Economy

Wealth Gap Widens in Silicon Valley

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The information economy may be firing on all cylinders, but in Silicon Valley more than 60,000 “midwage” jobs — defined as those paying between $30,000 to $80,000 annually — disappeared between 2002 and 2006. During that same period, however, Silicon Valley employers added more than 66,000 jobs paying less than $30,000. The Silicon Valley Index, published annually by a public-private consortium, details the changes, many of which contain “good news,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. This includes increased worker productivity, more venture capital, and growth in niche markets and new industries, such as “clean tech.” The report blames outsourcing as one of the main culprits in the exodus of higher-paying jobs, but also calls for more aggressive retraining of workers who have been sidelined by the global economy, and remain unaware of opportunities in other fields.

Economy

"Dodgy Collateral" Fuels New Bank Borrowing

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U.S. banks have borrowed almost $50 billion in the last month from the Federal Reserve, using an expanded government program that some critics fear will deepen instability long-term. The Financial Times of London reports that the Reserve’s Term Auction Facility has enabled the government to reduce “financial stress” by “channelling liquidity into the banking system.” It achieves this by allowing banks to “borrow at relatively attractive rates against a wider range of their assets than previously permitted.” One analyst, however, told the Times that the move allowed banks to borrow more freely against “dodgy” or “garbage” collateral, and said the situation was “perilous.” Overall, however, the U.S. government program is popular with banks, and may even be expanded.

Democracy & Civics

Great Lakes Toxics Data Suppressed?

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Millions of people in the Great Lakes region may face health problems from toxic pollution, but a study on the risk is under wraps seven months after its conclusion, and the scientist who led the project has been demoted. The Center for Public Integrity reports that Dr. Christopher De Rosa, a federal toxicology researcher, told his superior that delaying the report has the “appearance of censorship of science … regarding the health status of vulnerable communities.” In a letter to De Rosa, Dr. Howard Frumkin of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote that the study’s quality is “well below expectations.” De Rosa has since been demoted, according to the CPI, in what he claims is illegal retaliation by Frumkin.

Democracy & Civics

New York Targets Nonprofit Fraud

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New York City investigators are looking into more than 30 cases of potential nonprofit fraud, the New York Post reports. The investigations follow a 2006 scandal at the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, in which two executives confessed to misappropriating $1.2 million. The new inquiry will review $3.8 billion in 2007 city contracts with nonprofit health and human services organizations. Rose Gill Hearn, who spearheaded the new investigation, told the Post that fraud typically has involved executives asking their staff to create invoices for projects that didn’t take place, or to approve checks for home improvements and other personal expenses. She blamed lax oversight by nonprofit boards of directors, and said all the investigations could lead to criminal prosecutions both in New York City and at the state level.

Economy

Housing Crash Takes Down Renters, Too

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Among the 11,000 San Francisco Bay Area homes repossessed in 2007 are hidden statistics — the number of renters quickly evicted following their landlords’ fall from grace. No one knows how many renters have been shown the door, but the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the number is “high.” One housing counselor told the newspaper that it has become a “common problem,” while the Oakland city attorney’s office has heard “a ton of anecdotes” about such evictions, according to a neighborhood legal advocate. Efforts to strengthen tenants’ rights have been stymied at the state level. Meanwhile, some lenders are said to speed up the eviction process by telling tenants in foreclosed properties that they no longer have to pay rent — and then serve them eviction notices for nonpayment several months later.

Economy

Shoemakers Walking Away from South China

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More than 1,000 shoe factories in southern China have closed in the past year — half of them just in the past 12 weeks — and many more will be shutting down in the coming months, according to news reports. Hong Kong’s Asia Times reports that about 10,000 factories of different types are expected to close in the region this month, as wages increase and environmental and employment regulations tighten. About half the companies leaving Guangdong are moving to other provinces of China, according to Hong Kong’s Asia Times. At least 25 percent of them are moving to other Asian nations such as Vietnam, where labor is cheaper and regulations looser, according to the newspaper. China’s new Labor Contract Law, which was implemented last month, is seen as a major factor in the mass exodus of industry.

Democracy & Civics

Black and White and Read All Over … in Asia, Anyway

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Newspapers in the United States may be shrinking, losing circulation and laying off employees at an alarming rate, but times have never been better for the daily press in Asia. Seven of the 10 best-selling daily newspapers worldwide are in Asia, according to a Yahoo News story, and circulation there rose 3.6 percent in 2006, compared to a two percent drop in the United States. “The media has never been as powerful, or as pervasive, as it is in Asia right now,” said Shelia Coronel, director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University. Rising literacy and economic expansion have created strong demand for news in the region, experts say. And, while online readership is growing rapidly in advanced countries such as South Korea and Taiwan, demand for print is growing in the industry’s three biggest markets, China, India and even tech-savvy Japan.

Democracy & Civics

Russia Sends Opposition To Psych Wards

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A Russian opposition activist was forced into a mental hospital in one of many signs of the Russian government’s crackdown ahead of elections next month. Roman Nikolaichik, a 27-year-old lawyer and member of Garry Kasparov’s Other Russia Coalition, was detained by authorities on Friday, questioned about his political activities and sent to a psychiatric hospital, the Moscow Times reported. Human rights groups have documented several similar incidents in recent years:
– Andrei Novikov, a reporter for a news service connected to the Chechen separatist government, spent nine months in a psychiatric hospital before being released in December. – Larisa Arap, a journalist and Other Russia member, was confined to a mental clinic for six weeks last summer. – Another journalist and member of Other Russia was granted political asylum in Ukraine after allegedly being persecuted by police for his coverage of local corruption.

Environment

The Melting Mountains

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The Arctic ice caps and Antarctic glaciers are well-known barometers of global warming, but melting masses of ice in the Himalayas are in perhaps even more danger. Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper flew a plane over Nepal’s Himalayan glaciers, and found that the ice there is retreating more rapidly than scientists expected. In some places, mountain lakes have grown so large they threaten to burst their banks –- which could lead to massive flooding in the heavily populated areas downstream. The newspaper quoted an unnamed Sherpa man as saying, “Year by year, the snow-white part of the mountains becomes smaller while whole mountains darken.” Nearly half the world’s population depends on water that originates in the Himalayas.

Democracy & Civics

Specter of Fraud Haunts Pakistan Election

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The majority of Pakistan’s voters expect the upcoming February 18 election to be rigged, reports McClatchy Newspapers. Doubts are widespread, with only 15 percent of voters expecting the poll to be fair. Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister, told reporters that he expects the election to be a “farce,” but predicted extremely low results for Pervez Musharraf, his longtime rival and the military-backed incumbent. Musharraf, meanwhile, insisted that the elections would be fair, but said that there would be problems if political parties don’t accept the outcome. Although analysts predict a strong “sympathy vote” for the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, campaigning has been low-key due to fears of political violence and terrorism.