Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Boehner Offers to Take Debt Limit Off the Table
December 17th, 2012Imagine my shock. Via: Washington Post: House Speaker John A. Boehner has offered to push any fight over the federal debt limit off for a year, a major concession that would deprive Republicans of leverage in the budget battle but is breathing new life into stalled talks over the year-end “fiscal cliff.” The offer came […]
Hostess CEO Took Employees’ Pensions and Put It Toward Executive Pay
December 15th, 2012Via: Alternet: Twinkie-maker Hostess continues to screw over its workers. The company is in the process of complete liquidation and 18,000 unionized workers are set to lose their jobs. More troubling – they could lose their pensions. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal , Hostess’ CEO, Gregory Rayburn, essentially admitted that his […]
Gigabit Seattle
December 14th, 2012Via: seattle.gov: In December of 2012 Mayor Mike McGinn announced that the City of Seattle has reached an agreement with broadband developer Gigabit Squared to develop and operate an ultra high-speed fiber-to-the-home/fiber-to-the-business broadband network. The plan will begin with a demonstration fiber project in twelve Seattle neighborhoods and includes wireless methods to deploy services more […]
The Great Decoupling of the U.S. Economy
December 14th, 2012Via: Andrew McAfee’s Blog: What’s going on? Why have the things that workers care about – jobs and wages – become decoupled from the the other things that economy-watchers care about? So far, explanations for this unhappy phenomenon include tax and policy changes, and the effects of globalization and offshoring. These are clearly powerful forces, […]
Tiny Bhutan to Move to 100% Organic Farming Methods; Most Farmers Already Farm Organically
December 13th, 2012Via: NPR: The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan drew international attention a few years back for saying gross national happiness should trump gross domestic product when measuring a nation’s progress. If you’re going to prioritize happiness, the Bhutanese thinking goes, you’d better include the environment and spiritual and mental well-being in your calculations. (Not everyone […]
The Real Toy Story
December 12th, 2012Via: Business Insider: German photographer Michael Wolf has taken a phenomenal series of photos he calls “The Real Toy Story” that shows what workers’ lives are like as they make all those toys. Wolf’s photographs come from visits to five toy factories around mainland China. He has given us permission to share them with you […]
More Fed Pumping
December 12th, 2012Who needs the Chinese to buy this stuff? Not the Fed. Via: Bloomberg: The Federal Reserve will amplify record accommodation tomorrow by announcing $45 billion in monthly Treasury buying that will push its balance sheet almost to $4 trillion, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. Forty-eight of 49 economists predict the Federal Open Market […]
HSBC Said to Near $1.9 Billion Settlement Over Money Laundering
December 10th, 2012Via: New York Times: Federal and state authorities plan to announce a record $1.9 billion settlement with HSBC on Tuesday, a major victory in the government’s broad crackdown on money laundering at banks. The settlement with HSBC stems from accusations that the British banking giant transferred billions of dollars on behalf of sanctioned nations like […]
Eurozone Crisis Has Pushed Millions Into Poverty
December 10th, 2012Via: AFP: Crushed by an austerity squeeze and towering unemployment, millions of Europeans joined the ranks of the newly poor in 2012 in a crisis that showed no mercy for the old, women or children. An arc of misery spread pitilessly across southern Europe’s middle classes, engulfing bailed-out nations Greece and Portugal and tottering heavyweights […]
Over 1 Million Americans Enter Poverty In Last Two Months
December 10th, 2012Via: ZeroHedge: And we thought last month’s delayed foodstamp data was bad. The just reported foodstamp number for September was a doozy, with 607,544 new Americans becoming eligible for foodstamps, as a record 47.7 million Americans are now living in poverty at least according to the USDA. The monthly increase was the highest since May […]
