Free Republic

Newt Gingrich made headlines in October because he suggested that Barney Frank and Chris Dodd should go to jail for authoring the so-called Dodd-Frank banking reforms. Taken together the “landmark” reforms look a lot like an Obama speech: very wordy, very partisan, but full of inaction, cross-purposes and the typical liberal confusion about economics, society and man. The legislation crafted by Dodd and Frank has reformed none of the systemic failures in our banking system, but it sure has made it harder for banks to loan money, or for you and me to buy a house. Much of the failure...

For many years, I’ve been a fan of Warren Buffett’s long term approach to value investing. Understanding the value of a company, regardless of its momentary stock price, is a great long term investing strategy. But it pains me whenever I read commentary from Buffett that glosses over reality or is somehow self-serving. His OpEd in the NYT today – Pretty Good for Government Work – paints an artificially rosy picture of the Bailout, ignores the negatives, and omits his own financial interest in government actions. What might he have written if Sir Warren was dosed with some sodium pentothal...

AP IMPACT: Dodd, Conrad told deals were sweetened By LARRY MARGASAK WASHINGTON – Despite their denials, influential Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were told from the start they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the nation's largest lenders, the official who handled their loans has told Congress in secret testimony. Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn't know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide Financial Corp., the company that went on to lose billions of dollars on home loans to credit-strapped borrowers. Dodd still maintains he got...

Senate Banking committee Chairman Christopher Dodd told CNN’s Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer Wednesday that he was responsible for adding the bonus loophole into the stimulus package that permitted AIG and other companies that received bailout funds to pay bonuses.

Senator Barack Obama quickly issued a statement saying, “The juxtaposition of this N.I.E. with the president’s suggestion of World War III serves as an important reminder of what we learned with the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq,” said Senator Barack Obama Democrat of Illinois, in a statement. “Members of Congress must carefully read the intelligence before giving the president any justification to use military force.”

...Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) has emerged as the Senate's lead obstructionist, saying that Democrats will not invoke cloture... until the administration shares National Security Agency documents that Bolton handled in his position as undersecretary of state. Dodd declared, "This is now beyond Bolton. It is a question of whether or not the Senate should have a right to information pertaining to a nominee." Dodd's partisan view seems to have won over Joe Biden, top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — who had seemed ready, over the weekend, to concede that the nomination would go forward and a confirmation...