JATB Newswire
Salad Revenues Are Dressing for Greek Wounds
by Chip Butler
Relief has come for Greek balance sheets, and it has nothing to do with budget cuts: the Western world has gone gaga over Greek salad. Eight years after smash hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding boosted international sales of Greek olives and honey, a sudden uptick in feta sales has the country looking up and its cheese producers working around the clock.
Feta is the star ingredient of Greek salad (horiatiki), an amalgam that includes tomato, cucumber, red onion, kalamata olives and green pepper. Abroad, the dish is especially popular in the United States, where lettuce is usually added, but has found a place on menus across the world: as Bauernsalat in Germany, as salade à la Grecque in France, as görög saláta in Hungary, and as ensalada griega in Spain. Each of these countries has reported feta sales increases of at least 12% across the last six months—almost exactly the level of Greek debt in the 2009 budget cycle. … (continued here)
Lehman Launches the Gonzo Card
by Michele Serra for L’espresso, 24 sept. 2009 (see original article here)
translated by Chris Bradley and reprinted without permission
Genoa—The financial crisis officially ended in Italy yesterday at 11:23 a.m. when laid-off worker Mario Rossi purchased a Multiplex Photonic Hg400 cell phone. The phone, which has a six-row keypad, is capable of making calls by itself, connecting with NASA, conducting stock-market trades and roasting peanuts.
Thanks to the €450 Mario Rossi deposited in the register of Genoese hotspot Solo Belinate, an end-of-crisis bash broke out across the nation. Rossi, incredulous but happy, found himself surrounded by hundreds of television cameras and an applauding crowd. Finance minister Giulio Tremonti tried to call Rossi in person, but the latter was too busy pushing the peanut-roasting button to pick up. Rossi will be decorated with the Gold Medal of Civil Valor and, when the moment comes, will receive a state funeral. … (continued here)
Pink Sheets a Remedy for Pink Slips?
by Chaz Bähn
New York—The past months have brought good news from many sectors of the nation’s economy. Home sales were up 9.6 percent in July, unemployment fell to 9.4 percent, and auto sales jumped by 700,000 thanks to the federal Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS). The stock market has proven especially strong of late, surging 40% above the year’s low. As the economy shows signs of turning around, the 14.5 million people still without work are loathe to miss the upswing.
Shares of monoliths like McDonalds and Coca-Cola have remained steady during the recession and promise future growth, but few among the unemployed can afford these fifty-dollar stocks. Instead, people are turning from Wall Street to Wall Alley and the little-known Pink Sheets. … (continued here)
Obama Scuttles NASCAR Over Emissions Concerns
Superstar Tony Stewart is driving away with the 2009 NASCAR season, having earned three victories and 18 top-ten finishes so far. But a presidential decree will prevent Stewart from raising the Sprint Cup trophy at season’s end.
Effective immediately, Pres. Barack Obama has issued an executive order banning all operations of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, citing environmental concerns. The ban will be lifted only when the sport’s governors establish “empathically rigorous” emissions standards for its stock cars. … (continued here)