In 2007, energy researchers at Colorado State University created AVA Solar, which became Abound Solar of Loveland, Colorado, with manufacturing facilities in Tipton, Indiana. The President of the United States, Barack Obama, touted Abound Solar as an example of the clean-energy future, claiming it would create 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs. Members of…
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We came across a really cool web application over at the Economist: The Global Debt Clock, which visualizes the level of publicly-held debt for nations around the world. The map below shows how much all the governments of the world collectively owe entities other than themselves, according to each government’s public-held debt per capita….
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Shimon is a robot with four arms who plays marimba, bobs his head, and can reportedly improvise like Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane. Shimon’s inventors at the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology claim that he morphs the styles of the jazz masters and produces novel, surprising arrangements. Shimon’s brief recital at this site…
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The University of Michigan’s Robert Dittmar wonders: Up until about 1970, the government more or less balanced its budget. There were surplus years and deficit years, but on average, the government ran a surplus of about $2 billion over the period 1929 through 1969. Starting in 1970, the government began to run sustained deficits, and…
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Millions of American workers can’t find jobs and even the freespending Obama administration has frozen federal salaries for two years. But the situation is different at the United Nations, which gets approximately 25 percent of its budget from the United States. The UN employs 489 executives, more than the number of equivalent positions (484)…
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In 2009 the federal government gave a $249 million grant to A123 Systems, a green energy manufacturer touted by President Obama as an example of “what’s possible in a clean energy economy.” The company used the money to make batteries for electric cars in two Michigan factories. But since 2009 the company lost $857…
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Native Americans arise – some of you anyway. The United States Department of Justice has a momentous announcement. If you are a member of one of the more than 500 federally recognized Indian tribes you will be allowed to possess eagle feathers. And get this, the Justice Department is giving you this privilege, even…
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How many pages does it take to explain the basics of the U.S. Medicare program? If you answered “a lot more than it used to”, you’re right! Each year, legal publisher CCH puts out a book simply titled Medicare Explained, which they describe as follows: A book for Medicare beneficiaries and others who need…
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The federal Environmental Protection Agency, in keeping with its unofficial Stalinist mascot Che Guevara, likes to posture as a tough law-and-order agency, finding inspiration in Roman crucifixion campaigns, and always on guard to protect the planet from “polluters.” Now it turns out that EPA rules are a target-rich environment for scammers. The 2007 Renewable…
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For a long time, the Congressional Budget Office’s forecasts for the U.S. national debt have been considered to be the most accurate of all national debt projections. But with the national debt growing so fast in recent years, it appears the CBO is having a very difficult time in keeping up. Sean Parker of…
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