Yves Smith quotes Thomas Friedman accidentally telling the truth: Since President Bush came to office, our national savings have gone from 6 percent of gross domestic product to 1 percent, and consumer debt has climbed from $8 trillion to $14 trillion. Please explain this in the context of the “savings and investment boost” that was […]
Go to Hunger Action Center.
Just to put things in perspective. This is through the first quarter so it does not reflect the last pop in energy prices. It is now 6.6% as compared to a low of 4.2% at the double bottom and the 1970s low of 6.2%.The peak was 9.3%.
Who is Robert Myers? Well prior to this morning I couldn’t have told you. But here is an abbreviated job history. Junior Actuary, Committee on Economic Security 1934-35Various Actuarial Positions, Social Security Board 1936-46Chief Actuary, SSA 1947-1980Member, National Commission on Social Security 1978-81Deputy Commissioner, SSA 1981-82Executive Director, National Commission on Social Security Reform 1982-83 That […]
It is my understanding that the major byproduct of ethanol is distillers grains that are used as feed for cattle, hogs and chicken with essentially the same nutritional value as feed grains that have not had ethanol distilled out of them. All distilling ethanol does is remove the starch from the food grains and leaves […]
THIS LINK to NSDIC will update you on the state of the Northwest Passage. What does this online analysis provide? The online information we offer in this section includes: Daily images of near-real-time Arctic sea ice conditions (above right)Monthly scientific analysis year-round, with more frequent updates during the melt season or as conditions warrantPrevious news […]
Federal Contracts for Paper Shredding ServicesFY 2000-2008 Yr. Total $2000 $452,807 2001 $456,235 2002 $752,799 2003 $1,018,191 2004 $2,329,466 2005 $2,980,375 2006 $3,068,877 2007 $3,463,610 2008 2Q * $1,148,718 *Note: FY 2008 only includes data up to first and part of second quarter Detailed information at the government website.
Open thread for this weekend.
This will teach them, right? H.R. 6377 directs CFTC to use all its authority, including its emergency powers, immediately to curb the role of excessive speculation in the energy and swaps futures markets and take other corrective actions as necessary to eliminate any market disturbance that prevents energy markets from accurately reflecting the forces of […]
Rick Newman of Useless News and World Report busts some myths. And gets to the heart of the “speculators” issue: Many companies, for instance, want to lock in the price they’re going to pay down the road for petroleum products and other supplies they need to run their businesses. So they make agreements with suppliers […]