Free Republic

Democrats led by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are still complaining that bankers did not go to jail for the 2008 banking crisis. That is despite, as previously written about in this column, the crux of the problem was the federal government. Likewise, that is despite the fact the government let well-connected Democrat Jon Corzine slide for actual crimes at MF Global Holdings, also previously written about. Yet they nailed Eric Bloom with highly questionable charges and conduct at trial by the prosecution.After a four-week trial and only three hours of deliberation by the jurors, Eric Bloom, CEO of Sentinel...

In the classic movie “History of the World Part 1,” Mel Brooks famously said, “It’s good to be the king!” He was playing King Louis XVI, the French monarch who eventually lost his head over his excesses while the people suffered. Democrats enjoy acting like they are the peasants in the modern-day version of that struggle, but nothing could be further from the truth. Although they may talk a good game, “Let them eat cake” is their mantra … only, since they seek to control everything we do, including what we eat, it’s sugar-free carrot cake. Corruption starts at the...

Monday’s trading will be the first opportunity stock investors in the U.S. will have to act on a major technical violation that occurred at Friday’s close: The breaking of the 200-day moving average. This could result in an avalanche of sell signals hitting the market at Monday’s open, since many technical analysts use the 200-day moving average as the dividing line between bull and bear markets. They consider the primary trend to be up so long as the market is trading above its 200-day moving average, and that this trend turns to bearish whenever the market closes below this average—and...

It took less than two hours from the time President Barrack Obama signed the new financial regulation bill before word of the latest unintended consequence hit the news wires. According to a report at Bloomberg, which you can read by clicking here, the new law may "flash freeze" the nation's credit markets. Moodys Investment Services, Standard and Poors, and Fitch Ratings have already told the Wall Street Journal that they are not going to allow underwriters to cite their ratings in bond-registration documents. Rumor has it that Experian, Equifax and TransUnion are considering prohibiting lenders from using their credit scores...

No, not just Greece - all of Europe. Without Congressional authorization or notice, of course. Or if you prefer it on a one-year time scale.... That nice little vertical line is a gain of $421.8 billion dollars of outstanding loans and leases in one week's time. WHERE THE HELL DID THAT MONEY GO AND WHAT COLLATERAL WAS TAKEN AGAINST A FOUR HUNDRED BILLION DOLLAR INCREASE IN OUTSTANDING LOANS?You won't find anything like that in the records - because it's never happened before. That's beyond unprecedented, it's ridiculous, and assuming it's also accurate, someone has some 'splaining to do on what...

The sharks are circling closer to Morgan Stanley. Shares of the financial behemoth sank 26% Thursday as concern escalated among investors about its future. Morgan Stanley depends on heavy borrowing and holds risky securities. The stock has plunged 77% this year to a 10-year low. Hedge-fund clients have pulled nearly 40% of their money from the firm in recent weeks. The cost of protecting against a Morgan Stanley default has surged. The firm can't issue new debt Morgan Stanley is hoping to ease the pressure with a planned $9 billion investment in the firm by Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial...

Asian markets take a beating straight out of the gate Tuesday as fears that the credit crisis will spark a global recession spur heavy selling. The Nikkei at one point, dropped below 10,000, a level not seen since December 2003. The Nikkei 225 Average [JP;N225 10094.57 -378.52 (-3.61%)] dived to a five-year low shedding as much as 5 percent and sliding below 10,000 for the first time since December 2003 on growing fears over the global economy and a sharply stronger yen. ... Seoul shares fell 1.5 percent on deepening worries about the global credit crisis, sending exporting and banking...

September is the cruellest month Gerard Baker: American View For financial markets, if not for poets, September is the cruellest month. It may only be curious coincidence, but the durability and reliability of the September Curse is striking. Since 1929, US stock prices have declined in September on average by more than in any other month - down by 1.2 per cent, compared with a gain of 0.6 per cent for all months of the year. And, in case you were wondering, that's not because the average of all those 80 Septembers has been driven lower by one or two...