Category: Business
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Rise of Titan the World’s Fastest Supercomputer
After falling behind Asia and Europe in the great race, where success is measured in FLOPS floating-point operations per second, the US has struck back at the new high-tech Olympians with Titan: quite possibly the fastest supercomputer in the world. … All of that might now change, as a new supercomputing giant hailing from the…
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New Star Wars Film Coming In 2015
Uh, Star Wars geeks enthusiasts? Brace yourselves for a double whammy. One: Disney has purchased Lucasfilm for a whopping $4.05 billion (yes, with a “b”). Which brings us to two: Stars Wars Episode VII is not only happening, but it has a release date for sometime in 2015. via E! Online. Excellent news.
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Obama a Real Contributor to Subprime Loan Failures
President Barack Obama was a pioneering contributor to the national subprime real estate bubble, and roughly half of the 186 African-American clients in his landmark 1995 mortgage discrimination lawsuit against Citibank have since gone bankrupt or received foreclosure notices. As few as 19 of those 186 clients still own homes with clean credit ratings, following…
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Pension’s Rate of Return Plummets to 0.76%
This sounds like a problem: The pension fund for most public school teachers in Illinois generated just 0.76 percent in fiscal 2012, a big drop from the 23.6 percent rate of return in the previous fiscal year, the Teachers’ Retirement System reported on Thursday. … It is the long-term results that matter and the system’s…
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Illinois Tollway Netting $Billion per Year
To help pay for these projects, the tollway anticipates raking in $977 million from tolls in 2013 – thanks to the 87.5 percent increase that went into effect Jan. 1. via Chicago Tribune. Doh!
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30,000 Unfilled Jobs in Illinois
Say “skills gap” to any manufacturer, and invariably they’ll respond with the number 600,000. That’s the gaping hole of unfilled jobs at U.S. manufacturers — for Illinois, estimates point to 30,000 unfilled jobs. The talent shortfall carries serious consequences. In a Manufacturing Institute 2011 skills gap report surveying more than 1,100 U.S. manufacturers, 74 percent…
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What Kid’s Need in Schools (that they’re not getting)
Every person in any career should spend 90 minutes in a classroom at least one time in a school year, sharing their stories and setting an example for the students,” he said. “It’s part of giving back. These kids generally don’t see enough examples of why education is important or who they could be or…
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IL Finances Heading to Social Unrest
“I think it’s going to reach a point where there’s either social disorder or bankruptcy before people will act,” he said. via Crain’s Chicago Business. Ya, that sounds about right. But let’s back-up a little. This is a quote from a story about how back the finances are in Illinois. A Blue Ribbon Panel put…
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Alderman Flip-Flops Again on Chick-fil-A
A Chicago alderman once again is threatening to block Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant in his Northwest Side ward because of the owner’s stance against gay marriage — after saying earlier that he had dropped his opposition to the fast-food outlet. Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno, 1st, accused Dan Cathy, president of the family-owned restaurant chain,…
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Airlines Fees vs. Fares: Impacting Taxes
The liberal Washington Post complains: There’s a 7.5 percent federal tax on every airline ticket. The money goes into a fund that pays for the air transportation system: airports, capital improvements and the operation of the Federal Aviation Administration. … When the airlines kept ticket prices down by shifting $12.8 billion to baggage fees, they…