Archive for the 'Economy' Category
CALIFORNIA COUNTIES THREATEN TO KEEP TAXES FROM STATE
February 6th, 2009Via: AP: California counties are considering forms of tax revolt after the state imposed a 30-day payment delay that could potentially become much longer under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to preserve cash. The Riverside County Board of Supervisors has authorized staff to file a lawsuit, while elected officials in Colusa County decided to impose a […]
TOYOTA TRIPLES YEAR LOSS FORECAST
February 6th, 2009Via: BBC: The world’s biggest carmaker, Toyota, has widened its predicted loss for 2008 after demand for its cars slumped. In December, Toyota predicted it would make a full year operating loss of 150bn yen ($1.65bn; £1.13bn). The Japanese car giant has now tripled that figure and expects to make a 450bn yen operating loss, […]
CHINA DECLARES DROUGHT EMERGENCY
February 6th, 2009Via: BBC: China has declared an emergency in eight northern and central drought-hit regions, where nearly four million people are suffering water shortages. Nearly half of China’s winter crop – some 10m hectares (24m acres) of wheat and rape seed – are also under threat. President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao ordered all-out efforts […]
Wall Street Pay Caps: The Old CEOs on the Dollar Menu Trick
February 5th, 2009Update: Goldman, JPMorgan Won’t Feel Effects of Executive-Salary Caps Duh. Via: Bloomberg: Executives at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and hundreds of financial institutions receiving federal aid aren’t likely to be affected by pay restrictions announced yesterday by President Barack Obama. The rules, created in response to growing public anger about the […]
Analyst Who Tried to Get the SEC to Investigate Madoff Is Worried About His Safety
February 5th, 2009Via: Atlanta Journal Constitution: The man who waged a decade-long campaign to alert regulators to problems in the operations of fallen money manager Bernard Madoff told Congress Wednesday that he had feared for his physical safety. Harry Markopolos also assailed the Securities and Exchange Commission in his first appearance before lawmakers. The SEC failed to […]
Rethinking Diversification
February 5th, 2009Diversification, diversification, diversification. Assets, geography, skills, everything. I know that many of you can’t send your more—shall we say?—mainstream friends and relatives to Cryptogon, but if there’s any hope for them at all, this is it. Via: Solari: For our entire lives, most of us have depended on highly centralized systems. Our food comes from […]
Financial Coup d’Etat
February 5th, 2009This one kinda sneaks up on you. Make that you read it all the way through. Via: Solari: Slowly, as the pieces fit together, we shared a horrifying epiphany: the banks, corporations and investors acting in each global region were the exact same players. They were a relatively small group that reappeared again and again […]
Judges Took Bribes to Send Children to Privately Owned Juvenile Detention Centers
February 4th, 2009Via: Post-Gazette: State lawmakers are seeking ways to compensate children sent to detention centers by a pair of Luzerne County judges charged with taking kickbacks for sending juvenile defendants to facilities in Luzerne and Butler counties. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Stewart Greenleaf said yesterday he would hold a hearing to find ways to help the […]
Gordon Brown Suggests World Heading for a ‘Depression’
February 4th, 2009Via: Times: Gordon Brown appeared to acknowledge for the first time today that the world economy was heading for a 1930s-style “depression”. Mr Brown stumbled slightly over his words at Commons question time, just a week after admitting that Britain was facing a “deep” recession. As the financial gloom deepens, he told the Tory leader […]
“Fishy” Supernotes from Taiwan
February 4th, 2009Via: Taipei Times: When a customs agent at San Francisco International Airport examined a package from Taiwan that was supposed to contain a birthday gift of candy and books, he thought it smelled “fishy.” Thinking it might contain food that had been imported illegally, the agent opened the parcel. Inside, he found US$380,000 in counterfeit […]
