Archive for the 'Elite' Category
Glaxo to Pay $750 Million in Adulterated Drugs Case
October 27th, 2010Via: Reuters: GlaxoSmithKline Plc has agreed to pay $750 million and plead guilty to manufacturing and distributing adulterated drugs from a now closed plant in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.
Sickening Boondoggle: The New and Improved Marine One Chopper
October 26th, 2010Via: Wired: In this, the first in an occasional series examining tech influence in politics using MAPLight’s nonpartisan political-finance–analysis tools, the trail leads to a mind boggling, 10-year campaign in which three key defense contractors have funneled more than $18 million to the pockets of federal lawmakers, to win various military contracts, including one for […]
U.S. Falls in Annual Corruption Survey
October 26th, 2010Via: New York Times: Perceptions of corruption in the United States have worsened over the past year, knocking it out of the top 20 in global rankings released Tuesday by the watchdog group Transparency International in Berlin. The top and bottom three countries on the list remain unchanged from 2009: Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore […]
“Transparency” and the Citigroup Bailout
October 25th, 2010Via: Bloomberg: The late Bloomberg News reporter Mark Pittman asked the U.S. Treasury in January 2009 to identify $301 billion of securities owned by Citigroup Inc. that the government had agreed to guarantee. He made the request on the grounds that taxpayers ought to know how their money was being used. More than 20 months […]
Colgate Tries to Patent Traditional Indian Herbal Toothpaste
October 25th, 2010Here’s one for your overstuffed Corporation as Public Menace file folder. Via: Herald Sun: A LEGAL dispute between the US and India over a herbal toothpaste is leaving a bitter aftertaste between the two countries, with Colgate Palmolive accused of filing a bogus patent. Colgate, the world’s largest producer of toothpaste, patented a toothcleaning powder […]
Stimulus Swindle: Los Angeles Spent $70 Million in Stimulus Funds to Create 7.76 Jobs
October 21st, 2010Via: The Upshot: A new piece of evidence has emerged in the debate over the effectiveness of President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package, and it’s not good for Democrats. According to two newly released audits performed by the Los Angeles controller, L.A. spent enormous portions of the $594 million in stimulus funds it received on projects […]
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Bailouts Could Hit $363 Billion
October 21st, 2010Via: Los Angeles Times: The taxpayer bailouts of housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost as much as $363 billion through 2013, according to government projections released Thursday. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which has regulated the former government-sponsored enterprises since they were seized during the financial crisis in 2008, said the […]
Google Pays 2.4% Corporate Tax Rate; $60 Billion Lost to Tax Loopholes
October 21st, 2010Via: Bloomberg: Google Inc. cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the last three years using a technique that moves most of its foreign profits through Ireland and the Netherlands to Bermuda. Google’s income shifting — involving strategies known to lawyers as the “Double Irish” and the “Dutch Sandwich” — helped reduce its overseas tax […]
Efforts to Prosecute Blackwater Are Collapsing
October 21st, 2010Via: New York Times: Nearly four years after the federal government began a string of investigations and criminal prosecutions against Blackwater Worldwide personnel accused of murder and other violent crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, the cases are beginning to fall apart, burdened by a legal obstacle of the government’s own making. Just a Couple of […]
Pentagon Plans $60 Billion Weapons Sale to Saudi Arabia; Largest Ever
October 21st, 2010Via: Washington Post: The Defense Department has notified Congress that it wants to sell $60 billion worth of advanced aircraft and weapons to Saudi Arabia. The proposed sale, which includes helicopters, fighter jets, radar equipment and satellite-guided bombs, would be the largest arms deal to another country in U.S. history if the sale goes through […]
