Free Republic

With the clock ticking on health care reform legislation, President Obama has guaranteed American taxpayers that his administration will pay for any overhaul without adding to the deficit. Lawmakers, however, don't have quite as firm a handle on how they'll actually accomplish it. Though Obama has outlined nearly $950 billion in savings and revenue to offset the cost of a program tagged at about $1 trillion over the next decade, some fear the actual price tag could be much higher and question whether Obama's estimates about a coming windfall in government savings are accurate.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- For some, the slow, steady demise of TARP cannot happen soon enough. Last week, 10 of the nation's largest financial firms won their release from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program, setting the stage for them to pay back the billions of dollars the government loaned them last fall. But this news was book-ended by legislation in the House and Senate that aims to end the controversial program sooner rather than later. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, whose proposal would effectively shutter TARP by year's end, would prevent the Treasury Department from using any of the...

Treasury prices fell today, as Russia diversifies and an auction goes south. Treasuries fell Wednesday, but don't blame the Russians. On Wednesday Russia announced it would reduce its share of U.S. treasuries in its $400 billion reserves, though the move would be gradual and only replace bonds as they expire. The move is no surprise as observers have long expected that cash rich countries like Russia, which built huge reserves as oil prices have risen over the decade, would eventually diversify out of the dollar. China and the Gulf States are also likely to broaden their currency holdings in future...

A hedge fund manager who predicted the global credit crunch has said the financial crisis has been 'stimulating' and the culmination of his life's work. George Soros, who predicted the global financial crisis twice before, was one of the few people to anticipate and prepare for the current economic collapse. Mr Soros said his prediction meant he was better able to brace his Quantum investment fund against the gloabal storm. But other investors failed to take notice of his prediction and his decision to come out of retirement in 2007 to manage the fund made him $US2.9 billion.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that an "insatiable" appetite in the United States for illegal drugs was to blame for much of the violence plaguing Mexico. "We are. How could anybody conclude any differently?" Clinton told reporters in response to a question during a flight to Mexico for a two-day visit likely to be dominated by a drug war that killed 6,300 people in Mexico last year. Clinton's visit comes as Washington has announced plans to ramp up security on the increasingly dangerous U.S.-Mexico border. Fears are growing that the

When I broke the explosive exclusive last June that Obama's COLB (certificate of live birth) was a "horrible forgery," it took a couple of days, but the O-bots sent around this "birth announcement". That too apparently was a forgery.

Roger Kimball may have tagged it first: The real news out of Chicago this week wasn't Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's arrest on cartoonishly lurid charges of corruption stemming from his alleged attempts to sell President-elect Barack Obama's now-vacant U.S. Senate seat. The real news out of Chicago this week was that President-elect Barack Obama had nothing to do with it. And I mean nothing to do with any of it. There was an almost comical aspect to the spectacle of journalists across the mainstream media (MSM) suddenly, as if on command, assuming pretzel positions in a contortionist's effort not to...

RICHMOND, VA - Gov. Sarah Palin added a line attacking her opponent for opposing gun rights Monday, while crooner Hank Williams, Jr., changed the lines of his song to fit the political event. "We believe in the forward movement of freedom, not the constant expansion of government," Palin told a crowd at the Richmond International Speedway Monday. "And though Barack Obama disagrees, that freedom includes ... the rights and liberties under the Second Amendment." Palin spoke to a crowd of about 20,000 people, according to the Associated Press. A large part of the crowd in the back could not hear...

The Republican Party on Monday morning will make a new push to convince voters that distant ties between Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and former radical William Ayers are somehow disqualifying for the presidency. The Republican National Committee plans to e-mail “an audience of tens of millions” the link to a new video on the subject called “Guilt by Participation” and encourage recipients to forward it to friends and family, aides said. “Barack Obama has no problem with forming relationships when politically convenient,” says the menacing narration, accompanied by brooding music. The title comes from a Wall Street Journal opinion piece...

In a strange development, supporters of Barack Obama's childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, are openly debating the nature and depth of Davis's commitment to the Communist Party and his relationship with the Democratic candidate. The debate has gotten heated. This unusual debate, which is taking place on Obama's official website, raises the question once again as to why Obama has not been asked by the major media about this relationship. Davis was identified as a Communist Party member by various investigative committees and acknowledged his party membership in a private letter obtained by John Edgar Tidwell, who was sympathetic to...

Barack Obama's campaign has sent The Brody File here at CBN News a statement regarding the controversy swirling around his former pastor Jeremiah Wright. Read it below: The pastor of my church, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who recently preached his last sermon and is in the process of retiring, has touched off a firestorm over the last few days. He's drawn attention as the result of some inflammatory and appalling remarks he made about our country, our politics, and my political opponents. Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the...