Looks like the world’s largest retailer is getting serious about green.
From The Register:
The five latest stores in Walmart’s pilot program, which now totals 20 stores, Sam’s Clubs, and distribution centers in Hawaii and California, will all be located in sunny Puerto Rico. Their solar installations will be provided by SunEdison, described by Walmart as being [...]

That’s the plan, but color me skeptical. These corporations have too much influence on Capitol Hill. Still, the fact that we’re even talking about it is encouraging.
CNN explains why this issue has reignited…
Two weeks ago, Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) was roundly panned amid speculation that it was considering paying its employees some of the [...]

Thanks to Justin and company for welcoming me on here as a regular contributor. I will be posting on a number of issues, but one area you can expect that I will regularly be tracking is technology related developments and how they interact with the political world and policy. I also live less than ten [...]

Most people don’t realize that the insane gas prices last year had nothing to do with increased demand and had everything to do with market speculation and hoarding encouraged by the top investment banks.
Now True/Slant’s own Matt Taibbi uncovers the truth behind the scam.
Read the rest at True/Slant.

When the world’s largest retailer backs something like this, it’s hard to ignore. Especially since they’ve had such a spotty record when it came to covering their 2 million employees in the past.
From The Hill:
With Wal-Mart’s endorsement of a legal requirement that employers provide health benefits to their workers, the nation’s largest employer has broken [...]

Not too many people are dancing over the news of GM’s bankruptcy, but opinions are decidedly mixed on what the government ownership of the car company will mean.
Lee Cary, of American Thinker sees the era of Government Motors dawning with coercive attempts to force a Green fleet onto American consumers. This, in Cary’s opinion, will [...]

All the kings horses and all the bond deals couldn’t keep GM from cracking. As feared, the car giant has filed for bankruptcy. Now what?
The plan is for the federal government to take a 60 percent ownership stake in the new GM. The Canadian government would take a 12.5 percent stake, with the United Auto [...]

In a bid to survive bankruptcy, Chrsyler is closing nearly 800 dealerships, a full quarter of the company’s dealers. The dealers themselves had no say.
While bankruptcy may be a better long-term solution for Chrysler than continued government bailouts, the short-term will not be pretty. Car dealerships provide a lot of jobs and a lot of [...]

With health care reform coming down the tracks, the private sector is left with two choices. Fight back against change or “join in” with the government’s efforts in an attempt to mitigate the damage. As of now, the private sector seems ready to play along.
President Obama will announce Monday that he has secured the [...]

Despite all the government assistance and talk of providing more, GM lost $6 billion last quarter with earnings dropping by 47%.
GM executives say car buyers are turning away from GM out of concern the company will end up in bankruptcy and won’t honor its warranties. Could the prospect of bankruptcy help force bankruptcy? To [...]

President Obama’s plan to crack down on what he considers to be overseas tax shelters is already creating a lot of backlash from the business community. The main complain? Taxing overseas profits will directly harm American jobs.
[Martin Regalia, chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce] said the ability of companies under current tax law [...]

This certainly turns the tables on the notion that unions are somehow “anti-business.”
From USA Today:
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — The United Auto Workers union will own 55% of a restructured Chrysler LLC and its retiree health care trust will get a seat on the board if union members vote to approve contract concessions this week.
Chrysler stock [...]

On Thursday, President Obama announced support for a new bill aimed at protecting credit card holders.
As early as next week, House Democrats expect to act on a bill that would make it harder for the industry to slap new fees and rates on cardholders while also requiring clearer disclosure of the costs and risks for [...]

So, the ever-sophisticated minds at the Fox network have decided the recession could make for quality entertainment. The network plans to air a reality series where employees at struggling small businesses will decide who among them will be laid off (as distinct from the boss making the decision).
Fox is attempting to position the show, called [...]

At the center of President Obama’s overhaul strategy for Wall Street are the “stress tests” which will be applied to all financial institutions. But how accurate will the test results be? That will depend on whether the treasury takes off-balance-sheet assets into account, experts say.
This is Danielle Ivory, reporting from the American News Project and [...]

Of course this is populist rage, but it goes to show you how angry folks are about how out of whack the pay is right now; especially when it come to corporations that receive bailout money.
The numbers…
American voters say 81 – 16 percent that the government should limit executive compensation at companies receiving federal help, [...]

And after the AIG mess, I say we give it to him. How we allowed one company to take down the entire system still feels unreal to me. How on earth could we allow that to go down? Crazy, crazy, crazy.
But it did happen and we are suffering massive fallout as a result, so we [...]

This is more political theatre than anything, but the populist rage against those irresponsible bonuses is at a fever pitch and if Obama doesn’t handle this one smartly it could seriously hurt the administration’s chances to get more bailout money down the road if it’s needed.
From CBS:
(CBS/AP) The Obama administration is looking for ways [...]