A few years back there was a landmark case involving “Big Tobacco,” where tobacco companies were held accountable for selling a composite of known poisons with addictive qualities for decades. Recently in Rhode Island, aka the lead paint capital of the world, a similar judgement has come down on the Paint Industry. Ahhh, yes. The evil, corporate sharks of the cut-throat paint business. Lead paint wasn’t illegal to use until 1978 – about 30 years after most of the homes in Rhode Island were built, and about 30 years prior to the lawsuit. We’re looking at potential torts that may or may not have occurred 60 years ago. In the meantime,a s the NYT reports, lead-poisoning rates among RI youngsters has been steadily declining over the … Read entire article »

Nope. On the global scale, even China must succumb to the laws of competition. Recently, the New York Times has suggested that there is a possible Labor Shortage in China. And although some argue that the labor shortage is probably only a regional problem, in a nation of 1 billion people, a regional problem is a pretty significant problem nonetheless. “We’re seeing an end to the golden period of extremely low-cost labor in China,” said Hong Liang, a Goldman Sachs economist who has studied labor costs here. “There are plenty of workers, but the supply of uneducated workers is shrinking.” …And proof that people around the world don’t like to stay at the bottom of the economic barrel any longer than is absolutely necessary; they’d rather go … Read entire article »