Monthly Archives: March 2013

Dead Letter Office: Even U.S. Government Doesn’t Use the U.S. Postal Service

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“How bad is the United States Postal Service? In order to get a straight answer on this, ask the federal government. The federal government uses the Postal Service 2% of the time.  Here is an agency that is so utterly incompetent that the United States government will not use it. How’s that for a testimonial? Here is an agency run by the government that the rest of the agencies regard as so utterly unreliable and expensive, that they refuse to use it.  The Postal Service has had a monopoly over first-class mail ever since the time of Benjamin Franklin. That is the longest monopoly in American history. Yet it cannot persuade the federal government to use it.”

http://teapartyeconomist.com/2013/03/29/dead-letter-office-u-s-government-doesnt-use-the-u-s-postal-service/

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Google Launches Same-Day Delivery in San Francisco Bay Area

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EPJ13

“Google has been testing the service, called Google Shopping Express, with employees for a few months. The company opened it up to the public this morning in a limited launch focused on San Francisco residents and others living south of the city from San Mateo to San Jose. Shoppers who sign up will get six months of free, same-day delivery of online orders placed with select retailers in the area. Google plans to charge for the service in the future, but it has not decided how much yet. Companies taking part in the test include national retailers such as Target, Office Depot Inc, Staples Inc and Toys ‘R’ Us Inc and smaller, local firms.”

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2013/03/google-launches-same-day-delivery-in.html

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The Management-free Organization

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“Recently I heard that Valve, a highly successful video game company, has four hundred employees and no management structure. According to all reports, they make that model work.  I spent a lot of time trying to imagine working for a company with no management. How do they resolve conflicts, set priorities, measure performance, fire laggards, and all the rest? I couldn’t picture it working. Keep in mind that I earn my living by shouting that management is mostly worthless, yet even I couldn’t accept the idea that management is 100% unnecessary. I was skeptical.”

http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/the_managementfree_organization/

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What does crowdfunding replace or displace?

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“Look at the sum of these trends. If a startup has a successful crowdfunder, its bargaining power with the VCs increases in two ways. First, it’s going to be less desperate for capital than a company that can’t run out and do another crowdfunder for the next product. Second, the VC’s uncertainty about its ability to build and sell will be reduced. These changes will both increase the startup’s ability to bargain for doing things its way and reduce the VC’s pressure for an early IPO.  At the extreme, we might end up with a new normal in which VCs compete with each other to court startups that have done successful crowdfunders, neatly inverting the present situation.”

http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=4867

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What most schools don’t teach

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What most schools don’t teach

“Learn about a new ‘superpower’ that isn’t being taught in in 90% of US schools.”

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European Union delays carbon tax for one year

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“The EU will put its controversial carbon tax on intercontinental airline flights on hold for a year to give time for international talks to reach a compromise on the issue.  Almost all ICAO members have objected to the EU carbon tax on airline flights, which formally took effect in January 2012, saying it violated international law.  China even threatened reprisals against European aircraft maker Airbus. The US rejects the EU’s methodology which calculates the tax based on the entire flight, but could possibly accept basing it on the portion through European air space.  US airlines lost a complaint against the tax before the European Court of Justice.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/21/european-union-delays-carbon-tax-for-one-year/

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Europe’s new financial transaction tax missing projected revenues

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“Tough taxes on financial transactions across Europe have devastated market activity and failed to raise as much as politicians hoped, according to new figures out yesterday.  Hungary implemented a 0.1 per cent tax at the start of the year.  But it raised less than half the revenue the state had hoped for, bringing in 13bn Hungarian Forints (£36m) in January. France forged ahead on its own, introducing a 0.2 per cent tax on sales of shares of major firms. But that only raised €200m (£169.4m) from August to November, well below to €530m expected.  And Italy launched its FTT this month. Figures from TMF Group suggest it has cut trading volumes by 38 per cent already.”

http://www.cityam.com/article/transaction-tax-missing-its-targets

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Bank of Cyprus head fired under bailout deal

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“The chief executive of the Bank of Cyprus, the island’s biggest lender, has been sacked by the central bank governor as part of an international bailout deal, state media said on Wednesday.  Yiannis Kypri was fired on the instructions of the so-called troika of the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) reported.  It said his departure was ordered as part of the restructuring of the Bank of Cyprus under the bailout deal, which involves the bank absorbing the remains of Laiki, the second biggest bank in Cyprus that has been wound down.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/27/bank-of-cyprus-head-fired-under-bailout-deal/

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IRS Reneges on Offshore Asset Voluntary Disclosure Deals

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“If you took advantage of one of the three amnesty programs and were accepted, the IRS promised only to hit you with the back taxes, various penalties and interest.  The good news was that you would escape criminal charges and time in prison.  You now have an empty bank account, but at least you also have the peace of mind that the IRS won’t be knocking at your door, right?  Wrong.  Earlier this month, the IRS sent faxes to tax attorneys across the country telling them that clients who it had previously been accepted in the current voluntary disclosure program, the ‘Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative’ (OVDI) are now mysteriously ‘disqualified.'”

http://www.nestmann.com/irs-offshore-voluntary-disclosure-program/

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Supreme Court Rules that Citizens Can Hold Federal Government Liable for Abuse by Law Enforcement Officers

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“In its ruling in Millbrook v. United States, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court has concluded that the U.S. government may be held liable for abuses intentionally carried out by law enforcement officers in the course of their employment.  Arguments put forward by The Rutherford Institute in its amicus brief urged the Court to enforce the plain meaning of federal statutes allowing citizens to sue the government for injuries intentionally inflicted by law enforcement officers. In striking down lower court rulings, the justices held that the courts had erred in dismissing a prisoner’s lawsuit alleging that three prison guards had brutally and sexually assaulted him.”

https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/on_the_front_lines/victory_unanimous_supreme_court_rules_that_citizens_can_hold_federal_govern

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