Archive for February, 2012
High Demand for Machinists in the U.S. [???]
February 16th, 2012There is a critical shortage of machinists? Really? Millions of people are out of work and these companies can’t fill these positions because of lack of skills? Via: CNN: U.S. factories are creating many new jobs. But owners are hard pressed to find skilled American workers to fill them. There is a “critical shortage of […]
Several Large Financial Services Companies Facing Credit Downgrades of Two to Three Levels
February 16th, 2012Via: Bloomberg: UBS AG, Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) and Morgan Stanley’s credit ratings may be cut by as many as three levels by Moody’s Investors Service, which is reviewing 17 banks and securities firms with global capital markets operations. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and […]
The Pentagon’s $51 Billion ‘Black’ Budget
February 16th, 2012If you find this Wired piece interesting, definitely check out, Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World by Trevor Paglen. As an outsider, Paglen has no access to the black world, but he sort of feels around the edges of it and you really start to get a sense […]
Citigroup Whistle-Blower Describes Mortgage Scams
February 16th, 2012Via: Bloomberg: Four years after rotten mortgages helped trigger a global financial crisis, Sherry Hunt said her Citigroup Inc. quality-control team was still finding flaws in new loans that included altered tax forms, straw buyers and borrowers who listed fictitious employers. Instead of reporting the defects to the Federal Housing Administration, the bank saddled the […]
U.S. Student Loans Close In On $1 Trillion
February 16th, 2012Via: Bloomberg: As outstanding student debt approaches $1 trillion, it’s one more reason record-low interest rates aren’t doing more to boost housing. The tighter lending standards that have emerged in the wake of the recession weigh particularly on younger, first-time home buyers, according to a Federal Reserve study sent to Congress on Jan. 4. These […]
China Plays Major Role in Financing Latin America; Pockets Premiums
February 16th, 2012Meet the new boss… Via: Financial Times: Chinese state banks have lent more than $75bn to Latin America since 2005, and in 2010 gave more than the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and US Ex-Im Bank combined, according to a report which highlights China’s growing financial heft in the region. “On the positive side, it […]
Printing RFIDs on Paper at Fraction of Cost of Regular RFIDs
February 16th, 2012Via: University of Montpellier Press Release: Now, researchers in France have developed a way to deposit a thin aluminum RFID tag on to paper that not only reduces the amount of metal needed for the tag, and so the cost, but could open up RFID tagging to many more systems, even allowing a single printed […]
Detroit News Opinion Piece: Too Many Poor People, Put Contraceptives in Water Supply
February 15th, 2012Via: Detroit News: Since the national attention is on birth control, here’s my idea: If we want to fight poverty, reduce violent crime and bring down our embarrassing drop-out rate, we should swap contraceptives for fluoride in Michigan’s drinking water. We’ve got a baby problem in Michigan. Too many babies are born to immature parents […]
Will Iran Sell Oil in Currencies Other Than the Dollar Starting March 20?
February 15th, 2012Via: Telegraph: Last week, the Tehran Times noted that the Iranian oil bourse will start trading oil in currencies other than the dollar from March 20. This long-planned move is part of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s vision of economic war with the west. “The dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme is nothing more than a convenient excuse […]
NYPD “Stop and Frisks” Hit All-Time High
February 15th, 2012Via: NBC: The number of so-called “stop and frisks” is rising. City police officers stopped and questioned 684,330 people on the street last year, a record since the NYPD began yearly tallies of the tactic in 2002 and a 14 percent increase over 2010. It couldn’t be determined how many people were patted down during […]
