Archive for the 'Economy' Category
SOS Again from Minamisoma, Fukushima
July 22nd, 2011Via: Time: Another disgruntled Japanese official has taken to the interwebs to air his grievances about the inadequate attention being paid to the welfare of residents of Minamisoma, a town about 25 kilometers away from the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Minamisoma last grabbed international headlines when the town’s mayor posted an earnest appeal […]
U.S. Loses $1.3 Billion On Chrysler Bailout
July 21st, 2011Via: CNN: U.S. taxpayers likely lost $1.3 billion in the government bailout of Chrysler, the Treasury Department announced Thursday. The government recently sold its remaining 6% stake in the company to Italian automaker Fiat, wrapping up the 2009 auto bailouts that were part of TARP.
State of Florida Sells Personal Driver Information for Profit
July 21st, 2011Via: Local10: The state of Florida made $63 million last year selling what many think is personal information. Local 10 has learned the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is selling people’s names, addresses, dates of birth, a list of the vehicles they drive, and it’s legal. “Per federal mandate, there are companies that […]
Banks Pay Back TARP Funds by. . . .Borrowing from Treasury
July 21st, 2011Via: Contrary Indicator: Generally, banks that repaid CPP funds did so with cash raised from earnings, or by raising new outside capital. In finance and banking you always have to read the fine print. And if you go back to the report, you’ll notice that the fine print accompanying the entries for each of the […]
iPhone App Listens to Television Commercials
July 20th, 2011Definitely see the one about Harnessing the Power of Feedback Loops before you read this. Via: AdAge: You’re sitting on the couch with the TV on and phone in hand. As a commercial starts, a smartphone app hears what you’re watching. It then serves up links, coupons or music downloads corresponding to what it hears […]
Recovery: Borders Calls Off Auction, Plans to Liquidate
July 19th, 2011Another 10,000+ people will be laid off. Via: New York Times: The Borders Group, the bankrupt 40-year-old bookseller, said on Monday that it will move to liquidate after no last-minute savior emerged for the company. Borders said in a press release that it will proceed with a proposal by Hilco and the Gordon Brothers Group. […]
Two Never-Finished Navy Ships Cost U.S. Taxpayers $300 Million; Head to Scrap Heap
July 19th, 2011This amount represents a little over 5 days worth of air conditioning for U.S. military tents in Afghanistan… No biggy. *sigh* Via: Pilot Online: They are the two ships no one wanted, almost constantly embroiled in one dispute or another for the past 25 years. The two Navy behemoths have never gone on a mission, […]
Mass Psychosis in the U.S. – How Big Pharma Got Americans Hooked on Anti-Psychotic Drugs
July 18th, 2011Via: Al Jazeera: Has America become a nation of psychotics? You would certainly think so, based on the explosion in the use of antipsychotic medications. In 2008, with over $14 billion in sales, antipsychotics became the single top-selling therapeutic class of prescription drugs in the United States, surpassing drugs used to treat high cholesterol and […]
Japan’s ‘Throwaway’ Nuclear Workers
July 18th, 2011Via: Reuters: A decade and a half before it blew apart in a hydrogen blast that punctuated the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant was the scene of an earlier safety crisis. Then, as now, a small army of transient workers was put to work to […]
Moody’s Suggests U.S. Eliminate Debt Ceiling
July 18th, 2011Why not? If eliminating any speed bumps along the road to hyperinflation will ease “periodic uncertainty” well, golly, let it rip! Via: Reuters: Ratings agency Moody’s on Monday suggested the United States should eliminate its statutory limit on government debt to reduce uncertainty among bond holders. The United States is one of the few countries […]
