Free Republic

If Scott Pruitt is scaring deep state environmentalist wackos at the EPA, he must be doing something right . . . Remember Brian Karem, the reporter who harangued Sarah Huckabee Sanders last year over her criticism of CNN? What better way to win CNN’s heart, and sure enough, there was Karem on “New Day” this morning. Karem waxed apoplectic over Scott Pruitt and what he described as the Trump administration’s agenda “to tear down protections, it’s to destroy regulations, it’s to tear down the federal government.” Added Karem: “There are people in the EPA I’ve known for years who are...

During the Vietnam conflict, a common complaint of soldiers was that you could never tell who the enemy really was. In this current economic recession, too, I am beginning to wonder who the enemy of our recovery really is. The president, Congress, the Federal Reserve, and the regulators are all telling us why so many others are to blame. The big banks have done it to us! shouts one group. Wall Street did it, claims another. Homebuyers who bought homes they could not afford are the real culprit! claims another. Perhaps those who have been charged with the responsibility for...

You may have gotten wind of the seven North Dakota oil companies recently charged in federal court with the deaths of 28 migratory birds. The birds allegedly landed in oil waste pits in western North Dakota last spring; the maximum penalty for each charge under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act is six months in prison and a $15,000 fine, the AP said. But did you know that wind-power companies are responsible for more than 400,000 bird deaths annually, and not one has faced a single charge? The Wall Street Journal knows it, opining yesterday that the prosecutions are “bird-brained,” especially...

It's the roar that made Milwaukee famous — the distinctive throaty rumble of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. But that much-loved racket could be rumbling away to another state if the company cannot bring down its labor costs. Harley-Davidson warned employees in April that it will move its Wisconsin manufacturing operations elsewhere if it cannot cut millions of dollars at the factories that build the bikes known as "Milwaukee Iron." Harley's corporate headquarters would remain here, but that's small consolation to a community that has already endured repeated blows to its civic identity. Loading stock quotes… Index Last Change HOG 27.84 +0.45...

One of the goals of proposed regulatory changes of the financial industry is — as President Obama has argued — to create "a 21st century regulatory framework to ensure that a crisis like this can never happen again": Yet can a government — whether run by Republicans or Democrats — really anticipate future bubbles or meltdowns? And if it could, would the government have the political will (or political power) to prevent future meltdowns? The last time that we had a recession as deep as the current one was in 1980-82 when a Federal Reserve induced credit crunch caused short...

January 1978 “Whatever Happened to Free Enterprise?” Ronald Reagan Most recently known for his bid for the 1976 Republican presidential nomination, Ronald Reagan is distinguished for his successful careers in motion pictures, broadcasting, and politics. Mr. Reagan was a player and production supervisor of television's "General Electric Theater" for eight years and hosted and acted in the "Death Valley Days" television series. For many years he owned and operated a horse breeding and cattle ranch. Elected California's 33rd governor in 1966, he was re-elected in 1970. After leaving office in early 1975, Governor Reagan began a daily radio commentary program,...

In February 2006, Norm Feck learned that the city of Parker, Colorado was thinking about annexing his neighborhood, Parker North. Feck attended a meeting on the annexation, realized that it would mean more bureaucracy, and concluded that it wouldn’t be in Parker North residents’ interest. Together with five other Parker North locals, he wrote letters to the editor, handed out information sheets, formed an Internet discussion group, and printed up anti-annexation yard signs, which soon began sprouting throughout the neighborhood. That’s when annexation supporters took action—not with their own public campaign, but with a legal complaint against Feck and his...

Lenders must consider borrowers' ability to pay the full cost of the loan WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Cracking down on exotic mortgages that have exploded in popularity in recent years, U.S. regulators told banks Friday that they've got to make sure that borrowers can actually pay back the full amount of the mortgage. Exotic products, such as interest-only or payment option adjustable rate mortgages, allow borrowers to trade lower initial payments for higher payments later. But such products have raised red flags at the Federal Reserve and other banking regulators as more institutions offer them and they become available to a...

Five years ago, AT&T was fined millions of dollars and was required to adopt strict disclosure requirements after state regulators determined that the company had engaged in misleading marketing practices. Last week, AT&T told the California Public Utilities Commission in a regulatory filing that it will no longer follow those requirements. The telecom giant is taking advantage of new rules that allow California phone companies to unilaterally change certain regulatory provisions without prior approval from state officials. AT&T says the disclosure requirements, which forced the company to always reveal to new customers its cheapest service first and to seek permission...

Three US congressmen are pushing for an amendment to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), the law designed to make executives more accountable, in a bid to water down the regulations for medium-sized companies. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat, has joined Republicans Tom Feeney and Pete Sessions to introduce an amendment to the Act that would exempt companies with a market value of less than $700m (£377m) or annual revenue of less than $125m and fewer than 1,500 shareholders from having to comply with the regulations. The unusual cross-party move comes just days after Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, the two top executives...

RUSH: Now, I want to get back to this gasoline business because I, ladies and gentlemen, was a bit flippant with a caller from Farmington, New Mexico -- and her name was Elizabeth, and she was upset at the price of gasoline, and I wasn't flippant... Well, I was flippant. We had a call from an Exxon station owner. What was his name? I'm having a brief mental block on his name. Brett, what was the Exxon gas station owner's name? Okay. Well, whatever. This guy, it's a good thing he called this program, because if he'd have called a...

(Editor's Note: The following is the 31th of 100 stories regarding government regulation from the book Shattered Dreams, written by the National Center for Public Policy Research. CNSNews.com will publish an additional story each day.)Jay Montfort's Sour Mountain Realty is a family-owned New York company that has had a tough time with New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The story begins early in the last decade, when owner Jay Montfort decided to operate a surface mine. Immediately after he filed the required permit application to the DEC, Montfort found himself bogged down in a complicated and time-consuming process....