Free Republic

Federal limits on debit card processing fees will force banks to charge customers more for services, making accounts too expensive for as many as 5 percent of customers, JPMorgan Chase & Co's chief executive said on Friday. The rules, proposed as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, would cap the fees that merchants pay banks for processing debit card transactions at 12 cents each. That is almost 75 percent less than the average 44 cents per transaction that banks get now. U.S. banks could lose about $13 billion of their annual industry debit processing revenues because of the rules,...

When the government regulates how much water a toilet can flush, or what kind of lightbulbs you can put in your table lamps at home, the Constitution looks pretty small in the rear view mirror. Exactly where in the Constitution does it say that it is the government's business how much water my toilet is flushing or what kind of lightbulb illuminates my household? But the busybodies in the environmental movement have folks convinced of a lot of things that just aren't so. Remember the campaign that passed the lightbulb bill? The holier-than-thou greenies told us that if we only...

The fact that groups of people typically choose to expel selfish individuals is no surprise. But new research suggests such troops often want to kick out generous members as well. This counterintuitive behavior could be rooted in how such giving people make others feel bad, or simply in how they stand out from the crowd, researchers suggest. [snip] Why we dislike competence These new findings fit in with past studies revealing that people often dislike exceptional competence or offers of help. This might stem from a competitive desire to do at least as well as whoever is setting the standard,...

A week from today, one in 10 New Yorkers who use debit cards will be red-faced at a retail checkout counter when their cards are declined. That's because Aug. 15 is the kickoff day for new federal rules requiring existing bank and credit union customers to opt in for debit-card and ATM overdraft coverage -- a massive change in banking regulation that many consumers have ignored or failed to notice. The choice for customers is this: Opt in to overdraft coverage, meaning you can use your debit card even if you overdraw your account, but pay a $20-$30 penalty every...

I get asked by readers all the time: how can you go from left to right at such a rapid fire pace? Were you a conservative all along? Are you just yanking our chain; you're really still a liberal in conservative clothing? Great question. This is a topic I ponder daily. Now that I look back, I had the seeds of both a conservative and a liberal in me all along. On the liberal side: I was raised a secular Jew, and, for some God forsaken reason, most of us are Democrats. My upbringing lacked meaning and substance, which propelled...

The Subprime home mortgage collapse...a Primer. It's ALL about the CRA of 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977 - This required banks to offer credit throughout their entire market area for “underserved” populations and small businesses. The CRA gave incentives to help low income borrowers become “home owners”. Liberals call this group “low income borrowers”. Conservatives call them a RISK!The CRA was passed by the Carter administration. In 1995 the Clinton administration authorized subprime loans under the CRA. Democrats added these provisions for the securitization of subprime loans and then ENFORCED the lending to high risk individuals. By 2000,...

'Nanny State' is the name given to government policies that treat adults like children and try to protect people from every possible harm or offense, especially from their own choices. Ultimately, it is about control, as shown in David Harsanyi's new book, Nanny State, which compiles numerous examples of what he terms the "tyranny of the busybody." The book's wide range and satiric tone are indicated by its long subtitle: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish Moralists, and Other Boneheaded Bureaucrats Are Turning America Into a Nation of Children. Harsanyi, a columnist for the Denver Post, breaks up his chapters...

This Halloween night Capital Research Center wants to remind you that scary organizations like The Center for Science in the Public Interest don’t want you or your children to enjoy a night of sugar-filled fun. Instead CSPI (website: www.cspi.org), a non-profit food watchdog group, wants you to hand out “spooky plastic rings” and “temporary tattoos” in lieu of Baby Ruths or Crunch Bars thereby ensuring the arrival of some fresh toilet paper in your tree by tomorrow morning. (See CSPI’s press release in PDF form at http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/halloween.pdf.) The creepy CSPI recommends that parents have their children “save 5 treats to...

I was willing to entertain the thought of you as a refreshing, charming, surprising second-tier candidate whose eloquence and wit would serve the party well (although trashing the Club for Growth was really pushing it). But a national smoking ban? You're not running a health spa; it's a country, and you will never win friends in North Carolina talking like that. These big-time pound-shedders cum health nuts. You applaud them as they get healthy, but be careful putting them in power-- they'll take your food and other vices away from you quick as look at you. Because they know what's...

People around the country accused Denver on Monday of embracing a "crackpot" scheme to fight global warming after the city's plan drew widespread attention on the Internet. The reaction was to a Rocky Mountain News story that detailed some of the proposals in Denver's Climate Action Plan, which aims to cut the city's output of gas emissions linked to global warming. The plan includes several controversial ideas, including making residents who use large amounts of electricity and natural gas pay higher utility fees, boosting insurance rates for people who drive long distances and mandating that homes be energy efficient before...

Kismayo - Islamic religious police on Tuesday arrested 22 people for smoking in the Somali port of Kismayo, where they will be flogged if found guilty of violating a new tobacco ban, officials said. Those detained were nabbed just days after local Islamist officials announced a total ban on the use of tobacco in the key southern port, in a new sign of their increasingly strict application of Sharia law. "We started raids against tobacco users and we have arrested 22 people so far," Kismayo police deputy chief Mohmaed Abdulkadir Jibril told reporters here, about 500km south of the capital...

WAPATO, Yakima County — Heinz Humann was late this year. Later than he's ever been. His workers finished thinning out apple and pear trees to prepare for the harvest in mid-August. But they should have been finished a month earlier. The past few months, it's been tough for Humann to find enough workers for what he can afford to pay. He's had plenty of work, he says. But it seems there's no one willing to do it. Add to that the other issues that hurt his bottom line, such as taxes and environmental regulations, and "I can see the writing...

U2 made more money than any other touring band in the first half of 2005. The Irish rockers pulled in more than $48 million in six months with an average ticket price of $96. So, naturally, I was a little suspicious when Bono, U2's lead singer, told me he didn't want my money. Bono said he wanted my "voice" to join the chorus of youngsters gyrating around the world at Live 8 performances leading up to the Group of Eight Summit representing the world's wealthiest nations. He and Bob Geldof, a fellow rocker and organizer of Live 8, were all...

<p>What a pile of crap Live 8 turned out to be. I tried to watch it, but I couldn't make it happen.</p> <p>My wretching began when Will Smith showed his stupid face onscreen. He begged us all to make a difference, because "every 3 seconds, someone dies from starvation in Africa." Bullshit!!!!!!!!!! Has anyone done the math on this lie? I have. That would amount to 10, 521,000 deaths PER YEAR from starvation. That's based on a continental population of 850 million. That's about 1 1/2% of the population dying from starvation. If this were the case, it would stop itself when it reached it's fulcrum, which it would do quickly.</p>

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Our war against terror is in trouble now. Lawyers from some of our most prestigious law firms are trundling down to Guantanamo Bay to represent detainees. If any group in America can bring a project to foozle it would be a group of American lawyers intent on humanitarian service. It is only a matter of time before a new Ramsey Clark Jr. emerges to fill American courts with bogus legal charges to stoke international anti-Americanism. Then accomplished poseurs such as the Clintons and Jean-Francois Kerry can chirp about how the whole world is increasingly hostile to us....

On Saturday, April 2 at 11:00 pm and Sunday, April 3 at 6:30 am ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do-Gooders: How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim to Help (and the Rest of Us) Mona Charen Watch Description: Mona Charen discusses her book, "Do-Gooders: How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim to Help (And the Rest of Us)," at the Union League Club in New York City. Ms. Charen asserts that liberal public policy has worsened numerous domestic social problems. Specifically, she argues that a lenient approach to criminal justice has led to higher crime rates and that liberal politicians routinely exploit racial divisions for political gain....

SEATTLE -- The parents of a 23-year-old activist killed while trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home is suing Caterpillar Inc., the company that made the bulldozer that ran over her. The federal lawsuit, which lawyers said would be filed here Tuesday, alleges that Caterpillar violated international and state law by providing specially designed bulldozers to Israeli Defense Forces that it knew would be used to demolish homes and endanger people. Rachel Corrie, a student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, was standing in front of a home in a refugee camp in Rafah, near the Egyptian...

Listen While You Freep! All programs are replayed for 23 hours and again on weekends so tune in when it’s convenient for YOU! Call In Number - 866-884-TALK (8255) Heating the EDGE of a New Media! 1pm EST - THE BUZZ CUT - "Do-Gooders and Useful Idiots!" Nobody has her finger more on the pulse of the liberal movement (much to their chagrin) than New York Times bestselling author Mona Charen. From Washington DC to Hollywood, from major news organizations to leading universities, liberal do-gooders are convinced that they know what's best for America's poor and working classes--Charen refuses to...

Despairing elderly victim killed himself after being raided by thieves for the third time A frail RAF veteran was driven to suicide after his home was burgled for the third time. Herbert Buckland, 84, was afraid to leave his house or even open his front door after being robbed by doorstep conmen twice last year. When he came face-to-face with burglars for the third time, Mr Buckland apparently decided that enough was enough. He told relatives that the world was no longer a place he wanted to live in. Three days later he was found hanged in the bungalow that...

PUBLICATION: National Post DATE: 2005.01.26 BYLINE: David Rennie SOURCE: The Daily Telegraph DATELINE: BRUSSELS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------- Judge allows robber to deduct gun ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------- BRUSSELS - A Dutch court has allowed a bank robber to claim the $3,200 cost of the pistol used in the hold-up as a legitimate business expense. The 46-year-old bank robber was permitted to set the cost of the gun against his gross proceeds of $10,575, gained during his raid on a bank in the southern town of Chaam. The judge at Breda criminal court duly reduced his fine by the same amount, in addition to...