The Brilliant Way FDR Got America Back to Work—While Beautifying the Country and Protecting Our Environment

The New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration got us back on track. By Rain Noe.
Read more: http://www.core77.com/posts/60257/The-Brilliant-Way-FDR-Got-America-Back-to-Work%E2%80%94While-Beautifying-the-Country-and-Protecting-Our-Environment?source=Snapzu

People are boycotting Starbucks after CEO announces plan to hire thousands of refugees

Some Starbucks customers are threatening to boycott the coffee giant after its CEO took a stand against President Donald Trump's executive order barring immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the US. On Sunday, Starbucks announced it planned to hire 10,000 refugees worldwide in the next five years.
Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/people-boycotting-starbucks-ceo-announces-153452243.html?.tsrc=fauxdal?source=Snapzu

The Border Adjustment Tax For Dummies: Who Will Pay For The Wall?

The most clear and even handed explanation I've seen.
Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonynitti/2017/01/26/the-border-adjustment-tax-for-dummies-who-will-pay-for-the-wall/#4ec012bc15b6?source=Snapzu

Greece three weeks away from 'explosive' debt problems, says IMF

Greece’s embattled government has three weeks to break the deadlock in increasingly difficult talks with creditors or risk the country’s debt crisis resurfacing with renewed vigour. Faced with the dilemma of agreeing to additional austerity or calling fresh elections, prime minister Alexis Tsipras was weighing his options at the weekend. Fears of further uncertainty in Europe’s weakest member state mounted as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted that Greece’s debt load could become “explosive” by 2030.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/29/greece-three-weeks-away-explosive-debt-problems-imf-alexis-tsipras?source=Snapzu

Border Tax ideas Roil Oil Markets, Favor Gulf Coast Refiners

As with many industries now fretting over the uncertain future of U.S. trade policy, the oil business is sizing up the potential impact of the various protectionist measures being bandied about Washington - which have sent crude markets into a tizzy.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-refiners-imports-analysis-idUSKBN15B29W?source=Snapzu

When Did the Environment Become a Partisan Issue?

When it comes to the environment, it seems that political divisions in America only grow wider. According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, 90 percent of Democrats believe that the “country should do whatever it takes to protect the environment,” compared with 52 percent of Republicans. But it wasn’t always that way. American Experience spoke with environmental historian Naomi Oreskes, author of the book Merchants of Doubt, about the early days of environmental activism, and how it gained — and then lost — broad bipartisan support. By Cori Brosnahan.
Read more: https://medium.com/americanexperiencepbs/when-did-the-environment-become-a-partisan-issue-f914f0ce489e#.2onibjmlm?source=Snapzu

The Karen road to Nhill

Famous for 1997 movie The Road to Nhill, the town of that name is now home to 200 Karen refugees from Myanmar. Far from dividing locals, the huge influx of newcomers – many of whom arrived traumatised, unfamiliar with western society – has brought new life to the community. Is this a model for the rest of Australia? By Margaret Simons.
Read more: http://www.sbs.com.au/topics/life/culture/feature/karen-road-nhill?source=Snapzu

Google Recalls Staff to U.S. After Trump Immigration Order

Alphabet Inc.’s Google delivered a sharp message to staff traveling overseas who may be impacted by a new executive order on immigration from President Donald Trump: Get back to the U.S. now. Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai slammed Trump’s move in a note to employees Friday, telling them that more than 100 company staff are affected by the order.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-28/google-recalls-some-staff-to-u-s-after-trump-immigration-order?source=Snapzu

Liberalism as Class Warfare

With apologies in advance for forcing unpleasant thoughts this early in an essay; reflexively, what economic class do the national Democrats’ ‘deplorables’ inhabit? By Rob Urie.
Read more: http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/01/27/liberalism-as-class-warfare/?source=Snapzu

The US 'Six Strikes' Anti-Piracy Scheme is Dead

In 2011, the MPAA and RIAA teamed up with several major U.S. Internet providers, announcing their plan to shift the norms and behavior of BitTorrent pirates. The parties launched the Center for Copyright Information and agreed on a system through which Internet account holders are warned if their connections are used to download pirated content. The program allowed ISPs to take a variety of repressive measures, including bandwidth throttling and temporary Internet disconnections.
Read more: https://torrentfreak.com/the-us-six-strikes-anti-piracy-scheme-is-dead-170128/?source=Snapzu

China's capital controls are working, and that's bursting the global real-estate bubble

China's capital controls are working, and that's bursting the global real-estate bubble
Read more: http://boingboing.net/2017/01/28/chinas-capital-controls-are.html?source=Snapzu

Poland’s Pitch to Brexit Bankers: You Might as Well Move Somewhere Cheap

Wroclaw, Poland, is one of a clutch of cities in the Eastern European country wooing big banks’ business as the U.K. prepares to leave the European Union.
Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/polands-pitch-to-brexit-bankers-you-might-as-well-move-somewhere-cheap-1485253805?source=Snapzu

Stanford historian uncovers a grim correlation between violence and inequality over the millennia

Professor Walter Scheidel examines the history of peace and economic inequality over the past 10,000 years.
Read more: http://news.stanford.edu/2017/01/24/stanford-historian-uncovers-grim-correlation-violence-inequality-millennia/?source=Snapzu

How Culture Became a Powerful Political Weapon

Nato Thompson’s new book explores the history of how music, TV, games, and advertising have been used to influence consumers.
Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/01/culture-as-weapon-nato-thompson/514712/?source=Snapzu

Here’s how President Trump has it wrong on welfare

President Donald Trump Thursday got it wrong when he claimed dependence on government assistance for families on poverty is “out of control.” By John W. Schoen. [Autoplay]
Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/26/heres-how-president-trump-has-it-wrong-on-welfare.html?source=Snapzu

Bertha's Two-Mile Subterranean Journey Is Almost Over

Get an inside look at how the machine is maintained, and how its cutter tools up front are replaced in a subterranean hyperbaric chamber.
Read more: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/news/a24895/seattle-big-bertha-tunnel-boring-machine/?source=Snapzu

Mark Zuckerberg is dropping his Hawaiian land lawsuits, calling them ‘a mistake’

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is dropping a number of lawsuits in Hawaii initially filed so he could formally purchase small plots of land that fell inside a larger 700 acre plot he and wife Priscilla Chan bought on the island of Kauai for more than $100 million back in 2014. The lawsuits, called “quiet title actions,” are used to properly identify the legal owners of property and force them to sell the land at auction, according to the Honolulu Star Advisor.
Read more: http://www.recode.net/2017/1/27/14419044/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-hawaii-land-lawsuit-environment?source=Snapzu

The Founder: A Dystopian Business Simulator

A game of startups, disruption, technology, and dystopia by Francis Tseng.
Read more: http://thefounder.biz/?source=Snapzu

Federal Reserve Bankers Mocked Unemployed Americans Behind Closed Doors

Newly released transcripts show bankers blaming unemployment on the unemployed, rather than, say, bankers. By Matt Stoller.
Read more: https://theintercept.com/2017/01/27/federal-reserve-bankers-mocked-unemployed-americans-behind-closed-doors/?source=Snapzu

What the Death of the T.P.P. Means for America

As the dominant party in the pact, the U.S. would have controlled future access to the world’s largest trading zone. By Adam Davidson.
Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/business/adam-davidson/what-the-death-of-the-t-p-p-means-for-america??source=Snapzu

U.S. New Home Sales Fall; Weekly Jobless Claims Rise

New U.S. single-family home sales fell to a 10-month low in December after three straight months of solid gains, but the housing market recovery remains intact as a tightening labor market boosts wage growth.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-economy-joblesss-idUSKBN15A1RE?source=Snapzu

Dow makes history: cracks 20,000 barrier

The waiting is finally over. Dow 20,000 – a milestone that seemed out of reach and had a science-fiction feel to it at the 2009 market low when the iconic stock index traded at 6,547 and 54% below its then-peak – is now a reality. In a historic moment on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average eclipsed the 20,000 level Wednesday for the first time in its 120-year history.
Read more: http://www.9news.com/money/dow-makes-history-cracks-20000-barrier/392449718?source=Snapzu

Foxconn Considers $7 Billion Investment to Build U.S. Factory

Electronics manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group is considering investing $7 billion to build a flat-panel screen factory in the U.S., but the company founder says incentives will be needed to make the deal happen. Speaking at a Foxconn company event in Taiwan on Sunday, founder and chairman Terry Gou said the factory could create 30,000 to 50,000 jobs in the U.S., and discussions were already under way with state and local...
Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/foxconn-mulls-7-billion-investment-to-build-u-s-factory-1485153535?source=Snapzu

The Four-Letter Code to Selling Just About Anything

What makes things cool? By Derek Thompson.
Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/01/what-makes-things-cool/508772/?source=Snapzu

Home Internet data caps and overage fees expand to more US cities

Cox takes Comcast-like approach in city-by-city expansion of overage charges.
Read more: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/01/cox-third-biggest-cable-company-expands-data-caps-and-overage-fees/?source=Snapzu

We are destroying rainforests so quickly they may be gone in 100 years

At current rates of deforestation, rainforests will vanish altogether in a century. Stopping climate change will remain an elusive goal unless poor nations are helped to preserve them. By John Vidal.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/jan/23/destroying-rainforests-quickly-gone-100-years-deforestation??source=Snapzu

BT shares plunge 19% as Italian accounting scandal deepens – business live

Almost £8bn wiped off BT shares after scandal. It’s been a day to forget for BT, its executives and of course its army of small shareholders. Around 700,000 people own less than 1,600 shares, a legacy of the telecoms group’s privatisation in 1984. And they as much as anyone will be shocked by the 20% plunge in the company’s shares after it revealed a worse than expected hit to its figures from an accounting scandal in Italy, not to mention a warning of a slowdown in business elsewhere.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2017/jan/24/bt-shares-profits-italy-accountig-scandal-sterling-public-finances-live?source=Snapzu

Protest in the Era of Trump

The best way to control the opposition is to lead it. By Michael Krieger .
Read more: https://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2017/01/23/protest-in-the-era-of-trump/?source=Snapzu

Aetna’s $37 Billion Humana Takeover Blocked by Judge

Aetna Inc.’s $37 billion deal to buy rival insurer Humana Inc. was blocked by a federal judge, thwarting one of two large mergers that would reshape the U.S. health-care landscape. Aetna said it was considering an appeal. The transaction would violate antitrust laws by reducing competition among insurers, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates in Washington ruled on Monday. With the deal defeated, Aetna owes Humana a $1 billion breakup fee under the terms of the merger agreement.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-23/aetna-s-humana-takeover-is-blocked-by-judge-as-anticompetitive?source=Snapzu

Donald Trump is not the problem – he’s the symptom

Trump is what happens when you fail to understand our global problems in their interconnected, systemic context. By Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed.
Read more: https://www.opendemocracy.net/nafeez-mosaddeq-ahmed/donald-trump-is-not-problem-he-s-symptom?source=Snapzu

U.S. judge finds that Aetna misled the public about its reasons for quitting Obamacare

Aetna claimed this summer that it was pulling out of all but four of the 15 states where it was providing Obamacare individual insurance because of a business decision — it was simply losing too much money on the Obamacare exchanges.Now a federal judge has ruled that that was a rank falsehood.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-aetna-obamacare-20170123-story.html?source=Snapzu

Trump names new FCC chairman: Ajit Pai, who wants to take a 'weed whacker' to net neutrality

President Trump on Monday  designated Ajit Pai, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission and an outspoken opponent of new net neutrality rules, to be the agency’s new chairman.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pai-fcc-chairman-20170123-story.html?source=Snapzu

Is the American Dream Really Dead?

Just a few decades ago, more than 90 percent of 30-year-olds earned more than their parents had earned at the same age. Now it’s only about 50 percent. What happened — and what can be done about it?
Read more: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/american-dream-really-dead/?source=Snapzu

Cows are secretly being fed defective Skittles because it's cheaper than corn

American farmers have secretly been feeding their cows defective Skittles to avoid paying for corn. That discovery was made public after a truck deposited hundreds of thousands of Skittles onto a rural road. All of them were in one colour and without the trademark "S" on them and, after they were found, the police were forced to ask highway cleaners to get rid of them. Unknown to many, the practice has been going on for years, according to experts.
Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/skittles-cows-corn-truck-crash-american-farmers-wisconsin-dodge-county-a7536731.html?source=Snapzu

This Drug Company Just Got Caught Jacking Up the Price of a Baby Medicine by 85,000%

This week, drug manufacturer Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals settled a lawsuit with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for US$100 million, for engaging in illegal anti-competitive behaviour to ensure its continued monopoly over a life-saving medication for infants with epilepsy. More than a decade ago, Acthar Gel sold for $40 a vial, but since it's been acquired by Mallinckrodt, the price has been raised to more than $34,000 a vial, netting the company more than $1 billion in revenue in 2015.
Read more: http://www.sciencealert.com/this-drug-company-just-admitted-to-jacking-up-the-price-of-a-baby-medicine-by-85-000?source=Snapzu

A 'civil war' over painkillers rips apart the medical community

As doctors and regulators restrict access to opioid treatments, many patients who genuinely need drugs to manage their pain say they are being left behind. By Bob Tedeschi.
Read more: https://www.statnews.com/2017/01/17/chronic-pain-management-opioids/?source=Snapzu

When the National Bird Is a Burden

Bald eagles have been the emblem of the United States for more than two centuries. Now, in some parts of the country, they’re a nuisance.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/magazine/bald-eagle-national-burden.html?source=Snapzu

Alibaba founder Jack Ma has a brutal theory of how America went wrong over the past 30 years

Alibaba founder Jack Ma thinks America went wrong over the past 30 years by focusing too much on war and Wall Street. Speaking at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, Ma was asked about globalisation and the reaction to it represented by the election of Donald Trump as US president. He responded that back when Thomas Friedman published "The World Is Flat" in 2005, globalisation looked like "a perfect strategy" for the US...
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-jack-ma-davos-america-history-globalization-2017-1?source=Snapzu

This is how American health care kills people

Matthew Stewart thought he had good insurance. Then he started vomiting blood. By Ryan Cooper.
Read more: https://theweek.com/articles/666799/how-american-health-care-kills-people?source=Snapzu

Google sure loves its house ads

Top advertising spots usually dominated by a Google device, based on analysis.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/01/19/report-google-uses-search-push-its-products/96782908/?source=Snapzu

The two words from Donald Trump that sent the dollar plummeting

The US dollar slumped to a seven-week low against Japan’s yen late Tuesday, and continued to trade lower against a slew of currencies on Wednesday, after President-elect Donald Trump said that the buck was “too strong”. In an article in the Wall Street Journal, Mr Trump said the strength of the US dollar against China's yuan “is killing us”. That spurred a ferocious selling spree among traders and investors, sending the dollar to its lowest level against Japan’s currency in almost two months.
Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/donald-trump-us-dolllar-comment-buck-too-strong-two-month-low-japan-yen-president-elect-a7532616.html?source=Snapzu

Why Is It So Hard for Writers to Talk Candidly About How Much Money They Make?

You can write a best-seller and still go broke.
Read more: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2017/01/scratch_writers_money_and_the_art_of_making_a_living_reviewed.html?source=Snapzu

Fresh Milk Products Price-Fixing Class Action Settlement

National Milk Producers Federation aka Cooperatives Working Together (CWT), Dairy Farmers of America Inc., Land O’Lakes Inc., Dairylea Cooperative Inc. and Agri-Mark Inc. have agreed to settle an antitrust class action lawsuit that accuses them of engaging in a conspiracy to fix milk prices. If you purchased milk or other fresh milk products (including half & half, cream cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt or cream) since 2003, you may be entitled to payment from the milk products class action settlement.
Read more: https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news/343790-fresh-milk-products-price-fixing-class-action-settlement/?source=Snapzu

Drugs For Rare Diseases Have Become Uncommonly Rich Monopolies

Drugmakers have brought almost 450 orphan drugs to market and collected rich incentives by doing so. But nearly a third of the medicines aren’t new or were repurposed many times for financial gain. By Sarah Jane Tribble, Sydney Lupkin.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/01/17/509506836/drugs-for-rare-diseases-have-become-uncommonly-rich-monopolies?source=Snapzu

The F-35 Amazingly Has Even More Problems Than We Thought

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the most expensive military program in the world with a total cost of more than $1 trillion. Now, a new Pentagon report suggests that the futuristic fighter jet still has hundreds of deficiencies and won’t be ready for ready for full combat testing until 2019. By Michael Nunez.
Read more: http://gizmodo.com/the-f-35-amazingly-has-even-more-problems-than-we-thoug-1791285476?source=Snapzu

Charter/Time Warner rebranding as Spectrum

Charter Communications Inc. announced the launch of Spectrum in Louisville and surrounding areas.
Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2017/01/18/chartertime-warner-rebranding-spectrum/96672774/?source=Snapzu

Netflix's gamble pays off as subscriptions soar

Hundreds of movies disappeared from Netflix over 2016, the result of the streaming service’s decision to end several key content deals with top studios and distributors. It was a brave move - particularly given that its main rivals, such as Hulu, jumped at the chance to take on some of those titles Netflix decided it no longer wanted. The reason for the cull? Original content.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38672837?source=Snapzu

CNN president: Network’s ‘credibility is higher than ever’

Really?
Read more: http://thehill.com/media/314819-cnn-president-networks-credibility-is-higher-than-ever?source=Snapzu

Nobel Laureate Takes on Purdue Pharma and OxyContin as a Corporate Fraud

At the recent 2017 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) meeting in Chicago, Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton described the American healthcare system as “optimally designed for rent-seeking and very poorly designed to improve people’s health…” By Maureen Meehan.
Read more: http://hightimes.com/news/nobel-laureate-takes-on-purdue-pharma-and-oxycontin-as-a-corporate-fraud/?source=Snapzu

U.S. sues Oracle, alleges salary and hiring discrimination

The U.S. Labor Department has sued Oracle America Inc, alleging that the technology company systematically paid its white, male employees more than other workers and unlawfully favored Asian applicants in its recruiting and hiring efforts.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-oracle-usa-labor-idUSKBN1522O6?il=0?source=Snapzu