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Actually, if they create a fighter with the performance of the F-35, it wouldn't be a problem at all... as the F-35 is massively expensive http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/03/f-35-the-most-expensive-fighter-jet-ever-built/, taking years longer to develop http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-27/lockheed-s-troubled-f-35-said-to-be-unscathed-in-budget.html, and still can barely get off the ground http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/feature/135080/f_35-reality-check-10-years-on-(part-1).html. It is a heaping pile of shith that we didn't need, and don't need, and may never get, and is sucking taxpayer money down like a drunk sailor in Subic bay.

On the other hand, maybe, just maybe, Chinese ingenuity will come up with a way to keep the Osprey from falling out of the sky and killing people (something we can't seem to be able to do). Once they fix that little glitch, maybe we can steal the plans back.

By doing things like this. Over the past couple of years Yahoo has reaped a lot of profit from it's overseas operations, esp. Yahoo! Japan(which is only 40% owned by Yahoo, but still), where they provide more than just search, they act as an ISP and provide other data services. The insanely strong yen has meant that over the past couple years the profit from Yahoo Japan when measured in USD has been incredibly high, and they obviously have some smart traders working for them as they foresaw the rapid weakening of the yen and made a huge profit off of it.

and i've met britons that were complete morons, but this doesn't say anything about the general population or the country, doesn't it?
Meanwhile, the fastest pricks on the internet are lavians and romanians (1st, respectively a very close 2nd place in Europe; 4th, respectively 5th in the world). Rst of the europe, suck it

What laws have the Kochs demonstrably violated?

Trading with Iran.

For starters, and there's more if you look.

They should be swinging from lampposts right next to the one Bloomberg is swinging from, maybe across from the ones Jamie Dimon and Don Blankenship are strung up from.

The main problems will be really fat crows and running out of lamp posts.

Also, how in the world does an 'elected public servant' get into the billionaire club?

As others have noted, that reverses the timeline; he became a billionaire before he became a mayor.

Sony's stock jumps 9% during Xbox One announcement.

From
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-21/sony-jumps-on-report-company-weighs-entertainment-spinoff.html

Sony Corp. (6758) rose as much as 9.2 percent in the U.S after Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported the company is “leaning toward” spinning off its entertainment division.

(Same AC here) And here's the citation. It refers to the 2007 swaps, and some new ones. /me strokes imaginary beard

One wonders what could possibly go wrong regarding Syria.

Turkey claims evidence of Syrian chemical weapons use
UN accuses Syrian rebels of chemical weapons use
An Al-Qaeda Alliance in Syria Demands Response From U.S.
Al Qaeda's track record with chemical weapons

Even if there are chemical weapons laying around, they would still need to get them somewhere where they could be used. They would probably need help for that. Is any available?

US teen accused of seeking to join al Qaeda-linked Syrian group
Danish jihadist killed while fighting for Muhajireen Brigade in Syria

Iran recruiting volunteer troops for Syria
Hezbollah Steps Up in Syria as Israel Tries to Ease Tension

US Congressman: Hezbollah agents in US worse than al-Qaida
Peter King warns: Hezbollah agents in U.S.

Border porous for obvious reason
Official: Book of suicide bombers found in Arizona desert

. . .the book is published in Iran and contains biographies of Islamic suicide bombers and other Islamic militants who died while carrying out their attacks. . .

Yes indeed, what could possibly go wrong?

Normal banks do not take money from anyone who doesn't want their money taken. They lend out money and you pay it back with interest. No one forces you to take out a loan.

Some commercial banks will charge huge fees for services that you don't need and don't make you any money.

Governments do not take your money. You vote them in and they collect taxes to do the stuff you elected them to do. If your guy didn't win, well that can suck, but its part of the whole "democracy is the worse form of government except for all the rest".

Germany will this year start up more coal-fired power stations than at any time in the past 20 years as the country advances a plan to exit nuclear energy by 2022. Germany to Add Most Coal-Fired Plants in Two Decades, IWR Says

Don't forget, this is liginite coal, more like pressed peat-moss than real coal.

All Google needs to do is offer a commercial licence, for a small fee, to all Android OEM's that indemnifies them. This way if Microsoft has an issue with Android or Linux they can take on Google directly. But, we all know that would never happen because Microsoft clearly knows that Google would single handily invalidate all of their obvious, worthless and prior art ridden patents one by one.

That will not happen because Google can't protect itself(i.e the Motorola it bought which loses billions every year by the way because of making crap phones), how can it protect its partners? It's about to get bitchslapped for trying to abuse FRAND standard patents on H.264 and WiFi for extortion.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/05/06/eu-rules-googles-motorola-abused-patents-in-seeking-injunction-against-apple
http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/26/4271432/does-anyone-know-why-google-bought-motorola
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/technology/07iht-google07.html?_r=0
http://www.zdnet.com/in-microsoft-patent-spat-ruling-hints-that-google-grossly-overpaid-for-motorola-7000014582/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-29/motorola-buy-delivers-google-more-heartbreak-than-help.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-slapped-google-around-in-court-and-its-becoming-clear-google-overpaid-for-motorola-2013-4

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-07/tesla-ceo-talking-with-google-about-autopilot-systems.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-07/tesla-ceo-talking-with-google-about-autopilot-systems.html

Don't feel too cocky yet, my American friend. The difference between America and China is that China doesn't make the headlines with such a military/scientific/technical achievement. When time will come, they'll show up..

Although it is possible they'll invent their own - assuming they feel a need to have it - the more likely outcome is they'll wait till it is perfected by the US and then use espionage to steal the design and make their own copy. In the unlikely event that the US is able to foil the Chinese attempt at stealing the design, the Russians will probably build their own at some point and the Chinese will steal it from them. It is an old pattern.

China also has more than 3,000 front companies in the U.S. “for the sole purpose of acquiring our technology,” . . .
Inside the Chinese Boom in Corporate Espionage
Chinese Army Directing Cyber Espionage Against Western Businesses
China military unit 'behind prolific hacking'
The China Problem

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-01/china-cyberspies-outwit-u-s-stealing-military-secrets.html

Can someone help me, I'm from old Europe, what's a 'power outage'?

This should refresh your memory.Or this. Or this. Or, this.

In this case you would get more insight from a calculator or spreadsheet than from cynicism. The US Cyber Command budget isn't that large compared to either the Air Force budget or the DoD budget. Finding some justification to bump it up wouldn't make much difference - it isn't going to be the tail that wags the dog.

Misplaced cynicism can also mislead you by pointing you in the wrong direction, as above. If you started digging into the question of Chinese espionage against the United States, you would quickly and easily lean that it is a huge effort against wide ranging targets. Why you would think this relatively minor event is in some way inconsistent wtih the total Chinese effort, and therefore not real, is baffling. Interesting who you effectively trust.

China also has more than 3,000 front companies in the U.S. “for the sole purpose of acquiring our technology,” . . .
Inside the Chinese Boom in Corporate Espionage
Chinese Army Directing Cyber Espionage Against Western Businesses
China military unit 'behind prolific hacking'
The China Problem

So, your thinking is that no nation spies on another nation unless it gets spied on first? You're thinking that it doesn't go on all the time? No nation attacks another unless it is attacked first? Before any of that can happen, you have to air the "dirty laundry?" Your planet sounds like a great place, can I ask where it is? I'd like to visit.

China also has more than 3,000 front companies in the U.S. “for the sole purpose of acquiring our technology,” . . .
Inside the Chinese Boom in Corporate Espionage
Chinese Army Directing Cyber Espionage Against Western Businesses
China military unit 'behind prolific hacking'
The China Problem

In 1992, US intelligence agencies started to become concerned about China's designs for its next-generation nuclear weapons. A series of explosions monitored by the West suggested that the People's Republic of China was working on smaller, lighter thermonuclear warheads, with an increased yield-to-weight ratio. US officials did not think Chinese science was advanced enough to produce such sophisticated weapons on its own. They suspected something else-that the PRC had stolen US nuclear secrets.

Three years later the US received apparent confirmation of such thefts from the Chinese themselves. An unsolicited Chinese individual--a "walk-in," in the argot of espionage--turned a pile of PRC documents over to the CIA. Among them was a paper stamped "secret" which contained design information on perhaps the most advanced warhead in the US arsenal, the Trident II's W88

You know, I don't recall any period of great public introspection and breast beating, or airing of "dirty laundry" before they started these actions. Do you think it is possible they play by different rules?

I bet that the turbines can be built better to last much longer.

Perhaps, but better turbines also cost more. What does that do to the bottom line?

Solar energy is still much more expensive than nuclear or wind, although it's getting there.

Solar panels already pay for themselves. The question is, how long does it take. People will install solar roof panels even without subsidies if the payback period is short enough.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/02/how-much-does-solar-cost/

The gas thing, $10 billion sounds like a lot, but it's over 7 years or more, it's not as bad as it sounds

First, the U.K. spent a lot of money to build out wind. Now, the U.K. must spend a whole lot more money because the wind is not reliable. So, this money, whether it is as bad as it sounds or not, is in addition to the already a lot of money the citizens in the U.K. have spent.

See also: "The U.K. government's effort to expand renewable energy generation will boost household electricity bills by 54 percent by 2020."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-14/u-k-green-energy-plans-boost-power-bills-54-by-2020.html

wind is otherwise cheaper than nuclear anyway.

Nuclear is mostly expensive because of the lawsuits and delays. If wind power was plagued with similar levels of lawsuits and delays, cost of wind power would similarly skyrocket.

And wind power is not suitable for base load, whilst nuclear power is.

Also, although you probably can get that high pressure front effect sometimes, wind speeds are generally higher in winter.

The U.K. has already decided that wind power alone is not reliable enough to provide power, and natural gas backup is required.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/6957501/Wind-farms-produced-practically-no-electricity-during-Britains-cold-snap.html

Please provide a reference to support your claim that wind power generation will increase during winter... I'm keen to read it.

Wikipedia seems to agree with you: the capacity factor numbers for winter are higher than for summer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_Kingdom#Variability_and_related_issues

That seems like a tremendously high price for natural gas by that date.
Perhaps its the unit of measure.

http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/

Today: NYMEX Natural Gas USD/MMBtu 4.38

This doesn't necessarily invalidate your broader point, but Spain does, in fact, have an extremely inflexible labor market. The World Economic Forum’s 2012 Global Competitiveness Report ranked Spain’s labor market 134th out of 142 countries. For example, under a policy originally introduced during the Franco era, a company must pay a laid-off long-term worker 1.5 months of salary for every year he's been employed at the company.

Germany also has severance pay. But I'm afraid your information is outdated. Spanish laws set severance pay to 20 days' wage per year of employment limited to at most 12 months' wage. Also, that Global Competitiveness Report ranks Spain as a whole at 36th place (improvement from previous years).

Spain is now mostly paying for its own mortgage bubble and unstable economic structure endorsed by government since early 1990s.

Countries like Japan, America, and northern Europe, where factories often have the latest tech, have far fewer unemployed young people than countries in southern Europe or India. The biggest problem is inflexible labor markets that make it hard to hire/fire and modify jobs.

Labor laws in Germany and Sweden are among the most inflexible ones in Europe but both countries are doing pretty well compared to the rest of Europe regarding unemployment.

Spain and Greece didn't have a problem with inflexible labor market.

This doesn't necessarily invalidate your broader point, but Spain does, in fact, have an extremely inflexible labor market. The World Economic Forum’s 2012 Global Competitiveness Report ranked Spain’s labor market 134th out of 142 countries. For example, under a policy originally introduced during the Franco era, a company must pay a laid-off long-term worker 1.5 months of salary for every year he's been employed at the company. (If he's been there for 8 years, the company must pay him a full year's salary as severance pay.) Especially during the downturn, that policy has made companies loath to hire employees on anything other than temp contracts, contributing to Spain's massive 50% unemployment rate for workers under 26.

While it does sound like you are responsible (presuming you are the ONLY one with the combination to the safe containing the loaded gun) and you have a good attitude regarding training, I have to disagree with your last statement.

Since Newtown, there have been a number of compilations of shooting injuries in the news, and a number of them have been gun owners shooting innocent bystanders or themselves whilst cleaning their guns. The gun deaths per year number roughly 32,000 in the US whereas the swimming deaths per year number only about 3880.

The bottom line is that you are absolutely right about needing good firearms training. Unfortunately we can't seem to require people to be well trained before purchasing a firearm. We'll let any old schmoe have one - and the results are obvious.

One thing you can say about the Egyptians and their pyramids, despite no one practicing their religion (in numbers): despite Cairo being 9:1 Muslim:Coptic Christian, no one will ever forget the people who built them. As long as humans exist on this earth anyway.

You may be interested to note that the Salafis released after the fall of Mubarak (thanks to the clueless Obama pulling the rug out from under him and unleashing the Islamists across the region) wish to destroy the 'pagan' Pyramids and Sphinx just as they blew up the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan and destroyed the medieval mosque in Timbuktu, Mali in the last year. Now not every Egyptian feel this way, but these guys are "on a mission from Allah" and feel they are commanded to destroy all non-Muslim cultural artifacts. As time goes one expect the Salafis to win additional power over more moderate Islamicists (just as in any organisation those who can claim to be 'holier than thou' can marginalise moderate voices, leading to the organization becoming more and more extreme over time).

Mandatory citations of the proposed madness:
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/11/12/249092.html
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/raymond-ibrahim/muslim-brotherhood-destroy-the-pyramids/
Here's a claim made nearly half a year later, showing that the call for destruction was not an isolated incident or single imam, but an intended goal of the Salafis and Muslim Brotherhood once they are in a position to do so:
http://au.christiantoday.com/article/muslim-brotherhood-backed-egyptian-president-renews-call-for-destruction-of-pyramids-and-sphinx/14432.htm

Now here is the apologies for the Islamicists from a left-leaning media source (typical, the leftist media in the US loves Islam and make excuses every way they can). It claims that the calls for destruction of the pyramids were a 'hoax' yet then goes on to say the claims were 'fringe'. That means the claims were *real* (not a hoax as the apologist makes out) but still on the fringe. The pyramids are safe, for now, but expect as Egypt becomes more and more extreme. This is also the plan of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis to impose more and more Sharia on Egypt progressively [incidentally, what they are trying to do through 'Cultural Jihad' through the OIC-dominated UN is similar, but on a much longer timescale so ordinary joes won't notice the installation of special rights for Muslims and limits being placed on Free Speech for non-Muslims; all in accordance with Sharia and enacted through "political correctness"].
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-24/blow-up-the-pyramids-u-s-pundits-fall-for-a-hoax.html

The Islamicists aim to take over the World (as the Qur'an commands them to). If they are prepared to rob other cultures of irreplaceable antiquities just how much less do they value your human rights or even your life. Islam must be stopped by all Free People (regardless of our differences in political leanings or beliefs in the best economic system). If we don't unite to stop Islam our culture will be destroyed and forgotten, just as the former cultures of the Middle East have been (eg. Roman/Byzantine culture that lasted around 2500 years; the Persians with a similar heritage; the Graeco-Egyptian culture in Egypt; etc). Israel is first on the chopping block and then the West is next (as the Muslims say to themselves, "First the Saturday people and then the Sunday people" [the planned order of conquest and subjgation]).

Most people simply aren't aware just how barbaric Islam is. No wonder, the Lefti

Has anyone shown definitively that any burps that occured in HFT transactions were caused by the algorithmic automatic trading or that they occurred because of human intervention?

Oh, ok. That is a good point.

To answer your question, I haven't seen any such evidence. However, there are a number of quotes from market professionals indicating that the market reaction to the twitter message was very fast. They might be lying - if one did fall for the message, it would be extremely embarrassing and damaging to your business if it became known that you lost a portion of your customers' investment portfolios to a fake news twitter.

But showing the involvement of HFT would require an analysis of the first few seconds of the stock markets after the twitter hoax message was released. I don't see any evidence that has been done yet. A reaction in say less than 100 milliseconds probably would indicate HFT scale trading (much of that time would be taken up by computer analysis and decision making acting on the twitter message).

The drop apparently lasted around three minutes, so I have to say that presently I don't see evidence for HFT involvement, but the evidence might support human-directed computer trading since several DJIA components were sold simultaneously over short times and the drop on the DJIA was a bit over half of what would have triggered a temporary stop of computer trading on the market (being able to reverse these trades would be an essential part of an automated strategy for reacting to news stories).

That fellow (Jeff Bauman) who lost both legs below the knee, the one whose femoral artery is being pinched shut by Carlos Arredondo as he's being wheeled away from the incident, identified his attacker. From Bloomberg:

"Minutes before the bombs blew up in Boston, Jeff Bauman looked into the eyes of the man who tried to kill him.

Just before 3 p.m. on April 15, Bauman was waiting among the crowd for his girlfriend to cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon. A man wearing a cap, sunglasses and a black jacket over a hooded sweatshirt looked at Jeff, 27, and dropped a bag at his feet, his brother, Chris Bauman, said in an interview.

Two and a half minutes later, the bag exploded, tearing Jeff’s legs apart. A picture of him in a wheelchair, bloodied and ashen, was broadcast around the world as he was rushed to Boston Medical Center. He lost both legs below the knee."

-- http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-19/boston-bombing-victim-in-iconic-photo-helped-identify-attackers.html

The Spiraling costs are caused by a few different factors, of which most are not addressed by ObamaCare directly.

1) Entitlement attitude. Everyone deserves the exact same level of care, regardless of ability to pay. Rich people do not deserve care they can pay for, and poor who cannot pay, deserve the care rich people can afford, but they themselves cannot.

2) Insurance masking the cost of care.

3) Disparate pricing models based on who is paying.

4) Insurance middleman costs

5) Malpractice Lawsuits (jury awards)

None of those are fixed in ObamaCare. In Fact, ObamaCare makes it even more of a regulatory nightmare. Hell to apply for insurance at one of the Insurance Exchanges requires 60+ pages of paperwork by the IRS. Tell me, how does that make healthcare more affordable?

And in spite of your protestations that everything is going honky dory, it isn't

http://www.dpmafoundation.org/physician-attitudes-on-medicine.html
http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/survey-doctors-dropping-out-medicare
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/03/28/california-health-care-costs-to-rise-under-affordable-care-act/
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/business/despite-new-health-law-some-see-sharp-rise-in-premiums.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-10/obama-doubles-estimate-to-4-billion-for-health-exchanges.html

This whole thread is quibbling about taxing pennies on employee lunches, when Google works overtime to avoid paying taxes on billions of dollars on its profits. I'm surprised that not one person in this thread has noticed the disparity. Did you notice?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/20/microsoft-taxes-profits-offshore_n_1901398.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-13/irs-auditing-how-google-shifted-profits-offshore-to-avoid-taxes.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-10/google-revenues-sheltered-in-no-tax-bermuda-soar-to-10-billion.html

Really. Buy some perspective.

sc

This whole thread is quibbling about taxing pennies on employee lunches, when Google works overtime to avoid paying taxes on billions of dollars on its profits. I'm surprised that not one person in this thread has noticed the disparity. Did you notice?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/20/microsoft-taxes-profits-offshore_n_1901398.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-13/irs-auditing-how-google-shifted-profits-offshore-to-avoid-taxes.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-10/google-revenues-sheltered-in-no-tax-bermuda-soar-to-10-billion.html

Really. Buy some perspective.

sc

Boeing Co., the world’s largest aerospace company, plans to deliver its first commercial scale high-efficiency solar-power cells for Earth-based electricity production in January.

The concentrating photovoltaic cells, developed by Boeing’s Spectrolab unit for satellites and the International Space Station, can convert as much as 39.2 percent of sunlight into electricity, Chicago-based Boeing said today in a statement.

Never said it would be cheap.

If somebody wants to start a new business in USA, they should definitely do it somewhere in Texas but even better, Puerto Rico. If you start a company in Puerto Rico, they promise 30 years of no capital gains taxes, that's beside the business income tax of 4% and there is no federal US income tax.

So if you start a company and it becomes successful, you definitely want to be there, you can sell your business and pay no capital gains. Clearly they won't be following MA example with this nonsense either.

Funny that you mentioned Mexico:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html

Wachovia admitted it didn't do enough to spot illicit funds in handling $378.4 billion for Mexican-currency-exchange houses from 2004 to 2007. That's the largest violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, an anti-money-laundering law, in U.S. history -- a sum equal to one-third of Mexico's current gross domestic product.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/10/news/companies/hsbc-money-laundering/index.html

In Mexico, HSBC became the preferred bank for drug cartels and money launderers, according to the Justice Department. The government said the bank didn't raise red flags even when billions of dollars in transactions took place in cash, the typical mode of operation for drug dealers.

They're not fighting crime that well are they?

Mexico might be a far better place than it is now if those criminals in Mexico couldn't get their hands on all those billions of dollars from the USA. The banks helping them launder all that money have blood on their hands.

And all they have to do is pay fines and often it's just the banks money not their own money. I don't see anyone in the banks going to jail for their part in it. All these laws aren't going to work till the people involved in such crimes also risk jail time.

Don't worry, China is on track to outpace the US in military expenditures by 2023. I'm sure that's all for "peaceful regional defense" and will have no impact on the US.

China's military rise
http://www.economist.com/node/21552212

The dragon's new teeth: A rare look inside the world's biggest military expansion
http://www.economist.com/node/21552193

Essential reading on China cyber:

The Online Threat: Should we be worried about a cyber war? (The first page of this is a must read wrt China.)
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/11/01/101101fa_fact_hersh

Great snippet: ""The N.S.A. would ask, 'Can the Chinese be that good?' " the former official told me. "My response was that they only invented gunpowder in the tenth century and built the bomb in 1965. I'd say, 'Can you read Chinese?' We don't even know the Chinese pictograph for 'Happy hour.'"

To say nothing of the more recent news.

But yes, yes...this is all about "false flag" attacks, because naturally the US is always the evil aggressor, and there has never been any oppression or tyranny in the world, save for what the US has foisted upon it. The principles of freedom for which the US stands are just an illusion force fed to a compliant public by the lapdog mainstream press. In fact, we probably have secret time machines so we could extend this evil beyond our nation's short existence in this world. That explains all the bad things that happened before we were around.

I'd like to think that more people would have an idea of what is actually in these fluids. There is a lot of information out there. Don't say "BUT.. BUT... THE COMPANIES DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW WHATS IN THEM!" because that's not necessarily the case.

According to this article ( http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-03/hazardous-air-pollutants-detected-near-fracking-sites.html ), they have found large amounts of dichloromethane in the air samples. It doesn't sound like they're being as honest as you state.

From your article, "The authors say the source of the chemicals is likely a mix of the raw gas that is vented from the wells and emissions from industrial equipment used during the gas production process." The gasses are from "all natural" gas from the ground or from exhaust from equipment (which are typically run on diesel or natural gas). This doesn't have anything to do with chemicals added to frac fluids. Having an issue with "industrialization" and air pollution relating to exhaust is one thing to be concerned about, but the discussion is about chemicals in frac fluids.

I'd like to think that more people would have an idea of what is actually in these fluids. There is a lot of information out there. Don't say "BUT.. BUT... THE COMPANIES DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW WHATS IN THEM!" because that's not necessarily the case.

According to this article ( http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-03/hazardous-air-pollutants-detected-near-fracking-sites.html ), they have found large amounts of dichloromethane in the air samples. It doesn't sound like they're being as honest as you state.

I did not say that USA was NOT net energy importer, however USA is now selling refined products and this is what helped to reduce its monthly trade deficit a few months back.

Bloomberg: Oil Exports Trim U.S. Deficit as Fuel Gap Shrinks: Economy

Energy exports boosting US trade position

However my point remains, USA energy consumption is lowest in at least a decade, you can find various data on this subject, like this here, and here

Also oil imports are very low, here is a 2013 story talking about lowest oil imports into USA in 25 year span.

My point is that USA is too poor to keep using more or even equal amount of fuel that it used to in the recent decade(s) and it's going to progress even faster from now and the fact that oil prices are going up has nothing to do with USA lack demand, it has everything to do with inflation, which eventually will allow foreign consumers to buy much more energy products than today as the inflation will hit USA home and USA MAY become a net energy exporter at least for a while.

All MacBook Pro Retina displays are from LG. So are iTouch and iPhone displays.
Samsung only supply iPad displays.

Apple know LG are shit.

Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) will supply the screen for Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s new iPad after LG Display Co. (034220) and Sharp Corp. (6753) didn’t meet the U.S. company’s quality requirements, an analyst with iSuppli said.

source.

Er.. you forgot the S in the BRICS

There was no S in BRIC until within the past year or two.

BRIC as a grouping long predates that.

Long before that, SA was the 14th largest economy in the World. It is now 28th, hence its alignment with the BRIC.

That's why its military is called the Self Defense Forces

Right, and the USA has a Defense department. If you name it defense, then it can only be used for defense, is that what you are saying?

I seriously doubt they would ever seek nuclear armament.

Please understand it doesn't work that way. Most countries, throughout history, when they got attacked by a superior weapon, sought to obtain that weapon. Also, please do some research before opening typing, your comments will be a lot more sensible.

Dude, this isn't Hollywood. Even at the incredible speed at which global warming is occuring, we're still talking about something that's happening at a speed unlikely to significantly change the environment you're living in within your lifetime. When I say significant, I mean "I lived in a lush forest when I was born, and now it's an apocalyptic desert where no rain falls."

What about "When I was born everyone ate beef for every meal but as I got older the cost of meat made it a once a week thing"? No true patriot is going to care about water wars and death in Africa. You're better off to let supply and demand (no subsidies!) ruin America's constant burger consumption. Then they'll finally cry foul. Look at Texas, they aren't just losing cattle. Trees, money, water, wildlife ... not quite "apocalyptic" desert yet ...

Microsoft used to not spend any money on political campaigns. Then, after a while, they figured out enough to post political contributions on both sides and then to hire a lobbyist to advocate for them.

Another older example

Jun 30, 2003 Â CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh explains why the software maker has quietly given marching orders to its phalanx of lobbyists to get the government to ...

Of course, Google couldn't be left behind

It's not as if this is anything new. Industry boards have long written laws: not just outlines, not just drafts, but the entire full set and exact wording just as they want it to be. That you can search for yourself. There are thousands of examples of that.

The Obama administration’s apparent belief that due process can be satisfied in secret inside the executive branch is...a travesty of the very notion of due process. And to borrow a phrase from Justice Robert Jackson, it will now lie about like a loaded weapon ready for the hand of any administration that needs it.

Another interesting quote reveals a fact of which I was unaware:

Although the white paper doesn’t say so, Awlaki even tried to get a hearing before he was killed. His father asked a federal court to find that he wasn’t a terrorist. But the court never heard his claim, because the Obama administration persuaded it not to consider the case.

Well, since you are obviously not part of our nation, you can shut your fucking pie hole and hope the putrid steaming pile of shit masses that we have here, voting themselves years of unemployment benefits, food stamps, etc. don't move to whatever fucking paradise you live in. of course, you would welcome them with open ares I bet eh?

And if you want local examples, I give you Detroit. They elected their own POS politicians to further the raid on the public funds. In fact, every city in the U.S. that is in dire financial straights is run by Democrats, the Patron Saints of the "takers", the "47%", the "welfare mentality". States for that matter too.

Which brings me back to my original statement. You obviously know nothing of what's happening here so I repeat: Shut your fucking pie hole and hope it doesn't happen where you live.

When Verizon brought its FiOS TV service to Massapequa Park, NY, Cablevision brought lawyers.

When plans were getting drawn for a West Side Stadium that would compete with its (now-spun-off) Madison Square Garden, they brought astroturf ads.

When our place got FiOS, they began to bring salesmen.

When they leave, unsuccessful and late to the table of real competition, and bested by a once-monopoly they apparently sought to outdo, they bring me joy.

(Though to be fair, when they show their Michael Bolton ad, it brings me to the TV.)

I'm not the one who mentioned your wage! :) Thanks for the more concrete numbers... ROI is far more useful than percent of your wage.

Percentage of wages supported my point of "didn't need to sacrifice my first born". I mean, everybody knows buying a tire factory in India is the way of tomorrow in term of ROI (wink) but who can afford it?

That's an amazing drop in price. Just 3 years ago ROI was around 15-20 years in my area (PA) unless you were lucky enough to get the big government incentives.

Unfortunately, for you it still is. I know now why.

Source - Me, I had a 6kw system installed last fall, to the tune of about $31,000 - pretax rebate.

Ah, I know now why the US citizens pay through their noses maybe 4-6 times more than the selling price including transport by fast courier... their govt needs taxes! (that's bonkers. A family that pays less on power bills will have more money to spend on something else)

Don't have to wait that long!.

linky

(Note: Article is an opinion piece from a senior editor from the conservative National Review)

(if you think that they're not running at a loss, try getting any other company to deliver a letter for 46 cents in any time frame, much less in the usual time for the post).

With $140 billion in annual cash flow, it doesn't look like the problem is their prices. It looks like their overhead is too high, starting with many of the Congressionally-imposed costs mentioned in the article.

Other companies do not have many of the legal advantages the USPS has that were created specifically to allow it to be solvent but inexpensive.

The service last year projected it would save $7.1 billion a year by managing its own benefits.

...a $5.6 billion payment due to the U.S. Treasury for future retiree health-care costs...

Look to the causes here, not some comparison of apples and oranges.

We invested billions in bringing unproven technologies with almost no market demand into the market.

We did NOT invest billions in research.

In the case of Solyndra, they spent the vast majority of the money we GAVE them to build a factory full of whistling robots.

I contend we would hav ebeen better off if we instead simply took those lost taxpayer dollars and bought cheap chinese solar panels and installed them on the roofs of gov't buildings, schools, etc. At least the money would be going for something useful and have a meaningful impact on the environment.

Yes, so the government shouldn't be selling licenses to the rating agencies and shouldn't be forcing mutual funds, especially pension funds to only buy debt that is rated by the agencies that the government licenses.

US government treasury bonds are rated as high as they are by the agencies that are licensed by the government, and the moment one of these agencies decides to downgrade US Treasuries because US Tresuries are actually junk, it is sued and prohibited from rating US Treasuries. Of-course that one agency actually gets paid by the buyers of the bond, not by the sellers.

Here is a good take on this issue in the first 10 minutes of the show.