Category «Economy»

2022’s US climate disasters, from storms and floods to heat waves and droughts

Ars Technica: “The year 2022 will be remembered across the US for its devastating flooding and storms—and also for its extreme heat waves and droughts. By October, the US had already seen 15 disasters causing more than $1 billion in damage each, well above the average. The year started and ended with widespread severe winter …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Health Care

Google will pay $9.5 million to settle Washington DC AG’s location-tracking lawsuit

engadget: “Google has agreed to pay $9.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Washington DC Attorney General Karl Racine, who accused the company earlier this year of “deceiving users and invading their privacy.” Google has also agreed to change some of its practices, primarily concerning how it informs users about collecting, storing and using …

Subjects: E-Records, Economy, Financial System, Internet, Poverty, Search Engines

Ways and Means Committee Votes to Release Investigation of the IRS’s Mandatory Audit Program Under the Prior Administration

WASHINGTON, DC, December 30 2022 — The Ways and Means Committee voted to publicly release the Committee’s investigation of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Mandatory Audit Program under the prior administration. The Committee’s investigation found the mandatory program was dormant, at best, with only one audit opened while the former President was in office, and …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

Subpoenaed Fossil Fuel Documents Reveal an Industry Stuck in the Past

The Intercept: “…As part of its investigation into climate disinformation, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed documents in November 2021 from four of the world’s largest oil companies; their U.S. trade association, the American Petroleum Institute; and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The chamber did not comply with the subpoena, but the rest submitted a variety …

Subjects: Climate Change, Congress, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

World Weather Attribution

“Since 2015 the World Weather Attribution (WWA) initiative has been conducting real-time attribution analysis of extreme weather events as they happen around the world. This provides the public, scientists and decision-makers with the means to make clear connections between greenhouse gas emissions and impactful extreme weather events, such as storms, floods, heatwaves and droughts. We …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Food and Nutrition, Transportation

What’s gone at Twitter? A data center, janitors, some toilet paper

The New York Times: “Twitter is said to have stopped paying rent at its Seattle office, leading it to face eviction. Janitorial and security services have been cut, and in some cases employees have resorted to bringing their own toilet paper to the office…Elon Musk has reduced the company to a bare-bones operation, and employees …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Internet, Social Media

AI paper mills and image generation require a co-ordinated response from academic publishers

LSE Impact Blog:  “The role of AI in the production of research papers is rapidly moving from being a futuristic vision, towards an everyday reality; a situation with significant consequences for research integrity and the detection of fraudulent research. Rebecca Lawrence and Sabina Alam argue that for publishers, collaboration and open research workflows are key …

Subjects: AI, Economy, Education, Financial System, Knowledge Management

Cyber attacks set to become ‘uninsurable’

FT.com $ – “The chief executive of one of Europe’s biggest insurance companies has warned that cyber attacks, rather than natural catastrophes, will become “uninsurable” as the disruption from hacks continues to grow. Insurance executives have been increasingly vocal in recent years about systemic risks, such as pandemics and climate change, that test the sector’s …

Subjects: Cybersecurity, Economy, Financial System

How Much Lifetime Social Security Benefits Are Americans Leaving on the Table?

How Much Lifetime Social Security Benefits Are Americans Leaving on the Table? David Altig, Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Victor Yifan Ye, November 16, 2022: “Americans are notoriously bad savers. Large numbers are reaching old age too poor to finance retirements that could last longer than they worked. This study uses the 2018 American Community Survey to …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System

Why the super rich are inevitable

Pudding / Alvin Chang: “Why do super rich people exist in a society? Many of us assume it’s because some people make better financial decisions. But what if this isn’t true? What if the economy – our economy – is designed to create a few super rich people? That’s what mathematicians argue in something called …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System

A New Chat Bot Is a ‘Code Red’ for Google’s Search Business

The New York Times: “A new wave of chat bots like ChatGPT use artificial intelligence that could reinvent or even replace the traditional internet search engine. Over the past three decades, a handful of products like Netscape’s web browser, Google’s search engine and Apple’s iPhone have truly upended the tech industry and made what came …

Subjects: AI, E-Commerce, Economy, Financial System, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines