Free Republic

Walgreens closed 22 stores in San Francisco where thefts under $950 are effectively decriminalized...Shoplifter’s ParadisePlease note San Francisco Has Become a Shoplifter’s Paradise“Theft in Walgreens’ San Francisco stores is four times the average for stores elsewhere in the country, and the chain spends 35 times more on security guards in the city than elsewhere,” reported the San Francisco Chronicle. Earlier this year, a spokesman for CVS, which has closed at least two stores, told CNN that of its 155 locations in the Bay Area, the 12 in San Francisco account for 26% of all shoplifting incidents in the region.Much of...

There's an excellent post on Keep Talking Greece this evening on the simmering feud between Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and Spanish prime minister Minister Mariano Rajoy. Tsipras made a claim that Rajoy's plan is to "wear down, topple or bring our government to unconditional surrender before our work begins to bear fruit and before the Greek example affects other countries… And mainly before the elections in Spain. ... for obvious political reasons". Spanish foreign minister García Margallo, returned fire with a statement (a lie actually), that “Had Spain not given €32.744 billion to Greece, it could have increased the...

Second No Confidence Vote in Six Months In spite of the fact the Socialist party holds a majority of just 1 in the 577-seat lower house, French prime minister Manual Valls hopes to stabilize things with a Second No Confidence Vote in Six Months. Mr Valls could see a narrowing of his majority compared with the vote when he was first appointed prime minister at the end of March after a big socialist loss in local elections. Then he won by a margin of 306 votes to 239 against, with 26 abstentions. “Valls is politically and economically archaic. He is...

As a direct result of sanctions on Russia, there is an overabundance of fruits and vegetables in France, Spain, Poland, and elsewhere in Europe. Basic law of supply and demand dictates prices of crops would fall. And they did. While most foolishly want to stick it to Russia, few actually are willing to pay the price if it affects them. Here is another case in point: French Farmers Torch Tax Office in Brittany Protest. French vegetable farmers protesting against falling living standards have set fire to tax and insurance offices in town of Morlaix, in Brittany. The farmers used tractors...

Yesterday, a reader told me about a must-read article in the German financial newspaper Handelsblatt. Having no details other than it was a"must read" I failed to locate the article after attempting translations of the Handelsblatt home page. Zero Hedge did find the article, entitled "West on the Wrong Path". It turns out, there is a version of the editorial in German, English, and Russian. Citing parallels to WWI, author Gabor Steingart, publisher of Handelsblatt, Germany’s leading financial newspaper, blasts the Western response (especially US and German) response to the situation in Ukraine. "Small Price to Pay" vs. "West on...

Despite the complete failure of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, war-mongers and even self-proclaimed libertarians don't understand what is going on in the Ukraine, why it's none of our business, or even how the civil war in Ukraine started. A friend sent me an article today from the site Conservatives for Liberty called Confused libertarians are Supporting Putin by Gabriele Stakaityte. Supposedly the site is an "independent libertarian, free market and socially liberal campaign group". It is difficult to judge a site on the basis of one article, but there is a difference between supporting Putin and saying Ukraine...

<p>A civil war is underway in Ukraine. Curiously, no one has labeled it as such even though the Ukrainian government launched an offensive, helicopters were shot down, dozens were killed in the process, and military operations took place in multiple cities.</p>

Ukraine and Russia remain in the spotlight this weekend. Here are the top stories. Russia hiked interest rates 50 basis points on Friday accompanied with a warning about inflation and a sluggish economy.Russian Markets Have Worst Week Since Crimea. Ukraine's acting prime minister accused Russia of wanting to start WWII.Ukraine forces barricade the rebel stronghold of Slavyansk Russia Issues Downbeat Economic Statement The World Politics Journal notes Russia’s central bank issues a downbeat statement on the Russian economy. On Friday, April 25th, Russia’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 7.5 per cent, giving higher...

The following bullet points are from the French Ipos Poll: New French fractures, results and analysis of the Ipsos/Steria. Although a huge majority of French want to stay on the Euro, a majority of "workers" don't. Poll Conclusions 79% distrust the outside world72% have no confidence in the French National Assembly74% think journalists do not write about the real problems66% think there are too many foreigners in France63% say Islam is not compatible with values of French society84% think politicians act for personal reasons70% Want strengthening of national power away from EU (up 5 percentage points from last poll)33% want...

Inquiring minds are digging into a George Washington University paper on State Fiscal Conditions, a ranking of 50 states, by Sarah Arnett. PolicyMic Produced this Chart of State Fiscal Conditions based on the working paper. Highlights and Lowlights Let's return to the original working paper for some highlights and lowlights. At the bottom of the rankings are New Jersey and Illinois. New Jersey faces long-run solvency problems due in part to nearly 15 years of underfunding its state and local pensions. It has an estimated unfunded pension liability of around $25.6 billion as well as $59.3 billion in unfunded liabilities...

The way to stop media reporting of NSA is simple: Shut down the agency entirely. It is too big, too bloated, and too useless. It spies on friends and foes alike. And when you tap the phones of 35 heads of state, including Angela Merkel, it's pretty damn had to make the case this that spying is about terrorism. Please consider the Guardian article NSA Chief Says Government Must Stop Media Reporting by Glenn Greenwald. The most under-discussed aspect of the NSA story has long been its international scope. That all changed this week as both Germany and France exploded...

Flashback May 17, 2013: Foreign Policy magazine reports Obama rules out unilateral action in Syria as Russia ships advanced missiles to Assad Top News: U.S. President Barack Obama again ruled out unilateral U.S. military action in Syria at a press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday. "It's not going to be something that the United States does by itself. And I don't think anybody in the region would think that U.S. unilateral actions … would bring about a better outcome," the president said, promising to "keep increasing the pressure on the Assad regime and working with the...

A Gallup Poll on US Payroll Employment for Age Group 18 to 29 shows Fewer Young Adults Holding Full-Time Jobs in 2013. Fewer Americans aged 18 to 29 worked full time for an employer in June 2013 (43.6%) than did so in June 2012 (47.0%), according to Gallup's Payroll to Population employment rate. The P2P rate for young adults is also down from 45.8% in June 2011 and 46.3% in June 2010. Younger Americans Less Likely to Have Full-Time Work Now, Regardless of Education Older Americans More Likely to Hold Full-Time Jobs Now Than a Year Ago The lack of...

It was just two years ago that international, big-state economists were telling us that China would surpass the United States in GDP by 2016. Economic, financial and progressive talking heads- whose hind parts are where their head parts ought to be- were then saying that China was to become the dominant economic player in the world by 2016. That claim rested on the strength of an IMF report projecting GDP growth for China surpassing the US in GDP by 2016, just two years from now, by the specious use of purchasing power parity. Purchasing power parity is a math fiction...

The Washington Post has some interesting details of emails sent by Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) contracting and budget officers to their colleagues. “Our available funding balances remain large in all appropriations — too large to spend” just on small supplemental funds often required by existing contracts, the June 27 e-mail said. DISA’s budget is $2 billion. “It is critical in our efforts to [spend] 100% of our available resources this fiscal year,” said the e-mail from budget officer Sannadean Sims and procurement officer Kathleen Miller. “It is also imperative that your organization meets its projected spending goal for June....

The bullies and hypocrites took to the air waves today regarding the "Importance of Trust". For example, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff complained today Snowden’s disclosures have undermined ‘importance of trust’ with other countries. The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman says NSA leaker Edward Snowden’s disclosures about U.S. surveillance programs have undermined U.S. relationships with other countries and affected what he calls “the importance of trust.” Gen. Martin Dempsey told CNN’s “State of the Union” in an interview broadcast Sunday that the U.S. will “work our way back. But it has set us back temporarily.” The head...

Obama wants the government in Egypt to honor the will of the Egyptian people. But what about the will of the people in the United States who clearly did not want Obamacare (and still don't like it)? What about the will of the people who want our troops home from Afghanistan? While pondering such obvious hypocrisy, note that the State Department is working overtime regarding America’s Mess in Egypt. Mr. Obama is bound by his own words, international law and the expectations of allies, such as Great Britain, not to acknowledge or support coups that overthrow duly-elected governments. For the...

In retaliation for ridiculous EU tariffs on solar panels (sponsored mainly by France over the objections of Germany) China Declares War On Wine. Via Mish-modified Google translate from El Economista ... The Chinese government has decided to launch an investigation into the European wine sector with the later intention to apply a punitive tax if necessary, as China authorities accuse wine producers in the European Union (EU) of unfair trade tactics such as dumping and subsidies. The temporary imposition of a tariff on Chinese solar panels by the EU started a trade war whose greatest victim is wine. "This...

Bill Gross Discusses the "Tipping Point" For Bonds; Does He Miss the Boat? Bill Gross did not see this major selloff in bonds coming. He discusses the setup in his recent Investment Outlook called The Tipping Point. Much of the article is about how he almost tipped a ship while in the Navy. He uses the tipped ship metaphor to talk about the position in bonds. Gross says "Markets just had too much risk, and in PIMCO’s opinion, too much hope for a constant QE and for the growth that it would produce. In effect, the ship was top heavy...

An alleged "worst case scenario" shows the FHA could lose as much as $115 Billion. Since these worst case scenarios are always famously optimistic, the best course of action would be to shut the agency down. I was quoted as saying just that by the Heartland in Congressional Report Raises Spectre of FHA Bailout. The Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) losses over the next 30 years could be much higher than originally projected, according to the findings of a congressional committee. The dismal forecast has some bracing for another taxpayer-financed bailout. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep....