crony capitalism

F-35 Stealth Fighter Is Too Heavy and Slow, So the Pentagon Made Its Performance Tests Easier

"The Pentagon's pursuit of the Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter jet has been a heartbreaking one. If you're a taxpayer, the program's estimated $1 trillion price tag probably breaks your heart a little bit. If you're an aviation enthusiast, the constant whittling away of the do-it-all aircraft's features, which in many cases actually amounts to adding weight and taking away maneuverability, must hurt a little bit too. If you're just an everyday American, though, you should be downright shattered that after a decade and a fortune spent, the F-35 will actually be more vulnerable than the aircraft it's replacing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingF-35 Stealth Fighter Is Too Heavy and Slow, So the Pentagon Made Its Performance Tests Easier

West Virginia Bill Would Drug Test Teens for Driver Licenses

"A bill introduced Tuesday in the West Virginia House of Delegates would require prospective teen drivers to pass three separate drug tests before receiving a full drivers' license. It's only the latest drug testing proposal to emerge at the statehouse in Charleston this year. Introduced by Del. Joe Ellington (R-Mercer), House Bill 2528 would require teens to 'pass a drug test designed to detect illegal consumption of controlled substances' before getting a learner's permit, before getting an intermediate license, and before getting a full license." Continue reading →

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How Fascism Grows? Prison Company Buys Boca Stadium Naming Rights

"The GEO Group (GEO) is a for-profit prison company based in Boca Raton, Fla., that calls itself 'the world's leading provider of correctional and detention management and community reentry services to federal, state and local government agencies.' It can also call itself the world's leading provider of Florida Atlantic University Owls football, having paid $6 million to put its name on the school's stadium." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow Fascism Grows? Prison Company Buys Boca Stadium Naming Rights

Revel casino’s bankruptcy threatens plans to make Atlantic City a gambling-plus destination

"It was to offer more than just gambling. It would provide a sumptuous, Las Vegas-style experience. And that was the game plan, supported exuberantly by Gov. Christie and strategized by marketers and tourism experts. Now that major piece in the remodeling of Atlantic City is in doubt. Revel said Tuesday that it would seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. If Revel tanks, so, too, might much of the vision of Atlantic City as a year-round resort. The $2.4 billion casino - the most expensive ever built in New Jersey - received more than $300 million in state construction funding." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRevel casino’s bankruptcy threatens plans to make Atlantic City a gambling-plus destination

Bulgarian government resigns amid protests

"'We have dignity and honour. It is the people who put us in power and we give it back to them today,' Borisov told parliament, adding that he would not participate in an interim government. Bulgaria has been shaken over the past week by protests that initially were about soaring electricity prices but which have turned into nationwide demonstrations against the right-wing government in general. The clashes left dozens of people wounded and scores were arrested with demonstrators fighting running battles with riot police and vandalising government buildings in the capital Sofia." Continue reading →

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Millions Improperly Claimed ‘Lifeline’ Phone Subsidies

"The U.S. government spent about $2.2 billion last year to provide phones to low-income Americans, but a Wall Street Journal review of the program shows that a large number of those who received the phones haven't proved they are eligible to receive them. The Lifeline program—begun in 1984 to ensure that poor people aren't cut off from jobs, families and emergency services—is funded by charges that appear on the monthly bills of every landline and wireless-phone customer. Payouts under the program have shot up from $819 million in 2008, as more wireless carriers have persuaded regulators to let them offer the service." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMillions Improperly Claimed ‘Lifeline’ Phone Subsidies

Paper Claims SEC Regulation is Biased … In Other News, Sky Is Blue

"Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staffers who now work in the private sector may have helped derail last year's effort to reform the $2.6 trillion money market fund industry, a report said. The case study on money market fund lobbying is part of a 60-page report by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO). It is one example within a broader review by the non-profit government watchdog that examines in detail how the 'revolving door' at the SEC may have impacted policy and enforcement decisions over a 10-year period." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaper Claims SEC Regulation is Biased … In Other News, Sky Is Blue

Vietnam attempts to address ‘long illness’ of public sector

"State-owned enterprises have racked up some $61 billion of debt which represents more than half of total public debt in Vietnam. Several of the SOEs have already collapsed in spectacular fashion, including shipping giants Vinashin — which ran up $4.4 billion of losses — and Vinalines, which has defaulted on payments of some $1.1 billion. Experts say the SOEs have become expert at hiding their debts, have incomprehensible strategies, hazardous investments in non-core sectors which are cunningly designed to circumvent government regulations. The top officials running the companies frequently flaunt lifestyles incompatible with their official remuneration." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVietnam attempts to address ‘long illness’ of public sector

Banks, at Least, Had a Friend in Geithner

"As financial adviser to the president in the tumultuous years immediately after the credit crisis, Mr. Geithner had immense sway over the government’s approach to all things economic. For everyday Americans, his major tasks included responding to the home foreclosure mess, unwinding federal bailouts under the Troubled Asset Relief Program and tackling the problem of financial institutions that are too big to manage and too interconnected for America’s good. But in scanning these agenda items, a pattern of winners and losers emerges. Let’s just say the financial institutions that dominate the United States were rarely on the losing end in the Geithner years." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBanks, at Least, Had a Friend in Geithner

Raytheon secret software tracks social media and ‘predicts’ people’s future behavior

"A video obtained by the Guardian reveals how an 'extreme-scale analytics' system created by Raytheon, the world’s fifth largest defence contractor, can gather vast amounts of information about people from websites including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. The Massachusetts-based company has acknowledged the technology was shared with US government and industry as part of a joint research and development effort, in 2010, to help build a national security system capable of analysing 'trillions of entities' from cyberspace." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRaytheon secret software tracks social media and ‘predicts’ people’s future behavior