Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Supreme Court Cuts Exxon Punitive Damages for Valdez Oil Spill by 80%
June 26th, 2008Via: San Francisco Chronicle: The Supreme Court, winding up a term of victories for businesses, cut punitive damages for Alaskans harmed by the Exxon Valdez oil spill by 80 percent today in a ruling that may signal new limits on damage awards for victims of corporate wrongdoing. In a 5-3 decision, the justices reduced punitive […]
U.S. Retailers to Close Hundreds of Stores
June 25th, 2008Via: Inquirer: HIGH AND RISING world oil and food prices, the implosion of the US housing bubble and the ensuing consumer credit vapour lock have cash-strapped US consumers staying out of retail stores in droves, and this is forcing dozens of US retailers to close hundreds of stores. Information technology related companies that are closing […]
House Energy and Commerce Committee Testemony: Gas Could Fall to $2 if Congress Imposed Limits on Speculators; Speculation Now Accounts for About 70% of All Benchmark Crude Trading on NYMEX
June 24th, 2008It is absolute madness that commodities are bought and sold using leveraged vehicles in markets that allow participation by speculators; individuals and organizations who have no interest or connection to the underlying physical commodity. —Cryptogon, March 21, 2008 You know, I wrote something that turned out to be wrong in that piece above: Pigs (Pork […]
As First-Time Buyers Vanish, the Lights Go Out Across Britain
June 23rd, 2008Via: Independent: Like a giant pyramid scheme, the housing market relies on first-time buyers to enable those already on the bottom rung of the ladder to sell their starter homes and climb higher. New blood is needed for the additional funds that will keep the market buoyant. Yet this vital source of investment has all […]
Only 32% of Americans Express Confidence in U.S. Banking Institutions
June 23rd, 2008Via: Gallup: The percentage of Americans saying they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in U.S. banks has fallen to 32% — down nine percentage points from June 2007 and 17 percentage points from June 2006 — matching the 32% of March 1991 and near the three-decade low of 30% in […]
George Carlin Dies
June 23rd, 2008Via: Time: When the culture began to change in the late 1960s — when the old one-liner comics on the Ed Sullivan Show were looking pretty tired and irrelevant to a younger generation experimenting with drugs and protesting the War in Vietnam — George Carlin was the most important stand-up comedian in America. By the […]
Floods: More Expensive Beef, Pork, Poultry, Eggs, Cheese and Milk on the Way
June 23rd, 2008Via: AP: Raging Midwest floodwaters that swallowed crops and sent corn and soybean prices soaring are about to give consumers more grief at the grocery store. In the latest bout of food inflation, beef, pork, poultry and even eggs, cheese and milk are expected to get more expensive as livestock owners go out of business […]
New Zealand Hitting the Wall
June 22nd, 2008No surprises here. I can’t be arsed to find the story, but years ago, I wrote that I’d pick New Zealand in a state of collapse over Southern California any day. The theory could be put to a test here soon enough, the way things are going. It’s funny, up here in the Far North, […]
Freight Traffic on Upper Mississippi Halted
June 22nd, 2008Monitoring… Via: AP: The flooding in the Midwest has brought freight traffic on the upper Mississippi to a standstill, stranding more than 100 barges loaded with grain, cement, scrap metal, fertilizer and other products while shippers wait for the water to drop on the Big Muddy. “We’re basically experiencing total shutdown,” said Larry Daily, president […]
Security Fears Over Food and Fuel Crisis
June 22nd, 2008“In 2008, food could become an out front national security issue in the developed world.” —Cryptogon, January 2, 2008 Via: Financial Times: Western countries have upgraded the food and fuel crisis into a national security concern as they fear record high energy and agriculture commodity costs are destabilising key developing regions of the world. The […]
