The U.s. Government Stands Behind 60 Percent
The U.S. government stands behind 60 percent of the financial industry’s total liabilities, a whopping $26 trillion, through either explicit guarantees or implicit ones based on previous bailouts. Uncle Sam backs $15 trillion explicitly, including $6 trillion in insured bank deposits and $5 trillion in guaranteed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages.
The number of companies with in-house corporate universities, with dedicated faculty and curriculum for training employees, has hit 4,000 worldwide. As a result, many firms have stopped paying to send their managers to outside business schools.
Apple’s Jony Ive, who has worked on nearly every major Apple product of the past 20 years, has nearly 5,000 patents to his name. By comparison, Thomas Edison was granted 2,332.
Chinese scientists have genetically engineered trees that grow up to 10 times faster than natural trees to feed the country’s paper industry. Despite sinking global demand for newsprint and book paper, global demand for cardboard and tissues has grown slightly over the past decade.
Employers are increasingly offering one-time bonuses and financial perks in lieu of salary increases. Bonuses made up a record 12.7 percent of the average payroll budget last year, according to HR advisory firm Aon Hewitt, up from 3.9 percent in 1988. The share of payroll budgets devoted to salary increases was 2.9 percent, down from a high of 10 percent in 1981. The New York Times
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