Free Republic

Once hot-selling Barack Obama souvenirs are marked down to remainder-table prices at a drugstore near the Kenwood home he owns but has barely visited since becoming president a year ago this week. That's not a reflection of disenchantment with Obama in his old South Side stomping grounds, but rather the sobering realities of time, distance and enormously elevated responsibilities. "He's president of the United States, not mayor of Chicago," said Peter Flemister, a retired attorney at a diner in Hyde Park the other day. "He's got a financial crisis, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, health care. I'd rather he stay...

Here is video of Billionaire Warren Buffet in an interview with CNBC today saying in an interview that the U.S. Economy has "fallen off a cliff." Buffet says he has seen more drastic changes in American consumers than at any time in his lifetime. He believes the fear Americans have has changed their spending habits, and that will not be altered quickly. Buffet said the core of the problem goes back to the belief that housing prices could only go up and never down, a belief he said everyone had - including himself. Buffet said this economic disaster will end,...