Food Fraud Fiasco

For those of you who shop at Whole Foods and their crunchy competitors and pay a premium because you are attempting to eat organic food...pay attention to this video.

The lack of oversight in the food that ends up in our markets and on our tables is shocking.

And I wondering if it is even possible to get California grown food in California anymore.

Jewelry Biz - Cadmium Carcinogenic Charms For Children?

AP IMPACT: Toxic metal in kids' jewelry from China

LOS ANGELES – Barred from using lead in children's jewelry because of its toxicity, some Chinese manufacturers have been substituting the more dangerous heavy metal cadmium in sparkling charm bracelets and shiny pendants being sold throughout the United States, an Associated Press investigation shows.
The most contaminated piece analyzed in lab testing performed for the AP contained a startling 91 percent cadmium by weight. The cadmium content of other contaminated trinkets, all purchased at national and regional chains or franchises, tested at 89 percent, 86 percent and 84 percent by weight. The testing also showed that some items easily shed the heavy metal, raising additional concerns about the levels of exposure to children.

Cadmium is a known carcinogen. Like lead, it can hinder brain development in the very young, according to recent research.

OK...I'm going to show my age here

(but not in a Rachel Zoe kind of way)

When I was growing up little girls did not wear jewelry...ever.

Or at least I didn't

It was deemed inappropriate and unnecessary.

Of course I also wasn't allowed to wear nail polish or make-up either until I was a teenager...Perhaps the only accessory that I owned as a child was a pair of white gloves.

(you see...I really am old)

Maybe it was just part of my mainstream middle class WASP background, we're talking low WASP here not high WASP a la Privilege.

But as far as I can remember from my childhood, only Hispanic girls had their ears pierced

and the over adornment of children....especially the dressing of little girls in age inappropriate clothes and accessories, was considered the height of bad taste.

Naturally, I carried my cultural bias over to the way I raised my daughter. There were certainly no manicures of make-up for her. She did though have a gold charm bracelet that was only worn on special occasions maybe once a year. It was meant to be something that she would have as a child, but not actually be worn until she was a teenager.

So now we have a market for cheap children's costume jewelry that is carcinogenic.

You know how I feel about costume jewelry

Not only is it an utter waste of money...

now it can even be dangerous.

Is China Due For A Correction?

Contrarian Investor Sees Economic Crash in China
by David Barboza Friday, January 8, 2010

James S. Chanos built one of the largest fortunes on Wall Street by foreseeing the collapse of Enron and other highflying companies whose stories were too good to be true.
Now Mr. Chanos, a wealthy hedge fund investor, is working to bust the myth of the biggest conglomerate of all: China Inc.

As most of the world bets on China to help lift the global economy out of recession, Mr. Chanos is warning that China's hyperstimulated economy is headed for a crash, rather than the sustained boom that most economists predict. Its surging real estate sector, buoyed by a flood of speculative capital, looks like "Dubai times 1,000 -- or worse," he frets. He even suspects that Beijing is cooking its books, faking, among other things, its eye-popping growth rates of more than 8 percent.

Apparently this "master of the universe in his own mind" doesn't agree with Chanos

"I find it interesting that people who couldn't spell China 10 years ago are now experts on China," said Jim Rogers, who co-founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros and now lives in Singapore. "China is not in a bubble."

But Chanos, a short seller, has an incredible track record and has identified multiple problematic businesses, Enron of course being the most infamous.

At any rate read the entire article