Free Republic

A new week, a new month, a new sell-off. Crude prices are charging lower to start the week as a plethora of bearish indicators emerge to encourage crude lower. Hark, here are five things to consider in the oil market today.

U.S. prosecutors have abandoned their case against Angelo Mozilo, the over-tanned character at the center of the risky subprime mortgages that fueled the financial crisis, after a two-year quest to bring a civil suit against him. As Bloomberg reports, The Justice Department has decided not to sue Mozilo, according to people familiar with the matter, ending a decade-long hunt for someone, anyone to jail over what happened.

WASHINGTON (Reuters)- Local government revenue has dwindled so severely that U.S. cities and counties will have to cut hundreds of thousands of jobs in the coming months, leaving communities without basic services and pressuring jobless rates, according to a new survey. The survey, released on Tuesday by three government associations, aims to press Congress on pending legislation that would give them $75 billion over two years to preserve jobs. Local and state government employment accounts for more jobs in the United States than construction and manufacturing combined. The survey by the National League of Cities, National Association of Counties and...

The biggest threat to American liberty is not Fascism,Communism,an Imperial Presidency, a Runaway Congress, or Dictatorial Courts. It's something MUCH closer to home !

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and local governments are close to agreement on a deal that would provide cities and counties a bigger share of the property tax in exchange for an agreement on one-time cuts. Officials close to the negotiations say Schwarzenegger has shown new interest in satisfying local governments following qualification last week of a November initiative that protect cities and counties from future raids on their revenue sources by the state. According to a memo from the California State Association of Counties, local officials have proposed a one-time $816 million cut to be equally shared between...

<p>Mayors and county supervisors from throughout the state descended on the Capitol on Wednesday, calling on lawmakers to approve millions of dollars due local governments lost when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cut the car tax.</p> <p>The lost money, which is used largely to help pay for public safety and other vital programs, amounts to about $4 billion annually although cities and counties won’t begin feeling the pinch until after Wednesday.</p>