Friday, February 1, 2008

Fixing US Broadband Would Cost $100 Billion

According to a new report, it would cost $100 billion to wire the US with fiber optics and keep the infrastructure from falling behind the rest of the world. Specifically, they recommend what has worked in many other countries — government investment and unbundling — which are often criticized by free market groups...

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Thursday, January 31, 2008

Why is GE Outspending the Entire US Government on Green?

Why is GE Outspending the Entire US Government on Green?

This January, General Electric announced that it was upgrading its investment in Green to $6 billion dollars by 2010. Where is the US? - $2 billion according to George Bush's State of the Union Speech. Why is GE so heavily investing in green? Because they see it as their future.

Full story here

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Lax Controls Costs French Bank $7 B, Lone Trader Blamed

A futures trader at the French bank Societe Generale allegedly bypassed established computer control systems to generate fictitious financial transactions that caused 4.9 billion Euros (US $7.2 billion) in losses for the bank. The bank has lodged a complaint against Jerome Kerviel with French prosecutors. The complaint against him alleges falsification of banking records, fraudulent use of the falsified records, and computer fraud...

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Nintendo Losing Out Over $1 Billion from Holiday Wii Shortage?

Nintendo Losing Out Over $1 Billion from Holiday Wii Shortage?

Nintendo has already gone on record stating that the Wii shortages have been a detriment to the company—that they've lost out on potential sales since much of Nintendo's target casual gaming audience won't bother with it down the line..James Lin, senior analyst at the MDB Capital Group, puts the estimated lost sales at $1.3 billion stating that...

Source: Gizmodo

What’s More Costly Than Iraq? Illegal Immigration

What’s More Costly Than Iraq? Illegal Immigration

According to some statistics provided in a post, the total cost that illegal immigration for US is a whooping $338.3 billion a year. This includes amount spend on welfare for illegal aliens, food assistance programs, Medicaid, primary & secondary education and so on...

Tax avoidance by UK's super-rich 'worth £13bn'

Tax avoidance by UK's super-rich 'worth £13bn'

January 27 2008

Tax avoidance by the super-rich costs the British taxpayer £13bn a year - enough money to increase old-age pensions by 20 per cent, according to a study.

The study, commissioned by the TUC and to be published later this week, estimates the Treasury annually misses out on £3.8bn through the controversial non-domicile tax laws, which allow those with overseas connections to escape tax on their income. So called 'income shifting' by millionaires, which includes placing wealth in the name of a spouse or setting up a limited company to shield income, costs the UK £3.2bn. Tax planning and other loopholes account for the remaining £6bn.

Full report here

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Guitar Hero Series Grosses $1 bBillion in Sales

In just over 2 years, the Guitar Hero series has grossed $1 billion in sales. Yes, Austin Powers fans, that’s a Billion!

Guitar Hero was the first video game in the series for the PlayStation 2