Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Oil Rises Past $70
May 7th, 2018Via: Reuters: The dollar rose to fresh 2018 highs on Monday while oil prices surged to their highest since late 2014, driven by declining Venezuelan crude production and worries the Unites States could re-impose sanctions on Iran. … U.S. crude rose 73 cents to $70.45 a barrel, while Brent gained $1.22 to $76.09.
Volkswagen Doubles EV Battery Order To $48 Billion
May 4th, 2018Via: Fortune: A few hours after Elon Musk berated analysts for what he perceived as unimaginative questions, Volkswagen AG said it was writing a check for batteries that almost match Tesla’s entire market value. VW has awarded battery-purchasing contracts worth 40 billion euros ($48 billion), double from just a few weeks ago. The deals take […]
High-Paying Trade Jobs Sit Empty, While High School Grads Line Up For University
April 27th, 2018Via: NPR: Like most other American high school students, Garret Morgan had it drummed into him constantly: Go to college. Get a bachelor’s degree. “All through my life it was, ‘if you don’t go to college you’re going to end up on the streets,’ ” Morgan said. “Everybody’s so gung-ho about going to college.” So […]
Latin America: ‘Breathtaking Homicidal Violence’
April 26th, 2018Via: Guardian: Latin America has suffered more than 2.5m murders since the start of this century and is facing an acute public security crisis that demands urgent and innovative solutions, a new report warns. “The sheer dimensions of homicidal violence are breathtaking,” says the report by the Igarapé Institute, a Brazil-based thinktank focused on security […]
Electric Buses Are Hurting the Oil Industry
April 24th, 2018Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Where’s the electricity coming from to charge up those buses? A lot of it is still coming from coal, but China’s coal use has peaked: The real game changer is clean energy. The price of solar photovoltaic is at an all-time low, enough to compete […]
New Zealand: Billion-Dollar Soils Washing Into Rivers
April 19th, 2018Via: Newsroom: We’re losing soil at an alarming rate, but there are some gaping holes in our knowledge about why and where from, reports Eloise Gibson You can’t grow a lot of food without soil, certainly not in a dairy-, wine- and vege-hungry nation like New Zealand. Yet dirt – the foundation of our food […]
Arming the World: Inside Trump’s ‘Buy American’ Drive to Expand Weapons Exports
April 18th, 2018Via: Reuters: In a telephone call with the emir of Kuwait in January, U.S. President Donald Trump pressed the Gulf monarch to move forward on a $10 billion fighter jet deal that had been stalled for more than a year. Trump was acting on behalf of Boeing Co, America’s second-largest defense contractor, which had become […]
China Is Nationalizing Its Tech Sector
April 14th, 2018Via: Bloomberg: As Bloomberg News reported this week, a key stumbling block in trade negotiations between China and the U.S. has been Beijing’s extensive support for its technology firms. But if President Donald Trump’s administration thinks that will change any time soon, it hasn’t been paying attention: Far from reducing support for the tech sector, […]
‘Semi-Infinite’ Trove of Rare-Earth Metals Found in Japanese Seabed
April 12th, 2018Via: CNBC: Researchers have found hundreds of years’ worth of critical rare-earth metals beneath Japanese waters — enough to supply to the world on a “semi-infinite basis,” according to a study published on Tuesday. The materials sit in a roughly 965-square-mile Pacific Ocean seabed near Minamitorishima Island, which is located 1,150 miles southeast of Tokyo, […]
Los Angeles: “Guest Houses” in Backyards — For Homeless People
April 11th, 2018Via: Los Angeles Times: “Not in my backyard” protests helped block homeless housing in Temple City, delayed it in Boyle Heights and, last month, killed Orange County’s plan to relocate homeless people to shelters. Now, Los Angeles officials want to turn NIMBYism on its head — by paying property owners to put houses for homeless […]
