Bad for India, Good for U.S.A.?

Maybe they won't be so quick to move all our jobs overseas from now on? I wonder who's answering all those calls to my bank today?

Half of India Crippled by Second Day of Power Failures

For a second day in a row, large sections of India were crippled by massive power outages as the country’s northern and eastern electricity grids failed in the early afternoon.

Too Much Debt...

What's all this European debt crisis about anyway?

I found this quite helpful:

It’s All Connected: An Overview of the Euro Crisis
A visual guide to the growing debt crisis.


My interest was piqued by this:

BUSINESS DAY

Dire Warnings Are Building on European Debt Crisis

By LIZ ALDERMAN AND STEPHEN CASTLE

Published: November 28, 2011

Despite bleak reports from the O.E.C.D. and Moody’s, investors were optimistic that leaders would find a solution, and markets soared in Europe, Asia and the United States.

Recommended Reading

There's a great article in this month's Vanity Fair magazine:

California and Bust
The smart money says the U.S. economy will splinter, with some states thriving, some states not, and all eyes are on California as the nightmare scenario. After a hair-raising visit with former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who explains why the Golden State has cratered, Michael Lewis goes where the buck literally stops—the local level, where the likes of San Jose mayor Chuck Reed and Vallejo fire chief Paige Meyer are trying to avert even worse catastrophes and rethink what it means to be a society.

If you get a chance, I really recommend reading it.... Aside from just being a great read that is enormously absorbing, it is really eye-opening and gives you a whole other level of perspective on the economic crisis facing the U.S..

Nero Tweeted While Rome Burned

BUSINESS DAY
Hiring in U.S. Slowed in May With 54,000 Jobs Added
By CATHERINE RAMPELL
Published: June 3, 2011
The unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent, raising concerns once again about the underlying strength of the economic recovery.


For some reason, I woke up today with this post's headline in my head, knowing this morning they were issuing the closely-watched monthly unemployment report. I guess I am partly thinking how sad it is that with all the problems facing this country, much of the week was spent obsessing over whether or not our local Congressman tweeted a lewd picture of himself. But I have to admit I am torn. I am also extremely disappointed with Congressman Weiner's response to valid questions about this controversy. If he is indeed spending his time taking these photographs of himself when he should be focusing on getting our country back to work, then, yes, he is indeed one of today's Neros in my headline above.

This Week's Poll

First, the results from last week's poll.

The question was Which of the Austin/71st Continental drugstores do you prefer? Duane Reade or Rite Aid?

25 votes were cast and here are the results:

As I expected, local NYC chain Duane Reade was the most popular with 13 votes (52 percent of the vote).
Rite Aid came in second place with 9 votes (36 percent).
And 3 people entered other choices:
2 voted for CVS
and
1 voted for CostCo.

Personally, I find both Duane Reade and Rite Aid to frequently be out of stock on items. When it comes to the overall shopping experience, however, the thing that sticks out in my mind the most are Duane Reade's lines. Even with their new roped-off lines, which have done away with the scary line chaos and near-brawls that used to ensue, the lines are still so intimidating looking and good God they are still ALWAYS long. It is like winning a jackpot to see no one on line at Duane Reade.

I increasingly prefer the Rite Aid on Queens Blvd. near 75th Ave. It feels bigger, kind of like a suburban drugstore, with more space to shop, more stuff in stock and shorter lines.

Now on to this week's poll:

Rabble Rousers

What a perfect symbol of the mess we are all in, wasn't it? I mean, two of the richest people in the world driven blindly into the very heart of the global economic convulsions caused by the greed and selfishness of the richest people in the world? It's just too bad that it happened to Prince Charles because I happen to like him. He seems to be a decent man from what I have seen.

Why couldn't it have happened to W.? He's the one who lost all those British kids their free tuition by dragging the UK into his trillion dollar folly for oil, helping to bankrupt both us and them in the process. Think of how much that trillion dollars could have done - no need to raise tuition on the British kids, money for our schools and other crumbling infrastructure. The list goes on and on....