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A message Japan began delivering Monday is a bit unusual, but true enough: Don’t wait until it’s too late to think about toilet paper. The government and paper companies kicked off a “Let’s stockpile toilet paper!” campaign to mark Disaster Prevention Day, warning of a possible crisis because nearly half of the supply comes from one of Japan’s most earthquake-prone areas. Officials said people immediately think of food and water as emergency supplies, but easily forget toilet paper, and get desperate when it’s too late. …

Home Podcast   concept w/Shutterstock iTunes | Download | Report Problem Kirk Sorensen: An Update On The Thorium Story China sprints while the West slumbers by Adam Taggart Sunday, August 31, 2014, 11:54 AM   Two years ago, we interviewed Kirk Sorensen about the potential for thorium to offer humanity a safe, cheap and abundant source of energy.He is an active advocate for developing liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) technology, the details of which were covered in our earlier podcast: A Detailed Exploration of Thorium's Potential As An Energy Source. That interview concluded with Kirk's observation that the West...

Back in 2006, Joe Biden, then a Senate candidate ran into trouble for a remark that "you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent." Gaffe-prone Biden got away by explaining that it wasn't a racial slur but "was meant as a compliment" for the "vibrant Indian-American community" making "a significant contribution to the national economy as well." A spin or not, Biden who went on become vice president in 2008, was speaking a home truth as according to the Asian-American Convenience Store Owners Association its 50,000 members own over 80,000 convenience...

Don’t be surprised to lose if you don’t make an effort at being competitive.And if you go out of your way to make yourself less competitive, expect to lose.If that sounds like simple common sense, that’s because it is.But it’s also exactly what the US has been doing for years—enacting tax policies that sabotage its global economic competitiveness.It’s like trying to get in shape for a marathon by going on an all-McDonald’s diet. (Speaking of McDonalds, check out this funny video spoof of what their commercials should really look like.)Here are two major reasons why the US is lagging in...

Between 1970 and 1990, the population of Philadelphia shrank by a quarter, dropping from 1.95 to 1.59 million. Like many American cities, it seemed caught in a downward spiral. Since then – like many American cities – Philadelphia has stabilized. The population now appears to have bottomed out at the millennium, and has been regaining residents over the past decade. But as it rebounds, Philly is becoming a different kind of city. In the two most recent decades, which comprise the bounce of the city’s population curve, owner-occupied housing dropped even more steeply than in the ’70s and ’80s. Between...

From the start, little has been typical about Tesla Motors' plan for a $5 billion factory to make batteries for a new generation of electric cars. It's not just the project's massive scale, the cutting-edge technology, or even the bonanza of 6,500 good-paying jobs. It's how Tesla is deciding where to build. Through a series of unusual plays, Tesla has five states bidding up subsidy packages to land the coveted plant. The winner is expected to offer the luxury car-maker publicly financed incentives exceeding a half-billion dollars.

It boggles the mind to think that the United States now has the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world. But it’s even more amazing that America arguably has the most punitive corporate tax rate in the entire world.Here’s some of what I wrote on the topic for today’s U.K.-based Telegraph. …the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world (and the highest in the entire world, according to KPMG, if you ignore the United Arab Emirates’ severance tax on oil companies). …The central government in Washington imposes a 35pc rate on corporate income, with...

This election has been most difficult for U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) with one mistake after another taking her off message. First it was discovered that she was charging taxpayers for at least four campaign flights. Her embarrassing mistakes were not something Louisiana voters should expect from a Senator with so much experience. Mary Landrieu has been in political office since 1979 and has served in the U.S. Senate since 1997. It is inexcusable for Landrieu not to know that taxpayers should not be charged for campaign air travel. Her latest stumble involves residency. When qualifying for re-election, Landrieu used...

Years after former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was mocked for being concerned about "death panels," the federal government may reimburse Medicare doctors for end-of-life consultations that critics say would only encourage sick patients to reject costly treatments to prolong life. The New York Times reports that "Medicare may begin covering end-of-life discussions next year if it approves a recent request from the American Medical Association," which is "the country’s largest association of physicians and medical students" and creates "billing codes for medical services, codes used by doctors, hospitals and insurers." According to the Times, the group "recently created codes for...

Obamacare greatly expanded Medicaid coverage, but there is a hidden gotcha that may come back and haunt your heirs for benefits you receive from age 55-64. This is not new news, but few read and understand the "fine print". In a warning about the "fine print" and in response to Moral Dilemma: Should a Libertarian Who Does Not Need Food Stamps, but Qualifies for Them, Take Them? reader "TL" writes ... Hello Mish, Your friend Steven may want to carefully research taking Medi-Cal benefits. Medi-Cal, and many other state Medicaid programs include a ‘claw-back’ provision for recovery of costs incurred...

I guess he really was multitasking out on the golf course. The President’s team has been hard at work behind the scenes, coming up with a strategy … well, maybe we should say plan, to address the nation’s many challenges. Spurred by President Obama’s climate action plan, the Department of Energy is pumping out new standards for refrigerators, dishwashers, air conditioners, ceiling fans, furnaces, boilers, water heaters, lamps and many more appliances.The administration says the standards will not only help the planet but also stimulate the economy by saving consumers money on their energy bills that they can spend...

California’s economic recovery has featured a growing share of lower-wage jobs, raising concerns about the opportunities for middle-class workers hit hard by the Great Recession, a new analysis finds. The California Budget Project, a nonprofit economic research group, analyzed decades of state labor data to find that low- and middle-wage workers have seen significant pay declines over the last decade. Local and state government jobs -- traditionally a reliable source of middle-class employment -- have been particularly slow to recover. -snip- Looking ahead, low-wage jobs are forecast to be one of the fastest-growing segments of the workforce. The state expects...

Drone proponents prefer using the term Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) or UAS for Unmanned Aerial System (latter term includes the entirety of the flying vehicle and the ground-base communications connection connecting the two). Whatever your preferred verbiage is, drones are poised to become a huge global business and the aerial devices are going to have a significant impact across a wide variety of industries. Historically, the military has been the biggest user/purchaser of drones; The Wall Street Journal estimated that the U.S. military spent about $3 billion on drone programs in 2012. And many aerospace companies continue to develop highly...

Listen to the experts. Challenge yourself to understand that looting isn’t bad, and shouldn’t be viewed as a violation of the rights of an innocent person or persons or a frontal assault on the essence of civilization itself. No, looting and rioting are important human expressions for change that should be protected and celebrated. And perhaps subsidized via a pilot federal program. Sadly, as Yamiche Alcindor reports for USA Today. “When protesters burned down a convenience store near where a police officer fatally shot Michael Brown, many condemned it.” Oh, dear, how small-minded of them. Thankfully, “experts say the ensuing...

With the public hearing in Soldotna last night, the public comment period on the proposal to close the Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 Brown Bear hunting season on the Kenai Peninsula comes to an end. In a release yesterday, the Governor’s office said, “Federal land managers have again proposed limiting Alaskans’ access to a state resource, the proposed closure is not justified by either resource protection concerns or federal policy. I strongly urge the Service to reconsider this action and allow state-authorized hunting to continue on the refuge.” ... The decision to temporarily close the Brown Bear season on the...

President Obama on Friday turned prepper, with a proclamation regarding National Preparedness Month that warned emergencies, “from hurricanes and wildfires to cyber and terrorist attacks, can strike anywhere at any time.” In his proclamation, he said each household should have its own plan. “Before emergencies occur, we must make sure we are ready to respond, and it is every American’s responsibility to be prepared. There are simple but important steps we can all take to ensure we know what to do and have what we need in the event of a crisis. National Preparedness Month is an opportunity to talk...

Nearly 10,000 students across the country are facing an uncertain future following the sudden collapse of another for-profit college system this week. After a summer which saw the dramatic collapse of Corinthian Colleges, fellow for-profit education company Anthem Education is rapidly closing its doors after the company filed for bankruptcy this week. Prior to filing for bankruptcy, Anthem Education had no fewer than 34 different campuses around the country. That number is in rapid free fall, with nine campuses shutting down Friday after the Department of Education failed to approve a deal that would temporarily keep them open. Anthem’s collapse...

Religious directives that some worried could restrict medical care at a new health clinic preparing to open on the Washington State University Spokane campus are being jettisoned. The announcement Friday by Providence Health & Services comes two days after the American Civil Liberties Union expressed concern about the clinic’s bylaws and asked WSU regents to address the matter at their Sept. 11 meeting. The Spokane Teaching Health Center is a consortium of Providence, WSU Spokane and the Empire Health Foundation. It’s expected to open on the WSU Spokane campus in 2016, and regents will consider selling $15 million in revenue...

This morning looking in today's Real Clear MarketsGet I got a real kick out of this link that appeared :  Kick Off Labor Day Weekend With Some Depressing Charts - Quartz.   What the Quartz guys were wetting their pants over was how employee pay % total Gross Domestic Income was falling.  Here's a plot of the numbers they stole from the American Tax Payer supported BEA.gov: (Note: Freepers can't post Quartz articles because of an alleged copyright complaint)      Apparently what's really got them upset is that the evil capitalist is exploiting the American Worker and the the share for evil...

Bob Owens at Bearing Arms talks about a new piece of Democrat legislation which, rather than trying to ban various types of weapons, seeks to restrict civilians from using certain classes of body armor. These anti-gun Democrats keep failing to stop us from having guns… and so they seem intent on making sure that we cannot defend ourselves against theirs. HR 5344, the laughably titled “Responsible Body Armor Possession Act,” is nothing more or less than attempt ban Level III and higher body armor that can defeat most common rifle ammunition, such as the steel plate armor sold by AR500...