Free Republic

Why would he do that? This is the question many people asked of the rape accusation leveled against Dominique Strauss-Kahn; recently humiliated and removed head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The biggest reason for asking the question was a total lack of logic behind raping a hotel maid while being such a public figure in charge of such a public institution and at the same time under consideration for a nomination to be president of France! It simply did not add up. Kahn, known for his public fancy for women, was widely considered a womanizer by many published reports....

Brazil, Russia, India and China on Tuesday called for a more diversified international monetary system, but wrapped up their first full-fledged summit by avoiding any explicit criticism of the world's dominant currency, the U.S. dollar. The statement issued by the leaders from the so-called BRIC nations contained no reference to developing new reserve currencies to complement the dollar, which Russia had called for at a separate event earlier in the day. Instead, the cautious wording appeared to reflect China's concerns that any anti-dollar statements could erode the value of its currency reserves. "There is a strong need for a stable,...

WASHINGTON -- For the past seven years, according to Rep. Jim Moran, "We have been guided by a Republican administration who believes in the simplistic notion that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it." Actually, that "simplistic notion" has been the linchpin of the American system of free enterprise for the past two centuries. It has served to make the United States the most bountiful, wealthy and charitable nation on earth. Yet Moran says that system "doesn't work in the long run." My fellow Americans, welcome to the long run. The coincidence of an economic downturn and our...

Americans are becoming only too aware of the financial tricks and deceit in which some of the nation's largest and most respected corporations engaged during the Clinton administration to pump up stock prices with fraudulently inflated profits. When the huge bubble no longer could be sustained the men and women at the top would bail out of their stock and pocket millions, leaving pensioners and other investors holding an empty bag. To market insiders these are known as "pump and dumps." While federal investigators are looking into the corporate malfeasance at Enron, WorldCom, Qwest Communications, AOL Time Warner and...