Wow. I mean, what else is there to say? New York City has 16,000 fewer employees than 2001…but spending on salaries and wages has increased from $3.8 bn to $10.8 bn; and spending on pensions has increased from $1.3 bn to $8.3 bn over that same period. What can’t be sustained, won’t. We’ll be seeing [...]
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Come on, which is it? You can’t have it both ways.
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…Taking Todd up on his request. It occurred to me the other morning that nothing has any value except that which an individual gives it. To some, this probably seems simplistic. For me, it was a minor revelation—perhaps even an epiphany. It was, in some sense, a recognition of perception in an area that I [...]
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Milton Friedman, dead at 94.
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If you haven’t filled your tank, you have about thirty seconds before the prices jump. Get hopping.
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Congress approves controversial offshore drilling bill – Jun. 29, 2006 The U.S. House of Representatives approved a controversial bill Thursday that opens up vast stretches of the U.S. coast to oil and gas drilling, paving the way for a reversal of a 25-year ban on energy exploration off a majority of the country’s shoreline. Unfortunately, [...]
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Bus firm takes car sharers to court They might have been congratulated for their “green” efforts in an area of heavy air pollution. Instead a group of French cleaning ladies who organised a car-sharing scheme to get to work are being taken to court by a coach company which accuses them of “an act of [...]
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Print – SPIEGEL Interview with African Economics Expert: “For God’s Sake, Please Stop the Aid!” – International – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News I meant to post this some time back, but my blogging has been sporadic. Trying to catch up with things I consider important. SPIEGEL: Mr. Shikwati, the G8 summit at Gleneagles is about [...]
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FOXNews.com – Lundberg Survey: Gas Prices Hit Record $2.33 a Gallon So, gas prices are higher then at any time in the recorded history of humanity? The $2.33 mark remained well below the inflation-adjusted high — $3.03 a gallon, in March 1981. So, if we really do want to reverse this recent trend, are we [...]
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Best of the Web from Friday. “Wal-Mart critics often note that corporations like Ford and G.M. led a race to the top, providing high wages and generous benefits that other companies emulated. They ask why Wal-Mart, with some $10 billion in profit on about $288 billion in revenue last year, cannot act similarly.”–New York Times, [...]
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Tax bills high for reality TV winners – Apr. 15, 2005 I’ve seen more than a few episodes of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”. They select a particularly needy family, usually facing some sort of hardship with a disabled child or something equally devastating, and they either remodel or completely rebuild their home to accommodate whatever [...]
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Lawmaker wants list of companies exporting US oil With gasoline and crude oil prices at record highs, a U.S. lawmaker wants the Commerce Department to release the names of American companies that are shipping U.S. petroleum products to other countries. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon — often a critic of big oil firms — [...]
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Yahoo! News – Federated to Buy May in $11 Billion Deal May sells for $11 Billion. … Okay, I’ve got nothing beyond the silly headline.
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Ten on U.S. Pain Pill Panel Had Industry Ties The NYT wades in today with a darkly ominous lead. Ten of the 32 government drug advisers who supported the continued marketing of the pain relievers Celebrex, Bextra and Vioxx have consulted in recent years for the drugs’ makers, the New York Times reported on Friday. [...]
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Economy Grows Better Than Expected I wonder how this would have been reported in October of 2004?
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Panel Backs Keeping Pain Drugs on Market As a Pfizer employee, I’m pleased to see a bit of sanity winning the day. But I don’t expect the trial lawyers to be scuttling back to their caves anytime soon…
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Republicans Slam Bush Plans for Farm Cuts I may vote for the party most of the time, since they reflect my views a lot more often than the other side, but I can’t call myself a Republican so long as we have party members behaving like this. Bush The Spender finally pushed back from the [...]
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Airports mull new superjumbo hassles Some of this article may sound familiar. I still think the celebration of the SuperJumbo was a bit premature. The last time the French got this excited over a technological achievement, they were talking about the Maginot Line.
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Opinion > Editorial: Keeping Out of the Otero Mesa” href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/04/opinion/4fri3.html?oref=login&n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fEditorials”>Keeping Out of the Otero Mesa The Party Of No speaks out again. Sure, the New York Times isn’t officially part of the Democratic Party, but come on…the formal designation is little more than a nicety. Last week, the Bureau of Land Management signed a decision [...]
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Dramatic cuts part of Bush budget I’ve been a long time critic of Bush for the spending levels in Washington, despite the old adage of “The President proposes, the Congress disposes.” Bush, perhaps understandably, has not made reduction of domestic spending a priority. While in my more heady moments of blind hope, I have considered [...]
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