Tag: revenues

Pentagon Profiteers: Executive Compensation in the Arms Industry

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Pentagon Profiteers: Executive Compensation in the Arms Industry

Another way to understand the size of CEO compensation at the big contractors is to look at how many jobs would be created if that $287 million were spent on something else. The answer is that spending that money on productive activities would create thousands of jobs: 2,812 jobs in clean energy or infrastructure; 4,104 jobs in health care; and 4,362 in education, calculated using data on the jobs impact of government spending generated by Heidi Peltier for the Brown Costs of War Project.

Feet on the Ground in St. Petersburg: The Public Mood

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

by Gilbert Doctorow

One of the first questions put to me by a reader via the Comments function with respect to Monday’s report of my initial impressions after arriving in St Petersburg was: and what is the general mood of people? I begged off answering, saying that I would have to speak to a lot more people before I could confidently answer that question.

Feet on the Ground in St. Petersburg: The Public Mood

Sanctions don’t seem to be effecting the wealthy or the middle class, in Russia, much.

Health Insurance Whistleblower: Medicare Advantage Is “Heist” by Private Firms to Defraud the Public

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Many of the nation’s largest health insurance companies have made billions of dollars in profits by overbilling the U.S. government’s Medicare Advantage program. A New York Times investigation has revealed that under the Advantage program, health insurance companies are incentivized to make patients appear more ill than they actually are. Some estimates find it has cost the government between $12 billion and $25 billion in 2020 alone. We speak with former healthcare insurance executive Wendell Potter, now president of the Center for Health and Democracy, who says Medicare Advantage will be recognized in years to come as the “biggest transfer of wealth” from taxpayers to corporate shareholders, and blames the lack of regulation over the program on the “revolving door between private industry and government.”

Health Insurance Whistleblower: Medicare Advantage Is “Heist” by Private Firms to Defraud the Public

Related:

‘The Cash Monster Was Insatiable’: How Insurers Exploited Medicare for Billions (archived)

White House Leaves Door Open For Additional SPR Releases + It’s Implications

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The White House said on Tuesday that it has many options to counteract OPEC+’s looming production cuts, including the release of even more crude oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves.

White House Leaves Door Open For Additional SPR Releases

Related:

The Implications Of U.S. SPR Withdrawals

Implications of OPEC-+ Production Cut 

I think OPEC has not learned from its past mistakes, as it is not a good time to cut oil production by 2 million bpd in November 2022, especially at a time when global economies are under pressure. While higher oil prices at this juncture may bring much needed oil revenues to (national) oil companies and OPEC members, this will come at the cost of accelerating a global recession, bringing more misery to consumers. Consequently, it will weaken global oil demand and oil prices. Oil prices in the range of $70-$80/bbls at this difficult time could be a win-win situation for both producers and consumers, and shield global economies from collapsing. Consequently, the U.S. should take its own measures to enhance its domestic oil production, encourage EVs and halt further releases of the SPR. Running down the SPR will allow OPEC+ more flexibility to play around with production.

Meanwhile:

U.S. Rig Count Slides Amid Jump In Crude Prices

Sakhalin 1 important for Japan oil procurement: Russia takes control of Sakhalin 1 oil and gas project

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Tokyo, Oct. 9 (BNA): Japanese Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Sunday that the Sakhalin 1 oil and gas project in Russia is very important for Tokyo to ensure its diversified crude oil procurement.

Sakhalin 1 important for Japan oil procurement

Related:

Published: 10-11-2022

Russian authorities have temporarily re-nationalised the foreign-led Sakhalin 1 oil and gas project in the country’s far east, as pressure grows to resume production from the development.

Russia takes control of Sakhalin 1 oil and gas project

EU Pushes For More Sanctions Which Will Come Back To Bite It

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

On February 22, two days before Russian troops entered the Ukraine, the U.S. and the EU put reams of sanctions onto Russia. They also confiscated some $300 billion of Russia’s reserves that were invested in the ‘west’. The sanctions had been negotiated between the EU and the U.S. and prepared for over several months.

EU Pushes For More Sanctions Which Will Come Back To Bite It