Politicians like to paint a rosy picture of the road ahead, and the current administration is no different. A recent release by the White House states that this administration believes the economy will continue to grow at 3%+ rate over the next few years. Granted, these are the economic assumptions that are being used to formulate the budget and it benefits their spending agendas if the economy continues to grow.

However, it must be noted that several leading economist and analyst are warning that the US economy is on the verge of another downturn. Chief among these factors are declining profits, stagnation in wage growth and the effect of an ever increasing Federal Funds rate. Some are also warning that the yield curve is in danger of inverting, one of the most reliable predictors of a coming recession.

Survey says.... music costs too much. At least according to a recent Ipsos study. Most respondents said that they refrain from downloading pirated music, but at the same time a bulk of respondents feel that the price of legal purchase are too high. This comes as mixed news for RIAA given their desire to raise online music prices. ArsTechnical delves into the subject and determines that the market for online sales has yet to reach its potential, and that the music industry walks a fine line between pricing power and quality of content.

It seems that the threat of malware, especially root kits, is the topic du jour these days. Essentially any software program that installs its self on your PC without flashing banners and warning signs is automatically considered evil. At least that's what some are claiming is the case with a protection scheme called StarForce.

Now I admit, I own a game that contains StarForce, and I've noticed no ill effects other than the incredible annoyance of inserting the game disk ever time I want to play. Still there are those that claim that ruin your CD Burner, or cause your system to crash. They claim that StarForce installs automatically and doesn't give you the option to decline. All of this is bunk however.

In June the Supreme Court ruled that private developers could exercise "eminent domain" over private property if a local municipality backed the project. The ruling was received with a great uproar as citizens felt their property rights were being taken away by the Federal government. Surprisingly one of the most high profile opponents was the National Association of Home Builders, which stated that it does not endorse the use of eminent domain to promote economic development. Now banking and lending company, BB&T Corp, has stated that they will not lend money to developers who plan to use land seized by the practice. Unfortunately the socially responsible actions of a single bank are unlikely to spark a revolution.