Archive for December, 2009
AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and GMAC: “Long-Term Wards of the State”
December 18th, 2009Via: New York Times: Even as the biggest banks repay their government debt in what is being heralded as a successful rescue program, four troubled giants of the financial world remain on government life support. These companies, the American International Group, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and GMAC, are not only unable to repay the government, […]
Initial Jobless Claims in U.S. Unexpectedly Increase
December 17th, 2009Via: Bloomberg: More Americans than anticipated filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week, a reminder that the labor market will take time to strengthen and may weigh on the economic recovery. Initial jobless claims rose by 7,000 to 480,000 in the week ended Dec. 12, from a revised 473,000 the prior week, Labor Department […]
AT&T Workers Sue for $1 Billion in Overtime Pay
December 17th, 2009Mark Klein’s, Wiring Up The Big Brother Machine…And Fighting It, not only lays out the most detailed account (in the public domain) of how the NSA conducts mass communications intercepts, it also covers the grim corporate culture at AT&T. If you want to constantly think that you’re about to get laid off, AT&T is the […]
Mexican Navy Kills Top Cartel Kingpin in Shootout
December 17th, 2009Via: AP: Two hundred sailors raided an upscale apartment complex and killed one of Mexico’s top kingpins in a two-hour gunbattle Wednesday, one of the biggest victories yet in President Felipe Calderon’s drug war. Arturo Beltran Leyva, the “boss of bosses,” and three members of his cartel were slain in the shootout in Cuernavaca, just […]
Dollar Sharply Higher
December 17th, 2009WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. Mmm hmm. Via: Wall Street Journal: The dollar is sharply higher against its rivals early Thursday in New York on lingering global credit concerns, poor economic data in the U.K. and continued support from the Federal Open Market Committee’s statement Wednesday. […]
U.S. Predator Drones Use Unencrypted Communications Links in Theater?
December 17th, 2009I’ve seen some stupid shit in my day, but this one takes the cake… Unless… It’s by design and intended to help the insurgents. Or, it might be that this is part of a military deception operation where a video feed is broadcast in the clear for PSYOP or other purposes to insurgents: Military deception […]
U.S. National Debt Tops Debt Limit
December 17th, 2009Via: CBS News: The latest calculation of the National Debt as posted by the Treasury Department has – at least numerically – exceeded the statutory Debt Limit approved by Congress last February as part of the Recovery Act stimulus bill. The ceiling was set at $12.104 trillion dollars. The latest posting by Treasury shows the […]
Are Americans a Broken People?
December 16th, 2009In general, Americans represent a collective battered spouse who hopes that the batterer will change. Spitting teeth and squinting through two black eyes, they usually go back for more of the same. This isn’t politics. It’s pathology. —The Devil and Mr. Obama Via: Alternet: Can people become so broken that truths of how they are […]
U.S. Taxpayers Pay for Citigroup’s Fat Bastards to Get Fatter
December 16th, 2009Via: Washington Post: The federal government quietly agreed to forgo billions of dollars in potential tax payments from Citigroup as part of the deal announced this week to wean the company from the massive taxpayer bailout that helped it survive the financial crisis. The Internal Revenue Service on Friday issued an exception to long-standing tax […]
Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry
December 16th, 2009Via: Wired: For decades, Depleted Uranium (DU) has been the material of choice for anti-tank projectiles – despite a series of controversies about its potential health hazards. But for the near future, at least, the American military will keep on using DU. Alternatives based on tungsten haven’t panned out. Now, the U.S. Army is upgrading […]
