Bankocracy

Why Texas Bans the Sale of Tesla Cars

"Tesla CEO Elon Musk plans on opening 50 new Tesla stores in the next year. And taking a page from the Apple playbook, Musk is selling his product directly to consumers. No hard sell. No commission for employees. And uniform prices at every store. That’s a dig at the traditional middlemen in the car-buying experience: the car dealers. Musk wants to cut them out completely. So Musk is declaring war on car dealers, but car dealers are also declaring war on Musk. They have already successfully booted him out of Texas and there is anti-Tesla legislation pending in North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia." Continue reading →

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The Verdict on The World’s Fastest “Train”

"Consider the motivation behind Musk’s Hyperloop: California’s new so-called high-speed rail system, which Musk calls a 'bullet train to nowhere.' Rumored to cost $70 billion, Musk asks why California – one of the world’s largest economies, home of Silicon Valley, and with some of the world’s greatest tech companies – 'would build a bullet train that’s both one of the most expensive per mile and one of the slowest in the world.' Comparing it to the Hyperloop, he says, 'The train would be both slower, more expensive to operate (if unsubsidized) and less safe by two orders of magnitude than flying, so why would anyone use it?'" Continue reading →

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NASA begins selling shuttle launch platforms

"Nasa is selling three huge mobile platforms used to launch the Apollo moon missions and the space shuttle – adding to the list of historic facilities and equipments it wants private industry to take over, including a shuttle launchpad and its landing runway. The massive steel structures – 7.6 metres high (25ft) 49 by 41 metres on top – were originally built in 1967 for the Apollo moon programme’s Saturn rockets, then modified for the space shuttles, which flew from 1981 until 2011. The Kennedy Space Centre launchpad has attracted competing bids from the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, co-founder of Paypal and chief executive of electric car company Tesla Motors." Continue reading →

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Can You 3-D Print An Airplane?

"It’s a new phase in the 3-D printing revolution. 'We’re transitioning now to a stage where not only can the machine make something, but the machine can actually make its own parts,' said Gershefeld. Rather than laying down materials flatly, layer after layer, it will be possible to print stronger, interlocking parts that build into huge structures. Just as pixels of different colors come together to form a picture, 3-D pixels will come in different 'colors' or shapes. It’s incredible. If a simple 'Can you 3-D print an airplane?' leads down the road to such innovation, imagine what other inventions are stemming from other questions." Continue reading →

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3-D Print Your Own Invisibility Cloak, And More!

"The invisibility cloak that makes you undetectable to radar was the height of metamaterial capability back in 2006. Now, according to the same researchers, you can print that cloak using an off-the-shelf 3-D printer in your living room… That gives you a good idea of how long an optical invisibility cloak could follow suit. And you will be able to make it from home. Not a bad Christmas present for the kids, eh? What once was the sole domain of science labs and military bases will have the letters DIY slapped on it. This is but one example of how the Click, Print, Anything Revolution will change the world." Continue reading →

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Gold Is Rebounding, Time to Look at Franco Nevada

"Franco-Nevada isn’t your average gold miner. They don’t have regular mine costs like the big gold producers we follow. Instead, Franco-Nevada is a 'streaming' company. Meaning after they put money into getting a project off the ground they take a cut of future production. With many of those streaming deals set up over the years, Franco-Nevada can just sit back and collect checks as other companies produce metal. In other words, if you think gold is set for a rebound, this pony will provide a huge upside compared to your average cost-laden miner. Since we covered Franco Nevada in April, there are a few points to be made." Continue reading →

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The Century of Arbitration and Peace

"All of this provides a real-world example of the possibility of adjudicating disputes in a private and contractual manner. It does not take a huge leap of faith to conclude that a decentralized arbitration system could be extended to smaller and smaller segments of the population, ultimately leading to a private security environment. If it can be done between states, why not between individuals (or private insurance / security companies) in a world without states as we currently use the term? Why limit the possibilities by geographical boundaries – some form of panarchy, if you will?" Continue reading →

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Food Stamp Nation

"The USDA has acknowledged a formal partnership with the Mexican government to boost food stamp enrollment among Mexican nationals. In fact, in response to oversight inquiries from Republicans in Congress, the USDA revealed that the current administration has met with Mexican officials approximately 30 times as part of the partnership. The USDA has also adopted a range of strategies and programs designed to enroll more people in food stamps by overcoming the notion of self-reliance. A 2011 USDA Hunger Champions Award document reveals that local assistance offices have been rewarded for 'counteracting' pride when pushing more people to sign up for benefits." Continue reading →

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Is Your College Going Broke? The Most And Least Financially Fit Schools In America

"Almost all colleges have noble mission statements, but few have pervasive cultures or are able to focus employees on core competencies the way great companies like Coke, IBM and Wells Fargo do. Most colleges and universities try to be all things to all people. That way of doing business was tolerable when the market of high school graduates was expanding, as it was from 1990 to 2010. However, the production of high school graduates has fallen from its 3.4 million peak in 2011 to a current 3.2 million–and is likely to stay there until 2020. This ugly demographic fact, plus the decline in household wealth brought on by the Great Recession, has exacerbated the problem." Continue reading →

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Obama offers plan to deal with the high cost of college

"Barack Obama took aim at the spiralling cost of higher education on Thursday, threatening US universities with a new official ranking system he claimed would help students identify whether they were getting value for money. As crippling student loans are increasingly seen as a impediment to social mobility and a check on US consumer confidence, the president used the latest of his economic speeches to propose a series of limited reforms to encourage lower fees. Besides the new ratings system, Obama’s proposals amounted to a call on state legislatures to stop cutting subsidies, universities to stop putting up fees, and Congress to pass laws limiting loan repayments." Continue reading →

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