Author: The Freedom Watch Staff

This author has written 11091 articles

In France’s Welfare State Status Quo, Are We Seeing America’s Future?

"In 2009, 11.2 million French persons received welfare payments, out a total population of 65.3 million. This amounted to $78 billion in payments. Moreover, these 11 million beneficiaries have families (parents, spouses, children); thus, more than 35 million people are actually benefiting directly or indirectly from welfare payments, which is more than 50 percent of the French population. If this rate were applied to America, about 157 million Americans would be relying on welfare. Owing to the amount of money poured into welfare, should it be expected that there is a 'social return on investment' and that the living conditions of French citizens are improving?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIn France’s Welfare State Status Quo, Are We Seeing America’s Future?

France Taxes America: The Robin Hood Tax

"As predicted, France has passed the world’s first Robin Hood Tax — a levy of two-tenths of one percent on all French share transactions, purchases or sales — even when they are bought or sold by Americans. The new tax is expected to raise E500 million annually, a portion of which French President Francois Hollande has committed to give to fight global poverty and HIV-AIDS. The French tax is a precursor for more ambitious Financial Transactions Tax that nine European countries plan on implementing as early as December of this year. The broader tax would apply 'not just to shares, but to bond and derivative transactions' and is supposed to raise E34 billion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrance Taxes America: The Robin Hood Tax

France’s Jean-Marc Ayrault slams flight of the ‘greedy rich’

"These individuals are leaving 'because they want to get even richer,' he said. 'We cannot fight poverty if those with the most, and sometimes with a lot, do not show solidarity and a bit of generosity,' he added. Announcing plans to spend up to 2.5 billion euros by 2017 to help the poor, Mr Ayrault said that poverty affected 12.9 percent of the population in 2002 and rose to 14.1 percent in 2010. Mr Hollande has since introduced other hefty new charges on capital gains and inheritance, while increasing France's wealth tax and an exit tax for entrepreneurs selling their companies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrance’s Jean-Marc Ayrault slams flight of the ‘greedy rich’

Facebook paid small tax bill on big profits made outside US, figures show

"Facebook is structured so that companies buying advertisements on the website in the UK, or anywhere outside of the US, have to pay Facebook Ireland. This allowed Facebook Ireland to make gross 2011 profits of £840m – or £3.1m per each of its 287 staff. Despite the high gross profit, Facebook Ireland was able to cut its tax bill to just €3.2m by using an accounting technique called the 'Double Irish'. The manoeuvre allows multinationals to move large amounts of money to other subsidiaries in the form of royalty payments. Facebook moved nearly £750m to the Cayman Islands and its Californian parent in licensing and royalty payments." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFacebook paid small tax bill on big profits made outside US, figures show

Useless U.S.-Canada train roundtrips exploit U.S. energy program

"A train carrying biodiesel crisscrossed the Canada-US border repeatedly without unloading its cargo, exploiting a loophole in a US green energy program. The EPA mandates that oil companies must bring a certain amount of renewable fuel to the US market. Verdeo retired an equivalent number of credits generated from ethanol production that were worth pennies compared to biodiesel credits that traded as high as one US dollar apiece when it turned the train around. A dozen back-and-forth railway trips across the border reportedly cost Can $2.6 million but would have generated biodiesel credits worth US $12 million." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUseless U.S.-Canada train roundtrips exploit U.S. energy program

Sweden’s small Arctic town of Kiruna plans to offer commercial space flights

"Sweden’s small Arctic town of Kiruna has a surprisingly international airport with regular flights to London and Tokyo, but it has even bigger plans: to offer commercial space flights. The idea is that space tourists would take off for a maximum two-hour trip into space aboard futuristic spacecraft currently undergoing testing, which resemble a cross between an airplane and a space shuttle and which can carry between one and six passengers. The sub-orbital flights will send passengers 100 kilometres (60 miles) above Earth and allow them to experience five minutes of weightlessness." Continue reading →

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France bans controversial chemical BPA in food packaging

"The French parliament voted Thursday to ban the use of bisphenol A, a chemical thought to have a toxic effect on the brain and nervous system, in baby food packaging next year and all food containers in 2015. The chemical, commonly known as BPA, is used in 'polycarbonate' types of hard plastic bottles and as a protective lining in food and beverage cans. It became a concern following evidence in lab animals of a toxic effect on the brain and nervous system. Some studies have found a link between exposure to BPA and coronary heart disease and reproductive disorders." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrance bans controversial chemical BPA in food packaging

Hemingway Museum Needs USDA Zoo License for Cats

"Mr. Hemingway spent most of the 1930s in Key West completing some of his best work. Now, his former house at 907 Whitehead Street is a museum open to daily tours and the occasional wedding. It also continues to be home to 40 to 50 six-toed cats that are a living legacy of Hemingway. As in Hemingway’s time, the cats are allowed to roam and lounge at will in the house and on the one-acre grounds. At some point several years ago, a museum visitor expressed concern about the cats’ care. The visitor took that concern all the way to the US Department of Agriculture and, literally, made a federal case out of it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHemingway Museum Needs USDA Zoo License for Cats

Genetically modified salmon not harmful, FDA says

"Federal health regulators say a genetically modified salmon that grows twice as fast as normal is unlikely to harm the environment, clearing the way for the first approval of a scientifically engineered animal for human consumption. The document concludes that the fish 'will not have any significant impacts on the quality of the human environment of the United States.' Regulators also said that the fish is unlikely to harm populations of natural salmon, a key concern for environmental activists. The FDA said more than two years ago that the fish appears to be safe to eat, but the agency had taken no public action since then." Continue reading →

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Why the Gun Control Movement Is Doomed

"Within a decade, it will be possible for people to manufacture handguns inexpensively in their own homes. Even if it takes two decades, it is clear what is going to come. The ability of the government to confiscate handguns is surely limited when somebody can download a free piece of software that will enable him to manufacture a handgun, or the components of a handgun, in the privacy of his own home. The Left is now facing an ideological crisis. Either it bans 3D printers, raising civil rights issues, or else it must give up having any shot at banning guns." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy the Gun Control Movement Is Doomed