Tag Archives: economy

The Egyptian government has cut off internet access in Cairo as unrest worsens on the third straight day of rioting.

Police are retaliating against protesters with fire hoses, tear gas, and batons tonight as Cairo is roiled by its second day of anti-government rioting.

Russia Today reports: Thousands of anti-government protesters, some hurling rocks and climbing on top of an armoured police truck, clashed with riot police on Tuesday in the centre of Cairo in a Tunisia-inspired demonstration to demand the end of Hosni Mubarak’s nearly 30 years in power. Police responded with blasts from a water cannon and set upon crowds with batons …

Potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) gets raked over the coals by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer over the disastrous economic policies of the Bush II regime, for whom Daniels was budget director.

(Via – Andrew Sullivan)

The 151 year-old Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, which operates 400 grocery stores under the names A&P, Food Emporium, Pathmark and others, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company said it will have access to $800 million in debtor-in-possession financing and that all of its stores are fully stocked and open for business. The company said that it …

President Obama today called for a two year freeze on the wages of all federal employees. According to the administration, the two-year pay freeze would save $2 billion for the remainder of fiscal year 2011 and $28 billion over the next five years. The freeze would not apply to military personnel, but would apply to all civilian federal employees, including …

Yesterday General Motors ran this oddly affecting clip thanking Americans for bailing them out of bankruptcy.

The CVS on my block has completely done away with humans and you must now use the miserable, annoying, never-works-right self check-out. Place your scanned item on the tray. Place your scanned item on the tray. My motherfucking scanned item IS on the motherfucking tray. I always scream at the attendant, who shrugs and wanders away. Seniors, of course, are …

The MTA has announced an expected, but fairly hefty increase in its unlimited ride cards, effective December 30th. MTA board members approved a whopping fare hike this morning with a 12 to 2 vote — sending the monthly MetroCard to $104 from $89 and increasing the single ride from $2.25 to $2.50 starting Dec. 30. The hike is the third …

The New York Times will cease production of its print edition relatively soon according to its publisher. “We will stop printing the New York Times sometime in the future, date TBD,” Arthur Sulzberger told an audience at a London media summit Wednesday. Sulzberger’s statement came in response to a prediction that the newspaper would go out-of-print by 2015. “This sounds …

American Apparel’s stock value is plummeting upon news earlier this week that the company may be forced into bankruptcy over its vanishing credit line with vendors. After warning this week that there was “substantial doubt that the company will be able to continue as a going concern,” the company saw its stock fall 21.3% on Wednesday, ending at an all-time …

The Washington Post has sold Newsweek to electronics billionaire Sidney Harman for $1 in return for his pledge to assume the struggling title’s liabilities and retain most of its staff. Newsweek has struggled through the recession more than most weekly news magazines, losing nearly $30 million last year alone. It was earning that much a year as recently as 2007. …

“The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities. I say “generally” because there are exceptions. But in general, as I survey the ranks of those who are unemployed, I see people who have overbearing and unpleasant personalities and/or who do not know how to do a day’s …

The eternally cash-strapped MTA has announced a couple of proposed changes that won’t find many fans. Millions of straphangers would be hit with a $1 surcharge when they get a new MetroCard from a vending machine instead of refilling an old one under one of the MTA’s leading fare-hike and revenue-raising plans, The Post has learned. “It would provide an …

In a desperation move to shore up the state budget, California lawmakers are considering a bill that authorizes a feasibility study on digital advertising on license plates. In addition to being a moneymaker, the high-tech plates also could be used to streamline automobile registration procedures and to quickly tell motorists about hazardous road conditions and Amber Alerts, officials suggest. Critics …

The terrible economy has been especially hard on the ADAP system, the AIDS Drugs Assistance Program that provides life saving medications to the HIV-positive. More people are now on ADAP waiting lists that at any time since the program began. Eleven states have closed enrollment in the federal program, most recently Florida, which has the nation’s third-largest population of people …

Using 2008 IRS data, Forbes Magazine has created a fascinating interactive map showing which cities are gaining or losing populations and where people are coming from/going to. Detroit, Los Angeles, and Miami appear to be suffering the greatest exoduses, with New York City remaining fairly unchanged. Red lines are outbound, black lines are inbound. You can click on every county …