Free Republic

The Irish are hopping mad for the same reason Americans are hopping mad: government bailouts of banks and financial firms. But give the Irish parliamentarians credit for "keeping it real." Whether facing the Irish public or the Irish pubs, the Irish pols do not hide from the public as do their American counterparts. The Irish politicians may have played footsie with the financial and property firms of their country, as our own country did. But the Irish pols seem willing to stand center ring and take the shots they've got coming to them. Ours seem to be hiding in their...

Hoping to keep the news low-keyed and under-reported, Fannie Mae announced late Friday afternoon after the markets closed that it had lost over $74 billion in 2009, bringing its 3-year loss totals to $137 billion. This is in addition to Freddie Mac's $80 billion loss during the same period. Fannie and Freddie have continued to squander taxpayer dollars even after the massive bailouts by the federal government. In fact, the mortgage giants lost more money after the bailouts than they did before.

Attention: Insurance Department Re: Loan No. To Whom It May Concern: Wow! Where has the year gone? I can’t believe it’s time for the annual “Fall Homeowner’s Insurance Debacle” again. I keep meaning to put it on my calendar, but each year, I hope that after I fax the information to you in the latter part of September/first part of October when you first send a letter asking for it, you’ll actually get the information to my file and we won’t have to go through the annual “We’ve Purchased Homeowner’s Insurance And It Will Be Charged To Your Escrow Account”...

Americans decidedly oppose the government's efforts to save struggling companies by taking ownership stakes even if failure of the businesses would cost jobs and harm the economy, a new poll shows. The Associated Press-National Constitution Center poll of views on the Constitution found little support for the idea that the government had to save AIG, the world's largest insurer, mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the iconic American company General Motors last year because they were too big to fail.