Free Republic

If you want to determine what people believe, don’t listen to what they say. Rather, closely watch what they actually do. In recent days, the stock market has been hovering near all-time record highs and business leaders have been assuring us that good days are ahead. But meanwhile many of our most famous billionaires have been doing things that indicate that they are extremely concerned about what is coming in the future. For example, during the first two months of this year Jeff Bezos, Jamie Dimon and Mark Zuckerberg “have all sold big chunks of shares in their own companies”…...

You have heard me say it over and over again. What we are witnessing right now reminds me so much of 2008, and we all remember what happened in the fall of 2008. That doesn’t mean that this new crisis will unfold exactly the same way that the last one did. Ultimately, every economic downturn is unique. But the fact that we are seeing so many parallels between what is transpiring now and what transpired 14 years ago should deeply alarm all of us. We appear to be on the precipice of another economic crash, and all of the “solutions”...

Talk about tone deaf. CBS This Morning on Thursday attempted to report the upside to a global pandemic that is killing thousands. Correspondent Vladimir Duthiers, reporting from his home because of the virus, cheered, “Let's talk to you about Italy. Obviously that country, its people have been devastated by the coronavirus. But there is a little bit of a silver lining in some of its historic cities. This is Venice.... You can never see the waters because they're so murky from all the boats.” He continued, “Now you can see the crystal-clear waters of the Venice canals. You can see...

There is only one hope to stop the tyrannical rot of statism stealing over our country. We must challenge the Democrat-Republican monopoly of politics that foments the rot. Is this being redundant? Heard all this before? Perhaps, but our most defiant Founding Father, Samuel Adams, was very redundant in his pursuit of justice. He told his fellows repeatedly: “It does not take a majority to prevail…but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” Irate and tireless are what’s important here. We can save our country only if we patriots (who are...

We got a problem here folks, and it's going to lead to the next crash -- and sooner than you think. First, let's talk about the impact of QE on companies. The common mantra is that it makes it "easier" for firms to borrow money. The problem is that borrowing, in general, is a destructive act as you must pay back said borrowing with interest -- no matter how small. The bigger problem, however, is that long-established businesses have obligations that were all contracted with the expectation of lending other people money and earning a spread on it, such as...

United Future World Currency Program THE WORLD IN A COIN Our Aim The world in a coin. This is our vision, our hope. It is a necessity and a challenge. What seems an impossible dream becomes an inevitable historic, economic and social process. It is an event which is intertwined with the fate of human evolution. A single currency becomes the premise for an increasingly global planet. A virtual currency capable of speaking a single, comprehensible language to foster humankind's innate desire to go farther, to surpass boundaries, and move towards true principles of peace, freedom, brotherhood and understanding beyond...

Senior staffers at the Securities and Exchange Commission spent hours surfing pornographic websites on government-issued computers while they were being paid to police the financial system, an agency watchdog says. The SEC's inspector general conducted 33 probes of employees looking at explicit images in the past five years, according to a memo obtained late on Thursday by The Associated Press. The memo says 31 of those probes occurred in the 2 years since the financial system teetered and nearly crashed. It was written by SEC Inspector General David Kotz in response to a request from U.S. Senator Charles Grassley. An...

It wasn't greed that caused the mortgage mess. In large part, the mess was the product of government policies designed to increase homehownership among the poor and ethnic minorities. Mortgage brokers had to be able to sell their mortgages to someone. They could only produce what those above them in the distribution chain wanted to buy. In other words, they could only respond to demand, not create it themselves. Who wanted these dicey loans? The data shows that the principal buyers were insured banks, government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the FHA—all government agencies...

Deserts have a way of reclaiming whatever is built upon them. In the case of Dubai, the global financial implosion has sent that process into overdrive. After six years of frenzied expansion, during which the emirate's population grew at 7% annually and nearly $600 billion went into construction (the world's tallest building! the world's largest shopping mall! the biggest man-made island! an indoor ski resort!), reality has come rushing into view.

he Federal Reserve lost $5.25 billion in the first quarter on the securities it acquired with last year's bailouts of Bear Stearns and insurer American International Group Inc., according to a report issued Wednesday. The loss on the holdings, which include mortgage-backed securities, reflected a decline in their value as the recession carried over into the first three months of this year. The cumulative loss on the Bear and AIG holdings come to $16.46 billion since they were taken over last year. The Fed is hoping that if it holds onto the securities long enough, they will eventually rise in...

As Hedge Funds Go Mainstream, Risk Is Magnified By Ben White Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, August 11, 2005; D01 NEW YORK -- In 1990, there were about 600 hedge funds with $38 billion in assets. Today, there are about 8,000 with more than $1 trillion in assets. Estimates suggest that hedge fund trading can account for as much as half the daily volume on the NYSE...... Worst-Case Scenario The regulators and executives say the worst-case result of the industry's blistering growth and light regulation would be a repeat of 1998, when the near-collapse of hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management...