Modernomics* – Daily Writings on Technology
a site by Erik T. Kaiser, Design Technologist
From MSN Money But no less an economist than former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan is a fan of men’s underwear sales as an important economic indicator. It’s one of several unusual indicators economists turn to in hard times. We went looking through them in a quest for the much-discussed “green shoots” of an imminent [...]
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Modernomics* [mod-ern-nom-iks] –noun A termed coined in 2008 by Erik T. Kaiser, regarding the modern economic climate. 1. (used with a singular verb) the science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, or the material welfare of humankind in modern times. 2. (used with a plural verb) financial considerations in [...]
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Dow turns positive for ’09 – Wall Street ends a mixed week little changed, but investors manage to push the blue-chip average into the plus column for the year. [Via CNN Money] Europe Lags as U.S. Economy Shows Signs of Recovery — There was more evidence Thursday that the United States economy might be stabilizing, [...]
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“The Storm Is Not Over, Not By A Long Shot” An oped this week in The New York Times, talks about the economic situation, and asks a couple of really intriguing questions. The writers, one a broker, the other a retired Wall Street banker, question the simplified PR campaign of the current Administration that hinges [...]
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Donations to nearly every type of charity faltered in 2008, as contributions declined by 5.7 percent last year after adjustment for inflation, according to the new edition of Giving USA which was released Wednesday morning. It was the steepest decline in the history of the survey, which has been conducted since 1956. (You can ask [...]
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In today’s recession-racked economy, penny-pinching is a national pastime. But people are still opening their wallets for smartphones. Sales of BlackBerrys, iPhones and other smartphone models are rising smartly and are projected to increase 25 percent this year, according to Gartner, a research business. Widely anticipated new models like the Palm Pre, which went on [...]
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“We experienced in the last three months one of the nicest rallies in Wall Street history, and now we’re seeing the reasons why,” said Robert Lutts, president of Cabot Money Management in Salem, Massachusetts. “Texas Instruments and others are bumping up guidance nicely, and many companies that reported very negative consumer reactions are pulling that [...]
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Why would any sane parent teach his kids to talk back? Because, this father found, it actually increased family harmony. “And let’s face it: Our culture has lost the ability to usefully disagree. Most Americans seem to avoid argument. But this has produced passive aggression and groupthink in the office, red and blue states, and [...]
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BEIJING — China has issued a sweeping directive requiring all personal computers sold in the country to include sophisticated software that can filter out pornography and other “unhealthy information” from the Internet. Called “Green Dam” — green being a foil to the yellow smut of pornography — the software is designed to filter out sexually [...]
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