Free Republic

Over the past several years, companies have increasingly spent their advertising and marketing dollars on search engines such as Google or Yahoo and social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. But how much business do they actually bring into a company? And how can companies improve their online presence to generate more sales? Those questions have dominated the Online Marketing Summit, a four-day conference concluding today at Paradise Point Resort in Mission Bay. “What’s working in social media is that it’s a great way to engage your customers and have a real dialogue with them,” said Thad Kahlow,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner held out hope to Congress that a hefty investment to bail out insurer AIG (AIG.N) and avert its catastrophic failure will gain value as the economy improves. In prepared remarks for delivery on Wednesday to the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Geithner defended the controversial 2008 rescue and said it was done solely to protect U.S. taxpayers' interests. ... The committee will question both Geithner and his predecessor as Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, about the AIG bailout that has stirred widespread anger and raised questions about Geithner's role in...

Another huge value-de stroying hurricane is about to slam America, destroying billions of dollars of value. Another Katrina? No, another Christmas. This voluntary December calamity is explained in a darkly amusing little book about the size of an iPhone. "Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays" comes from a distinguished publisher, Princeton University Press, and an eminent author, Joel Waldfogel of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton business school. He says that the crux of Yuletide economics, which common sense suggests and research confirms, is:

In our American society, what a person finds important, of value, is vitally connected to what one’s society finds important. The safety of a nation is surely related to what it values. Good and healthy values maintain the existence of a nation. Our “UNALIENABLE RIGHTS. . . Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” are in jeopardy. They are not to be transferred to a new owner. “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). As our nation abandons its historic healthy foundation, it will be unable to survive the tests of rightness and...

Despite signs that the real estate market is bottoming out, millions of homeowners are likely to find themselves in worse shape within the next two years. Nearly half of the nation’s 52 million mortgage borrowers will have negative equity by the end of the first quarter of 2011, up from the 14 million at the end of this year’s first quarter, according to estimates in an Aug. 5 report by Deutsche Bank (DB). With so many borrowers underwater – or owing more on their home than it’s worth – the risk is high that they’ll default and their homes will...

Fiscal Policy: Given the number of new tax ideas making the rounds, you'd think we were in a rip-roaring expansion. But we're not, and new taxes are exactly the wrong thing to be proposing.In addition to kicking up taxes on the so-called wealthy, various members of the current administration seem to have lots of new ideas for separating Americans from their money. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's top aide, is health care adviser to Obama's budget director, Peter Orszag. He wants a 10% value-added tax (VAT), similar to the European Union's, to "pay" for health care reform....

With budget deficits soaring and President Obama pushing a trillion-dollar-plus expansion of health coverage, some Washington policymakers are taking a fresh look at a money-making idea long considered politically taboo: a national sales tax. Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax -- called a value-added tax, or VAT -- has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity. At a White House conference earlier this year on the government's budget problems, a roomful of tax experts pleaded...

by Gina L. DiorioNote: Yesterday marked the 149th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life – more commonly known as The Origin of Species. I wrote the following piece several years ago but believe this week in particular merits its reprint here. ***Revival of the Fittest: The Reestablishment of ManHumanity is in danger of extinction. Earth’s physical environment does not seek to destroy the human race; neither does any non-human species attempt to extinguish it. Rather, humanity presents...

Steak or salmon? Try Big Mac or Gordita. The high-end restaurant business is bracing itself for a slowdown as customers opt to save instead of spend. That’s good news for fast-food chains like McDonald’s. In October, sales at the Golden Arches jumped 8.2% globally, thanks in part to their budget-friendly dollar menu. But how far can your dollar go when it comes to taste? We asked Zach Brooks, editor of SeriousEatsNewYork.com and founder of MidtownLunch.com, to taste-test the best deals at five fast-food chains with outlets throughout the five boroughs, and dish on his findings. KFC“I love fried chicken. The...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2008 – The Joint Staff’s operations director told participants in the third annual America Supports You National Summit here today it would be impossible to put a price tag on what they give the country’s men and women in uniform. Army Lt. Gen. Carter F. Ham told more than 180 representatives of 122 troop-support groups at the Pentagon for the all-day summit that the work they do and the support of the American people provide “the center of gravity for our operations.” Troops rely on equipment, supplies, food and other resources to carry out their mission. But...

Chris Meney | Friday, 31 August 2007 Marriage deserves more because it gives more The continued provision of preferential support for parents and children over other types of unions is vital for society. The ongoing debate in Australia over the access of same-sex couples to social benefits and so-called entitlements is a distraction from the real issue at hand. The real issue is not one concerning any infringement of rights. Rather, it is about what heterosexual marriage can offer society that other forms of relationships cannot. Married heterosexual unions are not simply a legal invention with an associated bunch...

DALLAS, May 3, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today expressed thanks to Americans who support the troops and urged people to check out the Defense Department’s America Supports You program. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates delivers a luncheon speech to the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce, May 3, 2007. U.S. Air Force photo by Michael Tolzmann   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates told several hundred members of the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce here that he’s grateful for the support many are providing their employees serving in the National Guard and reserves. “You value these...

What price tag would you put on your house: a real estate agent's suggested price, the price a nearby home recently sold at, an appraiser's estimate, or another number? ...Location, location, location" still applies — now more than ever, agents and appraisers say. Home values can vary by whether the neighborhood's clean and quiet, in a good school district or even by its proximity to an upscale supermarket. So factor area amenities into the pricing equation ...Great kitchens and baths, with new fixtures, help sell homes. But buyers are getting more energy-conscious and real estate agents say efficient heating and...

The rise of the self-esteem movement From the late 1960s on self-esteem became a fashionable and influential idea. One of the first exponents was a young psychology professor called Stanley Coopersmith from California. A more influential figure was Nathaniel Branden. Branden was a psychtherapist and devotee of the philosopher Ayn Rand. He has written countless books on self-esteem and is considered the intellectual father of the self-esteem movement. As we shall see in another section, Branden’s work is sophisticated and his definition of self-esteem, and notions of how it can be boosted, is a far cry from the exhortations to...

I shall refute here the proposition that “the economic value of all goods and services is derived from the cost of their production and ultimately from the labor expended on their creation—be it measured in terms of the time, effort, or disutility required to produce the goods or services in question—and the labor expended on the creation of goods necessarily endows them with economic value.” This proposition is the essence of the labor theory of value, a false view nonetheless embraced by such notable thinkers as Thomas Aquinas and Adam Smith and used by Karl Marx to justify socialism. I...

Almost a year after its last flight, NASA has begun the countdown to attempt a flight of the space shuttle this coming weekend (weather permitting — a tropical disturbance currently in the Caribbean threatens Cape Canaveral and central Florida with rain, clouds, and lightning, which could potentially result in repeated daily postponements until the system moves on). If they do launch, it will be only the second flight in the almost three and a half years since the loss of Columbia over the skies of Texas on February 1, 2003, and the first since last summer’s return to flight, in...

Workers pour a concrete foundation in front of an unfinished housing development in a Denver, Colorado suburb April 19, 2005. The pace of U.S. housing construction rose more than expected in May after three months of declines as groundbreaking on both single-family and multifamily units jumped, a government report showed on Tuesday. (Rick Wilking/Reuters) The pace of U.S. housing construction rose more than expected in May after three months of declines as groundbreaking on both single-family and multifamily units jumped but permits for future projects fell, a government report showed on Tuesday. The Commerce Department said May housing starts...

KABUL, Afghanistan, May 11, 2006 – The Afghan National Police recently took major strides toward recognizing the equal rights of men and women, as well as the important contributions made by its female officers. Gen. Aziza Nazeri (center), the Afghan National Police''s most senior female officer, presides over the Gender Awareness Day conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 8, as Gen. Ahmad Madadzai and Jerilyn Glick Holsapple look on. Madadzai is head of the Human Rights Department of the Ministry of Interior, and Holsapple is a special agent with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Photo by Staff...

Part of the problem is that the people who decide national policy are headquartered in Washington, D.C., where large plots of private property are rare. Those of us who live in urban or suburban areas imagine endangered species protection to be as simple as being kind to blue whales, grizzly bears and bald eagles. We don’t stop to consider the dilemmas facing people thousands of miles away from us. Bill Snape, Chairman of the Endangered Species Coalition, is an example of one who lives in either ignorance or denial. “There just aren’t private landowners that I can identify where the...

CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) -- A tiger's roar might be scary, but Australian researchers have found that the predator's poo is just as potent. Researchers at the University of Queensland said on Friday they had successfully trailed a tiger poo repellant, warding off wild goats for at least three days.