Free Republic

For about 20 minutes just after midnight on Sunday morning, The Charlotte Observer published a story detailing the apparent conflict of interest which could represent a violation of ethics by embattled Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC). The story revealed the details of an investigation into Hagan’s family, which received hundreds of thousands of dollars in stimulus grants – grants which Hagan voted for as a member of the U.S. Senate. The story was the first time that the state’s largest paper, The Observer, had informed their readers of the nascent controversy, but Tar Heel residents had to read it fast. The...

NEW YORK — Soaring inflation. A collapsing dollar. Bubbles in financial markets that would soon pop. One presidential candidate even suggested that the Federal Reserve chairman should be roughed up. Over the past five years, as the Fed has pumped ever-more money into the financial system, critics have warned that it would lead to all kinds of disasters. Yet the central bank kept extending its bond-buying program, known by the wonky name of quantitative easing, or QE. It was an unprecedented effort aimed at lowering borrowing costs, encouraging spending and reviving a dormant economy before it could slip back into...

Ron Klain is a sharp-elbowed Democratic political operative with no medical expertise. Tapping him as “Ebola czar” may not be the president’s best move when, as it is, no one can believe a word the Obama administration says. And that’s not just because Mr. Klain is yet another lobbyist recruited despite Mr. Obama’s vow that his administration would shun lobbyists. Klain was also a central player in the president’s Solyndra fraud, which soaked taxpayers for over half a billion dollars for the benefit of Obama cronies. In Faithless Execution, I recount the Solyndra fraud. It never got the attention...

Even though earlier this week, the official Obama Regime spokesman, Josh Earnest, announced to the nation that there was no need for an “Ebola Czar,” Obama announced his new “Ebola Czar” on Friday, a Democrat Party operative with no experience in the health care or medical industries. Ron Klain, a lawyer who oversaw the implementation of the failed Obama 2009 Stimulus “Porkulus” plan, also served as chief of staff to buffoonish Democrat Vice President Joe Biden and global warming huckster and fraud, former vice president, Al Gore. Think Solyndra.

Consumer spending fell in July for the first time in six months, as Americans cut back on purchases of new cars and other retail goods, the government reported Friday. The drop in spending was a bit of a surprise: economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a seasonally adjusted 0.1% increase. The growth in incomes, meanwhile, slowed to 0.2% pace in July from 0.5% in each of the prior two months. It was the smallest gain since December and also below Wall Street expectations.

General Motors Co said Thursday it will show the next-generation of its slow-selling Chevrolet Volt hybrid electric car in January. The current Volt is priced just under $35,000 and has a driving range of almost 40 miles on its electric charge. Nevertheless, sales so far this year through July fell almost 9 percent from a year earlier to 10,635 vehicles. The Cadillac version of the Volt, the ELR coupe, has also failed to catch on as GM has sold only 578 during the seven-month period. GM said it would spend almost $400 million to upgrade tooling and equipment at the...

Spain’s prime minister says his government will unveil a stimulus package worth €6.3 billion ($8.6 billion) to boost competitiveness. […] (Mariano Rajoy) said Saturday corporate tax would be cut from 30 percent to 25 percent. …

The Environmental Protection Agency has handed out $3.6 million to 18 different community organizations across the country to train college graduates, the unemployed, low-income people and others to take on green jobs. To date, the EPA has funded 237 job training programs grants totalling more than $50 million to train 12,800 people how to work in the green industry. Of those trained, about 9,100 obtained green jobs — a 71 percent success rate at a cost of $5,500 in taxpayer funds per job. Last year, the free-market Institute for Energy Research estimated that the Department of Energy spent $26 billion...

Former U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, who represented northeastern Minnesota for 36 years and brought millions of dollars to the state as chair of the powerful House Transportation Committee, died unexpectedly early Saturday morning. He was 79. A statement released by his family said Oberstar died in his sleep. A cause of death was not provided. His former chief of staff, Bill Richard, said Oberstar died at his home in Potomac, Maryland. […] Oberstar, a Democrat, was elected to Congress in 1974 and served 18 terms—the state’s longest-serving member of Congress. Oberstar became chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee...

...Five years ago, “green jobs” were all the rage in Washington. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was rolled out with a win-win agenda aimed at fixing the economy and healing the environment at once. Candidate Obama touted a “blueprint” for a green economy, with plans to create 5 million green jobs. Though federal green initiatives have provided vital seed money for wind farms and solar-generation projects nationwide, the blue-collar workers who have the most to gain from the projected clean-tech boom are still struggling to find any job, much less a green one. Indeed, some environmentalists say that green...

Game Changer? The federal government paid nearly $40 million dollars to Claire McCaskill’s husband’s businesses her first five years in office as Missouri Senator. During that time McCaskill has had influence over federal policy that has directly affected her family’s income. Missouri royalty - The rest of the country has suffered but Claire McCaskill and her husband Joseph Shepard have done very well these past five years. There are renewed calls for Democrat McCaskill to release her tax returns. ABC3040 reported: Businesses affiliated with the husband of Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill have received almost $40 million in federal subsidies for...

An analysis of public records by the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) has found more than $20 million in federal stimulus funds benefitting real estate projects financially tied to Joseph Shepard, husband of Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill. Earlier this month, the Associated Press published an analysis , stating, "businesses affiliated with the husband of Senator Claire McCaskill have received almost $40 million in federal subsidies for low-income housing developments during her first five years in office..." The NLPC analysis released today showed more than $20 million in financial benefits from the federal stimulus law to real estate projects associated...

When you get what you want, you find out it’s not what you need. That is what Millennials are experiencing right now as the liberal program they voted for in 2008 and 2012 is being implemented. […] Millennials are now seeing an America they cannot thrive in. The trillion-dollar stimulus and out of control government spending ushered in by liberal politicians produced few shovel ready jobs, while leaving per capita debt at $52,948. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2013 labor force participation rate of those in their twenties has hit the lowest level on record since 1981....

Metro Transit crews work to get a light rail train back on track after it derailed Wednesday while traveling north on the Green Line at Cedar Street and 12th Street in downtown St. Paul. (Pioneer Press: John Autey) A Central Corridor light-rail test train rolled off the tracks on Cedar Street in downtown St. Paul on Wednesday afternoon. The minor derailment occurred as the northbound train, which was not carrying passengers, attempted to navigate a turn at 12th Street just before rush hour. It was leaving downtown headed toward Minneapolis. Crews working on the derailment hooked up another train to...

President Barack Obama is announcing the creation of two Pentagon-led institutes, using public and private resources, to boost advanced manufacturing, help create jobs and perhaps build the next “Iron Man.” One center will be in Obama’s hometown of Chicago, concentrating on high-tech digital manufacturing and design. The other will be located in Canton, Mich., near Detroit, and specialize in light metal manufacturing. …

In a speech marking the five-year anniversary of his $831 billion economic stimulus plan, President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that his plan, passed one month into his presidency, succeeded and that his critics were proven wrong and "have had to eat those words."

RUSH: This is CBS this morning and the co-respondent is Bill Plante. We had the fifth anniversary of the stimulus yesterday. We're in the midst of an absolutely devastated United States economy. There is no end in sight. We are also in the midst of the total wrecking of the American healthcare system. We are in the process of tearing it apart and rebuilding it all under government control eventually. No matter where you look, the jobs market, the economy, any Obama policy, no matter where you look, there is utter disaster. In fact, polling data out there, Washington Examiner,...

As told by Democrats, the stimulus law is a tale of officials using government effectively to shield families from a severe economic crisis triggered by inadequately regulated speculation. In that accounting, the law is a prime example of how a strong central government can help the average person. To Republicans, by contrast, the law provides proof that government spending does little other than to burden future generations with debt. Given the continued weakness in the economy, Republicans have the simpler case to make: Good times have not yet returned, therefore, Obama’s policies have failed. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio demonstrated the...

Unemployment is now the #1 problem in America, according to a Gallup poll released Monday. After the government shutdown in October, “Government/Politicians” ranked #1 as the top problem in America through mid-January, when legislators passed a bipartisan budget deal. After that, there was a 11-percent drop among Republicans who listed “Government/Politicians” as the top problem, from 26 percent in January to 15 percent in February. The new poll shows that unemployment is now the top issue — an increase of 16 percent from January. Republicans, Democrats and independents all said “Unemployment/Jobs” was the top problem, but the jump was the...

When the $787 billion federal stimulus was signed into law exactly five years ago this Monday, the U.S. economy was losing almost 800,000 jobs per month. Now? More than 4.2 million jobs have been added since March 2009. Also at this time five years ago, the unemployment rate was 8.3% and would climb to a high of 10.0% just months later. Now it stands at 6.6%. But on this fifth anniversary of the stimulus – passed mostly along party lines in response to financial crisis and Great Recession – Democrats and the White House have responded so far with …...