Tag Archives: economy

Preying on the Ill

Sell expensive insurance, then drop those who fall ill. What a business. “Shortly after his diagnosis, however, his insurance company, Fortis, revoked his policy.” “Fortis had a company policy of targeting policyholders with HIV. A computer program and algorithm targeted every policyholder recently diagnosed with HIV for an automatic fraud investigation, as the company searched [...]
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Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley During the Boom and Bust

by Robert Fairlie, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of tight labor markets on the high-techindustry and its effect on entrepreneurship inSilicon Valley during the boom and bust. This report uses a new measure of entrepreneurial activity to study entrepreneurship from 1996 to 2005 [...]
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Sugar Daddy

After poisoning the land, losing half a billion dollars, who you gonna call to bail you out? The politicians you bough and paid for, that’s who. “United States Sugar was, as one official put it during an interview, ‘pretty much in the driver’s seat.’ ” “On Nov. 15, 2007, two United States Sugar lobbyists met [...]
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Protection Racket

Want cops ? Pay up. “That bill is for their share of the operating costs of the Unified Police Department.” $186 for homeowners. $81,912 for Wal-Mart. “Hospitals, churches and non-profit organizations will also be assessed the fee.” Gotta pay to pray. The mob might be cheaper. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you
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The Inhuman Condition

Calling 911 will cost you money in this town. “they will be charged $300 if they make a call for help. ” How many people will not call 911 now ? Let’s say you were going down the road and see a wreck. Or a burglary ? Or an assault ? Will you pay to [...]
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Lessons Learned From Previous Recessions

The recession beginning in December 2007 led to the largest overall job losses and increases in unemployment rates since the early 1980s. Evidence from the four recessions since 1980 provides a possible road map of the pattern of recovery from the most recent recession. The intensity, duration, and depth of past recessions varied widely across [...]
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Thieves and Liars

We have known for some time that the best way to rob a bank is to own the bank. The extension that we are seeing now, is that the best way to rob a country is to own the country. From William Black: “They were able to get Congress to extort FASB, which is the [...]
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China Must Lead

A perceptive article from China, graciously translated by our friends at the European Tribune. The West bears responsibility for the last two hundred years worth of accumulated carbon emissions in the air. But the West can wait, for they will feel less pain from the coming changes, and the developing nations will bear the brunt [...]
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Hu’s Your Daddy ?

China gets a lot more respect these days. The military-industrial-government complex in the USA is going to have to watch what they do in the future. Taiwan may have to be crossed off the sales list. Never mind, there are a lot of countries that China doesn’t yet care about. But losing a few billion [...]
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Bought and Paid For

The bankers own Washington. The politicians wear knee pads. “Deregulation would help Rubin earn over $100 million in the following decade. ” “If you get Chuck Schumer on your side, you are okay,” “so much money from Wall Street over the years—more than $14 million” And that’s just small change. “Not even the Mafia has [...]
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