crony capitalism

Tax Money: One Man Shot a Million Photos of President George W. Bush

"The staff photographer for President Bush took a million photos. The President kept all of them. This week, the GWB Presidential library opens in Dallas. If someone wants to view a million photos of Bush, he can. I don’t know who goes to a Presidential library. There are 13 of these libraries. Bush’s cost $250 million. It has 15 acres of fake prairie. It has 227,000 square feet. To house what? They cost millions a year to run. They are built by private donors. No one knows who. No one knows why. What we do know is that taxpayers funded a full-time photographer who spent 8 years taking pictures of George W. Bush." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTax Money: One Man Shot a Million Photos of President George W. Bush

Tax Money: One Man Shot a Million Photos of President George W. Bush

"The staff photographer for President Bush took a million photos. The President kept all of them. This week, the GWB Presidential library opens in Dallas. If someone wants to view a million photos of Bush, he can. I don’t know who goes to a Presidential library. There are 13 of these libraries. Bush’s cost $250 million. It has 15 acres of fake prairie. It has 227,000 square feet. To house what? They cost millions a year to run. They are built by private donors. No one knows who. No one knows why. What we do know is that taxpayers funded a full-time photographer who spent 8 years taking pictures of George W. Bush." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTax Money: One Man Shot a Million Photos of President George W. Bush

The Corruption of Capitalism in America Excerpt: Chapter 17, Serial Bubbles

"Never before in history had the nation's financial system been pummeled by two gigantic bubbles and two devastating crashes in such a brief interval. That Greenspan's heir apparent managed to detect the Great Moderation at the midpoint of this cycle of financial violence was only added testimony to the degree to which monetary policy had become unhinged. It was no longer plausible, therefore, to describe the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and the various venues for equity derivatives as a free market for raising and trading equity capital issues. Instead, they were violently unstable casinos, ineptly stage-managed by a central bank." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Corruption of Capitalism in America Excerpt: Chapter 17, Serial Bubbles

Swiss court orders stolen East German millions returned

"The ruling, upholding an earlier verdict by a lower court, concerns the transfer into a Swiss bank of 128 million euros from the communist East Germany after the impoverished country's demise in 1990. This transfer by Rudolfine Steindling, a colourful Austrian communist dubbed 'Fini the Red' who died last year, was conducted by a former subsidiary of Bank Austria, itself now part of Italy's UniCredit. In the 1990s Germany, by then reunified, complained that Steindling had no right to the money, which was amassed by East Germany charging fees from Western firms investing there, and that Bank Austria knew this." Continue reading →

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Bulletproof whiteboards installed in Minnesota school district

"A Minnesota school district where two students were killed in a 2003 shooting unveiled a new device Tuesday aimed at adding a last-ditch layer of safety for teachers and students: bulletproof whiteboards. The Rocori School District has acquired nearly 200 of the whiteboards, made of a material touted by its manufacturer as stronger than that in police-issue bulletproof vests. The 18-by-20-inch whiteboards can be used by teachers for instruction and used as a shield in an emergency. Police Chief Phil Jones demonstrated the whiteboards Tuesday in a school gym by leveling a karate kick at one, whacking it with a police baton and stabbing it with a knife." Continue reading →

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Crooked Judges Want Your Kids for Cash

"In what has been coined in the media as the 'Kids for Cash Scandal,' Ciarvarella and Judge Conahan have since been exposed as having made deals with the developer of the for-profit juvenile detention facilities co-owned by Robert Powell of PA Child Care and another company, Western Pennsylvania Child Care. While both judges were sentenced in 2011 and are now serving time, it makes one wonder just how many similar judicial branches are insidiously entangled with for-profit juvenile detention facilities and just how many people working for the system saw red flags and remained silent. Just how deep does the rabbit hole go?" Continue reading →

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FoxConn will pay Microsoft royalties to produce Android, Chrome phones and televisions

"Taiwan tech giant Hon Hai, parent company of FoxConn, will pay royalties to Microsoft to ward off a lawsuit over its production of devices using rival Google’s Android and Chrome platforms. The licensing agreement protects Hon Hai from claims that the cell phones and televisions it produces and which use Android and Chrome infringe on Microsoft’s patented technology. The Taiwanese company is the world’s largest contract electronics maker and assembles products for Apple, Sony and Nokia, among others, in huge plants in China where it employs more than one million workers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFoxConn will pay Microsoft royalties to produce Android, Chrome phones and televisions

Fed Could End Up Paying Banks $77 Billion Annually on Excess Reserves

"The Federal Reserve could pay more than $77 billion a year in interest on the excess cash reserves it holds for commercial banks if rates follow the highest path forecast by Fed policy makers. The central bank already has paid more than $13 billion since 2008 when Congress authorized interest on reserve balances as part of financial-rescue legislation. The Fed earns interest income on its bond holdings and, after covering its operating expenses, returns the profit to the U.S. Treasury. Last year, the Fed remitted $88.4 billion. As the interest payments on reserves rise, this profit could shrink or disappear." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFed Could End Up Paying Banks $77 Billion Annually on Excess Reserves

Puppies & Kittens & Censors…Oh my! Government Muzzles Internet Pet Veterinarian

"Can the government silence and shut down licensed professionals for giving advice online? Dr. Ron Hines is a highly regarded licensed veterinarian who's never had any complaints against him. Being a disabled and retired senior citizen, the Internet allows him to remain productive in his golden years. Yet he's been fined and shut down for giving advice on the Internet, often for free, to people around the planet who have no other access to veterinary care for their animals." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPuppies & Kittens & Censors…Oh my! Government Muzzles Internet Pet Veterinarian

Is Apple Becoming A War Profiteer?

"Apple has some cozy relationships with the U.S. government. Last month, CEO Tim Cook had a nice seat at Obama's State of The Union Address. There's the online Apple Store for Government, where federal employees and military personnel can get special pricing (paging Laurence Vance). There's having Al 'Global Warming Climate Change' Gore on the Board of Directors. There's the 8 million iPads sold to indoctrination centers (aka "schools"). And now (1 month after Obama's speech) news comes out that the U.S. Army has an order for 650,000 iOS devices." Continue reading →

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