Now comes the hard part. Handed a sweeping mandate for change, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) begins the formidable task of delivering on a laundry list of promises intended to lift the country after its worst recession since World War II.
Tag Archives: Money
Cash for Clunkers: The Bribery Stimulus
In the closing days of Cash for Clunkers, car dealers were turning buyers away, the government website crashed trying to keep up with the paperwork, and even the purple cars were selling. So, what does it tell us about our national character when the most popular government program in years is an economically dubious, environmentally negligible, politically lazy handout from 99% of the population to the other 1%, all aimed at reviving the economy from its vegetative state
Analysis: Why are the U.S., allies still in Afghanistan?
The U.S.-led war against the Taliban in Afghanistan has been a tough slog, a nearly eight-year conflict replete with gloom. Lately a lot of the news from Afghanistan seems particularly grim for the United States and its allies
The Next Step for Microfinance: Taking Deposits
Some 30 years ago, the field of microfinance was born from a radical concept: poor people, when lent small amounts of money, will pay it back in a timely manner. In the meantime, that money can be put to use in ways that help boost income—goat farming, say, or carpet weaving—and, ostensibly, raise a family’s standard of living. Now another radical concept is starting to take hold: that the thing people really need, more than business loans, is a safe place to save their money.
Can Bill Gates stop hurricanes? Scientists doubt it
Hurricane experts are throwing cold water on an idea backed by billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates aimed at controlling the weather. Gates and a dozen other scientists have raised eyebrows by submitting patent applications for a technology to reduce the danger of approaching hurricanes by cooling ocean temperatures. It’s a noble idea, given the horrible memories from Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into the Gulf Coast four years ago this week.
Child bride’s nightmare after divorce
It is midday and girls are flooding out of school, but Nujood Ali is not among them. We find her at the family’s two-room house in an impoverished suburb of the city where Nujood is angry, combative and yelling
Ruh-Roh! ‘Shaggy Bandit’ strikes again
The FBI in Denver is on the lookout for a serial bank robber dubbed the "Shaggy Bandit" for his resemblance to cartoon canine Scooby-Doo’s human sidekick. Zoinks! Investigators say he is responsible for 13 robberies in the Denver area and one in Arizona since June 24
Last-minute clunker deals swamp auto dealers
Janet McBride had to send someone to fetch lunch for her Saturday. The cheerful auto dealer receptionist didn’t dare leave her switchboard during the waning hours of the federal government’s "Cash for Clunkers" program.
Five great travel booking sites
The following five sites have proven the most consistently useful for the editors of Budget Travel, who do thousands of searches a year. Dohop.com Strictly for booking plane trips entirely outside of the U.S., such as a flight between Paris and Rome. The site runs simultaneous searches of multiple airports serving the same city — five airports in London, for instance — and it retrieves fares from no-frills independent carriers like EasyJet and Ryanair, which many better-known travel sites overlook.
Autistic boy saw Florida couple slain, documents say
The son of a Florida couple known for adopting special-needs children was in his parents’ room when they were slain in a home invasion last month, according to documents released by prosecutors. A nurse who works with special-needs children interviewed the boy, who has autism and speech issues, regarding the deaths of Byrd and Melanie Billings.