Free Republic

The owners of the Detroit Red Wings are looking to building a new $650-million entertainment district for the team in downtown Detroit with the help of state and local taxpayers. The plan is in its early stages and details are scarce, but the overwhelming economic consensus is that subsidized stadiums are huge losers for taxpayers. Amidst all the other excitement in Lansing, a bill to exempt certain businesses from state and local taxes via the Downtown Development Act was signed by Gov. Rick Snyder recently. According to MIRS Capitol Capsule, this “paves the way” for a replacement for Joe Louis...

Big Business Sells Out Small Business CEOs say yes to higher individual taxes in return for Obama's promise of corporate tax reform. By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL Were the Hollywood academy to hand out Oscars for roles in this fiscal cliff drama, the winner of the Best Charlatan award would not be in much doubt. Corporate America, take your bow. Say this for the Republicans and Democrats: Both sides are fighting over principles. Nothing so generous can be said for the bulk of America's corporate chieftains, whose agenda lately has been to stick it to everyone else. As the negotiations have...

Report: White House considering corporate donors for inaugurationBy Alexandra Jaffe - 11/23/12 09:47 AM ET President Obama is considering allowing corporate donors to help fund his inauguration in 2013, the Wall Street Journal reports. Such a move would be a reversal of Obama's 2009 ban on such donations, which was then meant as a symbolic gesture. In 2009, the president raised over $50 million from donors, sans any contributions from corporate donors, to fund his inauguration. But he did not pursue corporate donors, "a gesture meant to show that well-heeled interests wouldn't have undue influence in his administration," according to...

Initiative to help solve unfilled jobs in aerospace industry By Barrie Barber FAIRBORN — An initiative announced Friday aims to solve an ironic problem with Ohio’s economy — in spite of high unemployment rates there are more than 10,000 unfilled jobs in the state’s aerospace industry. Wright State University will be home to the Aerospace Professional Development Center, a first-of-its-kind outreach initiative in Ohio to train, educate and attract skilled workers into the ranks of the aerospace industry, officials said Friday. Ohio has more than 10,700 unfilled jobs in the aerospace and defense-related industries, according to state Sen. Chris Widener,...

Corporate cash paid DNC’s arena feeBy Tim Funk The Charlotte Observer **SNIP** Though President Barack Obama had instructed convention organizers to not use business money for the actual convention, Dan Murrey – head of the city’s host committee – said Thursday that contracts signed in early 2011 allowed for his group to pay the arena license fee from either of two funds. **SNIP** But its contract with the Democratic National Convention Committee also called for the host committee to raise $36.65 million to pay for the actual convention. Making that job harder: the restrictions imposed by Obama. **SNIP** “We’ll delineate...

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. has awarded millions of dollars in grants, loans and tax breaks under claims that such efforts will grow economic development, job creation and private investment, but the trend of failing to meet expectations exists instead. The MEDC oversees the 21st Century Jobs Fund. In a 2008 press release, then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm said, “The 21st Century Jobs Fund is the cornerstone of the most comprehensive and aggressive strategy in the nation to transform our economy, grow new high-tech companies and create good-paying jobs for our citizens.” Programs of the 21st Century Jobs Fund have not lived...

Democratic Convention Benefits From Corporate Cashby The Associated Press July 21, 2012 Shortly after last year's high-profile announcement that the 2012 Democratic National Convention would be the first in history not to rely on special-interest money, organizers in Charlotte quietly set up a nonprofit entity to rake in corporate cash. Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Duke Energy have all sent checks to New American City Inc., a non-profit entity being run by top officials on the convention host committee. Corporate money is bankrolling operations in direct support of the convention, including paying the salaries of the 41 full-time host...

A bill passed recently by the Michigan Legislature would repackage a failed Granholm-era corporate subsidy program called the “Centers of Energy Excellence” under a new title, “Centers of Innovation.” House bill 5477, would make changes to various programs administered by the Michigan Strategic Fund. Among the changes are allowing taxpayer dollars to be used to match “collaborative partner” or third party funds and increasing to 25 percent from 15 percent the amount of subsidy money that can go toward overhead costs. The bill also replaces the term "energy excellence" in the statute with different labels such as "innovation" or “competitive...

Looking for Cash, Congress Finds Some in a Corporate Pension Rule TweakBy MARY WILLIAMS WALSH Published: June 28, 2012 Lawmakers looking for money to finance low-cost student loans and fix aging highways have found about $20 billion in an unlikely place: company pension funds. Pension funds are not exactly brimming over with extra money. In 2006, Congress was concerned enough about bolstering them to pass legislation closing loopholes and making companies set money aside more quickly. But the highway bill that Congress is rushing to complete by Friday contains a measure that would let companies slow their pension contributions again....

A state fund intended to create 390 Michigan jobs has loaned $7.7 million to 35 companies and created 79 jobs — only 20 percent of the number initially promised. Ann Arbor SPARK received an $8 million grant in 2006 to create the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, which used $7.7 million of that amount. The grant was awarded as part of the Competitive Edge Technology Grants and Loans program, which exists "to encourage the development of competitive edge technologies to create jobs in the state." Skip Simms, manager of the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, said in an email, "We saw a...

In 1974 the FCC adopted guidelines stating that although subliminal advertising might not be effective, they still felt it was a deceptive practice. If any broadcaster of TV or Radio signals uses a subliminal message they are subject to fines from the FCC.On Sunday, 1 April 2012, during the Fox News program John “Stossel” - Stupid in America an advertisment was played for a medicine manufactured by Pfizer called CHANTIX ( varenicline ) tablets. At the beginning of the ad a female provides a positive testimonial about the anti-smoking product followed by the narrator's voice his first two words are...

In 2001, drug manufacturer Pfizer Inc. was trying to get only the second tax abatement in the city of Ann Arbor’s history and the first since 1982. Frustrated by the City Council’s tepidness to award the incentives, then-Pfizer Senior Vice President David Canter said the council seemed “anti-business” and implied that the drug manufacturer would completely abandon Ann Arbor if a deal wasn’t forthcoming. The City Council eventually worked out an $84.2 million tax incentive deal over 20 years. However, just six years later, Pfizer announced it was closing its Ann Arbor facilities by 2008. Pfizer’s announcement left city officials...

...that system of taxation as created by Congress turns business accounting into a labyrinth where corporations have to waste manpower and income to constantly manage their tax situation while government receives reduced revenues that can't be anticipated from one year to the next. Multi-national corporations like GE can also use the complexity of the US tax system to manipulate the tax code by deflecting profits outside the US but maximizing deductions in their tax burden. The corporate tax situation has caused even a fiscal liberal like President Obama...

It's time to use the lefts tactics on them, they have done this to many conservatives and is doing it to Rush now. It's time to fight back.

Kentucky bourbon makers fear hangover from Obama's corporate tax overhaulBy Erik Wasson - 02/25/12 07:49 AM ET Kentucky bourbon makers say President Obama’s corporate tax overhaul could hobble their industry and cause major economic hardship in the Bluegrass State. The makers of Woodford Reserve, Jack Daniels and Evan Williams are worried about the elimination of an accounting method that allows companies to lower their tax burdens by boosting the costs associated with inventory held for a long period. Obama’s Treasury Department sees the “last in, first out” (LIFO) accounting rule as a loophole. By eliminating it and other tax provisions,...

Caterpillar: Goodbye Illinois, Hello Indiana’s Right To Work February 17, 2012 Caterpillar digging into Indiana Caterpillar has been a mainstay Illinois-based company for generations but no longer. The power and influence of big labor has impacted the company for too long, damaging its bottom-line and hurting workers. Now that Illinois’ neighbor, Indiana, has become a Right to Work state, Caterpillar is exploring their options, according to The Detroit News’ Robert Laurie: Back in 2009, Barack Obama announced that Caterpillar had promised to rehire some of its laid-off workforce if his stimulus proposal passed. This week, the nation’s largest manufacturer of...

There are many amendments that have been proposed whose sponsors claim will abolish corporate personhood and/or declare that money is not free speech. Here is a discussion of the problems with the four types that have been introduced in Congress and of two that are being promoted by various groups and individuals to address these problems. EDWARDS-STYLE AMENDMENTS TO GIVE CONGRESS THE POWER TO REGULATE CORPORATE “FREE SPEECH” The Donna Edwards amendment is the prototype of a group of amendments that would if passed give Congress the power to regulate corporate money in campaigns. Others falling into this group include...

Thirty companies paid no U.S. income tax 08-10: report Photo 12:52pm EDT By Kevin Drawbaugh (Reuters) - Thirty large and profitable U.S. corporations paid no income taxes in 2008 through 2010, said a study released on Thursday that arrives as Congress faces rising demands for tax reform, but seems unable or unwilling to act. Pepco Holdings Inc, a Washington, D.C.-area power company, had the lowest effective tax rate, at negative 57.6 percent, among the 280 Fortune 500 companies studied. The statutory U.S. corporate income tax rate is 35 percent, one of the highest in the world, but over the 2008-2010...

They have branded themselves the 99 per cent, camping out in New York's financial district to protest against corporate greed and financial inequality. But on the ground at the epicentre of the Occupy Wall Street demonstration, a closer look at some of the impassioned protesters is starting to suggest that while many of them have genuine grievances, all may not be completely as advertised. The flash of a designer belt, a watch or even, in one case, a huge wad of cash reveals many activists are not quite so hard done by.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Approximately 300 people gathered in Kerr Park late Monday afternoon as part of the national “Occupy Wall Street” movement which is spreading through the U.S. like wildfire. And many of them plan to camp and protest Wall Street, the Federal Reserve or other bastions of corporate power – indefinitely. “In the unfortunate instance that you are arrested, do not resist arrest,” warned an attorney acting as part of the Occupy OKC legal team. He went on to say that Occupy OKC is committed to non-violence. The Oklahoma City Police Department had so far been very courteous and...

CHENGDU/WUHAN, China (Reuters) - When China announced a nearly $600 billion package to ward off the 2008 global financial crisis, city planners across the country happily embarked on a frenzy of infrastructure projects, some of them of arguable need. Chengdu, the capital of southwestern Sichuan province, answered the call for stimulus action with a bold plan for a railway hub modeled after Waterloo railway station in London. Except London's Waterloo was not ambitious enough. > China's local governments have piled up a mountain of bad debt, some of it to finance bridges to nowhere and other white elephant projects, which...

An unnamed computer virus is compromising the security of U.S. Reaper and Predator drones as they fly missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Pakistan. Wired reports the virus was found about two weeks ago and hasn't kept the drone pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from conducting missions. There haven't been any reports of classified data breaches, but the virus has resisted the military's best efforts to remove it.

Alberta is number one when it comes to labour market performance across North America, says a report released by the Fraser Institute on Thursday. The think tank evaluated employment growth, private sector growth, rates and duration of unemployment and overall productivity in 10 Canadian provinces and all 50 American states between 2006 and 2010. Alberta had the best-performing job market among all jurisdictions, with the highest total employment growth — including growth in the private sector — and the second-lowest duration of unemployment, the report said. Saskatchewan came in second overall among all provinces and states, while Manitoba placed fourth,...

Fox News off and then on again at Escondido gym Fitness devotee Dianne Lowe's best exercise in recent days may be standing up for what she says is free speech. The five-year member of the LA Fitness club on El Norte Parkway in Escondido was outraged last week when she went to turn on the right-leaning cable channel while working out and found it wouldn't come in. Lowe talked to a gym attendant, who she said told her that LA Fitness officials had ordered it shut down. "They told me, 'We are not allowed to turn on Fox News,' and...

The 6-year-old son of a prominent pharmaceutical executive died Sunday, almost a week after falling down the stairs at his family's mansion and four days after his father's girlfriend was found dead hanging from a balcony in the house.

<p>KINGMAN, Ariz.—A western Arizona man has received a three-month sentence after authorities say he shot his Camaro because it wouldn't start and then refused to come out of his home.</p>

Aerospace industry tells Obama to cool it on bashing corporate jets By Keith Laing - 06/30/11 10:16 AM ET President Obama went over the top in his criticism of tax breaks for corporate jet owners, a lobbying group said Thursday. "We're disturbed by President Obama's remarks on business aviation," Aerospace Industries Association President Marion Blakey said in a statement. "General aviation plays an important role in our economy and took a substantial hit in the recent recession," she continued. "We feel that disparaging comments from the president regarding business jet users are not conducive to promoting jobs, investment and economic...

Entice large American corporations into the UN Global Compact and the de-industrialization of America becomes a reality in short order. A selection of the corporations who are already members of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which is now part of the UN Global Compact, can be found HERE. The UN Global Compact was initiated in 2000 and has been accelerating since 2010, no doubt due to support provided by President Obama and George Soros. The goal of the UN Global Compact is to create public-private and global-local partnerships. Basically, this means “globalizing” private corporations so that they will operate...

Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving "Mother Earth" the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country. The bid aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to "dominate and exploit" — to the point that the "well-being and existence of many beings" is now threatened. The wording may yet evolve, but the general structure is meant to mirror Bolivia's Law of the Rights of Mother Earth,...

By: Mark Joppa (Mark is a tea party enthusiast in the Hudson Valley, New York) The United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) in fiscal year 2010 had a combined budget of $134 billion (this alone is insane!). Just three years prior, in fiscal year 2007 the USDA had a lower budget of $88 billion. No one really knows how or why the Department of Agriculture spent $88 billion in 2007, together with an additional $46 billion in 2010, but let’s examine USDA’s 2012 budget. President Obama has proposed $145 billion. In these tough times with high unemployment and the historically...

By 2013, Canada's effective tax rate on capital will be 18.4%, less than one half of our 39% in 2005. We will have the most tax-competitive regime in the G7, which is far better than six years ago, when we had the least competitive regime. These corporate tax reductions have boosted investment. One important study showed that a 10% reduction in the tax-inclusive cost of capital led to a 7% increase in capital investment. Without doubt, the final stage of corporate tax reductions in Canada is a win-win for both the private and public sectors. There is no trade-off between...

Canada Liberals pressure gov’t on corporate taxNational By REUTERS Posted 1 day ago OTTAWA - Canada's opposition parties should unite to fight corporate tax cuts planned by the minority Conservative government, the Liberal Party said on Thursday amid expectations it may seek to trigger an election next year. The Liberals, the largest opposition party in Parliament, vow to vote against the next budget, expected in early 2011, unless the government reverses the tax cuts. But it can only defeat the plan if joined by the other two opposition parties. "It's a major expenditure and it significantly impacts the fiscal capacity...

Fiscal Policy: President Calvin Coolidge famously said that the chief business of the American people is business. Now it seems that the chief business of Congress is to make sure American businesses are taxed at a punitive rate. Earlier this week, Japan quietly announced it was cutting its corporate tax rate by 5 percentage points next year. That will leave the U.S., where the average combined federal and state corporate rate is 40%, with the highest rate in the developed world (see chart). A high corporate tax rate is a drag on an economy. It affects a country's competitiveness as...

Remember, the allegations made by various legal folks in the practice (and apparently validated by the case law thus far) is that not one note has been able to be produced that contains all of the required conveyances and endorsements. What's going to happen when (or if) these folks gain access to the files and find that they're missing - that is, that the custodian doesn't have them? Well now that would be interesting, no? "Mortgage-backed securities" that in fact have no mortgages in them? Why that would be a wee problem, no?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will name Warren Buffet as one of fifteen winners of the 2010 Medal of Freedom, a White House official said on Wednesday. Buffet, one of the world's most successful investors who has donated a vast chunk of his multibillion dollar fortune to charity, will receive the medal at a White House ceremony early next year. .. Buffet is one of Obama's closest defenders in the business community..

Breaking: Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski wins re-election to Senate as write-in candidate

KRISTINE KAISER: We must stop the corporate takeover of AmericaHigh Point Enterprise 18 hrs ago Corporations are making their move and will soon rule American politics. They are giving big money to the GOP, with the hopes of grabbing American electoral power. You see, they operate with one disadvantage; they are not people and cannot vote. So, they need front groups, regular people to carry their banners. Some people want to rub elbows with power. Others delight in the contrariness of being for the other fellow and negating their own interests. Some people are against aiding neighbors. But all, I...

***SNIP*** So I'm delighted the Democrats are finally hitting back at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other Republican front groups for dumping millions of dollars of untraceable corporate contributions into the election, with the total likely to exceed $300 million. But since Democrats haven't exactly been innocent of taking special interest money in the past, we, ordinary citizens, need to be the ones driving this issue. We need to make the buying of our democracy the salient issue of the coming election and beyond, because it affects everything else that we need to change. ***SNIP*** We also need to...

At a time when the Michigan Economic Development Corporation is saying it is being unfairly criticized, its staffers are among the best paid in the state. According to information from a Freedom of Information Act request, the MEDC has 31 employees making $100,000 or more. The MEDC has 351 positions. Greg Main, president and CEO of the MEDC, had the top salary, at $200,000. Debra Dansby, the chief operating officer, had the second-highest salary, at $150,000. "The MEDC was structured to incorporate the best and brightest from the private sector and the state's most experienced civil servants in order to...

Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. on Tuesday announced it will close 30 of its 514 stores, and cut 120 jobs in its corporate and field support staffs as it deals with a continued weak economy. The Jacksonville-based supermarket chain wouldn't say which stores are closing until company officials can inform the employees involved, which should happen by the end of Wednesday. The stores being closed "can't operate efficiently or profitably" in this economy, CEO Peter Lynch said. "We just don't see a lot of good things down the road," he said. "These steps are being taken to position the company for another...

The operators of another Michigan electric car battery plant, A123 Systems, will receive a $100 million cash subsidy from the state for a 75-acre facility the company has leased in Romulus. The subsidy will be in the form of cash because the plant has been granted "renaissance zone" status by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Declaring the facility a renaissance zone has the effect of converting a previously authorized $100 million "refundable" tax credit for the firm into an outright cash subsidy (rather than some-subsidy and some-tax break). The legislation authorizing the conversion was signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm in...

After getting frustrated out of the lemons his problems gave him, David Miller made his own corporate lemonade. Due to the frustration of always having to call technical support to solve his own frequent hardware problems, he started taking the initiative to educate himself.

To qualify for an award the nominee must be government run, backed or financed, and fail a "Yellow Book" test, meaning that if a private company found in the Yellow Pages can do the work, the government should get out. The nominees are, in reverse order: Veterans Hospitals, Post Office, General Motors, Public Schools and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac For an explanation of why, please click to read.

Two brothers sign up for very long walk against corporate personhoodThe Times-Standard Posted: 05/16/2010 01:21:11 AM PDT Brothers George “Laird” Monahan, 69, and Robin Monahan, 67, have a long walk ahead of them. After a visit in Humboldt County last week, the pair is setting off from San Francisco's Golden Gate Park today to walk across the country, expecting to arrive at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. sometime before Election Day. But this is far from a casual stroll, as the brothers are walking across the country to bring attention to the recent controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling in...

Corporate America is gambling on the minority in its political giving this year, assuming that Republicans will win big in the November midterm elections, an analysis of campaign finance reports shows. The pattern represents a distinct change from a year ago, when Barack Obama was sworn into office and Democrats took control of Congress. Back then, corporate political action committees made a shift to the Democrats, giving 58 percent of their donations to the party. So far this year, only 48 percent of the contributions from big business are going to the Democrats. The shift in political giving represents a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic lawmakers on Thursday introduced legislation to blunt the impact of a recent Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations, unions and other groups to spend unlimited funds on political campaigns. Unveiled by Senator Charles Schumer on the steps of the court, the White House-backed initiative calls for the unprecedented disclosure of money in politics three months after the court ruled 5-4 that long-standing campaign finance limits violated the free speech rights of corporations. The court ruling is expected to unleash a flood of money from the traditionally pro-Republican business community to campaigns designed to favor or oppose...

Ford finance arm to cut 200 jobs in Franklin

In the banking industry in 2009, the rich got richer -- which has, of course, infuriated much of the nation. But that same basic idea, mostly minus the public infuriation factor, is playing out across the business world. The Great Recession has killed untold numbers of small firms, many of which were unable to line up financing to keep their operations afloat. But money is no problem at all for corporate America. And the biggest businesses don't need banks, at least not for loans. As the credit crisis has eased, they've been able to turn to the welcoming arms of...

Ross DeVol of the Milken Institute on the best ways to create long-term job growth.

U.S. Cannot Encourage Job Creation with Second-Highest Corporate Tax Rate Among Industrialized Nations, Scott Hodge Says...