Free Republic

“Wall Street is back,” says the New York Times, and the economic cost is high. The excessive financialization of the US economy reduces the GDP by 2% every year, according to a new study by International Monetary Fund. That’s a massive drag on the economy–some $320 billion per year. Wall Street has thus become, not just a moral problem with rampant illegality and outlandish compensation of executives and traders: Wall Street is a macro-economic problem of the first order.

Remember the protests (and riots) in Ferguson last summer? It looks like at least some of the protestors were told they would be paid to show up and now they're upset the checks haven't arrived yet. Weaselzippers has the full story and the screen shots showing "protestors" using the Twitter hashtag #cutthecheck in response to non-payment. Based on tweets, Organize Missouri is responsible for issuing payments. On May 14, protesters, upset with not being paid their promised checks for protesting, protested outside MORE, Missourians Organizing For Reform and Empowerment, an ACORN organization which had received funding through George Soros to...

I would like to thank Turd Burgelstein for pointing out that all the whiners offended by micro-aggressions, BMI’s, white privilege and harsh stares are really just this year’s crop of POWS – People of Occupy Wall Street. I will do an update on the whiners and their professorial enablers when time permits, butt in the meantime, I thought it might be fun to repost this golden oldie: it was my most popular post ever and was picked up by the Daily Mail and linked by the Instapundit. I do find it a bit odd however that after 4 years...

4:44 minute video begins with scenes of the 4 month union siege on the Wisconsin state capitol. Walker was "at one time the most divisive politician in America." Occupy Wall Street was born in Wisconsin. "All hell broke lose" inside the Capital when he signed the bill. "He was compared to Hitler, Osama bin Laden - dead man walking." Then the interview begins: One point of note: Walker believes that the next president and vice president need to be current or former governors - "those who have done successful things in their states, who've taken on big reforms and are...

“Investigators recovered sufficient evidence to eliminate all known potential accidental causes and determine the fire was intentionally set,” the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a written statement in December. The massive fire caused between $25 million to $30 million in damage. Authorities have released video of two people they are calling “potential witnesses.” “We know the case and we know the accelerant used. Obviously, I can’t go into those details but it’s a very active investigation. We’re running down some promising leads. We asking the public for their assistance,” ATF Special Agent Carlos Canino said.

During Wednesday night's presidential debate, Newt Gingrich could barely restrain his amusement as co-moderator Maria Bartiromo defended the liberal media's reporting of the economy. Bartiromo took umbrage after Gingrich's asserted, "What is amazing to me is the inability of much of our academic world and much of our news media and most of the people on Occupy Wall Street to have a clue about history." The CNBC journalist responded by huffing, "I'm sorry, but what is the media reporting inaccurately about the economy?" An incredulous Gingrich mocked, "I love humor disguised as a question. That's terrific." [ See video below....

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” - Aldous Huxley I like quotes. Quotes are wisdom for those with short attention spans. They are disregarded by many as irrelevant platitudes or obsolete; however, they are knowledge, often hard-earned and considered by their authors to be important enough to be passed on. I’ve chosen the above quote for today, not only because it is always relevant, but because we bear witness to a time where the political left of this country is trying...

NYC Ferguson protesters arrested en route to Thanksgiving Day Parade By Georgett Roberts, Natalie Musumeci, Kenneth Garger and Josh Saul Don’t mess with Snoopy! A mass of angry anarchists marched on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Midtown Thursday, pushing back at police and barricades as they made their way toward the procession. Emboldened days after cops left them free to clog major Manhattan roadways, the throng pushed against police keeping them from the parade route a half-block away along Sixth Avenue. Seven were arrested as they knocked down metal barricades. Glass rained on the ruckus as a window was...

Have you ever wondered what happened to all the POWIES, the People of Occupy Wall Street? You know, all those pathetically sad people who signed on to the Progs’ last populist class warfare movement?It was the story of the year in 2011, and you may recall it was also the story that gave MOTUS her international creds. My post, The People of OWS: like the people of Wal-Mart, only not as smart, was Instalanched and picked up by the Daily Mail Online and read ‘round the world: I’ve been kind of a big deal on the Internet ever since. A...

After a police-assault conviction made her a rallying point for activists, an Occupy Wall Street protester was cleared Friday of charges stemming from another confrontation with police. Cecily McMillan was acquitted Friday of obstructing government administration, after her second trial this year. […] In the latest case, prosecutors said McMillan interfered with officers who’d stopped two accused fare-beaters in a Manhattan subway station in December 2013. McMillan claimed to be a lawyer, urged the two not to cooperate with police, hectored the officers and got in the way while shooting video when the officers took the two to a transit...

Occupy Oakland has finally found their candidate, who arguably has the same intelligence as them: a dog. Called "Einstein," Occupy Oakland released a pun-laden announcement in February declaring the dog's intent to run for office. As the group of ultra-liberals explained, "Einstein has thrown his collar in the ring, his leash in the pond, and his id chip in the circular file. Yes, Occupy Oakland’s unofficial official non-human with personhood status has announced, on the steps of City Hall, that he will be a candidate in Oakland’s mayoral race for 2014... ANOTHER OAKLAND IS POSSIBLE!" Eight months since then, the...

Occupy Wall Street, which surprisingly still has at least one supporter, is declaring that the United States is run by white supremacists, despite the fact that the President is an African American. In an article published yesterday, "OWS" declares that America has suffered through a "Summer of White Supremacy." Referencing Ferguson, Detroit, and "white cops," the article explains that throughout the United States, white people are oppressing black people as much as they can. Not only is it the police, but racist elected officials in the government are doing the same... The same anger toward whites and Republicans is seen...

".......Ms. Yellen broke little new ground in her speech. She reiterated the Fed’s basic guidance after its July meeting that holding short-term interest rates near zero remains necessary and useful to increase employment. She said the gap between current conditions and a return to full health was still “significant.”..... .......... A small group of demonstrators made the trek to the remote resort hotel in the middle of Grand Teton National Park to urge Fed officials to continue the stimulus campaign. They formed a receiving line for policy makers in the lobby outside the conference, dressed in green T-shirts emblazoned: “What...

Suburban Albany is not known for its rip-roaring weekend scene, but this most recent Saturday night, it was the momentary center of the political universe, as an underfunded political party was using its quadrennial convention to try to force America’s most powerful and best-financed governor to submit to its demands. Though the Working Families Party’s conventions are typically low-key affairs, this one had drawn 800 activists and operatives and most of the New York press corps—all to see if the party would endorse conservative Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo or run a third-party candidate against him. In the end, when the...

We're better than those damned Russians and their Putin; we have democracy! Well, maybe not. Quote: Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism. Lots of big words in that paragraph. Let's distill it down -- the argument presented is that America is really no different than...

It is the most important question being asked of dozens of New Yorkers lined up as potential jurors for the trial of Cecily McMillan, an Occupy Wall Street activist accused of assaulting a police officer: what do you think of her protest movement? Unfortunately for those keen on the swift procession of justice, a series of Manhattan residents who presented themselves at the criminal courthouse this week declared that they strongly disagreed with it – and could not promise to be impartial about one of its members. “I’m involved in Wall Street things. I’m on the Wall Street side, not...

Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street -- a rollicking three-hour black comedy based on the true story of debaucherous con man Jordan Belfort -- has become one of the most controversial films in the director's 50 year career. The filmmaker, who has nothing left to prove after directing 23 narrative features including such classics as Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas, sees Belfort has part of a long tradition of the American confidence man who "takes your trust, takes your confidence and betrays you." While critics and moviegoers argue over whether Scorsese is celebrating Belfort or exposing...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, dear Kings of Hollywood, but you have been conned. Let me introduce myself. My name is Christina McDowell, formerly Christina Prousalis. I am the daughter of Tom Prousalis, a man the Washington Post described as "just some guy on trial for penny-stock fraud." (I had to change my name after my father stole my identity and then threatened to steal it again, but I'll get to that part later.) I was eighteen and a freshman in college when my father and his attorneys forced me to attend his trial at New...

My husband and I and 2 friends walked out of "Wolf of Wall Stret", the new DiCaprio flic, about 10 minutes into the movie. We absolutely could not stand the constant barrage of obscene language and visuals. I have never seen anything so obnoxious in my life and refused to ruin Christmas Day with such garbage. We complained at the box office and got our money back. Now, I'm about ready to write to the movie theatre and newspaper to warn others about this offensive movie. The interesting thing is that I'd seen a trailer for this movie last week,...

Occupy Wall Street buys $15 million of Americans' medical debt Tue, Nov 12 2013By Elizabeth Dilts(Reuters) - An Occupy Wall Street spin-off group has bought up $14.7 million worth of Americans' personal medical debt and forgiven it over the last year as part of its Rolling Jubilee project, the group announced Monday.The Rolling Jubilee project, organized by Occupy Wall Street's Strike Debt group, has so far spent $400,000 to buy the debt, in the process relieving 2,693 people of the money they owed for medical services Occupy thinks should be free."Think of it as a bailout of the 99 percent...