Archive for June, 2008
Lab Drives Car to 100 MPG
June 10th, 2008As the predictably lame article tells us: Clean energy is expensive. Far more interesting than the story about the tricked out Prius is the annual budget of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. I’ve already written this commentary: The U.S. spends more on the war in Iraq in one day (about $300 million) than it does […]
U.S. Food Reserves Tapped Out
June 10th, 2008Via: Tri State Observer: “According to the May 1, 2008 CCC inventory report there are only 24.1 million bushels of wheat in inventory, so after this sale there will be only 2.7 million bushels of wheat left the entire CCC inventory,” warned Matlack. “Our concern is not that we are using the remainder of our […]
Research Psychiatrists Fail to Report Earnings From Drug Companies
June 10th, 2008Follow the drug money. Via: PlanetC1: Call it a psycho conflict of interest affecting the health and lives of thousands of children, an Iowa senator has discovered 3 Harvard researchers earned millions of dollars in consulting fees from drug companies, for performing research and evangelizing antipsychotic drug use in children. Charles Ernest “Chuck” Grassley, a […]
China’s Quake Aftershock: 5 Million Homeless
June 10th, 2008The scale of this disaster is very difficult to contemplate. Via: MSNBC: At the relief operations center in China’s mountainous Qingchuan county, government workers are still in emergency mode nearly a month after the devastating May 12 earthquake. Powerful aftershocks, heavy rains and dangerous “quake lakes” keep them from devoting all their attention to their […]
Shanghai’s Composite Index Declines 7.7%
June 10th, 2008Via: CNN: Asian markets suffered major losses Tuesday, led down by Shanghai and Hong Kong, where banking and property shares fronted declines. Investors fretted about the impact of the latest round of anti-inflation measures announced over the weekend. Shanghai’s Composite Index plunged 7.7% to 3,072.33, its lowest closing level since March 22. Tuesday’s trading was […]
Britain: Traders Predict House Prices Will Fall by 50% in Four Years
June 10th, 2008Via: Guardian: The slide in house prices will continue for at least three years and crush the value of a home by almost 50% in real terms, according to a key index of property price futures. Indications from futures trading on long term property prices shows that the average UK home will recover its current […]
Britain: Emergency Procedures Activated Ahead of Tanker Driver Strike
June 10th, 2008Via: Guardian: Downing Street today urged motorists not to indulge in panic-buying as the government confirmed that it had activated emergency procedures in preparation for a planned strike by tanker drivers. The prime minister’s spokesman said that it was “disappointing” that the four-day strike, which is due to start at 6am on Friday and which […]
Oil, Dollar Form Record Negative Correlation
June 9th, 2008Mmm hmm. Via: Bloomberg: When leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized countries meet June 13-14 in Japan, they may look to the joint actions taken ahead of a similar event in 2000, when oil prices were surging and a major currency was at a record low. On Sept. 22, 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton […]
New York Fed Chief Urges Global Bank Framework
June 9th, 2008Why now? Below is a screen shot of Total Borrowings of Depository Institutions from the Federal Reserve: So, what happens after the banks default on the loans that they’ve taken out from the Federal Reserve (that unprecedented, nearly vertical blue line on the chart above)? Ah, yes. The phrase, Global Bank Framework might make a […]
British Police Opening Thousands of Safe Deposit Boxes, Searching for Gold, Other “Criminal Assets”
June 9th, 2008Via: BBC: Six suitcases packed with suspected gold dust and about £30m in cash has been found during searches of safety deposit centres in London, police say. … The Met Police believe criminals used the centres in Park Lane, Hampstead and Edgware to store criminal assets. Armed police continue to guard the buildings as specialist […]
