Posted in economy, politics, tagged 80 percent, A380, accountable for, airliner, Americans spend less, baby formula, barriers, bioregionalism, car, Carnival, chain, China, Chinese spend more, CNN, consumers, contractor, cost cutting, crankcase, Credit Suisse, cruise, currency war, cut corners, defects, devaluation, doctrine, dogma, Dollar, Dong Tao, downsides, drugs, eco-friendly, economic engine, ecoregionalism, electronics, emergency, emerging power, engine, failure, fake, fakes, faulty, FDA, Federal Reserve, fire, flimsy, food, G-20, G20, globalisation, globalization, going broke, Green Revolution, grounded, hazards, imitation, improved, jet, job losses, knockoff, landing, leading economy by 2012, leveling the playing field, liberalization, lifestyle realignment, lost income, lower, manufacturers, market, medications, melamine, military gear, mineral, natural resources, news, out of luck, parts, passenger, pets, port, post-American, produce, production, productivity, protectionism, protectionist, protest, Qantas, quality assurance, quantitative easing, rebalance, recalls, recession, recession here to stay, replicas, responsibility, risk, Rolls-Royce, runs out, safety, salaries, scarcity, shady, ship, shocking, shoddy, shortage, Splendor, supplier, sustainability movement, tariffs, tensions, track record, trade liberalization, trade war, treason, treasury bills, troops, turnover, U.S., unemployment, Veteran's Day, wages, way of life, who is to blame for, workmanship, world economy on November 12, 2010 |
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Last week: A late-model Qantas A380 jet engine disintegrates mid-air, with passengers lucky to have survived the ensuing in-flight trauma. This week: A two-year-old Carnival cruise ship is towed into a San Diego, California port after an engine crankcase spontaneously splits open, erupting in fire. Passengers in this case, too, were lucky that the worst they suffered was cold food, limited electrical power and non-operable toilets. And in what would have been shocking 10 years ago, news of contaminated meat, recalled produce and unsafe drugs are now so routine that most of us shrug it off.
In such situations, the finger-pointing tends to be brand, manufacturer or supplier-specific. Indeed, it is tempting to chalk up such news to a series of unfortunate flukes. But is that the best and brightest lesson we can draw — or does our mainstream news media tend to downplay or disregard the Big Picture?
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Posted in economy, media, politics, tagged accountability, Arabs, assets, bailout, bankruptcy, banks, bear, Bernanke, blame game, bull, Bush Administration, capital, capitalism, cell, cell-based, China, Clinton Administration, commodities, community, comptroller general, contraction, corporate, corporations, credit, David Walker, debt, defaults, deficit, deflation, Depression, deregulation, Dollar, DOW, downturn, economics, economists, ecosystems, efficiency, emergency, entities, Federal Reserve, financial, financial services, fire sale, Fiscal Wake-Up Tour, foreign currency, foreign policy, globalism, greedy, Green, Greenspan, Greifeld, GSE, homeowner, inflation, insolvency, institutions, interest, international, investment, investors, IOUSA, lending, local, Main Street, manufacturing, markets, McMansion, mergers, Mid East, middle class, model, models, mortgages, multinational, NASDAQ, national security, No Bailouts Act, Nordic, organisms, outsourcing, Paulson, Phil Gramm, policy, prepare, president, productivity, protect, rates, recession, redundancy, regional, regulatory, rescue, resource shortages, risk, S&P, savings, scapegoats, socialism, sovereign wealth funds, stagflation, subprime, suffciency, supply chain, supply chains, survivalism, sustainability, Sweden, system, systems, taxes, taxpayers, Titanic, too big to fail, trade, transcontinental, treasury secretary, trillion, underwriters, unemployment, Wall Street, waste, World Federalism on October 7, 2008 |
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When you listen to the pundits and economic experts, you come away with a mixed bag of blame for the economic woes the United States, and by turn the global economy, presently faces.
At first blush, it’s middle class “Annie” with her subprime mortgage, too ignorant or materialistic to admit that she can’t afford the McMansion she lives in.
At second glance, it is the greedy, not-my-problem mortgage broker who knows banks routinely sell off homeowners’ loans to Wall Street investors who will be left holding the bag when homeowners default.
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