Land Of The Flea

Santa Ana Police Officer Shot, Killed Unarmed Homeless Man

"Santa Ana police confirmed Wednesday that an officer shot and killed an unarmed 22-year-old homeless man after a short foot pursuit at a shopping center 24 hours ago. Hans Kevin Arellano was shot once in the chest when he got into a confrontation with a female 13-year veteran officer in a juice shop parking lot near South Harbor Boulevard and McFadden Avenue, according to Santa Ana interim Police Chief Carlos Rojas. The officer involved in the shooting is currently on paid leave. She could be back to work in a few days after she’s cleared by a department psychologist." Continue reading →

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The Cloud Belongs to the NSA

"The market is already providing some safer alternatives. SpiderOak, a secure cloud storage company, has seen its rate of sign-ups nearly triple over the past month. SpiderOak says even its engineers are unable to decrypt your personal data, so it is stored safely, according to CSO Online. Many of these are startups or crowdfunded experiments and may be worth keeping an eye on. Apple is expected to announce improvements to its iCloud service soon. How larger companies deal with this may affect markets in interesting ways." Continue reading →

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Energy drink makers tell Senate panel they’re being ‘victimized’

"Energy drinks are a small but growing segment in the non-alcoholic beverage industry in the United States, but health experts have expressed concern that their caffeine content poses risks in youngsters as heart arrhythmia and higher blood pressure. Last month, the American Medical Association called for a ban on the marketing of energy drinks to children and teenagers, said Senator Jay Rockefeller at the start of the hearing. He stated that in the first six months of this year, poison control centers in the United States received about 1,500 reports involving energy drinks, 'more than half of which involved children under the age of 18.'" Continue reading →

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Arizona Man Holding Air Rifle Killed In His Own Backyard In Drug Raid

"Tempe, Arizona, police in the Special Investigations/Narcotics Unit serving a drug search warrant Wednesday afternoon shot and killed a man in his backyard as he held an air rifle. John Wheelihan, 43, becomes the 22nd person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year, and the sixth in the last month. The victim appears to be a local photographer whose listed business address matches the address the police raided. Police did not say whether they were serving a 'no-knock' warrant, whether they were uniformed or undercover, or whether any drugs were discovered." Continue reading →

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Bankrupt Detroit Receives Less U.S. Aid Than Colombia

"President Barack Obama proposed giving Colombia about $323 million in aid next year, mostly to combat drug trafficking and violence. Detroit, with an 81 percent higher homicide rate, will get $108.2 million. Detroit’s implosion has rekindled debate over how and whether a federal government that managed to provide more than $700 billion in aid to banks and automakers in 2008 and 2009 should help cities with unsustainable retirement debt, hollowed-out tax bases and diminished services that endanger the public. From 1990 to 2010, the percentage of the U.S. population that lives in urban areas grew to 81 percent from 75 percent." Continue reading →

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How Do Ponzi Schemes End?

"Detroit promised police officers, firefighters, teachers and other public employees pension and post-retirement health care benefits, but was unwilling to set aside the money needed to fund those benefits. The city attracted workers with a total compensation package that included current wages and future benefits. Since the future benefits were substantially unfunded, they can be paid only if future taxpayers pay them. But the future taxpayers never agreed to this deal. If they do pay, they will be paying for services delivered in the past. If they don’t pay, they won’t have to sacrifice any current city services. So the future taxpayers have flown the coop." Continue reading →

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Would A Higher Minimum Wage Help McDonald’s Workers?

"It’s tempting to think that the higher wages for workers is worth it, but it isn’t. The minimum wage shifts the margins on which people compete with one another from wages to wasteful competitive endeavors like waiting or investing in too many quality signals. Competition in a price-controlled market can erode the entire value of the difference between the minimum workers are willing to accept and the minimum they are allowed to accept. The cruel irony is that a policy designed to pick the pockets of employers for the benefit of workers ultimately leaves everyone worse off." Continue reading →

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Company pensions in peril as shortfalls hit record

"Young workers may want to start counting on something other than company pensions to fund their retirements. It turns out that the plans of S&P 500 companies are underfunded to the tune of $451.7 billion, a number that has grown some 27 percent in just the last year alone. Though many workers have switched to 401(k) plans over the years, pensions still have far more workers—91 million to 51 million. This year actually was supposed to be better for pensions under an accounting trick Congress approved in 2012. The move would allow corporations to use a 15-year average of bond yields, rather than the current level, to calculate their obligations." Continue reading →

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Obama quietly pushes forward with anti-suburban campaign

"Plan Bay Area attempts to block the development of any new suburbs, forcing all population growth over the next three decades into the existing 'urban footprint' of the region. The plan presses 70-80 percent of all new housing and 66 percent of all business expansion into 150 or so 'priority development areas' (PDAs), select neighborhoods near subway stations and other public transportation facilities. This scheme will turn up to a quarter of the region’s existing neighborhoods–many now dotted with San Francisco’s famously picturesque, Victorian-style single-family homes–into mini-Manhattans jammed with high-rises and tiny apartments." Continue reading →

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