CLibertyC

Bill Gates: Flip-Flopping IP Hypocrite

"A couple decades ago, Bill Gates seemed to have some appreciation of the damage wrought by patent law. Yet over the years Microsoft relied on the other major form of intellectual property—copyright—to dominate aspects of the software industry, and then to use the monopoly profits to accumulate thousands of patents. These two forms of IP are then used together to squelch competition. Now that Gates has used state-granted IP monopolies to acquire billions of dollars that he can then use to be a bigshot philanthropist, he is all for patents (as my friend Rob Wicks says, Gates is 'America’s wealthiest welfare queen')." Continue reading →

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Who’s Hiring in the U.S. and What They Pay

"The segment of the economy that has added the most jobs since the recession ended in June 2009 is classified as 'professional and business services.' About 2.12 million jobs have been created for architects, engineers, scientists, managers, computer geeks, and yes, journalists. This is normally high-paying work with an average hourly wage of $28.41 an hour, which translates into $1,136 a week. Unfortunately, almost half of the new professional jobs since mid-2009 were created at temporary-hiring agencies. The work doesn’t always lead to a full-time job and these positions pay far less: $15.74 an hour." Continue reading →

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The Fed Doesn’t Control as Much as You Think It Does

"In actuality, the Fed has little control or influence over the things that really matter in the real economy. Innovation is often a meaningless buzzword (think 'financial innovation'), but it is also the key driver of wealth creation in the real economy. The Federal Reserve could be shut down and all its asset bubbles could pop, and innovations in energy, agriculture, transportation, education, media, medicine, etc. would continue to impact the availability and abundance of what really matters in the real world: energy, knowledge, water, food, and opportunity, to name a few off the top of a long list." Continue reading →

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As Keystone stalls, TransCanada OKs bigger East Coast pipeline

"TransCanada Corp gave the green light to building a $12 billion oil pipeline to ship Canada’s Western oil sands crude to refiners on its east coast and beyond, scaling up the project as its U.S.-bound Keystone XL line remains stalled in Washington. The company said it would move forward with building a 1.1 million barrel per day Energy East Pipeline after “strong market support.” That would be larger than the 850,000 bpd capacity it had mentioned in April, when it first began seeking customer commitments for the project. TransCanada is also likely to face stiff resistance from some groups over the construction of the line." Continue reading →

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Why Oil Could Move Higher–Much Higher

"A more intriguing dynamic has been presented by Financial Times reporter Izabella Kaminska over the past year: Financiers are buying oil as collateral for various speculations. Kaminska sees this financial hoarding of oil (i.e., reduction of supply) as inducing 'scarcity amidst plenty.' In broad terms, I would characterize this as one aspect of the financialization of commodities. The financialization of commodities is driven by several macro factors: 1. The scarcity of non-phantom, easily tradable collateral in a financial system that is increasingly dependent on phantom collateral. 2. A scarcity of sound investment opportunities." Continue reading →

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Instead Of Bonds, Buy This…

"Naturally, after this year’s 9% pullback in bonds, we’re going to see some air flow out of the bond bubble. That is, folks that were looking for safety in bonds were burned and are now looking for safety in other places – cash, equities, you name it. Remember back in 2008 we saw the same thing — the safety trade had everyone running to bonds. CEOs for Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs have both recently gone on record saying interest rates should, or need to, eventually rise. The market needs to 'normalize' they say. That said, plan on seeing a lot more money heading in to cash, equities or other investment classes." Continue reading →

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Save Thousands With 3-D Printing Technology

"The typical family can already save a great deal of money by making things with a 3-D printer, instead of buying them off the shelf. In the study, Pearce and his team chose 20 common household items listed on Thingiverse. Then they used Google Shopping to determine the maximum and minimum cost of buying those 20 items online, shipping charges not included. Next, they calculated the cost of making them with 3-D printers. The conclusion: It would cost the typical consumer from $312-1,944 to buy those 20 things, compared with $18 to make them in a weekend." Continue reading →

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In U.S., Fewer Young Adults Holding Full-Time Jobs in 2013

"The barriers for the young getting a job in the U.S. remain high. Given ever growing regulations on employers, coupled with the uncertainty of Obamacare, it just makes it to risky for most employers to be aggressively hiring. Fewer Americans aged 18 to 29 worked full time for an employer in June 2013 (43.6%) than did so in June 2012 (47.0%), according to Gallup's Payroll to Population employment rate. The P2P rate for young adults is also down from 45.8% in June 2011 and 46.3% in June 2010." Continue reading →

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California: Treatment and fraud

"CNN has a pretty powerful investigative series on California’s dysfunctional treatment system. Over $185 million per year of state and federal money goes into California’s drug rehab counseling program, much of it lining the pockets of unscrupulous clinics who pay people $5 to sign in (or simply invent clients). While each state has a different system, the fraud and abuse in treatment is a national problem as the treatment industry has become a hugely lucrative business, with lots of taxpayer money to tap and tons of 'addicts' who are required to go through treatment because of their involvement in the criminal justice system." Continue reading →

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Official refuses to resign after saying Japan should follow Nazis’ constitution overhaul

"'The German Weimar constitution changed, without being noticed, to the Nazi German constitution. Why don’t we learn from their tactics?' Days later, Aso insisted he had been misunderstood and that he was not praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s political prowess, but rather saying constitutional reform should be not be influenced by media criticism or animosity from Japan’s neighbours. Aso is known for his sometimes clumsy and uncomfortable remarks, including saying earlier this year that elderly people should 'hurry up and die' to avoid taxing the country’s medical system." Continue reading →

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