TOP STORIES:
Detroiters
Without Cars Seek Jobs in Vain as City Shrinks - (www.bloomberg.com) The predawn buses that Detroiter Greg Rich rode
20 miles to a suburban auto-parts plant were late so often he was fired in
January. The 27-year-old high-school graduate has no car and spent a year
job-hunting before he took the $7.40-an-hour position that lasted only seven
months. He said Detroit has no jobs for him and those
in suburbs are unreachable. “I’m very frustrated,” Rich said in a phone
interview during another day of searching the Internet for employment. “The
jobs now aren’t even in Michigan. I’m looking for work in Atlanta.
I have friends inColorado who tell me, ‘You’ve got to
move. There’s nothing there.’”
Capital
One says it can show up at cardholders' homes, workplaces - (www.latimes.com) The
credit card company's recent contract update includes terms that sound menacing
and creepy. Ding-dong, Cap One calling. Credit card issuer Capital One isn't
shy about getting into customers' faces. The company recently sent a contract
update to cardholders that makes clear it can drop by any time it pleases. The
update specifies that "we may contact you in any manner we choose"
and that such contacts can include calls, emails, texts, faxes or a
"personal visit." As if that weren't creepy enough, Cap One says
these visits can be "at your home and at your place of employment." The
police need a court order to pull off something like that. But Cap One says it
has the right to get up close and personal anytime, anywhere. Rick Rofman, 71,
of Van Nuys received the contract update the other day. He was spooked by the
visitation rights Cap One was claiming for itself. "Even the Internal
Revenue Service cannot visit you at home without an arrest warrant,"
Rofman observed.
Indeed, you'd think the 4th
Amendment of the Constitution, which guards against unreasonable searches and
seizures, would make this sort of thing verboten.
Venezuela
National Guard Detains Opposition Leader in Caracas - (www.bloomberg.com) Venezuela’s National Guard detained
Leopoldo Lopez today as the opposition leader, accused by the government of
inciting violence, spoke to followers and prepared to lead them on a march to
downtown Caracas. Protesters surrounded the van that held Lopez, demanding his
freedom while blocking the National Guard from driving away. The van was last
seen slowly moving up a city boulevard. “I present myself here, willing for my
arrest to wake up Venezuelans,” Lopez told followers just minutes before being
detained. “In Venezuela, there is no justice. This fight is for the students,
for those jailed, for the people suffering scarcity, for those without a job,
for the youth without a future.”
Ukraine
Marchers Clash With Police as Putin Resumes Bailout - (www.bloomberg.com) Ukraine’s three-month standoff turned bloody
again, prompting the security service and Interior
Ministry to set an evening deadline for the opposition to halt
protests or face restoration of order by force. “Extremists from the opposition
have crossed the line,” they said in a joint statement on
the security service’s website today. “They are killing innocents on the
streets of the capital of Ukraine, burning buildings and cars,” they said.
“Unless the disorder stops at 6 p.m., we will have to restore order by all
means envisaged by law.” Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko, a former world
boxing champion, urged women and children to leave the encampment and called on
Ukrainian men to join the thousands already there to prevent police from
clearing the area. About 20,000 people were on the square at 6 p.m., the Unian
news service said.
UAW's
Devastating Defeat in Tennessee: Four Blunt Points - (www.businessweek.com) As if anyone needed more evidence of the union
movement’s demise, a United Auto Workers defeat Friday
in Tennessee illustrated organized labor’s profound weakness in America.
Employees at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga rejected UAW membership by a
vote of 712-626. Consider these four blunt points: 1. If the UAW couldn’t win
this one, what can they win? 2. Putting ideology and campaign finance
first, political conservatives can take credit for crushing the UAW in
Tennessee. 3. Volkswagen comes out looking pretty darned good. 4. The
legacy of Detroit continues to haunt unions.
U.S.
home builder sentiment plunges in February: NAHB - (www.reuters.com)
Empire State index retreats in February - (www.marketwatch.com)
Empire State index retreats in February - (www.marketwatch.com)
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