crony capitalism

Ohio House Votes Overwhelmingly To Ban Traffic Cameras

"All red light cameras and nearly all speed cameras would be banished from Ohio under a bill that cleared the state House of Representatives Wednesday by a 61-32 vote. State Representatives Ron Maag (R-Lebanon) and Dale Mallory (D-Cincinnati) introduced the measure that would pull the plug on sixteen municipal automated ticketing programs currently in operation. 'Let's be candid about these cameras,' Maag said. 'Their main goal is to generate revenue and this is obvious for several reasons.' So far, residents in seven cities have circulated petitions and succeeded in overturning the decision of their city council to install red light cameras and speed cameras." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOhio House Votes Overwhelmingly To Ban Traffic Cameras

Ontario slashes Samsung green energy deal by $3.7 billion

"The cuts will hit a controversial sole-source deal with a consortium led by South Korea-based Samsung Group that offered special financial incentives in a bid to attract investment in renewable energy. The province’s change of heart is partly a response to the backlash over that arrangement – which made electricity bills more expensive – as well as an acknowledgment that Samsung was having trouble holding up its end of the bargain. It is also the latest sign of turbulence in the green-energy industry after the global recession reduced the need for power and an uncertain economy made less costly conventional electricity more attractive than pricey renewables." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOntario slashes Samsung green energy deal by $3.7 billion

Bifurcation Nation

"Many observers focus on the economic causes of the widening wealth inequality, but the divide appears to be both cultural and financial. Author Charles Murray describes a cultural divide that informs the political and economic divides that are obvious to all. What Murray suggests is not that upward social mobility has ceased, but that it's become more difficult for the have-nots to join the haves, not necessarily for lack of opportunity but for the values-based reasons he describes. The resentment toward the privileged class that is bubbling up suggests people don't need to read a lengthy sociological study to sense the divide is widening." Continue reading →

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Bulgarian protesters: ‘Even if we are smiling, we are angry’

"The spark that ignited this latest crisis in the EU’s poorest country was the Socialist-backed government’s decision earlier this month to appoint a 32-year-old media mogul to head a powerful state security authority. For the protesters, this showed that the new administration was in cahoots with the same old powerful business interests and that its promises of a new era of transparency and accountability were lies. Even though the government quickly reversed the security chief decision, between 7,000 and 10,000 people have taken part in daily demonstrations since June 14 – marching and dancing, shouting and singing along Sofia’s boulevards every evening." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBulgarian protesters: ‘Even if we are smiling, we are angry’

Israel Names Chairman of JPMorgan Chase International the New Central Bank Chief

"Jacob Frenkel, 70, also serves as Chairman and CEO of the Group of Thirty (G-30). He is also a member of the Trilateral Commission, a member of the board of the Council for the United States and Italy, a member of the Investment Advisory Council of the Prime Minister of Turkey, and a member of the International Advisory Council of the China Development Bank. Between 1973 and 1987 he was on the faculty of the University of Chicago where he held the position of the David Rockefeller Professor of International Economics. Frenkel served from 2004 to 2009 as vice chairman of US bailed out American International Group (AIG)." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIsrael Names Chairman of JPMorgan Chase International the New Central Bank Chief

“You’re Sick, Fatso. I’m Billing Your Insurance Company.”

"Physicians are not paid by health insurance companies to treat people with behavior 'problems.' They get paid only to treat diseases. So, understanding where their bread is buttered, and by whom, the American Medical Association has now identified obesity as a disease. The Los Angeles Times had spotted the economic nature of the re-definition. You know what an incurable disease is, don’t you? A permanent stream of income. The patient does not die, so he keeps coming back for 'treatment.' Treatment means billable procedures. Think of this as lowering the bar. People who are over a BMI of 30 are now called fat." Continue reading →

Continue Reading“You’re Sick, Fatso. I’m Billing Your Insurance Company.”

Official: Water quality complaints could be ‘act of terrorism’

"A Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation deputy director warned residents that unfounded complaints about water quality could be considered an 'act of terrorism.' 'We take water quality very seriously. Very, very seriously,' said Sherwin Smith, deputy director of TDEC's Division of Water Resources, according to audio recorded by attendees. 'But you need to make sure that when you make water quality complaints you have a basis, because federally, if there's no water quality issues, that can be considered under Homeland Security an act of terrorism.' Smith went on in the recording to repeat the claim almost verbatim." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOfficial: Water quality complaints could be ‘act of terrorism’

Welcome, baseball fan. Go directly to jail.

"You see, they take law and order Very Seriously in Washington. Oh, sure, there is murder, drugs and prostitution (and solicitation, but more on that later), but those crimes are a byproduct of any large metropolitan area, and, well, folks will be folks. No, I am talking about the unspeakable crime of trying to resell tickets to a Washington Nationals makeup baseball game. I went to jail. I sat in a cell for 2½ hours, stood for a mug shot, got fingerprinted, paid 50 bucks and was released. In the grand scheme of things, my travails were minor to all but me. But when that cell door slams shut, the world becomes a different place." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWelcome, baseball fan. Go directly to jail.

Three States Dump Major Private Prison Company In One Month

"Corrections Corporation of America, the largest and most powerful private prison company in the nation, lost four prison contracts in the past month after extensive reports of abuse, neglect, and even fraud within their operations. Idaho cut ties with the corporation on Wednesday, which turned the state’s largest prison into a violent hellhole inmates called 'Gladiator School.' Earlier this year, CCA was caught understaffing the prison and using prison gangs to control the population. The company admitted to falsifying nearly 4,800 hours of staffing records to squeeze more money out of the state for nonexistent security work." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThree States Dump Major Private Prison Company In One Month

Bill Bonner: How to Disappear Without a Trace

"Twelve years ago – when the 'homeland' was first invented (a smooth adaptation of Hitler's 'fatherland') and TSA agents began frisking grandmothers – the whole thing seemed like a joke. It looked as though America's leaders had gotten themselves into a hysterical panic. They thought al-Qaida really existed... that there were terrorist sleeper cells in every hamlet and burg... and that these infiltrators were about to wreak havoc on the nation. It was a preposterous lie, but we figured they'd come to their senses soon. Instead of coming to their senses, America's leaders began to see the advantage of a war that could neither be won nor lost." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: How to Disappear Without a Trace