Modeled on the ‘No God’ ad campaign in Britain, the Toronto-based Freethought Association of Canada has created its own ‘No God’ ad campaign. The ads have now been approved by the Toronto Transit Commission to appear on buses and inside subway cars.
On January 29, 2009, with the new law’s namesake Lilly Ledbetter there to witness, President Obama signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — legislation to fight pay discrimination and ensure fundamental fairness to American workers.
We’re doomed. More from Courage Campaign.
The world’s match industry dates to the nineteenth century. In 1827, the friction match was invented by a British chemist John Walker using potassium chlorate and antimony sulfide on the burner side. In 1844, two brothers in Sweden, Johan Edvard Lundstrom and Carl Frans Lundstrom, established a match factory in Jonkoping to manufacture lucifer matches. The lucifer match had a fatal flaw however, it ignited too easily but in 1855, Johan Edvard Lundstrom invented the Swedish-style safety match, the same match that we use now, by separating the combustible ingredients between the match stick head and the striking surface using newly discovered red phosphorus. For most of the rest of the nineteenth century,Sweden and then Japan (Makoto Shimizu went to Sweden in 1879 and brought back the technology) would dominate the global trade in matches but even so the world’s match industry through 1914 is best described as autarkic. Local demand was largely met by local manufacturing.
As a result of severe competition prior to the First World War, the Swedish match industry underwent consolidation from 20 to two companies. One of these two surviving companies, Aktiebolaget Förenade Tändsticksfabriker (Förenade), was led by Ivar Kreuger. Between 1913 and 1932, Ivar Kreuger, who came to be known as the “Swedish Match King,” would turn his small, family-owned match business into a $600 million global match empire. By 1917, Kreuger formed the Svenska Tändsticks Aktiebolaget, or in English, Swedish Match AB (the company formally changed its name to the English version in 1980).
Despite the economic and political disruptions of the interwar period, Swedish Match had manufacturing operations in 36 countries, monopolies in 16 countries, and controlled 60% of the world’s match production. Kreuger companies lent over $300 million dollars to governments in Europe, Latin America, and Asia in exchange for national match monopolies. Relying on international capital markets to finance acquisitions and to secure monopoly deals, by 1929 the stocks and bonds of Kreuger match companies were the most widely held securities in the United States and in the world. After Kreuger’s 1932 suicide, forensic auditors discovered that Kreuger had operated a giant pyramid scheme, commonly called Ponzi schemes. His accounts were ridden with fictitious assets, the truth hidden in a maze of over 400 subsidiary companies. Swedish Match’s deficits exceeded Sweden’s national debt. Funny how things just don’t change though Bernard Madoff is sadly still alive.
The Middle East: Owning Its Challenges
Conflict in Gaza, Iran’s regional influence and Iraq’s future stability are among the many concerns on the minds of leaders in the Middle East.
How will these challenges be addressed from within the region?
Panelists:
Ali Babacan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey
Abdul M. Al Jaber, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Paltel Group, Palestinian Territories
Manouchehr Mottaki, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Hoshyar Zebari, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq
This panel is chaired by Tony Blair, UN Middle East Quartet Representative; Member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum.
Via M Live News:
Canada’s main opposition party backed away from plans to topple the Conservative government, saying Wednesday the prime minister is “on probation” and must give periodic economic updates to Parliament.
The opposition Liberals had vowed to use a parliamentary confidence vote to take down Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minority government if his stimulus plan fell short.
But Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said he would support Harper’s $32 billion plan if he agrees to give regular status reports on the economy to lawmakers.
We are putting this government on probation,” Ignatieff said. “Should Mr. Harper fail to satisfy the expectations of Canadians we will be ready to defeat him.”
Conservative House of Commons leader, Jay Hill, said the government accepted Ignatieff’s suggestion because it had intended to report back to Parliament on the progress of the budget in any event.
“I’m very pleased to state that the government will be supporting the Liberal amendment to the budget. We’re very pleased as well that the Liberals have decided to support our budget,” Hill said.
Ignatieff’s amendment would give the Liberals a chance to revisit their decision to pass the budget three times over the coming year.
The Liberals want fiscal updates by Mar. 26, June 23 and Dec. 10, along with detailed reports showing how the budget is being implemented.
The credit crisis and the global sell-off of commodities have started to hit Canada hard. The country lost more than 100,000 jobs in the last two months of 2008, and the central bank is predicting economic output will contract 4.8 percent in the first quarter.