Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Dollar and Gold Move Sharply Higher on Panic
February 17th, 2009WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. Trying to pick a story to post right now is like standing in the middle of a forest fire and pointing out some particular tree that’s engulfed in flames. It’s a wreck, from one end of the world to the other. […]
Biggest Fraud Ever: Iraq “Reconstruction”
February 17th, 2009Fraud. Top to bottom fraud, as we already knew. Via Independent: In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125bn (£88bn) in a US -directed effort to reconstruct Iraq after the fall of […]
Householders to be Charged for Each Flush of Toilet
February 17th, 2009Why flush at all? Use a composting toilet (free older edition online). Via: Times of India: Householders in Australia would be charged for each flush under a radical new toilet tax designed to help beat the drought, reports Perth Now. The scheme would replace the current system, which sees sewage charges based on a home’s […]
Kansas Suspends Income Tax Refunds, May Miss Payroll
February 17th, 2009Via: AP: Kansas has suspended income tax refunds and may not be able to pay employees on time, the state’s budget director said Monday. The state doesn’t have enough money in its main bank account to pay its bills, prompting Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to suggest transferring $225 million from other accounts throughout state government. […]
Redemptions Overwhelm Spain’s Largest Property Fund
February 16th, 2009Spain, Greece, Italy, Ireland… Who’s it going to be in Europe? Via: Reuters: Santander said its Banif property fund, the largest of its type in Spain, could not meet an avalanche of redemptions and had asked the stock market regulator for permission to suspend payments for up to 2 years. Clients holding 80 percent of […]
Japan Economy Shrinks at Fastest Rate in 35 Years
February 16th, 2009The steady drumbeat of doom continues out of Japan… Via: AP: Strangled by the collapse in global export demand, Japan’s economy shrank at its fastest rate in 35 years in the fourth quarter and shows no signs of reversing course anytime soon. Japan’s gross domestic product contracted 3.3 percent from the previous quarter, or an […]
Top Mexico Drug Cop Charged with Working for Cartel
February 16th, 2009For your News-Not-News file folder. Via: Reuters: The former head of Mexico’s special organized crime bureau has been charged with selling information to one of the country’s most powerful drug cartels, the attorney general’s office said on Sunday. Noe Ramirez, who stepped down as chief of the SIEDO federal investigation unit in July last year, […]
IRELAND COULD DEFAULT
February 16th, 2009Via: Guardian: Fears are growing that Ireland could default on its national debt after the cost to insure against possible losses on loans to the country rose to record highs at the end of last week. Credit ratings agency Moody’s recently followed rival Standard & Poor’s in warning it might downgrade Irish debt, amid fears […]
Failure to Save East Europe Will Lead to Worldwide Meltdown
February 15th, 2009Via: Telegraph: The unfolding debt drama in Russia, Ukraine, and the EU states of Eastern Europe has reached acute danger point. If mishandled by the world policy establishment, this debacle is big enough to shatter the fragile banking systems of Western Europe and set off round two of our financial Götterdämmerung. Austria’s finance minister Josef […]
And Now: Ammunition Shortages
February 15th, 2009Bullets are the projectiles that are propelled out of firearms. This stupid article treats bullets and ammunition as synonyms. I’m assuming that, regardless of the term, it’s referring to completed, ready to fire ammunition. Is there actually a shortage on bullets? That’s not clear from reading this. I’m sure there are some reloaders out there […]
