Tag: Taxpayers

Here is the Truth: Medicare Advantage Is Neither Medicare Nor an Advantage

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Right now, well-funded lobbyists from big health insurance companies are leading a campaign on Capitol Hill to get Members of Congress and Senators of both parties to sign on to a letter designed to put them on the record “expressing strong support” for the scam that is Medicare Advantage.

Here is the Truth: Medicare Advantage Is Neither Medicare Nor an Advantage

More Biden Oil And Gas Restrictions Are On The Horizon

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Despite pleading with oil and gas companies to boost their output in recent months, to tackle global shortages and rising prices, President Biden is once again hitting the industry hard by proposing a greater emissions reduction in operations. And he’s not the only one, as the U.K. and EU look to reduce gas flaring and venting practices to curb their methane emissions in line with climate pledges.

More Biden Oil And Gas Restrictions Are On The Horizon

Forget cannabis. Here are 2 banking provisions that did make the NDAA.

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Forget cannabis. Here are 2 banking provisions that did make the NDAA.

Some banks have instituted policies making it easier for second-chance workers to get hired. JPMorgan Chase years ago removed all questions about criminal backgrounds from job applications and established a policy center to help former criminals find jobs.

It expanded its effort to help ex-offenders return to the workforce last year, partnering with nonprofits to connect people with arrest or conviction histories to in-demand jobs. CEO Jamie Dimon also agreed to co-chair the Second Chance Business Coalition encompassing 29 member companies.

The bank hired 4,300 people with criminal records last year, Nan Gibson, executive director for public policy and corporate responsibility at the JPMorgan Chase Policy Center, told American Banker. That’s more than double the bank’s 2,100 second-chance hires from 2020.

H/ T: Judge Napolitano

Related:

JPMorgan Chase, the Largest Federally-Insured Bank in the U.S. with Five Felony Counts, Says 10 Percent of its New Hires Last Year Had Criminal Histories

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.

The “Nation Rebuilding Industry” Salivates Over Ukraine

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

American taxpayers must prepare to foot the bill.

The powerful military-industrial complex, with generous campaign contributions funneled via K-Street lobbyists to both parties, celebrated a huge victory yesterday. By getting overwhelming majorities in both chambers to approve a whopping, unprecedented $856 billion Pentagon bill, America’s defense industries are assured of continued prosperity for years to come. Pentagon budgets are rarely cut year after year and generally only rise with time.

The “Nation Rebuilding Industry” Salivates Over Ukraine

One Man Has Set Up a $1.6 Billion Slush Fund to Fuel the Radical Right’s Takeover of Congress; Get Ready for a Dirty Tricks Campaign

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: August 26, 2022

The New York Times dropped a political bombshell on Monday. The public interest website, ProPublica, built further on the story that afternoon. And, as luck would have it, Wall Street On Parade finds itself in the unique position of filling in missing pieces of the story thanks to an investigative report we published in 2010.

One Man Has Set Up a $1.6 Billion Slush Fund to Fuel the Radical Right’s Takeover of Congress; Get Ready for a Dirty Tricks Campaign

This Remote Mine Could Foretell the Future of America’s Electric Car Industry

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

TAMARACK, Minn. — In this isolated town of about 100 people, dozens of employees are at work for Talon Metals, drawing long cylinders of rock from deep in the earth and analyzing their contents. They liken their work to a game of Battleship — each hole drilled allows them to better map out where a massive and long-hidden mineral deposit is lurking below.

This Remote Mine Could Foretell the Future of America’s Electric Car Industry

Pentagon stockpiles ‘uncomfortably low’ due to Ukraine arms transfers: DoD

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Arms makers are licking their chops as defense officials worry about shortfalls in weapons stockpiles.

Pentagon stockpiles ‘uncomfortably low’ due to Ukraine arms transfers: DoD

Related:

Ukraine War Depleting U.S. Ammunition Stockpiles, Sparking Pentagon Concern

In recent weeks, the level of 155 mm combat rounds in U.S. military storage have become “uncomfortably low,” one defense official said. The levels aren’t yet critical because the U.S. isn’t engaged in any major military conflict, the official added. “It is not at the level we would like to go into combat,” the defense official said.

…

In the U.S., it takes 13 to 18 months from the time orders are placed for munitions to be manufactured, according to an industry official. Replenishing stockpiles of more sophisticated weaponry such as missiles and drones can take much longer.

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Speaking on an earnings call July 19, Jim Taiclet, chief executive of Lockheed Martin Corp., said the Pentagon has yet to put the contracts in place or coordinate with industry to buy more supplies, a process that often takes two to three years.