Kiva.org partners with Moody's to Enhance Microlending
10.01.2009
Gotham Artists
Kiva.org -- the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website -- today announced a landmark partnership with Moody's Corporation to bring their credit ratings and risk management expertise to online microfinance.
Kiva.org estimates that Moody's in-kind services and financial support will spur the growth of microlending through its website through improved transparency and analytical rigor, and an expanded on-the-ground presence. Kiva projects that the partnership will contribute towards raising $1 billion in microloans by 2015, benefiting an estimated one million people directly and 32 million indirectly through economic development and improved living standards. > View article
Richard Florida on Youth-Magnet Cities
09.30.2009
Richard Florida > View profilePredicting cities that will emerge as post-recession meccas for the young is easy to argue about, but impossible to forecast empirically. Whether you prefer hip, casual Austin, Texas, over the cosmopolitan allure of New York City is partly a matter of personal taste. Still, we asked six experts which 10 cities will emerge as the hottest, hippest destinations for highly mobile, educated workers in their 20s when the U.S. economy gets moving again. Our panelists—demographers, economists, geographers and authors on urban issues—picked their cities based on the criteria they deem most important, from economic diversity to lifestyle. (Wall Street Journal) > View article
Kurzweil: Immortality in 20 Years
09.22.2009
Ray Kurzweil > View profile
The 61-year-old American, who has predicted new technologies arriving before, says our understanding of genes and computer technology is accelerating at an incredible rate.
He says theoretically, at the rate our understanding is increasing, nanotechnologies capable of replacing many of our vital organs could be available in 20 years time.
Mr. Kurzweil calls his theory the Law of Accelerating Returns. (The Telegraph) > View article
Weinstein: The Ethics of Multitasking
09.17.2009
Bruce Weinstein Ph.D. > View profileWhen you multitask, you're doing a lot of work, but you're not doing most (or any) of it well. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed that people who fired off e-mails while talking on the phone and watching YouTube videos did each activity less well than those who focused on one thing at a time. Psychiatrist Edward M. Hallowell, author of CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap! (Ballantine, 2006), puts it this way: "Multitasking is shifting focus from one task to another in rapid succession. It gives the illusion that we're simultaneously tasking, but we're really not. It's like playing tennis with three balls." (BusinessWeek) > View article
Frank Luntz: What Americans Really Want
09.17.2009
Frank Luntz > View profileFrom restaurant booths to voting booths, Frank Luntz has watched and assessed our private habits, our public interests, and our hopes and fears. What are the five things Americans want the most? What do they really want in their daily lives? In their jobs? From their government? For their families? In his new book, "What Americans Really Want ... Really," Luntz lays out a discussion of Americans' secret hopes, fears, wants and needs. In this excerpt, he writes about what he's found out about Americans' TV and sexual habits. (MSNBC) > View article
Chris Hayes on Rachel Maddow to Discuss Obama's Healthcare Speech
09.10.2009
Christopher Hayes > View profileThe Nation's Chris Hayes appears on The Rachel Maddow show to respond to President Obama's healthcare speech. In particular, Hayes analyzes the way Democrats responded to right-wing attacks during the August congressional research. He notes that the response to the "death panel" rumor was slow in part because it was so outrageous that Democrats assumed no one would actually believe it--and if polls are to be believed, no one outside those already opposed to healthcare reform really did believe it. Hayes points out that public opinion data on healthcare reform remains essentially unchanged, and Maddow notes that "Beltway common stinky wisdom" is not actually the same as the ideas going around in the rest of the country. The mainstream media might report it as fact, but that doesn't mean it actually is fact. (by Sarah Jaffe) > View article
Mark Zandi in the Wall Street Journal on student loans
09.03.2009
Mark Zandi > View profile
Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy.com, says he thinks unemployment rates will be at least as high as they are now, and housing prices will fall further, making it difficult for families to borrow against home equity.
"Growth in student lending can remain very strong, at least through the next school year," Mr. Zandi predicts. > View article
Lt. Dan Choi Cover Article in KoreAm
08.27.2009
Lt. Dan Choi > View profileLt. Dan Choi and his remarkable story are now featured as the cover article in the August issue of KoreAm, the premier magazine for the nation's 1.5 Million Korean Americans. > View article
Barbara Cocoran Stars in New ABC Show The Shark Tank
08.21.2009
Barbara Corcoran > View profileWanna-be entrepreneurs get the chance to score large sums of money to kick-start a business on "Shark Tank," premiering tonight on ABC. One of the sharks is Manhattan-based business baroness Barbara Corcoran, who turned a $1,000 loan into a $5 billion real estate company. > View article
Zandi: Emerging Economies Must Lead the Way to Recovery
08.20.2009
Mark Zandi > View profile
Zandi says that's because many lower and middle income Americans feel insecure about their jobs and some are finding it harder to borrow. Zandi says even higher income Americans are not feeling as wealthy as they used to.
"So I think the US consumer will do their part, spend just enough that we get growth and ride a recession but I don't think the U.S. consumer can lead the way. We're going to have to see consumers in the rest of the world, particularly in emerging economies step into that void and power the global economy," he said. > View article
The Ethicist: Can You Hate The Artist But Love The Art?
08.11.2009
Randy Cohen > View profileLast Wednesday Budd Schulberg died at 95. He was a journalist (particularly astute about boxing), a novelist (‘‘What Makes Sammy Run’’) and above all a screenwriter: ‘‘On the Waterfront’’ is a glorious accomplishment. He was also a man who named names to the House Un-American Activities Committee. It is not easy to reconcile Schulberg’s disheartening testimony with his splendid work. Does rejecting the artist mean rejecting the art? > View article
The Second City Plans 50th Anniversary Bash
08.06.2009
The Second City > View profileThe Second City will celebrate its 50th anniversary this fall with a series of events that will bring together alumni and bring back popular sketches and characters. > View article
Mark Zandi: Lower Jobless Claims Encouraging
08.06.2009
Mark Zandi > View profileFewer Americans filed for new jobless benefits last week. And economists say that July's unemployment report due out on Friday could be another sign that the recession has bottomed out. But even as the pace of job losses appears to be slowing, U.S. retailers continue to report disappointing sales. > View article
Senate Agrees To Hearing on DADT
07.28.2009
Lt. Dan Choi > View profileNew York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said Monday she had won the commitment of the Senate Armed Services Committee to hold its first hearing this fall on the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military. > View article
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