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Category Archives: Corporate Crime

Fuzzy math

Monday, January 27, 2014

Yet another entry in the totally not surprising category. Times Reporter Catherine Rampell reports that she has been totally unable to get at the numbers behind the oft repeated estimate that the NYC area will benefit from the Super Bowl to the tune of $550 to $600 million. Seems everyone who repeats the number has […]

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No such thing as a corporate terrorist

Monday, January 27, 2014

Tom Tomorrow’s latest: Edited with BlogPad Pro

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Defining Normal

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Dean Baker has a lot to say about an article in this morning's Times about the current housing market, which, as he points out, seems to be written from the perspective of the mortgage lending industry. Dean quotes this statement from the article: “Tighter lending standards are shutting out close to 12.5 million consumers who […]

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Bad moon rising

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

An Appeals Court has just struck down the FCC's attempt to impose net neutrality. That ruling, and the rise of the app, may very well spell the end of the independent voices, such as your humble blogger, that have, to a some extent, managed to fight back against the now very much right wing mainstream […]

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Who could have known that outsourcing government doesn’t work?

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Here's further proof, should anyone need it, that “privatizing” public functions often makes those services more expensive and lower quality. For decades, citizens have been sold on the mantra that the hungry private sector can do a better and cheaper job of providing services than “inefficient” government. Now it is true that there were some […]

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Where are the Obama haters when we need them?

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

A few days ago, I noted my utter lack of surprise at the fact that Eric Holder has refused to enforce a subpoena sought by some government officials investigating JP Morgan's role in aiding Bernie Madoff. It seems there is some doubt that the financial geniuses at the bank really didn't know Madoff was scamming […]

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Back from the Shadows Again

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Well, our holiday guests have come and gone, and it is time for me to return to blogging. Don't ask me why. I do pay a modest yearly fee to my web hosting service, so I guess one answer would be that I have to get my money's worth, but I could solve that problem […]

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Excellence in Education

Monday, December 16, 2013

I've mentioned the concept of “rent seeking” before. Here's a handy definition: The expenditure of resources in order to bring about an uncompensated transfer of goods or services from another person or persons to one's self as the result of a “favorable” decision on some public policy. The term seems to have been coined (or […]

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Yet more on “free trade”

Friday, December 13, 2013

Here's an example of what we'll be seeing more of, if the U.S. gets what it wants in the TPP “free trade” talks. Tobacco companies are pushing back against a worldwide rise in antismoking laws, using a little-noticed legal strategy to delay or block regulation. The industry is warning countries that their tobacco laws violate […]

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A bit more on “free trade”

Thursday, December 12, 2013

A bit of a follow up to a recent post on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership pact. Dean Baker, who I mentioned in my post, takes issue with Paul Krugman's comments that the trade pact is no big deal. Baker agrees that as a trade deal it's a nothing, but that is not the point: Anyhow, […]

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