Archive for the 'Economy' Category
China: Six-Year-Old Aspires to Become a Corrupt Communist Party Official
September 4th, 2009She’ll go far. Via: Independent Online: A six-year-old girl has become a media darling in China on her first day of school by expressing her aspiration to become a “corrupt official” when she grows up, state media said on Friday. The young student stated her aspirations in a televised interview that was posted on a […]
Natural Gas Dips to Lowest Since March 2002 on Inventory Gain
September 4th, 2009Via: Bloomberg: Natural gas futures fell in New York to the lowest level since March 2002 after a government report showed stockpiles expanded more than average to a record for this time of year. Supplies rose 65 billion cubic feet in the week ended Aug. 28 to 3.323 trillion cubic feet, the Energy Department said. […]
Pot Pirates
September 4th, 2009Via: CNN: Drug traffickers are planting millions of marijuana plants on U.S. public lands ever closer to tourist sites, guarding their plots with heavy weaponry, federal authorities say. … Though traffickers have been planting on public lands for years, figures from the U.S. Forest Service indicate the sheer volume of marijuana plants on public land […]
One in Nine Americans Receiving Food Stamps
September 4th, 2009Via: Reuters: More than 35 million Americans received food stamps in June, up 22 percent from June 2008 and a new record as the country continued to grapple with the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The food stamp program, which helps cover the cost of groceries for one in nine Americans, […]
Pfizer Directed Doctors to Use Drugs at Eight Times the Recommended Dosage and for Conditions Different to Those for Which They Were Approved
September 4th, 2009Via: BBC: A whistle-blower in the Pfizer healthcare fraud scandal has said he felt he was “swimming upstream” when the firm was illegally promoting drugs. “It’s hard to do what’s right when everyone else around you is following management sales directive,” John Kopchinski told the BBC’s World Today. Mr Kopchinski was awarded $50m (£31m) for […]
H1N1: MAINE DECLARES CIVIL EMERGENCY
September 3rd, 2009Via: Bangor Daily News: Gov. John Baldacci on Tuesday declared a statewide civil emergency because of the H1N1 influenza virus, paving the way for mass immunization of Maine schoolchildren and other residents. The emergency designation protects schools and health care providers against liability claims related to their participation in school-based vaccine clinics this fall for […]
Low-Wage Workers Are Often Cheated, Study Says
September 3rd, 2009Via: New York Times: Low-wage workers are routinely denied proper overtime pay and are often paid less than the minimum wage, according to a new study based on a survey of workers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The study, the most comprehensive examination of wage-law violations in a decade, also found that 68 […]
Microsoft Pushes for Single Global Patent System
September 3rd, 2009Via: Cnet: A senior lawyer at Microsoft is calling for the creation of a global patent system to make it easier and faster for corporations to enforce their intellectual property rights around the world. In a blog posting on Tuesday, Microsoft’s Deputy General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez said that a backlog of patent applications internationally was […]
Bush’s Third Term? You’re Living It
September 3rd, 2009Please understand: THERE ARE NO POLITICAL SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS THE U.S. IS FACING. The outcome of this election is meaningless, one way or the other. The more you keep grasping for glimmers of hope within the political system, the worse off you will be. … Will a big Democratic win calm people down? Maybe […]
Gold Is Probably About to Put on a Show
September 2nd, 2009WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. I’m not able to make a high confidence call on which way gold is going to go, but I think it’s about to make a strong move. If I was forced to guess, I’d say that it will break higher, which […]
