Tag Archives: Crony Capitalism

Shining the Spotlight on Solar Gains

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“Asia accounts for nearly 90 percent of global production of solar PV modules, with China producing 67 percent of the world total. A recent Bloomberg News story noted that solar PV installations are expected to grow by as much as 29% this year, and by more than 50% over the next two years. This is expected to reverse a glut of solar PV manufacturing capacity that has persisted for the past two years. In fact, the solar PV industry is expecting a possible shortage of panels for the first time since 2006, which will benefit the bottom lines of the largest solar PV makers. In 2013, new capacity additions of solar PV surpassed wind power capacity additions for the first time in history.”

http://www.investingdaily.com/21032/shining-the-spotlight-on-solar-gains-2/

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Granny’s Gold Bars Are Key to Vietnam Push to Boost Dong [2013]

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“The target of Vietnam’s campaign to stabilize its currency is in the locked bedroom wardrobe of retired civil servant Vu Thi Huong: gold bars.  Huong is among millions of Vietnamese who hold an estimated 300 tons to 400 tons of bullion to store their wealth — a legacy of more than a century of war, revolution and economic turbulence. The central bank wants to convert the hoard, much of it smuggled in, into dong deposits to strengthen the currency, which has slid 21 percent against the dollar in five years. To reduce contraband and persuade people to sell their bullion, the central bank made itself the sole importer and Saigon Jewelry Co. the only legal producer of gold bars.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-14/granny-s-gold-bars-are-key-to-vietnam-push-to-boost-dong.html

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EU to help dairy sector hit by Russian food import ban

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“According to the European Commission, EU dairy exports to Russia were worth 2.3 billion euros ($3 billion) in 2013. Cheese accounted for almost half of that.  Under the dairy proposal, the commission said it would help cover the cost of storing surplus goods that had to be taken off the market for up to seven months – giving producers the option to sell their goods at a later date. The aid would apply to butter, skimmed milk powder and certain cheeses. The commission has not specified how much money it is prepared to set aside for the dairy industry. Unnamed EU officials cited by Reuters said the measures could cost between 10 and 20 million euros.”

http://www.dw.de/eu-to-help-dairy-sector-hit-by-russian-food-import-ban/a-17886679

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Germany’s Green Energy Revolution May Be on Verge of Failure

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“German officials and legislators created laws that ‘guaranteed a fixed feed-in tariff for 20 years, guaranteeing a fixed income’ for producers. Yet this guarantee was probably generated without doing a proper cost-benefit analysis. Now German taxpayers are stuck paying bills they cannot afford. Not only that, but Germany is closing coal and nuclear powered plants at an accelerated rate. And the new energy creation must be deployed via power lines that must either be built or upgraded. The result is that German consumers are facing ever higher energy bills, so much so that a rising percentage of Germans are choosing to have their power shut off rather than pay escalating fees.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/35258/Germanys-Green-Energy-Revolution-May-Be-on-Verge-of-Failure/

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Japanese Women With Chainsaws Head to the Hills Under Abe’s Plan

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“A new wave of women are taking forestry jobs, the result of economic, social and environmental policies sprouting in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Japan.  Cedars and cypresses are used to build local homes under the government’s program to encourage the use of domestic wood.  Abe came into office with his three-arrow strategy to end 15 years of deflation that stunted the economy. Nineteen months along, the first two points — monetary and fiscal stimulus — have succeeded in stoking inflation.  Ryosuke Aoki, the 37-year-old president and founder of Tokyo Chainsaws, said 80 percent of the company’s revenue comes from conservation work subsidized by national and local funds.” 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-06/women-harvesting-trees-meet-two-planks-of-abe-japan-plan.html

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Researchers Easily Slipped Weapons Past TSA’s X-Ray Body Scanners

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“Two years ago, a blogger named Jonathan Corbett published a YouTube video that seemed to show a facepalm-worthy vulnerability in the TSA’s Rapiscan full-body X-ray scanners.  The TSA dismissed Corbett’s findings, and even called reporters to caution them not to cover his video.  Now a team of security researchers from the University of California at San Diego, the University of Michigan, and Johns Hopkins plans to reveal their own results from months of testing that same model of scanner. And not only did they find that Corbett’s weapon-hiding tactic worked; they also found that they could pull off a disturbing list of other possible tricks.”

http://www.wired.com/2014/08/study-shows-how-easily-weapons-can-be-smuggled-past-tsas-x-ray-body-scanners/

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Feds attack FedEx on behalf of Big Pharma

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“Big Pharma obviously benefits if online competitors are choked out, but turning FedEx into an arm of law enforcement has advantages for the federal government as well. If federal agents searched private mail without warrants or probable cause, people would cry ‘Fourth Amendment!’  But private shippers are not bound by constitutional restraints. The ‘right’ to check packages can be written into the business agreement that customers sign. If a customer objects, then he is free to go elsewhere. By controlling FedEx policy, the DOJ would be able to search packages in absentia and make targeted arrests if illegal contents are found.”

http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/crony-phony-drug-war

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DEA paid Amtrak secretary $854,460 for data available to it for free

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“The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) paid out nearly $854,460 for private, personal information about Amtrak passengers that it could have otherwise obtained for free through its affliation with a joint drug enforcement task force. The Associated Press reports that the sum was paid out over the course of 20 years to an unnamed secretary working for a ‘train and engine crew.’  The unidentified informant has since been allowed to retire instead of facing administrative discipline.  Transportation services like Amtrak collate passenger information like emergency contacts, passports, travel itineraries, and baggage details. The agency’s spokesperson Matt Barden has declined to comment.”

http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/12/5993983/dea-amtrak-passenger-information-fiasco

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4 Things You Should Know About Mass Incarceration

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“Today’s total American prison population exceeds the estimated amount of citizens detained within the Gulag system under the former Soviet Union. If we include those sentenced but not yet incarcerated, as well as those released upon probation and parole, there are more young black men embroiled in the American criminal justice system than were estimated to be enslaved in America circa 1850. These statistics are not to say that the United States is totalitarian, or based on chattel labor. Instead, these numbers emphasize that, insofar as despotism requires enforcement, our own government is more than capable of imposing serious and pervasive social control.”

http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/4-things-you-should-know-about-mass-incarceration

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Nation’s largest ocean desalination plant goes up near San Diego

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“To supporters, the Carlsbad Desalination Plant is a historic engineering marvel. And it is a survivor, having endured six years of government permitting, from the Carlsbad City Council to the California Coastal Commission. Supporters won 14 lawsuits and appeals by environmentalists before finally breaking ground in December 2012.  The San Diego County Water Authority will pay from $2,014 to $2,257 an acre foot for the water, depending on how much it buys. The agency, which provides water to 3.1 million people in San Diego County, signed a 30-year contract agreeing to buy at least 48,000 acre feet a year.  With that guarantee, Poseidon and its investors were able to finance the project.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_25859513/nations-largest-ocean-desalination-plant-goes-up-near

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