Archive for the 'Economy' Category
U.S. Military Does Deal with Microsoft for Windows 8 and Other Software
January 5th, 2013Since Windows 8 is a bigger turd than Vista, it must be nice for Microsoft to be able to dump it on the U.S. taxpayer via Uncle $cam. Via: U.S. Department of Defense: The Defense Department has leveraged the buying power of more than two million information technology users to award a three-year, $617 million […]
Write Gambling Software, Go to Prison
January 3rd, 2013Via: Wired: In a criminal case sure to make programmers nervous, a software maker who licenses a program used by online casinos and bookmakers overseas is being charged with promoting gambling in New York because authorities say his software was used by others for illegal betting in that state. New York authorities say that about […]
Why Did a Train Carrying Biofuel Cross the Border 24 Times and Never Unload?
January 3rd, 2013Via: Oil Price: This enabled Bioversal to accumulate over 12 million RINs from the 24 trips, worth between 50 cents and $1 each, which they can then sell on to oil companies that haven’t met the EPA’s renewable fuel requirements. Research Credit: HPLovecraft666
Mississippi River Nears Historic Lows, Shipping at Risk
January 3rd, 2013Via: Reuters: The drought-drained Mississippi River will rise slightly later this week between St. Louis and Cairo, Illinois, but later continue its decline toward historic lows, according to a National Weather Service forecast. Low water, due to the worst U.S. drought since 1956, has already impeded the flow of billions of dollars worth of grain, […]
Former Icelandic Bank Executives Jailed for Fraud
January 2nd, 2013Nine months isn’t much, unless you consider that U.S. executives involved with these rackets got taxpayer funded bonuses instead of prison sentences. Via: Reuters: Two former executives at an Icelandic bank which collapsed in the 2008 financial meltdown were sentenced to jail on Friday for fraud which led to a 53 million euro loss, in […]
Fiscal Cliff ‘Debt Reduction’ Deal Adds $4 Trillion to Federal Deficits Over a Decade
January 2nd, 2013Your what hurts? Via: Reuters: In the controversy surrounding the “fiscal cliff” issue, it’s easy to forget that the origin of the entire debate was a professed desire to reduce swollen federal deficits. Whether the target was $4 trillion over 10 years, as proposed by the Bowles-Simpson deficit reduction commission, or in the $2 trillion […]
Lego Investing
December 31st, 2012I found this hilarious because I actually do this in a small way. I buy Lego sets for my sons that they won’t be ready to use for years; sets that I know will be discontinued, and that I wouldn’t want to have to acquire later on the auction sites. I’m guessing that I’m not […]
Facebook Paid £2.9 Million Tax on £840 Million Profits Made Outside U.S.
December 29th, 2012Via: Guardian: Facebook has become the latest multinational to come under the spotlight for its tax affairs after figures revealed it paid just £2.9m in tax on profits of more than more than £800m. Filings for Facebook Ireland, through which all of the social network’s profits outside the US are channelled, show it paid the […]
New MRSA Superbug Strain Found in UK Milk Supply
December 27th, 201280% were reserved for livestock and poultry: In fact, according to new data just released by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), of the antibiotics sold in 2009 for both people and food animals almost 80% were reserved for livestock and poultry. A huge portion of those antibiotics were never intended to fight bacterial infections, […]
Help, I’m Trapped in a Chinese Forced Labor Camp
December 25th, 2012Via: The Oregonian: The letter came in a box of Halloween decorations purchased at Kmart, but for a year Julie Keith never knew. It gathered dust in her storage, a haunting plea for help hidden among artificial skeletons, tombstones and spider webs. Keith, a 42-year-old vehicle donation manager at a southeast Portland Goodwill, at one […]
