To Be Happy You Must Make More Than Your Friends It is referred to as conspicuous consumption. Basically what this means is the spending of goods to display wealth or social status. Which is more commonly called “keeping up with the Joneses.” Conspicuous consumption was introduced by economist Thorstein Veblen in 1899. The Theory of [...]

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Top Donors For 2010 Cycle Top All-Time Donors, 1989-2010 / 2010 1. AT&T Inc – $45,083,314 / $2,735,995 2. American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees – $42,619,761 / $1,861,050 3. ActBlue – $39,955,241 / $12,201,476 4. National Assn of Realtors – $36,267,773 / $1,549,148 5. Goldman Sachs – $32,263,177 / $1,340,427 6. Intl Brotherhood of Electrical [...]

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BP’s Influence Over Congress And The Sobering Repercussions As with the other supermajors (6 total), BP (NYSE) is all about fuelling profits. Big Oil will use whatever resources it needs to promote the selling of oil products. If that means influencing Congress profoundly with lobbying donations, Big Oil’s lobby machine is prepared to lubricate the rank in the halls [...]

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No Deal Over Retail Chain Acquisition Just Yet International Chief Doug McMillon said in an interview: “One of the things that has been a hindrance in Russia is just an agreement on price”. Retail giant Wal-Mart has made attempts to buy out retail chains instead of opening its own shops. “Buying a retail chain would give [...]

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Michael T. Klare: The New Geopolitical Strategy   BLOOD AND OIL – Presented by The Media Education Foundation Part 1 – (9:27) Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum (American Empire Project) - The world’s rapidly growing economy is dependent on oil, the supply is running out and the [...]

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The Big Picture: Another Plant Closing In A City Near You The new job numbers are out. The employment situation seems to be improving in May of 2010. The unemployment rate edged down to 9.7 percent. Manufacturing employment increased by 29,000 over the month. Factory employment has risen by 126,000 over the past 5 months. [...]

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Are Temp Workers Being Abused? Just what is a temporary worker? A temporary employee is a worker that is supposed to work for the employer within a certain amount of a time period, with no guarantees of long-term employment. This usually implies that little or no benefits are received by the “temp” worker. There is [...]

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Majority Of World Growth Will Come From Emerging Markets Is the economic situation in your country good or bad? Are you satisfied with the direction your country is taking? If you live in the United States, your answer may not be very favorable. A Gallup Poll survey in May of 2010 indicated that 46% said [...]

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Cayman Islands Under Scrutiny Just south of Cuba lies three islands, named the Cayman Islands. This British territory consists of the three islands: Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman. Grand Cayman is the largest of the islands and the most populated. Grand Cayman also contains the capital, which is called George Town. Located at [...]

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The Coupon Renaissance Continues Overall, 2010 really looks like more of the same that was experienced in 2009. Even though media moguls are visualizing an economic revival, American consumers are still going to be thrifty, going for better value, and generally being very cautious with their checkbooks. Unemployment is an ugly term that does not want to [...]

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