Free Republic

CHICAGO (AP) -- Failure by Congress to raise the U.S. debt limit "could plunge the world economy back into recession," President Barack Obama declared Friday, and he acknowledged that he must compromise on spending with Republicans who control the House to avoid such a crisis. "I think he's absolutely right that it's not going to happen without some spending cuts," the president told The Associated Press in an interview in his hometown, agreeing with House Speaker John Boehner's assessment. Obama urged swift action, saying he doesn't want the United States to get close to a deadline that would destabilize financial...

It was only a matter of time before environmentalists would point toward Japan, say, "We told you so," and then declare a moral victory for anti-nuclear activism. Merely for the sake of argument, let's pretend they are right. Eliminating nuclear power might be a nice experiment. But there is one big problem: Environmentalists are trying to eliminate all the other alternatives, as well.

Could it happen here? That's the question on everyone's mind as we watch the nuclear emergency unfold at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. As it turns out, the U.S. government has long been asking the same question. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently provided MSNBC with an updated list of the American plants most at risk of core damage (which can lead to meltdowns and radiation release) in the event of an earthquake. What parts of the country are most at risk? You may be surprised. Most people would assume California plants, built around the turbulent San Andreas fault line, might...

Egypt has been embroiled in political turmoil since protests, inspired by those that overthrew the regime in Tunisia, started last week. While Egypt, and its Suez Canal, have been worry one for investors world wide since last week, the next big question is whether this dissent could spread to other countries around the region, and world. It's a challenge to state led authoritarian capitalism, but it is also a response to rising food costs and soaring unemployment. There is also the social media factor, which has allowed protesters to circumvent traditional state run media sources and organize more efficiently. What...

The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an order to McGuff Pharmaceuticals instructing it to cease producing and distributing intravenous ascorbic acid (IAA). The grounds for the FDA action laid out in its order stated that IAA is “an unapproved new drug.” Ascorbic acid, more commonly known as vitamin C, has been in use for decades to treat a variety of conditions. IAA has accomplished many amazing cures as detailed in the book Curing the Incurable by Dr. Thomas Levy. The FDA rejected the argument of effectiveness outright. “The very effectiveness of IAA argues that it is, in fact,...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Losing weight is often touted as a way to improve health, but many weight-loss programs may not help stave off disease since people tend to gain the weight back, Australian researchers say. In a report in the International Journal of Obesity, they note the focus of such programs may need to change if they're really going to have a lasting effect. To test the potential impact of different diets, the researchers ran two computer simulations: One included a low-fat diet, the other a diet rich in whole grains and vegetables plus 180 minutes of exercise...

PARIS (AFP) – Men whose index fingers are longer than their ring, or fourth, fingers run a significantly lower risk of prostate cancer, according to a study published Wednesday in the British Journal of Cancer. The chances of developing the disease drop by a third, and even more in younger men, the study found. "Our results show that relative finger length could be used as a simple test for prostate cancer risk, particularly in men aged under 60," said Ros Eeles, a professor at the Institute of Cancer Research in Britain and co-author of the study. Finger pattern could help...

Sacrosanct tax breaks, including deductions on mortgage interest, remain on the table just weeks before the deficit commission issues recommendations on policies to pare back with the aim of balancing the budget by 2015. The tax benefits are hugely popular with the public but they have drawn the panel's focus, in part because the White House has said these and other breaks cost the government about $1 trillion a year.(Snip)At stake, in addition to the mortgage-interest deductions, are child tax credits and the ability of employees to pay their portion of their health-insurance tab with pretax dollars.

Reuters’ economists may have reason to move their already-pessimistic projections further downward. Yesterday afternoon, a study conducted jointly by Thompson Reuters and Price Waterhouse Cooper shows that venture capital investment dropped 7% in the third quarter, a harbinger of higher unemployment and economic decline: Venture capitalists poured less money into U.S. startups in the third quarter and split this among more companies, signaling that investors are trying to be more economical with their funds.According to a study set to be released Friday, startup investments declined 7 percent to $4.8 billion in the July-September period, compared with $5.2 billion invested during...

Like her boss Barack Obama, Ohio Democratic Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy has been accused of hiding a radical past. Further evidence has emerged confirming that Congresswoman Kilroy was once a member of America's largest marxist organization Democratic Socialists of America. In this post New Zeal provided documentary evidence that Kilroy was a member of D.S.A. in the early 1990s and was supported by that organization in both her 2006 and 2008 Congressional races. Now comes more confirmation of kilroy's socialist ties from an article in Oakland California based marxist journal CrossRoads;, October 1992. The author Bob Fitrakis, is also a...

"Blacklisted" in Europe by alphabetical order (last modified : 07/07/2010): Aero Benin - Benin - On the blacklist since 16 December 2009Aero Service - Republic of the Congo - BF - RSR - On the blacklist since 16 December 2009Aerojet - Angola - On the blacklist since 16 December 2009Aeroprakt Kz - Kazakhstan - APK - On the blacklist since 16 December 2009Aerowurks Aerial Spraying Services - Philippines - On the blacklist since 30 March 2010Africa Airways - Benin - AFF - On the blacklist since 16 December 2009Africa Connection - Sao Tomé et Principe - On the blacklist since...

WASHINGTON — The government is expected to announce on Wednesday that three-quarters of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak has already evaporated, dispersed, been captured or otherwise eliminated — and that much of the rest is so diluted that it does not seem to pose much additional risk of harm. A government report finds that about 26 percent of the oil released from BP’s runaway well is still in the water or onshore in a form that could, in principle, cause new problems. But most is light sheen at the ocean surface or in a dispersed form

A couple of weeks ago, I published a column outlining my doubts about the health of China’s banking system in the lead-up to the Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank)’s IPO. Given the lackluster performance of that share launch – despite the considerable political capital Beijing mobilized behind making it a success – it seems I was hardly alone in my concerns. Now some concrete data is starting to emerge regarding the potential size of the problems that may be lurking on China’s bank balance sheets — in particular, the losses that may be incurred from risky stimulus loans made to...

Which governments will not be able to pay their bills? The ones with private sectors that are not doing well enough to bail out the government. That should be one lesson of the near default this year of the Greek government. Government finances are important, but in the end it is the private sector that matters most. If so, those who focus on fiscal policy may be missing important things. Spain appeared to be in fine shape, with government surpluses, before the recession hit. Now Spain is being downgraded and has soaring deficits. “Academics and market practitioners have not had...

A new study said that a popular class of antihypertension drugs—including those made by Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Merck & Co. and Novartis AG—is associated with a modestly increased risk of cancer. The researchers cautioned that the limited data make it impossible to calculate the exact cancer risk for each individual drug in the class, but said the issue should be investigated further. The study was published online Sunday by the Lancet Oncology medical journal.

One of the biggest risks to the world's financial health is the $1.2 quadrillion derivatives market. It's complex, it's unregulated, and it ought to be of concern to world leaders that its notional value is 20 times the size of the world economy. But traders rule the roost -- and as much as risk managers and regulators might want to limit that risk, they lack the power or knowledge to do so. A quadrillion is a big number: 1,000 times a trillion. Yet according to one of the world's leading derivatives experts, Paul Wilmott, who holds a doctorate in applied...

Putting aside religious beliefs, nothing in life has 100% upside--nothing. But the closest thing to a guaranteed better, safer and more fulfilling life is freedom. Freedom means responsibility. It also means failure, accidents and mistakes. This, in turn, leads to learning, which is why successes outweigh the failures. However, humans must be free to understand the consequences of their actions. Without consequences, there is little learning. When freedom prevails, the ingenuity and inventiveness of people creates incredible wealth. This is the source of the natural improvement of the human condition. Capitalism is created by free people. Socialism, on the other...

While listening to Obama's discussion with the press about BP and the oil spill one part of what he said stood out to me. [youtube video] The money quote is: "Given the fact they (BP) didn't fully account for the risks I don't want someone else bearing the costs of those risks that they took." My immediate response to that statement was "then why the hell are we, the American taxpayer, bearing the costs of bailing out all of these different companies who didn't manage their risks?"

Hugh Pickens writes "Science Daily Headlines reports on research by Oregon State University marine geologist Chris Goldfinger showing that earthquakes of magnitude 8.2 (or higher) have occurred 41 times during the past 10,000 years in the Pacific Northwest. By extrapolation, there is a 37% chance of another major earthquake in the area in the next 50 years that could exceed the power of recent seismic events in Chile and Haiti. If a magnitude-9 quake does strike the Cascadia Subduction Zone, extending from northern Vancouver Island to northern California, the ground could shake for several minutes, highways could be torn to...

Last week's passage of the Dodd finance reform plan dredged up bad symbolism, none of it good. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal front page headline touted legislation that would be the "Biggest Regulatory Overhaul of Wall Street Since Depression". Though most of us didn't suffer the federal government's persecution of the productive back in the ‘30s, basic history tells us that reforms back then did nothing to revive an economy on its back thanks to too much government. In that sense, we perhaps shouldn't pin all of the stock market's recent ill health on problems in a country as economically...