How Goldman gambled on starvation | Johann Hari – The Independent

Goldman Sachs must die:

At the end of 2006, food prices across the world started to rise, suddenly and stratospherically. Within a year, the price of wheat had shot up by 80 per cent, maize by 90 per cent, rice by 320 per cent. In a global jolt of hunger, 200 million people – mostly children – couldn’t afford to get food any more, and sank into malnutrition or starvation. There were riots in more than 30 countries, and at least one government was violently overthrown. Then, in spring 2008, prices just as mysteriously fell back to their previous level. Jean Ziegler, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, calls it “a silent mass murder”, entirely due to “man-made actions.”

Read Article.

California’s Contracting with Small Business and Disabled Vets Exceeds State Goals

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California state agencies in two of the last three years exceeded goals for contracting with small businesses and set a record for contracts with firms owned by disabled veterans, the Department of General Services announced today, releasing reports for the 2007/08 and 2008/09 fiscal years .
Continue reading “California’s Contracting with Small Business and Disabled Vets Exceeds State Goals”

Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Legislation for Green Tech Manufacturing Equipment Sales Tax Exemption to Create Jobs

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Contact: Aaron McLear/Kira Heinrichs
916-445-4571

Building on his commitment to clean technology growth in California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed SB 71 by Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) to create a sales tax exemption for the purchase of green tech manufacturing equipment in California. This tax exemption is a part of the Governor’s California Jobs Initiative, a legislative package that will create or retain at least 100,000 jobs.
Continue reading “Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Legislation for Green Tech Manufacturing Equipment Sales Tax Exemption to Create Jobs”

California Recovery Task Force Launches Interactive Web Portal

Press Release

For Immediate Release:  03/23/2010

Contact: Aaron McLear/Eric Alborg
916-445-5880

California Recovery Task Force Launches Interactive Web Portal

In an effort to provide unprecedented transparency of stimulus spending in California, the California Recovery Task Force has launched an interactive Web Portal (www.recovery.ca.gov) that tracks the more than $85 billion in cash and tax benefits expected overall for Californians.

“Tracking stimulus money has further underscored the need to break through the silos of government at the federal, state and local levels,” said Senior Advisor to the Governor and California Recovery Task Force Director Herb K. Schultz.  “Our Web Portal will continue to evolve in order to provide the most transparent picture of government spending in U.S. history.”

Continue reading “California Recovery Task Force Launches Interactive Web Portal”

Regulators ease up on small business loans | CNN Money


I hope this is true.

Hoping to ease the small-business credit crunch, six regulatory agencies recently banded together in a joint statement essentially promising to back off second-guessing banks’ loans. “Prudent” small business lending “will not be subject to supervisory criticism,” a regulatory group led by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) said earlier this month.

Read Article.

Failing Big Banks? Euthanize ‘Em! | Mother Jones

It’s a plan Volcker has been pushing since he emerged on the financial-reform scene in the past year or so, and Obama so far seems to be support some kind of bank wind-down process. “You get very aggressive traders, and they’re out there,” Volcker said. “Millions of dollars are at stake, and personal bonuses, so they have a real incentive to take risks, which is fine, if you’re not being protected by the government.”

Read Article.