Free Republic

A vast reservoir of clean-burning natural gas could be available at reasonable cost in the coming years, freeing us from some of our dependence on imported energy. Yet there are those who consider such a development a threat. A small group of billionaires (and mere multimillionaires), formed under the aegis of the Democracy Alliance, has amassed a great deal of political influence in America on behalf of the Democratic Party and Democratic politicians. Among the more important members of this "club" are George Soros and his liberal allies, Herbert and Marion Sandler. The latter two are billionaire beneficiaries of the...

+-The meltdown in the mortgage market and its impact on the credit markets may have some historical precedent; the collapse of the savings and loan industry and its subsequent government bailout in the late 1980s and early 1990s was also a major lending debacle. The collapse of the S&L industry was the result of flawed deregulation, poor regulation and reckless lending practices, which in some case, included balance sheet fraud. Political inaction, once the severity of the problem was evident, also helped led to a debacle. As part of the bailout, Congress passed legislation creating the Resolution Trust Corporation to...