Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Prices of Rare Earth Metals Declining Sharply
November 16th, 2011Via: New York Times: After nearly three years of soaring prices for rare earth metals, with the cost per ton of some of these elements rising nearly thirtyfold, the market is rapidly coming back down. International prices for some light rare earths, like cerium and lanthanum, used in industries like the polishing of flat-screen televisions […]
Fannie, Freddie Execs Score $100 Million Payday
November 16th, 2011Via: CNN: Mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac received the biggest federal bailout of the financial crisis. And nearly $100 million of those tax dollars went to lucrative pay packages for top executives, filings show. The top five executives at Fannie Mae received $33.3 million in 2009 and 2010, while the top five […]
Gerald Celente Got Screwed Out of Gold Futures Positions with MF Global Wreck
November 16th, 2011Celente was just trying to buy the underlying metal via the futures and *poof* positions closed, money gone. Pookie sent this one from, Jesse’s Café Américain: Here is a white paper that suggests that JP Morgan and Bank of America are trying to subordinate the customers’ claims to their stolen funds and keep them in […]
Congress: Trading Stock on Inside Information
November 14th, 2011Via: CBS: Washington, D.C. is a town that runs on inside information – but should our elected officials be able to use that information to pad their own pockets? As Steve Kroft reports, members of Congress and their aides have regular access to powerful political intelligence, and many have made well-timed stock market trades in […]
$433-Million Bogus Smallpox Drug Deal for Large Democratic Party Contributor
November 13th, 2011Via: Los Angeles Times: Over the last year, the Obama administration has aggressively pushed a $433-million plan to buy an experimental smallpox drug, despite uncertainty over whether it is needed or will work. Senior officials have taken unusual steps to secure the contract for New York-based Siga Technologies Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald […]
Gitmo Costs $800K/Year Per Detainee
November 11th, 2011Via: Mother Jones: The Miami Herald’s Carol Rosenberg, returning to Gitmo for the arraignment of alleged USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, reports how much the island prison is costing American taxpayers these days. The Pentagon detention center that started out in January 2002 as a collection of crude open-air cells guarded by Marines in […]
European Crisis Explained
November 10th, 2011Alabama: Jefferson County Filed Largest Ever Municipal Bankruptcy
November 10th, 2011Via: Bloomberg: Jefferson County, Alabama, filed the biggest U.S. municipal bankruptcy after an agreement among elected officials and investors to refinance $3.1 billion in sewer bonds fell apart. The county, home to Birmingham, the state’s most-populous city, listed assets and debt of more than $1 billion in Chapter 9 papers filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy […]
Member of Family Closely Linked to Eugenics Movement Makes Film Promoting, Among Other Things, Free Energy Technology from Aliens
November 10th, 2011Update: Impressions After Seeing the Film I saw Thrive and, on balance, I definitely recommend it. With regard to eugenics, my concern about Foster Gamble seems to have been a case of guilt by association. The film actually mentions eugenics. While it would have been nice to see some kind of disclosure about his family’s […]
Robot Workers Take Over Warehouses
November 10th, 2011Don’t miss the video. Via: CNN: A “startup kit” of robots would cost $1 million to $2 million, and a large warehouse operation with 1,000 robots costs $15 million to $20 million. Setting up the software and grid systems inside the warehouse requires six months of planning, simulated modeling and testing. Then logistics managers must […]
