Archive for October, 2010
Chinese Investment Soars in Brazil; Mainly Related to Oil
October 26th, 2010Via: AFP: Chinese investment in Brazil is expected to reach 30 billion dollars this year, according to observers — a sum aimed at securing access to the Latin American nation’s oil and other resources. The inflow has been sudden, and dramatic. “Up to the end of last year, the amount of Chinese investment in Brazil […]
Bernanke Asset Purchases Risk Unleashing 1970s Inflation Genie
October 26th, 2010WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. Oil is already over $80. Either that USDX support I’ve been mentioning holds, or we could see oil back over $100 in a few weeks. Is the “Recovery” going to run on $100+ oil? *chortle* Via: Bloomberg: For the second time […]
U.S. Falls in Annual Corruption Survey
October 26th, 2010Via: New York Times: Perceptions of corruption in the United States have worsened over the past year, knocking it out of the top 20 in global rankings released Tuesday by the watchdog group Transparency International in Berlin. The top and bottom three countries on the list remain unchanged from 2009: Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore […]
U.S. Slips to 49th in Life Expectancy
October 26th, 2010Via: Reuters: Americans die sooner than citizens of a dozen other developed nations and the usual suspects — obesity, traffic accidents and a high murder rate — are not to blame, researchers reported on Thursday. Instead, poor healthcare may be to blame, the team at Columbia University in New York reported. They found that 15-year […]
Treasury Draws Negative Yield for First Time
October 25th, 2010Via: Bloomberg: The Treasury sold $10 billion of five-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities at a negative yield for the first time in the history of U.S. debt. The securities drew a yield of negative 0.55 percent, the same as the average forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 7 of the Federal Reserve’s 18 primary […]
“Transparency” and the Citigroup Bailout
October 25th, 2010Via: Bloomberg: The late Bloomberg News reporter Mark Pittman asked the U.S. Treasury in January 2009 to identify $301 billion of securities owned by Citigroup Inc. that the government had agreed to guarantee. He made the request on the grounds that taxpayers ought to know how their money was being used. More than 20 months […]
Mortgage-Interest Tax Break Might Be Reduced Or Eliminated
October 25th, 2010Via: Market Watch: The hugely popular mortgage-interest tax deduction could be targeted by a bipartisan commission charged with finding ways to chop the deficit, according to a report published Monday. The Wall Street Journal reported that the mortgage-interest deduction, child tax credits and payment for health insurance with pretax dollars all could be put in […]
Colgate Tries to Patent Traditional Indian Herbal Toothpaste
October 25th, 2010Here’s one for your overstuffed Corporation as Public Menace file folder. Via: Herald Sun: A LEGAL dispute between the US and India over a herbal toothpaste is leaving a bitter aftertaste between the two countries, with Colgate Palmolive accused of filing a bogus patent. Colgate, the world’s largest producer of toothpaste, patented a toothcleaning powder […]
China: Vending Machine Sells Live Crabs
October 25th, 2010Via: Japan Probe: The inside of the machine is kept at 5 degrees celsius, a temperature cold enough to make the crabs go into a state of hibernation. A sign states that all the crabs in the machine are fresh: if the crab is dead-on-arrival, they promise to give you three free crabs. Research Credit: […]
New Posts on Farmlet About Slaughtering Chickens
October 25th, 2010I Slaughtered a Chicken for the First Time (With a Little Lot of Help from My Friends) Our First Real Chicken Dinner
