Free Republic

The Federal Reserve is prepared to let the stock market drop another 15% to 20% before it acts in any way to stem the decline, says Greg Jensen, co-chief investment officer at Bridgewater Associates, the world's biggest hedge fund. With inflation soaring and unemployment dropping, the Fed has little reason to act, he told Bloomberg. Consumer prices soared 7% last year, and the unemployment rate dipped to 3.9% in December from 4.2% in November. "Some decline in asset prices is not a bad thing from the Fed's perspective, so they're going to let it happen," Jensen he said. "At these...

House Democrats are reintroducing their proposal of a financial transaction tax on stock, bond and derivative deals, and this time they've signed on a key new supporter: left-wing firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., is leading the effort to bring back a bill, titled the "Wall Street Tax Act of 2019," which slaps a tax on securities transactions and could have a particular negative effect on high-frequency traders. Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is the lead co-sponsor. DeFazio is expected to file the bill on Tuesday. "What we were looking at is if there's a sweet spot when you do a...

Read the news. The. World. Is. A. Disaster. But, according to President Obama, “the world’s always been messy … we’re just noticing now in part because of social media.” #what? I guess, since Facebook and Twitter weren’t around, the folks who lived through World War I, World War II, and the Cold War never noticed those messy events. Be that as it may, even with all of the “messes” going on in the world, many leaders are taking a day to catch up in New York City at the UN Climate Summit, scheduled for September 23. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon...