis: “Free us from the bondage of our debts and give us a basic ability to survive.” The current amount of borrowing and student debt has prompted a national conversation over whether these burdened students brought their misfortunes among themselves through poor decision-making or whether they are victims of a system that has failed to deliver on the...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama wants Americans to foot the bill for the first $4 trillion budget in U.S. history, which will drive our country ever more deeply into debt. This isn't all that's at stake in the fiscal 2016 budget he sent Congress on Monday. It calls for major new taxes on our fragile economy that will hurt America's businesses, stunt wage growth and further weaken job creation. Obama made it crystal clear in his first year in office that raising federal spending was at the core of his presidency. And he's kept that promise. In 2009, his first year...

In a speech at the Department of Homeland Security, Obama declared that he wants to “replace mindless austerity with smart investments that strengthen America”. Those “smart” investments scattered across a gargantuan $4 trillion budget include a $500 million Green Climate Fund for the Third World and $105 million to help the government build better websites. Obama is fond of putting the word “smart” in front of stupid ideas to make them seem less stupid. The $4 trillion budget is actually as stupid as the new left-wing Greek government elected on a platform of not paying its debts. This new government...

The U.S. has gotten something of a free ride over the last 7 years as interest rates have hovered near zero. This has meant that the cost of servicing the debt – paying off some bonds and rolling others over – has been relatively low. This coming fiscal year, it's expected that the government will spend around $200 billion to keep the U.S. afloat. But the free ride is about to end. The Federal Reserve announced an end to their bond-buying program known as quantitative easing, and the resulting rise in interest rates will mean rising costs to service the...

Russian debt insurance costs and yield spreads on sovereign dollar bonds are near six-year highs, surpassing those of countries such as Pakistan whose credit ratings are several notches lower. Analysts said on Monday that last week's shock interest rate cut had worsened the situation by weakening the rouble, making debt repayment costlier for many companies and raising inflationary pressures. Russia is rated Baa3 by Moody's and BBB- by Fitch, their lowest investment-grade ratings, while Standard & Poor's cut its rating to a "junk'' grade BB+ last week.