Big Banks Receiving Billions in Corporate Welfare Through Subsidized Rates
A new analysis by Bloomberg News has concluded the nation’s largest banks are receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded corporate welfare because governments are subsiding artificially low interest rates. Banks have been able to borrow at a lower cost because creditors can rely on government intervention should a bank default. A recent paper by the International Monetary Fund estimates the subsidized interest rates end up saving banks 0.8 percent of their borrowing costs. According to Bloomberg, that amounts to $76 billion in subsidies for the nation’s 18 largest banks per year, including $14 billion for JPMorgan Chase — or 77 percent of the bank’s income.
[what a free market isn’t it? what they meant by small govt and free market is, a government which is not taking care of common people, but only the interest of very rich people. its your choice whether it work for you or the 1%.]
Smoking kills friendly bacteria
It’s no secret cigarettes can yellow your teeth. But tobacco smoke has another, unseen effect. It can wipe out the healthy bacteria in your mouth, leaving the field open for pathogenic bugs—like the kind that cause gum disease. So says a study in the journal Infection and Immunity. Researchers gave a complete dental cleaning to 30 volunteers, half of whom were regular smokers. Then, as bacteria moved back in, they took plaque samples and sequenced the DNA in those scrapings. And they found that non-smokers tended to have stable bacterial communities, dominated by a few benign species. That’s good, because a healthy biofilm educates your immune system—preventing unnecessary attacks and inflammation—and it keeps bad bacteria at bay. Smokers, on the other hand, had wildly transient populations, with species moving in and out—which opened up real estate for the bad bugs. Smokers also had higher levels of inflammation, which can destroy friendly bacteria, too. The researchers aren’t sure yet why smoking has this effect. But if you’re looking for a new reason to quit, how about avoiding your dentist?
Taxi Electric in Amsterdam first to adopt the Nissan e-NV200
Taxi Electric, based in Amsterdam, will be the first private taxi company to add the new battery-electric Nissan e-NV200 taxi to its fleet. Taxi Electric operates a fleet of 25 Nissan LEAF vehicles and was the first private taxi service to switch to a fleet of 100% electric taxis in November 2011.