If there is a positive to come out of the unfolding scandal involving General Petraeus, it might be a more sober accounting of America’s involvement in Afghanistan. Risks to our national security have been heightened by our continued presence there: Our handpicked president, Hamid Karzai is seen as a joke. Anti-American sentiment has grown considerably. Terrorists recruit. The Taliban endures. To the degree Americans [...]
"The Airline Pilots Association sure understands the importance of government regulation to create benefits for a small group and the value of limiting supply. According to WSJ, new regulations require newly hired pilots to have at least 1,500 hours of prior flight experience. That number is that is six times the current requirement. At the same time a large number of pilots are going to be forced to retire because they are bumping up against the current mandatory retirement age of 65." Continue reading →
"'I'm working poor. And I work -– I've never taken a dime from the government. I'll starve before I take a handout. That's what being a true American is all about.' Belcher blamed the government for shutting down his former business. Belcher said his Euro Details car wash, which featured topless women, was successful for a decade on Halls Mill Road in Mobile. But he said he was arrested and charged with obscenity by city officials in 2001. 'The government ripped my business away, and now they're choking America to death with rules and regulations,' he said." Continue reading →
"Spain announced Thursday a two-year halt to evictions of the most vulnerable home owners as a public outcry mounted over suicides linked to desperate people facing expulsion. The Spanish Banking Association announced Monday it was freezing mortgage-related evictions for two years in extreme cases. Savings banks, too, suspended expulsions while awaiting new government rules. Many people were shocked by two suicides in 15 days by indebted homeowners facing expulsion in Spain, where both banks and borrowers were hammered by a 2008 property crash." Continue reading →
"A group of Wal-Mart workers are planning to stage a walkout next week on Black Friday, arguably the biggest holiday shopping day for the world's largest retail store. The walkout builds on an October strike that started at a Wal-Mart in Los Angeles and spread to stores in 12 other cities. More than 100 workers joined in the October actions. According to Anthony Bianco, author of Wal-Mart: The Bully of Bentonville, butchers at a Wal-Mart supercenter in Jacksonville, Texas, voted to form a union in 2000 -- the first time employees had done so. But soon after that, Wal-Mart eliminated butcher departments in its stores across the country." Continue reading →
"President Obama appointed the director of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Shaun Donovan, to lead the government’s efforts to help states in the wake of Hurricane Sandy’s havoc. Donovan will be in charge of recovery plans for states hit by the storm and direct federal assistance. The storm is expected to cost about $50 billion. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he expects the federal government to provide the estimated $33 billion in damages and losses suffered in the state." Continue reading →
"It beats waiting in line at an Apple Store. A pair of brazen crooks punched another hole in the lax JFK security when they stole a trove of new Apple iPad minis — worth $1.5 million — from the same cargo building that was the site of the 1978 Lufthansa heist featured in 'GoodFellas,' The Post has learned. The crooks struck shortly before midnight on Monday and used one of the airport’s own forklifts to load two pallets of the tablet computers into a truck, according to law-enforcement sources." Continue reading →
"While consumers began to complain in response to media coverage over working conditions, prompting Apple to hire an audit of the factories, Foxconn’s President Terry Gou had another idea for dealing with labor concerns: replace people with robots. In fact, last year Gou said that the company would be aiming to replace 1 million Foxconn workers with robots within 3 years. It appears as if Gou has started the ball in motion. Since the announcement, a first batch of 10,000 robots — aptly named Foxbots — appear to have made its way into at least one factory, and by the end of 2012, another 20,000 more will be installed." Continue reading →
"The Federal Housing Administration has exhausted its reserves, forcing it to institute another round of measures to shore up its finances. The government agency's capital cushion plummeted to -$16.3 billion at the end of fiscal 2012, according to a study prepared annually by an independent actuary. FHA is scheduled to present the assessment, along with its annual report to Congress, on Friday. HUD is expected to announce Friday a series of changes designed to improve the agency's financial position." Continue reading →
"Purdue has a $313,000-a-year acting provost and six vice and associate vice provosts, including a $198,000 chief diversity officer. It employs 16 deans and 11 vice presidents, among them a $253,000 marketing officer and a $433,000 business school chief. Spending on administration has been rising faster than funds for instruction and research at 198 leading U.S. research universities, crowding out instruction at a time of skyrocketing tuition and $1 trillion in outstanding student loans. Purdue and other public universities, which rely on state taxpayers, have become a flashpoint for anger about bureaucratic spending." Continue reading →