Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Recovery: Participation Rate in Labor Force Matches 35-Year Low
January 10th, 2014Via: MarketWatch: Ouch. The economy gained a meager 74,000 jobs last month, the weakest result since early 2011, according to government data released Friday morning. Also not good: The participation rate in the labor force declined one-fifth of a percentage point to 62.8% in December, matching October’s level, which was the lowest since 1978.
West Virginia Chemical Spill Cuts Water for Up to 300,000
January 10th, 2014Freedom Industries, F*ck Yeah! Via: Reuters: A chemical spill along a West Virginia river on Thursday has resulted in a tap water ban for as many as 300,000 people, shutting down bars and restaurants and forcing residents to line up for bottled water at stores. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency for […]
BMW Builds a Self-Driving Car — That Drifts
January 7th, 2014Via: Wired: BMW makes the Ultimate Driving Machine, and now it’s made the Ultimate Drifting Machine. Except it’s the code that’s in control. At CES, BMW is showing off a modified 2-Series Coupe and 6-Series Gran Coupe that can race around a track at the limits of adhesion, and slide around corners like a throttle-happy […]
RAF Jets Fly with 3D Printed Parts
January 7th, 2014Via: BBC: RAF Tornado fighter jets have flown with parts made using 3D printing technology for the first time, defence company BAE Systems has said. The metal components were used in test flights from the firm’s airfield at Warton, Lancashire, late last month. The parts include protective covers for cockpit radios and guards for power […]
‘A World Made Safe for Selling Mountains of Pointless Junk to Tranquillised Shoppers’
January 7th, 2014Via: Guardian: Until the late 19th century much of our city space was owned by private landlords. Squares were gated, streets were controlled by turnpikes. The great unwashed, many of whom had been expelled from the countryside by acts of enclosure, were also excluded from desirable parts of town. Social reformers and democratic movements tore […]
Senate Confirms Yellen as Fed Chair
January 7th, 2014Oh yeah, the swelling ranks of homeless people will be riding the wave of Recovery any minute. Via: CNN: The Senate confirmed Janet Yellen as the next Federal Reserve chairman Monday, ensuring that the central bank’s pro-growth policies since the Great Recession will likely continue.
From the Pentagon to Life in a Van
January 7th, 2014Alternate headline: How Someone with Retirement Benefits of $40,000 Per Year Winds Up Homeless. Via: The Philadelphia Inquirer: After a 30-year military career in which he earned three graduate degrees, rose to the rank of colonel, and served as an aide to Pentagon brass, Robert Freniere can guess what people might say when they learn […]
Beijing Seals Manhole Covers to Prevent People from Living in Sewers
January 5th, 2014Via: Reuters: Zig-zagging left and right through a maze of dark, narrow corridors in a high-rise’s basement, 35-year-old kitchen worker Hu has joined the many thousands of Chinese fleeing fast-rising property prices by heading down – down underground. Hu lives here beneath an affluent downtown apartment building, in a windowless, 4 square-meter (43 square-foot) apartment […]
The Business of War: SOFEX
January 4th, 2014Via: VICE:
U.S. Waived Laws to Keep F-35 on Track with Parts Made in China
January 4th, 2014Via: Reuters: The Pentagon repeatedly waived laws banning Chinese-built components on U.S. weapons in order to keep the $392 billion Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter program on track in 2012 and 2013, even as U.S. officials were voicing concern about China’s espionage and military buildup. According to Pentagon documents reviewed by Reuters, chief U.S. arms […]
