Archive for the 'Elite' Category
‘Pope Will Have Security, Immunity by Remaining in the Vatican’
February 17th, 2013Via: Reuters: Pope Benedict’s decision to live in the Vatican after he resigns will provide him with security and privacy. It will also offer legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Church sources and legal experts say. “His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, […]
Facebook Gets a Multibillion-Dollar Tax Break
February 16th, 2013Via: Bloomberg: It hasn’t drawn much attention, but Facebook’s first annual earnings report contains an accounting gem: a multibillion-dollar tax deduction for the cost of executive stock options and share awards. Even though Facebook (FB) reported $1.1 billion in pre-tax profits from U.S. operations in 2012, it will probably pay zero federal and state taxes—and […]
SEC Files Lawsuit Against ‘Certain Unknown Traders’ Over Heinz Call Options
February 16th, 2013*yawn* Via: CNBC: Acting just one day after the surprise announcement that H.J. Heinz would be acquired by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Brazil-based 3G Capital for $23.3 billion, the SEC has gone to court to freeze assets associated with what it calls “highly suspicious options trading.” Related: Insider Crimes, Funny Money and Options Rackets
Vatican’s New Bank Chief Has Military Ship Links
February 15th, 2013Via: AP: The Vatican was drawn into a new controversy Friday after acknowledging that its bank’s new president is also chairman of a shipbuilder making warships — a significant conflict for an institution that has long shunned ties to military manufacturing. The Vatican announced to great fanfare that Pope Benedict XVI had signed off on […]
Indiana Soybean Farmer Sees Monsanto Lawsuit Reach U.S. Supreme Court
February 13th, 2013Via: Guardian: As David versus Goliath battles go it is hard to imagine a more uneven fight than the one about to play out in front of the US supreme court between Vernon Hugh Bowman and Monsanto. On the one side is Bowman, a single 75-year-old Indiana soybean farmer who is still tending the same […]
McGraw-Hill, S&P Sued by U.S. Over Mortgage-Bond Ratings
February 5th, 2013*yawn* Via: Bloomberg: McGraw-Hill Cos. (MHP) and its Standard & Poor’s unit were sued by the U.S. over claims S&P knowingly understated the credit risks of instruments that were central to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The U.S. Justice Department filed a complaint yesterday in federal court in Los Angeles, accusing McGraw-Hill […]
States Considering Laws That Would Make it an Act of Terrorism to Report on Abuses at Factory Farms
February 4th, 2013Via: Global Possibilities: How do you keep consumers in the dark about the horrors of factory farms? By making it an “act of terrorism” for anyone to investigate animal cruelty, food safety or environmental violations on the corporate-controlled farms that produce the bulk of our meat, eggs and dairy products. And who better to write […]
Hackers in China Attacked The New York Times for Last 4 Months
January 31st, 2013Via: New York Times: For the last four months, Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees. After surreptitiously tracking the intruders to study their movements and help erect better defenses to block them, The Times and computer security experts have […]
The Rise of the Permanent Temp Economy
January 31st, 2013Via: New York Times: Politicians across the political spectrum herald “job creation,” but frightfully few of them talk about what kinds of jobs are being created. Yet this clearly matters: According to the Census Bureau, one-third of adults who live in poverty are working but do not earn enough to support themselves and their families. […]
The Hugo Chavez ‘Socialist Revolution’ Nets Goldman Sachs et al. About 15% a Year
January 31st, 2013Same as it ever was: Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution: The Remarkable True Story of the American Capitalists Who Financed the Russian Communists by Anthony C. Sutton Via: Bloomberg: Since taking office in 1999, Hugo Chavez has spread his socialist revolution in Venezuela by seizing more than 1,000 companies. For bondholders that stuck by […]
