crony capitalism

David Galland: Justice

"Regardless of what the popular corruption indexes show, when you take into account the systematic skewing of the judicial and electoral systems to favor the entrenched politicos and their friends in high places, the level of corruption in the Anglosphere would make an African despot blush. It's not an accident that the Republicans and the Democrats, two sides of the same coin despite all the rhetoric, are never remotely at risk of losing their collective grip on power – the system has been carefully and thoroughly rigged to prevent that from happening." Continue reading →

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Why Milk Prices Could More Than Double After January 1

"Come Jan. 1, there is a threat that milk prices could rise to $6 to $8 a gallon if Congress does not pass a new farm bill that amends farm policy dating back to the Truman presidency. Without last-minute Congressional action, the government would have to follow an antiquated 1949 farm law that would force the government to buy milk at wildly inflated prices, creating higher prices in the dairy case. Milk now costs an average of $3.65 a gallon. Higher prices would be based on what dairy farm production costs were in 1949, when milk production was almost all done by hand." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy Milk Prices Could More Than Double After January 1

Greece: Crony Capitalists Will Squeeze You and Freeze You

"The household price for heating oil in Greece reached 1,266 euros per 1,000 liters (264 gallons) in the second quarter of 2012, surging 48 percent from a year earlier, according to the International Energy Agency. Greeks pay both excise and value-added taxes on heating oil that can make up 42 percent of the total cost. Greece’s oil prices are high because of laws that protect the country’s two refining companies and prevent competition, said Pavlos Eleftheriadis, a lecturer in law at the University of Oxford in England, who studies monopolies. 'The Greek political system works for the insiders,' said Eleftheriadis, a native of Greece." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGreece: Crony Capitalists Will Squeeze You and Freeze You

Treasury announces GM exit strategy; automaker buying 200 million shares from U.S.

"The Obama administration said Wednesday it will sell 40 percent of its remaining stake in General Motors Co. back to the automaker and announced plans to completely exit by March 2014. The exit timetable signals the end of one of the most extraordinary government interventions in the U.S. economy in history — the rescue and partial nationalization of two U.S. automakers and their finance arms supported by two U.S. presidents. Taxpayers will almost certainly lose billions of dollars in the $49.5 billion GM bailout. If the government sold the rest of its stock at current prices, taxpayers would lose more than $13 billion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTreasury announces GM exit strategy; automaker buying 200 million shares from U.S.

Canada to privatize its medical marijuana industry, ban personal growing

"Canada’s Conservative government will soon stop producing and distributing medical marijuana, leaving it up to the private sector in a policy change that angered critics on Monday. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Ottawa would no longer produce and distribute marijuana for medical purposes. Instead, companies will be licenced to grow and sell the product at market rates. Patients with a prescription from a doctor starting in March 2013 will be allowed to purchase a variety of strains of marijuana from licensed producers, who will set prices. Also individuals will no longer be permitted to grow marijuana in their homes for their own personal use." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCanada to privatize its medical marijuana industry, ban personal growing

Health Insurers Will Be Charged 3.5% to Use Federal Obamacare Exchanges

"The Obama administration said Friday that it would charge insurance companies for the privilege of selling health insurance to millions of Americans in new online markets run by the federal government. The cost of these 'user fees' can be passed on to consumers. The proposed fees could add 3.5 percent to premiums for private health plans sold in insurance exchanges operated by the federal government. Indeed, it now appears that federal officials could be running the exchanges — alone or in partnership with local officials — in more than half the states." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHealth Insurers Will Be Charged 3.5% to Use Federal Obamacare Exchanges

How the US Air Force Wasted $1 Billion on a Failed Software Plan

"Last month, [the Air Force] canceled a six-year-old modernization effort that had eaten up more than $1 billion. When the Air Force realized that it would cost another $1 billion just to achieve one-quarter of the capabilities originally planned - and that even then the system would not be fully ready before 2020 - it decided to decamp. You might expect the project to be exotic and experimental. If that were there case, the expense and failure might be understandable, if not desirable. But in fact the project was the implementation of commercial off-the-shelf software." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow the US Air Force Wasted $1 Billion on a Failed Software Plan

Two-Track Corporate Justice Is Not the American Way

"State and federal authorities decided against indicting HSBC in a money-laundering case over concerns that criminal charges could jeopardize one of the world's largest banks and ultimately destabilize the global financial system. Instead, HSBC announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to a record $1.92 billion settlement with authorities. The bank faces accusations that it transferred billions of dollars for nations like Iran and enabled Mexican drug cartels to move money illegally through its American subsidiaries. The case raises questions about whether certain financial institutions, having grown so large and interconnected, are too big to indict." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTwo-Track Corporate Justice Is Not the American Way

Reality Check: Elmwood Place Speed Cameras An example Of “Policing For Profit”?

"For months, we have told you about the controversy over speed cameras in the village of Elmwood Place. In just a matter of months, $470,000 dollars in speeding tickets were mailed to drivers. While hundreds of residents in Elmwood Place have argued to have the cameras removed, the village leadership isn’t listening. Ben Swann of Reality Check is investigating the idea behind 'policing for profit'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingReality Check: Elmwood Place Speed Cameras An example Of “Policing For Profit”?

Reality Check: Elmwood Place Speed Cameras An example Of “Policing For Profit”?

"For months, we have told you about the controversy over speed cameras in the village of Elmwood Place. In just a matter of months, $470,000 dollars in speeding tickets were mailed to drivers. While hundreds of residents in Elmwood Place have argued to have the cameras removed, the village leadership isn’t listening. Ben Swann of Reality Check is investigating the idea behind 'policing for profit'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingReality Check: Elmwood Place Speed Cameras An example Of “Policing For Profit”?