Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Widespread Seafood Fraud
February 25th, 2013Via: Oceana: From 2010 to 2012, Oceana conducted one of the largest seafood fraud investigations in the world to date, collecting more than 1,200 seafood samples from 674 retail outlets in 21 states to determine if they were honestly labeled. DNA testing found that one-third (33 percent) of the 1,215 samples analyzed nationwide were mislabeled, […]
China Acknowledges ‘Cancer Villages’
February 24th, 2013Via: BBC: China’s environment ministry appears to have acknowledged the existence of so-called “cancer villages” after years of public speculation about the impact of pollution in certain areas. For years campaigners have said cancer rates in some villages near factories and polluted waterways have shot up. But the term “cancer village” has no technical definition […]
6 Tanks at Hanford Nuclear Site Leaking Radioactive Waste
February 23rd, 2013Via: Reuters: Six underground storage tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation along the Columbia River in Washington state were recently found to be leaking radioactive waste, but there is no immediate risk to human health, state and federal officials said on Friday. The seeping waste adds to decades of soil contamination caused by leaking storage […]
Moody’s Downgrades Britain’s Credit Rating
February 23rd, 2013Via: Reuters: Britain suffered its first ever sovereign ratings downgrade from a major agency on Friday when Moody’s stripped the country of its coveted top-notch triple-A rating, dealing a major blow to finance minister George Osborne. Moody’s said weak prospects for British economic growth, which have thrown the government’s deficit reduction strategy off course, lay […]
Bank ‘Profits’
February 22nd, 2013Via: Bloomberg: So what if we told you that, by our calculations, the largest U.S. banks aren’t really profitable at all? What if the billions of dollars they allegedly earn for their shareholders were almost entirely a gift from U.S. taxpayers? Granted, it’s a hard concept to swallow. It’s also crucial to understanding why the […]
Midway: Message from the Gyre
February 22nd, 2013Via: Midway Journey:
USDA Received Pathogen Warning Before Deregulating GM Alfalfa
February 22nd, 2013Via: Activist Post: Following a 6 year approval battle, the USDA fully deregulated Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa in January 2011. A week later, they partially deregulated GM sugar beets. This occurred despite Secretary of Agriculture’s Tom Vilsack’s knowledge of a stark warning letter by Dr. Don M. Huber, Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology, Purdue University […]
Florida Atlantic University Naming Stadium for Prison Company
February 22nd, 2013Via: The Chronicle of Higher Education: Some students and immigrant-rights activists are angry about Florida Atlantic University’s announcement on Tuesday that it would rename its football stadium for a prison company in recognition of a $6-million gift from its charitable foundation. The gift came from the GEO Group, a company that owns or operates a […]
$10 An Hour Jobs Requiring College Degrees
February 20th, 2013Via: New York Times: The college degree is becoming the new high school diploma: the new minimum requirement, albeit an expensive one, for getting even the lowest-level job. Consider the 45-person law firm of Busch, Slipakoff & Schuh here in Atlanta, a place that has seen tremendous growth in the college-educated population. Like other employers […]
NZ: Ministry of TeleFone Announces New Submarine Cable
February 19th, 2013I guess it’s better than a kick in the teeth. *groan* There still won’t be any competition, but at least there will be another physical path. If you don’t get the TeleFone joke, it simply refers to Telecom New Zealand and Vodafone increasingly colluding on service offerings. See the Rural Broadband Initiative, for example. Now […]
