THE CORPORATE CONFEDERACY

BP disaster	Economic news	Essays
Films	Tax avoidance	Links
Reading	Corporations	Wall Street

FACTS Tax avoidance Transpacific Partnership Walmart ESSAYS BACK TO TOP Taking on the corporate myth Some ways to occupy our future...and our economy Corporations and us Corporation no person in these 'hoods Derivative America and the Enron generation Evangelical economics False profits Sovreignty movement The most dangerous man on Wall Streeet LINKS BACK TO TOP BOYCOTTS GREEN BOYCOTT LIST CONSUMER ISSUES THE CONSUMERIST GUIDE TO FIGHTING BACK HOW TO ESCAPE CORPORATE PHONE HELL & SPEAK TO A LIVE PERSON OTHER WAYS TO REACH A LIVE PERSON STILL MORE HUMAN CODES PUBLIC CITIZEN PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP RIP OFF REPORT SPY CHIPS TRANS-ATLANTIC CONSUMER DIALOGUE WHO'S OUTSOURCING IN YOUR STATE CORPORATIONS CORPORATE INFO ENRON KODAK SODEXHO MARRIOTT WAL-MART WATCH GROUPS 180/MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRACY & EDUCATION BHOPAL BUSINESS ETHICS CONSUMERS FOR COMPUTING CHOICE CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT CORPORATE DIRT CORPORATE WATCH EXECUTIVE PAY WATCH FTC DO NOT CALL REGISTRY JOINT CENTER FOR POLITICAL & ECONOMIC STUDIES MULTINATIONAL MONITOR ENRON SITE PUBLIC INFORMATION NETWORK PRJCT ON CORPORATIONS, LAW & DEMOCRACY RECLAIM DEMOCRACY STUDENT ALLIANCE TO REFORM CORPORTATONS US PIRG UNITED STUDENTS AGAINST SWEATSHOPS WORLD BANK BOYCOTT FILMS BACK TO TOP Plunder: The Crime of Our Time: The criminal side of the financial crisis 'Inside Job', out on DVD now and Oscar winner for Best Documentary, about the greedy reckless criminal behavior of financial firms and the deregulation under Reagan, Clinton, & Bush II that caused the 2008 economic meltdown. It's entertaining & easily understandable, and you'll get pissed off, especially at Obama, who hired Wall St. insiders (Geithner, Summers, etc.) who were responsible for the mess. -Scott McLarty READING BACK TO TOP Predator Nation Get Up, Stand Up - A guide to taking on the corporatocracy. The Corporate Whistleblower's Survival Guide: From Erin Brockovich to Enron, whistleblowers who “challenge abuses of power that betray the public trust” have proven to be a necessity in modern business culture. Recent federal legislation in finance and health reform have cemented legal protections and mechanisms for whistleblowing. This book provides a thorough guide and history to the whistleblower's legal rights. With extensive legal texts, sample letters, resources, and information on upcoming whistleblower reforms. The Monster: How A Gang Of Predatory Lenders And Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America — And Spawned A Global Crisis FROM OUR OVERSTOCKED ARCHIVES PSALM OF THE FAST LANE SAM SMITH, 1986 The Lord is my mentor; I shall want it all. He feedeth me in world-class restaurants and leadeth me beside the sparkling mineral waters. He restoreth my house and bringeth me in the path of good access. Yea, though I jog through the valley of the shadow of high rises I shall fear no viable competition; thy clout and thy bottom line shall comfort me. He shall prepare a game plan against mine enemies, and shall bloweth dry my head and my Volvo shall runneth over to Bloomingdales. Surely perks and power lunches shall follow me all the days of my life and 1 shall dwell in an upscale neighborhood forever and ever. For thine is the power and the glory - But not for long, sucker. I'm right behind you. CORPORATIONS Abercrombie & Fitch 2013 - A guide to how to be an acceptable Abercrombie & Fitch employee American Airlines 2012 - American, Southwest top airlines for losing bags Anheuser-Busch 2012- Backs major climate change denier, Heartland Institute AOL 2012- AOL profits from the old and the lazy Apple 2014 - Among top offshore tax evaders Apple, Walmart, McDonald's compete in underpaying workers Applebees 2013 Applebee’s fires waitress for exposing pastor’s ‘give God 10%’ no-tip receipt Atlantic Southeast Airlines 2011 -Atlantic Southeast Airlines throws children's book author off plane for saying, "Fuck" AT&T 2013 Top congressional contributor 1989-2010 2012 ATT plans reducation camps for copyright violators... Backs major climate change denier, Heartland Institute BAIN BANK OF AMERICA BB&T 2012- Backs major climate change denier, Heartland Institute BP 2011 Judge blocks $285 million SEC settlement with Citigroup 24 arrested for trying to close Citibank accounts 2010 OIL SPILL STORIES LATEST NEWS ON BP DISASTER BENNETON 2012 Benetton's mannequins to spy on you BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON 2013 - Contrator for NSA's notorious spy operation Chik-fil-A 2012 - Big contributor to anti-gay causes Citigroup 2013 Citigroup promised Lew big bucks if he took a high government job Comcast Corporation 2012- Backs major climate change denier, Heartland Institute Dell 2013 - Contrator for NSA's notorious spy operation Eden Food 2013 - Eden Foods: Organic food, anti-women politics General Electric 2014 Among top offshore tax evaders 2013 GE is really a foreign corporation GE seizes control of Internet & White House 2012 Since 2009, GE, its CEO, and political action committee have spent a combined $112 million on lobbying and campaign contributions. GE paid 2.3% of its profits in taxes over past ten years General Motors Foundation 2012- Backs major climate change denier, Heartland Institute Goldman Sachs Google 2013 - Google's chair thinks its employees should pay the company's taxes Halliburton 2013 Haliburton's fine in the gulf spill case cost it four minutes of revenue Haliburton criminals let off the hook by Obama regime 2012 Fired Army whistleblower wins big settlement in Haliburton case Home Depot 2012 Backer of Governor Walker 2011 -Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus says retailers who don't support Republican candidates "should be shot; should be thrown out of their goddamn jobs." Hostess 2013 - Hostess Twinkies are back but not its employee unions Hyatt 2010 - REASONS NOT TO STAY AT HYATT JP Morgan Koch Brothers Koch Brothers huge winners if tar sands pipeline goes through Koch brothers play dirty ball abroad as well Lawlessness of Koch industries A few Koch products you might wish to avoid: Lockheed 2010 - LOCKHEED MARTIN topped the list of federal contractors with the most misconduct according to the Project on Government Oversight Macy's 2012 Macy's boss wants Medicare & Social Security cut Massey Energy 2010 MEET MR. MINE DISASTER TEN MASSEY MINES HAVE HIGH INJURY RATES MASSEY HAS TWICE PROMISED COURTS TO CLEAN UP MINE ACT Mastercard 2012 If you want to donate to Wikileaks, you can't use your Visa or your Mastercard. They have drawn a moral line in the sand. But luckily you can still use both to donate to the Ku Klux Klan. -- Stephen Colbert McDonalds 2013 Predator capitalism at McDonald's Apple, Walmart, McDonald's compete in underpaying workers 2012 Predator capitalism at McDonald's Olympic workers beat back big Mac monopoly, but visitors still screwed Merck 2014 Among top offshore tax evaders 2011 Gardasil: A case study in what can happen when pharma hustling goes wild Microsoft Corporation 2014 Microsoft Corp. is currently sitting on almost $29.6 billion it would owe in U.S. taxes if it repatriated the $92.9 billion of earnings it is keeping offshore, Among top offshore tax evaders 2012 How Microsoft plans to ruin your TV watching Backs major climate change denier, Heartland Institute Miller Beer 2012 Backer of Governor Walker MKG 2012 American corporation to privatize three Honduran cities Monsanto 2013 Monsanto trying to stop states from requiring labelling Study: Roundup linked to major health problems How Monsanto is ripping off farmers More Monsanto MSNBC 2013- MSNBC censors NSA whistleblower National Football Leagu 2011 NFL wants to search 16 million fans Nestles 2013 Nestle CEO: Water not a human right; should be privatized Netflix 2012 - Netflix takes away right to sue it Nike 2010 - UNIVERSITY CUTS TIES TO NIKE BECAUSE OF TREATMENT OF WORKERS IN HONDURAS Paypal 2010 PAYPAL REFUSES TO TAKE DONATIONS TO WIKILEAKS Pepsi 2012- Backs major climate change denier, Heartland Institute 2010 -$217 million in defense contracts Pfizer 2014 Among top offshore tax evaders 2012 +Backs major climate change denier, Heartland Institute Raytheon 2011 - New torture device to use against protesters Reynolds American Inc 2012- Backs major climate change denier, Heartland Institute Ryanair 2011 - Ryanair plans only one toilet per plane Sears 2012 - Dumping health insurance inflation on employees Sony 2012 - Sony jacks prices of Whitney House albums following her death 2010 SONY BANS BEYONCE FROM YOUTUBE Southwest Air 2012 - American, Southwest top airlines for losing bags Starbucks 2014 - Neil Young starts Starbucks boycott over GMO suit Stonybrook Farm 2011 Organic elite surrenders to Monsanto Subway 2010 SUBWAY issues cease and desist letters to food spots selling "footlong" sandwiches. Time Warner Cable 2012- Backs major climate change denier, Heartland Institute T Mobile 2013 - Pregnant T-Mobile Employee Forced to Take Vacation Time to Use Bathroom, Fired Over 12 Cent Error Universal Music 2012 -Universal Music uses false copyright claim to censor news program about its false copyright claim US Airways 2013- You can't wear baseball caps, hoodies & jeans in US Air first class (if you're black) 2011 - US Airways jacks price for route nearly 500% after competitor drops service Visa 2012 If you want to donate to Wikileaks, you can't use your Visa or your Mastercard. They have drawn a moral line in the sand. But luckily you can still use both to donate to the Ku Klux Klan. -- Stephen Colbert Walmart 2015 How Walmart has damaged the American economy Walmart selling public water from drought-struck California Some good reasons not to shop at Walmart 2014 Walmart owners trying to screw up solar enegy Wal Mart admits its profits depend on public welfare Walmart scaling back on orders Walmart's misleading 'Buy America' hustle A threat to Wal Mart is growing 2013 Study: Walmart could afford to hike wages Apple, Walmart, McDonald's compete in underpaying workers Walmart hiring temps to avoid costs - including healthcare Arkansas judge bars Walmart workers from protesting board meeting 2012 How Walmart influences Washington Wal-Mart to pay cheated workers $4.8 million World's biggest employers: Walmart almosts matches Chinese army Walmart now plans to run small retailers out of business 2011 Scrooge of the Year: Walmart hiking prices on toys for Christmas MORE WALMART Wachovia 2010 - WACHOVIA TO PAY $160 MILLION FOR LAUNDERING DRUG MONEY Whole Foods 2013 -Whole Foods workers fired for speaking Spanish to each other 2011 - Organic elite surrenders to Monsanto

73% of Fortune 500 companies use offshore tax havens How much tax havens are costing us Walmart staff bigger than population of 56 countries Higher paid CEOs run some of the worst performing companies How corporations con citizens with binding arbitration How corporate profits have soared 2015 2015 corporate rap sheet Corporations like Pfizer that desert US should lose citizenship rights Another pharma greedster comes out Anti-trust: The phrase everyone seems to have forgotten Whatever happened to anti-trust laws? Auto and tractor makers claim you don't own your vehicle Corporations hiding $2.1 trillion in profits offshore How corporations are seizing our private time 2014 The 2014 corporate & banking rap sheet A lawyer's guide to fighting corporate personood Wikileaks releases more anti-constitutional trade deal info Financial criminals not only aren't going to jail, they're not paying their fines Big corporations engaging in espionage against non-profits Corporate tax turncoats growing Studies find corporate desertion of America doesn't work for stockholders Why American corporations are no longer American Sweetheart deals with corrupt corporations and banks have soared under Obama Highest paid CEOs are the least effective Donald Trump writes Chicago Tribune column with 22 "I"s, 11 me/mys, 8 Trumps & 3 exclamation points by the count of David Folkenflik Corporate wage theft What the one percent really think Washington Post - As President Obama attended the 70th anniversary D-Day events in France on Friday, the White House announced he plans to nominate Jane Hartley as the U.S. top envoy in Paris. The Hartley pick has been rumored for a while. She is a top Democratic fundraiser, raising at least $500,000 for Obama in 2012. She’s the chief executive of the Observatory Group, an economic and political advisory firm in Manhattan. Hartley and her husband Ralph Schlosstein, an investment banker, are a power couple in the finance world, who have held top dollar fundraisers for the president. How government contractors suppress whistleblowing TPP: Corporate terrorism against the nation state Corporations spying on non-profits McDonald's advice to its underpaid workers The capitalists' war agains the nation state Stupid CEO tricks Recovered history: The seamy past of Milton Friedman Comcast tries to copyright court filing The medical health records problem How the corporados have changed our language Why privatization is a disaster For all the corporados' talk, investment has been going down @RBReich - Companies will act legally only when risk of detection times amount of fine is larger than profit from illegality. Why are big corporations so unpatriotic? Having just a few companies control an industry isn't competition, it's oligarchy The world’s top 100 billionaires now hold so much wealth, says a new Oxfam report, that just the increase in their net worth last year would be “enough to make extreme poverty history four times over.” Treasury approved excessive pay for executives at bailed-out AIG, GM and Ally Peter Madoff postpones prison to attend granddaughter's bat mitzvah  Facts BACK TO TOP 2015 Federal prosecution of white collar crimes at 20 year low Corporate crime surged in 2014 2014 7 corporations paid their CEOs more than they paid in federal income taxes last year Firedog Lake - According to a new report from Citizens for Tax Justice and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, the majority of America’s Fortune 500 companies are cheating the tax man to the amount of approximately $90 billion by using offshore tax havens. That cheating leaves the rest of US taxpayers on the hook to make up the difference. 18 big corporations that keep huge amounts of money overseas Tax avoidance BACK TO TOP Ten top corporate tax dodgers DAILY KOS A new generation of corporate tax dodgers Taxpayers subsidize Walmart and the Walton family by $7.8 billion a year Offshore tax evasion has doubled in past five years Corporate welfare fathers get over $100 billion in state and local tax subsidies US corporations keep $1.2 trillion offshore Detailed guide to tax havens by Congressional Research Service Cayman Islands to open up a bit Google used offshore scam to avoid $2 billion in taxes Offshore tax havens larger than whole American economy What tax havens are costing you and small businesses 2012 The real person of the year USA UNCUT Big corporations now local washing The NFL doesn't pay taxes Obama offered Google chair job of Treasury Secretary Senator Bernie Sanders: 93% of all new income generated between 2009 and 2010 went to the top 1%. The country club Sopranos The luxury repo men The real moochers are corporations Corporations are people CORPORATE HYPOCRITE OF THE DAY Bain loves the Democrats Cory Booker pimps for Bain Capital How austerity politics hurts small business 80% of Super PAC money has gone to GOP groups & came from 100 individuals Carly Fiorina: Plutocrat of the day Airlines finding new ways to rip off passengers Grounded by US Airways How corporations can spy on you without your password Who really owns that organic food you're buying Telcos want to end land line phone service requirement How corporations learn your secrets 30 corporations that paid more for lobbying than they did in taxes "Job creators" need government bribes Seven new hedge funders charged The rise of the corporate psychopath If large corporations were really people we would consider them psychopaths Some ways to occupy our future...and our economy Federal financial fraud prosecutions down by more than a half from a decade ago If there's going to be class warfare, here's a map of the battlefronts Teamster head calls on corporations to show some patriotism Twenty-five of the 100 highest paid U.S. CEOs earned more last year than their companies paid in federal income tax. The Institute for Policy Studies said it also found many of the companies spent more on lobbying than they did on taxes. Bernie Sanders’ list of worst corporate income tax avoiders Hedge funds betting on peak food Corporation no person in these 'hoods The 9/11 story no one in power wants to talk about Rating the rating agencies Dealing psychologically with the corporatocracy How corporations write our bills Audit of Massachusetts foreclosures finds massive bank fraud How corporations get employees to sign away their rights Income of CEOs of top corporations went up 28% during Great Recession The fight to end corporate personhood Ten corporations pull in 25% of all federal contracts Check out how they misuse this money World's wealthiest people now richer than before the credit crunch Big bankers' pay continues to soar Top corporations sitting on nearly $1 trillion in cash FCC commissioner gets big job with Comcast-NBC whose merger she approved four months ago Three ways to take on corporate personhood Supreme Court increases corporate power again Ten corporations that worked with the Nazis Undocumented immigrants paid more taxes than GE John Paulson earned more in one hour in 2010 than a median US famly could do in 47 years Sell an ounce of cocaine and you go to jail, Wachovia launders $378 billion in drug money and pays fines that are less than interest earned on held money. - Mrkuder CEO pay up 27% in 2010, workers pay up only 2% GE pays no federal taxes, but wants union workers to give up benefits Two thirds of corporations don't pay taxes Ten worst corporate tax evaders In the 1950s the share of U.S. taxes paid by corporations was 30 percent of federal revenue.In 2009 it was 7% Why you don't want to listen to the Chamber of Commerce ATT/TMobile merger is monopoly gone wild Corporados score highest profits in 18 years during deep recession Three ways to take on corporate personhood America's biggest welfare fathers By one measure, for about every $40 in assets, the nation’s five largest investment banks had only $1 in capital to cover losses, meaning that a 3 percent drop in asset values could have wiped out the firm.- NY Times 87% of congressmembers who urged NBC/Comcast merger got money from Comcast Corporation no person in these 'hoods The corporations that buy our elections hire more people overseas than in U.S. Airlines rake in $2.5 billion in baggage fees How insurance companies are spying on you Why they can find out so much about you U.S. IS LEADING BANANA REPUBLIC AAT CASE BEFORE SUPREME COURT THREATENS CITIZENS’ LEGAL RIGHTS AIRLINES SCORING BIG TIME BY RIPPING OFF THEIR PASSENGERS Question of the day: Punk Patriot: If corporations are people, does that make shareholders slaveowners? Shouldn't that be challanged on the grounds of the 13th amendment? 2010 THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF CORPORATIONS THE MOST DANGEROUS MEMBER OF THE WALL STREET MOB: PETER PETERSON BLOOMBERG'S FOUNDATION TRANSFERRED $300 MILLIION TO OFFSHORE TAX HAVENS MASSEY TO MINERS: TAKE TIME OFF FOR FUNERALS, LOSE YOUR JOB REVIEW COMMISSION ATTACKS AIG BAILOUT IF YOU WANT SOME REAL WINGNUTS, TALK TO WALL STREET CEOS TOWN REJECTS CORPORATE PERSONHOOD MAY 2010 BANKS LOBBYING AGAINST RESTRICTIONS ON DERIVATIVES OBAMA'S PALS REVIVE CONSERVATIVE ECONOMIC GROUP GREAT THOUGHTS OF ALAN GREENSPAN: We run the risk, by laying out the pros and cons of a particular argument, of inducing people to join in on the debate, and in this regard it is possible to lose control of a process that only we fully understand. - Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve System chair at board of governor's meeting, March 16, 2004 APRIL 2010 HOW THE NATION'S BIGGEST BANKS ARE RIPPING OFF AMERICAN CITIES WITH THE SAME PREDATORY DEALS THAT BROUGHT DOWN GREECE WHITE COLLAR CRIMINOLOGIST BLOWS THE WHISTLE ON LEHMAN, THE FEDERAL RESERVE AND 'LIARS LOANS' THE MULTIPLE SCAMS OF GOLDMAN SACHS OTHER MAJOR BANKS DID DEALS SIMILAR TO GOLDMAN’S HOW A HEDGE FUND HELPED BRING DOWN THE ECONOMY WPA: THE STIMULUS PACKAGE THAT WORKED AIRLINE TO CHARGE $45 FOR CARRY-ON BAG THE CORPORATIONS' WAR AGAINST RALPH NADER AIRLINES LOSE 3,000 BAGS AN HOUR WACHOVIA TO PAY $160 MILLION FOR LAUNDERING DRUG MONEY THE DIRTY STORY BEHIND LEHMAN'S COLLAPSE BANKS DEVISE NEW WAYS TO RIP OFF CREDIT CARD USERS ARE THE TELECOMS OUT TO KILL TRADITIONAL LAND LINES? MARCH 2010 CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATORS LOOKING AT FORMER HEAD OF NY FED BANK OF AMERICA CEO TRIAL COULD BRING PAULSON AND BERNANKE INTO COURT WHOLE FOODS DISCRIMINATES AGAINST HEAVIER WORKERS LEADING PEOPLE WHO SCREW UP THE WORLD MEET AGAIN IN DAVOS YOUR MONEY IS SAFE WITH BANK OF AMERICA, BUT YOUR HOUSE MIGHT NOT BE FEBRUARY 2010 MORE DIRT REVEALED ON GOLDMAN SACHS' ROLE IN FISCAL COLLAPSE NEW YORK FED WANTED TO CONCEAL AIG SWEETHEART DEAL AS 'NATIONAL SECURITY HOW WALL STREET PLANS TO GET AROUND THE NEW BANKING RULES TRASHING CLOTHES IN A BITTER COLD NEW YORK WINTER JANUARY 2010 NEW YORK FED WANTED TO CONCEAL AIG SWEETHEART DEAL AS 'NATIONAL SECURITY HOW WALL STREET PLANS TO GET AROUND THE NEW BANKING RULES NOVEMBER 2009 FOUR CORPORATIONS THAT DUMPED EMPLOYEE PENSION PLANS PAID EXECS $50 MILLION IN RETIREMENT BENEFITS IF YOU'RE NOT DOING AS WELL AS GOLDMAN SACHS IT MAY BE BECAUSE HENRY PAULSON AND ROBERT RUBIN NEVER WORKED FOR YOU AUGUST 2009 WALL STREET JOURNAL FINDS GOLDMAN SACHS GIVING TOP CLIENTS AND TRADERS DIFFERENT ADVICE THAN AVERAGE CUSTOMERS ASCAP WANTS TO BE PAID WHEN YOU PLAY RINGTONES IN PUBLIC JULY 2009 PHONE CORPORADOS DENY FIXING TEXTING CHARGES WALL STREET FINDS NEW WAYS TO RIP OFF CREDIT CARD USERS WALL STREET: FROM TERROR VICTIM TO PERP BANKS HIKING FEES & INTEREST RATES TO BEAT NEW LEGISLATION SEC INVESTIGATOR'S CONCERNS ABOUT MADOFF WERE BRUSHED OFF FORMER TOP AIDES OF TREASURY SECRETARY TO LEAD EFFORT AGAINST "POPULIST OVERREACTION" TO WALL STREET'S MISBEHAVIOR JUNE 2009 HOW GE SQUEEZED INTO THE BANK BAILOUT PARTY THE GOLDMAN SACHS RIP OFF CONT'D CAP & TRADE SETS UP NEW COMMODITIES MARKET AND GOLDMAN SACHS IS ALREADY IN IT BIG TIME HOW LEHMAN BROTHERS COULDN'T ADD RIGHT MAY 2009 GETTING TO KNOW BERNIE MADOFF UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH TIM GEITHNER HOW GOLDMAN SACHS TOOK OVER THE WORLD MARCH 2009 FED BLOCKS NAMES OF BAILOUT WELFARE FATHERS TO AVOID 'STIGMA' FEBRUARY 2009 SUE THE WALL STREET MOB DECEMBER 2008 RUBIN NAMED IN SUIT ALLEGING CITIGROUP PONZI SCHEME FORMER CHAIR OF NASDAQ ARRESTED IN ALLEGED SCAM SEPTEMBER 2008 STORIES THE MEDIA DIDN'T TELL YOU: HANK PAULSON'S BACKGROUND Tom Ely, World Socialist - In 1970, fresh from the Masters program of the Harvard Business School, Paulson entered the Nixon administration, working first as staff assistant to the assistant secretary of defense. In 1972-73, Paulson worked as office assistant to John Erlichman, assistant to the president for domestic affairs. Erlichman was one of the key figures involved in organizing President Richard Nixon's notorious "plumbers" unit that carried out illegal covert operations against the president's political opponents, including espionage, blackmail, and revenge. Ehlichman resigned in 1973, and in 1975 he was convicted of obstruction of justice, perjury, and conspiracy, and was imprisoned for 18 months. Utilizing his connections, Paulson went to work for Goldman Sachs in 1974. In a 2007 feature, the British newspaper the Guardian wrote, "Not only was he well connected enough to get the job [in the Nixon White House], but well connected enough to resign in the thick of the Watergate scandal without ever getting caught up in the fallout. He went straight to Goldman back home in Illinois." Paulson rose through the ranks of Goldman Sachs, becoming a partner in 1982, co-head of investment banking in 1990, chief operating officer in 1994. In 1998 he forced out his co-chairman Jon Corzine "in what amounted to a coup," according to New York Times economics correspondent Floyd Norris, and took over the post of CEO. Goldman Sachs is perhaps the single best-connected Wall Street firm. Its executives routinely go in and out of top government posts. Corzine went on to become US senator from New Jersey and is now the state's governor. Corzine's predecessor, Stephen Friedman, served in the Bush administration as assistant to the president for economic policy and as chairman of the National Economic Council. Friedman's predecessor as Goldman Sachs CEO, Robert Rubin, served as chairman of the NEC and later treasury secretary under Bill Clinton. Agence France Press, in a 2006 article on Paulson's appointment, "Has Goldman Sachs Taken Over the Bush Administration?" noted that, in addition to Paulson, "the president's chief of staff, Josh Bolten, and the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Jeffery Reuben, are Goldman alumni." "But the flow goes both ways," the article continued, "Goldman recently hired Robert Zoellick, who stepped down as the US deputy secretary of state, and Faryar Shirzad, who worked as one of Bush's national security advisors.". . . Paulson, according to a celebratory 2006 Business Week article entitled "Mr. Risk Goes to Washington," was "one of the key architects of a more daring Wall Street, where securities firms are taking greater and greater chances in their pursuit of profits." Under Paulson's watch, that meant "taking on more debt: $100 billion in long-term debt in 2005, compared with about $20 billion in 1999. It means placing big bets on all sorts of exotic derivatives and other securities." According to the International Herald Tribune, Paulson "was one of the first Wall Street leaders to recognize how drastically investment banks could enhance their profitability by betting with their own capital instead of acting as mere intermediaries." Paulson "stubbornly [asserted] Goldman's right to invest in, advise on and finance deals, regardless of potential conflicts.". . . PAULSON UNDERSTATED THE PROBLEM EVERY STEP OF THE WAY AUGUST 2008 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL IS FAR WORSE THAN YOU THOUGHT JUNE 2008 CEOs OVERCREDIT THEMSELVES FOR SUCCESSES MORE TOP FIGURES RECEIVED SWEETHEART DEALS FROM COUNTRYWIDE JAILED LOBBYIST HAD 485 CONTACTS WITH BUSH OFFICIALS OVER THREE YEARS MARCH 2008 HOW CORPORATIONS TOOK OVER THE SUPREME COURT JANUARY 2008 MPAA BADLY MISLED CONGRESS OVER COLLEGE PIRATING ARS TECHNICA - After commissioning a 2005 study from LEK Consulting that showed collegiate file-swappers were responsible for 44 percent of movie studio "losses" to piracy, the MPAA then used the report it bought to bludgeon Congress into considering legislation to address this massive problem. Now the MPAA admits that the report's conclusions weren't even close to being right; collegiate piracy accounts for only 15 percent of "losses." Oops. And that's assuming you believe the rest of the data. RIAA: COPY A CD AND YOU MAY BE A CRACKHEAD TERRORIST RECORDING GLUTTONS WANT OVER A $1 MILLION FOR EACH IMPROPERLY DOWNLOADED CD CIRCUIT CITY EXECS GET MILLION BUCK REWARDS FOR DRIVING STOCK PRICE DOWN CARLYLE GROUP WANTS TO TAKE OVER NURSING HOME GIANT AIRLINES: WORSE SERVICE, HUGE PROFITS EVEN CORPORATE BOSSES ADMIT THEY'RE OVERPAID THE INSURANCE COMPANIES THAT STOLE CHRISTMAS U.S. INCOME GAP SETS POSTWAR RECORD MORTGAGE LENDERS PREFER FORECLOSURE TO HELPING HOME BUYERS PAY OFF LOAN INDICATORS: ROBBER BARONS STILL DOING WELL THE REAGAN-BUSH-CLINTON-BUSH YEARS: BRINGING INEQUALITY TO PRE-DEPRESSION LEVELS STUDY: WAL MART REDUCES NATIONAL WAGES $4.5 BILLION A YEAR Retail workers in the U.S. are making $4.5 billion less each year due to Wal-Mart's presence, according to a new study by the University of California's Center for Labor Research and Education. The study focuses on stores that opened between 1992 and 2000 and concludes, "Opening a single Wal-Mart store lowers the average retail wage in the surrounding county between 0.5 and 0.9 percent." Wal-Mart's presence pushes down wages in two ways. "First is the substitution effect: a new Wal-Mart store replaces better paying jobs with lower-paying ones," the authors explain. "A second factor is competition: Wal-Mart pushes down wages in competing businesses." Not only did Wal-Mart lower average wage rates, but "every new Wal-Mart in a county reduced the combined or aggregate earnings of retail workers by around 1.5 percent." Because this number is higher than the reduction in average wages, it indicates that Wal-Mart not only lowered pay rates, but also reduced the total number of retail jobs. That finding is consistent with a major study published earlier this year that found that the opening of a Wal-Mart store causes a net loss of about 150 retail jobs. "At the national level, our study concludes that in 2000, total earnings of retail workers nationwide were reduced by $4.5 billion due to Wal-Mart's presence," they find. Most of these losses were concentrated in metropolitan areas. Although Wal-Mart is often associated with rural areas, three-quarters of the stores it built in the 1990s were in metropolitan counties. Another new study from the UC Center for Labor Research and Education indicates that Wal-Mart could substantially raise its workers' earnings, particularly those living at or near poverty, with little impact on most shoppers. "Living Wage Policies and Wal-Mart" analyzes the effects of instituting a $10 minimum wage at Wal-Mart. More than half of the retailer's employees (56%) currently earn less than $10 an hour. "We find that 46.3 percent of the pay increase would go to workers in families with total incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level," the study finds. "These poor and low-income workers could expect to earn an additional $1,020 to $4,640 a year." http://www.newrules.org/retail/news_slug.php?slugid=365 MAY 2007 STUDY: CORPORATIONS SEEK SUCK-UP DIRECTORS, PUNISH THOSE WHO DO THEIR JOB CNN - The most sought-after corporate board members are those who curry favor with fellow directors, not those who are active in standing up for shareholders, a new academic study has concluded. . . The study by business professors James Westphal of the University of Michigan and Ithai Stern of Northwestern University suggests that directors - who are supposed to be watchdogs for shareholders - still are not independent enough. . . "Our findings indicate that directors who engage in monitoring and control behavior are effectively punished in the director labor market," Westphal and Stern wrote. "They are less likely to be selected onto additional boards, and thus they are less likely to become central in the board network" that exists throughout corporate America. earlier stories