Archive for the 'Economy' Category
In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop
April 8th, 2008Yikes! I like the one about the guy who stirs protein powder in with his coffee. Madness. It sounds like these bozos don’t need to worry about going to hell; they’ve made it real in their lives already. Now, where are these $30,000 per-year-to-start blogging jobs? If that’s the going rate in a “digital-era sweatshop,” […]
IMF Board Backs Plan to Sell 403.3 Tons from Gold Holdings
April 8th, 2008Via: Dow Jones: The International Monetary Fund’s executive board Monday signed off on a broad financial reform plan that proposes to put 403.3 tons of its vast gold holdings up for sale. IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn applauded the board’s decision to propose a new framework designed to close a projected $400 million income- expenditure […]
Iraq War: $3 Trillion Estimate May Be Too Low
April 7th, 2008Via: Guardian: President Bush has tried to give the impression that the $3 trillion dollar estimate of the total cost of the war that we provide in our new book may be exaggerated. We believe that it is, in fact, conservative. Even the president would have to admit that the $50 to $60 billion estimate […]
EMERGENCY: RICE SHARPLY HIGHER ON EXPORT CONTROLS
April 6th, 2008Via: Financial Times: Rice prices rose more than 10 per cent on Friday to a fresh all-time high as African countries joined south-east Asian importers in the race to head off social unrest by securing supplies from the handful of exporters still selling the grain in the international market. The rise in prices – 50 […]
Nation’s Largest Municipal Bankruptcy Narrowly Averted
April 6th, 2008Via: Birmingham News: The Jefferson County Commission on Monday narrowly averted defaulting on a $53 million sewer debt payment to Wall Street banks when two of four commissioners voted for a proposal to delay the full payment until mid-April. The commission voted 2-1, with one abstention, to make a $4 million interest-only payment to the […]
U.S. Farm Bill Perpetuates Disastrous Agricultural Practices: There Is Another Way
April 5th, 2008Matthew Stiegelmeier for President! Via: Gourmet: Like his neighbors, Matthew did just fine last year, but he did it without growing a single ear of corn, and that’s where his family’s story begins to diverge from that of the other farmers. “I’ve got a philosophical problem with growing corn. Most corn goes to livestock. I […]
Lenders Swamped by Foreclosures Let Squatters Stay
April 5th, 2008The Bloomberg piece below is astonishing, but let’s think about it in terms of Mr. Mortgage’s latest video, which provides additional insights. We’re past the Oh Shit moment and we’re in a temporary lull phase as the banks scramble for a way to avoid hitting the wall. In short, the banks can’t foreclose because so […]
U.S. Lawmakers Heavily Invested in Defense
April 4th, 2008One for your Not-News-to-Me file folder. Via: AP: Members of Congress have as much as $196 million collectively invested in companies doing business with the Defense Department, earning millions since the onset of the Iraq war, according to a study by a nonpartisan research group. Not all the companies in which lawmakers invested are typical […]
81% of Americans Think Country on “Wrong Track”
April 4th, 2008Via: Reuters: Four out of five Americans believe things are “on the wrong track” in the United States, the gloomiest outlook in about 20 years, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released on Thursday. The poll found that 81 percent of respondents felt “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track.” […]
