Free Republic

Warren E. Buffett is emerging as the banker of choice to the embattled blue-chip companies of American business. Mr. Buffett, the billionaire investor, announced on Wednesday that he would invest $3 billion in General Electric, the industrial giant that is also the nation’s largest nonbank financial company. The move comes eight days after he said he would invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs.

The economic crisis will not stop President-elect Barack Obama from expanding health care, overhauling education and energy policy, and passing a middle-class tax cut soon after he takes office in January, senior aides said on Sunday. *snip* These include extending heath care to the nation's 47 million uninsured, reducing U.S. reliance on foreign oil, and improving public education, Podesta said.

About a year ago Stephen Moore, Peter Tanous and I set about writing a book about our vision for the future entitled "The End of Prosperity." Little did we know then how appropriate its release would be earlier this month. Financial panics, if left alone, rarely cause much damage to the real economy, output, employment or production. Asset values fall sharply and wipe out those who borrowed and lent too much, thereby redistributing wealth from the foolish to the prudent. This process is the topic of Nassim Nicholas Taleb's book "Fooled by Randomness." David GothardWhen markets are free, asset values...

Various level-headed economic pundits have opined that the $700 billion Bailout cannot possibly succeed. It rescues the gold-plated and wafer-thin layer of malefactors instead of growing jobs, income and solvency for the middle class. It’s too little, too late, and vastly too much, most of it wasted. And the Bailout approaches $2 trillion now. Except for dedicated pros, it’s impossible to keep tab on its total size anymore. It grows by several hundred billion dollars every week, in every sphere of economic activity. The latest at this time is a $150 billion tranche of jobless benefits, money for food stamps...

Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I have friends and colleagues whom I respect deeply who are on all sides of this bailout issue. One of them just spoke. We all to want do what is right for America, and I believe those who have crafted this plan had pure and noble motives. They want this country to succeed. They want prosperity. I just do not believe that this bill gets the job done. In fact, in the long term, I am convinced it will do more harm than good. We are the Nation that has been called the bastion of freedom,...