"U.S. Representative Ron Paul, a Texas Republican, talks about U.S. fiscal policy and prospects for political compromise on the nation's budget deficit and debt. He speaks with Trish Regan on Bloomberg Television's 'Street Smart.'" 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 →
"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 →
"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 →
"A record 57 new legal highs have been detected so far this year, with the EU’s early warning system reporting the appearance of more than one new psychoactive drug on the market every week. The rise and rise of legal highs is being driven by an explosion in the number of online retailers selling the new drugs in Europe, which has risen from 170 in 2010 to a record 693 internet 'head shops'. The European drug experts say those manufacturing the drugs are trying to evade attempts to ban them by using ever more obscure chemical groups to synthesise them; a rising number of products now include several psychoactive substances." Continue reading →
"The US Postal Service tripled its losses in 2012, bleeding $15.9 billion as the state-owned enterprise faces tough competition and what it calls onerous and unfair retirement funding requirements. The US mail said its losses rocketed in the year to September 30 from a $5.1 billion loss last year, with more than $11 billion sucked off to pre-fund health benefits for service retirees long into the future. Overall mail volume continued to shrink, by 5.1 percent, and operating revenues fell nearly one percent, to $65.2 billion." Continue reading →
"Hostess Brands Inc., the company that makes Twinkies and Wonder Bread, has asked a judge for permission to go out of business and lay off 18,500. The company is blaming its decision to shut down on a labor strike by members of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, but Americans’ appetite for junk food has been waning in recent years. 'We deeply regret the necessity of today's decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike,' Gregory F. Rayburn, Hostess' chief executive, said in a statement." Continue reading →