Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Italian Economy in Deep Recession
June 11th, 2012Via: AP: Official statistics confirm that Italy’s economy contracted by a quarterly rate of 0.8 percent in the first three months of the year, the worst contraction in three years. The painful recession keeps pressure on Premier Mario Monti’s government, which is struggling to fend off the debt crisis and the perception that Italy could […]
Citizenship for Sale: Foreign Investors Flock to U.S.
June 11th, 2012Via: Bloomberg: Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin drew public ire last month following the revelation that he had renounced his U.S. citizenship, a move widely seen as a tax dodge. But thousands of wealthy foreigners are lining up to replace him, making investments here and putting themselves on a path to citizenship in the process. The […]
Older Jobless People Forced to Take Social Security Early
June 11th, 2012Via: New York Times: Even as most Americans are delaying retirement to bolster their savings accounts, the recession and its protracted aftermath have forced many older people who are out of work to draw Social Security much earlier than they had planned. According to an analysis by Steve Goss, chief actuary for the Social Security […]
Eurozone Agrees to Lend Spain Up to 100 Billion Euros
June 10th, 2012Via: Reuters: Euro zone finance ministers agreed on Saturday to lend Spain up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) to shore up its teetering banks and Madrid said it would specify precisely how much it needs once independent audits report in just over a week. After a 2 1/2-hour conference call of the 17 finance […]
Argentina: Capital Controls
June 9th, 2012Via: Reuters: Argentine banks have seen a third of their U.S. dollar deposits withdrawn since November as savers chase greenbacks in response to stiffening foreign exchange restrictions, local banking sources said on Friday. Depositors withdrew a total of about $100 million per day over the last month in a safe-haven bid fueled by uncertainty over […]
UBS May Have Facebook Trading Loss of $350 Million
June 8th, 2012Who keeps pulling the trigger without confirmation? What a bunch of idiots. Via: CNBC: UBS is sitting on losses that could be as high as $350 million stemming from its investment in the Facebook initial public offering, and is preparing legal action against Nasdaq as a result, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. That […]
DARPA Wants Robots to Manufacture Military Uniforms
June 8th, 2012Via: Wired: The company on the receiving end of Darpa’s award, SoftWear Automation Inc., has so far developed “a conceptual” version of just the automated system that the agency’s after. The basic principle behind the company’s innovation, according to its website, is a robotic system that relies on an extremely precise monitoring of a given […]
Marketing: ‘Zombie Bullets’ In High Demand Following Flesh-Eating Attacks
June 8th, 2012Via: CBS: Talk about zombies and a possible zombie apocalypse has increased due to recent gory accounts of drug-induced, flesh-eating attacks in the news. Stores across the U.S., including in Metro Detroit, are getting in on the undead action by selling Zombie Bullets, made by Hornady Manufacturing. In promoting the product on their website, Hornady […]
Detroit Could Be Broke Within a Week
June 8th, 2012Via: Detroit Free Press: The city of Detroit will run out of cash a week from today if a lawsuit challenging the validity of a consent agreement is not withdrawn, city officials said this morning. Jack Martin, the city’s new chief financial officer, said the city will be broke by June 15, but it should […]
Google Fellow Wants to Offer Online Graduate Degrees for $100
June 7th, 2012In ten or twenty years, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the majority of paid work in companies, that is, work that isn’t done by machines, being done by these “certificate” holders. They’ll live in ever expanding slums, autonomously policed by RoboCops and drones. They’ll have fast Internet and there will be Superbowl commercials about […]
