Big Business // Current TV

Railroads Make Record Profits but don't seem inclined to share with workers who made money.

As the clock ticks down to a midnight Thursday strike deadline, railroad workers... more

GoodGodGuy
added this
4 months ago
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0 comments

America As Number One

Thanks to the US government, America is number one in many ways.

Libertas
added this
1 year ago
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6 comments

There is No Moral Case for Tax Havens !

Great article that will arm you with the facts!

They are the epitome of unfairness and injustice, leaving ordinary citizens to foot the bill for multinational corporations

by Paul Vallely

There is a building in the Cayman Islands that is home to 12,000 corporations. It must be a very big building. Or a very big tax scam. Tax havens are in the spotlight since the Chancellor, George Osborne, did a deal the other day with the Swiss authorities to slap a levy on secret bank accounts held there by British citizens. Opinions are divided on the move, which could net the Treasury £5bn, but which tacitly legitimizes bank accounts kept secret from the Inland Revenue. It is a de facto amnesty for those guilty of tax evasion crimes. And they will pay less than they would if they declared their income to the British taxman.

Are there any legitimate reasons why anyone would want to have a secret bank account – and pay a premium to maintain their anonymity – or move their money to one of the pink dots on the map which are the final remnants of the British empire: the Caymans, Bermuda, the Turks and Caicos and the British Virgin Islands?

The moral case against is clear enough. Tax havens epitomize unfairness, cheating and injustice. They replace the old morality embodied in the Golden Rule of reciprocity – that we should do as we would be done by – with a new version that insists that those who have the gold make the rules.

The old view, the neocon American Christopher Caldwell wrote recently, subscribes to a religious understanding of money that was universal in the Christian world before the rise of Protestantism, which acknowledges that people are alive but money is not, making it wrong for the latter to take precedence over the former – a notion as outdated as usury, he suggested tartly.

But what is the moral case for tax havens? We can dispense with the argument advanced by their administrators that if they didn't take the money it would simply move to more distant locations; that is the self-serving logic of a man who sells torture equipment to an oppressive regime. Apologists insist that tax havens protect individual liberty. They promote the accumulation of capital, fair competition between nations and better tax law elsewhere in the world. They also foster economic growth. So much so, the Institute of Directors has said, that Britain should not curb tax havens but emulate them, promoting the growth of more hedge funds in the UK.

Yet even if all that were true – and it is not – does it outweigh the ethical harm they do? The numbered bank accounts of tax havens are notoriously sanctuaries for the spoils of theft, fraud, bribery, terrorism, drug-dealing, illegal betting, money-laundering and plunder by Arab despots such as Gaddafi, Mubarak and Ben Ali, all of whom had Swiss accounts frozen.

The corruption spreads contagion, as the financial writer Nicholas Shaxson showed in Treasure Islands, his book about offshore finance which exposed secrecy, corruption and intimidation in places as seemingly innocent as that land of milk and money, such as Jersey in the Channel Islands.

But the moral bankruptcy of the tax haven runs deeper. Indeed it is intrinsic to its purpose. The British Virgin Islands is the global capital for the incorporation of offshore companies. Though it has a population of just 22,000, it has 823,502 registered companies which make vast amounts of money through the wonder of transfer pricing. It works like this. Suppose I manufacture a product in Africa and sell it in the UK. If I am a canny businessman I set up an intermediate company in a tax haven. It need do nothing except exist on paper. But through it I can buy all the products I make in Africa, dirt cheap, and then sell them, at a much higher cost, to my UK subsidiary. The African and British companies do not, thus, make much profit, so I have little or no tax to pay. All the money stays offshore, where taxes are low or non-existent. This is perfectly legal. But it distorts the world economy and means I pay no tax. I can also borrow where rates are lowest and keep my costs where they are most tax deductible.

The same tax schemes in Great Britain are the same here, for the rest of the article go to the link:Great article that will arm you with the facts! They are the epitome of unfairness... more

kennymotown
added this
6 months ago
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47 comments

Open Letter to Warren Buffett, A Plan To Save Our Nation

This is the plan you ask for, the one that will work. Don't bid, just read. It... more

united_voices_of_america
added this
6 months ago
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7 comments

Inviting YOU to Decode Cancer!

Above, Dr. Burzynski and his cure with antineoplastons: http://burzynskimovie. com/... more

lookatmypix
added this
8 months ago
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2 comments

I Quit Best Buy, Now I'm Unemployed, but I'm Happier Than Ever

Well, I quit Best Buy and now I'm working as an entrepreneur and plan to build... more

twathorse
added this
10 months ago
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2 comments

CHRISTIAN CORPORATOCRACY PREY UPON THE POOR ! OR, THE UNHOLY CHRISTIAN CORPORATOCRACY!

In traditionally insidious fashion, the christian right "preys" upon and... more

COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
added this
10 months ago
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0 comments

SOLD! CONGRESS SOLD, YOU, TO MONOPOLIES

Even though our early history is replete with government intervention to protect... more

COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
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10 months ago
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0 comments

Ten Giant U.S. Companies Avoiding Income Taxes

10 giant U.S. Corps pay 0 tax = 4 Energy Corp,3 Banksters, 2 Weapons, Mfgr &... more

Agent_Alpha
added this
11 months ago
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155 comments

GE built the Fukushima reactors - now they're in trouble

I really don't have to add much to the story. It is written well and explains... more

HildeNichols
added this
11 months ago
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0 comments

Big Business to Congress: How about a tax holiday?

What politician would vote against a trillion-dollar economic stimulus plan at little... more

bundlebear
added this
11 months ago
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49 comments

Big Biz Hates You: Article criticizing Copyright Troll John Steele has its Cached version removed by Google(repost. hidden within minutes because they don't want you to read it)

The following article remains under review by Current. It has been under review since 2/13:

Attn: Porn Fans. You can help stop Copyright Troll John Steele's "blackmail" campaign by canceling memberships and boycotting products from his clients(Amateur Allure, Light Speed Girls, FTV Girls, etc)

The article highlighted concerns that Attorney John Steele of Steele law.com using software he paid to create in order to produce evidence for his Bittorrent lawsuits could result in an extreme conflict of interest that may result in inaccurate spreadsheets being produced so that Mr. Steele could make a return on his $250k investment. The article pointed out how Mr. Steele does not charge for his services and relies on, according to him, 100% accurate evidence being produced by his agents(employees) in order to make a profit. Mr. Steele maintains 1-800-DIVORCE and business law firms in order to make additional money.

The cached version of the mobile phone version of the Current article is still available. What disturbs me is Google's apparent complacency in what may very well be a carefully orchestrated scam.

Mr. Steele has been sending out settlement letters to unsuspecting internet users over the last several months demanding sums of cash for allegedly downloading copyrighted pornography. In his letter, he explains how he is willing to sue the parents of Bittorrent users, inexperienced computers users who do not know how to secure a wireless network, business owners who use free wi-fi as a means to draw crowds to their stores, and even individuals who download mislabeled internet files(try to download a PBS video and end up with porn? Mr. Steele will sue you in a heartbeat).

Mr. Steele's willingness to sue anyone who unintentionally downloads a copyrighted file may lead to a flood of frivolous lawsuits. Mr. Steele's willingness to exploit a sense of shame associated with pornography may signify a new low in moral standards for attorneys(gay, but still in the closet? if you download gay porn better watch out since Mr. Steele might out you).

I used to think that the internet was the ideal forum for free speech, however it seems as though business interests still supersede common decency. My article which called for the verification of evidence against alleged pirates as well as basic decency being utilized during the investigation process remains under review by Current and can no longer be viewed in Google's cache(mobile version still available).

Unfortunately, this appears to be how the world works now. Attorneys and big corporations team up to screw over the little guy. All the while, the news media sits idly by, letting corruption happen until the public outcry becomes too large to ignore. I've seen very disturbing and hateful material out on the web. Nothing I said was worthy of censorship, unless one considers calling for a boycott of companies absurdly dangerous. I intend to keep looking, and hope to eventually find, a free speech haven on the webThe following article remains under review by Current. It has been under review since... more

4thePeoplesrights
added this
12 months ago
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13 comments

Government By Organized Money is ... Dangerous -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/ A new spin to an... more

SocialImaging
added this
1 year ago
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1 comment

Billionaire's Caucus

This weekend, for the eighth straight year, the billionaire Koch brothers will convene a meeting of roughly 200 wealthy businessmen, Republican politicians and conservative activists for a semi-annual conference to raise millions of dollars for the institutions that form the intellectual foundation – and, increasingly, the leading political edge – of the conservative movement.

In the past, the meetings have drawn an A-list of participants – politicians like Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, leading free-market thinkers including American Enterprise Institute president Arthur Brooks, talkers Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and even Supreme Court justices - to mingle with the wealthy donors who comprise the bulk of the invitees. The meetings adjourned after soliciting pledges of support from the donors – sometimes totaling as much as $50 million – to non-profit groups favored by the Kochs.
For the most part, the meetings, which are closed to the public and reporters, have attracted little attention outside conservative circles. But very different circumstances surround the Koch conference set to begin Saturday at an exclusive resort outside Palm Springs, Calif.

The Koch brothers – Charles and David – have come under intense scrutiny recently for their role in helping start and fund some of the deepest-pocketed groups involved in organizing the tea party movement such as Americans for Prosperity, and for steering cash towards efforts to target President Barack Obama, his healthcare overhaul, and congressional Democrats in the run-up to the 2010 election.

Liberal critics have launched a campaign to highlight what they say is the systematic way in which the Kochs use their political giving to advance a conservative economic and regulatory agenda designed to further the interests of their oil, chemical and manufacturing empire.

Common Cause, the liberal watchdog group, is planning a protest called “Uncloaking the Kochs” and what it calls “the billionaires caucus” on Sunday a few miles down the road from the resort in Rancho Mirage, Calif., where this weekend’s conference will be held, and a handful of reporters have made plans to try to cover the Koch’s closed-door gathering.

While the Koch conferences have taken on an undeniably political edge – a June summit featured sessions on voter mobilization efforts for the 2010 midterms as well as solicitations for an ad campaign attacking Democratic lawmakers – those who have attended the meetings say the critics have it all wrong.

“The main goal of the seminars appeared to me to be education on the challenges that face the American system of free enterprise and democracy, and what people can do about them,” said Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a conservative Republican who has attended at least seven of the meetings.

McDonnell, who is not attending this weekend’s conference, said he was introduced to the gatherings by “free market friends up in Northern Virginia, some in the Koch enterprises institution,” and he cast the conferences as playing an important role in the political process.This weekend, for the eighth straight year, the billionaire Koch brothers will convene... more