Free Republic

THREE YEARS AGO, IN the 2002 election cycle, the economy was sluggish, struggling to emerge from the recession and the dislocations of 9/11. According to most polls, President Bush received solid ratings on his handling of the economy. Today, GDP growth has firmed at 4 percent a year, and several million new jobs have been created since the economy bottomed in the first Bush term. The inflation rate remains low, as have long-term interest rates, including home mortgage rates. President Bush has unfavorable ratings on his handling of the economy, and the trend of recent polls has been down. Whatever...

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar rose against the U.S. currency on Friday, ending a run of six losing sessions as the greenback retreated on a weak U.S. consumer confidence report and the loonie got a boost from firmer Canadian wholesale trade data. Canadian bond prices were mixed, as short-term debt prices benefited from falling stock markets, while longer-term bonds lost ground. The Canadian currency finished at C$1.2212 to the U.S. dollar, or 81.89 U.S. cents, up from C$1.2331 to the U.S. dollar, or 81.10 U.S. cents, at Thursday's session close. "It's a broader reflection of the U.S. dollar," said...

NEW YORK - Doers and doings in business, entertainment and technology: Heed the Sage of Omaha. Warren Buffett, whose investment acumen seems unerring, had a caveat for America: Barring "a major change" in policies, the trade deficit will further undermine the U.S. dollar. The billionaire spoke in a Wednesday interview with CNBC, the cable TV news channel owned by General Electric (nyse: GE - news - people ). Without shifting current trade policy, "I don't see how the dollar avoids going down," he mused, warning of inflation risks posed by an anemic Yankee currency. The prairie-born genius also confessed he's...

As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger begins to prepare his next budget, fiscal aides are acknowledging that hundreds of millions in revenues he promised as part of his current spending plan are unlikely to materialize. Five months into the fiscal year, the governor's finance office said it now expects the state will not receive any of the $450 million he sought from punitive damage awards. In addition, only a fraction of expected money from at least two other key pieces of his $105 billion 2004-05 budget has come in the door. California has collected smaller-than-expected amounts from gaming agreements with tribes and...

8 September 2004 BRUSSELS - By the year 3000, Brussels will be a coastal capital and Antwerp will have disappeared into the sea, warned a report out on Wednesday. The study into the effects Belgium could suffer from global warming was carried out by the Catholic University of Leuven (UCL) and was commissioned by the environmental group Greenpeace. A team of 20 experts, headed by climatology professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, warned Belgium would not escape the green house effect. The researchers predicted that the country will see milder winters in the years to come, but that summers would become more...

Kerry, Kerry, quite contrary, How do your coffers grow? With 527s and 501s, And ugly little Soros's dough. For the junior senator from Massachusetts, there's no escaping the fact that August was one long, hot month. (Hum. Maybe that's why he spent so much of it windsurfing.) And the rest of the season could shape up to be even more inclement for John F. Kerry. My clever jingle notwithstanding, the candidate has good reason to be contrary: No matter how rapidly his coffers have grown, his political fortunes are now shrinking at an alarming rate. If this downward trend continues,...

Man Falls To Death From Helicopter Over Grand Canyon POSTED: 9:43 am EDT June 11, 2004 PHOENIX -- A helicopter tour company said a man took off his seat belt, opened a door and intentionally fell to his death during a sightseeing flight over the Grand Canyon National Park Thursday. Authorities say the investigation of the man's death continues. They've offered few details on what led up to his exit from the helicopter about 90 miles northwest of Flagstaff, Ariz. The man fell about 4,000 feet. Officials don't know if the man had any connection to the others on board...

Eight American troops died in Baghdad, as fighting erupted between Coalition troops and followers of Muqtada al-Sadr. Hearing the news, Senator Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.) declared Iraq to be "George Bush's Vietnam." Evening-news anchors question whether this weekend's violence marked the start of a Shii revolt. Quite the contrary. Far from rebelling, the majority of Shia are breathing sighs of relief. Iraqis consider action to rein in Muqtada al-Sadr long overdue. An Iraqi judge issued a warrant for Muqtada's arrest last summer, charging him with instigating the April 10, 2003, murder of respected cleric Majid al-Khoie, hacked to death in...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Death rates continue to drop for the top three cancer killers in men -- lung, colon and prostate -- and for breast and colon cancer in women, according to the latest American Cancer Society statistics, published on Wednesday. But more U.S. women are dying from lung cancer, the annual report shows. And more people are dying of obesity-related cancers such as some types of liver and esophageal cancer. The report is posted on the Internet at http://www.cancer.org/statistics. It estimates that 1.368 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in 2004, and 563,700 will die of it. This...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed rate mortgages plunged in the latest week after key Federal Reserve officials said inflation would not be a major factor for the economy in the near term, Freddie Mac said on Thursday. Freddie Mac, the No. 2 U.S. home mortgage financier, said interest rates on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the most popular U.S. home loan, dropped to an average of 5.83 percent in the week ending Nov. 21 from 6.03 percent the previous week. Fifteen-year mortgage rates also fell to an average of 5.17 percent from 5.39 percent last week, while...

Iraq 'has three weeks to avoid falling into chaos' By Patrick Cockburn 16 June 2003 Iraq needs a transitional administration within three weeks if it is to avoid a descent into chaos, the most prominent Iraqi leader acceptable to all sides told The Independent last night. Adnan Pachachi, a highly regarded former Iraqi foreign minister who is expected to play a big role in a transitional Iraqi administration, criticised the heavy-handed US sweeps that have cost more than 100 Iraqi lives, calling them "an overreaction''. He said the Americans felt "very vulnerable and afraid''. Mr Pachachi, 80, may be the...

Buyers might find bargains among the more than 9,000 homes for sale in Central Texas, A record number of houses were on the market in Central Texas in March as sellers trying to catch an ebbing home market added nearly 3,400 houses to a growing inventory. A total of 9,219 houses were for sale, up 34 percent from a year ago. "I think we are beginning to see the effects of the cooling of the booming housing market we have seen over the past few years," said Jack Harris, a research economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryApril 12, 2003 President's Radio Address      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Over the last several days, the world has watched as the regime of Saddam Hussein began passing into history. We will always remember the first images of a nation released from decades of tyranny and fear. The conflict continues in Iraq, and our military may still face hard fighting. Yet the statues of the dictator and all the works of his terror regime are falling away. From the beginning and to this very hour, members of the American and coalition forces have conducted...

When Bear Poth put his Rollingwood home on the market in October 2001, he expected to have no trouble finding a buyer willing to pay $419,000 for the house that has red oak floors, big windows and a canopy of live oak and pecan trees shading the pool. After 15 months and six price reductions, the price was $336,800. But still no takers. Poth's experience is extreme but not atypical in Central Texas, where sellers have had to lower their expectations to match a cooling market. Last year, the median sales price grew by 3 percent compared with 2001, to...