Yearly Archives: 2013

Two-thirds of French people agree with labour minister’s statement that country is ‘totally bankrupt’

"Michel Sapin made the gaffe in a radio interview, which left French President Francois Hollande and other ministers racing to undo the potential damage to the country's reputation as a solid economy for investors. It came as several high profile individuals, including the actor Gérard Depardieu, have left the country to avoid punitive taxes. Last week it transpired that Bernard Arnault, France's richest man, had transferred his entire fortune to Belgium, where he hopes to gain citizenship. France last balanced its budget in 1973. State spending accounts for almost 57 per cent of gross domestic product while public debt has now reached 91 per cent of GDP." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTwo-thirds of French people agree with labour minister’s statement that country is ‘totally bankrupt’

Retirement Savings Accounts Draw U.S. Consumer Bureau Attention

"The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is weighing whether it should take on a role in helping Americans manage the $19.4 trillion they have put into retirement savings, a move that would be the agency’s first foray into consumer investments. The bureau’s core concern is that many Americans, notably those from the retiring Baby Boom generation, may fall prey to financial scams. Americans held $19.4 trillion in retirement assets as of Sept. 30, 2012, according to the Investment Company Institute, an industry association; about $3.5 trillion of that was in 401(k) plans." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRetirement Savings Accounts Draw U.S. Consumer Bureau Attention

Still no list of Q4 2012 ex-Americans in the Federal Register

"If you, I, or any other U.S. person abroad fails to report some information to the U.S. government under Chapter 61, Subchapter A, Part II, Subpart A of the Internal Revenue Code, we might have to pay the U.S. government tens of thousands of dollars of fines, regardless of the actual underlying tax deficiency. If the U.S. government fails to report some information to us under the exact same Subpart, we get zip. So don’t get too excited when you hear that today’s Federal Register is missing something; after all, it’s only the ninth time in sixteen quarters that Timothy Franz Geithner has violated this single provision of the law of the land." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStill no list of Q4 2012 ex-Americans in the Federal Register

Internal Revenue Code severely punishes (other) countries which impose extraterritorial taxation

"Even more hilariously hypocritical than the 1974 Jackson–Vanik Amendment — which slaps trade sanctions on countries imposing unreasonable barriers to emigration of their citizens — I bring you 26 USC § 891: 'Doubling of rates of tax on citizens and corporations of certain foreign countries', a law originally passed in 1934 and still in effect today." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInternal Revenue Code severely punishes (other) countries which impose extraterritorial taxation

Mister Taxman: Why Some Americans Working Abroad are Ditching Their Citizenships

"The U.S. is the world’s only industrialized nation that taxes citizens who live overseas, even if their income is generated in a foreign country and they never return to America. And while high-profile cases like that of Tina Turner or that of Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin catch public attention, the vast majority of expatriates affected by double taxation and increasingly draconian filing rules are middle-class or retired, or those who have never lived or worked in the United States at all, but were born to American parents overseas." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMister Taxman: Why Some Americans Working Abroad are Ditching Their Citizenships

Chipotle Salary Can Top $95,000 Annually

"You might not think slinging burritos is the most glamorous job out there, but apparently it’s possible to make a heck of a lot of money doing it. Climbing the ladder at locations of the fast food chain Chipotle Mexican Grill can result in some big bucks, according to CBS Los Angeles. One employee interviewed by the network, Lidia Castillo, said she worked her way up from a service manager all the way to restaurateur (Chipotle's title for a general manager) within a year, a position with an average salary of $99,000 annually. That’s significantly more than the median annual salary for fast food workers of around $18,230, according to Daily Finance." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChipotle Salary Can Top $95,000 Annually

Why sales is a hot new job

"In theory, people were all going to start doing their buying directly online. No need for legions of salesclerks. Instead, in some ways the Internet is expanding the need for salespeople – particularly those who sell scientific and technical products and services, which can be lucrative. In 2010, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports, these sales engineers earned a median annual salary of $87,390 (including base pay, bonuses, and commissions), making that the highest paid of all sales categories. In second place were sales reps in wholesale and manufacturing, specifically for technical and scientific products, who earned a median yearly income of $73,710." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy sales is a hot new job

This Week in Police Law Enforcement: What They Do When They Come For You

"The police chief in Connecticut's largest city [Bridgeport] has pulled three officers off the streets after a video was posted online showing them kicking and stomping on a man they had already subdued with a stun gun. In the video, a stun gun is heard being fired and a man falls to the ground at a park. Two officers stand over the motionless man and begin kicking him. A third officer drives up and attacks him." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThis Week in Police Law Enforcement: What They Do When They Come For You

Paul Craig Roberts: In Amerika Law No Longer Exists; the extermination of truth

"In the 21st century Americans have experienced an extraordinary collapse in the rule of law and in their constitutional protections. Today American citizens, once a free people protected by law, can be assassinated and detained in prison indefinitely without any evidence being presented to a court of their guilt, and they can be sentenced to prison on the basis of secret testimony by anonymous witnesses not subject to cross examination. The US 'justice system' has been transformed by the Bush/Obama regime into the 'justice system' of Gestapo Germany and Stalinist Russia. There is no difference." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: In Amerika Law No Longer Exists; the extermination of truth

Paul Craig Roberts: Attack On Sovereignty

"Those concerned about 'The New World Order' speak as if the United States is coming under the control of an outside conspiratorial force. In fact, it is the US that is the New World Order. That is what the American unipolar world, about which China, Russia, and Iran complain, is all about. Washington has demonstrated that it has no respect for its own laws and Constitution, much less any respect for international law and the law and sovereignty of other countries. All that counts is Washington’s will as the pursuit of hegemony moves Washington closer to becoming a world dictator." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: Attack On Sovereignty