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Bill Bonner: The End of the World As We Know It

“People become ‘educators’ and never teach a single student. They go on ‘disability.’ They turn whole industries – defense, health, finance – into vast wealth transfer schemes that produce little or no net benefit for the people they are supposed to serve. In short, zombies consume more than they produce; they are a net negative for society. But Hadas is right about the effects of lower birthrates. They also lower ‘growth.’ And without substantial growth, life as we have known it will come to an end. Stocks will fall, creditors (bondholders, for example) won’t be paid, and governments must cut back on their expenses… or go broke.” Continue reading →

Egypt orders arrest of ousted Brotherhood leaders after army kills 53 protesters

“Washington, treading a careful line, has neither welcomed Mursi’s removal nor denounced it as a ‘coup’, which would require it to halt aid, including the $1.3 billion it gives the army each year. The Brotherhood’s downfall has, however, been warmly welcomed by three of the rich Arab monarchies of the Gulf. Kuwait promised Egypt $4 billion in cash, loans and fuel on Wednesday, a day after Saudi Arabia pledged $5 billion and the United Arab Emirates offered $3 billion. Mohamed ElBaradei, a former U.N. agency chief, has been named vice president and supports a stalled $4.8 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund.” Continue reading →

UN: Iraq violence could lead to civil war

“The level of violence reached its lowest level in 2011, with 2,771 people killed, according to UN figures. But it is once again on the rise, fuelled by widespread Sunni discontent with the Shiite-led government, and fanned by the civil war in neighbouring Syria. ‘A lot of the radical groups are getting oxygen from what is going on there,’ Motta said of Syria. ‘The more people die (in Iraq), the greater the chance of counter-reaction and the greater chance it has to spiral out of control,’ he said. ‘If the casualties keep going at this rate it will be well over 5,000 at the end of the year, so we’re looking back at figures of 2008,’ he said.” Continue reading →

Biden urges end to hacking, human rights abuses by China

“‘We both will benefit from an open, secure, reliable Internet. Outright cyber-enabling theft that US companies are experiencing now must be viewed as out of bounds and needs to stop,’ Biden said. A recent US study said that corporate America was losing hundreds of billions of dollars a year through a vast, organized hacking campaign to steal US trade, government and military secrets. Biden also raised concerns about human rights, days after Chinese troops reportedly opened fire on Tibetans celebrating the birthday of their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.” Continue reading →

Parched Jordan to start pumping radium-laced water from 300,000-year-old aquifer

“The water ministry says Jordan, where 92 percent of the land is desert, will need 1.6 billion cubic metres of water a year to meet its requirements by 2015, while the population of 6.8 million is growing by almost 3.5 percent a year. Officials say the project has required 250,000 tonnes of steel and the digging of 55 wells to pump water from Disi to Amman, where the per capita daily consumption [is 42 gallons]. A 2008 study by Duke University, in the United States, shows that Disi’s water has 20 times more radiation than is considered safe, with radium content that could trigger cancers. But the government has brushed aside those concerns.” Continue reading →

India’s poor ‘duped’ into clinical trials for untested drugs

“Many desperate and poor people in India are unwittingly taking part in clinical trials for drugs by Indian and multinational pharmaceutical companies that outsource the work to unregulated research organisations. Testing pharmaceuticals on humans is a mandatory and expensive step for drug companies who must prove to regulatory authorities that treatments have no dangerous side-effects in order to bring them to market. The Confederation of Indian Industry estimates that companies save up to 60 percent by undertaking the different phases of testing a new drug in India as compared to developed countries.” Continue reading →

Justice Achieved: Coffee Mug Threat Is Halted by State Attorneys General.

“See this mug? Well, you won’t see it again. Even the thought of a coffee mug like this sends chills down the spines of state Attorneys General around America. They are ever on the alert to stop crime in its tracks. So, 22 of them joined together to send a letter to the company that manufactures this mug. Stop it, they said. Stop it right now. For the sake of humanity, cease and desist. So, the company stopped it. If we did not have socially alert Attorney Generals, elected by the voters, who are in charge of billions of dollars of legal talent, this nation would degenerate into a lawless cacophony of coffee mugs, glasses, coasters, and drink holders.” Continue reading →

Cat caught smuggling banned cell phones into Russian prison

“The Russian prison service said Monday it had caught a cat being used as a courier to smuggle banned cell phones and chargers into a prison camp in the country’s remote far north. The prison service in the Komi region said on its website that the cat was detained Friday evening as it climbed the fence of the region’s Number One corrective labour camp with two cell phones, batteries and chargers strapped to its back using tape. It posted a photograph of the black-and-white cat held up by the scruff of its neck by a guard with the bulky package still stuck to its fur.” Continue reading →