Free Republic

Billionaire Warren Buffett, calling turmoil in the markets an "economic Pearl Harbor," said his $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs Group is an endorsement of the Treasury's $700 billion bank rescue plan. "I am betting on the Congress doing the right thing for the American public and passing this bill," Buffett said on cable channel CNBC Wednesday. "I certainly have a vote of confidence in Goldman and vote of confidence in Congress." Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are pushing Congress to quickly approve the proposal to remove illiquid assets from the banking system. Buffett is...

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. This is an extraordinary period for America's economy. Over the past few weeks, many Americans have felt anxiety about their finances and their future. I understand their worry and their frustration. We've seen triple-digit swings in the stock market. Major financial institutions have teetered on the edge of collapse, and some have failed. As uncertainty has grown, many banks have restricted lending. Credit markets have frozen. And families and businesses have found it harder to borrow money. We're in the midst of a serious financial crisis, and the federal government is responding with decisive action. We've...

OBERLIN — Newt Gingrich entered a Finney Chapel basement room crammed with reporters Wednesday night and started shaking hands. “Hi. I’m Newt,” the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives said as he took a seat. Within 20 seconds, he jumped from home-style chatting to an angry tirade about Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s $700 billion plan to bail out failed banks. While Gingrich was visiting Oberlin College to talk about the stakes of the election, he said he wanted to talk first about the banking crisis because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime threat that could destroy the world economy. He didn’t...

Hello FRiends, lurkers, and trolls. I had planned on simply relaxing and watching a few videos on YouTube before nodding off. Little did I know that my favorite communist propaganda site would choose tonight of all nights to let a bad story make it past the screeners from the DNC. Immediately evident to me was the "Double Speak" since the language and idea's of George Orwell are more than relevant. This truly is 1984 if Barry's version of "Big Brother" or "Re-Education" is mandated for all the ugly and racist Americans. The posts of a diminutive foreign brunette who gives...

French cruller Carla Bruni was one sweet sight everywhere she went in Manhattan yesterday. The sexy model-turned-singer first performed her duties as France's first lady by attending meetings at the United Nations with her president hubby, Nicolas Sarkozy. She then left the world leaders to catch up on current events, and enjoyed entertaining reading with the New York Post tucked under her arm. After returning to her Upper East Side hotel for a quick rest and outfit change out of a demure, pinstriped skirt suit, she reappeared in the evening looking ready to turn plenty of heads. One of the...

SAN DIEGO -- It was the defining image of an historic tragedy. 10News Digital Correspondent, Ron Tuatagaloa, spoke to the man who captured two incredible images 30-years ago. The eyes of Hans Wendt have seen much during his long career as a photographer. But nothing could prepare him for September 25, 1978. He was taking pictures for the county on University and Boundary. “We heard this explosion and this crash in the air and looked up. I saw the PSA airliner first. I never saw the little Cessna. I got two shots of the PSA airliner crashing,” said Wendt in...

Human suffering became a reality for millions of Americans as the depression continued. Many died of disease resulting from malnutrition. Thousands lost their home because they could not pay the mortgage. In 1932,at least 25,000 families,and more than 200,000 young people wandered through the country seeking food,clothing,shelter,and a job. Many of the young people traveled in freight trains,and lived near train yards called hobo jungles. The homeless,jobless travelers obtained food from welfare agencies,or religious missions in town along the way. Most of their meals consisted of soup,beans,or stew and had very little nourishment. The travelers begged for food,or stole it...

From the helicopter you can see it clearly, Republican vice-presidential candidate and Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin's face. Duke Wheeler of Whitehouse, who owns the Butterfly House and surrounding farm, said he did it to bring people to the farm this fall. "She created a lot of excitement and we would like to see a lot of excitement out here at the maze," Wheeler said.

The decision by John McCain to suspend his campaign is giving panicky GOP lawmakers political cover and appeared to inject new life into negotiations on a proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial markets. At press time, Senate Democrats emerged from a meeting with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and reported a conceptual deal they hoped could receive a vote before markets open on Monday. Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said a bill could be produced as early as Thursday, with debate and a vote likely over the weekend. Ideally, Durbin said the Senate would finish the bill before Monday. Republicans...

Until her arrest in Afghanistan this summer, Aafia Siddiqui was the FBI's most wanted woman in the world. Now the U.S.-educated, Pakistani mother of three is being held in New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center facing attempted murder charges. Aafia Siddiqui holds biology and neuroscience degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) and Brandeis University. In 2003, she vanished from Pakistan and reappeared on July 17, 2008, outside the governor's compound in Ghazni, Afghanistan. According to the FBI indictment against her, Siddiqui was carrying "various documents, various chemicals, and a computer thumb drive." Aafia Siddiqui is believed to be an al-Qaeda...

BEIJING, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Chinese regulators have told domestic banks to stop interbank lending to U.S. financial institutions to prevent possible losses during the financial crisis, the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday. The Hong Kong newspaper cited unidentified industry sources as saying the instruction from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) applied to interbank lending of all currencies to U.S. banks but not to banks from other countries. "The decree appears to be Beijing's first attempt to erect defences against the deepening U.S. financial meltdown after the mainland's major lenders reported billions of U.S. dollars in exposure...

"Is it a debate for now?" asked Nick Clegg, Lib Dem leader and ex-MEP, of British entry to the euro. "No. I think it's off the radar screen," he said at his party's annual conference this week. Like Gordon Brown, he gave the stock response to the decade-long question: "We'll join when the time is right." Even in this era of wild currency fluctuations and financial meltdown, there's no appetite in Britain for joining the single currency. But, in Nice last weekend for the informal meeting of EU finance ministers and a heavyweight conference on financial supervision organised by thinktank...

Honestly. A clean bill as requested by Treasury man Henry Paulson, along with John McCain's oversight board, can help fix the credit-crunch problem. It needn't be this hard. According to the Paulson plan, distressed assets will be sold by banks through a reverse auction (the low bid wins) to various investment funds, hedgies, private-equity boys, and other banks. And taxpayers will have a strong ownership position in these asset sales. When the assets are worked out over time -- as they will be once housing and the economy recover -- taxpayers will actually make money on the deal. But after...

Russia disrupted the key meeting of the foreign ministers of six mediators for Iran. The meeting was supposed to be held to discuss the passing of the fourth resolution of the UN Security Council, a spokesman for the General Assembly said. A US diplomat said that the ministers representing six countries participating in the talks for the solution of the Iranian nuclear program were supposed to gather in New York. However, Russia considered the meeting inappropriate. Neither Russia, nor China were ready to start the discussion of another decision requiring the introduction of sanctions against Iran. The US official said...

Excerpt - All flights in Pakistan have been suspended after a major security alert at Islamabad airport, according to reports. The country's civil aviation authority is said to have instituted a state of emergency. A huge search is underway at Islamabad airport after a phone call saying the building would be blown up at 12.40pm local time (7.40pm UK time), say local TV reports. ~ snip ~

In Washington these days, an 11-figure expenditure barely attracts notice. With Congress preoccupied with the massive, $700 billion bailout plan for the financial industry, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have finally secured Part One of their own federal rescue plan. A bill set to be passed by Congress and signed by President Bush as early as this weekend—separate from the controversial Wall Street bailout plan—includes $25 billion in loans for the beleaguered Detroit automakers and several of their suppliers. "It seemed like a lot when we first started pushing this," says Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, one of the...

Excerpt - WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama and his team were caught off guard by John McCain's suspension of his campaign and his call to delay the first presidential debate so he could return to Capitol Hill to work on the financial crisis -- just as they were surprised when McCain tapped little-known Sarah Palin as his running mate. The Obama team has not figured out yet that McCain is waging an asymmetrical campaign, meaning at times he will take a risky, counterintuitive course, just as he did on Wednesday. The Obama campaign is very smart, but in the closing weeks...

Kazakhstan’s government stepped in to help its banks on Wednesday by promising to buy up $6bn in bad loans to help them in the deteriorating financial climate. In a move similar to the US government’s $700bn rescue plan, the government will create a fund to mop up toxic assets that are destabilising the banking system. The liquidity squeeze has put Kazakhstan’s 36 banks under pressure as assets on their books have fallen in value and their ability to roll over bonds and loans has been curtailed by deteriorating credit conditions. The banks, many of them highly leveraged, have an estimated...

Bearish "short sales" of shares of Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. and insurance giant American International Group jumped in the first two weeks of September, leading up to the latest credit crisis that drove Lehman to file for bankruptcy protection and forced a federal rescue of AIG. Washington Mutual Inc. also remained a big target of short sellers. The data, in the regular biweekly short-interest report from the New York Stock Exchange released Wednesday, will give more ammo to people who believe short sellers have been trying to orchestrate the demise of major financial firms. Of course, the numbers don’t prove...

It looks hilarous, all FREEPERS should attend and bring family and friends.