Think! And Engage!

Language and Culture

2012-02-12T16:59:00.000-06:00

The Hindu : Life & Style / Society : The new language landscape: "More and more children now speak only in English, and are losing sense of their mother tongues completely. RESHMA KRISHNAMURTHY SHARMA tries to figure out where the problem lies
“Ruchika, do you want this book on Winnie-the-Pooh or the Doraemon series toys?” asks Sandhya Rao to her two-year-old at a bookstore. It may seem ordinary, but the toddler replies in a language that was never her grandmas's or even her mother's own. An increasing number of children, especially in urban areas, are speaking more English than any other language. Has English become the new mother tongue in many homes? Given the environments in which Gen X children are growing up, the answer seems to be ‘yes'."

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Climate change and microbial effects

2012-02-11T17:00:00.000-06:00

Climate change speeds up microbial change - The Economic Times: "SYDNEY: Climate change could affect Antarctica's Dry Valleys more rapidly than previously expected, particularly the microbial communities in the soil, a study reveals.

"We used to think that microbial change took place slowly over centuries," said Craig Cary, professor at the University of Waikato, who led the study.

"It's important we keep documenting the current biodiversity in Antarctica so we can predict the effects of climate change," said Cary, the journal Nature Communications reported.

To do this, the researchers transferred a 250-year-old carcass to an untouched site and used community DNA fingerprinting and new sequencing techniques to track the changes in microbial composition and structure. "

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Obama- Yes we can, to corporations

2012-02-10T18:01:00.000-06:00

Obama to pitch lower U.S. corporate tax: Sources - chicagotribune.com: "U.S. President Barack Obama, who has angered businesses with his plans to close corporate tax loopholes, is expected to call for cutting the top 35 percent corporate tax rate as early as this month, according to two sources close to the administration.

The president is likely to propose a rate close to an average of peer nations, the sources said.

This would fit with remarks made last year by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who suggested the United States should be moving to a rate more in line with its major trading partners in the high 20 percent range."

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No-shows = Mo-Money

2012-02-10T12:56:00.000-06:00

Red Tape - Airlines secretly cash in on unused tickets: "Nader recently sent letters to all major U.S. airlines asking how much they earn from unused tickets. He got a polite refusal delivered by the industry group Airlines for America, which called the information "confidentially and commercially sensitive."
"Consumers understand that if nonrefundable tickets cannot be used, their value will be lost," the letter said.
The letter, signed by association general counsel David Berg, goes on to say expiring airline tickets are no different from time limits on refund policies of "other retail shopping outlets, from clothes to computers, and are neither deceptive nor unfair.""

Nader recently sent letters to all major U.S. airlines asking how much they earn from unused tickets. He got a polite refusal delivered by the industry group Airlines for America, which called the information "confidentially and commercially sensitive."

"Consumers understand that if nonrefundable tickets cannot be used, their value will be lost," the letter said.

The letter, signed by association general counsel David Berg, goes on to say expiring airline tickets are no different from time limits on refund policies of "other retail shopping outlets, from clothes to computers, and are neither deceptive nor unfair."

Nader wasn't impressed by the airlines' response.

“The writer was thrashing around for every analogy he could find, filling the page and a half with non-sequiturs," Nader said. For starters, any analogy between clothes and airline ticket return policies breaks down pretty quickly. After all, if the time to return a sweater has passed, you still get to keep the sweater.

Undeterred, Nader has filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act with the Transportation Department seeking the same data.

But is it really unfair for airlines to keep the money spent on unused tickets and to load up restrictions on refunds?

One convincing argument offered by the industry is that plane tickets are a "perishable" item, akin to concert tickets. Once the plane leaves the ground with an empty seat, an airline can't make money off it, so why should it be expected to offer easy refunds? No one who buys a ticket to a rock concert or a sporting event expects a refund if they miss the event.

Not Micro but major macro contributions from Microsoft employees

2012-02-08T13:35:00.000-06:00

Microsoft Employees Raise Record-Breaking $100 Million for Nonprofits in 2011 - PR Newswire - sacbee.com: "-- Microsoft Corp. is delighted to announce the results of its 2011 employee giving campaign: our U.S. Microsoft employees raised $100.5 million (inclusive of the company match) for more than 18,000 U.S.-based community organizations doing work in the U.S. and around the world last year. With this milestone, Microsoft employees have now raised more than $946 million for nonprofits and community organizations since the company's giving program started in 1983.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO)

Each year, every full-time employee at Microsoft in the U.S. receives a $12,000 corporate matching gift that matches volunteer time ($17 per hour) or dollar-for-dollar charitable contributions to eligible nonprofits. Microsoft's Employee Giving Program is designed to honor the diversity of our workforce by supporting a broad spectrum of organizations and institutions doing work domestically and internationally. Microsoft matches employee gifts to all eligible organizations with a 501(c)(3) public charity status and educational institutions. "

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Rugby, far more interesting than NFL football

2012-02-07T15:07:00.000-06:00

Dead Rubber » Ireland’s use of possession became puzzling: "LET’S TEMPORARILY suspend reality and assume that yesterday was a draw and not a fortunate two-point win for Wales. Who would then have more confidence in Paris, Ireland or Wales? With your answer in mind let’s now look at yesterday.

From the kick-off it was clear Ireland had learned from last October where subtle changes proved very dangerous. The Irish backrow in October were very hungry for contact around the fringes and were cut down. Yesterday Stephen Ferris, Seán O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip immediately popped up all over the place asking major questions of the Welsh. Heaslip had a very active day on the ball creating many opportunities for his team.

But then no plan survives the first shot as the opposition have their little nuances. Wales appeared a team dancing to a certain beat. Their lineout, for instance, was but a starter to a multi-phase approach where if a breakthrough came off, great, such as Bradley Davies’ early run down the touchline but it appeared their objective was to expose space by the third or fourth phase in which to send giants such as Jonathan Davies or George North into space or an unbalanced defender."

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Simply Irresistible: Great for You, brought by Wal-Mart

2012-02-07T01:13:00.001-06:00

Simply Irresistible: great song by Robert Palmer

Great for You: brought to you by Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart debuts 'Great for You' seal | ajc.com: "Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to help its customers figure that out by adding a new green icon that reads "Great for You" to packaging of some of its house-brand foods.

The green and white seal, which shows the stylized outline of a human figure with its arms spread toward the sky, is part of a multiyear campaign the world's largest retailer is undertaking to promote healthier products and fight childhood obesity.

Food makers and sellers have come under scrutiny in the past for adding nutritional seals to the fronts of packages. The Food and Drug Administration said in 2009 that some companies used them misleadingly.

The FDA is developing standards for what health claims can be made on food packages, but Wal-Mart says its customers want the information now."

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China: TOugh on Environment-

2012-02-06T22:23:00.000-06:00

China bans its airlines from paying EU carbon tax | Environment | guardian.co.uk: "China has banned its airlines from paying the new European Union carbon charge, state news agency Xinhua has reported – stepping up the international battle over the scheme.

The levy applies to all airlines flying to and from EU countries. Companies that do not comply face fines and ultimately could be banned from using EU airports.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said on Monday that airlines were not allowed to pay the EU charge, increase freight costs or add other fees, according to Xinhua. It cited authorisation from the state council, China's cabinet."

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The Business of Education

2012-02-05T12:56:00.001-06:00

International Students Pay Top Dollar at U.S. Colleges - NYTimes.com: "That has rankled some local politicians and parents, a few of whom have even asked Michael K. Young, the university president, whether their children could get in if they paid nonresident tuition. “It does appeal to me a little,” he said.

There is a widespread belief in Washington that internationalization is the key to the future, and Mr. Young said he was not at all bothered that there were now more students from other countries than from other states. (Out-of-state students pay the same tuition as foreign students.)

“Is there any advantage to our taking a kid from California versus a kid from China?” he said. “You’d have to convince me, because the world isn’t divided the way it used to be.”

If the university’s reliance on full-freight Chinese students to balance the budget echoes the nation’s dependence on China as the largest holder of American debt, well, said the dean of admissions, Philip A. Ballinger, “this is a way of getting some of that money back.”"

Colleges caught in obsession over rankings - US news - Life - msnbc.com: ""As someone who is asked every year to comment on the rankings, it seems to me that who cares most is the media," John Pryor, who directs the UCLA survey, wrote in a blog post last year. "Second would be college presidents and development officers. Way down the list seem to be those who are actually trying to decide where to go to college."
Thacker says the rankings do have negative psychological effects on students, though usually only the top 10 to 15 percent who are applying to competitive colleges. But it has affected a much broader swath of colleges that have been unable to suppress their competitive urges for the educational common good.
"It has more an impact on colleges, presidents and trustees than it does on students," Thacker said. "The colleges have shifted resources and changed practices and policies that were once governed by educational values to serve prestige and rank and status.""

The F&F affairs of a rotten Newt

2012-02-05T02:00:00.000-06:00

Gingrich’s Deep Ties to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - NYTimes.com: "“Whenever you could get Republicans who supported you, it was important, and the more prominent the Republican, the better,” said William Maloni, a senior vice president at Fannie Mae until 2004. “Newt would have been important.”

Mr. Gingrich’s senior advisers were important as well, with a handful of his aides and confidants going on to work for Freddie and Fannie or for lobbying groups that represented them. Of particular significance, several officials said, was Fannie’s hiring of Arne L. Christenson, Mr. Gingrich’s chief of staff, as a top executive and lobbyist in 1999.

“From their perspective, hiring someone who could beef up their Republican credentials made perfect sense,” said Jack Howard, policy director for Mr. Gingrich at the time. Mr. Christenson did not return a call seeking comment."

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"I am like you" Romney

2012-02-04T15:38:00.000-06:00

Romney’s ‘Very Poor’ at Highest in 35 Years as Safety Gaps Grow - Businessweek: "Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s statement that the “very poor” don’t concern him comes at a time when the portion of Americans living in deep poverty is the highest in more than a generation while assistance varies widely and is often inadequate.

“Virtually any food bank in any city in America would tell you that they have not been able to keep up with the demand,” said Bill Shore, founder and chief executive officer of Share Our Strength, a national charity that fights childhood hunger. “That means more rationing of food, not allowing families to take as much as they would have before and being open shorter hours.”

More than 20 million Americans live in a household with income of less than half the federal poverty rate, the level social scientists often use as a category for the very poor, according to census data for 2010. Last year that meant an annual income below $11,057 for a family of four."

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Friendships that transcend...

2012-02-03T16:08:00.000-06:00

Unlikely animal friendships - in pictures | Life and style | guardian.co.uk: "Unlikely animal friendships - in pictures
From a monkey cuddling a dove to a sheep spending time with an elephant, the book Unlikely Friendships shows the remarkable relationships that can exist between wildly different animals"

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Best of Bloomberg

2012-02-02T16:58:00.000-06:00

Komen battles backlash after Parenthood move - Health - Women's health - msnbc.com:

Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged on Thursday to give $250,000 of his own money to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America after breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure withdrew funding for the group.

"Republican lawmaker Cliff Stearns is probing Planned Parenthood's use of taxpayer funds.
"Politics have no place in health care. Breast cancer screening saves lives and hundreds of thousands of women rely on Planned Parenthood for access to care," Bloomberg said in a statement. "We should be helping women access that care, not placing barriers in their way."
Planned Parenthood said the Komen foundation had succumbed to political pressure from anti-abortion groups. It said such groups have repeatedly threatened Komen over its affiliation."

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Bankruptcy, then job cuts--just as simple as ABC

2012-02-01T21:00:00.000-06:00

American Airlines aims to cut 13,000 jobs - Yahoo! Finance: "DALLAS (AP) -- The parent of American Airlines wants to eliminate about 13,000 jobs — 15 percent of its workforce — as the nation's third-biggest airline remakes itself under bankruptcy protection.
The company proposes to end its traditional pension plans, a move strongly opposed by the airline's unions and the U.S. pension-insurance agency, and to stop paying for retiree health benefits.
AMR Corp. said Wednesday that it must cut labor costs by 20 percent. It will soon begin negotiations with its three major unions, but the president of the flight attendants' union quickly rejected the company's ideas as unacceptably harsh."

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Politicians' bite, the sound bite- and truth

2012-01-31T13:30:00.000-06:00

Open Channel - How do we keep candidates from lying over and over?: "After a presidential debate, even before the debate has ended, we're able now to read fact-checks from Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact and many news organizations.
But shouldn't the candidates get their facts straight and tell the truth in the first place?
"American politics has become a battle of talking points," said Bill Adair, editor of PolitiFact and Washington bureau chief for The Tampa Bay Times. "Once candidates find a talking point they like, they often stick with it — even when fact-checkers say it's wrong.""

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WHen the Tide turns...

2012-01-31T01:18:00.000-06:00

P&G to Cut 1,600 Jobs, Bank on Digital for Long-term Savings | Digital - Advertising Age: "Facing flat market shares and growing investor pressure to cut costs, Procter & Gamble Co.plans to eliminate about 1,600 "overhead" or nonmanufacturing jobs, including some in marketing, and is banking on digital marketing to help contain media spending long-term, executives said on the company's earnings conference call today.
The move follows an announcement earlier this month that P&G would outsource to brokerage firms in-store merchandising work covering about 2,700 employees, most of the part-time, and expands a program put in place for some categories two years ago.
"

...

"In the digital space, with things like Facebook and Google and others, we find that return on investment of the advertising when properly designed, when the big idea is there, can be much more efficient," Mr. McDonald said. He cited the 1.8 billion in free impressions generated by the Old Spice campaign in recent years, adding "there are many other examples I can cite from all over the world."

P&G still expects to spend between 9% and 11% of sales on advertising in the long term and is stepping up spending this quarter and next behind its global Olympics sponsorship-related efforts, which he said the company expects to add $500 million in incremental revenues.

Parking in a Parallel Universe

2012-01-30T15:31:00.000-06:00

Bottom Line - Women are better at parking than men, study says: "Women are better at parking than men, study says
By msnbc.com staff and wire
After years of enduring sexist jokes and taunts from their male counterparts, women drivers can finally take heart -- a new study suggests they’re actually better at parking than men.
Covert surveillance of car parks across the United Kingdom shows that, while women may take longer to park, they are more adept than men at maneuvering into a parking space, and when they park they are more likely to leave their vehicles in the middle of a parking bay."

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Countries, Banks, and Debt

2012-01-29T12:29:00.000-06:00

Greece should give up budget control: Germany - Yahoo! Finance: "BERLIN (Reuters) - Greece must surrender control of its budget policy to outside institutions if it cannot implement reforms attached to euro zone rescue measures, the German economy minister was quoted as saying on Sunday.
Philipp Roesler became the first German cabinet member to openly endorse a proposal for Greece to surrender budget control after Reuters quoted a European source on Friday as saying Berlin wants Athens to give up budget control.
"We need more leadership and monitoring when it comes to implementing the reform course," Roesler, also vice chancellor, told Bild newspaper, according to an advance of an interview to be published on Monday."

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Cup isn't overflowing with the benefits of drinking

2012-01-29T11:59:00.000-06:00

Why drinking benefits Europeans, not Indians - The Times of India: "Are the health benefits of alcohol overrated? In the latest advisory on spirits, the UK House of Commons has requested the British to keep away from alcohol for at least two days a week. The lawmakers reason the body needs a break twice a week to repair the liver. This is a climbdown from earlier guidelines to drink moderately every day.

In the country's various watering holes, it's difficult to miss the flurry of advice: have beer to flush out kidney stones, wine to cut down risk of heart attack. Some even claim that diabetes can be kept at bay with a regular drink. But doctors say such claims cannot be given a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down.
"
Consider beer, whose popularity in urban India is increasing steadily because of its low alcohol content. Urologist Dr Manish Bansal says it is a myth that beer can treat kidney stones. "Studies in the US have shown that certain beers, such as stout, prevent calcium deposits and reduce stone formation by 30 to 35%. But beer contains a chemical called purine, which increases the risk of uric acid stones," he says. He adds that orange juice, or even tea or coffee, would have the same flushing-out effect as beer on kidney stones.

Then there is the widespread contention that alcohol is good for the heart. Malika Arora, of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), points out that this contention doesn't hold for Indians. "We have done a study which shows that alcohol offers no cardiovascular protection for Indians," she says.

The study was done jointly by PHFI and the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, across 10 cities in 2010 and compared 4,000 Indians who drank alcohol to an equal number who didn't. The study, published in the Atherosclerosis medical journal in February 2010, showed that even low levels of alcohol increased the risk of coronary artery disease among Indians by 40%.

Why does this health reversal occur among Indians? PHFI's Arora points out that the kind of alcohol one drinks has a role. "Indians mainly drink hard liquor, like whisky or even scotch. Europeans drink a lot of wine and it has been shown to be beneficial for them," she adds. Alcohol has been a part of Indian society since ages, but there is better tracking of the drinking habit these days. Market research firm International Wine and Spirits Record had stated that the total consumption of spirits in India stood at 200 million cases in 2009 (a case has 12 bottles or nine litres). A World Health Organization survey a few years back showed that spirits made up for 88% of what Indians regularly drink, while beer only had a 10% share and wine was barely 2%.

Vassar's erors, NYT hyperbole

2012-01-29T01:50:00.000-06:00

NYT: College's acceptance error crushes students - US news - The New York Times - msnbc.com: "Jeff Kosmacher, a spokesman for Vassar, said on Saturday that a “test letter” that had been intended as a placeholder for the real admissions decision had not been replaced before students checked their application statuses online. The error was discovered around 4:30 p.m., he said.
Between 6:30 and 7 p.m. Friday, the 122 students who had seen the test letter — 46 who were, in fact, accepted and 76 who were not — were sent a message from the college that cited a “system error” and apologized for the mistake, Mr. Kosmacher said. The correct decisions, the message said, were now available online."

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Avoiding questions, the Chinese way

2012-01-28T17:18:00.000-06:00

New year, new fake partners for China's young singletons with parents to please | World news | guardian.co.uk: "Next week's lunar new year is China's biggest festival. It can also be a major headache for those returning home without a potential spouse. Pressure on young adults to settle down goes into overdrive, as gathering family members begin the inquisition and line up possible candidates.

Taking a boyfriend or girlfriend home is a fast way to curb the speculation, which is why Li, like other twentysomethings, has hired a fake partner through an online agency."

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Tim Cook and Newt Gingrich- both "outrage"eous

2012-01-28T17:17:00.001-06:00

Both Tim Cook and Newty are complaining because the media are exposing their behaviors- corporate and individual, respectively.

We care about every worker: Tim Cook, Apple CEO - The Economic Times: ""We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain," Cook said. "Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern.

"Any suggestion that we don't care is patently false and offensive to us," he said. "As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It's not who we are.

"For the many hundreds of you who are based at our suppliers' manufacturing sites around the world, or spend long stretches working there away from your families, I know you are as outraged by this as I am," Cook said. "

Doing the Right thing is obvious but the CEOs are oblivious

2012-01-27T15:30:00.000-06:00

Bottom Line - CEOs rake in huge sums when their companies go bankrupt: "When companies go bankrupt, the misery is shared among many: Bond holders are wiped out, retirees see their pensions and benefits vanish, and employees lose their jobs.
But some feel no pain at all: CEOs and other top executives of companies that go through Chapter 11 receive robust compensation in the form of salary, stock grants and other benefits.
In some cases, they earn even more money than they did before the filing, even while other stakeholders suffer. It's the most unlikely fast-track to a fat payout ever, and it goes on in spite of federal legislation meant to crack down on corporate honchos feasting while everyone else fights over crumbs. "

It wasn't supposed to be like this. In the wake of corporate catastrophes such as Enron, Congress passed legislation aimed at preventing companies from paying retention bonuses to executives at firms going through Chapter 11.

"You can't pay someone for just staying at a bankrupt company," said Robert Jackson, an associate professor at Columbia Law School at Columbia University, and former advisory to senior Treasury officials on executive compensation during the financial crisis. "But that's different from paying them from doing well at a bankrupt company," he said.

That distinction has become a loophole. Since the law allows performance-based incentives, huge executive payouts have morphed over the years to be little more than retention bonuses by another name, according to critics who say executives net outsized payouts even when they negotiate agreements that leave stakeholders out in the cold.

"There seems to be no sense of accountability at this level," said Steven Kropp, a professor at Roger Williams University School of Law. "In most of these cases, the unsecured creditors aren't being paid back in full, employees are being laid off, and in addition, they're finding their health insurance and pensions diminished." An investigation by The Wall Street Journal found that median compensation of CEOs at 21 companies that filed for bankruptcy was $8.7 million, just $400,000 less than the median compensation earned by CEOs at healthy companies.

Companies are required to go to court and argue their case for big bonuses with the bankruptcy judge, explaining why the CEO deserves the set level of compensation and what targets they must meet in order to earn their bonus. The problem is that often the bar is set so low that even lackluster performance will be measured as success.

"It's all fine and well to say you're going to pay people for performance, but the key is what kind of performance," Jackson said. "It's very hard for a judge to know if an earnings target is easy or hard to hit. Are they just window dressings?" To make this determination, the court has to rely on evidence from the company's executives and lawyers, who may have an incentive to give themselves easy assignments.

Judges also have to rely on the input of compensation experts — also hired by the company — to know if the bonuses being proposed are appropriate for the industry and the task at hand, which also raises the prospect of manipulation.

To keep companies from taking advantage of this, Jackson said, bankruptcy courts could have their own industry-specific experts to vet the numbers being proposed by people on the company payroll.

Critics of the current status quo say there are other legal ways to patch the ballooning-bonus loophole. "You could simply amend the bankruptcy code to preclude a company in bankruptcy from paying bonuses in excess of prior salary to its existing executives," John Coffee, a professor at Columbia Law School, said via email. "Or you could limit the amount of any additional income in excess of their prior compensation from the firm to some reasonable percentage."

Kropp suggests using clawback provisions to cap executive compensation in the event of bankruptcy and funneling the recovered funds into employees' investment accounts. Even advocates of reforms like these, though, admit that they're a political no-go for lawmakers in today's contentious legislative environment.

The argument in favor of big bonuses, even when they come at the expense of employees, retirees and other unsecured creditors, is that successfully guiding a company through bankruptcy and emerging on the other side is a challenging, risky job, and most CEOs would bolt without the promise of millions in cash and stock for their trouble.

But research done by Ethan Bernstein, a Kauffman Foundation Fellow on leave from Harvard Law School, shows that CEOs of financially troubled companies quit or are ousted at the same rate whether or not they file for bankruptcy or muddle through with private restructuring.

For some, this raises the troubling possibility that Chapter 11 has become a back door for CEOs to grant themselves raises, especially in light of the fact that the Journal's research found CEOs at some troubled firms actually earned more after filing for Chapter 11.

"My belief is that CEOs and other senior executives can panic a board with the implied threat that they might desert the sinking ship if some formula is not found to give them extraordinary pay for their service in a crisis," Coffee said.

Pulling a teetering company back from the brink is hard, and it's an increasingly specialized job, which Bernstein said contributes to the high number — 37 percent — of CEOs brought on either during a bankruptcy reorganization or in the year leading up to it.

He said key stakeholders want a "bankruptcy guru," and they're willing to shell out enormous sums for the services of a CEO they think can pull the most money out of a troubled company. The catch is that this slate of decision-makers increasingly includes big creditors, negotiating with the kind of clout once limited to shareholders. What a creditor sees as the best return on its investment may very well be a bloodbath for the company's rank-and-file.

Airline CEOs- high on money-grubbing, hit the bottom in ethics

2012-01-26T15:28:00.001-06:00

Aitline CEOs' reaction to the requirement to show total fares illustrates how far these folks are from running their companies ethically.

Overhead Bin - Fight over full-fare rules takes bizarre turn: "On Tuesday, Spirit Airlines, which is currently contesting the rule in court, launched a website called KeepMyFaresLow.org with the headline: Warning: New government regulations require us to HIDE taxes in your fares.
That brought a swift denunciation from Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, an advocacy group for corporate travel buyers. “With this ill-considered attack on DOT, Spirit Airlines has reached a new low and no doubt secured the poster-child crown for 2012 for misleading consumers.”
Not so, countered Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza. “Our view is that fares should be transparent and clear and that you should know what you’re paying your airline and what you’re paying in taxes,” he told msnbc.com."

Airlines must now show fees, taxes up front - Yahoo! Finance: "US Airways Group Inc. President Scott Kirby said this week that he wasn't worried that passengers would cut back on travel — they've been paying those taxes and fees all along.
But, Kirby said, including taxes in the advertised price instead of listing them separately will make it easier for the government to raise the taxes "because it's the airlines that look bad, and not the government.""

Apple's Sales send a message- conditions at suppliers do not matter

2012-01-25T16:30:00.000-06:00

Record sales at Apple, while media reports abound on the brutal working conditions for factory labour at Apple's contract manufacturers. It is clear that the public wants to outsource pollution and labour conditions in exchange for "affordable" gadgets.

Apple announces record sales of iPhones and iPads | Technology | The Guardian: "Record sales of iPhones and iPads resulted in record profits at Apple in the final quarter of 2011, the first since the death of its co-founder, Steve Jobs.

Apple more than doubled its profits: to $13.06bn (£8.35bn), compared with $6bn for the same quarter in 2010. The result easily beat analysts' forecasts, taking pressure off the chief executive, Tim Cook, handpicked by Jobs as his successor. Last October Apple shares recorded their biggest single-day dollar drop after iPhone sales missed their forecast.

Cook said he was thrilled the company sold a record 37.04m iPhones in the final quarter of 2011, a 128% rise on a year ago. "We could have sold more if we'd had more supply," he said. The recently launched iPhone 4S proved to be the company's best seller in the quarter. "We could not be happier," said Cook.

In record sales across nearly all product categories, Apple sold a record 15.43m iPads over the quarter, more than double a year ago. It sold 5.2m Macs during the quarter, a 26% unit increase."

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