UPS Forecasts Slower Growth, Federal Snoops Broke the Rules, CFL Bulbs Burn: P.M. Links
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UPS, the package delivery giant, says slowing demand for its services points to a pitiful one percent growth for the U.S. economy for the rest of the year. FedEx has seen a similar fall-off. Manufacturing data also shows Europe and the U.S. continuing to slump, though China may have stabilized.
- Germany, so far largely immune to Europe's economic woes, now faces a credit downgrade as a result of taking on the burden of bailing out its neighbors.
- On at least one occasion, U.S. electronic surveillance efforts under the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act violated constitutional protections, admits the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
- Two years after the feds took control of 90 percent of the student loan market, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is pushing to let borrowers discharge their private student loans through bankruptcy. Government loans, with a projected default rate of 20 percent, would not be included.
- Those CFL bulbs that cost too much and throw a weird light? Yeah. They're giving you a nasty sunburn, too.
- Faced with a two-term governor pulling decent polling numbers while running as a third-party candidate for president, the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates is being coy about Gary Johnson's prospects for participation. Translation: Don't hold your breath.
- Skype, which has historically proven wiretap-resistant to a wonderfully cop-aggravating extent, is now recording your instant messages and may be collaborating with law enforcement to intercept phone calls.
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