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"But all is not quiet on the farm. In the Senate, tensions over corn’s new role..." Nice summary over the battle for alternative fuel policy on Capitol Hill courtesy of The Council on Foreign Relations. Includes the repeal of tax breaks to Big Oil & Gas, aversions to a review of the 2002 Farm Bill, as well as alternatives to corn (Switchgrass) for producing Ethanol and other biofuels.

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Bearish on Media? Think Green
Written by Elaine Chan   
Saturday, 15 November 2008 17:07
Google (GOOG - $312.08) stock has lost over 40 percent since July. In the last earnings call, the search engine company's management expressed optimism on coming advertising revenue, but that message did not support the stock price. Not even its partnership with NBC Universal helped to convince investors.


Last Updated on Monday, 24 November 2008 01:16
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A Really Bad Way to Control Knotweed
Written by Jeanne Roberts   
Tuesday, 21 October 2008 09:12
In an effort to control one alien invader, the Brits now want to import another.
Last Updated on Friday, 24 October 2008 10:04
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Orbit Gum: Whiter Teeth Plus Gout and Heart Disease
Written by Jeanne Roberts   
Thursday, 16 October 2008 13:52
Orbit gum, made by the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company (trading on the Buenos Aires market as WWY.BA - $40.90), advertises that it whitens teeth and freshens breath.

Last Updated on Thursday, 16 October 2008 23:09
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Bush's Final Legacy: Stealth Tort Reform
Written by Cathryn Barmon   
Wednesday, 15 October 2008 16:10

Reports out of Washington indicate that the Bush administration is about to give the American people a parting, one-finger salute by rewriting a wide range of federal rules in an effort to block product-safety lawsuits.

Last Updated on Sunday, 23 August 2009 12:32
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Have the Numbers Gotten Too Big to Understand?
Written by Michelle Haimoff   
Tuesday, 14 October 2008 10:59
In 1956, a mathematician by the name of George A. Miller came up with the magical number seven. Plus or minus two digits, seven numbers are about the most humans are capable of processing. Perhaps this is why phone numbers are seven digits long.
Last Updated on Sunday, 19 October 2008 20:45
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The Rebirth of the System: From Caterpillar to Butterfly
Written by Gregory Wendt   
Thursday, 09 October 2008 03:50
Last Updated on Thursday, 09 October 2008 13:05
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Pain Relief Without Addiction
Written by Jeanne Roberts   
Wednesday, 08 October 2008 17:05
Did you know that the pain arthritis sufferers experience can actually make arthritis spread to other joints?

Last Updated on Thursday, 09 October 2008 13:10
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We Won!!!
Written by Michelle Haimoff   
Tuesday, 07 October 2008 12:52
ThePanelist.com won the Pop!Tech "Envision Scarcity and Abundance" Contest!

Last Updated on Wednesday, 08 October 2008 12:34
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Tax-Exempt Money Market Funds
Written by Michelle Haimoff   
Sunday, 05 October 2008 14:12
Yields on tax-exempt money market funds have shot up in the last two weeks due to massive withdrawals from tax-exempt municipal market funds. At an average seven-day annualized yield of 5%, these money market funds are offering the highest yielding short investments since the 1980’s.

Last Updated on Monday, 06 October 2008 15:31
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The USDA No Longer Protects Americans
Written by Jeanne Roberts   
Saturday, 04 October 2008 11:21

The USDA No Longer Protects Americans
Photo: law_keven, Creative Commons, Flickr
There was enough money to bail out negligent bankers and Wall Street, but another program – to protect Americans from pharmaceutical, environmental and pesticide contaminants in meat, milk, dairy and eggs – was discontinued recently due to lack of funding.
Last Updated on Sunday, 05 October 2008 22:01
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CNBC Reveals The Impact Of Mercury Retrograde
Written by Deborah Evans   
Thursday, 02 October 2008 10:26

When Mercury, the planetary energy of communication and movement turns retrograde* for three weeks usually three times a year, financial markets tend to act unpredictably as choppy and volatile conditions prevail.

Last Updated on Thursday, 02 October 2008 13:54
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Five Alternatives to the $700 Billion Bailout Proposal
Written by Michelle Haimoff   
Wednesday, 01 October 2008 18:52
It's one thing to hate on the bailout plan and quite another to come up with an alternative, but following are five attempts at a better way forward:


Last Updated on Monday, 06 October 2008 16:06
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The End of Socially Responsible Investing?
Written by Michelle Haimoff   
Wednesday, 01 October 2008 17:34
Whenever I get into a conversation about socially responsible investing, the other person usually says, "Do people really care about socially responsible stocks? Don’t people just care about making money?"

Last Updated on Monday, 06 October 2008 15:56
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Why Isn't the Government Considering Loans to Wall Street Firms?
Written by Miranda Marquit   
Friday, 26 September 2008 11:21
Buying bad assets: Who is going to buy them from the government?
Last Updated on Sunday, 05 October 2008 21:55
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Make Your Vote Count: Vote Before Election Day!
Written by Deborah Evans   
Tuesday, 23 September 2008 13:36
Make Your Vote Count: Vote Before Election Day!
Photo: Brenda Anderson, Creative Commons, Flickr
If you want your vote to count, don’t vote on Election Day. Why? The Moon.
Last Updated on Sunday, 05 October 2008 21:50
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Will We Lose Our "Stocks for the Long Run" Religion?
Written by Eben Esterhuizen   
Saturday, 13 September 2008 18:10
Despite all the doom and gloom seen over the last year, the S&P 500 index is still looking expensive. At Friday's close the benchmark index traded at a Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio of 24.30, much higher than the 17.17 ratio seen a year ago when the downturn started. FYI - the long term average P/E ratio for the S&P 500 is around 15. With some commentators proclaiming that we are facing the greatest crisis since the Great Depression, why do stocks remain expensive?


Last Updated on Monday, 15 September 2008 10:36
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Sex for Oil at the US Government's Royalty-in-Kind Program
Written by Cathryn Barmon   
Thursday, 11 September 2008 13:52
We also discovered a culture of abuse and promiscuity in the RIK program. Several staff admitted to illegal drug use as well as illicit sexual encounters. Alcohol abuse appears to have been a problem when RIK staff socialized with industry. Sexual relationships with prohibited sources cannot, by definition, be arms-length.
Last Updated on Sunday, 23 August 2009 12:34
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Has Life Changed that Much in the Last 150 years?
Written by Mark Bershatsky   
Thursday, 11 September 2008 09:53
Has Life Changed that Much in the Last 150 years?
Photo: djprybyl, Creative Commons, Flickr
If we go back in time to pre-Civil War era United States, we would see a country that is a 180 degrees different than the United States in 2008. The powerful, upper crust of society was dominated by the large plantation owners and slavery was a legal and accepted practice. Wealth was mostly created in agriculture and Wall Street was largely unregulated and but a pittance of what it is today. Leading up to the outset of the Civil War, our country became as divided as it would ever be. The war itself forever altered how U.S. policy is formulated. The Union Army was victorious, slavery was abolished, and America took a huge step forward.

Last Updated on Sunday, 14 September 2008 20:18
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Freddie and Fannie Bailout: The $5.4 Trillion Contradiction
Written by Eben Esterhuizen   
Thursday, 11 September 2008 02:26
Secretary Paulson Freddie and Fannie Bailout: The $5.4 Trillion Contradiction
Photo: z_everson, Creative Commons, Flickr
"Housing finance in the U.S. has long depended on the GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," writes Stephanie H. Giroux, TD Ameritrade's Chief Investment Strategist. "These mortgage lending giants were created by Congress in 1938 and 1970 to support the housing market, and currently hold $5.4 trillion of the roughly $12 trillion U.S. mortgage market. Over the past four quarters, Fannie and Freddie have posted losses totaling roughly $14 billion, as mortgage foreclosure rates continue to climb in the U.S.

The government’s intervention will result in the largest federal bailout in U.S. history, which is intended “to meet the objectives of market stability, mortgage availability and taxpayer protection," said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson."


Last Updated on Sunday, 21 September 2008 21:01
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Wake Up Larry Kudlow! Lehman is the Biggest News Yet
Written by Eben Esterhuizen   
Thursday, 11 September 2008 02:18
Even though he is a right wing cheerleader who is always eager to politicize every stock market jitter, while wearing his pinstripe suit and pinkie ring, I have to take my hat off to CNBC's Larry Kudlow. He has always had the guts to take a contrarian stance. Lately though, he seems to have lost his marbles. "I don't want to do a Lehman analysis on this program," said Larry, eager to skip the bad news and move on to the miracle of Sarah Palin. "It's too darn boring!" With all due respect to Larry, Lehman's demise might be the biggest story yet.


Last Updated on Sunday, 21 September 2008 21:07
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True to Form, Wall Street Hides Behind Complexity
Written by Eben Esterhuizen   
Tuesday, 09 September 2008 03:11
True to Form, Wall Street Hides Behind Complexity
Photo: Jamais Cascio, Creative Commons, Flickr
Wall Street hides behind complexity, casing too many suckers to buy complex assets that they don't understand. The sub-prime fiasco offers an excellent example: Very few people understood the instruments they were trading, but no one wanted to look stupid while the good times kept rolling. Now they do after $500 billion in credit write downs, with more to come. Similarly, Freddie and Fannie had exceedingly complicated business models, and both shares now trade below $1.

Last Updated on Sunday, 14 September 2008 20:20
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The Nearly Waterless Washing Machine: A Really Good Idea
Written by Jeanne Roberts   
Tuesday, 19 August 2008 13:24
With water, or the lack thereof, becoming the hottest new topic since global warming, the nearly waterless washing machine by Xeros Ltd (a private company out of Leeds, England) looks to take the appliance industry by storm.
Last Updated on Sunday, 31 August 2008 19:46
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Green Century Balanced Fund (GCBLX) Offers an Environmentally-Friendly Investing Opportunity
Written by Miranda Marquit   
Friday, 15 August 2008 10:31
With green investing becoming more popular, many people are looking for ways to diversify into green holdings -- and even diversify within their green holdings. One way to do this is with green funds and indexes. And a green fund that is doing fairly well, considering the stock market performance over the past year, is the Green Century Balanced Fund (GCBLX). GCBLX chooses from stocks and bonds from environmentally companies, according to the fund's objective.


Last Updated on Sunday, 17 August 2008 14:08
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Are Astrologers Better Market Forecasters than Economists?
Written by Deborah Evans   
Monday, 28 July 2008 12:06
I cannot find a single convincing argument that tells me that astrologers won’t do better than economists.
– Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Last Updated on Tuesday, 14 October 2008 22:22
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Hope, Fear and Lack of Outrage Toward the Merchants of Debt
Written by Deborah Evans   
Tuesday, 22 July 2008 09:05

Hope, Fear and Lack of Outrage Toward the Merchants of Debt
Photo: Rhubarble, Creative Commons, Flickr

James Grant wrote an article in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal wondering “Why No Outrage?” from the public concerning Wall Street’s reckless behavior during the credit boom and the assistance they’ve received from their government enablers.
Last Updated on Thursday, 24 July 2008 22:42
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Post-Vacation Blues and the Current Market
Written by Eben Esterhuizen   
Tuesday, 15 July 2008 02:42
Post-Vacation Blues and the Current Market
Photo: Petrick2008, Creative Commons, Flickr
Since coming back from my holiday last week I've made a point of walking past the New York Stock Exchange on my way to work. I sat on a bench and looked at the traders as they exited the building after the close, and every now and again I eavesdropped on their conversations.

Something is wrong.

I keep telling myself that it's all going to be OK, I keep telling myself that things are never as bad as the fear mongers proclaim, but I can't shake off the feeling that the situation is about to take a turn for the worse...

Last Updated on Sunday, 20 July 2008 21:07
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