Free Republic

On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) stated that passing the Build Back Better legislation “might have created a slight uptick in inflation.” But the legislation “was going to invest in people, particularly with climate change and others.” Co-host John Roberts said, “Build Back Better, had it passed, would have added $3 trillion to the debt over ten years. It would have put us way back into deficit territory that President Biden is now saying that he reduced, and it was merely by a factor of…a legislative shortcoming, and then the San...

If you're a Republican, and you don't want the media to pry into your financial conflicts of interest, there used to be a simple method: support Democratic big-government policies. The latest Republican to try this rule is Bill Frist. Sam Stein at the Huffington Post reports: As congressional Republicans ready themselves for a largely symbolic effort to repeal President Obama's health care reform law, at least one former GOP leader is urging them to drop the charade and build on the legislation instead. Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist,

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc was involved as an underwriter and an investor in Lloyds Banking Group Plc's 23.5 billion pound (US$36.1 billion) refinancing in late 2009, the Financial Times said on Thursday, citing four people involved in the capital raising. Goldman demanded last-minute changes to the structure of the transaction, the newspaper said, citing the people. This had the effect of benefiting Goldman's position as a bond investor, the newspaper said. Bankers at Goldman say the company's ethical walls bar underwriters from knowing how its proprietary traders invest, the newspaper said. Goldman was hit last Friday...

...Still, G.M. appears to have enough money in the pension fund to pay its more than 400,000 retirees their benefits for many years — even with the markets swooning around it. That is largely because of the conservative way G.M. has managed the fund recently, and it explains why G.M. has not joined the long list of companies pressing Congress for pension relief...

WASHINGTON - Members of Congress have as much as $196 million collectively invested in companies doing business with the Defense Department, earning millions since the onset of the Iraq war, according to a study by a nonpartisan research group. The review of lawmakers' 2006 financial disclosure statements, by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, suggests that members' holdings could pose a conflict of interest as they decide the fate of Iraq war spending. Several members earning money from these contractors have plum committee or leadership assignments, including Democratic Sen. John Kerry, independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman and House Republican Whip Roy...