Free Republic

With auto loan rates at historic highs, rising payments, and mounting consumer debt, the auto lending industry is facing an inflection point. With lenders continuing to tighten restrictions and some even deciding to leave the consumer auto loans market, the stage is set for what could become a full-blown auto loan debt crisis. But how impactful such a crisis would be and how the industry can navigate its way out remains to be seen.

Back in the old days — oh, before, say, 2021 — the annual general meetings of company shareholders were boring. Questions asked of management more or less uniformly oriented toward the financial condition of the firm and the variables affecting the values of the shareholders’ stakes. How is the firm dealing with exchange rate risk? Are any major assets of the firm underperforming, and what does management propose to do about it? Why are costs rising faster than revenues? How does management justify its ever-bigger bonuses, other than declining golf handicaps? After all, companies are supposed to be in business...

China will stop building coal-fired power projects in other countries, President Xi Jinping said yesterday in an announcement that's expected to accelerate the global shift away from fossil fuels. The pledge, made at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, comes as other industrialized nations are reversing economic policies that fueled the construction of coal plants outside of their borders, often in energy-deprived nations that are vulnerable to the effects of poverty and climate change. China's move shadows similar decisions by South Korea and top coal financiers in the Group of Seven (Climatewire, June 14). Yesterday's announcement was short on...

....I hope that industry moguls will realize what is waiting for them when liberals/commies win or cheat their way into power. What reward do they expect from the liberal/communist regime? To be elevated to President, Commissar for Information, or Czar of the Internet??? Let me tell you what happened in the past, to fools who helped the communists to get power. First the dumbest, most ignorant and obedient terrorist gets to power, he brings his buddies, into government. They start governing. First get rid of opposition, take over police and courts, populate the labor camps. Then they start consolidating power,...

One of the premier national unions for liberal outlets such as NBC News Digital, The Washington Post and The New York Times actually voted to request the government finance the news industry with taxpayer dollars. Surprisingly, it was The Times that released the story Sunday May 3. The article noted how the president of the “most prominent journalists’ union in the country, the NewsGuild, crossed a line that once seemed unimaginable: He asked the government for money.” Then came the kicker: “The guild’s leaders voted to request “‘public financing for journalism.’” NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss said that “One thing we...

The former senior director for European and Russian affairs for the Trump administration, Fiona Hill, testified last week in the House impeachment hearings. At one point, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., asked her: “Would you say that these different theories, these conspiracy theories that have been targeting you, spun in part by folks like Mr. Stone as well as fueled by Rudy Giuliani and others, basically have a tinge of anti-Semitism to them at least?” This was Hill’s response: "Well, certainly when they involve George Soros, they do. I’d just like to point out that in the early 1900s, the czarist...

Six Kentucky community banks that could be competing for business have agreed to work together as charter members of the specialty $150 million Commonwealth Infrastructure Fund to finance public-private partnerships (P3) in Kentucky.In the next few months, CIF is expected to reveal one or more inaugural deals.“We are looking at five to 10 potential projects that should start sometime in 2018. We expect to make loans to two or three projects in 2018 after the underwriting process has been completed,” said John Farris, who manages CIF. “We believe we will lend out all $150 million over three to five years...

With public funding options limited, Alabama transportation officials are turning to the private sector for advice and creative solutions in paying for the massive Interstate 10 overhaul in coastal Alabama.John Cooper, director of the Alabama Department of Transportation, said Monday that state officials were interested in learning more about project plans from approximately 400 private sector attendees during the two-day Industry Forum at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center.That includes financing, which remains the biggest hurdle toward moving the project forward in the next year. At this point, no options have been settled including whether to institute tolls to...

The throngs of "anti-war" marchers heading to DC to attend the September 24th rally don't know that they are being used. CodePINK and United For Peace and Justice are both prodigy of Global Exchage, the 501(3)c non-profit formed by Global's Medea Benjamin. It's the "Benjamins For Benjamin Weekend"!. Using the attraction of a Hate America event to lure attendees, Code Pink's Medea Benjamin's cash cow, Global Exchange, has scheduled one of it's "Green Festivals" for the same weekend and is running it in competition with the anti-war events scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. How convenient? How many people will...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- President Trump says he's creating a $1 trillion plan to rebuild America's roads, bridges and runways. "We will create the first class infrastructure our country and our people deserve," Trump said Wednesday in Cincinnati. "It's time to rebuild our country to bring back our jobs." Trump has dubbed this week as "infrastructure week." But an analysis of the Trump budget finds that it cuts infrastructure spending overall by $55 billion, according to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Budget Model, a non-partisan research organization. (Coincidentally, Trump graduated from the Wharton School in 1968). Over 10 years, Trump's...

LEE COUNTY, Fla. - The entire westbound span of the Cape Coral Bridge will be replaced in about 11 years. That overhaul will be an expensive project costing $88 million. At the rate you're paying the $2 toll right now, the money could be saved and ready to pay for it in half that time. However, that’s not happening, and NBC2 investigated to find out why. More than 20,000 vehicles pass over the Cape Coral Bridge in a single day. Drivers headed to the Cape from Fort Myers have to pay $2 before jumping on the westbound span. "Living on...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s grand plan to spend $1 trillion over the next 10 years on highways and other infrastructure improvements faces a formidable roadblock in Congress and state legislatures. There’s agreement the investment is badly needed to improve the nation’s sagging infrastructure but how to cover the huge expense is the point of tension. Trump would use $200 billion in public funds to generate $800 billion in private money under a partnership program that would finance government bonds and also return a profit to private companies through interstate tolls and other user fees. To do that, Congress would...

The idea of doing away with the Maine Turnpike Authority and eliminating tolls has a long and unsuccessful history through both Democratic and Republican administrations.Gov. Paul LePage revived the concept at a town hall meeting in Gorham on Wednesday night, saying he would like to see the turnpike authority merged with the Maine Department of Transportation and the elimination of almost all tollbooths, having one only in Kittery to collect tolls from out-of-state drivers. “The only toll we should have is for the visitors coming in and out of the state in the summer months,” LePage said, adding that Mainers...

The purpose of Illinois campaign disclosures laws is to promote transparency and to permit voters to make informed decisions. While posing as a virtuous civic organization, the ‘Wilmette Friends’ are actively supporting candidates and opposing their challengers without disclosing their campaign contributors in violation of Illinois law. No one knows how to learn what expenditures have been made or where the funds were deposited. The League of Women of Voters, which has a lot in common with the Wilmette Friends (and the New Trier Caucus) is supposed to be nonpartisan, but in New Trier it would appear that the local...

Link only - Bloomberg

If recent votes are any indication, Texans don’t like toll roads, but they do like Donald Trump. At some point, maybe soon, they’re going to have to make a choice between the two. President-elect Trump in late October laid out some of his plans should he win the White House, among them the American Energy & Infrastructure Act, which he plans to pass in his first 100 days. In his action plan that includes abolishing the Affordable Care Act and restraining immigration, Trump said the infrastructure plan “leverages public-private partnerships, and private investments through tax incentives.” Over a decade, Trump...

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - The Harris County Toll Road Authority collected about $760 million in tolls the last fiscal year, yet it is improbable that any Harris County toll road will ever be “paid off,” Channel 2 Investigates has learned.   “Not with system financing, which allows us to borrow money at a favorable rate to build new projects,” said Patti Evans, the authority’s assistant director of communications.In other words, tolls collected today are not only used to pay down system-wide debt, but to construct more toll roads in the future.    “I think it is important to say —...

Ever wonder why the Muslim Brotherhood is so active in the U.S. today? One reason is because the FBI had to scrub their documents of offensesive language... This is a presentation that was given at a counterterrorism conference about two years ago. It is an overview of terrorist financing and some of the ways the USG attempts to combat it with our allies. You can download the PDF version of the PowerPoint presentation here: http://usatransnationalreport.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Terrorism___Funding-PDF-1.pdf This is a great overview of terrorism financing and a terrific learning tool.

FBI accused of whitewashing Saudi Arabian involvement in 9/11 after quashing report about Florida family who mysteriously fled US two weeks before attack Al-Hijji family left cars and food behind when they fled in August 2001 FBI agent's report said family of Saudi advisor had 'many connections' to hijackers, some of whom were said to have visited the house Agency now says report 'poorly written' and 'unsubstantiated' 9/11 Review Commission accepted FBI verdict, did not interview agent Congress document redacted by Bush administration pointed 'very strong finger' at financing from Saudi Arabia