Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Young Italians Flock to Become Shepherds
May 4th, 2012Via: Telegraph: Pay is poor and the hours are long, but there is job security, fresh air and as much pecorino cheese as you can eat. As Italy’s unemployment rate topped 10pc this week, it emerged that young people are flocking to become shepherds. Traditionally the preserve of older men, the profession has recently attracted […]
KBR on Shortlist to Run UK Police Services
May 3rd, 2012Via: Guardian: A US Pentagon contractor that was involved in building Guantánamo Bay is on a shortlist of seven private consortiums bidding for a £1.5bn contract to run key policing services in the West Midlands and Surrey. The Texas-based, Kellogg Brown & Root, which was sold off by the controversial Halliburton corporation in 2007, is […]
All Hail the Robotic Farmers and Pilots of the Future
May 2nd, 2012Via: Wired: Fighter pilot Mary “Missy” Cummings saw it coming while landing her F/A-18 supersonic jet on a Navy aircraft carrier — the world-changing disruption barreling toward the present. Instead of landing the multi-million-dollar machine on the small deck of the ship herself in the 1990s, a computer accomplished the tricky feat for her. “Here […]
The Cult Of The Expert
May 1st, 2012Via: Of The Hands: I suppose specialization is a feature, and not a bug, of the modern, industrial economy. To run such a complex and industrial infrastructure as we have come to rely upon, we need millions of people carrying out very specific and specialized tasks. This infrastructure is made up of uncountable widgets and […]
Estimating Government Support for Canadian Banks During the Financial Crisis
April 30th, 2012Via: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives: Throughout the 2008-2010 financial crisis, Canadian banks were touted by the federal government and the banks themselves as being much more stable than other countries’ big banks. Canadians we assured that our banks needed no bailout. However, in reality, Canada’s banks received billions in cash and loan support during […]
Economist Intelligence Unit: ‘Rise of the Machines: Moving from Hype to Reality in the Burgeoning Market for Machine-to-Machine Communication’
April 30th, 2012Via: Economist Intelligence Unit: Fast-forward to 2012, and much of what used to be M2M whiteboard concepts can now be found in the field. The Fonterra Co-operative Group, a New Zealand-based dairy company, has set up autonomous forklifts within a warehouse that can work around the clock, with far fewer accidents and reduced wear and […]
Spanish Foreign Minister: ‘Spain Is in a Crisis of Huge Proportions’
April 28th, 2012Via: Reuters: Spain’s sickly economy faces a “crisis of huge proportions”, a minister said on Friday, as unemployment hit its highest level in almost two decades and Standard and Poor’s downgraded the government’s debt by two notches. Unemployment shot up to 24 percent in the first quarter, one of the worst jobless figures in the […]
U.S. Firms Add Jobs, but Mostly Overseas
April 27th, 2012Via: Wall Street Journal: Thirty-five big U.S.-based multinational companies added jobs much faster than other U.S. employers in the past two years, but nearly three-fourths of those jobs were overseas, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. Those companies, which include Wal-Mart Stores Inc., International Paper Co., Honeywell International Inc. and United Parcel Service Inc., […]
Spanish Unemployment Hits Record 24.4%
April 27th, 2012Via: BBC: Spanish unemployment has hit a new record high, official figures have shown. The number of unemployed people reached 5,639,500 at the end of March, with the unemployment rate hitting 24.4%, the national statistics agency said. The figures came hours after rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Spanish sovereign debt. Official figures due out […]
Google Tries To Slam Brakes On Privacy Outcry Over ‘Google Drive’
April 26th, 2012Via: Talking Points Memo: Google on Tuesday unveiled what it affectionately referred to as its “Loch Ness Monster” of products, a long-rumored cloud-based file storage service called simply “Google Drive.” But now, Google is having trouble keeping its monster under control as a number of Web users have raised privacy issues with the new product. […]
