Archive for the 'Economy' Category
S&P Downgrades World’s Largest Banks
November 30th, 2011Rabobank was taken down two notches: Dutch Rabobank is among 15 global banks downgraded by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services Tuesday as part of a shift in how the ratings company forms its opinions about financial institutions. S&P rates Rabobank now two notches lower at AA, instead of AAA previously. S&P’s new measures not only […]
The One About Growing Food Becoming Illegal in New Zealand
November 30th, 2011Lots of people are submitting NZ Food Security, a site that focuses on fascist elements of the Food Bill. I’m posting this mainly to let people know that, yes, I know about this and to ask others to please stop submitting it. A couple of comments: First, there are so many insane laws in New […]
Yoshimasa Sakurai: Sustainable Way of Living
November 30th, 2011This is an astonishing resource, especially for people in New Zealand. Save locally and consider printing hard copies. Via: ecohouse.co.nz
Merck Pays a Pittance for Mass Deaths
November 30th, 2011Via: Counterpunch: One of the most downplayed stories of our time ended with a whimper this week. “Merck has agreed to pay $950 million and has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge over the marketing and sales of the painkiller Vioxx,” the New York Times reported Nov. 23 (in the business section, where important medical […]
‘On a scale of China’s food safety issues, pollution-tainted rice might just be the biggest problem of all.’
November 30th, 2011Via: Global Post: Rice is responsible for feeding half the world, or more than 3.5 billion people. In other words, rice is important. A tweak to how the grain is grown, sold or eaten can send ripples through the world economy. Take Thailand, which supplies 30 percent of the world’s rice. Government subsidies there threaten […]
American Airlines Bankrupt
November 29th, 2011Via: AP: American Airlines’ parent company is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it seeks to unload massive debt built up by years of accelerating jet fuel prices and labor struggles. The nation’s third largest airline also said its CEO Gerard Arpey will step down. He’s being replaced by Thomas Horton, currently the company’s president. […]
Comfortably Numb
November 29th, 2011Fill it to the rim with grim! Via: The Burning Platform: The system has been captured by an oligarchy of moneyed interests from the financial industry, mega-corporations, and military industrial complex, protected by their captured puppets in Washington DC and sustained by the propaganda peddling corporate media. The differences in political parties are meaningless as […]
Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks Undisclosed $13 Billion
November 28th, 2011Via: Bloomberg: The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing. The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a combined […]
New Zealand: 1 Million Didn’t Bother to Vote
November 28th, 2011Update: National Almost Beaten by The Abstention Party Via: New Zealand Herald: Voter turnout in the general election was an historic low of 68.8% of eligible voters. An argument can be made that the National Party was almost beaten by The Abstention Party, which won 31.2% of the (non)-vote. Once you take into account the […]
BRITISH EMBASSIES READYING CONTINGENCY PLANS FOR COLLAPSE OF THE EURO
November 27th, 2011Via: Telegraph: British embassies in the eurozone have been told to draw up plans to help British expats through the collapse of the single currency, amid new fears for Italy and Spain. As the Italian government struggled to borrow and Spain considered seeking an international bail-out, British ministers privately warned that the break-up of the […]
