Saturday, October 8, 2011

Cenk Uygur: Corporate media tried to ignore Occupy Wall Street

From: RTAmerica  | Oct 7, 2011 
 
Occupy Wall Street has become a real threat to the establishment and many believe this is why, you the viewer, are not getting the latest in coverage. First the media didn't want to cover it, then with the hundreds of the arrest many felt they had to. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, gives us his thoughts.

Rap News to join RT

This is the best and funniest news I have heard in ages. Aussie Robert Foster's shoestring youtube based news show has been picked up by RT, which apart from Max and Stacy's show is usually very straight, hey they are Russian after all.

With Rap News to be broadcast via satellite to several hundred million viewers Robert Foster could well become as infamous as fellow Aussie Julian Assange.

In case you have never seen Rap News here is a search link to past broadcasts featured on this blog:

http://ausbullion.blogspot.com/search?q=rap+news

London Falling

From: RussiaToday  | Oct 7, 2011 
Across the Atlantic, the global financial troubles have reached the UK, as it becomes the latest nation to feel the pinch. Rating's giant Moody's has downgraded 12 of Britain's financial firms and banks, including the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB. That comes after the Bank of England chief said the country's economy is at its lowest point since the 1930s if not ever. RT gets more on this from British Euro MP, Godfrey Bloom.


And being the weekend I couldn't resist another music video.

The Clash ~ London Calling

Now war is declared, and battle come down
London calling to the underworld

London calling to the imitation zone
Forget it, brother, you can go it alone
London calling to the zombies of death
Quit holding out, and draw another breath
London calling, and I don't wanna shout
But while we were talking, I saw you nodding out

Inside Story - Is technology and education inseparable?

From: AlJazeeraEnglish  | Oct 6, 2011   

In a world where education is considered essential to development, technology is now regarded as the best way to deliver that education. But are there unforeseen consequences to this focus on computers?

'Occupy' protests spread to US capital

From: AlJazeeraEnglish  | Oct 6, 2011 
 
The "Occupy Wall Street" protests against economic inequality are spreading beyond New York.

Rallies are now taking place in Washington, not far from the White House.

Inside Story - What is the legacy of Steve Jobs?

My take on Steve Job's legacy is that he was a visionary but that vision was tempered with acute business acumen. When we look at a 'Apple' product it looks like a seamless device but Apple's components are sourced from a multitude of manufacturers which in each in turn had to create cutting edge designs in chip and memory performance to bring Steve Jobs's external designs alive. 

On Max's comments about offshoring and outsourcing I would have to agree. There is no reason the US couldn't declare Detroit a free trade zone allowing the tax free import of components and re-export of finished goods - and with the depression in Detroit you could acquire a disused factory or the land to build a factory on for next to nothing. Even "developing countries" such as Thailand can work this out. I worked on a IT project in the GM car plant in Thailand in 2004 and every component imported into the factory was duty free and every completed car exported again was duty free, only the cars sold locally were taxed. The plant was so successful and employed so many people that they had a fleet of high end coaches to bring in and home the thousands of workers. Sure it might cost a bit more to manufacture in the US but at $499 for an iPad I think Apple could swallow the $50 to allow them to print on the back of each product "Assembled in the USA".

I wish to thank Steve Jobs for bringing beauty to IT and saving us all from the beige box, but as a Silver Bug I also wish to thank him and the company he founded for producing hundreds of millions of devices each containing small amounts of silver, most of which will never be recycled and will end up being de-mined into a land fill. Thank you Steve, future generations will make new fortunes from mining your discarded products hundreds of years from now.

From: AlJazeeraEnglish  | Oct 7, 2011 
 
The man who gave the world the Mac, iPod, iPhone and iPad died on Wednesday. News of his passing spread globally on the very devices he had created. He left behind a fortune of more than $8bn but can the true legacy of Steve Jobs ever be quantified?

Greek debt could spell economic catastrophe

From: AlJazeeraEnglish  | Oct 7, 2011 
 
With Greece spiraling into economic recession, there's talk that the government may have to default on its debts.

The Greek government owes around $70bn to its own banks - a fifth of the nation's total debt.

However, the loss of billions from the balance sheets of banks could cause some to collapse with people's savings and salaries wiped out.

If so, the result would be catastrophic.

Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull reports from Greece.