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The repatriation of the Timbit was held up by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Tim Hortons executives Wednesday as a shining example of low corporate tax rates luring business to Canada. The homegrown coffee giant has not technically been a Canadian company for years, but Tim Hortons Inc. is reorganizing as a Canadian public company after 99 per cent of shareholders voted Tuesday in favour of bringing the iconic coffee company back home from the U.S. The chain so ubiquitous north of the border had been registered in Delaware for nearly 15 years as a result of its purchase by...

Wichita Suffers From Bizjet Downturn AVIATION WEEK Joseph C. Anselmo janselmo@aviationweek.com William Garvey william_garvey@aviationweek.com Wichita, Kan. A severe downturn in the aviation industry has led to the loss of 30,000 jobs in Wichita as the impact from mass layoffs at companies such as Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft and Bombardier Learjet has rippled through small suppliers and the economy, according to Mayor Carl Brewer. Unemployment in this aviation-dependent city of 364,000 has hit 9.7% as business jet and general aviation manufacturers have throttled back on production after mass cancellations of existing orders and a dramatic reduction in new orders. "That type of...

Tax receipts decline as U.S. deficit to set recordPublished: Tuesday, August 4, 2009 Associated Press WASHINGTON — The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation’s plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab. The numbers could hardly be more stark: Tax receipts are on pace to drop 18 percent this year, the biggest single-year decline since the Great Depression, while the federal deficit balloons to a record $1.8 trillion. Other figures in an Associated Press analysis underscore...

A look at some of the most luxurious executive perks Economic downturn might make some of these doozies obsolete Sunday, May 24, 2009 3:42 AM By Alistair Barr Running big public companies is hard work, so many executives get a little help to keep their noses to the grindstone. Use of company jets, cars and drivers, free home security, free financial-planning advice and country-club memberships are some of the common rewards. Some of these perks keep coming after retirement. Even in death, the money keeps flowing in the form of so-called golden coffins. In the midst of the worst global...

The recent recession is somewhat unique in that the credit markets have been dragged through the mud with the equity markets. Bondholders, generally considered to be in a safer position than stockholders, aren’t feeling so at ease. Over the past year bonds across the risk spectrum have declined in price amidst speculation that default rates could skyrocket in 2009 and 2010 to levels unseen since the Depression. As a result, investors with a few years on their time horizon may have a real opportunity right now if they pick and choose their investments carefully. Bond prices are down overall and...

RIDICULED by politicians, attacked by the media and reeling from the economic slowdown, US corporate jet owners are doing it tough. Attacks have been particularly savage since three Detroit executives used private jets to go to Washington last year to beg for a taxpayer-backed $US25billion ($39billion) bailout. The car makers' clanger sparked a wave of outrage and many companies reacted by cancelling orders or dumping corporate jets on a market that was already oversupplied because of the economic downturn. The result, say US aircraft brokers, is that resale values have slumped by 30 to 40 per cent. "A year ago,...

President Obama's recent town hall meeting brought visions of a classic movie. It felt like with great anticipation many followed the Green Brick road to Obama's Emerald City town hall give-a-way singing, “We're off to see Obama, the Wonderful Wizard of US....because, because, because, because, because...because of the wonderful things he does!” The straw woman asked for “a kitchen and a car. The cowardly kitty student asked for “more benefits”. This disturbing entitlement mindset is a far cry from JFK's, “Ask NOT what your country can do for you, but what you can do for you country”. From corporate tin...

Is it my imagination or does a disturbing number of Americans believe they're entitled to reap the benefits of hard work by others? An entitlement mindset is the foundation of the modern democrat party. However, offenders in both parties exploit the sin of “Class Envy”. Skillfully, manipulative politicians make you hate anyone who has more than you. They allege, “You don't have because those SOB's are stealing it all”. So while rich CEOs flying their private jets has nothing to do with the price of gas or effecting your life in anyway, you're thrilled when politicians vow to 'get them'....

The two largest offshore drilling companies, one of the largest oilfield service companies, and other major firms have announced plans to relocate their corporate offices to Switzerland: “Noble Corp. today became the latest in a recent string of Houston oil and gas firms to announce plans to move their corporate headquarters to Switzerland, a change experts said is cheifly for tax purposes. The world’s second largest offshore drilling contractor, now incorporated in the Cayman Islands and run from Sugar Land [Texas], said its board has approved the change, and now will put the proposal to shareholders and the Cayman courts....

In "Uncle Shariah" in the Washington Times, December 16, Frank Gaffney details why AIG's nationalization is so worrisome: The insurance giant AIG has lately become the poster child for corporate risk-taking, mismanagement and greed. Its unimaginably large losses, rooted in insurance it extended to financial companies engaged in subprime mortgage-backed transactions, have destroyed both AIG's corporate reputation and balance sheet. Indeed, but for the fact that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson - who during his days running Goldman Sachs had extensive ties to AIG - deemed the insurance firm "too large to fail," the company would surely have gone under by...

Think that class warfare and mindless anti-business hatred don’t have real-life consequences? Think again: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Much political hay has been made in Congress about “unpatriotic” corporations that move operations abroad. Weatherford International is the latest, taking its headquarters from Houston to Switzerland. The oil services company said that it wants to be closer to its markets. But what it really meant was that it no longer saw the future in the U.S. In a political atmosphere of blaming corporations, it’s no wonder. Halliburton fled to Dubai in 2007. Tyco International, Foster Wheeler and Transocean International all went to Switzerland. As...

Socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez mocked George W. Bush as a "comrade" on Wednesday, saying the U.S. president was a hard-line leftist for his government's intervention of major private banks in the U.S. financial crisis. Chavez, who calls capitalism an evil and ex-Cuban leader Fidel Castro his mentor, ridiculed Bush for his plan for the federal government to take equity in American banks despite the U.S. right-wing's criticism of Venezuelan nationalizations. "Bush is to the left of me now," Chavez told an audience of international intellectuals debating the benefits of socialism. "Comrade Bush announced he will buy shares in private...

Thanks to globalization, it is now increasingly easy for capital to cross national borders. Investors naturally prefer lower–tax jurisdictions, so there is a shift of jobs and investment out of high–tax nations. This is having a big impact on tax policy. Simply stated, tax competition is compelling governments to dramatically lower their tax rates. This has important implications for China, the United States, and other every nation seeking to play a role in the world economy. As recently as 1980, the average top statutory corporate tax rate in industrialized nations was nearly 50 percent. Top personal income tax rates were...

The US brewer Anheuser-Busch has agreed to be taken over by Belgium-based InBev, in a move that will create the world's largest beer maker. The $50bn (£25bn) takeover bid by InBev, which makes Stella Artois beer, was accepted by Anheuser's board. The combined company will now be called Anheuser-Busch InBev. Anheuser makes Budweiser - the most popular beer in the US - and some US politicians had expressed anger at the prospect of a foreign takeover. 'Unrivalled brands' In a concession to political concerns about the deal, Budweiser's headquarters will remain in St Louis, Missouri while none of Anheuser's US...

WASHINGTON, Mar 18, 2008 - A new study from the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group in Washington, shows that most American states tax job providers at a higher rate than any other country in the developed world. "This is startling news for America's businesses and workers," said Tax Foundation president Scott Hodge, the study's author. "Tax competition for jobs and investment is fierce, and the U.S. continues to fall further and further behind. Our states should be the world's leaders in many things, but high taxation should not be one of them. The high federal corporate tax rate...

Edwards Slams Top Clinton Strategist's Ties to BlackwaterEdwards Assails Clinton as 'Corporate Democrat' By JAKE TAPPER Oct. 5, 2007 In a scathing attack, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards went after front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Friday, calling her a "corporate Democrat," comparing top Clinton campaign strategist Mark Penn to former Bush aide Karl Rove and assailing Penn's ties to Blackwater USA, the embattled private firm of military contractors accused by the Iraqi government of firing upon and killing 11 unarmed Iraqi civilians last month. "Bush has been a perfect example of cronyism because Blackwater has given hundreds of thousands of...

'America's private army' under fire for Illinois facility Anti-war activists, locals are wary about military contractor's new training site By E.A. Torriero Tribune staff reporter 6:11 AM CDT, July 23, 2007 MT. CARROLL, Ill. Strangers rarely venture onto the twisting gravel roads in this corner of the state, and those who do sometimes get lost amid the rolling hills. So it came as a surprise to many locals when the expert marksmen of Blackwater USA -- a controversial military contractor that provides armed security guards in the Iraq war -- took over an 80-acre rifle range and opened up a...

The one tyranny that the founders missed!

Asia continues to look attractive in our annual ranking of tax burden. And even China's bum score may be deceiving. Our 2006 Tax Misery & Reform Index offers a global view of the top marginal rates of taxation--the ones that typically most affect a successful entrepreneur. The news is good as the rates generally continue to decrease around the world. The Misery scores--a sum of six tax rates--are lower in 16 of the locations this year, with France decreasing the most (although still in the top position). There was no change in 28 locations, and only 8 increased Tax Misery...

US to outlaw corporate prejudice based on genes 10:00 06 May 2007 From New Scientist Print Edition. Soon it will be illegal to deny US citizens jobs or insurance simply because they have an inherited illness, or a genetic predisposition to a particular disease. On 25 April, the House of Representatives voted 420 to 3 to pass the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). The Senate is expected to endorse the act within a few weeks, which is also supported by President Bush. "I am so stunned by the majority," says Sharon Terry, president of the Genetic Alliance, a charity lobbying...

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The most sought-after corporate board members are those who curry favor with fellow directors, not those who are active in standing up for shareholders, a new academic study has concluded. The study paints an unflattering picture of outside directors in corporate America, who have come under increased scrutiny in recent years following a series of major U.S. business scandals. boardroom_meeting.03.jpg NEWSMAKERS The study by business professors James Westphal of the University of Michigan and Ithai Stern of Northwestern University suggests that directors - who are supposed to be watchdogs for shareholders - still are not independent...

Corporate Propaganda Still On the News: Study Finds Local Stations Overwhelmingly Fail to Disclose VNRsTuesday, November 14th, 2006 A new study by the Center for Media and Democracy says Americans are still being shown corporate public relations videos disguised as news reports on newscasts across the country. In April, the Center identified 77 stations using Video News Releases in their newscasts. The findings led to an investigation by the FCC. A follow-up study has found 10 of those stations are still airing VNRs today for a total of 46 stations in 22 states. [includes rush transcript] --------------------------------------------------- Corporate propaganda on...

Month of corporate hospitality kills Chinese official Jonathan Watts in Beijing Tuesday October 24, 2006 Guardian Unlimited (UK) Even by the standards of a country obsessed by banquets and plagued by corruption, the corporate hospitality that killed Zhang Hongtao was on the excessive side. After a month-long wining-and-dining marathon - interrupted by massages, card games, sightseeing and the occasional morning of work - the county auditor from Yanshan in northern Hebei province succumbed to alcohol poisoning, according to local media reports. The story might have died with him in April were it not for subsequent revelations that the fatally lavish...

NEW YORK -- For the 21st year, Working Mother magazine has selected its 100 best companies, and the competition to make the list is getting stiffer. Just three of last year's top 10 are back among the elite, and 18 firms have made the overall list for the first time. Those companies selected have a lot in common. Ninety-nine percent of them offer flextime plans to employees, telecommuting on a part-time basis, health-care insurance for part-time workers and a fitness-center subsidy. The magazine said programs that could only be imagined a few years ago, including 16 months of maternity leave,...

The secret of American schooling is that it doesn’t teach the way children learn, and it isn’t supposed to; school was engineered to serve a concealed command economy and a deliberately re-stratified social order. It wasn’t made for the benefit of kids and families as those individuals and institutions would define their own needs. School is the first impression children get of organized society; like most first impressions, it is the lasting one. Life according to school is dull and stupid, only consumption promises relief: Coke, Big Macs, fashion jeans, that’s where real meaning is found, that is the classroom’s...

SAN FRANCISCO - Stanford University will bar physicians working at its two hospitals from accepting even the tiniest gifts from drug industry sales representatives to try to eliminate corporate influence from medical decisions, the school announced Tuesday. The policy takes effect Oct. 1 and also bans accepting gifts from other companies such as medical device makers that do business with the hospitals. The policy also prohibits the doctors from accepting free drug samples and publishing articles in science journals that were ghost written by corporate authors. The industry's sales force also would be prohibited from areas where patients are seen...

While this new world of corporate governance/ lobbyists/ privatization of the commons etc; seems difficult to understand (disguised as it is with buzz words – and meaningless jibberish), it’s really not as complex as one might think. After you learn how to ignore the superficial banalities, and get to the meat (if there is any) of the message being given. Most times you’ll hear just fluff and nutter talk – sounds important but isn’t. While we naturally focus upon local issues and concerns such as community development, roads, tons of garbage, forest access, tourism, sportsmen’s rights, lack of snow, no...

A minister of a church recently was dealing with a scandel. One would think that the rumors, back stabbing, fierce exchanges of bible verses, etc., would eventually lead to the truth coming out and fellowship being restored, right? But that, of course is preceded by someone admitting fault, and taking blame - especially if the minister is the one directly causing the problem. But, as most of us are aware, admitting fault, taking blame is rare. Very rare. And now I think I finally understand why. I was under the impression that Christian Churches formed under the reality that absolute...

According to critics, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has caused a litany of ills: Executives are retiring early, public companies are going private, foreign firms are listing abroad and U.S. firms are losing their competitive edge. The sweeping law, written in the wake of the Enron scandal, has served as a scapegoat for all the evils facing corporate America since it was passed in 2002.

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 27 (Reuters) - Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. (NDAQ.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive Robert Greifeld said on Tuesday he expects changes to the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reform law in 2007. The Nasdaq chief said he sees the changes will come within the law's stiff internal controls accounting mechanisms -- known as Section 404 -- and how it is applied and judged. "I make the prediction that in 2007 we will see refinement of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act whether it comes directly from the legislature or Congress getting involved with the (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)," said Greifeld, speaking...

TORONTO (CP) - It could take half a century or more for someone infected with prions - the cause of mad cow-like diseases - to start showing symptoms, say researchers, who drew that conclusion after studying a similar illness among Papua New Guinean people who once feasted on their dead. Their findings suggest that the number of human cases of variant Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (vCJD) could end up being much larger than originally suspected, say the researchers, whose study is published in Friday's edition of The Lancet. With 160 cases, the United Kingdom has the highest number of recorded cases in...

WASHINGTON--An estimated 4 million subscribers to Internet phone services like Vonage could see new fees on their bills under a plan approved Wednesday by federal regulators. The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously at its monthly meeting here to require all voice over Internet Protocol services that connect to the public-switched telephone network--as opposed to using peer-to-peer technology, like Skype--to contribute to the Universal Service Fund. The $7.3 billion fund, which has been a feature of U.S. policy for more than 70 years, subsidizes telephone service in rural and low-income areas. It also runs a controversy-plagued program called E-Rate that provides...

Author Jerome Corsi filed a Freedom of Information Act request yesterday asking for full disclosure of the activities of an office implementing a trilateral agreement with Mexico and Canada that apparently could lead to a North American union, despite having no authorization from Congress. Corsi specifically has requested the partnership's membership lists, constitutive documents, meeting minutes, meeting agendas and meeting schedules as well as all findings, reports, presentations or memoranda. He also wants all comments to representatives of the "Prosperity Working Groups" or other working groups, committees or task forces associated with the partnership along with internal and external interagency...

A human rights group accused Yahoo! of helping the Chinese government to track down another Internet activist, who is now serving 10 years in jail. Wang Xiaoning, in his mid-50s, was detained in September 2002 and sentenced by a Beijing court on September 2003 on charges of 'incitement to subvert state power,' the New York and Hong Kong-based Human Rights in China said, according to Agence France-Presse. ...... Among the evidence cited against Wang is information provided by Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd that linked Wang's Yahoo! Group account to a mainland China email address used by Wang, the rights...

Profits surge to 40-year highWhen will corporations spend some of their hoard? By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch Last Update: 5:36 PM ET Mar 30, 2006 WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. corporate profits have increased 21.3% in the past year and now account for the largest share of national income in 40 years, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Strong productivity gains and subdued wage growth boosted before-tax profits to 11.6% of national income in the fourth quarter of 2005, the biggest share since the summer of 1966. See full story. For all of 2005, before-tax profits totaled $1.35 trillion, up from $1.16 trillion...

The United Nations Tries To Woo Corporate America By HAROLD FURCHTGOTT-ROTH March 28, 2006 The United Nations last week released the final report from its "Global Compact" summit in Shanghai. The compact is a set of 10 principles covering human rights, labor, the environment, and corruption. The United Nations is seeking support for the compact from non-governmental organizations and corporations. Surprisingly, it has found plenty of corporate support for its moral vision of the world. For the past several decades, American administrations, both Democratic and Republican, have had substantial differences with the United Nations and its member organizations over a...

WASHINGTON, March 26, 2006 – A national company's program offering free amusement park tickets to the nation's troops and their families has become so popular it will be extended another year. America Supports You corporate member Anheuser-Busch is offering free admission to its amusement parks for troops and their families. Pictured here, soldiers ride "SheiKra," a roller coaster at Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, Fla., during summer 2005. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Anheuser-Busch began the program, called "Here's to the Heroes," in February 2005. The company had planned to end it early this year, said...

There are many things to like about work — the collegiality, the productivity, the paycheck — but few people would include meetings in the list. Monotonous, time-consuming, often pointless, meetings can be to workdays what speed bumps are to main thoroughfares: annoying, well-intentioned impediments to progress. Now researchers have examined how an endless series of meetings can affect employees' sense of well-being and job satisfaction. In a report published recently in the Journal of Applied Psychology, researchers found that more people acknowledge meetings as a positive part of their days at work than they would ever publicly admit. The results...

The chief financial officer of Google Inc... Tuesday said overall growth is slowing ... The company will now have to "find other ways" to boost revenue... The stock was down 11 percent, or more than $42...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2006 – If you or another servicemember or military family you know needs help, the support you're seeking might be just a few clicks away on the "America Supports You" Web site. The green button on the www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil site takes military members to a long list resources and America Supports You partners, all standing by and ready to help, Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, told the American Forces Press Service. They include traditional military and government programs, but also corporate, grassroots and individual efforts that help meet needs the Defense Department...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2006 – Military members and their families can now file their taxes for free, thanks to a partnership between a group that helps military people deal with financial issues and a civilian financial services company. "Military OneSource" has partnered up with Intuit, a financial services company, to provide the TurboTax basic product for federal and state returns at no cost. Military members can download this program and also benefit from tax consultations and have access to appropriate resources. The Military OneSource Web site will provide annual upgrades to the TurboTax software at no cost. "This tax consultant...

The word "reinvent" is a dumb term, having an overtone of redundancy. After all, when you have invented something, it exists. You can revise it or change it, but you can't "reinvent" it after you have already invented it. I never heard the term when I first entered the workforce. But somewhere in the 1970s or so, corporate executives-began using the word, and using it a lot. Then as now, the nation had its usual economic ups and downs, but suddenly after one downturn, our nation was heavily laden with companies that had reinvented themselves. What happened is that after...

Ben and Jerry's founder pays for PR firm for mother of fallen son by Mark Hand PR Week Worldwire 19 Aug 2005 Bush: vigil outside President's ranch CRAWFORD, TX - The PR firm working for Cindy Sheehan as she protests outside President Bush's ranch in Texas campaigning over the death of her son killed in Iraq has been paid for by Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. The 24-hour media attention being lavished upon Sheehan owes as much to the professionals supporting her as it does to the emotional impact of her story. Fenton Communications is assisting...

A California man has been charged with taking illegal kickbacks to act as a plaintiff in dozens of corporate class-action lawsuits filed by Milberg Weiss, a move that brings a three-year federal probe to the door of one of the leading U.S. securities law firms. The indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on Thursday comes as prosecutors try to make a case that Milberg Weiss improperly paid plaintiffs to file lawsuits against publicly traded companies. A spokeswoman for the law firm said on Friday that Milberg Weiss had been subpoenaed in connection with the investigation...

Odds are you've run across one of these characters in your career. They're glib, charming, manipulative, deceitful, ruthless -- and very, very destructive. And there may be lots of them in America's corner offices. ...The standard clinical test for psychopathy, Robert Hare's PCL-R, evaluates 20 personality traits overall, but a subset of eight traits defines what he calls the "corporate psychopath" -- the nonviolent person prone to the "selfish, callous, and remorseless use of others." Does your boss fit the profile?

<p>Like a growing number of employees, Peter Whitney decided to launch a blog on the Internet to chronicle his life, his friends and his job at a division of Wells Fargo.</p> <p>Then he began taking jabs at a few people he worked with.</p>

Corporate shareholders meetings are often quiet, tame events. But the battle for control of the biggest player in home video rental has turned into a real blockbuster. And the outcome could shape how you watch the latest Hollywood movies at home -- and how much it costs you.

Google is interviewing candidates for a corporate communications chief, and word is one top recruit is Dan Senor, former defense department staffer who advised the U.S. presidential envoy in Iraq. The Google vacancy came earlier this year when longtime marketing chief Cindy McCaffrey left the company after six years in the post. Senor, who could not be reached for comment, is currently a Fox news analyst on Iraq, and according to former colleagues, he's shopping for a new gig. "He's a fairly hot commodity," said a former colleague who asked to remain anonymous but who added that most of the...

The litany of alleged offenses follows a script: fragile ecosystems, environmental devastation, irresponsible investment, huge profits, human rights violations, indigenous people imperiled. So do the demands: transparency, accountability, ethics, social responsibility. The tactics are equally familiar. Launch website, issue denunciations. Enlist grade school teachers whose students can write letters to the CEO. Harass the CEO at home. Stage protests at corporate offices. Claim to be stakeholders who must be given a role in all decisions, so that company policies henceforth reflect activist demands. Confrontational? Disingenuous? Of course. Effective? Absolutely. The World Bank caved in several years ago, followed by Citigroup,...

Corporate tax collections in Montana are up 50 percent in the most recent year, but evidently that’s not enough for State Senator Jim Elliott. He wants more revenue and he wants to find it by examining the tax return of every company filing in Montana.1 Senator Elliott has filed a lawsuit to force the Montana Department of Revenue to disclose corporate tax returns for those corporations with over $1 million in Montana sales. Apparently he does not trust the Montana Department of Revenue to do its job, because he wants to use this information to determine whether corporations are evading...