Free Republic

A look at political donations shows that the big-dollar contributors put their money on the Democrats. So which group is really the party of the rich? For decades, the Democrats have been getting away with portraying Republicans as hateful men who do the bidding of the wealthy at the expense of the country's poor and middle class. Yet as the Associated Press reported just before Christmas, "it's actually the liberal-minded who shelled out the most cash in the just completed midterm elections." What's more, "the two biggest super PACs of 2014," the "Senate Majority PAC and House Majority PAC," were...

One of the great misconceptions in American politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich.  That title belongs to the Democrats, who regularly garner the big bucks of America’s moneyed elite.  David Elliott of the AP reports: For as often as Democrats attack the conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch for their heavy spending on politics, it's actually the liberal-minded who shelled out the most cash in the just completed midterm elections. At least, that is, among those groups that must disclose what they raise and spend. Among the top 100 individual donors to political groups, more...

They are young, wild, free -- and very, very rich. These wealthy Chinese students go to school in the day and flaunt their social status during private meet-ups at night. These lavish gatherings feature posh venues, designer handbags and blinged out shoes, ladies in stiletto heels and sexy skirts and, of course, supercars -- plenty of them. Maserati, Ferrari, Bentley, Lamborghinis you name it -- they're all on display in neat rows. “I have three Ferraris, this is my newest one,” an interviewee told producer and host Kristie Hang at a supercar meet-up in the San Diego valley in California....

It sounds like these professors graduated from the redistributive school of economics.Christopher White of the College Fix reports. Ninety percent income tax rate would help the rich, economics professors claim Opposing economist asks why disincentives in carbon tax wouldn’t apply to income taxEconomists at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Bonn argue that the United States would be better off if well-heeled citizens paid the kind of high tax rates not seen since the Eisenhower administration.According to a working paper by Bonn’s Fabian Kindermann and Penn’s Dirk Krueger published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, going back...

Rich NewmanWednesday, October 22, 2014A stagnant economy has undoubtedly put a lot of financial stress on the middle class. And that is bumming out America’s 1 percenters. “Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society,” entrepreneur Nick Hanauer wrote recently in Politico, in an open letter to “my fellow zillionaires.” Hanauer — an early investor in Amazon (AMZN) who says he has been involved with more than 30 startups — cites the well-documented rise in income inequality during the past 30 years as the ultimate cause of a Mad Maxian dystopia he envisions. "If...

First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at Booker T. Washington High School, a predominantly black school, in Atlanta on Monday. During her speech a student fainted. Obama paused her speech to make sure the child was attended to, then she took a weird swipe at “rich kids.” White House Dossier posted the transcript: MRS. OBAMA: But here’s the thing –- even if you’re working hard and doing everything right, there will still be times when things don’t go according to plan. That ever happen to you all? STUDENTS: Yes…. (student faints) MRS. OBAMA: Are you all still fired up and ready...

Kelsey Zachow bought the ticket on Friday the 13th last month, but didn't even know she had the winning slip until 11 days later. The mom of a 7-month-old, Zachow will take home $27 million in the lump sum payment after taxes, and plans to quit her jobs.

Why do we tax corporations? No, seriously — why? If you’re like most people and all New Democrats, your response will be “because that’s where the money is,” or some variant thereon. Corporations have lots of money, the thinking runs, and are unlikely to mind if the government helps itself to some of it. And since they don’t vote, it doesn’t much matter if they do mind. An economist, on the other hand, would point out that, one way or another, all of the income earned by a corporation finds its way back to the people who financed it, whether...

You probably don’t know me, but like you I am one of those .01%ers, a proud and unapologetic capitalist. I have founded, co-founded and funded more than 30 companies across a range of industries—from itsy-bitsy ones like the night club I started in my 20s to giant ones like Amazon.com, for which I was the first nonfamily investor. --snip-- But let’s speak frankly to each other. I’m not the smartest guy you’ve ever met, or the hardest-working. I was a mediocre student. I’m not technical at all—I can’t write a word of code. What sets me apart, I think, is...

“Congratulations, Joe! You’re rich!” John McCain said to Joe Wurzelbacher in the 2008 presidential campaign. Joe was thinking of buying a small plumbing business. He was dismayed to learn from Barack Obama that the candidate’s plan to raise marginal tax rates on individuals earning more than $200,000 a year was described as “taxing the rich.” Mr. Wurzelbacher didn’t think he was rich, which makes him a lot like the rest of us. Only 5 percent of Americans describe themselves as “rich.” While ideas about how much money it takes to be rich fluctuate depending on current income, most Americans agree...

Pollution, tainted food and education are causing many of the country’s wealthy to flee, survey finds. Earlier this year, the best company at surveying the rich in China announced that more than 60% of the people it surveyed had already immigrated to another country, or were considering doing so. The question for the Hurun Report, which publishes an annual China rich list, was why? Was pollution driving people abroad, weariness over China’s political crackdowns, or something else entirely? It turns out the questions also nagged Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of Hurun. At the time, his best guess was that pollution and...

As long as one sorely needs a certain additional amount, that man isn’t rich. Seventy times seventy millions can’t make him rich, as long as his poor heart is breaking for more. I am just about rich enough to buy the least valuable horse in your stable, perhaps, but I cannot sincerely and honestly take an oath that I need any more now. And so I am rich. But you, you have got seventy millions and you need five hundred millions, and are really suffering for it. Your poverty is something appalling.—Mark Twain to Cornelius Vanderbuilt He lies in little...

One of the biggest myths in politics is that Republicans are the "party of the rich." If only....then the rich might be voting for us and pouring massive money into the Republican Party. But, but, but...KOCH BROTHERS! Yes, the evil, terrible, awful Koch Brothers who live in Harry Reid's head for free and eat the dreams of Occupy protesters. In actuality, those guys are only the 59th biggest donors in American politics. Just the six biggest union donors in American politics combined give 15 times more money than the Koch brothers have – and, of course, that money went almost...

Avarice: Many people, it seems, can't get over how well investors are doing these days — as if they shouldn't be able to do OK if others aren't. Instead of taking offense, maybe the others ought to be taking notes. Let's see if we have this right: Some people work to exhaustion, earning money for their security and that of their families. And instead of spending it on stuff they don't need, they set it aside. The latest idea — coming from a French economist — is that eight of every 10 of their dollars should be taken away and...

Those who live in this nation's richest county and those who live its poorest have an important thing in common: a disproportionate dependence on government. In the United States as a whole, according to Census Bureau estimates for the five-year period from 2008 through 2012, 14.9 percent of the people who had civilian jobs worked for government. Another 78.7 worked for private employers and 6.3 percent worked for themselves in their own unincorporated businesses. In America's richest county, this pattern did not hold. Nor did it in the poorest. At the end of last year, the Census Bureau released two...

A first of its kind US oligarchy study yielded a rather troubling discovery and the results of the study are definitely cause for concern for most Americans. The US oligarchy study was conducted by researchers from Princeton and Northwestern Universities and the study showed that the United States is not a republic in substance, but rather an oligarchy where the rich rule and the majority of Americans have virtually no impact on policy decisions, today's report from FDL explained.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donors gave more than $10 million in March to the committee tasked with electing House Democrats and helped it amass a $40 million fund to fight skepticism that Republicans can be ousted from their majority in November. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $10.3 million in March, putting it atop the fundraising contest among party-directed campaign committees. That sum also outpaced most three-month fundraising tallies released thus far from super PACs, which can accept unlimited donations. Donations to House Democrats' campaign committee are capped at $32,400. "The DCCC has sustained a blistering fundraising pace this election cycle...

All too often, rich individuals in this country are demonized for simply being rich. If some sort of financial catastrophe happens, such as the latest recession in 2009, the rich are to blame. If the government is running large deficits, the rich are not paying their “fair share”. If an individual is poor and cannot find employment, it is because the rich hoard all their profits and don’t share with anyone else. It’s time to set the record straight by looking at the facts. The top 1% of all individual income earners in this country pay nearly37% of all federal...

Are you thinking of going to college? If so, please consider that decision very carefully. You probably have lots of people telling you that an "education" is the key to your future and that you will never be able to get a "good job" unless you go to college. And it is true that those that go to college do earn more on average than those that do not. However, there is also a downside. At most U.S. colleges, the quality of the education that you will receive is a joke, the goal of most colleges is to extract as...

<p>Consider what passes for a scandal in New York City these days: The rich, conservative Koch family funding a wing of a city hospital. Wall Street types financing charter schools for poor kids in the South Bronx and Harlem. Non-union Walmart trying to open a store in a low-income neighborhood, which would deliver both cheaper goods and jobs to the locals.</p>