Free Republic

The Greatest Economic Collapses In History Ben Duronio Jul. 3, 2012, 3:05 PM War and politics have been the focal point of the downfall of many dominant nations over the course of world history, but poor economic decisions have also led to countries falling, people dying from hunger, and revolutions changing the course of world history. Niall Ferguson's book, "The Ascent of Money" details the course of economic collapses. The further back the collapse, the less detail there is on the decisions made, the decision makers, and issues surrounding the decisions. But Ferguson does a great job of explaining in...

3 Must-See Charts For Anyone Who Thinks We're Going Into A Recession Joe Weisenthal Jul. 3, 2012, 3:25 PM Our friend Matt Busigin, who writes the blog Macrofugue, has sent us 3 brilliant charts that give some much-needed context to the recent economic data. What they do is look at the average progression of various datapoints in the 12 before a recession (black line) and compare that to the progression of that same datapoint right now (blue line). So for example, here's the average progression of YOY growth in auto sales in (black line) vs. the YOY growth in auto...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Midwest ranchers have never been enamored with environmental regulators, but they really began to complain after learning that federal inspectors were flying over their land to look for problems. The Environmental Protection Agency flies over power plants and other facilities nationwide to identify potential air, water and land pollution. It began using aerial surveillance in the Midwest in 2010 to check farms for violations of federal clean water regulations. Ranchers who object to the program said they're not trying to hide anything. It's the quiet approach the EPA took with the program designed to spot...

Mitch McConnell is in the headlines again for saying the odds are against those wanting repeal of Obamacare. “[I]t’s a lot harder to undo something than it is to stop it in the first place,” he said in part. For once, let’s give McConnell the benefit of the doubt and suggest he is talking about the present Congress, not the next Congress, though in actual context he seems to mean both. Let’s be charitable. The truth is, I don’t expect Republicans in Congress to be fully committed to repeal next year even if they have Mitt Romney in the White...

Recent tests conducted on Yasser Arafat's personal belongings at the time of his unexpected death in 2004 suggest his body contained abnormal levels of radioactive polonium, the same poisonous substance that killed Russian spy-turned-dissident Alexander Litvinenko, Al-Jazeera TV reports.

The massive western wildfires could have been avoided with intelligent forest management and less hysteria from the greens. As I write these lines, vast wildfires are sweeping through my home state of Colorado and other areas of the American west. Last week, two of my employees had to leave work early to rush home to evacuate their families from imminent danger. Hundreds of houses have already been destroyed, and thousands of acres of trees incinerated, and unknown myriads of wild animals burned alive. This disaster was predictable, and promises to get worse. Over the past decade, from British Columbia to...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A failure to avoid the “fiscal cliff” could slash the U.S. growth rate to under a 1% annual rate and risk harming the global economy, the International Monetary Fund said in a report released Tuesday. The fiscal cliff is Washington shorthand for current tax and spending plans, enacted in law when the debt ceiling was narrowly passed last summer, that would shrink the deficit by around 4% of gross domestic product in 2013. These policies “could reduce growth to well below 1%, with negative growth early next year and significant negative repercussions on an already fragile world...

WOLFEBORO, N.H. — It's a family tradition that spans a decade, as Mitt Romney's clan — all 30 of them — gathers at his New England lakeside compound for a week of home-cooked meals, sporting events and ice cream outings. Only this summer, things are a little different: The patriarch is the Republican candidate challenging President Barack Obama and there's a Secret Service detail in tow everywhere Romney goes. Nevertheless, the former Massachusetts governor is sticking to his routine. He attended Sunday church, let loose on Monday with a little jet skiing and on Monday night he was eating ice...

There have been some dull opuses here at FR. It’s no wonder they’re met with such contempt and ridicule by other Freepers. No one likes boring. We like to be entertained, for crying out loud! Opus people, if you’re going to write an opus, make it worth our while.

My first thread on Free Republic I asked if Mitt Romney would balance the budget, and the consensus was that he would not. That we should expect more of the same. So for this next one, I will ask more stuff which is important to me a fiscal free market conservative: Will Mitt Romney expand the role, size, and cost of government? I’m asking these questions about the deficit, and size of government because I don’t understand what the difference is so far between Obama and Romney, and not sure what the point is in replacing Obama with Romney if...

China is closely cooperating with the navies of Japan and India in patrolling against piracy off Somalia, a sign of the country’s greater willingness to work with other nations in safeguarding global trade despite mixed sentiments among Chinese toward the country’s main Asian rivals. Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force became the lead navy Sunday in the pact that allows the three to synchronize patrols and best allocate each country’s escort resources, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters at a briefing. Analysts say the escort pact is a sign of growing Chinese naval confidence that could reduce the chances of...

My sons school is transitioning to a charter school this school year and I don't know too much about charter schools. The advantages or disadvantages. I've been looking up information on the internet but I was hoping that maybe someone could tell me in plain English what Charter Schools are actually all about.

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Obamacare’s individual mandate on Thursday — and in fact dubbed it a tax in spite of the Obama administration’s denials — no one was more jubilant this past weekend than the recently hired agents at the Internal Revenue Service who get to keep their jobs, according to a law enforcement official in Washington, D.C. Their jobs are now safe and secure. Over the weekend, President Barack Obama’s minions swarmed the Sunday morning news shows arguing that Americans were not going to be taxed to raise money for Obamacare, yet reporters failed...

DETROIT (Talk Radio 1270) Congressman Hansen Clarke, D-13th District, was forced into an unusual position Wednesday, responding to allegations that he’s masquerading as black to get votes. Clarke is running for the newly redrawn 14th Congressional District, which includes Detroit, against two black women, Mary Waters and Brenda Lawrence, plus white men state Rep. Gary Peters and newcomer Bob Costello. Clarke joined one debate this election, a digital debate for CBSDetroit, then said he would no longer debate because the racial rhetoric was becoming overwhelming. A robocall allegedly went on in the district this week saying Clarke is “not black.”...

Last we checked, about half of Americans don’t pay income tax. Is it surprising then that so many Americans want to receive benefits paid for by income taxes? When a benefit is offered at little or no cost to the one receiving it, how many people have the strength of character to turn it down on principle? Yes, we know, some people are flummoxed by the mere raising of “principle” as a basis for turning down something of value provided at little or no cost to them. What principle might that be? Might we suggest independence? As opposed to dependence...

The Obama administration said Tuesday that Pakistan was reopening its supply lines into Afghanistan, after the U.S. belatedly issued an apology for the November killing of 24 Pakistani troops in a NATO airstrike. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed her condolences for the deaths in a telephone conversation with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. The incident badly damaged already strained relations between the two countries and forced the U.S. and its allies to send supplies via costlier northern routes into Afghanistan. "We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military," Clinton said in a statement, recounting...

Like so many teenagers, Jonathan Krohn says he cringes when he thinks of some of the deeply uncool things he said when he was 13. Unlike most teenagers, Krohn said those things on camera in a speech at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference, making him a YouTube sensation. Now? Krohn tells Politico's Patrick Gavin he's not a conservative anymore. He likes gay marriage and Obamacare.

An Atlanta man was arrested after stripping down to his underwear at a local driving range and threatening to eat people after ingesting bath salts, police said. Witnesses said that Karl Laventure came out of the woods at the Atlanta Golf Center and began screaming about religion, rapper Tupac Shakur and cannibalism. "Among other things, he was saying things like, ‘I'll eat you. I don't want to eat you but I will,'" Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Jake Smith, said. Police said that when they arrived, Laventure – who had stripped down to his underwear – came right at them.

In the days since the Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare, some Democrats and commentators in the press have suggested that Mitt Romney is declaring a “cease-fire” on the issue and will no longer make it a centerpiece of his campaign to defeat President Obama.

Newest 'cannibal': Karl Laventure apparently told police he wanted to eat their faces Laventure appeared out of some woods and was seen running naked around a golf range near Atlanta, swinging a club around his head and screaming. At first, they tried using pepper spray to stop him, but that left him undeterred. 'He didn't even wipe his eyes, he just kept them open,' They then turned to their Tasers and though that momentarily shocked Laventure to the ground, it did not stop him.Trouble: It took several police officers a significant amount of effort to subdue Karl Laventure when he...