Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Credit Suisse Cut 3 Levels As Moody’s Downgrades Biggest Banks
June 21st, 2012Via: Bloomberg: Credit Suisse Group AG’s credit rating was cut three levels by Moody’s Investors Service, Morgan Stanley was reduced two levels and 13 other banks were downgraded in moves that may shake up competition among Wall Street’s biggest firms. Credit Suisse, the second-largest Swiss bank, received the maximum reduction that Moody’s said in February […]
‘My brief, backbreaking, rage-inducing, low-paying, dildo-packing time inside the online-shipping machine.’
June 21st, 2012The pickers are being replaced by robots. Instead of people walking around and picking products (as described in the piece below), robots pick up the racks and deliver them to a queue where a handful of remaining human workers box up the orders. The main player in this type of automation is Kiva Systems, and […]
G4S Chief Predicts Mass Police Privatisation
June 21st, 2012Via: Guardian: Private companies will be running large parts of the UK’s police service within five years, according to the world’s biggest security firm. David Taylor-Smith, the head of G4S for the UK and Africa, said he expected police forces across the country to sign up to similar deals to those on the table in […]
Acxiom Corp
June 21st, 2012Via: The Week: What is Acxiom Corp., and what does it do? The company fits into a category called database marketing. It started in 1969 as an outfit called Demographics Inc., using phone books and other notably low-tech tools, as well as one computer, to amass information on voters and consumers for direct marketing. Almost […]
Spain and Italy to be Bailed Out in £600bn Deal
June 20th, 2012Via: Telegraph: European leaders are poised to announce a £600 billion deal to bail out Spain and Italy, it emerged at the G20 summit on Tuesday night. wo rescue funds are to be used to buy the debts of the troubled economies, the cost of which have reached record highs in recent weeks. It is […]
Obama Asserts Executive Privilege on Fast and Furious Documents
June 20th, 2012Via: CNN: President Barack Obama has asserted executive privilege over documents sought by a House committee investigating the botched Fast and Furious gun-running sting, according to a letter to the panel Wednesday from Deputy Attorney Gen. James Cole. The move means the Department of Justice can withhold the documents from the House Oversight Committee, which […]
Net Worth Implosion: It’s Not Just Housing
June 19th, 2012Via: CNN: Americans’ net worth collapsed in recent years, but don’t blame the housing market for it all. New Census Bureau data shows that median household net worth, excluding home equity, fell by 25% between 2005 and 2010. That decline was driven largely by the plummeting stock market, which devastated Americans’ portfolios and retirement accounts. […]
Rate on Spanish 10-Year Bonds Hits Fresh High at 7.18 Percent
June 18th, 2012Via: AP: Spain’s ability to manage its debt without an international bailout was thrown into doubt Monday after investors pushed its borrowing rates up to the level at which Greece, Portugal and Ireland had sought help. Investor sentiment improved briefly in the morning as electoral results in Greece suggested the country would not drop out […]
EUR/USD Gap Higher
June 18th, 2012And Crap Down into the 1.25s again. —End Update— High of 1.2727 so far.
Japan Restarting Two Nuclear Power Plants
June 18th, 2012Via: ABC News: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda ordered the restart of two idle nuclear reactors Saturday amid widespread public opposition, more than a year after a powerful earthquake and tsunami triggered three nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Power Plant, and halted all 50 reactors in Japan. The decision to reactivate the Ohi reactors […]
