Business News

Yep, This Is Definitely Socialism

8:50 am EST January 1st, 2011 | Business, Economy | 80 Comments

American Business Has Record Profits Under Socialist Yoke Of Commandante Obama

3:34 pm EST November 23rd, 2010 | Business, Economy | 11 Comments

If Obama is making America socialist in order to crush business, he’s doing a crappy job of it.

American businesses earned profits at an annual rate of $1.66 trillion in the third quarter, according to a Commerce Department report released Tuesday. That is the highest figure recorded since the government began keeping track over 60 years ago, at least in nominal or non-inflation-adjusted terms.

Corporate profits have been going gangbusters for a while. Since their cyclical low in the fourth quarter of 2008, profits have grown for seven consecutive quarters, at some of the fastest rates in history.

“Socialism” is apparently good for business.

Bush Tax Cuts Didn’t Promote Economic Growth

10:44 am EST November 18th, 2010 | Business, Economy | 50 Comments

No kidding, Sherlock.

I mean this as a serious question, not a rhetorical one: Given this history, why should we believe that the Bush tax cuts were pro-growth?

Is there good evidence the tax cuts persuaded more people to join the work force (because they would be able to keep more of their income)? Not really. The labor-force participation rate fell in the years after 2001 and has never again approached its record in the year 2000.

Is there evidence that the tax cuts led to a lot of entrepreneurship and innovation? Again, no. The rate at which start-up businesses created jobs fell during the past decade.

(via Seth M.)

Topic: George W. Bush, Taxes

Feds Say No Patents On Genes

10:07 am EST October 31st, 2010 | Business, Science | 10 Comments

I’ve never understood the idea that you could patent nature.

Reversing a longstanding policy, the federal government said on Friday that human and other genes should not be eligible for patents because they are part of nature. The new position could have a huge impact on medicine and on the biotechnology industry.

The new position was declared in a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Department of Justice late Friday in a case involving two human genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer.

Wall Street Buying An Attorney General

8:57 am EST October 18th, 2010 | Business, Politics | 7 Comments

Increasingly I feel that the only way to answer the new gilded age, in which the uber-rich are just buying pieces of the government to use as playthings, will require as radical a progressive movement as we had in the 1920s.

One in four dollars raised by Daniel M. Donovan Jr., the Republican candidate for New York attorney general, can be traced to a $17 billion hedge fund whose chief executive has emerged as a staunch and influential defender of Wall Street this election year, campaign records show.

The scale of the donations from those tied to the fund, Elliott Management, is striking because outside of the federal government, perhaps no single office has as much power to police the financial industry as New York’s attorney general.

Over the course of his campaign, however, Mr. Donovan has repeatedly promoted his cautious, nonconfrontational approach to Wall Street, saying that he has no intention of serving as the financial industry’s ‘sheriff,’ a nickname earned by former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, whose aggressive investigations resulted in billion-dollar settlements and sweeping changes.

Obama Meets With Elizabeth Warren

10:39 am EST September 9th, 2010 | Business, Economy | 1 Comment

Elizabeth Warren

Warren watch continues…

A White House official confirms that President Obama met with Elizabeth Warren at the White House on Tuesday, a top contender for heading the Consumer Financial Protection Board.

‘Elizabeth Warren is a respected advocate and she was meeting at the White House Tuesday, but no decision has been made about the consumer agency,’ White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage says of the possibility of Warren being named the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Board.

Topic: Elizabeth Warren, President Obama

Egg Industry Consolidation Has Role In Salmonella Outbreak

10:01 am EST August 24th, 2010 | Business | 3 Comments

eggs

The invisible hand of fail.

The largest egg recall in U.S. history comes at a point of great consolidation in the egg industry, when a shrinking number of companies produce most of the eggs found on grocery shelves and a defect in one operation can jeopardize a significant segment of the marketplace.

“I don’t think people have any idea when they see all these brand names in the stores that so many are coming from the same place,” said Patty Lovera, assistant director of Food and Water Watch, a food safety organization. “It raises the stakes — if one company is doing something wrong, it affects a lot of food.”

Financial Reform Passes Senate, To Be Law Soon

3:03 pm EST July 15th, 2010 | Business, Economy | 43 Comments

Not nearly as strong as it should be, but still a big repeal of failed conservative economics implemented during the last few presidencies.

The legislation gives the government new powers to break up companies that threaten the economy, creates a new agency to guard consumers in their financial transactions and shines a light into shadow financial markets that have escaped the oversight of regulators.

Named after Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, the legislation ends a trend to ease regulations and clamps down on the financial industry in ways unseen since the Great Depression.

Topic: Financial Reform, U.S. Senate, US House

Apple Meets The FTC

11:28 am EST June 12th, 2010 | Business, Tech | 1 Comment

Welcome to the big boy’s table.

The Federal Trade Commission will open an investigation to determine if Apple Inc.’s mobile software business practices are squashing competitors, according to a report published Friday.

The Wall Street Journal said the FTC will start an investigation, citing people familiar with the situation. The newspaper said that the FTC has been working with the Justice Department for weeks to decide which agency will review allegations from companies complaining of being barred from the mobile platform that runs its iPhone and iPad devices.

Topic: Apple

American Apparel’s Skeezy Hiring Techniques

7:20 pm EST June 9th, 2010 | Business | 12 Comments

american apparel This company already tends to strike me as the sort of enterprise operated out of a sketchy guy’s van, but this doesn’t help.

Now, a source tells us that American Apparel has a new hiring policy. For the past several months, they say, job applicants at AA have had their photos taken—photos which are then sent to the email address work@americanapparel.net, where they are “approved” by a nameless person for hiring. The applicant’s resumé is a distant second when it comes to hiring decisions, our source says.

Our source also tells us that a new policy now says that in order for current AA employees to be approved for a promotion or raise, they must also have their photos approved. As they put it, “Your looks determine your position and pay rate, not how effective you are at your job.”

Topic: American Apparel, Sexism