The U.S. unemployment rate may not peak until the second half of 2010, even as the broader economy shows signs of improvement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said. Another extension in unemployment benefits ‘is something that the administration and Congress are going to look very carefully at as we get closer to the end of this year, Geithner said in an interview yesterday on ABC’s ‘This Week program. The U.S. economy contracted at a better-than-forecast 1 percent annual pace in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported July 31. Stabilization of housing markets and consumer spending, a lessening of financial turmoil and increased government spending all suggest the longest recession since the 1930s may be close to ending. ‘There are signs the recession is easing, Geithner said. ‘The broad consensus of private forecasters is that you are going to see positive growth in the second half of this year and expect that to continue. It is ‘not clear yet how strong growth will be, he said. Geithner’s appraisal was backed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan who said, ‘collapse, I think, is now off the table. ‘I’m pretty sure we’ve already seen the bottom, […]
YOKOHAMA, Japan — Nissan Motor Co took the wraps off its much-awaited electric car on Sunday, naming the hatchback ‘Leaf’ and taking a step toward its goal of leading the industry in the zero-emissions field. Japan’s No.3 automaker and its French partner, Renault SA, have been the most aggressive proponents of pure electric vehicles in the auto industry, announcing plans to mass-market the clean but expensive cars globally in 2012. Nissan will begin selling the first Leaf cars in the United States and Japan in the latter half of next year, adding two more models soon after. It expects production to start with around 200,000 units a year at the global roll-out in 2012. Twinning the car’s unveiling with the inauguration of Nissan’s new global headquarters in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn drove up to a stage in a sky-blue Leaf prototype, carrying former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and two other guests to greet a throng of journalists who made the trip from all over the world. ‘We celebrate today the start of a new chapter of our company’s life,’ Ghosn said. Nissan is returning to the port city of Yokohama, […]
At a recent town hall meeting, a man stood up and told Representative Bob Inglis to ‘keep your government hands off my Medicare. The congressman, a Republican from South Carolina, tried to explain that Medicare is already a government program - but the voter, Mr. Inglis said, ‘wasn’t having any of it. It’s a funny story - but it illustrates the extent to which health reform must climb a wall of misinformation. It’s not just that many Americans don’t understand what President Obama is proposing; many people don’t understand the way American health care works right now. They don’t understand, in particular, that getting the government involved in health care wouldn’t be a radical step: the government is already deeply involved, even in private insurance. And that government involvement is the only reason our system works at all. The key thing you need to know about health care is that it depends crucially on insurance. You don’t know when or whether you’ll need treatment - but if you do, treatment can be extremely expensive, well beyond what most people can pay out of pocket. Triple coronary bypasses, not routine doctor’s visits, are where the real money is, […]
Right about now, Apple probably wishes it had never rejected Google Voice and related apps from the iPhone. Or maybe it was AT&T who rejected the apps. Nobody really knows. But the FCC launched an investigation last night to find out, sending letters to all three companies (Apple, AT&T, and Google) asking them to explain exactly what happened. On its face, it might seem odd to some people that the FCC is investigating the rejection of a single iPhone app. After all, iPhone apps are rejected every day. But the Google Voice rejection caused an unusual amount of uproar, and there is nothing like a high-profile case to make an example out of in pursuit of pushing a bigger policy agenda. The FCC investigation is not just about the arbitrary rejection of a single app. It is the FCC’s way of putting a stake in the ground for making the wireless networks controlled by cell phone carriers as open as the Internet. Today there are two different sets of rules for applications and devices on the Internet. On the wired Internet, we can connect any type of PC or other computing device and use any applications we want […]
WALSENBURG, Colo. — Don’t tell Dorothy J. Tenorio that Washington is nearing a deal to improve her health care. A former grocery clerk, Tenorio’s been scraping by on disability benefits for more than a decade. The 60-year-old, and many of her neighbors, are skeptical health care overhauls pending in Congress will change much in Colorado’s rural San Juan Valley. ‘I would tell Congress, they need to get out here to Huerfano County and see how bad it is, see what we’re living with,’ said Tenorio, who suffered a neck injury in 1979 and hasn’t worked since 1996. In rural America, many like Tenorio are too poor to afford basic care. People who can afford doctors often can’t find them. The lack of health care in small towns like Walsenburg is a problem Congress is just beginning to address. Many folks in Huerfano County, population 7,900, depend on a low-cost outreach clinic for care. There’s no eye doctor, no full-time dentist. The clinic relies on nurse practitioners, midwives and medical assistants to provide basic exams, but most sick patients are referred to a bigger town about 30 minutes away. ‘I don’t have any way to get […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
