Archive for the 'Economy' Category
‘What will the millions of middle-age, unskilled workers do when they are displaced by technology?’
February 19th, 2012My guess is that something like this will be part of the answer: Engineered H5N1: A Rare Time for Restraint in Science: Two scientific teams have recently engineered the H5N1 virus to make it readily transmissible between ferrets. Given that ferrets are considered the most reliable animal surrogate for human influenza infection, the newly engineered […]
Nevada Approves Regulations for Self-Driving Cars
February 18th, 2012Via: CBS: Nevada is envisioning a day when taxicabs might shuttle fares without a driver, or people with medical conditions that make them ineligible for a license could get around with a virtual chauffeur. The concept took a big step when Nevada became the first state to approve regulations that spell out requirements for companies […]
SWIFT READY TO BLOCK IRANIAN BANK TRANSACTIONS
February 18th, 2012When I studied International Relations in college, we were taught that economic sanctions could be on par with, “Rockets and bombs,” as one professor put it, and potentially much worse. Questions about economic sanctions amounting to collective punishment and other violations of International Law are ignored by the perpetrators. These types of policies resulted in […]
Statements by James Blackheath, House of Lords, 16 February 2012
February 18th, 2012Also see: Did Somebody Just Try to Buy the British Government? Record $6 Trillion of Fake U.S. Bonds Seized in Mafia Probe Via: Lords Hansard: 16 Feb 2012 : Column 1016 5.20 pm Lord James of Blackheath: My Lords, I hope the minute that that has taken has not come off my time. I do […]
Record $6 Trillion of Fake U.S. Bonds Seized in Mafia Probe
February 17th, 2012Via: Bloomberg: Italian anti-mafia prosecutors said they seized a record $6 trillion of allegedly fake U.S. Treasury bonds, an amount that’s almost half of the U.S.’s public debt. The bonds were found hidden in makeshift compartments of three safety deposit boxes in Zurich, the prosecutors from the southern city of Potenza said in an e-mailed […]
CBO: Longest Period of High Unemployment Since Great Depression
February 17th, 2012Via: U.S. News: After three years with unemployment topping 8 percent, the U.S. has seen the longest period of high unemployment since the Great Depression, the Congressional Budget Office noted in a report issued today. And, despite some recent good news on the economic front, the CBO is still predicting that unemployment will remain above […]
‘As soon as we get them buying diapers from us, they’re going to start buying everything else too.’
February 17th, 2012Via: New York Times: Andrew Pole had just started working as a statistician for Target in 2002, when two colleagues from the marketing department stopped by his desk to ask an odd question: “If we wanted to figure out if a customer is pregnant, even if she didn’t want us to know, can you do […]
High Demand for Machinists in the U.S. [???]
February 16th, 2012There is a critical shortage of machinists? Really? Millions of people are out of work and these companies can’t fill these positions because of lack of skills? Via: CNN: U.S. factories are creating many new jobs. But owners are hard pressed to find skilled American workers to fill them. There is a “critical shortage of […]
Several Large Financial Services Companies Facing Credit Downgrades of Two to Three Levels
February 16th, 2012Via: Bloomberg: UBS AG, Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) and Morgan Stanley’s credit ratings may be cut by as many as three levels by Moody’s Investors Service, which is reviewing 17 banks and securities firms with global capital markets operations. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and […]
The Pentagon’s $51 Billion ‘Black’ Budget
February 16th, 2012If you find this Wired piece interesting, definitely check out, Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World by Trevor Paglen. As an outsider, Paglen has no access to the black world, but he sort of feels around the edges of it and you really start to get a sense […]
