Free Republic

President Donald Trump's plans to acquire Greenland could cost U.S. taxpayers up front and over the long term. Denmark's leaders have said the semi-autonomous Danish territory isn't for sale. So have Greenland's leaders, who depend on fishing and subsidies from Copenhagen. Denmark's central bank noted in a recent report that Greenland's "economy is slowing down, with modest growth and serious challenges for public finances." Trump said U.S. ownership of Greenland is vital to national security, citing concerns that the island could otherwise be controlled by China or Russia. He has said his preference is to buy Greenland. "I would like...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eighteen of the poorest nations will have their debts to the International Monetary Fund wiped out after rich countries bridged differences on Saturday that threatened a pact first signed this summer. Leaders of the Group of Eight nations pledged at a July meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, to cancel all debt owed to the international institutions by the world's poorest states, an agreement roughed out by their finance ministers the month before. But some smaller European countries like the Netherlands were worried the G8 would not stump up the extra cash needed and that the commitment would undermine...

Washington -- President Bush has gone from threatening Democratic lawmakers that they'll suffer politically for not supporting his Social Security overhaul to cajoling Republican lawmakers with promises of campaign help if they do. Neither tactic is working. Bush's poll numbers continue to sink, driven in part by his plan to add private accounts and reduce benefits in the giant retirement program. Democrats appear on the verge of scoring a huge political victory over Bush by defeating what had been the centerpiece domestic policy of his second term. Bush's hopes of salvaging even small private accounts now rest entirely on the...

(AP) Wholesale prices climbed by 0.5 percent in November — an improvement compared with the previous month's surge, but still fresh evidence that inflation is picking up as the economy gains momentum. The increase in the producer price index, reported by the Labor Department on Friday, came after wholesale prices shot up by 1.7 percent in October, the biggest rise in more than 14 years. "Inflation pressures are mounting in the U.S. economy," said Sherry Cooper, chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns. The reading in November on the PPI, which measures the costs of goods before they reach store shelves,...