When the senior executives of California’s private for-profit power utility PG&E made the very intentional decision to move cash into their own pockets through bonuses and dividends instead of making their power lines resilient enough to withstand severe winds, they also made the decision to let people die.
Source: How To Kill and Get Away With It | The Smirking Chimp
China’s “zero Covid” policy has sparked rare protests across the nation of nearly a billion and a half people. Which led me to think about our very own failed “zero” policy here in the United States. Zero corporate tax. To be fair, it’s not a policy per se, but is clearly an aspiration that has been achieved.
Scores of huge corporations — which have been enjoying record profits — have paid nothing in federal income tax over the past few years. Never mind the bargain basement rates of 30% or even 15%, these multibillion dollar corporations are paying 0%, or even a negative rate (which of course translates to a refund).
How do multinationals like Microsoft get away with paying so little tax? They deliberately wipe out their profits in high-tax countries such as Australia. Callum Foote reports on the global tax avoidance structure of the tech giant.
Source: A bunch of shifting bastards: how Big Tech goes small on tax – Michael West
Two Sydneysiders made their fortune on the back of short-term loans to cash-strapped customers. JobKeeper helped. Callum Foote reports on executive pay and public subsidies.
Source: Executive bonus bonanza: Afterpay CEOs’ quarter billion pay juiced by Jobkeeper – Michael West
For a conservative government obsessed with bringing its budget into line and eradicating six years of its own deficits, JobKeeper at first glance looked like a scheme lifted straight from the texts of the much-reviled John Maynard Keynes. Roundly proclaimed as a game changer when introduced, there’s no doubt the $90 billion flagship scheme was wildly successful. It kept 3.6 million Australians off the dole queue and tied to their employer. And as a secondary political benefit, that had the happy effect of obscuring the true level of unemployment, which only counted those on JobSeeker.
How JobKeeper turned into profit maker – ABC News
Corporate governance experts are urging more of Australia’s big companies to repay funds received through the federal government’s JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme, warning taxpayers will bear the brunt of the $90 billion cost for decades.
‘Unjustly enriched’: Mounting calls for corporate Australia to repay JobKeeper as profits recover
It found a further 25 companies in the ASX 300 who had been given JobKeeper support payments paid their executives bonuses totalling more than $24 million.
War is hell: how the corporate class is coping with Covid’s injustices (Crikey Sep 16, 2020) – Pearls and IrritationsPearls and Irritations
The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry revealed very clearly a major flaw in the Corporations Act.
The prime duty of the directors of a corporate body is to act in the best interests of shareholders, which, by implication means to maximise the profits for shareholders.
Nowhere is there any clear inference that, if the corporation provides a service to members of the public, its actions ought also to be directed to avoiding harm to the receiver of those services. Other legislation might well be invoked in those circumstances, but, in general, the corporation’s attention is firmly directed towards benefiting the shareholders. And if those who use corporate services are dissatisfied, they have to find other legal means to obtain satisfaction.
via Corporate power – customer powerless – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Exceptions or the systemic nature of Corporate Crime. They claim it the legitimate pursuit of profit and Capitalism agrees by simply fining those responsible.(ODT)
In their amoral, dollar-obsessed way, economists assess the attractions of law breaking by weighing the benefit to be gained against the cost of being caught multiplied by the probability of being caught.
Here’s why that probably won’t happen.
Source: The Company Behind Keystone XL Now Wants $15 Billion From US Taxpayers | Mother Jones
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