Top general: U.S. still has key Iraq role even after troop exit

Posted on by Freedomwat.ch Staff

“Top US military officer General Martin Dempsey insisted Washington still had an important role to play in Iraq, where he landed on Tuesday, eight months after American troops departed. ‘We still retain significant investment and significant influence. But now it’s on the basis of a partnership and not on the basis of ownership,’ Dempsey said. Dempsey stressed that he came to build a dialogue with his Iraqi counterparts and explore expanding military ties, not to make demands. And he said he wanted to discuss Iraq’s interest in training and military exercises with US forces as well as the possibility of arms sales.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/21/top-general-u-s-still-has-key-iraq-role-even-after-troop-exit/

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U.S. Army Opens Bids To Buy $7 Billion In Renewable Energy

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“On Tuesday the Army began accepting bids for green energy installations that will be deployed on military bases and facilities across the U.S. The Army will sign contracts to buy the electricity generated by solar, wind, geothermal and biomass projects for up to 30 years. Instead of paying the local utility for its electricity, a base would pay a solar energy company like SolarCity or Sungevity. That creates business for renewable energy companies as well as economies of scale that in the long run can lower the cost of green power.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/08/08/u-s-army-opens-bids-to-buy-7-billion-in-renewable-energy/

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No need for MEADS

Posted on by Freedomwat.ch Staff

“Imagine you’re a legislator in a country with a bloated budget of almost $4 trillion and a record level of spending that requires massive deficits and could mean job-killing tax increases. Now imagine you’ve got a weapons program that is billions over budget, a decade behind schedule and unwanted even by those for whom it is intended. What would you do? If you said, ‘Earmark the program another $380 million,’ you’re apparently qualified to serve on the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. The weapons program is the Medium Extended Air Defense System, a joint venture with Germany and Italy.”

http://washingtonexaminer.com/no-need-for-meads/article/2504724

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Bill Bonner: Too Much of a Good Thing

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“The most-important single feature of modern economies is growth. Without it, neither businesses, households nor governments can pay their bills. Without it, pension funds…private and public…go broke. Without it, the stock market is doomed….and bonds get crushed when debtors can’t pay. In fact, without growth, every government in the economically developed world faces catastrophe. Its revenues stagnate while its costs — largely driven by open-ended health and pension obligations to aging populations — continue to expand. By the year 2012, in fact, every major government in the developed world is already in trouble.”

http://dailyreckoning.com/too-much-of-a-good-thing/

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Paul Ryan’s corporatist past gives way to populist talk

Posted on by Freedomwat.ch Staff

“When President Bush demanded bailouts of Wall Street and Detroit in late 2008, most Republicans said no. Today in the U.S. House there are only six Republicans who voted yes on the auto bailout and both bank bailout votes. One of those congressmen is Paul Ryan. Today Ryan is an outspoken and eloquent critic of crony capitalism and business-government collusion. Under President Obama, Ryan even has a voting record to match.”

http://washingtonexaminer.com/ryans-corporatist-past-gives-way-to-populist-talk/article/2505269

Given Obama’s penchant for industrial policy, bailouts and handouts, Republicans could make crony capitalism and corporatism a major issue this fall, and run under the banner of free-market populism — as long as Ryan makes a clean break with his past.

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Billionaire Bill Koch’s new Colorado town is a private Old West marvel

Posted on by Freedomwat.ch Staff

“There’s a new town in Colorado. It has about 50 buildings, including a saloon, a church, a jail, a firehouse, a livery and a train station. Soon, it will have a mansion on a hill so the town’s founder can look down on his creation. This town is billionaire Bill Koch’s fascination with the Old West rendered in bricks and mortar. It sits on a 420-acre meadow on his Bear Ranch below the Raggeds Wilderness Area in Gunnison County. It’s an unpopulated, faux Western town that might boggle the mind of anyone who ever had a playhouse.”

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_21351638/billionaires-new-colorado-town-is-private-old-west

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Apple becomes most valuable company in history

Posted on by Freedomwat.ch Staff

[But could the Skyscraper Index apply to stock valuations?] “In a powerful symbol of how dramatically it has redrawn the tech landscape, leading millions of computer users from a PC-dominated world to one now increasingly run on smartphones and tablets, Apple saw its market capitalization — the total value of its publicly traded stock — reach $623.5 billion. That’s nearly $3 billion more than the record Microsoft set during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, the very moment that Bill Gates was helping to save Apple from extinction.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_21354622/apple-becomes-most-valuable-u-s-company-history

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Warren Buffet Bails Out of Muni Bonds

Posted on by Freedomwat.ch Staff

“Did Warren Buffett take the recent Federal Reserve warning on municipal bonds seriously? Zero Hedge is reporting that Buffett has covered an $8.25 billion muni cds long risk (short CDS) position, which becomes profitable if muni bonds go up in value. He has terminated the position 5 years early and has apparently lost a few hundred million by getting out of the position early. As any Buffett follower knows, he is a long-term investor and rides out short-term bumps’ if he is bailing with a few hundred million in losses, he is expecting trouble in the muni market.”

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/08/warren-buffet-bails-out-of-muni-bonds.html

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Peter Schiff: Anti Money Laundering Regulations Costing American Jobs

Posted on by Freedomwat.ch Staff

“…instead of somebody in Australia sending their money to me here in America I now have them send it to me in a foreign country and so now I create jobs and revenues offshore that would have been created here. And in Merrill Lynch obviously it is a bigger example; if Merrill Lynch can no longer compete on a level playing field for asset management business in emerging markets, where is the growth going to come from? Americans are losing wealth..”

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Regional airlines face closings, bankruptcy

Posted on by Freedomwat.ch Staff

“Regional airlines operate half the nation’s scheduled flights, but now, several of those carriers are being closed or are in bankruptcy court protection. As a result, many smaller communities may lose some or all of their air service. Regional airlines also worry that a new rule being devised by the FAA that would require co-pilots to have the same 1,500 hours in the air as captains could result in fewer pilots to fly regional routes, that they’ll go to better-paying jobs at big airlines, or even to piloting cargo or business jets. Many smaller cities could be left with fewer flights or no flights at all.”

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/travel/story/2012-08-20/Regional-airlines-face-closings-bankruptcy/57169432/1

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The Freedom Watch

International Intelligence for the Resistance

Monthly Archives: August 2012

Top general: U.S. still has key Iraq role even after troop exit

U.S. Army Opens Bids To Buy $7 Billion In Renewable Energy

No need for MEADS

Bill Bonner: Too Much of a Good Thing

Paul Ryan’s corporatist past gives way to populist talk

Billionaire Bill Koch’s new Colorado town is a private Old West marvel

Apple becomes most valuable company in history

Warren Buffet Bails Out of Muni Bonds

Peter Schiff: Anti Money Laundering Regulations Costing American Jobs

Regional airlines face closings, bankruptcy