Politically Correct Beer: How Do the Major Players Rate?

InBev NV (INBVF:US), the world’s largest brewing company by sales, is buying Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. (NYSE: BUD), the brewer that owns the best-selling beer in America. Anheuser-Busch had a 1.8 percent increase in profit in the second quarter of 2008. People are drinking a lot, even though (or because) they are making less money or…

In These Trying Times, Keep Your Head Above Water

Photo: wester, Creative Commons, Flickr Looking for a way to trade the credit crisis? Boring! That’s so last year. Jump in and trade the water crisis. Over the last year, power-hungry politicians and lazy journalists (myself included) have been blaming greedy speculators for the dramatic rise in oil prices, and it’s just a matter of…

The Mindset List

Beloit College, in Wisconsin, annually publishes a list for incoming students that identifies (and perhaps corrects) the sociological and political assumptions of 18 year-olds entering their first year of post-secondary education.

Sovereign Wealth Funds to the Rescue?

The equity bears will argue that we’re seeing a classic bear market rally, but the bulls might soon have some new ammunition to push stocks higher. I must admit that I’m part of the bearish camp, but the following piece of news has forced me to reconsider my position:

The Holy Grail of Health Insurance: DENIED

The Washington Post recently published an article, later picked up by MSNBC, on the fact that health insurance companies are now targeting patient’s electronic prescription records as a quick, easy and relatively inexpensive way to evaluate a person’s insurability. Gone are the days of contacting a physician’s office or hospital business center and speaking with…

How Nerds Can Help America’s Economy

While the twentieth century had the arms race, the competition in this century will be a brains race, and it looks like America is falling behind. "Although the United States continues to possess the world’s strongest science and engineering enterprise, its position is jeopardized both by evolving weakness at home and by growing strength abroad,"…

China and the Olympics Hype

Photo: china_puwa, Creative Commons, Flickr What will China look like after the Olympics? This seems like a dull question that has been asked a million times by mainstream media. But what if we ask another question, one with a more sinister undertone: Is the Chinese government using the Olympics hype to cover up fundamental problems?