Supreme Court hears arguments for corporate funding of candidates -- latimes.com:
"Big companies, industries and possibly unions may be allowed to fund ads for and against candidates. A decision could reshape American politics starting with the 2010 congressional campaign."
Digiprotect Admits It Shares Files Just To Find People To Demand Settlement Money From | Techdirt:
"'We get the legal rights from the companies to distribute these movies to stores, and with these rights we can sue illegal downloaders. Then we take legal action in every country possible, concentrating on the places where such action will be profitable.' "
Banks to collect $38.5B in overdraft fees in '09 - report - Aug. 10, 2009:
"U.S. banks will collect a record $38.5 billion in overdraft fees this year, with nearly all the revenue paid by just 10% of customers, according to a research report released Monday"
Strip clubs, marijuana eyed during budget crunch - CNN.com:
"'You see this blizzard of fees popping up all over the country and in very unusual places,' CanagaRetna said.
One of the more controversial ideas is to legalize the sale of marijuana, as proposed in a bill introduced in California's state legislature by Democratic State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano this year. The bill proposed taxing pot by $50 per ounce. If legalized, marijuana could become California's No. 1 cash crop, bringing in an estimated $1 billion a year in state taxes."
Why play a losing game? Study uncovers why low-income people buy lottery tickets | Science Codex:
"'Some poor people see playing the lottery as their best opportunity for improving their financial situations, albeit wrongly so,' said the study's lead author Emily Haisley, a doctoral student in the Department of Organizational Behavior and Theory at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business. 'The hope of getting out of poverty encourages people to continue to buy tickets, even though their chances of stumbling upon a life-changing windfall are nearly impossibly slim and buying lottery tickets in fact exacerbates the very poverty that purchasers are hoping to escape.'"
By-the-mile road tax could replace by-the-gallon federal fuel tax - Kansas City Star:
"The idea of shifting to a by-the-mile tax has been discussed for years, but it now appears to be getting more serious attention. A federal commission, after a two-year study, concluded earlier this year that the road tax was the ‘best path forward’ to keep revenues flowing to highway and transportation projects, and could be an important new tool to help manage traffic and relieve congestion.
The decision by the 15-member National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission was unanimous, which surprised Robert Atkinson, the group’s chairman. But he said it became clear as the commission’s work progressed that a road tax on miles traveled was the best option. "
Loophole Helps GE Benefit From Bank Rescue Program - washingtonpost.com:
"General Electric, the world's largest industrial company, has quietly become the biggest beneficiary of one of the government's key rescue programs for banks."
States brace for shutdowns - Los Angeles Times:
" Indiana is one of five states -- along with Arizona, California, Mississippi and Pennsylvania -- bracing for possible shutdowns this week as time runs out for lawmakers to close billion-dollar gaps in their fiscal 2010 budgets. "
8 secret scores that lenders keep - MSN Money:
"What you may not know is that credit scores are just the start of the way financial institutions evaluate you, and they're not even the most commonly used scores -- far from it.
While a credit card issuer might check your credit scores once a month as part of its regular account review process, the same company probably checks other kinds of scores every time you pull out your plastic."
Playing Music In A Nightclub Just Got Ridiculously More Expensive In Australia | Techdirt:
"Buoyed by the nightclub ruling, the PPCA is now targeting eateries. It wants to increase licensing fees in a 120-seat restaurant to $19,344 a year -- up from $125. Small cafes would be slugged with a 4729 per cent yearly increase from $124 to $5860. "
Mike Whitney: Bernanke's Next Parlor Trick:
"Federal Reserve boss Ben Bernanke is getting ready to pull another rabbit out of his hat and he's hoping no one figures out what he's up to. Here's the scoop; the Fed chief needs to 'borrow up to $3.25 trillion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30' (Bloomberg) without triggering a run on the dollar. "
Monsanto's Harvest of Fear | vanityfair.com:
"Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination."
"According to the report in il Giornale, two unidentified Japanese in their 50s concealed the bonds, including 249 U.S. Treasury bonds each worth $500 million, in a suitcase with a false bottom that was searched by the Italian authorities June 3 when they were in Chiasso"
Health insurers want you to keep smoking, Harvard doctors say : Scientific American Blog:
"Health and life insurance companies in the US and abroad have nearly $4.5 billion invested in tobacco stocks, according to Harvard doctors. "
"So, for 2007 and 2008 combined, the U.S. exported 22 million ounces of refined gold and over 154 million ounces of 'compound gold.' This is more than 11 times U.S. gold mine production during those two years. In fact, this is higher than global gold mine output. Where did all this gold come from?
This amount of gold exceeds what is held by all private parties in the U.S. combined. When the U.S. government called in gold in 1933, it then melted down the coins without refining. As a result, such bars from the coin melt would have a purity of around 90 percent gold. These would not qualify for description as refined gold, but could fit the definition of compound gold. "
What Was THAT? (Friday Market Close) - The Market Ticker:
"Volume was light all day, as is somewhat common in the summer on a Friday. The close started its usual increase, and was up to 23,000 contracts at 14:57 with two minutes remaining. Then all hell broke loose."
Leap in U.S. debt hits taxpayers with 12% more red ink - USATODAY.com:
"Taxpayers are on the hook for an extra $55,000 a household to cover rising federal commitments made just in the past year for retirement benefits, the national debt and other government promises, a USA TODAY analysis shows."
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