crony capitalism

Postal Service losses tripled to $16 billion from previous year

"The US Postal Service tripled its losses in 2012, bleeding $15.9 billion as the state-owned enterprise faces tough competition and what it calls onerous and unfair retirement funding requirements. The US mail said its losses rocketed in the year to September 30 from a $5.1 billion loss last year, with more than $11 billion sucked off to pre-fund health benefits for service retirees long into the future. Overall mail volume continued to shrink, by 5.1 percent, and operating revenues fell nearly one percent, to $65.2 billion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPostal Service losses tripled to $16 billion from previous year

The Nearly-Free University

"The entire education industry on the U.S. is based on an inflexible, increasingly marginal-return 'factory model.' We are 'training' millions of people in an assembly-line based on the assumption that academia is a limitless growth industry, when in fact it has reached the zenith of diminishing-return complexity and cost. Student would be encouraged to earn money via the work projects undertaken. Instead of owing $120,000 after four years of passive study, students might complete their University experience with earnings in the bank. The Nearly Free University model would educate the 95% who do not need PhDs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Nearly-Free University

RIAA Celebrates 15 Year Jail Sentence For Movie and Music Pirate

"The RIAA has welcomed a mind-boggling jail sentence handed to a man who sold pirated movies and music. The 37-year-old man pleaded guilty to six felony counts of selling counterfeit media after he sold five movies and one music CD to an undercover investigator without the permission of copyright holders. As a result he will go to jail in Mississippi for 15 years to be followed by three years of supervised release." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRIAA Celebrates 15 Year Jail Sentence For Movie and Music Pirate

Another California City to Put Traffic Cameras to Public Vote

"Documents show not only did the public in overwhelming numbers urged the council to drop the use of cameras entirely, but state officials also weighed in heavily against their use at specific intersections. The ballot measure was offered as a compromise intended to head off a motion to disband the camera program entirely. The compromise passed by one vote, that of Councilman Steve Adams whose brother is paid to approve red light camera citations. Just prior to the vote, local activists warned his participation would be seen as an ethical violation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnother California City to Put Traffic Cameras to Public Vote

India unveils new version of ‘world’s cheapest tablet’

"The paperback-book-sized Aakash 2, developed by Indian engineers at elite IIT public universities, runs the Google operating system Android 4.0 and has a screen measuring seven inches (18 centimetres) wide. The first 100,000 devices will be sold to students at engineering colleges and universities at a subsidised price of 1,130 rupees (20 dollars) and subsequently Aakash 2 will be distributed to book stores in Indian universities. Datawind says the commercial sale price without subsidies for Aakash 2 is 3,500 rupees (64 dollars)." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia unveils new version of ‘world’s cheapest tablet’

Fed delays Basel III bank capital buffer rules

"U.S. regulators on Friday delayed the effective date of a global agreement on greater bank capital buffers reached in response to the financial crisis of 2008. The rule delay could help big banks such as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. who must ultimately comply with the rules, as well as smaller banks who also will have to meet the requirements. The largest 19 U.S. bank holding companies would have a capital shortfall of $50 billion, if the Basel III capital buffer rules proposed Thursday were to be made effective immediately, a Fed official said in June." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFed delays Basel III bank capital buffer rules

Tortured by the Government You Served? Tough Luck

"In 2004, a U.S. Navy veteran named Donald Vance went to Iraq to work as a security contractor. When he discovered that the company employing him was selling weapons to radical Islamist militias, Vance contacted the FBI and began feeding it information. Rather than acting on Vance’s disclosures, the military seized him. For several weeks Vance was imprisoned in an Iraqi dungeon, where he was subjected to interrogation that legally qualified as torture. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed Vance’s lawsuit, arguing that Rumsfeld and every other official in the military chain of command enjoys blanket immunity." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTortured by the Government You Served? Tough Luck

Kim Dotcom vows free Internet for all of New Zealand

"Eccentric Internet millionaire Kim Dotcom vowed this week to fund free Internet access for all of New Zealand once he gets his new website off the ground. Dotcom is currently embroiled in an extradition fight against the U.S., which accused him of running the largest criminal copyright infringement operation in history and seized his business, Megaupload, in January. Dotcom says new site, Me.ga, will function similarly, but with enhanced encryption and distributed hosting, ensuring that users 'hold the keys' to their own files. Dotcom’s involvement with the plan could prompt U.S. regulators to resist the installation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKim Dotcom vows free Internet for all of New Zealand

Crony Capitalists: The Biggest Winners From President Obama’s Re-Election

"Ultimately the biggest winners may be those who finance municipal and state debt. Owing his election to the fiscal failures of New York, Illinois and California, Obama could have to use his executive power to forestall looming bankruptcies at the local and even state level. Ironically the biggest winner here in the crony capitalist sweepstakes will be firms like Goldman Sachs, who turned so vehemently against Obama, but have historically made much of their money on financing government operations. Some people never seem to lose no matter what the result of the election." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCrony Capitalists: The Biggest Winners From President Obama’s Re-Election

Paul Craig Roberts: The Special Interests Won Again

"Washington is controlled by powerful interest groups, not by elections. What the two parties fight over is not alternative political visions and different legislative agendas, but which party gets to be the whore for Wall Street, the military-security complex, Israel Lobby, agribusiness, and energy, mining, and timber interests. Being the whore is important, because whores are rewarded for the services that they render. To win the White House or a presidential appointment is a career-making event as it makes a person sought after by rich and powerful interest groups. What is curious is that voters don’t understand how politics really works." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: The Special Interests Won Again