Tag: Business

Scott Morrison

Australia’s nuclear submarine deal fundamentally changes our relationship with the world – ABC News

Scott Morrison and Emmanuel Macron bump elbows at a press conference.

Guess who was wearing a mask

With Australia under pressure from China, the French President declared: “You are at the forefront of the tensions that exist in the region, of the threats, and sometimes of the intimidation. I want to reiterate here how much we stand by your side.” “We are good friends, we are good partners”, Morrison told Macron later in remarks over an official dinner. “We share common goals and we share common values and that’s why our partnership with liberty and affinity I think is one that we’ll be able to progress further this evening.” ‘It’s a stab in the back’ What the PM didn’t mention was that he had just held talks in Cornwall with US President Joe Biden and UK PM Boris Johnson about a proposal for a tripartite alliance, the most spectacular immediate element of which would be dumping the $90 billion plan underway to build French submarines in Australia in favour of some (yet to be worked out) plan to build American (or British) ones (for some unspecified amount of money). In fact, nobody bothered mentioning this rather significant change of heart to the French until hours before the announcement was made jointly, with much pomp early on Thursday morning Australian time, with Morris

Source: Australia’s nuclear submarine deal fundamentally changes our relationship with the world – ABC News

America's Shame, American Dream

Donald Trump may be chasing a TV gig after the US election — and millions of fans could tune in – ABC News
An image of a woman from behind watching US President Donald Trump on multiple TV screens.

Can the Democrats afford to have him jailed? (ODT)

“Live from Palm Beach, it’s the Power Hour with Donald Trump!” The studio audience erupts in cheers as the former president ambles on to his Oval Office set and takes his place behind a replica of the fabled Resolute desk. The walls are lined with portraits of Trump and posters with the words “rigged” and “stolen”.

Donald Trump may be chasing a TV gig after the US election — and millions of fans could tune in – ABC News
Corporate Media, Media

Fox is playing a key role in Trump’s plan to steal the election | Media Matters for America
11.2.20TrumpFox

The message from Fox is quite clear: Trump is going to win, and if he doesn’t, the reason is because of voter fraud by Democrats.

Fox is playing a key role in Trump’s plan to steal the election | Media Matters for America
Crisis, Uncategorized

Never let a chance go by – » The Australian Independent Media Network

“There’s pretty much nothing to get scared of. It’s not the Spanish Flu that killed 15 million people just after the First World War … I’m 80, I should be really scared. Guess what? I’m not really scared.”

Mr Harvey was pleased to note revenue across his national chain of electronics stores up sharply amid huge consumer demand in recent weeks.

“You know, this is an opportunity,” he said.

“Our sales are up in Harvey Norman in Australia by nine per cent on last year. Our sales in freezers are up 300 per cent. And what about air purifiers? Up 100 per cent.”

Never let a chance go by – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Trump, Trumpland, Uncategorized

U.S. Airstrikes Hit All-Time High as Coronavirus Spreads in Somalia

Students walk in a Mogadishu neighbourhood wearing face masks as protective measure against Coronavirus on Thursday March 19, 2020. - Somali prime minister on Wednesday announced closure of schools and universities as a protective measure against Convid-19. (Photo by Abdirazak Hussein FARAH / AFP) (Photo by ABDIRAZAK HUSSEIN FARAH/AFP via Getty Images)

While Trump is “promising” America and the world he will save it what he is doing is hidden from Americans and generally the world. (ODT)

via U.S. Airstrikes Hit All-Time High as Coronavirus Spreads in Somalia

Ukraine, Uncategorized

Trump Allies Pressed Ukraine Over Gas Firm | HuffPost

In this Sept. 6, 2019, file photo, Energy Secretary Rick Perry speaks at the California GOP fall convention in Indian Wells,

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — As Rudy Giuliani was pushing Ukrainian officials last spring to investigate one of Donald Trump’s main political rivals, a group of individuals with ties to the president and his personal lawyer were also active in the former Soviet republic.

Their aims were profit, not politics. This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani and Trump while trying to install new management at the top of Ukraine’s massive state gas company. Their plan was to then steer lucrative contracts to companies controlled by Trump allies, according to two people with knowledge of their plans.

via Trump Allies Pressed Ukraine Over Gas Firm | HuffPost

Israel, Uncategorized

Israel Terror-Bombs Syria With Impunity – Stephen Lendman

https://youtu.be/DEuxP9pbr5A

Israel admitted launching hundreds of preemptive strikes on Syrian targets. Former IDF chief General Gadi Eisenhkot earlier said “(w)e struck thousands of targets (in Syria) without claiming responsibility or asking for credit.”

In response to two reported rockets from Syria striking illegally occupied Golan, falling harmlessly, Israeli warplanes terror-bombed Syrian targets pre-dawn Sunday.

Throughout the war, no evidence suggests Syrian forces ever targeted Israeli territory. Clearly they’d be nothing to gain and everything to lose.

Attacking Israel would escalate war Damascus is winning and wants ended. Clearly its forces had nothing to do with striking occupied Golan on June 1.

Most likely, US/Israeli supported terrorists were to blame for the incident, giving the Netanyahu regime a pretext for a terror-bombing attack even though it needs none to do whatever it pleases — with full US support and encouragement, with the UN and world community failing to hold it accountable.

When war is good for business and the US operates to create endless wars with commercial intent. (ODT)

via Israel Terror-Bombs Syria With Impunity – Stephen Lendman

Uncategorized, War on Drugs

“When We Say ‘Pharma Greed Kills,’ This Is What We Mean”: Critics Respond to Possible Purdue Bankruptcy

 

After spending hundreds of millions of dollars convincing the American public that opioid painkillers are safe to use for chronic pain—and fueling a deadly, decades-long addiction epidemic as a result—the drug maker Purdue Pharma could file for bankruptcy to avoid being held accountable for its actions.

According to Reuters, Purdue is considering bankruptcy to halt thousands of lawsuits and allow the company to settle with the plaintiffs out of court.

via “When We Say ‘Pharma Greed Kills,’ This Is What We Mean”: Critics Respond to Possible Purdue Bankruptcy

Informed Comment

How Kushner and other Key Trump Officials Plotted to Give Saudis the Atom Bomb in Return for Billions

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Reform has issued a Report on a plot to make billions of dollars by selling Saudi Arabia sensitive American nuclear technology that could allow the Kingdom to develop nuclear weapons. The scheme required breaking US law, which forbids technology transfers that might allow nuclear proliferation.

This scheme is the ultimate in criminality, where US government resources (remember the Manhattan project?) are given away to another government by the white collar criminals now running the US government so that they can scoop up private massive fortunes rivaling those of the richest persons in the world such as Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

 

via How Kushner and other Key Trump Officials Plotted to Give Saudis the Atom Bomb in Return for Billions

Corporate Crime

‘Epidemic of time theft’: Australians work two months’ unpaid overtime a year | Australia news | The Guardian

Workers in their early and mid-career do the most unpaid overtime – 7.85 hours a week for those aged 25-34 and 7.4 hours a week for those aged 35 to 44, AI says.

Australia Institute finds employers get six hours’ free work a week from each employee, while thousands are underemployed

via ‘Epidemic of time theft’: Australians work two months’ unpaid overtime a year | Australia news | The Guardian

Uncategorized

The Turnbull demolition and the Murdoch coincidence

Just over a week ago, on Friday 10 August, U.S. media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s private jet touched down in Sydney and unloaded him back in the land whose citizenship he’d spurned years before for reasons of rank ambition and untrammelled greed.

Rupert Murdoch owns a very big business — News Corp, which produces 60 per cent of the newspapers in Australia by circulation and operates the only cable network. He would have also seen Turnbull emerge from the Party room last Tuesday, overjoyed his caucus had endorsed his centrepiece energy policy, the National Energy Guarantee (NEG). Much of the media declared this a triumph for the (current) Prime Minister. Murdoch probably wouldn’t have agreed, being not only a climate change denier, but also an oil-man.

via The Turnbull demolition and the Murdoch coincidence

Informed Comment

The biggest business in the country is run by amateurs whose self-interest comes before that of its shareholders – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Annual government expenditure is over $450 billion per year making it, by far, the biggest business in the country.

They decide what percentage of our income they will take and how they will spend it. They have total control over our common wealth and the ability to sell our assets as they please.

They make our laws. They can send us to war. They can choose to ignore existential threats like climate change.

via The biggest business in the country is run by amateurs whose self-interest comes before that of its shareholders – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Business Crime, Corporate Crime, crime

The hard-nosed investors behind the Rockpool empire

Related image

When is Corporate theft deemed a crime. Steal off a Corporation it’s a jailable offense? A Corporation steals off it’s enmployees it’s “hard nosed business” someting is seriously wrong and its systemic because our system allows it to happen. (ODT)

It is what Quadrant is doing with Rockpool Dining Group, which is expanding rapidly, has become heavily indebted and according to former senior management has a ruthless focus on costs and wages.

The downside is the mountains of evidence of systemic issues at Rockpool Dining Group around the underpayment of workers through the heavy use of unpaid overtime.

via The hard-nosed investors behind the Rockpool empire

Food for Thought

Something is Rotten – » The Australian Independent Media Network

 

There is a foul stench emanating from planet earth. The noxious smell emanates from a single destructive paradigm. That festering greed is known as capitalism. On a single planet with finite resources, the philosophy of capitalism is terminal for the planet and all who reside on it.

Something is Rotten – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Media

How Rupert Murdoch could respond to the latest Sky curveball

 

The last thing Rupert Murdoch needed, during a two-month recovery from a fall on his son’s yacht, was to be thrown a curve ball.

But that’s exactly what he faces after Brian Roberts, chief executive of US telecommunications company Comcast, announced a £22.1 billion ($39.4 billion) rival bid for British broadcaster Sky on Tuesday evening.

via How Rupert Murdoch could respond to the latest Sky curveball

America

Let’s remember the Schoolchildren US & Russian bombs are killing, too

 

Let’s remember the Schoolchildren US & Russian bombs are killing, too

The US-backed Saudi-led war on Yemen is keeping two million children out of school (Yemen is a country of 27 million). Worse, schools and schoolchildren have repeatedly been struck from the air by Saudi, UAE, Moroccan and Jordanian pilots using American-supplied planes and bombs, in a campaign backed by Washington and the Pentagon and the United Kingdom. The US military supplies logistics, refueling and targeting advice to the aggressors.

via Let’s remember the Schoolchildren US & Russian bombs are killing, too

USA

Can American Democracy survive six Standing Wars? | Informed Comment

dower_violent

Whether the rationale is the need to wage a war on terror involving 76 countries or renewed preparations for a struggle against peer competitors Russia and China (as Defense Secretary James Mattis suggested recently while introducing America’s new National Defense Strategy), the U.S. military is engaged globally. A network of 800 military bases spread across 172 countries helps enable its wars and interventions. By the count of the Pentagon, at the end of the last fiscal year about 291,000 personnel (including reserves and Department of Defense civilians) were deployed in 183 countries worldwide, which is the functional definition of a military uncontained. Lady Liberty may temporarily close when the U.S. government grinds to a halt, but the country’s foreign military commitments, especially its wars, just keep humming along.

via Can American Democracy survive six Standing Wars? | Informed Comment

Informed Comment

Like bees to a honey pot, foreign defence manufacturers flock to Australia – » The Australian Independent Media Network

When the government announced that it would spend $400 billion over the next twenty years on defence materiel and that it would, in opposition to its supposed commitment to free trade, adopt a protectionist requirement for local content, foreign defence manufacturers flocked like bees to a honey pot.

via Like bees to a honey pot, foreign defence manufacturers flock to Australia – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Humour

‘Come at me you parasites’: a real live intern reacts to Path program | First Dog on the Moon | Opinion | The Guardian

Ian the Climate Denialist Potato has invited Bethany the intern to speak to his new coffee shop franchisees. But does he know she’s in the union?

Source: ‘Come at me you parasites’: a real live intern reacts to Path program | First Dog on the Moon | Opinion | The Guardian

Trump

Is business starting to get spooked about Donald Trump? | Larry Elliott | US news | The Guardian

After his U-turns at home and Dr Strangelove-style antics abroad, markets and investors are supposing that the president is making it up as he goes along

Source: Is business starting to get spooked about Donald Trump? | Larry Elliott | US news | The Guardian

Australian Economy

JPMorgan boss says depressing wages for low-paid workers is not good for business – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

ACTU secretary Sally McManus has a surprising ally in one of the world’s most powerful bankers in her fight against pay cuts

Source: JPMorgan boss says depressing wages for low-paid workers is not good for business – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Brexit

Brexit: British company moves HQ to Europe after 122 years of trading in UK, says it ‘can’t afford to wait’ for Article 50 | The Independent

brexit-concerns-14.jpg

A major Lincolnshire employer has announced it is moving its headquarters to Europe as a direct result of the Brexit vote in June. Anxiety over the cost of a hard Brexit, which would see the UK drifting away from cooperation with the rest of the EU, has compelled Smiffys to open a new headquarters in the Netherlands.

Source: Brexit: British company moves HQ to Europe after 122 years of trading in UK, says it ‘can’t afford to wait’ for Article 50 | The Independent

Brexit

Brexit: UK construction sector heading for ‘brick wall’ as infrastructure projects suspended | Business News | News | The Independent

getaway3.jpg

The UK construction industry will slam into a “brick wall” early next year due to the massive uncertainty created by the Brexit vote, an industry source has warned. A person in the sector, who contacted The Independent but did not want to be named, said that since the shock referendum result was announced last Friday morning anxious international investors have already pushed the pause button on future UK infrastructure investments.

Source: Brexit: UK construction sector heading for ‘brick wall’ as infrastructure projects suspended | Business News | News | The Independent

Prisons

The Massive Prison Industry In The United States: Big Business & Slavery | Collective-Evolution

Despite the fact that various social, political, and human rights organizations have condemned the United States’ prison system, it remains one of the biggest businesses in existence today. Did you know that America has four percent of the world’s population, yet still carries approximately twenty five percent of the world’s prison population? That is a staggering […]

Source: The Massive Prison Industry In The United States: Big Business & Slavery | Collective-Evolution

WAR

Defense Contractors Cite “Benefits” of Escalating Conflicts in the Middle East | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

Major defense contractors Raytheon, Oshkosh, and Lockheed Martin assured investors at a Credit Suisse conference in West Palm Beach this week that they stand to gain from the escalating conflicts in the Middle East. Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President Bruce Tanner told the conference his company will see “indirect benefits” from the war in Syria, citing the Turkish military’s recent decision to shoot down a Russian warplane.

Source: Defense Contractors Cite “Benefits” of Escalating Conflicts in the Middle East | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

Syria

Nations that sent the most arms to Syria have accepted the fewest refugees. Cost Benefit analysis of arms suppliers to Syria

the 8 countries that sent the most weapons to Syria since 2011 only accepted 2 percent of the refugees Germany has taken in.

Source: Nations that sent the most arms to Syria have accepted the fewest refugees