Free Republic

Democratic strategist Donna Brazile said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Vice President Kamala Harris will be the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee if President Joe Biden does not run. Brazile said, “I’m so glad you brought up Kamala Harris because she is probably one of the most undefined human beings. She is incredible. She is standing in her own power. She has been, at every step, helpful to this president and getting his agenda through the United States Congress.” She continued, “So while her poll numbers may not reflect her true popularity, I can guarantee you Kamala Harris will not...

Then-candidate Joe Biden said in 2019 that he would “end” the fossil fuel industry in the United States. “I want you to look at my eyes. I guarantee you, I guarantee you we’re going to end fossil fuels,” he said in New Castle, New Hampshire. Biden said something similar in 2020 on the Democrat primary debate stage. Biden promised to wage war on the American oil industry by terminating subsidies and drilling feasibility. “No more subsidies for the fossil fuel industry,” Biden said. “No more drilling, including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period,” Biden...

Something strange is going on out in Marin County, California. The elected officials there have instituted a pilot program offering a universal basic income in the form of a monthly stipend to a limited number of participants. That in and of itself isn’t unique, as programs such as this have been tested in other places, such as Stockton, California. A couple of aspects of this program, however, really are unique. The most glaring among these is the fact that in order to qualify, participants have to be women. No males need apply. On top of that, the program is not...

This is an easy conclusion to come to. The reality of Obamacare is that it started off as a total mess and is only getting worse. There are those of you who will read this who have joined in the clamor of trying to tell people just how bad the legislation really was. Many of us tried to tell the rest of America the program would not work, that it was designed to fail. We were told to shut up and were accused of racism because we dared challenge President Obama and the lies he was telling. Senator Ted Cruz...

(CNSNews.com) - The latest Monthly Treasury Statement, which was released on Wednesday afternoon, relies on the estimate made by the White House Office of Management and Budget to say that federal tax revenues will top $3 trillion for the first time in the nation’s history in fiscal 2014. In fact, the record $3,023,004,000,000 in tax revenues that the White House is predicting the federal government will rake in during fiscal 2014 not only exceeds the inflation-adjusted revenue taken in by the government in any previous year, it also equals $29,673 in tax revenue for every full-time worker in the country....

Bill Clinton's comments may have been the tipping point. Yesterday, the former president told an interviewer that the White House should keep its promise and honor its commitment on Obama's infamous "keep your plan" pledge. And if there's one person on planet earth whose reputation for honoring both the truth and personal commitments is -- ahem -- unimpeachable, it's him. Snark aside, Clinton's remarks were hugely impactful; not because he was expressing his own personal opinion, but because in doing so, he was extending a tacit permission slip to fellow Democrats. Message: It's okay to abandon Obama by starting to...

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Friday said that new requirements imposed on insurance companies by Obamacare will require those companies to treat mental illness and addiction that same as physical illness, creating "the largest behavioral health expansion in a generation."

As President Obama and Congress discuss housing finance reform, we have to discuss the government mortgage guarantee. You know, the one that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac furiously denied, but it turned out that they were wrong. Since 2008, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA control over 90% of the mortgage market and The Fed has taken unprecedented measures to keep mortgage rates low. Finally, investors are flocking into housing again. Part of the allure is the government mortgage guarantee. Government loves guarantees (and pseudo-guarantees) in the form of social safety nets. Social security, Medicare and other entitlements (that...

As President Obama and Congress discuss housing finance reform, we have to discuss the government mortgage guarantee. You know, the one that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac furiously denied, but it turned out that they were wrong. Government loves guarantees (and pseudo-guarantees) in the form of social safety nets. Social security, Medicare and other entitlements (that are kept off-balance sheet) already amount to $70 trillion. And according to economist James Hamilton, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s share of the off-balance sheet liabilities amount to $4.9 trillion. This is the formerly implicit guarantees for Fannie and Freddie that are now explicit....

As the discussion intensifies in Washington DC about the future of housing finance, the forgotten player in the government guarantee debate is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s presence in the multifamily housing market. President Obama suggested recently that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be wound down while preserving the 30 year fixed-rate mortgage for borrowers, but didn’t mention the government’s role in multifamily housing. So now Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator, FHFA, is seeking guidance on potentially shrinking their multifamily exposure. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is seeking public input on strategies for reducing Fannie Mae and Freddie...

President Obama on Tuesday said he cannot guarantee that retirees will receive their Social Security checks August 3 if Democrats and Republicans in Washington do not reach an agreement on reducing the deficit in the coming weeks. "I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it," Mr. Obama said in an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley, according to excerpts released by CBS News. The Obama administration and many economists have

A guarantee that all NHS patients thought to have cancer can see a specialist within two weeks could be abandoned, David Cameron has signalled. The Prime Minister indicated that the two-week goal might eventually be dropped if doctors and health officials think it is not improving cancer care. The disclosure came after a Commons attack on the Coalition’s health policy that left ministers facing charges of being confused and sending mixed messages on the guarantee. Under Labour, the NHS offered a “guarantee” that anyone referred by a GP for cancer treatment will be seen within two weeks. While Labour was...

"The top 10% of all earners pay over two-thirds of the income tax burden. The top 25% pay 85% of the freight. Larry Kudlow says that the top 1% of earners account for 80% of capital gains and over 60% of interest and dividends. And Obama would like to increase taxes on those earnings, along with the higher Medicare taxes from ObamaCare on top of the Bush tax cuts expiring." "Washington is doing everything in their manpower, capability, to destroy U.S. manufacturing, ... Cap and trade, medical reform, labor rules." "So when the duty-bound run out of money, what happens...

Governments' contingent liabilities Fiscal iceberg Sep 24th 2009 | WASHINGTON, DC From The Economist print edition Guarantees offered during the crisis pose lasting risks to America THE visible costs of the financial crisis are well known: bank recapitalisations, stimulus spending and shrunken tax revenues. Another set of liabilities—the guarantees thrown up around financial systems a year ago to quell panic and keep credit flowing—has received far less attention. Guarantees are popular because they entail no immediate cost. But they leave the sovereign balance-sheet exposed to lurches in the financial system’s fortunes. In July the International Monetary Fund estimated that the...

US Republican presidential nominee John McCain says he can guarantee a win in next week's election, but says the result will be very close. Senator McCain, who has been trailing Democratic rival Barack Obama by more than 10 points in some national and state polls, said his campaign was "doing fine" with the polls nine days away. "Those polls have consistently shown me much farther behind then we actually are," he said. "We're doing fine. "We've closed in the last week and if we continue this close in the next week you're going to be up very late on election...

Lead with your chin baby

Now that Joe Biden has "guaranteed" the election of Obama will lead to an international crisis within 6 months, as the World tests this "young guy", we all need to be aware that similar testimg has led to monumental disasters in the past. Biden himself analogized this situation to the election of JFK. In that case, JFK himself recognized that Kruschev took his measure and then took the World to the brink of nuclear war. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/opinion/22thrall.html In short order, after a disastrous meeting Kennedt rushed into "without preconditions", Kruschev erected the Berlin Wall, which Kennedy permitted. Next, Kruschev put nuke...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Nearly two decades after voters approved Proposition 98, the school-funding initiative has become a central target in the debate over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to gain greater control over state spending. The landmark education funding measure, narrowly approved by voters in 1988, made a simple promise to schools and community colleges: They could depend on getting the lion's share of state spending - in good times and bad. As California struggles with annual budget deficits, Schwarzenegger has argued that it can no longer afford the funding guarantee of Proposition 98. He said the funding mandate takes too...

After his adult son shot a man in the leg Wednesday and sheriff's investigators took his son to jail, James Loudon had many questions. Some were about the details of the shooting, which he and his construction worker son say was self-defense. Loudon, a retiree from Chicago, didn't see the shooting but he thinks he knows most of those details now. His remaining questions are mostly about a new Florida law. It was advertised as expanding the right to use firearms and deadly force when people think they are threatened with illegal violence. Loudon hopes that law, lauded by the...

Social Security's Sham Guarantee by Michael D. Tanner May 29, 2005 Michael Tanner is director of the Cato Institute's Project on Social Security Choice. How many times during the recent debate over Social Security reform have you heard someone refer to Social Security's "guaranteed benefit"? The AARP says "Social Security is the guaranteed part of your retirement plan." Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House, touts the system's "guaranteed retirement benefit." The liberal activist group ProtectYourCheck.org, headed by former Clinton chief of staff Harold Ickes, is running ads calling Social Security "a guarantee you earned." But Social Security benefits...