Free Republic

Elena Holodny December 16, 2014As Russia's currency crisis unfolds, Russians are scrambling to get their hands on US dollars. Even Russians working in the oil sector are rushing to trade their rubles in for dollars. A bank in Russia's Khanty-Mansiysk region — aka an area in Russia that produces approximately 51% of Russian oil — has completely run out of dollars, and is almost out of euros, reports Interfax. The bank still has rubles. "Basically, what this means is that people who work in the oil industry [in Khanty-Mansiysk] just got all of their money out of the bank in...

Under the Obama administration, embassy construction costs have exploded even while security – a major issue in the Benghazi scandal – has grown worse. Now we know why. A video released by the State Department in 2012 shows exhibits the philosophy behind a campaign begun under former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to build fancy buildings overseas to enhance the nation´s reputation. The video opens with a narrator explaining the “universally understood language of diplomacy” including “art, design and architecture” that “communicate our ideals...without speaking a word.” From there, a series of high-profile architects use embarrassingly flowery language to explain

July 04, 2014DailyWealth Dr. Steve Sjuggerud writes: So... if the dollar "dies"... what do you do with your money? In yesterday's DailyWealth, we looked at "The Coming Death of the Dollar." But we didn't cover what you should do with your money to protect yourself. In Jim Rickards' book, The Death of Money, he has five recommendations. More specifically, he has an asset allocation of five different investments that have stood the test of time in previous inflations and deflations. Jim says this portfolio should offer "an optimal combination of wealth preservation under conditions of inflation, deflation, and social unrest......

Financial newsletter writer, Dr. Jim Willie, thinks the Ukraine crisis is more of a financial war than a shooting war. Dr. Willie says, “A couple of months ago, I said, ‘Give it time and the whole nation would sink,’ and the Putin strategy would be to create a standoff militarily, maybe some skirmishes, but let the nation sink. It’s been raided of its gold and raided of its official government funds; and, now, the energy companies are in there doing fracking. I think what is happening now is we are starting to see the breakdown.” Dr. Willie, who holds a...

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who is worth millions of dollars according to her congressional financial disclosure statement, says Congress needs to tackle income inequality because it “poses an existential threat to our nation and our way of life.” […] According to her congressional financial disclosure statement for 2012, DeLauro is worth between $5 million and $25 million. …

Gross domestic product 2012, PPP (millions of Ranking Economy international dollars) 1 United States 15,684,800 2 China 12,470,982 3 India 4,793,414 4 Japan 4,490,681 5 Russian Federation 3,380,071 6 Germany 3,307,873 7 Brazil 2,365,779 8 France 2,354,874 9 United Kingdom 2,264,751 10 Mexico 2,015,281

In case you were wondering, the price tag for the war in Iraq could eventually top $6 trillion. Tuesday marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion, occupation and slugfest of Iraq, which, lest we forget, was begun in the name of protecting us from weapons of mass destruction that never existed. A study by Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies finds that the war has cost $1.7 trillion so far, with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans. Those costs could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next 40 years, the report concluded.

The directives on gun violence President Obama signed Wednesday were meant to seem harmless. A closer look at the president’s first memorandum reveals it to be a sneaky assault on congressional authority in order to fund gun-control propaganda. Getting this done has been on the White House “to do” list for some time. In his 2013 budget submission, Mr. Obama deleted the prohibition that has been in effect since 1995 on the use of federal funds to advocate or promote gun control. Mr. Obama is trying to steamroll the Democratic and Republican majorities that kept the ban intact by labeling...

This summer, friends and I took a cruise in Alaska where the tourist shops often featured the Russian matryoshka dolls.  The dolls originated in Japan but were made popular in Russia around the time of the Russian Revolution, a century ago.  You've seen them -- you pop open an outer doll, and nested inside is another.  The magic of the art is that you keep opening layer after layer, only to find another even smaller doll, until at last the final incarnation is just a kernel in size.  The successive dolls vary from near exact duplicates with hard-to-identify slight...

Liberal economist and Obama apologist Paul Krugman appeared on ABC's "This Week"

HIZBOLLAH VICTIMS BRING HISTORIC CIVIL SUIT AGAINST MEGA-BANK May 12, 2008 For Immediate Release VICTIMS OF HIZBOLLAH MISSILE ATTACKS BRING HISTORIC CIVIL ACTION AGAINST UBS IN NEW YORK FEDERAL COURT A group of American victims of Iranian sponsored terror have filed a civil action in the United States District Court for the Southern District against the Swiss mega-bank, UBS AG. The plaintiffs, all of whom had family members injured or killed in Iranian-backed terror attacks, allege that UBS' unlawful eight year-long provision of financial services to the Islamic Republic at the time Iran was providing material support to terrorist organizations...

Millions of dollars worth of federal contracts transformed Anita Talwar from a government accounting clerk into a wealthy woman — one who can afford a $2.8 million home in the Washington suburbs with its own elevator, wine cellar and Swarovski crystal chandeliers. Talwar, a 59-year-old immigrant from India, had no idea that she and her husband would amass a small fortune when she launched a company providing tech support to the federal government in 1987. But she shrewdly took advantage of programs for minority-owned small businesses and rode a boom in federal contracting. Talwar’s success — and that of hundreds...

Duane Brooks, Jr freely admits to scamming the government and tax payers by receiving money for rent but then keeping it for himself, on top of receiving aid for school, and living assistance too.

A mystery investor or hedge fund reportedly made a bet of almost $1billion at odds of 10/1 last month that the U.S. would lose its AAA credit rating. Now questions are being asked of whether the trader had inside information before placing the $850million bet in the futures market. There are mounting rumours that investor George Soros, 80, famously known as ‘the man who broke the Bank of England’, could be involved. He made more than $1billion on currency speculation when the British pound left the Exchange Rate Mechanism on Black Wednesday in 1992.

Leave Congress in disgrace? Collect one million dollarsThe Daily Caller Thu, Jul 28, 2011 Oregon Democratic Rep. David Wu is leaving Congress without his dignity — after donning a tiger costume and allegedly sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman — but he will have a generous congressional pension to ease the pain. According to the National Taxpayers Union, Wu stands to benefit from nearly $1 million in pension payments. And his case is far from unique. In fact, congressmen convicted of crimes — including former Reps. James Traficant of Ohio, William Jefferson of Louisiana and Duke Cunningham of California — can...

The profits that Delta Air Lines logically expects from its plans to work with Saudi Arabian Airlines on flights from New York and Washington to Jeddah are just a tip of the Shariah iceberg that is lurking for the ship of the United States, according to an expert in Islam and its influences on America. Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch and author of nearly a dozen books on Islam, including, "The Truth About Muhammad," told WND today that Muslims, especially those from Saudi Arabia, are moving with their monetary muscle into the United States to create an acceptance of...

Remember when the dollar reigned supreme, and nobody cared about that joke of a currency, the Chinese Renminbi? Neither do we. And neither does the CME, which just announced it is launching USD/CNY futures, which will be available in standard and E-micro sizes beginning August 22. Put otherwise, with one fell swoop the CME will now allow one to transform liability risk, credit and maturity of underlying assets from one currency to another, while on margin (granted, exposed to the same margin shenanigans that make silver bulls scream blood murder every time the CME's name is mentioned). And the CME...

Governor Butch Otter, in league with notorious Marxist, B. Hussein Obama, have hatched a plan to make Idaho the first Chinese owned state in America. Otter and company have named this Project 60. Sounds innocent enough, until you realize that Otter and his minions are afraid to call it what it is, globalization of America and surrender of sovereignty. If it were called that someone may want to charge Otter with sedition. Under B. Hussein Obama it has become increasingly difficult to do business in America, unless you are from a foreign nation. Idaho, under the stewardship of Governor Butch...

HOWARD DAVIDOWITZ: We're At The Edge Of A Dollar Crisis, The DOW Could Fall 6,000 Points Peter Gorenstein Mar. 25, 2011, 3:46 PM There's a distinct possibility the U.S. stock market could plunge as much as 6,000 points if the U.S. continues to rack up record amounts of debt, causing the dollar to lose its reserve currency status, says Daily Ticker favorite Howard Davidowitz. (See video below)(Click to the site to see the video) "The dollar has never been at greater risk," he tells Henry in the accompanying clip. Davidowitz is confident that if Washington doesn't cool its spending habits,...

Your tax dollars at work… The EPA is now paying the American Lung Association to attack Republicans The ALA put up four billboards like this one near Rep. Fred Upton’s office in Michigan. Upton is the House Energy and Commerce Chairman. (PlowShareGroup) The Environmental Protection Agency is paying the American Lung Association to run attack ads against Republican members of Congress. JunkScience.com reported: “The American Lung Association has targeted House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton for his efforts to stop U.S. EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions by placing billboards within sight of his district offices linking climate change...