Archive for the 'Economy' Category
China Now Spends $125 Billion Per Year On Riot Gear And ‘Stability Maintenance’
May 20th, 2013Via: AFP: Mannequins in riot gear, armoured cars and drones line a police equipment and “anti-terrorism technology” trade fair in Beijing as vendors seek to profit from China’s huge internal security budget. The country is estimated to have more than 180,000 protests each year and the ruling Communist Party spends vast sums on ensuring order […]
Eldercare Robots?
May 20th, 2013Via: New York Times: Just like Frank, as the baby boomer generation grows old and if the number of elderly care workers fails to grow with it, many people might end up being cared for by robots. According to the Health and Human Services Department, there will be 72.1 million Americans over the age of […]
‘War on Terror’ Is Permanent
May 19th, 2013Via: Guardian: That the Obama administration is now repeatedly declaring that the “war on terror” will last at least another decade (or two) is vastly more significant than all three of this week’s big media controversies (Benghazi, IRS, and AP/DOJ) combined. The military historian Andrew Bacevich has spent years warning that US policy planners have […]
Funnel Shaped Wind Turbine
May 19th, 2013Via: Discovery: The Chaska, Minn.-based company Sheer Wind thinks it has a design that could bring the cost of wind power down to a price competitive with natural gas. Daryoush Allaei, Sheer Wind’s chief technical officer, told DNews that a utility-scale system of these wind turbines — that is a 100 to 500 MW power […]
And Now: ‘1 In 5 U.S. Children May Have Mental Disorder’
May 19th, 2013In other news: “ADHD is a prime example of a fictitious disease.” Via: CBS: Nearly 1 in 5 children in the U.S. suffers from a mental disorder, and this number has been rising for more than a decade. According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up to 20 percent […]
‘Al-Qaeda’s Syrian Wing’ Takes Over Oilfields Once Belonging to Assad
May 19th, 2013Via: Telegraph: Al-Qaeda’s Syrian wing is helping to finance its activities by selling the product of oilfields that once helped to prop up the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Up to 380,000 barrels of crude oil were previously produced by wells around the city of Raqqa and in the desert region to its east that are […]
Taxes On Some Wealthy French Top 100 Percent Of Income
May 19th, 2013Via: Reuters: More than 8,000 French households’ tax bills topped 100 percent of their income last year, the business newspaper Les Echos reported on Saturday, citing Finance Ministry data. The newspaper said that the exceptionally high level of taxation was due to a one-off levy last year on 2011 incomes for households with assets of […]
Dear Class of ’13: You’ve Been Scammed
May 18th, 2013Via: MarketWatch: You sit here today, $30,000 or $40,000 in debt, as the latest victims of what may well be the biggest conspiracy in U.S. history. It is a conspiracy so big and powerful that Dan Brown won’t even touch it. It’s a conspiracy so insidious that you will rarely hear its name. Move over, […]
Captain Obvious: Gen X On Track To Be Worse Off Than Boomers In Retirement
May 17th, 2013Via: CNN: Boomers lost a significant chunk of their retirement nest eggs in the recession, but it was members of Generation X who were really hit the hardest, according to a report released Thursday. If they don’t start paying off debt and saving more, Gen Xers (those between the ages of 38 and 47) and […]
U.S. Congress Restricts Government Purchase of Chinese Computer Equipment, Citing Cyber-Espionage Concerns
May 17th, 2013haha. Good luck with that. Via: The Verge: The latest US appropriations bill, signed into law just this week, includes a provision that is likely to further raise tensions between the country and China. The provision requires the Department of Justice, Department of Commerce, NASA, and the NSF to perform a formal assessment of risk […]
