Free Republic

LONDON - The amount of debt owed by the world’s governments will jump to a record $53 trillion by the end of the year, S&P Global estimated on Thursday, with $8.1 trillion set to borrowed this year alone. About 70%, or $5.8 trillion, of sovereigns’ gross borrowing will be to refinance maturing long-term debt, though the expected $2.3 trillion of new borrowing will still be worth at least 2.6% of global GDP. S&P said the increase reflected the higher borrowing needs of the largest countries. The U.S. at $3 trillion and Japan at $1.75 trillion will remain by far the...

CHARLOTTE, N.C...... ....Major donors will experience a very different convention than rank-and-file delegates who will fill the arena on Tuesday and Wednesday night and the Bank of America stadium on Thursday. Besides getting credentials to the sessions they also have access to the best hotels and VIP finance lounges — and finance staff who will provide concierge-type services for them. .....The best VIP perks go to those who donated at least $75,800 to the joint Obama campaign/Democratic National Committee fund-raising committee with more perks going to donors who have a track record of giving at least $122,400 from Feb., 2009...

President Obama has shelled out more in federal spending than the five presidents that came before him. A new chart by the Comeback America Initiative (CAI), a non-partisan group dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility by policymakers, shows federal spending by president as a percentage of GDP, and it doesn't reflect well on Obama. "There has been a dramatic increase in spending under the Obama administration," David Walker, Founder and CEO of CAI, told Whispers. "Most of it is attributable to year one of his presidency and the stimulus... but President Obama has continued to take spending to a new level."Federal...

In trying to clarify recent comments from Rick Santorum about President Obama's "phony theology," the candidate's new national press secretary made a gaffe of her own, saying Obama had pursued "radical Islamic policies" . Alice Stewart, who had worked for Michele Bachmann's presidential campaign before signing on with Santorum earlier this month, made the slip during an appearance this afternoon on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports." The segment focused on the former Pennsylvania senator's line of attack on Obama for his environmental policies, which were guided, he said in Ohio this weekend, by "some phony ideal. Some phony theology." "As he...

An antitax advocacy group zinged Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s tax plan, giving him a grade of “D+” grade and the dubious honor of proposing what “may be the worst idea of any of the Republican candidates.” ”The good news is Santorum has gotten more specific about his tax plan since last month when we gave him a D+,” economist William McBride wrote on Thursday. “The bad news is… he’s gotten more specific.” Mr. McBride said the biggest problem with Mr. Santorum’s proposal is the sharply different corporate tax rates he would establish. Mr. Santorum would halve the corporate tax...

Rick Santorum is touting his promise to eliminate corporate taxes on manufacturers...[that's] coming under scrutiny from conservatives who are decrying it as thoroughly unconservative. ...[Santorum] added: “We need to have a manufacturing base in this economy. Why? Because of our national security.” ...advocates for other sectors of the economy quietly gripe that they’d be effectively underwriting manufacturing...by paying a higher tax rate... “Giving a preferential rate is picking winners and losers through the tax code,” said Curtis Dubay, a tax policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation... “This is not free-market economics, this is trying to tilt the market toward manufacturing,...

AMES, Iowa (AP) -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is bristling at suggestions that his presidential campaign has been hurt by a number of resignations by his staff. In a Republican presidential debate in Iowa, Gingrich scolded Fox News Channel anchor Chris Wallace for asking a "gotcha question."

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama sought to distance himself Saturday from the bad news of the nation's first-ever credit-rating downgrade, but lawmakers and presidential candidates showed no such reticence—trading salvos over who's at fault and why. The president, spending the weekend at Camp David, left it to press secretary Jay Carney to say it's clear Washington "must do better" in tackling soaring deficits and other economic woes. A statement from Carney said talks that produced Tuesday's $2 trillion compromise on raising the U.S. borrowing limit had been too drawn-out and "divisive." But the statement didn't directly address Friday's move...

President Obama praised the sacrifice of 31 U.S. troops who died early Saturday morning in helicopter crash in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. The Taliban has claimed it shot down the aircraft with a rocket-propelled grenade. Seven Afghan soldiers on board the helicopter also died. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the Americans who were lost earlier today in Afghanistan,” Obama said in a statement. “Their deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families, including all who have served in Afghanistan.” Obama said...

U.S. AAA credit rating DOWNGRADED for first time in history after Obama's debt deal Unprecedented move will send shockwaves globally S&P cuts long-term credit rating from AAA to AA+ Borrowing costs for consumers and government to rise Comes after Obama signed bill to reduce fiscal deficit By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 1:08 PM on 6th August 2011 The U.S. has lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's in an unprecedented reversal of fortune for the world's largest economy. S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA+ on concerns about the government's...

Kris Alingod - AHN News Writer Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Speaking during his weekly radio address on Saturday, President George W. Bush thanked lawmakers for passing a landmark AIDs bill and reiterated his administration's broader goal of fighting extremism around the world by combating hunger and disease. The Senate passed by a vote of 80-16 a $48 billion measure called President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) last week to fight AIDS worldwide. The House passed its version of the bill in April. Bush said the legislation is "the largest international health initiative dedicated to fighting a single disease in...

WASHINGTON -- The new peach-hued U.S. $20 bill will be introduced at U.S. banks and businesses Oct. 9, officials plan to announce today, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported. The Federal Reserve (news - web sites) and Treasury will flood the U.S. and overseas outlets with up to 900 million of the new notes next month, issuing only the new $20 through the end of October and withholding previously circulated $20s until November. The idea is to get consumers, businesses and money handlers accustomed to the pretty new note. Officials say adaptation of machinery, training of retail employees and other preparations...