Although Verizon paid less in income taxes than its average customer paid in phone bills, the company broke no laws. America’s corporations spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on lobbying, and they get a good return on their investments. They get tax loopholes — and plenty of them. Last year, Verizon shelled out $16.8 million to lobby federal lawmakers and another $18.7 million on contributions into the campaign accounts of their favorite federal politicians.
Obviously Verizon needs to charge customers MORE … so they can pay some corporate tax.
I know that the USA cannot tax itself to fiscal balance. But it’s stupid to perpetuate a system where “25 out of the country’s 100 highest-paid chief executives actually earned more in 2010 than their companies paid out in corporate income taxes”.
Corporations and rich individuals should actually pay more tax.
“60 Minutes” … weighed in with a thoughtful segment on the mortgage mess involving faulty or fraudulent mortgage paperwork. (Deal Journal readers previously have dubbed this the “Fauxclosure Crisis.”)
The news magazine program went in search of “Linda Green,” a woman in rural Georgia whose signature was on thousands on mortgage documents as a vice president of more than 20 banks — at the same time. Linda Green told “60 Minutes” she had never been a bank vice president, but was dubbed one by an alleged mortgage sweatshop because her name was short and easy to spell.
… It’s not difficult to find reasons to dislike Rupert Murdoch. His reach is one of the most insidious and toxic forces in global politics today. The phone-hacking scandal, despicable though it is, barely scratches the surface of the damage done by News International. It is a media empire built on deceit and bile, that trades vitriol for debate and thinks nothing of greasing the wheels of power until they turn in its favour. What’s more, no matter what the grievances he wreaks on those he has never met, his power and money keep him forever safely out of their reach. …
… He is ranked 13th most powerful person in the world in the 2010 Forbes’ The World’s Most Powerful People list. With a personal net worth of US$7.6 billion, he was ranked 117th wealthiest person in the world in March 2011. …
He bought the Wall Street Journal in 2007, once a bastion of news excellence. They’ve been slammed for jumping on the anti-Muslim bandwagon as quickly as tabloids.
In reaction to the massacre in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik, a Christian extremist:
… Many news organizations leapt to the conclusion that the bombing and shootings were the work of a jihadist terrorist group. The Wall Street Journal laid the blame in that direction in an editorial and then scrubbed away the evidence after it turned out to be incorrect. Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun went with the headline, “Al Qaeda Massacre: Norway’s 9/11.” …
The WSJ tried to cover-up the error rather than make a correction, standard practice.
… apparently Murdoch has nothing to do with Fox News, so long as it keeps bringing in massive profits.
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On the bright side, the much maligned NY Times paywall seems to be working. About 250,000 subscribers are paying up to $500/yr. It may yet be a business model that can keep newspapers printed on dead trees.
Here’s a comprehensive summary of the issue. (If a topic can’t be explained to me in less than 7mins of edutainment, it’s too complicated to care about. Right?)
He’s attending the first e-G8 summit on the internet gathered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy this week in Paris.
I. We have the right to connect.
II. We have the right to speak.
III. We have the right to assemble and to act.
IV. Privacy is an ethic of knowing.
V. Publicness is an ethic of sharing.
VI. Our institutions’ information should be public by default, secret by necessity.
VII. What is public is a public good.
VIII. All bits are created equal.
IX. The internet must stay open and distributed.
Jeff makes the point that the internet “frightens institutions of legacy power”. That’s why they keep trying to regulate and limit “using convenient masks — privacy, security, civility….”
The last one is the internet’s best protection: its own structure. To the leaders gathered in Paris, I say of that architecture: Primum non nocere. First, do no harm.
If you have no legacy power to protect, you should be fighting to keep the internet as free as possible. It’s our best hope for the future.
Newt is the kind of two faced, lying slimeball who formerly thrived in the GOP. But he seems to have lost a step or two. He sounded befuddled on the Hannity show Tuesday. Romney and Newt are dead in the water on Health Care, in any case.
I’d love Sarah Palin to get it. That would be hilarious.
As of now, I’d vote for these candidates, in this order:
Pawlenty is new to me. But I found him quite winning on the radio. He speaks well. The hard right don’t like him. That’s a good sign.
Mitch Daniels won’t even reply to Hannity’s request for an interview. Now that’s a Republican Maverick.
The USA needs a massive economic correction. Obama is not going to do it. Ron Paul would. Daniels or Pollenty might.
Some seem to think that Charlie Crist would be the second coming of Reagan. I don’t know him. But he sounded on Hannity as untrustworthy as Romney. Stay out, Charlie.
Rick Santorum was worst of the interviews I heard, a tongue twisted stumble bum.
… By the way, I’ve always assumed that Sean Hannity (rhymes with Insanity) was another Big Fat Idiot clone. But he’s OK. Dogmatic, one-eyed, but consistent, at least.
Rush and his ilk get their (encrypted) talking points each morning from the Fox News / Republican / Military / Industrial HQ, then drone those ad nauseous for the day. It’s boring.
Though I didn’t vote for him, this result might just be the least terrible of the possible scenarios. (A coalition government under Jack Layton would have been shaky, at best.)
The unlikely candidate, Stephen Harper, now has a majority. And authority.
It’s as if Presto Manning has finally come to the throne. Harper helped Manning found the Reform Party. And succeeded him as the representative for Calgary Southwest.
Jack Layton will make a good Leader of the Opposition. His MPs are young and inexperienced, though. Party discipline will be a problem.
Ruth Ellen Brosseau of the NDP won her Quebec riding despite holidaying in Las Vegas during the campaign and not speaking much French.
… Brosseau works in Ottawa as an assistant manager at a pub and lives in Gatineau, Que. Bill Curry of The Globe and Mail has described her as a “classic parachute candidate.” ….
At the outset I suspected this would be an interesting election. It was.
As for the issues, I’m only slightly alarmed at having King Harper in power.
I’m OK with buying the jets, surprisingly. The other good option is to wait until a better model is available. Cost will be higher if we do that, of course.
Last year I was quite happy with where they were going on Internet regulation. That may turn sour now, however.
Gun registry? … I don’t know enough about the issue.
Cold on Climate Change? … not my issue
My biggest complaint about the Conservatives is their tough on crime stance. It doesn’t work. It’s a waste of money.
Michael Ignatieff is the biggest loser. If you don’t like this outcome, blame the Liberal leader more than anyone else.
Comparing the restrained BBC TV coverage of Bin Laden’s death with the jubilant American TV coverage, I much preferred BBC.
The celebrations reminded me of those in the Middle East … after 911.
I understand spontaneous revelry. And don’t blame the kids in the photo above. But be clear that the world is a less peaceful place after Geraldo Rivera found himself in the international spotlight, again.
Those turned off by the jingoism passed on this quote:
”I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.”
Some are saying it was started by Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller.
Longer version:
“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
I’ve got mixed feelings.
It’s OK with me that Bin Laden was killed. Hopefully we can more easily move forward now. Troops can be brought home more quickly, for example. There are some pluses.
But as a symbol, Osama will live on, now a Martyr to many. Likely the world will be less safe during the coming months. Zealous celebrating and mockery can only inflame.
For the first time in his life, Trump is a laughing stock.
President Barack Obama is shifting from consoler to comic for his appearance before the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, DC. And some of his most prominent would-be rivals are in attendance, including Donald Trump. (April 30)
Would-be GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump wasted no time eagerly snatching at another silly, deliberately distracting, media grabbing attention issue, when his crusade to get President Obama to release his birth certificate came to a quick end on April 27.
The issue now is Obama’s alleged mediocre academic performance. …
I know that the USA cannot tax itself to fiscal balance. But it’s stupid to perpetuate a system where “25 out of the country’s 100 highest-paid chief executives actually earned more in 2010 than their companies paid out in corporate income taxes”.
Rick McCharles 