Free Republic

When this story broke today that John Hynansky received a taxpayer funded $20 MILLION loan to build two luxury car dealerships and expand others in the Ukraine, Conservatives decried it and Media Matters bashed Conservatives. Media Matters says the loan by Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is not taxpayer funded. The truth is, it all depends on what the meaning of "self-funded" is. Photo: John Hynansky Hynansky is a close friend and contributor to Joe Biden's political adventurers as well as a contributor to Barack Obama, so a $20 MILLION loan with US taxpayer funding to be sent overseas, made a...

The Washington Free Beacon reported: A solar energy company owned by a Biden megadonor received a $500 million government loan to build a manufacturing facility in India, the Biden administration announced this week, raising questions about whether the company’s political clout played any role in the financing decision. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation granted the loan to First Solar, which is owned by billionaire Walmart heir Lukas Walton, to build a solar module plant in India. Walton contributed over $300,000 to President Joe Biden’s campaign last year, and over $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee, according to campaign finance...

President Donald Trump today released his “America First” budget blueprint which calls for slashing non-defense-related discretionary spending by $54 billion and completely eliminating funding for many independent agencies and federal programs. Among those that will be completely defunded are the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. “Our Budget Blueprint insists on $54 billion in reductions to non-Defense programs,” Trump said in the introduction to his budget blueprint. “We are going to do more with less, and make the government lean and accountable to the...

A U.S. government agency loaned $85 million to a developer to construct a hotel (shown) and an apartment complex in Afghanistan, and today it has little to show for its investment except “abandoned empty shells,” according to Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko. In a November 14 letter to Elizabeth Littlefield, president and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Sopko said his investigation “indicates troubling management practices and lax oversight by OPIC,” which took the word of the developer that the projects were proceeding as planned rather than visit the sites regularly to monitor progress....

The latest batch of publicly-released State Department emails provide more evidence that a $10 million loan from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to Clinton Foundation donor Claudio Osorio was made as a result of pressure from Bill and Hillary Clinton. The loan to a company named InnoVida, owned by Osorio, was supposed to be for building houses in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, but Osorio used the money to finance a lavish lifestyle. Osorio is currently in prison for fraud. OPIC is an independent agency but submits its budget through the State Department. The Clintons’ efforts to push the OPIC loan...

The winds of change might finally be blowing in Washington. For the first time in 81 years taxpayers are no longer dolling out dollars on risky loans to subsidize big businesses and foreign corporations, thanks to the expiration of the controversial Export-Import Bank. While this represents a victory for the taxpayers over well-funded special interests, there remains an alphabet soup of government bureaucracies that continues to dispense taxpayer goodies to those with political connections and clout. OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) despite what the name implies, is not private but rather a taxpayer-backed outfit that provides subsidies for American businesses...

On paper, the pitch was simple: A green energy company backed by $217 million in U.S. government loans would convert one of Africa’s poorest countries into the world’s first biomass-driven economy. But the plan to help Liberia collapsed amid questionable business decisions and oversight. The company, Buchanan Renewables, dismissed 600 workers and left the country amid complaints of workplace injuries, environmental harm and, at times, sexual abuse. Backing the company at every stage was the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a federal agency with a global mandate but low profile. The agency approves more than $3 billion a year in financing,...

Though it was reported as news, the left’s 2014 blueprint isn’t novel – it is the same strategy they’ve employed with varying degrees of success for decades. The New York Times provides a helpful summary: House Democrats are reassessing their electoral strategy based on a major internal research project that shows their candidates stand a better chance when they portray Republicans as unsympathetic to the economic situation of working Americans while protecting the wealthy. If “protecting the wealthy” is code for corporate welfare, then these so-called strategists may want to check some congressional voting records. America’s political left – from...

(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration’s new ambassador to Azerbaijan raised eyebrows this week with a gesture interpreted by some as paying homage to the country’s late dictator – a one-time KGB general installed by military coup who oversaw an autocratic regime before handing power to his son. “The new U.S. envoy to Azerbaijan, Richard Morningstar, has honored memory of national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev,” the Azeri news site News.Az reported. “The newly appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United States in Azerbaijan visited the monument to great leader in the park in front of the Heydar Aliyev’s Palace....

JERUSALEM – In partnership with a government fund initiated by Barack Obama, philanthropist and billionaire activist George Soros is investing in a private equity company that just launched in the Palestinian territories. The company, Siraj Fund Management Company, says it was created "for the sole purpose of managing investment funds in Palestine." The new company's website repeatedly refers to what it calls the "country" of "Palestine." There is, however, no such country as Palestine. Siraj is apparently referring to territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority....This week, Siraj Fund Management Company, the first private equity fund in the Palestinian territories, officially...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-press-secretary-israel-s-announcement-gaza Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 20, 2010 Statement by the Press Secretary on Israel’s announcement on Gaza The President has described the situation in Gaza as unsustainable and has made clear that it demands fundamental change. On June 9, he announced that the United States was moving forward with $400 million in initiatives and commitments for the West Bank and Gaza. The President described these projects as a down payment on the U.S. commitment to the people...

NOTE The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-and-president-abbas-palestinian-authority-after-meeting Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 09, 2010 Remarks by President Obama and President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority after Meeting Oval Office 11:58 A.M. EDT PRESIDENT OBAMA: Hello, everybody. Be careful, careful. Before I begin, I know that there was just a vote in the United Nations Security Council. I'm going to comment on that separately. I don't want to detract from the topic at hand here. So for reporters who are interested in that issue, I...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release October 23, 2009 White House Announces Global Technology and Innovation Fund During his speech in Cairo on June 4, the President announced that the United States would "launch a new fund to support technological development in Muslim-majority countries." As the latest step in delivering on this commitment, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation announced this week a call for proposals for a Global Technology and Innovation Fund. This fund will help catalyze and facilitate private sector investments that promote...

Its sinister maneuvers in the Foley scandal have put George Soros' Shadow Party on a collision course with the FBI. THE SCANDAL over Congressman Mark Foley’s sexual misconduct has generated some unexpected blowback.  It has pitted George Soros’ Shadow Party against the FBI. The Soros-funded group CREW has effectively declared war on America’s top federal law enforcement agency. CREW has called on the Justice Department to investigate the FBI.  In an October 5 statement, it accused the Bureau of having “fabricated and disseminated” falsehoods about CREW, as part of an FBI “cover-up” of the Foley scandal. (1) In the war of...

Last update - 22:22 01/07/2006 U.S. to pay $48 million to cover damages to Gaza power station By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service United States officials said they expect that U.S. funds will be used to pay for the damages caused by an Israel Air Force strike Tuesday on a Palestinian power station in the Gaza Strip. The power station was insured by a U.S. government agency, according to The Boston Globe. The Foreign and Defense Ministry departments that oversee foreign relations were unaware of the decision to target civilian facilities in the Strip, or the decision to...

Firms with Bush ties snag Katrina deals Sat Sep 10,11:03 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast. One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg...

WASHINGTON - A government agency that helps U.S. businesses investing in developing countries has approved millions of dollars of loans to companies whose owners did business with Mafia figures and rebels in a bloody African conflict, records show. The agency also awarded insurance to assist a company that is part of a Mexican energy conglomerate ordered by the Internal Revenue Service to pay more than $70 million in back taxes. The Overseas Private Investment Corp., which operates with about $5 billion in reserves, says it conducts background checks before awarding loans or insurance. But the agency acknowledged it missed some...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Mexican cement company Cemex SA said Monday it has signed a letter of intent to sell two cement plants in the U.S. to Brazil's Grupo Votorantim for US$400 million (euro308 million.) In a news release, Cemex said it began evaluating options for the Charlevoix and Dixon-Marquette cement plants at the beginning of the year, after reviewing its strategic position in the United States. Votorantim presented a non-binding offer for the cement plants as well as related operating assets in the Great Lakes area. The deal was expected to close in the...

John Kerry's Fellow TravellersA 5--part series exposing John Kerry's Communist connections.Part 5: John Kerry vs. the War on Terror: Candidate Kerry's Subversive CampaignBy Fedora *NOTE: The term “fellow traveller" as used in this article series refers to someone who is not a member of the Communist Party (CP) but regularly engages in actions which advance the Party's program. Some apparent fellow travellers may actually be “concealed party members": members of the CP who conceal their membership. Which of these classifications is applicable to the Kerrys is a question this series leaves unresolved. This series does not argue for any direct...

Gentlemen, kill your engines By Jamil Anderlini SHANGHAI - Two weeks ago, in a beautiful display of dry banker's understatement, Morgan Stanley lowered its rating on China's automobile industry to "cautious" from "in-line". But "cautious" doesn't quite tally with the actions of the world's biggest auto manufacturers over the last year and certainly fails to capture the current mood that must pervade the Shanghai boardrooms of General Motors, Volkswagen and all the other car companies that have been pouring spectacular sums into the Chinese car market. "Blind panic" might be a more apt description. Sitting in their corporate boxes at...