Report: 15 percent of Americans on food stamps

By Jeff Cox, cnbc.com 5 September 2012 The number of Americans on food stamps hit a record high in June, and economists don’t expect much improvement as long as unemployment remains high. Those receiving benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program numbered 46.37 million, the government announced in a report that hit just days ahead […]

Economists: Civilization may not survive ‘death spiral’

By Terry Weiss, Money Morning Richard Duncan, formerly of the World Bank and chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Mgmt., says America’s $16 trillion federal debt has escalated into a “death spiral, “as he told CNBC. And it could result in a depression so severe that he doesn’t “think our civilization could survive it.” And Duncan […]

Tax cuts, wars account for nearly half of U.S. public debt by 2019

By Ezra Klein 28 August 2012 You can see it kind of looks like a layer cake. In fact, the folks at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities call it “the parfait graph.” The top layer, the orange one, that’s the Bush tax cuts. There is no single policy we have passed that has […]

U.S. Army Corps rejects 180 miles of California levees as ineligible for flood repairs

By Alex Breitler, Record Staff Writer23 August 2012 Dozens of miles of levees slicing through urban Stockton and rural east San Joaquin County are no longer eligible for federal rehabilitation dollars should a flood occur, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will formally announce today. That means local agencies would be on the hook for […]

Balkan drought highlights years of farm neglect – Serbia corn yield halved – Croatia corn ‘rare as gold’

By Daria Sito-Sucic, with additional reporting by Zoran Radosavljevic in Zagreb and Matt Robinson in Belgrade; Editing by Matt Robinson and Pravin Char20 Aug 2012 KALESIJA, Bosnia (Reuters) – As crops wilt and die in the Balkans, farmers struck down by a particularly harsh drought this year are ruing the region’s failure to upgrade irrigation […]

Deutsche Bank admits complicity in rate-fixing scandal along with Barclays

By Jill Treanor, www.guardian.co.uk31 July 2012 Germany’s biggest bank, Deutsche Bank, prepared the ground for regulatory action in the Libor rigging scandal by admitting that a “limited number” of its staff had been involved. As Swiss bank UBS insisted it was not at the centre of the interest rate debacle, Deutsche said “action had been […]

Vacant Detroit becomes dumping ground for the dead

By COREY WILLIAMS 3 August 2012 DETROIT – From the street, the two decomposing bodies were nearly invisible, concealed in an overgrown lot alongside worn-out car tires and a moldy sofa. The teenagers had been shot, stripped to their underwear and left on a deserted block. They were just the latest victims of foul play […]

For desolate, shrinking Salton Sea, another dream

By JENNIFER MEDINA29 July 2012 OASIS, California – Signs of once grandiose dreams dot the shoreline of the Salton Sea, dried up like the dead fish that bob ashore from time to time. This lake, the largest in California, was once supposed to be the Riviera of the West, a playground for stars like Frank […]

U.S. drought taking heavy toll on fishing industry – ‘Unheard of’ river temperatures causing mass fish kills

By Alyce Hinton; editing by Jim Marshall27 July 2012 (Reuters) – The drought and extreme heat wreaking havoc across the U.S. farm belt is killing fish by the thousands in lakes and rivers and could pose a problem to migrating ducks and other waterfowl if it stretches into the fall, officials said. Authorities are tallying […]

China exports ghost cities to Africa – ‘The place is eerily quiet’

By Mamta Badkar3 July 2012 There’s been a lot written about ghost cities in China. Just outside Angola’s capital city of Luanda is Nova Cidade de Kilamba a residential development of 750 eight-story apartment buildings, a dozen schools, and more than 100 retail units, reports the BBC’s Louise Redvers. The $3.5 billion development covers 12,355 […]

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