Archive for the 'Economy' Category
How Indebted Americans Are Giving up Their Independence
July 9th, 2007Via: Money Week: America may be referred to as the “Home of the Brave†because when the bills arrive it takes a lot of courage to open them up, especially when you must turn around and face your wife and kids with a straight face. When it comes to paying bills these days, America just […]
China Exporting Ecological Disaster to the World
July 8th, 2007Via: Spiegel: Can the environment withstand China’s growing economic might? As one of the planet’s worst polluters, Beijing’s ecological sins are creating problems on a global scale. Many countries are now feeling the consequences.
FTC Abandons Net Neutrality
July 8th, 2007Via: Crooks and Liars: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has decided to abandon net neutrality and allow telecoms companies to charge websites for access. The FTC said in a report that, despite popular support for net neutrality, it was minded to let the market sort out the issue. This means that the organisation will not […]
War Costs Soar by a Third; Total Could Top $1.4 Trillion
July 8th, 2007Mission accomplished. Via: Wired: It’s not just the troops that are surging. War costs are up for American operations in Iraq and Afghanistan* — way up, more than a third higher than last year. In the first half of this fiscal year, the Defense Department’s “average monthly obligations for contracts and pay is running about […]
Garbage Bonds & Bonfires
July 6th, 2007This is an outstanding essay. I’ve included a few passages below, but these don’t do the piece justice. I highly suggest reading it in its entirety. Via: 321Gold: For years the homestead, the house property has been considered the ultimate inflation hedge asset. Sure, price inflation wrecked havoc in the USEconomy, but the nation of […]
Wall Street Journal: Money Meltdown
July 6th, 2007Following on the heels of the admission by the Council on Foreign Relations that the U.S. Dollar is, “An absurdity… supported only by faith,” the Wall Street Journal discusses the current “Money Meltdown.” Let me consult my Magic 8-Ball: I see fewer national currencies in your future. Via: Wall Street Journal: Interest rates are on […]
Defunding Fascists with Asymmetric Economic Warfare, or Being Happy with Less
July 5th, 2007Works for my wife and me. We took it quite a bit further than this, but you get the idea. I wouldn’t suggest doing this for any political reason, though. Forget politics. You might find, like we did, that being able to live well on very little money leads to a happier life. The fact […]
Bridgecorp Placed in Receivership
July 3rd, 2007Via: Stuff: The collapse of one of the country’s major property financiers Bridgecorp – the fourth finance company to go to the wall in a year – could be one of the biggest to affect mum and dad investors since Equiticorp went bust in 1988. Bridgecorp and its subsidiaries were placed in receivership at the […]
Geostrategy via Economics: China Providing the U.S. with Enough Rope to Hang Itself
July 2nd, 2007For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill. —Sun Tzu, The Art of War As good as this article is, it doesn’t mention a certain, former superpower that was also bogged down in a futile war […]
Several U.S. Corporations Support Colombian Death Squads
July 2nd, 2007One for your same-shit-different-century file. Via: Los Angeles Times: A former paramilitary soldier told a congressional panel Thursday that several U.S. companies provided financial support to illegal militias accused of killing Colombian civilians. Edwin Guzman, a former Colombian army sergeant who later became a paramilitary member, testified that his military units were responsible for guarding […]
