Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Citigroup Whistle-Blower Describes Mortgage Scams
February 16th, 2012Via: Bloomberg: Four years after rotten mortgages helped trigger a global financial crisis, Sherry Hunt said her Citigroup Inc. quality-control team was still finding flaws in new loans that included altered tax forms, straw buyers and borrowers who listed fictitious employers. Instead of reporting the defects to the Federal Housing Administration, the bank saddled the […]
U.S. Student Loans Close In On $1 Trillion
February 16th, 2012Via: Bloomberg: As outstanding student debt approaches $1 trillion, it’s one more reason record-low interest rates aren’t doing more to boost housing. The tighter lending standards that have emerged in the wake of the recession weigh particularly on younger, first-time home buyers, according to a Federal Reserve study sent to Congress on Jan. 4. These […]
China Plays Major Role in Financing Latin America; Pockets Premiums
February 16th, 2012Meet the new boss… Via: Financial Times: Chinese state banks have lent more than $75bn to Latin America since 2005, and in 2010 gave more than the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and US Ex-Im Bank combined, according to a report which highlights China’s growing financial heft in the region. “On the positive side, it […]
Printing RFIDs on Paper at Fraction of Cost of Regular RFIDs
February 16th, 2012Via: University of Montpellier Press Release: Now, researchers in France have developed a way to deposit a thin aluminum RFID tag on to paper that not only reduces the amount of metal needed for the tag, and so the cost, but could open up RFID tagging to many more systems, even allowing a single printed […]
Will Iran Sell Oil in Currencies Other Than the Dollar Starting March 20?
February 15th, 2012Via: Telegraph: Last week, the Tehran Times noted that the Iranian oil bourse will start trading oil in currencies other than the dollar from March 20. This long-planned move is part of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s vision of economic war with the west. “The dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme is nothing more than a convenient excuse […]
Panorama: Poor America
February 14th, 2012Here’s a link to the whole show. Via: BBC: With one and a half million American children now homeless, reporter Hilary Andersson meets the school pupils who go hungry in the richest country on Earth. From those living in the storm drains under Las Vegas to the tent cities now springing up around the United […]
Hungary’s Needy Given Money to Burn (in Their Furnaces)
February 14th, 2012Must see. Via: AFP / YouTube: Hungary’s central bank, currently at the centre of a dispute between the country’s government and the EU, has launched an unusual social programme to counter the effects of the current cold snap. It’s handing out blocks of disused bank notes to the country’s poorest citizens, so that they can […]
After Two Year Federal Undercover Investigation, Judge Stops Amish Farmer’s Sale of Raw Milk to Maryland
February 14th, 2012Via: Lancaster Online: A federal District Court judge has ordered a Kinzers farmer to stop selling raw milk to customers in Maryland. Judge Lawrence Stengel issued a permanent injunction Feb. 2 barring Amish dairyman Daniel Allgyer from sending the unpasteurized beverage across state lines to Grassfed on The Hill, a Washington, D.C.-area buying club. The […]
Moody’s Downgrades Credit Ratings of Italy and Spain
February 14th, 2012Via: Moody’s: As anticipated in November 2011, Moody’s Investors Service has today adjusted the sovereign debt ratings of selected EU countries in order to reflect their susceptibility to the growing financial and macroeconomic risks emanating from the euro area crisis and how these risks exacerbate the affected countries’ own specific challenges. Moody’s actions can be […]
Greek Lawmakers Approve Austerity Bill as Athens Burns
February 13th, 2012Via: Reuters: The Greek parliament approved a deeply unpopular austerity bill to secure a second EU/IMF bailout and avoid national bankruptcy, as buildings burned across central Athens and violence spread around the country. Cinemas, cafes, shops and banks were set ablaze in central Athens as black-masked protesters fought riot police outside parliament. State television reported […]
