Economy

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Sunday Link-Off: The Political Domain

chrissy-teigen-bbma15-02bToday’s set of links has a lot of links about politics and the economy. Considering how many important things are happening in the world, it amazes me how few people seem to care about the stuff that truly matters. Maybe it’s just the people I spend my time with day-to-day but they’ll gladly talk about sports or reality TV but things like current events? Forget about it. And you wonder why people worry about younger generations.

Alright, it’s Sunday so it’s time for us to do the links. Let’s kick things off with Chrissy Teigen.

Five big banks have been hit with nearly $6 billion in fines for rigging currency markets. It’s kind of a big deal. (The Real News)

The Trans-Pacific Partnership was supposed to be a slam dunk trade deal. Now that the public is catching wind of what it’s really about, there’s push back that is threatening the agreement. (Al Jazeera America)

Al Jazeera America was built to be a newsman’s dream. Think of it as The Newsroom of newsrooms. However, somewhere along the way, the culture has taken a tumble and AJAM is falling apart. (Jezebel)

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Wednesday Link-Off: Follow the Money

eve-tramunt-adoreme13-01It’s Wednesday which means that this is the time for some of our favourite links from the week so far. Let’s start out with French model Eve Tramunt.

Detroit’s bankruptcy isn’t just a result of the recent Great Recession but the result of bad decisions starting back in the 1950s that built up to this year’s bankruptcy declaration. (Detroit Free Press)

Canadian scientists are concerned about the federal government’s lack of interest in research that serves the public rather than commercial interests. The Harper government bending over to promote business over the people shouldn’t surprise anyone. (The Globe and Mail)

The Great Recession is five years old now. Here’s how we’re still talking about it incorrectly. (Washington Post)

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Greed isn’t Good: Why Supply-Side Economics Doesn’t Work

Despite his numerous gaffes, including but not limited to offending foreign allies, calling 47% of Americans freeloaders, suggesting that airplanes need windows that roll down and blaming Obama for the unrest in the Middle East that resulted in the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Mitt Romney is still reasonably close to President Obama in the polls.

The main reason why Romney is still in the race (apart from bias of the electorate) is that he is being portrayed as the candidate with a plan for economic recovery. The problem I have with Romney’s economic plan is that there’s no detailed plan in place. However, we know the basic of the Romney plan. It will involve tax cuts for the rich and corporations and government spending cuts to balance the budget. This is called supply-side economics. Recent history shows that supply-side economics don’t work. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: Big Money

Well, I just dropped $50 on my office hockey pool which I doubt I’m going to get back. So here’s some Jessica Lowndes to make me feel better.

Twitter is looking for new ways to earn revenue before its moment as the big social network passes. But can it be done? (New York Magazine)

Speaking of money, Stephen Harper spent the last election claiming he was the best choice for the Canadian economy. However, he hasn’t done much to prove that. (Bullion Bulls Canada)

Brett Favre is back! Well, at least he’s not back as a quarterback. He’s taken up a career as a broadcaster. (Awful Announcing)

After the jump, are you ready from some ill-advised metaphors, the latest website turned into a TV show and Clarkson’s video game trailer. Continue reading →

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Lowdown BlogCast: August 9, 2011

To show that we don’t always take months between podcasts, here’s another episode of The Lowdown BlogCast. This edition starts on a serious note as Steve and Jackie talk about the colossal failure that is the solution to the US Debt Crisis. They then debut the new Lowdown Pub Quiz in which Steve and Jackie compete in a battle of inferior intellect. (Well, at least in Steve’s case.) Hockey talk starts up with a quick analysis of the Winnipeg Jets’ new logos. The boys look at Philadelphia’s “Dry Island” policy that allegedly led to Mike Richards and Jeff Carter getting traded and what say should have in their players’ personal lives. Entertainment features Lights as Jackie’s single of the week and a throwback to the guys’ childhoods in It Came From YouTube. Lights also leads the boys to look at the schedule for UWO’s 2011 O-Week and how it’s changed since their O-Week in 2005. They talk about film nudity after news came out that Olivia Wilde’s nudity in The Change Up was CGI’d in. Entertainment wraps up with a discussion of the upcoming Battleship movie and director Peter Berg’s credits. The show wraps up with the return of the Car Wall as the boys break down another website’s list of eight cars guaranteed to pick up women and determine that it’s catastrophically wrong. In total, we have over two hours of great Lowdown action.

Click here to download The Lowdown BlogCast.
Click here to download the podcast quality version.

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Lowdown Radio Classic: November 13, 2007

While I work on the next episode of the radio show, I thought why not post a classic episode of the show that I really like. This episode goes back to the beginnings of The Lowdown radio show. In fact, it was our second ever episode and you can really tell the difference between then and now. In this vintage episode, Steve talks with Michael Parkin, a UWO economics professor and former president of the Canadian Economics Association, about the fluctuating value of the Canadian dollar. On entertainment, the guys discuss the latest Westlife single, Home, and compare it to the Michael Bublé original. They also tackle the then days old TV and movies writers strike which prompts Steve to call a strike. The show ends with sports which was the NHL quarter-season review and the first time we play Toss Up for the first time ever. In case you were wondering, that game makes a return on Tuesday. As an added bonus, we’ve touched up the episode a bit to improve the sound.

Click here to download the 9 MB podcast version.
Click here to download the 28 MB high-quality version.

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Weekend Link-Off: Rewind Edition

freida-pinto-for-maxim-india2

Maybe I’m messing with a decent formula but I’m trying this weekend’s link-off as the best articles from the week that was. For example, I finally watched Slumdog Millionaire this week. That’s why Freida Pinto headlines the post. After the jump, Billy Bob Thornton has his Joaquin moment. I wonder how much CBC paid him to act like that to get that show some publicity. Did I mention that I’m a conspiracy theorist?

Some guy steals a plane from Canada and flies to Wisconsin. What on earth would possess someone to steal a low-end Cessna and carry on flying when flanked by two F-16s? (CBC)

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has a history doing stupid things so the Telegraph put together a list of his Top 10 gaffes. (Daily Telegraph)

Fox sympathises with your recession-related job woes. That’s why their new reality show about picking a collegue at your workplace to fire is not exploitative at all. (Yahoo/AP)

The Associated Press are planning on taking legal action against websites that steal their stories. Does that mean that websites that report on this story will get sued? (LA Times)

The Conficker worm turns out to be just a spambot or maybe a keylogger. So much for a pseudo-apocolyptic internet ending worm. (CNET)

The Fifth Third Burger (that 5000 calorie behemoth with beef, chili, cheese, chips, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, and more) was a hit at the West Michigan Whitecaps home opener. (CNBC) And if you’re adventurous enough to want to see someone demolish a Fifth Third Burger, then I’ve dug up some video for you. (Busted Coverage) I think Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut should head up Grand Rapids way and do a special challenge eat-off with this thing.

Indian woman eats 51 of the world’s hottest chilis in two minutes.  I would expect her to boil to death from the inside. (BBC)

Apple drops Digital Rights Management on iTunes songs and introduces variable pricing.  Meanwhile, Amazon is catching up. (Washington Post)

Common sense returns to baseball. Okay, they’re just starting the World Series earlier but for Bud that’s a monumental improvement. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Lance Armstrong is in trouble with the French again over (surprise, surprise) drug testing. Lance, we know you weren’t on the level when you won seven in a row. Just admit it so the French can get on with their lives. Actually, I’m not sure if the French have a life outside of persecuting Lance Armstrong. (New York Times)

How to tell if an ATM is setup to steal your card and pin numbers. (Network World)

A recent survey says that about two-thirds of media insiders believe that journalism has been hurt rather than helped by the internet. (The Atlantic)

Playstation 3 outsells the Wii… in Japan. I guess it’s one small step for man, one giant leap for superior technology. (Reuters)

Q&A with the supervising director of the “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” animated TV series. (IGN) Continue reading →

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Logos After The Recession

As you know, the economy sucks.  I’m not going to try and explain why the economy is on a continuous tailspin because hedge funds lost all their value because banks defaulted on loans they owe because people they loaned money to defaulted on their loans.

Instead, the global economic crisis has caused some major international corporations to update their logos to reflect the times.

Apple
apple Continue reading →