By Sean Gregory Wednesday, Mar. 11, 2009

What's the last thing people want in a recession? More kids, apparently. According to data-tracking firm the Nielsen Co., dollar sales of products in the "family planning" category, which include condoms and over-the-counter female contraceptives, were up 10.2% for the first two months of this year. Unit sales were up 1.5%, which indicates that consumers are willing to pay higher prices today to prevent crib expenses tomorrow.

2009/04/16

By : DR A. SOORIAN, Seremban

I REFER to the letter "Nuclear energy is our best bet" (NST, April 9) from A.M.O. of Kuala Lumpur.

In assessing the use of nuclear power to generate electricity and for general energy purposes, we must weigh the pros and cons before embarking on such a course of action. Nuclear energy accounts for just one-sixteenth of the world's energy needs and the truth is that its popularity is on the decline.

Friday April 17, 2009

I WAS having high tea with a couple of fellow computer systems engineers. As the conversation became more personal, one engineer said his father has been a bankrupt for the last 20 years or so.

Most of us were taken aback by this revelation, especially by the fact that someone can be a bankrupt for 20 long years.

By John Cloud Wednesday, Apr. 15, 2009

The recession has demanded great self-control from many Americans. Even those who haven't lost everything are spending less. Middle-class consumers who used to splurge occasionally are trading Armani for the Gap, and cable subscriptions for library cards. That's understandable — fear begets caution — but will rich Americans, who are also cutting back, return to their extravagant ways?

There are at least two answers to this question. One is that Americans with money are the kids in the global candy store; they want everything, and they buy everything, laying waste to the environment and helping enact political policies that help the rich get even richer. In this model, rich Americans will never give up their God-given right to buy a hulking new six-burner range even if they never cook.

2009/04/16
 
KUALA LUMPUR: Reasonably priced local food is the choice of Malaysians, with hygiene standards hardly a concern.

As two in three Malaysians eat out at least once a week, and two in five dine out almost daily or even more than once a day, the people must find local food reasonably priced.