Starbucks (and Other Companies) Not Paying Taxes in UK

There is a furor in the UK over the realization that Starbucks has not paid any taxes in the country despite profits of coffee sales in the UK of over 1 billion pound sterling since 2009.  In addition, the company has only paid 8 million pound sterling in UK tax since starting up in the country in 1998, in the process racking up 3 billion pound sterling in sales. 

Amazon and Facebook are using some of the same kinds of accounting tricks in order to avoid paying UK taxes, routing their incomes in European tax havens such as Ireland and Luxembourg.  As a result, they are also paying little or nothing in taxes to the UK, and yet generating vast sales numbers. 

I know that I'm not in the UK, but if you think that corporations aren't doing the same things here and around the world, you are sorely mistaken.  We have to stop thinking of corporations as "citizens" and "people" and begin to look at them for what they are: psychopathic entities with zero interest in the common good or for serving anyone other than themselves. 

This also puts a huge dent in the argument from some on the conservative side of the fence that bringing jobs back to this country is dependent on cutting taxes even further on these corporations, or as many politicians are calling them, the "job creators".  Corporations are already paying very low taxes around the world, both via the whim of our elected officials and by shady accounting magical tricks, and there is no huge influx of job creation pending.  It is all mere bullshit.

Post-Election Riots

On one of the forums I visit, a user posted a Twitter feed of various users who called for riots if Romney were to win the election.  I'm not trying to be an alarmist, I really think such an event would be very unlikely to happen.  But it did give me something to think about.  After the last election, my views on the meaninglessness and futility of electoral politics became starker than it's ever been.  Mainly, the reason why I gave up and will not vote anymore is for the same reason as many others who don't vote: we don't see a dime's worth of difference between the (paltry) two candidates and their positions on major issues of consequence.  But at the same time, there is a major, clear difference between the two candidates, and the same clear difference existed in the last election.  That is, one candidate is black and the other is white.  And for many people, including some of those who are non-political and usually do not vote, that one difference is all that they need to register and vote. 

While many would say that people becoming inspired enough to want to vote is a good thing, in this circumstance, I feel that it can be very negative and destructive.  While there are people out there who can articulate and voice clear reasons and motives for voting for their respective candidate, I believe that there is an alarming variety of people who stop at the race issue.  They may not say it in public, especially whites for Romney, but they hold that view just the same.  I posted a few months ago about Romney speaking to the NAACP and getting booed numerous times.  That kind of viciousness displayed on the part of the audience showed how many blacks feel about Romney or any white candidate for that matter: if you are white and run against a black candidate, no matter what views you hold, even if we share them, we will oppose you and will not give you the time of day because you do not share the same color as Obama.  Again, very inflammatory and dangerous circumstances exist. 

I found the second tweet particularly of concern. 

The Bubble Bubble

As a denizen of the blogosphere and the web universe in general, few things give me more pleasure than finding a website or blog that casts a different pair of eyes on the events and circumstances that are encircling us.  I happened to find such a site this morning, that was created by an "independent economic analyst" who had also created a website back in 2004 that forecasted a pending stock market crash, which happened a few years later. 

This website is called "The Bubble Bubble" and the analyst, whose name is Jesse Columbo, states his case, which is that our bubble troubles did not end with the housing bubble.  What happened, is that the housing bubble spawned a series of other bubbles, which are coming into their prime now and are poised to pop sooner or later.  There are eight bubbles, according to Columbo, and he gives an acronmym to make it easy to remember "CCC Aches".  "CCC" is the credit rating given to investments that basically means that you're a "junk" investment.  And as many of these bubbles pop, there will be a lot of "aches" and pains involved.  Teehee. 

"CCC Aches" stands for China, Commodities, Canada, Australia, College, Healthcare, Emerging Markets, and Social media.  There is an in-depth piece written for each bubble by Columbo, and I look forward to reading them. 

Gas Now Being Stolen From Pumps in California

In what seems to have been at least a somewhat elaborate heist, over $4,500 worth of gas was stolen from one gas station in California.  Due to refinery fires and pipeline problems, California has the highest gas prices in the country, by at least 50 cents.  But things aren't appearing too peachy nationwide either.  In my neck of the woods (Long Island, New York), gas prices are back in the $4 range.  I wonder how long it will be before people go from planning schemes to steal gas, to just plain sticking a gun in the clerk's face and saying "fill up on Tank 5". 

Also, I wanted to point out the last paragraph of the article:  "Analysts predict that relief is in sight and prices will bottom out near $3.50 a gallon by Thanksgiving, which is one of the busiest times for traveling."  I'm still a little awestruck at the subtle manipulation that has been taking place over the past few years.  Not too long ago, gas prices were much cheaper than they are today.  But now, if you happen to pay for gas, and it's less than $4 a gallon, then you've likely been conditioned to think that gas prices aren't that bad and that you're getting "relief".  In the meantime, still a lot more money in your wallet is being utilized to fill up your car than it used to be. 

Big Brother Obama

I will keep the commentary light today, as this article from Zero Hedge goes quite into detail and you should really check that out.  I just wanted to include a few graphs that I found on Zero Hedge, which highlight the vast increase in state surveillance under the Obama administration.  In the modern age, when we think of state surveillance, many of us think of Dubya and the Patriot Act, and for good reason.  However, on this issue, Obama is even worse than Dubya could have hoped to have been, as state surveillance has skyrocketed under Obama.

But no one on the left or the moderate Democrat side will call Obama out on this.  This is why, as ultimately meaningless as it is, that I'd prefer a Republican in office.  At least then, people pay attention when things such as this, a dramatic escalation in state security, occur.

Also, Pen Register means the interception of outgoing data, and Trap and Trace is the interception of incoming data.

A Worldwide Bacon Shortage? Say It Ain't So

I had previously posted something about the drought in the midwest causing higher feed prices for cattle, and farmers having to make some hard choices.  Now, it has spread to pigs as well.  Pig feed is made using maize and soya plants, which are also failing due to droughts around the world.  So, the price of pig feed is rising as well, and this could result in higher prices for pork-based products, such as bacon, if not shortages.

I have cut back on my bacon consumption, and when I make eggs, I usually use turkey bacon instead.  It's a lot easier to clean afterwards, as turkey bacon doesn't leave behind the grease that regular bacon does, and I don't mind the taste.  But there's still nothing like bacon though, and I don't think I can live without the occasional BLT sandwich.  I do think we've gotten out of hand with our passion towards bacon, so a shortage may not be such a bad thing.  People put the shit in everything nowadays, from cakes to ice cream sundaes.

Revolution

As many of you probably know, there is a new television series on that deals with the ramifications and aftereffects of a fictional scenario in which the electricity goes out in the United States.  It's called Revolution and it's on Mondays at 10 on NBC.  You can get the pilot episode free off iTunes or off NBC's website.

Eh, I wasn't expecting to get my socks blown off, and they weren't.  It was okay, but then again, post-apocalyptic is one of my favorite subgenres, so the show would have to be monumentally awful for me to stop watching.  It has all the inconsistencies, plotholes and cliches you'd expect from a major production, so I won't bother to list most of them.  Although, everyone does seem well fed; there are even still fat people.  And there still seems to be plenty of Revlon and Cover Girl to go around.  On the other hand, the production values were pretty top-notch, and I thought they did a good job with the decaying buildings and structures (like Wrigley Field).  Kinda reminded me of that History Channel special from a few years back, "Life After People".

The one thing I really didn't care for, overall, is the jumping ahead 15 years into the future, after the power goes out.  The show could have been more of an exhilarating mind-fuck if it dealt with the aftereffects of the power going out, like in the excellent novel One Second After.  I'm sure there'll be flashbacks, but I imagine the tone of them will be pretty mild, it is network TV after all.  From what I've read, a lot of people think that it will be cancelled, but I really don't think so.  NBC is totally seizing the momentum of stuff like The Hunger Games, and it showed while I was watching the pilot.  The teenagers seem like they're going to be a key part of the show, and while that's a bad thing from my perspective, it will probably draw in a lot of those viewers.

Maybe it'll become another Jericho, that was another doomer-type show from a few years ago.  I remember that I had stopped watching that one four episodes in, it just didn't do anything for me, and then there was that huge effort from its fans to save the show, so I gave it another try, and I found that the show really picked up in quality after those first four or five episodes.