Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is considering tapping the US strategic oil reserve as it looks for a way to respond to skyrocketing oil prices, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley said Sunday. During an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Daley said that "all matters have to be on the table." "The issues of the reserves is one we are considering," he added.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told lawmakers Thursday that the U.S. and other nations are prepared to tap back-up oil reserves if Libya unrest continues and severely disrupts oil supplies. Libya is the first oil exporting nation to be engulfed in the political upheaval spreading across North Africa and the Middle East, and investors have been worried that chaos in the region will drive crude prices even higher. Price spikes have followed increasingly violent protests in Libya that have claimed more than 1,000 lives, according to the United Nations. Libya's ambassador to the United States has estimated the...

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- U.S. reserves of corn have hit their lowest level in more than 15 years, reflecting tighter supplies that will lead to higher food prices in 2011. Increasing demand for corn from the ethanol industry is a major reason for the decline. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported Wednesday that the ethanol industry's projected orders this year rose 8.4 percent, to 13.01 billion bushels, after record-high production in December and January. That means the United States will have about 675 million bushels of corn left over at the end of year. .. roughly 5 percent of all...

The Federal Reserve has lifted its veil of secrecy regarding special lending programs during the financial crisis, responding to a mandate from Congress by revealing the specifics of transactions with firms like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. (Snip) The numbers are staggering, encompassing more than a dozen emergency programs set up starting in 2007 or 2008. In one program alone the Fed doled out nearly $9 trillion in funds to borrowers such as Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, largely at interest rates below 1 percent.

A new US assessment of Venezuela's oil reserves could give the country double the supplies of Saudi Arabia.

A House panel has voted to give the military a 1.9 percent pay raise next January. That would be a half percentage point higher than what the Obama administration wanted simply to match private sector wage growth. The House armed services subcommittee on military personnel panel also endorsed increases next year in hostile fire pay and family separation allowance, enough to restore the relative value of these payments to what they were in 2004 when they last were adjusted. But the same panel said the money tap is off for expanding entitlements to reserve personnel, disabled retirees or widows. “The...

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2010 – To mark the 102nd anniversary of the U.S. Army Reserve, a hand-picked group of 60 reservists representing units in every U.S. state and territory re-enlisted together at a ceremony held today on Capitol Hill. U.S. Army Reserve soldiers stand in formation in the Kennedy Caucus Room of the Russell Senate Building, Washington, D.C., during the fifth annual U.S. Army Reserve National Capitol Re-enlistment Ceremony, April 23, 2010. Sixty U.S. Army Reserve soldiers from across the United States took part in the event marking the U.S. Army Reserves 102nd anniversary.   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image...

China's Appetite For High-Flying Gold To Dominate Wed Dec 2, 2009 4:30am EST By Chikako Mogi SHANGHAI, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Gold's successive run-ups to record highs are underpinned by hopes for central banks to further diversify reserves, particularly China's, a topic set to dominate a two-day industry gathering in Shanghai from Thursday. News that the central bank of India bought 200 tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund, about half of what was on offer, reinforced views that gold has established its status as an investment asset, as well as an alternative currency. The move also strengthened speculation...

Wow. The disaster at AIG keeps getting worse. Today a Sanford C. Bernstein analyst released a note on his discovery that the insurer has an undisclosed $11 billion shortfall in reserves to pay property-casualty claims. Todd Bault said that AIG may have cut back on its use of reinsurance and become too "aggressive" in pricing workers' compensation and professional liability policies. As a result, AIG would likely have to take a huge reserve charge before it could sell its Chartis property-casualty business. “AIG shareholders and the federal government face considerably more uncertainty than they may have anticipated,” Bault wrote. For...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2009 – While admitting initial reservations, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told a National Guard conference today he sees benefits of a new plan that allows reserve-component servicemembers to conduct pre-deployment training before the clock starts ticking on their 12-month mobilization cycles. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates speaks to nearly 2,400 participants in the first National Guard Joint Senior Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., Nov. 19, 2009. DoD photo by Cherie Cullen  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates told the National Guard Bureau Senior Leadership Conference he wasn’t initially a fan of the so-called “contiguous mobilization”...

FHA Is SOL By Ian Mathias 11/13/09 Baltimore, Maryland – Just as we forecast, the Federal Housing Administration revealed yesterday that it will likely need a government bailout. The results of an external audit (after being suddenly delayed for a week) showed the FHA’s capital cushion to be just 0.53% of its portfolio of insured mortgages. That’s way below the 2% mandated by Congress. In other words, the FHA has just $3.6 billion in reserves to back up a $679 billion book. That’s into the Fannie Mae stratosphere of leverage insanity, worse than anyone expected, and way, way beyond the...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2009 – The Army Reserve’s top enlisted soldier retires this month from an Army that’s vastly different from the one he was drafted into almost 40 years ago. Then-Army Staff Sgt. Leon E. Caffie points to a hit during Army Reserve training in Florida in the 1970s. Caffie is finishing his military career at the top enlisted soldier in the Army Reserve. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "The Army Reserve has finally arrived," Command Sgt. Maj. Leon E. Caffie said. The Army has learned hard lessons, he added, and the Army Reserve now is...

Bernanke Gone Berserk! Bank Reserves Explode! Fed Money Printing Gone Wild! Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing Oct 19, 2009 - 08:18 AM By: Martin_D_Weiss Martin here with the most shocking new numbers I’ve seen in my lifetime. My conclusion: Fed Chairman Bernanke has dumped so much funny money into the U.S. banking system and has done so little to manage how that money is used, the fate of our entire economy has now been cast under a dark shadow of doubt. This is not conjecture or exaggeration. Nor are the underlying facts subject to debate. They are blatant, unambiguous, and fully...

AP article. Link only. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYXjTdai6HXR_LTHhw8MiBTa8X4AD9A25EA00

CHICAGO, Aug. 6, 2009 – The Army Reserve and National Guard signed partnership agreements with dozens of Chicago and Illinois state employers yesterday to enhance job opportunities for soldiers and veterans. Army Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz applauds Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn after Quinn's remarks at the Army Reserve Employer Partnership Initiative signing ceremony in Chicago Aug. 5, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Brian Kersey  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “It is our duty to take care of veterans, who have answered the call to duty and bravely defended our country,” said Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. “I salute Helmets...

With California rapidly running out of money, Senate Democrats cut to the chase Tuesday, saying they will not accept decimating the state's safety net and unveiling the skeleton of their own budget-balancing proposal. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg pushed for raiding much of the state's proposed $4.5 billion budget reserve next year to bankroll key health, welfare and college aid programs. "The purpose of a rainy-day fund is to provide funds for a rainy day," he said. "It's thunder and lightning in California right now." Steinberg's proposal puts Senate Democrats at odds with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the state...

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2009 – All 10 active-duty and reserve military components met or exceeded their recruiting goals in March, with the Marine Corps adding the highest percentage of active-duty members, Defense Department officials announced today. The Army Reserve led the reserve components, and all four active departments met or exceeded their March retention goals. “Recruiting continues to be strong in all military departments,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. Data published on the Defense Department Web site shows that the Marine Corps goal was to add 1,411 new Marines, which it exceeded by 43 percent, recruiting a total of 2,017....

DENVER, March 27, 2009 – Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. signed on to the Army Reserve Employer Partnership Initiative at a March 20 ceremony here that also drew 11 private-sector employers. Army Reserve Sgt. Gregory S. Ruske, who earned the Silver Star medal for gallantry in Afghanistan, shakes hands with Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. in Denver, March 20, 2009. The two attended a ceremony in which the state of Colorado joined the Army Reserve’s Employer Partnership Initiative. U.S. Army photo by Jack Dempsey  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The governor is the first to commit all state...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The world has more than enough reserves to help restore financial stability, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday, but a way needs to be found of unlocking the funds. Speaking on the second leg of a three-continent tour to drum up support for the G20 summit in London next week, Brown said countries with high reserves, such as China, needed an insurance policy to protect them while encouraging them to lend. "We've got 7 trillion (dollars) of reserves around the world. Probably for the sake of financial stability you need maybe only half of...

WASHINGTON, March 4, 2009 – An Air Force reserve unit in Massachusetts does its utmost to support family members of deployed servicemembers, a noncommissioned officer assigned to the unit’s family readiness center said today. “We keep connected with the families while their loved ones are deployed,” said Air Force Tech. Sgt. Margaret Sullivan, one of five military members who work at the 439th Airlift Wing’s Airman and Family Readiness Center. The center, Sullivan said, also has a student hire and a full-time volunteer. Based at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, Mass., just north of Springfield, the 439th Airlift...