Chuck Collins has a compelling article in his Institute for Policy Studies report from yesterday. He lists 25 large U.S. companies that paid their CEOs more last year than they paid in U.S taxes.
His list includes giants such as Verizon, Boeing, Honeywell, GE and many immediately-identifiable others.
Through the liberal use of lobbying and offshore tax [...]
In a stunning reversal, a US judge has overturned a $1.3bn jury award that Oracle won earlier this year against long time foe, SAP.
The earlier victory came about after Oracle took SAP to court complaining that one of its subsidiaries had infringed copyright and illegally copied Oracle’s software.
This ruling has now opened the door to [...]
An article in the New York Times shows how China has overtaken the U.S. in solar energy.
In the last few months, three solar energy component manufacturers have gone out of business in the U.S., leaving China as the world leader in solar cell production.
Earlier, Western governments began subsidizing installations of solar panels and plants.
However, the [...]
Government numbers show a strong surge in consumer spending in July.
The increase of 0.8% was fully 0.3% above the consensus of economists and supports the notion of a stronger recovery from recession.
The 0.8% increase is the largest in five months and came on the back of strong demand for autos.
In the same report, personal income [...]
The latest news from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the number of employed youths aged 18-24 years rose by only 1.7 million to 18.6 million during the summer.
Jobs were hard to find during the peak summer season, resulting in the lowest summer employment numbers on record (since 1948) for young people, at [...]
Finally, the big banks have jumped into the unsavory world of payday loans.
These loans, which were once the preserve of cornerstore check cashing outfits, are proving irresistible to banks seeking to spruce up their profits by any means necessary.
Of course, with the new market focus has come a new name. That new name is the elegantly-styled “direct [...]
Deal-of-the-day leader, Groupon recently filed to raise $750 million in a highly-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) and in doing so, revealed their financials. The filings described staggering growth, but also steep losses.
In 2010, Groupon had revenues of $713 million, up from $30 million in 2009. In its filing to the SEC, Groupon said it had [...]
An interesting article by Jeffrey Frankel of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) confirms what many of us suspected all along.
Government forecasts of economic growth across the world tend to be over-optimistic if not plain unrealistic. This, he says, is one major reason for the huge deficits that plague Western economies today.
Moreover, his research [...]
In a surprise move, famed investor Warren Buffet has invested $5 billion into Bank of America.
Berkshire Hathaway, run by Mr. Buffett, has agreed to buy 50,000 preferred shares that will pay a 6% annual dividend.
Bank of America has the option to buy back the shares at any time for a 5% premium.
By buying these shares [...]
This is a fascinating interview by the well-known economist, Nouriel Roubini, who is predicting that a new recession is likelier than not to occur.
He looks at QE3 as being a strategy with too many downside risks, but argues for a new stimulus in order to prevent reentry to recession.
The catch-22, he says is that companies [...]
Steve Jobs, the legendary CEO of Apple Computer has resigned, effective today.
This marks almost 34 years since Jobs founded Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne, and the semi-retired Intel product-marketing manager and engineer A.C. “Mike” Markkula Jr.
His resignation letter to the Board of Apple went as follows:
To the Apple Board of Directors and [...]
The Department of Commerce has announced a surprisingly strong 4% increase in durable goods orders in July.
New orders for manufactured durable goods increased by $7.7 billion to $201.5 billion, following a 1.3% decrease in June.
This surprised many economists, who insist the economy is entering a soft patch.
It also means that any plans for quantitative easing [...]
The health of the banking sector is showing slight improvements, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The number of banking institutions on the FDIC’s “Problem List” fell for the only time since the third quarter of 2006 from 888 to 865.
In addition, banks and other savings institutions insured by the FDIC reported a [...]
A rare earthquake, registering at 5.8 on the Richter scale has just hit the U.S. East Coast at 2.00 pm today, all the way from South Carolina to Boston.
Residents reported buildings swaying and hundreds (including myself) ran outdoors during the tremor to escape swaying buildings. No major damage or loss of life was reported however.
The [...]
Today’s story is about the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, the mercurial leader of Libya for the the last 42 years and self-styled “king” of African kings.
The last 6 months saw an uprising that was a part of the “Arab Spring” that has swept away rulers of Tunisia and Egypt and provoked violent struggles and repression [...]
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