Free Republic

The fact that the market is anticipating that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, yet the yields on the 10- and 30-year Treasurys are falling is an indication of how weak the overall global economy is, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told CNBC on Thursday. In fact, effective demand is extraordinarily weak, he said. "The way I measure it, it's probably tantamount to what we saw in the later stages of the Great Depression," Greenspan said in an interview with "Closing Bell." That said, he acknowledged "it's not anywhere near what the problems were back then but we haven't...

I was overwhelmed. Many of the letters — even the ones from kids — asked for groceries and shoes, clothing and shampoo. One child wrote: "Please bring my mommy some food. She's been good this year." Elf Cleo sat beside me at the table checking in a new batch of letters. She told me 90% of the Santa requests sent to the post office never get answered. Many are written at homeless shelters and city food banks and after-school programs. (I found one letter in which a young teenager asked for gifts for the shelter workers.) Cleo said that every...

A bone chilling video that should scare the daylights out of every United States citizen is making the rounds as Lt. Gen. (Ret) W. G. Boykin warns us in no uncertain terms that Barack Obama and his administration is marching this country into Marxism at an alarming speed. And if you still don’t believe the Green Beret, just review and send comments to Notre Dame President John Jenkins because a far left group is asking the IRS to remove a Catholic Diocese’s tax exempt status because Catholic principles are being preached inside the Peoria Catholic Church. Email Father Jenkins at...

A big “X” marked many a calendar today, as McDonald’s held a national hiring day in hopes of corralling 50,000 new workers. According to reports this morning, numerous local locations in Empire of the Golden Arches reported lines out the door. Unfortunately, this afternoon a fight broke out at the McDonald’s at St. Clair Ave. and East 105th Street after applicants were turned away, according to Fox8. Three individuals were injured and taken to the hospital*. Police have arrested one individual and are looking for another.

The Obama administration gave corporate giant General Electric—the parent company of NBC--$24.9 million in grants from the $787-billion economic “stimulus” law President Barack Obama signed in February 2009, according to records posted by the administration at Recovery.gov. Despite getting $24.9 million from U.S. taxpayers, GE decreased its U.S.-based employees by 18,000 in 2009, according to the company’s 2009 annual report. According to Standard & Poor's, GE took in $156 billion in revenue in 2009. GE was the primary recipient of 14 stimulus grants, a spokeswoman for Recovery.gov confirmed to CNSNews.com. These 14 grants provided GE with $24.9 million in tax...

"Andy Stern, A Member of Obama’s Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Says ‘Worshipping the Market’ Has Failed America" PHOTO CAPTION: "Andy Stern, former head of Services Employees International Union (SEIU) and a President Barack Obama appointee to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, said on Monday that the free market has failed the country and American workers. He made his remarks at a conference of the Campaign for America's Future in Washington, D.C., on Monday. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)" SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) – Andy Stern, the former head of the Service Employees International Union who now sits on President Obama's National Commission on...

Health Care: Democrats on the take and in the dead of night pass an execrable piece of legislation that they haven't read, the public doesn't want and only socialists could love. What has happened to this country? If we hadn't stayed up past midnight Sunday, we wouldn't have known what was going on. Here we thought a vote on the proposed health care overhaul wasn't going to take place until Thursday night — Christmas Eve. But there they were, the United States Senate, at 1 a.m. Monday, rushing to vote in the middle of a snowstorm to close debate on...

Barack Obama's quest for historic health-care legislation has turned into a parody of leadership. We usually associate presidential leadership with the pursuit of goals that, though initially unpopular, serve America's long-term interests. Obama has reversed this. He's championing increasingly unpopular legislation that threatens the country's long-term interests. "This isn't about me," he likes to say, "I have great health insurance." But of course, it is about him: about the legacy he covets as the president who achieved "universal" health insurance. He'll be disappointed. Even if Congress passes legislation -- a good bet -- the finished product will fall far short...

This is that wonderful time of year when a roly-poly, white-bearded fellow descends from the North Pole to lavish us with presents. So when President Obama follows suit, maybe it's just his way of getting into the spirit of the season. He sounded uncannily like Santa Claus the other day in a speech taking credit for creating and saving 1.6 million jobs and vowing to do even more. The recent uptick in the economy and dip in unemployment, the president announced, came about because of the $787 billion economic stimulus package he signed last February. But with unemployment still at...

At least since the end of World War II, sovereign debt risk has been a very real problem, but one confined mostly to the developing world. Sure, there was the risk that the government might decide to inflate away the value of your loan, that risk abated in most places. (Though obviously not all--I'm looking at you, Italy!) Places where it didn't abate were increasingly forced to borrow in other currencies, leaving default as their main option--inflating away domestic denominated debt tended to make your dollar denominated debt problems worse. Oh, conservatives made noise about sovereign debt risk and inflation,...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Hundreds of people were left disappointed Tuesday after a woman who claimed she won the lottery promised to return to a clothing store and spend her winnings on all the customers. The woman said she won $500,000 and wanted to buy clothes for customers at the east side Burlington Coat Factory, 10TV News reported. "I said, 'Are you sure?' said Carol Hubbard, who was inside the store. "I said, 'I can't pay you for this,' and she said, 'Honey, I've got $1.5 million and I have been used all of my life and mostly by my family...

The April 2 Leaders Statement issued at the close of the G20 economic summit proclaimed, “We start from the belief that prosperity is indivisible; that growth, to be sustained, has to be shared.” A noble sentiment, but not one many of the participants actually believe. The Chinese certainly do not believe in sharing, as they are working hard to exploit the world-wide economic crisis to their own advantage. Beijing is staking out a position on the global stage as the strongest national economy so as to win entrance into international organizations and councils as a peer competitor to the United...

NEW YORK (AP) - Investors are frustrated with the government's latest bank bailout plan—and showing it by unloading stocks.