Doug Rushkoff: Silicon Valley — Amazon, Google, and Uber Specifically — Is Broken

Commerce, Corruption, IO Impotency
Douglas Rushkoff
Douglas Rushkoff

Silicon Valley is broken and heading for social unrest, argues media theorist

Rushkoff argues that several major tech companies operate with intentionally unsustainable business models. Amazon and Uber, he says, work by destroying marketplaces and then using their leverage to move into another area. So while Amazon doesn’t make much money off books, the original industry it disrupted, that’s not a concern for them. They make the bulk of their revenue from other products.

Berto Jongman: Pirate Science — Are Elsevier & Thomson Reuters Joining Bloomberg in the Tarpit?

Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, IO Impotency
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

Russian Researcher Illegally Shares Millions of Science Papers Free Online

Welcome to the Pirate Bay of science

A researcher in Russia has made more than 48 million journal articles – almost every single peer-reviewed paper every published – freely available online. And she's now refusing to shut the site down, despite a court injunction and a lawsuit from Elsevier, one of the world's biggest publishers. For those of you who aren't already using it, the site in question is Sci-Hub, and it's sort of like a Pirate Bay of the science world.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Pirate Science — Are Elsevier & Thomson Reuters Joining Bloomberg in the Tarpit?”

Paul Craig Roberts: Summary of USG Financial Fraud from Clinton to Obama

03 Economy, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government
Paul Craig Roberts
Paul Craig Roberts

The US Economy Has Not Recovered and Will Not Recover

CounterPunch, 19 February 2016

The US economy died when middle class jobs were offshored and when the financial system was deregulated.   . . .   The Federal Reserve’s zero interest rate policy was designed to support the balance sheets of the mega-banks and denied Americans interest income on their savings.  This policy decreased the incomes of retirees and forced the elderly to reduce their consumption and/or draw down their savings more rapidly, leaving no safety net for heirs.  Read more.

CounterPunch: TPP Unwrapped – Crime Against Humanity

Commerce, Corruption, Government

counterpunch squareGlobal Investor Right Protection in the Guise of Free Trade

Contrary to the neoliberal rhetoric of “free trade” and “improved standards” in which it is wrapped, the U.S.-sponsored measure isn’t really about trade. It certainly isn’t about meeting enhanced social and environmental requirements. Its real purpose is to strengthen corporations’ ability to defend and extend their intellectual property rights (drug patents, movie rights, and the like) and to guarantee that they will be compensated by governments for any profits they might lose from having to meet decent public labor and environmental (and other) specifications – something certain to discourage the enactment and enforce of such standards. Learn more.

Antechinus: Flawed Models, Government-Industry Corruption on Regulation of Toxic Chemicals

Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Earth Intelligence, Government, Ineptitude
Antechinus
Antechinus

Flawed Models and Industry Influence Affects Regulation of Toxic Chemicals

The EPA regularly contracts with for-profit consultancies to perform risk assessments used in evaluations of toxic chemicals. This gives these private organizations considerable sway in the decision-making process, often with little transparency about ties to chemical manufacturers. Health effects researchers point to flawed computer simulations and the revolving door between the EPA and consulting firms as the reason industry-supported research often concludes that exposure risks are of no concern.
 
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