Archive for the 'Collapse' Category
Chevron Sued for Billions After Poisoning Waterways in Ecuador; One of the Largest Environmental Damage Cases in History
November 17th, 2009Via: Sydney Morning Herald: Tens of thousands of Amazonians are suing Chevron, the American oil company, for poisoning their waterways in what is billed as one of the biggest environmental cases in history. The Ecuadorean claimants said the company illegally dumped toxic waste from its oil production, which filtered into the lakes used by thousands […]
Cuba Orders Extreme Measures to Cut Energy Use
November 12th, 2009Via: Reuters: Cuba has ordered all state enterprises to adopt “extreme measures” to cut energy usage through the end of the year in hopes of avoiding the dreaded blackouts that plagued the country following the 1991 collapse of its then-top ally, the Soviet Union. In documents seen by Reuters, government officials have been warned that […]
U.S. Citizens Are Joining Immigrants in Store Parking Lots Seeking Day Labor Jobs
November 9th, 2009Via: Las Vegas Sun: It sounds like a George Lopez joke. “Times are so bad that I saw an Anglo day laborer standing outside Home Depot the other day.” Except it’s true. In the latest sign of the Las Vegas Valley’s economic free fall, U.S. citizens are starting to show up in the early mornings […]
Mexico: Three Doctors and a Nurse Sold Newborns, Told Mothers Their Babies had Died
November 8th, 2009Via: Telegraph: Police uncovered the scheme after one of the women learned her baby was alive and had been sold to another woman for 15,000 pesos, said Luis Genaro, the capital’s deputy attorney general. The woman gave birth to a girl through cesarean section at the Central West Hospital in a working-class district in October […]
Official U.S. Jobless Rate: 10.2 Percent
November 6th, 2009Via: AP: The U.S. jobless rate unexpectedly jumped to a 26-1/2-year high of 10.2 percent last month, adding to pressure on the Obama administration to do more to tackle unemployment even as signs of recovery mount. The Labor Department said on Friday that employers cut 190,000 jobs in October, more than the 175,000 markets had […]
Message from the Gyre
November 5th, 2009Via: Chris Jordan: These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to […]
California: “Think Of It As A Forced, Interest-Free Loan”
November 2nd, 2009Via: Los Angeles Times: Starting Sunday, cash-strapped California will dig deeper into the pocketbooks of wage earners — holding back 10% more than it already does in state income taxes just as the biggest shopping season of the year kicks into gear. Technically, it’s not a tax increase, even though it may feel like one […]
Gold Market Reaching The Breaking Point
November 1st, 2009Via: Market Skeptics: Investors emptying COMEX warehouses In order to secure gold at the lowest possible price, US investors are turning to the complex, lengthy process of taking delivery of gold futures contracts. By buying gold contracts in deliverable months and wait for them to expire, sophisticated investors are emptying COMEX warehouses. The incredible hassle […]
FDIC Friday: 9 More U.S. Banks Fail; $2.5 Billion Hit for FDIC Fund
October 31st, 2009Via: MarketWatch: Nine more U.S. banks, all owned by the same Illinois holding company, were closed Friday by regulators, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said U.S. Bank of Minneapolis would assume their deposits. The closings brought the 2009 total to 115 in 2009 — the first year since 1992 that more than 100 banks […]
Chinese-Made Turbines to Fill U.S. Wind Farm
October 30th, 2009Maybe I need a Shame and Embarrassment category. Via: Wall Street Journal: A Chinese wind-turbine company, with financing help from Beijing, has struck a deal to be the exclusive supplier to one of the largest wind-farm developments in the U.S., a sign of how Chinese firms are aggressively capitalizing on America’s clean-energy push. The 36,000-acre […]
