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A third industrial revolution

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Economist - By Paul Markillie - Apr. 28 (Opinion) - As manufacturing goes digital, it will change out of all recognition. And some of the business of making things will return to rich countries. Outside the sprawling Frankfurt Messe, home of innumerable German trade fairs, stands the “Hammering Man”, a 21-metre kinetic statue that steadily raises and lowers its arm to bash a piece of metal with a hammer. Jonathan Borofsky, the artist who built it, says it is a celebration of the worker using his mind and hands to create the world we live in. That is a familiar story. But now the tools are changing in a number of remarkable ways that will transform the future of manufacturing.

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LZ: Michigan to Romney: Go away

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

CNN - By LZ Garnderson - Feb. 14 (Opinion) - That's why the characterization of Rick Santorum polling well in Romney's backyard is a bit misguided. The truth is, many of us disowned that two-faced liar years ago. We remember how, back in 2008, Romney came home promising to do all he could to save the auto industry. And we believed him and voted for him and he won the primary here. Then, after he dropped out of the race, he wrote a New York Times op-ed that carried the headline "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." The opening sentence: "If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye."

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FDA Won’t Act Against Ag Antibiotic Use

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Wired - Dec. 23 (News) - With no notice other than a holiday-eve posting in the Federal Register, the US Food and Drug Administration has reneged on its long-stated intention to

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This Mystery Chemical Could Cause You To Miscarry

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Rebecca Huval - Aug. 10 (Special Report) - Did you print a piece of paper today? Or use a digital camera? If so, it could have exposed you to glymes, a clear liquid class of chemicals used as solvents in printer ink, carpet cleaners and other household products. For a decade, the EPA has known about studies that link glymes to health problems including miscarriages, developmental damage, and gene mutation. And yet only now is the agency beginning to regulate them. This July, the EPA announced that it plans to clamp down on glymes, which may join the ranks of the 360 chemicals subject to the EPA's "significant new use rule." This means that any time a company wants to use glymes, it would have to ask the EPA first. In contrast, the EPA plans to regulate BPA, the chemical once found in Nalgene bottles, by simply identifying it in a list of harmful chemicals.

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The Great Recession, Part II

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Slate - By Joseph E. Stiglitz - Jul. 07 (Opinion) - Regrettably, the financial markets and right-wing economists have gotten the problem exactly backward: They believe that austerity produces confidence, and that confidence will produce growth. But austerity undermines growth, worsening the government's fiscal position, or at least yielding less improvement than austerity's advocates promise. On both counts, confidence is undermined, and a downward spiral is set in motion.

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IBM spends $1.2M on 1Q lobbying

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Boston Globe - Jul. 01 (News) - IBM spends $1.2M on 1Q lobbying

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NRC and industry rewrite the history of nukes

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - Jun. 29 (Investigative Report) - As part of a yearlong investigation of aging issues at the nation's nuclear power plants, the AP found that the relicensing process often lacks fully independent safety reviews. Records show that paperwork of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sometimes matches word-for-word the language used in a plant operator's application.

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Obama’s focus on visiting clean-tech companies raises questions

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Carol D. Leonnig, Joe Stephens, Alice Crites - Jun. 26 (News Report) - With trips that began two months after he took office, President Obama has devoted more than half of his out-of-town private-business visits to promoting a single industry: clean technology, which the president says will lead the nation back to economic prosperity.

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US nuke regulators weaken safety rules

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - By Jeff Donn - Jun. 20 (Special Report) - Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.

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Fukushima: It's much worse than you think

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Aljazeera - By Dahr Jamail - Jun. 16 (News Report) - Japan's 9.0 earthquake on March 11 caused a massive tsunami that crippled the cooling systems at the Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan. It also led to hydrogen explosions and reactor meltdowns that forced evacuations of those living within a 20km radius of the plant.

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Chinese manufacturers: The end of cheap goods?

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Economist - Jun. 12 (News Analysis) - “It is the end of cheap goods,” says Bruce Rockowitz. He is the chief executive of Li & Fung, a company that sources more clothes and common household products from Asia than perhaps any other. In the low-tech areas in which Li & Fung specialises, the firm handles an estimated 4% of China’s exports to America and a sizeable chunk of its exports to Europe, too. It has operations in several East Asian countries, where it diligently searches for cheap, reliable suppliers of everything from handbags to bar stools. So when Mr Rockowitz says the era of low-cost Asian production is drawing to a close, people listen. He argues that Asian manufacturing has gone through a number of phases, each lasting about 30 years. When China was isolated under Mao Zedong, companies in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea grew expert at making things. When China reopened in the late 1970s, after Mao’s death, these experienced Asian operators converged on southern China. With almost free access to land and labour, plus an efficient port and logistics hub in nearby Hong Kong, they started to make things ever more cheaply and sell them to the whole world. For the next 30 years manufacturers in China helped to keep global inflation in check. But that era is now over, says Mr Rockowitz. Chinese wages are rising fast. A wave of new demand, especially from China itself, is feeding a surge in commodity prices. Manufacturers can find some relief by moving production to new areas, such as western China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Malaysia, India and Indonesia. But none of these new places will curb inflation the way southern China once did, he predicts. All rely on the same increasingly expensive pool of commodities. Many have rising wages or poor logistics. None can provide the scale and efficiency that was created when manufacturers converged on southern China.

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The U.S. Economic Outlook

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System - By Ben S. Bernanke - Jun. 08 (Statement) - Although it is moving in the right direction, the economy is still producing at levels well below its potential; consequently, accommodative monetary policies are still needed. Until we see a sustained period of stronger job creation, we cannot consider the recovery to be truly established. At the same time, the longer-run health of the economy requires that the Federal Reserve be vigilant in preserving its hard-won credibility for maintaining price stability.

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Japan report promises independent nuclear agency

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 08:29:39 -0700

Washington Post - By Chico Harlan - Jun. 07 (News Report) - Facing widespread criticism for its handling of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the Japanese government on Tuesday announced its intention to create an independent nuclear agency, breaking up the government ministry that both promotes and regulates atomic energy.

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Against Learned Helplessness

Mon, 30 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Paul Krugman - May. 30 (Opinion) - Someone needs to say the obvious: inventing reasons not to put the unemployed back to work is neither wise nor responsible. It is, instead, a grotesque abdication of responsibility.

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China shuts battery factories due to lead poisoning

Mon, 30 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

BBC News - May. 30 (News) - Battery factories across China have been closed amid fears about poisoning from metals used by the industry. About 74 people have been detained after reports that more than 100 people, including children, were effected [sic] by lead and cadmium poisoning.

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Storm suspends work at Japan Fukushima nuclear plant

Mon, 30 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

BBC News - May. 30 (News) - The operator of Japan's crippled nuclear plant has suspended some of its outdoor work due to a tropical storm, just days after it admitted it was not prepared for harsh weather.

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Shale Boom in Texas Could Increase U.S. Oil Output

Sat, 28 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Clifford Krauss - May. 28 (News Report) - Advocates of pulling oil from packed rock say it could raise the nation’s oil output by 25 percent, but evidence is mounting that the extraction technique threatens water supplies.

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Skipping safeguards, officials rushed benefit to a politically-connected energy company

Wed, 25 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

iWatch News - By Ronnie Greene, Matthew Mosk - May. 25 (News Report) - The Obama administration bypassed steps meant to protect taxpayers as it hurried to approve an energy loan guarantee to a politically-connected California solar power startup, iWatch News and ABC News have learned.

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Tepco president resigns over Japan nuclear crisis

Fri, 20 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Telegraph - May. 20 (News) - The president of the Japanese utility that runs a tsunami-devastated nuclear plant resigned in disgrace on Friday after reporting the biggest financial losses in company history, saying he was stepping down to take responsibility for the ongoing crisis.

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Making Things in America

Thu, 19 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Paul Krugman - May. 19 (Opinion) - Manufacturing is one of the bright spots of a generally disappointing recovery, and there are signs — preliminary, but hopeful, nonetheless — that a sustained comeback may be under way.

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Company sticks with plan to end Japan nuclear crisis in nine months

Tue, 17 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

CNN - May. 17 (News) - Tokyo Electric Power Co., the company that owns the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, said Tuesday it is going to stick to its previously announced timetable of six to nine months in bringing an end to the crisis.

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A Labor Strike Against Economic Reality

Mon, 16 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Reason Magazine - By Steve Chapman, Reason - May. 16 (Opinion) - Strikes are an expensive luxury. The last one, which went on for nearly two months, was estimated to cost Boeing more than $2 billion. "Based on previous strike experience," reported The Seattle Times, "Boeing will not recoup that money for many years."

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President Obama announces plans to expand domestic oil production

Sat, 14 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The New Orleans Times-Picayune - By Jonathan Tilove - May. 14 (News) - President Barack Obama Saturday announced plans to expand domestic oil production, including holding a lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico this year and two in 2012, and extending leases in the Gulf that were affected by the drilling moratorium in the wake of the BP oil spill to allow operators more time to meet heightened safety requirements.

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Koch Brothers Fueling Far Right Academic Centers Across the US

Fri, 13 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Lee Fang - May. 13 (Opinion) - FSU had accepted a $1.5 million grant from a foundation controlled by petrochemical billionaire Charles Koch on the condition that Koch’s operatives would have a free hand in selecting professors and approving publications. The simmering controversy sheds light on the vast influence of the Koch political machine, which spans from the top conservative think tanks, Republican politicians, a small army of contracted lobbyists, and Tea Party front groups in nearly every state.

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The Damage to the Fukushima Nuclear Plant Is Worse Than Previously Thought

Fri, 13 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Time - By Krista Mahr - May. 13 (News Analysis) - In the two months since Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was pummeled by a quake and tsunami, no news has generally been good news. Unfortunately, today, there's some news.

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