Free Republic

In contemporary lexicon, few terms have been reduced to shopworn tatters more than “fascist,” typically through mindless overuse against the current democratically elected occupant of the White House. To the degree that fascism references an economy corrupted by government collusion with private industry to enforce ideological conformity, however, efforts like “Operation Choke Point” targeting politically disfavored businesses actually merit that descriptor. In welcome news, however, Citigroup announced this month that it would no longer deny financial services to firearms retailers, moving the nation one step closer to an end of that execrable campaign. Americans expect government officials to protect our...

WHAT HAPPENED: Mexico’s government is defending three financial institutions accused by the U.S. Treasury Department of laundering cartel money and facilitating payments for fentanyl precursors to China. 👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Mexico’s Secretariat of Treasury and Public Credit (SHCP), the U.S. Department of the Treasury, CIBanco SA, Intercam SA, and Vector Casa De Bolsa. 📍WHEN & WHERE: Mexico’s SHCP issued a statement this week. 💬KEY QUOTE: “Financial facilitators like CIBanco, Intercam, and Vector are enabling the poisoning of countless Americans by moving money on behalf of cartels, making them vital cogs in the fentanyl supply chain.” — Secretary of the Treasury...

The official report of the House Select Committee, which runs to more than 800 pages, is too deeply biased to give much help. This was foreordained given the hyper-partisan way the Select Committee was formed. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s two Republican appointments to the committee—Representatives Jim Jordan and Jim Banks—and instead appointed two virulently anti-Trump Republicans, Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.More important than the report’s factual errors are the serious questions never investigated by the Select Committee. Why did Democrat congressional leaders turn down repeated offers of National Guard troops to protect the...

It was a typical December night in Moscow. The cold was biting, the snow thick and dry. In the Federal Security Service's headquarters on Lubyanskaya Ploshchad, hundreds of intelligence officers met as they did every year to celebrate the founding of the Cheka, the Soviet secret police. Champagne glasses tinkled as the officers spoke in jubilant tones. Classical music played softly in the background. The hall grew quiet as Vladimir Putin -- the former FSB director who had been appointed prime minister a few months earlier -- stood to speak. "Dear comrades," Putin said. "I would like to announce to...

Digital payments network Zelle has shut down its mobile app as of April 1st. This has come as a result of very few customers using the app to make payments, instead using Zelle through their bank or credit union.As a result of the change, customers of Zelle will now only be able to make payments via a financial institution that offers it. The company was launched in 2017 and is available in over 2,200 U.S. financial institutions.Although Zelle’s main reason for shutting down its app is because of lack of use, the move could also be seen as an attempt...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose. Promoting financial integrity and operational efficiency are critical responsibilities of the Federal Government. The Federal Government processes trillions of dollars annually in disbursements to individuals, businesses, and organizations, and in receipts from taxes, fees, and other payments to finance daily and long-term Government operations. These transactions flow into and out of the United States General Fund (General Fund), which might be thought of as America’s bank account. In Fiscal Year 2024, $33.9 trillion...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose. The continued use of paper-based payments by the Federal Government, including checks and money orders, flowing into and out of the United States General Fund, which might be thought of as America’s bank account, imposes unnecessary costs; delays; and risks of fraud, lost payments, theft, and inefficiencies. Mail theft complaints have increased substantially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Historically, Department of the Treasury checks are 16 times more likely to be reported lost or...

President Donald Trump's tariff plans have prompted some of the largest banks in the U.S. and Britain to fly gold bars from London to New York City on commercial flights. Trump's plans to impose tariffs on U.S. trading partners – including a reciprocal tariff regime that's expected to be formalized by early April and tariffs on the European Union he hasn't yet detailed – have spurred banks to relocate their gold reserves. That move has been driven by a price differential between gold sold in London and New York – The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the prices...

Why is Elon Musk supporting Ron Paul leading an audit of The Federal Reserve such a big deal? Because The Fed has NEVER had a full audit, or full disclosure of monetary policy decisions Example: The Fed got caught doing HALF A TRILLION in swaps overseas with no oversight Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was even questioned about giving this half a trillion in swaps to the central banks overseas: No one gave the approval and he says he doesn’t need approval, “We have a longstanding legal authority to do swaps with other central banks — It's not an emergency...

By debanking conservatives, JPMorgan and Bank of America may be “debanking” themselves, On The Money has learned. It all stems from a raft of bad publicity that began with President Trump’s statements in Davos a couple of weeks ago, accusing the nation’s No. 1 and No. 2 banks of canceling accounts of conservatives. It continued with Wednesday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing on the matter. The result: Some customers began to flee the big guys, and at least one beneficiary has been to a small online bank that is beginning to make a name for itself in conservative circles by claiming...

Government consumer watchdog claims Capital One misled consumers.. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is suing Capital One, alleging the bank illegally misled customers by not notifying them of account options that paid higher interest rates. The federal government's consumer watchdog claims Capital One's practices meant millions of customers missed out on a collective $2 billion they could have made in interest payments. ... CFPB accused Capital One of promising depositors that their 360 Savings account provided one of the nation's "top," "best" and "highest" interest rates but froze their rate at just 0.30% even as deposit rates rose nationwide....

Big bank profits surged in the fourth quarter and Wall Street roared back to life, with net income rising 50% at JPMorgan Chase and more than doubling at Goldman Sachs. The banks benefited as big corporate clients grew optimistic about the economy and the incoming Trump administration, spurring a return to dealmaking, fundraising and trading. Via Double Pedestal Executive Bowfront L Shaped Desk - 72"W Matte Cherry Laminate/Soft Black Office Desk For Ergonomic Working And PC Use National Business Furniture

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation gave a fresh deadline of Feb. 10 to BlackRock to resolve an issue regarding oversight into the asset manager’s investments in FDIC-regulated banking organizations, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter. The FDIC may open an investigation into BlackRock and demand more information from the company if it fails to make sufficient progress toward resolving the issues, the report said. The move by the FDIC follows a Jan. 10 deadline that BlackRock failed to meet, according to the report. snip BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street now collectively control some...

CNN’s Kyung Lah talks to members of an extended family who all live in Altadena, California, and who say they feel helpless about what to do next after losing their homes in the wildfires.

The lame duck Biden administration’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a rule in December to curb overdraft penalties in what experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation is an example of government overreach that will ravage low-income Americans. The CFPB — an agency that is considered the brainchild of Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — finalized the rule just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, with the aim of forcing banks to either cap overdraft fees at $5, far less than the $35 average, or to provide the overdraft as a form of credit rather than a penalty....

In a government full of nasty, obnoxious and extra-legal regulatory initiatives to harass the people, the effort to regulate “money laundering” out of existence has to rank at the top. The basic idea is for the government to require all banks to become involuntary deputies of law enforcement to spy on their customers behind their backs, so that the bureaucrats can gain access to detailed information on what every single person is doing all the time. And thus will all criminality be stomped out! In the real world, what anti-money laundering (AML) regulation means is that the government gains vast...

“…as a condition of participating in the modern economy, Americans are forced to disclose details of their private lives to a financial industry that has been too eager to pass this information along to federal law enforcement.”A report from the House Judiciary Committee and Government Weaponization Subcommittee exposed the FBI for abusing the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) to spy on Americans’ bank accounts without a warrant. “Documents show that federal law enforcement increasingly works hand-in-glove with financial institutions, obtaining virtually unchecked access to private financial data and testing out new methods and new technology to continue the financial surveillance of...

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Tuesday that the federal government has been weaponized to spy on Americans' bank accounts and financial transactions. "We know in 2023 [that] 14,000 different individuals in the government [about] three million times in one year......14,000 individuals did over three million searches of this database of information on Americans banking habits," Jordan said on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. Last week the House Judiciary Committee issued a report that detailed how the federal government had unchecked access to private financial data of everyday Americans. "The FBI has manipulated the Suspicious Activity...

In a move that’s left self-employed workers scratching their heads, the Spanish tax office, Hacienda, has dropped a bombshell: banks will have to report every single payment made to self-employed clients, even those under the previous €3,000 threshold. The unexpected measure slipped quietly into a royal decree that also tweaks corporate tax rates for multinationals, which means the taxman will have eyes on transactions of any amount, whether through traditional methods or modern mobile systems like the popular Bizum. The €3,000 rule is no more For years, banks only raised the alarm for transactions over €3,000. As José María Peláez,...

Incoming First Lady Melania Trump opened up about the persecution she’s endured since leaving the White House in 2021. Trump shared her experience with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo in an Oct. 7 interview. Trump said the persecution began as soon as President-elect Donald Trump announced his decision to run for president in 2015 but that it continued after leaving the White House. ... She recounted a time that a bank — not a branch but an entire company — dropped her as a customer. “The bank suddenly informed me they will not be able to do business with me anymore,”...