By Bryan Walsh Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009

Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won't bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics. The waste produced by the pig and his thousands of pen mates on the factory farm where they live goes into manure lagoons that blanket neighboring communities with air pollution and a stomach-churning stench. He's fed on American corn that was grown with the help of government subsidies and millions of tons of chemical fertilizer. When the pig is slaughtered, at about 5 months of age, he'll become sausage or bacon that will sell cheap, feeding an American addiction to meat that has contributed to an obesity epidemic currently afflicting more than two-thirds of the population. And when the rains come, the excess fertilizer that coaxed so much corn from the ground will be washed into the Mississippi River and down into the Gulf of Mexico, where it will help kill fish for miles and miles around. That's the state of your bacon — circa 2009.
(See pictures of what the world eats.)

Thursday August 20, 2009

By DHARMENDER SINGH

PUTRAJAYA: The Government has set the ceiling prices for various types of surgical masks, which have been declared price-controlled items, with immediate effect.

Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the prices approved by the Cabinet yesterday would ensure that there was no profiteering by the traders from the influenza A(H1N1) pandemic.

Tuesday August 18, 2009

By DERRICK VINESH

BUKIT MERTAJAM: The Government will control the retail price of surgical masks sold at exorbitant rates while the Health Ministry vows stricter enforcement against people who fail to wear masks if they have flu-like illnesses.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the Government would make the single-pry surgical mask as a price-controlled item indefinitely during the current Influenza A(H1N1) pandemic.

Tuesday August 18, 2009

PETALING JAYA: Sugar is expected to be in short supply worldwide this year because of freak weather.

This is expected to keep the price of the commodity high.

Raw sugar traded in the New York futures market has risen 86%.

Written by Personal Money    
Thursday, 13 August 2009 18:53 

According to the MasterCard Survey on Consumer Purchasing Priorities released today, the top three saving priorities for Malaysians are investment (59%), retirement (52%) and property purchase (29%). Meanwhile, dining and entertainment (as indicated by 76% of the Malaysian respondents), fashion and accessories (38%), fitness and wellness (37%) are the top spending priorities for the next six months.