Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Phoenix-Area Residents Squawking About Backyard Chicken Coops
November 28th, 2012I can understand not wanting roosters in packed neighborhoods. (I live in a very rural area, and I’ve had about enough of Corneleus, our Barred Rock rooster.) Hens, though, are a different matter. People with backyards should be allowed to keep a few hens for eggs and gardening purposes. Reading about the struggles that people […]
Why $16 Trillion Only Hints at the True U.S. Debt
November 27th, 2012Via: Wall Street Journal: As Washington wrestles with the roughly $600 billion “fiscal cliff” and the 2013 budget, the far greater fiscal challenge of the U.S. government’s unfunded pension and health-care liabilities remains offstage. The truly important figures would appear on the federal balance sheet—if the government prepared an accurate one. But it hasn’t. For […]
Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction Might Be Eliminated
November 27th, 2012Via: New York Times: A tax break that has long been untouchable could soon be in for some serious scrutiny. Many home buyers deduct their mortgage interest when assessing their tax bill, a perk that has helped bolster the income of millions of families — and the broader housing market. But as President Obama and […]
China: Man Who Blew Whistle on Tainted Milk Killed
November 26th, 2012Via: Stuff: The man who blew the whistle on milk contamination in China has been killed, but the circumstances of his death are shrouded in mystery. Jiang Weisuo, 44, started to expose how milk was being contaminated in 2006, two years before the scandal that enveloped Sanlu, then a subsidiary of New Zealand dairy giant […]
Palm-Scanning Technology ‘as a Handy ID System’
November 26th, 2012Via: USA Today: At schools in Pinellas County, Fla., students aren’t paying for lunch with cash or a card, but with a wave of their hand over a palm scanner. “It’s so quick that a child could be standing in line, call mom and say, ‘I forgot my lunch money today.’ She’s by her computer, […]
Company Fires 150 Employees for Not Getting Flu Shots
November 26th, 2012Via: WLWT: One of Cincinnati’s largest employers fired approximately 150 employees Wednesday for failing to get a required flu shot. TriHealth offered all of its 10,800 employees free flu shots. Employees had a month to get the flu shot. The deadline was Nov. 16. Employees who did not get the shot were terminated Wednesday, a […]
France: The Time-Bomb at the Heart of Europe
November 23rd, 2012If I had to live in Europe, I’d still pick France. Via: The Economist: THE threat of the euro’s collapse has abated for the moment, but putting the single currency right will involve years of pain. The pressure for reform and budget cuts is fiercest in Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, which all saw mass […]
Pentagon Wants to Keep Running Its ‘Afghan Drug War’ From Blackwater’s HQ
November 22nd, 2012You’ll love this. Via: Wired: The U.S. war in Afghanistan is supposed to be winding down. Its contractor-led drug war? Not so much. Inside a compound in Kabul called Camp Integrity, the Pentagon stations a small group of officers to oversee the U.S. military’s various operations to curb the spread of Afghanistan’s cash crops of […]
Afghanistan: Opium Poppy Cultivation Rises Sharply from 2011-2012
November 22nd, 2012Via: New York Times: Opium poppy cultivation rose substantially in 2012 in an “alarming” trend, despite a major opium eradication effort by Afghan governors, United Nations officials said Tuesday as they released the organization’s 2012 opium survey, which was undertaken with the Afghan Ministry of Counternarcotics. The higher cultivation levels were driven by high prices […]
Stores Start Using Spy Mannequins to Boost Sales
November 22nd, 2012Via: Bloomberg: Fashion brands are deploying mannequins equipped with technology used to identify criminals at airports to watch over shoppers in their stores. Retailers are introducing the EyeSee, sold by Italian mannequin maker Almax SpA, to glean data on customers much as online merchants are able to do. Five companies are using a total of […]
