Category: Business and Economics
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I have been sitting on this link for more than a week although the story caught my eye on the same day that it came out. The current and future problems of the beleaguered nation of Afghanistan may go well beyond war, the Taliban, Al Qaida, US occupation, poverty and heroin trafficking. The land locked nation of rough and rugged terrain is…
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I hope the FDA stops this drug approval process in its tracks. The birth control pill was something women needed. This one they don't. Making up a malady where one does not exist, is the game the pharmaceutical companies like to play. But will the FDA go along? Will women? Ever since Viagra met blockbuster success in 1998, the…
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"Welcome to Chicago, home of the 1908 World Series champions." "We know you have many choices in airlines, and we're just glad you can't afford any of the others." –Southwest flight attendant Southwest employees are known for their unorthodox in-flight announcements. Apparently, they are at their best on short hops between Texas cities – Houston, Dallas, Austin…
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What’s going on here? It’s a bittersweet human interest tale with some facts and figures mixed in, not too cloying. Blacks and whites have encountered one another in increasing numbers recently in the crowded waiting rooms of the welfare office and at the food pantry, where many of both races have ventured for the first…
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To someone who’s broadly liberal, but doesn’t think so ill of corporations as these people, and on the whole rather approves of free trade and globalization, this Reason article by Kerry Howley should feel like a friendly handshake from across the divide. She sounds libertarian, but in a nice, sensible sort of way: I call…
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A survey last month by the Pew Research Center on Social & Demographic trends found that only 47% percent of the respondents considered a microwave a necessity rather than a luxury, down 21 points from 2006. This is just one curious finding from a much broader survey relating to how the population is weathering the…
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Why become a pirate? Perhaps because other "honest" means of livelihood have been destroyed? Lawlessness is a menace whether perpetrated by pirates or "civilized" governments. So reveals Johann Hari in the Independent. (via 3 QD) Hari also reflects on the rebellious and brutal history of pirates, some of whom were mercenaries for legitimate European regimes. Who imagined that in 2009, the…
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Ever since the Indian government established full diplomatic relations with the state of Israel in 1992, a couple of ideas, one historic and the other rooted in the present, have drawn the two countries into developing close, friendly ties. The first, the peaceful and harmonious history of Indian Jews is indeed a cause of pride and celebration for both countries. But the second reason that has strengthened…
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… would stink just as foul. Blackwater, the private US security outfit of ill repute has now changed its name to "Xe" in the hope that the new title will help bury its murderous history. Blackwater Worldwide, a private security company whose work in Iraq was plagued by trouble, said yesterday that it is changing its name to Xe…
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The famous Obamaicon with which we recently had some fun on A.B. (here and here) has now become a subject of controversy. The Associated Press is alleging that artist Shepard Fairey used an AP photo to create the image without permission. The AP wants a share of the credit and compensation. NEW YORK (AP) — On buttons,…
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And they are evil. Sen Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said angrily on the senate floor what most Americans are thinking. We have a bunch of idiots on Wall Street that are kicking sand in the face of the American taxpayer. They don't get it. These people are idiots. You can't use taxpayer money to pay out $18…
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