Free Republic

Good for Mayor Eric Adams for suing the Campaign Finance Board over its outrageous, undemocratic bid to rig the mayoral race against him. Even if he doesn’t receive timely justice, he’s at least helping expose a system that needs drastic reform or even complete elimination. Hizzoner wants the board to fork over $5 million in matching funds he argues it has unfairly denied him. The board’s “conduct is unconstitutional and the height of arbitrary and capricious governmental action,” Adams’ filing states. “The agency must be held to account for its pernicious conduct.” Damn straight. The board first began withholding funds...

Homebuyers are gaining power in much of the country. Just not in the wealthy, pricey East Coast.Consensus is growing among economists that home prices will flatline or even fall on a national level in 2025 as the housing market spends a third year stuck in a deep slump. But those national trends mask a housing market that looks increasingly fractured, with prices rising in many cities in the Northeast and Midwest, and falling in parts of the Southeast and Mountain West.In the stretch of cities between Richmond, Va., and Portland, Maine, homes are still selling at almost as frenetic a...

In this episode of The Real Eisman Playbook, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gretchen Morgenson discusses her career in investigative journalism, focusing on the dark side of Wall Street, the AIG scandal, and the financial crisis. She highlights the role of private equity in modern finance and its impact on various industries, including healthcare. Morgenson emphasizes the importance of exposing corporate fraud and the need for accountability in the financial sector.

What Happened: According to an iShares MSCI World ETF (NYSE:URTH) chart, tracking the MSCI World Index shared by Barchart, global stocks have formed a “Golden Cross” for the first time since January 2023.

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...

On May 29, 2025, a bipartisan group of members in the House of Representatives from the Financial Services and Agriculture Committees introduced the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act. The bill seeks to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets in the United States, with regulatory jurisdiction primarily split between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The U.S. Congress is in the thick of its crypto efforts this week, with the Senate starting on final votes to approve its first-ever crypto bill. The U.S. Senate has easily passed its first significant vote 68-30 toward final approval of the GENIUS Act to regulate U.S. stablecoin issuers. The vote makes final passage of the bill a near certainty, marking the first major crypto bill to pass in the U.S. Senate, which had been the bottleneck for crypto efforts in past years. The House of Representatives has also made significant strides in advancing a crypto market structure bill, with...

In the olden days, the world was run on a feudal system. There were a handful of mostly inter-related nobles who lived in palaces, wore fancy clothes, and ate sumptuous food. They were served by a large class of serfs who did the unpleasant things like digging latrines, plowing fields, slaughtering animals, tanning leather, and all of the other work needed for the nobles to live in luxury. In return, the nobles kept the serfs from starving but generally oppressed them and sometimes did so gratuitously for their own amusement. Serfs had no rights and very little money and were...

Canada’s national debt has reached a point where the entire Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue is now being used to cover interest payments. Every dollar collected from GST is funneled directly to bondholders, leaving nothing for essential government services. The numbers are staggering. In the last fiscal year, $55 billion was collected in GST, and $55 billion was paid out in interest on government debt. The Bank of Canada holds 20 percent of these bonds, meaning it is effectively paying itself interest on the debt it owns. This raises serious concerns about the sustainability of Canada’s fiscal policy. When...

It's absolutely amazing where the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) finds taxpayer money and how it gets there. The Daily Wire has been investigating a small USAID-linked organization that described itself to Congress as "a low-overhead charity sending its money to Africans." But the African Development Foundation was actually a grifter's paradise, siphoning taxpayer money in the name of charity and sending it to friends and cronies in Africa and the U.S. Mathieu Zahui, Foundation's chief financial officer, became something of a left-wing hero when Elon Musk and DOGE showed up for an audit. Bravely, Mr. Zahui stood up and...

Eric Trump talks to World Liberty Financial’s Zach Witkoff and Tron creator Justin Sun about how the institutional banks will be left ‘in the dust’ if they fail to embrace crypto. On May 1 during Token2049’s fireside chat session, Eric Trump opened up about how he and his family were “canceled” by the modern financial system, which led him to discover the world of cryptocurrency. “Modern finance is absolutely broken. And so when the banks came after our family, I’ll never forget it, we became the most canceled people in the world all because we’re associated with politics in the...

Mesquite ISD’s $600 Million Bond Would Cost $1.1 Billion With Interest School district property taxpayers are already on the hook for $979 million in bond debt principal and interest. Yet the district’s bond marketing claims the billion-dollar debt will have minimal impact on Mesquite ISD taxpayers, who are already on the hook for $979 million in outstanding bond debt principal and interest. All this while only 42% of the district’s 38,000 students meet or exceed grade levels across all subjects

Once again, Zillow has downgraded its 12-month forecast for national home prices. On Wednesday, Zillow economists published their updated forecast model, projecting that U.S. home prices, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index, will fall 1.7% between March 2025 and March 2026. Back in March, Zillow downgraded its 12-month outlook for U.S. home prices to +0.8%. In February, Zillow downgraded its 12-month outlook to +1.1%. And at the start of the year in January, Zillow’s 12-month national home price forecast was +2.9%. Why does Zillow keep downgrading its national home price outlook? | Fast Company Newsletters “The rise in...

A federal judge threw out a U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule Tuesday that capped all credit card late fees at $8. U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas approved a joint motion from a coalition of six business and banking groups, including the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the CFPB to scrap the rule, which was established last year. The ABA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were among the plaintiffs that challenged the rule in U.S. District Court for Northern Texas, arguing the bureau exceeded its statutory authority....

As usual with Perun, a backgrounder of financing, politico-bureaucratic issues, current political situation, etc. Lots and lots of considerations addressed. Including, note, interesting specific issues with upgrading the UK nuke arsenal. An excellent start of a framework for slotting in incoming news. Long but essential. Short answer is the Euros have the money, resources and industry, to remove reliance on the US. And interestingly PPP diversity, where efficiencies can be found for specific categories that are not available to the rich countries.

Ok so I paid a Vanity tax to ask this stupid question. Don't come at me with "Oh you shouldn't ask strangers on the internet for advice". Is there a better and more trustworthy brain trust than FReepers? I don't think so. This is just an intro, I know I'll have more questions. I called one of Dave Ramsey's money guys, and we've had 2 meetings so far. Kinda weird. I'm not a huge Ramsey fan but figured it was a place to start. I get the feeling they are on a script and don't deviate. Plug in $$ and...

Making Financial Mistakes is a natural part of life. Everyone does it, from young children to experienced adults. There’s no need to feel ashamed or embarrassed when you make a mistake. Instead, view it as an opportunity to learn and grow. After all, making mistakes is how you become better at everything you do. -Not Saving For Retirement -Borrowing Money From Your 401k -Spending More Than You Earn -Not Having Enough Insurance -Investing In Risky Stocks Or Schemes -Not Having An Emergency Fund -Taking Out Loans You Can’t Afford To Repay -Marrying The Wrong Person -Avoid These Financial Mistakes At...

Trump Derangement Syndrome has morphed into a new mental health condition. Progressives now also have Musk Derangement Syndrome. Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar isn’t mincing words: “This is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like.” Others are huffing that Elon Musk is leading “a corporate coup.” Yes, a coup against big fat bureaucratic government. Now, Red State governors and legislatures are taking a page from DOGE’s playbook and creating their own state versions. In Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt has created DOGE-OK to transform the state’s outdated information systems. In New Hampshire, Gov. Kelly Ayotte has created a “Commission on Government Efficiency”...

longtime gatopal™ jeffrey tucker had a terrifying and illuminating piece in the epoch times today: apparently, the rage and indignation emanating from all manner of statists, deep and shallow alike, about DOGE penetrating the holy sanctum of “the treasury payables” so that they could see, in its entirety, where the money actually goes may (apart from all the corruption it’s exposing like blacklight on a hotel bedspread) have quite a lot to do with a truly wild fact that was not known to me: did you know that since 1946 no president nor any of his appointed staff of secretaries...

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...