Commerce – Page 178 – Public Intelligence Blog

This is why the U.S. has second rate internet. Third rate compared to countries like Korea. This is a classic monopolist move to block competition and keep prices high and service poor. Only citizen action is going to stop this. You need to get involved. It's just that simple, we all need to get involved. Only 57,1% of Americans voted in the last Presidential and that was one of the largest percentages in ! years. That means in our best years over 42% of those eligible don't vote.

How Big Telecom Smothers City-run Broadband
ALLAN HOLMES – The Center for Public Integrity

Janice Bowling, a 67-year-old grandmother and Republican state senator from rural Tennessee, thought it only made sense that the city of Tullahoma be able to offer its local high-speed Internet service to areas beyond the city limits.

. . . . . . .

She viewed the network, which offers speeds about 80 times faster than AT&T and 10 times faster than Charter in Tullahoma according to advertised services, as a utility, like electricity, that all Tennesseans need.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Municipalities versus Telecomms on Internet Speed”

2014/09/052014/09/05

SchwartzReport: BP Gulf Spill “Gross Negligence” – $18 Billion Fine? Does Corporate Accountability Begin Now?

03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, 05 Energy, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 12 Water, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Law Enforcement

Here is some excellent news about the Gulf oil spill. A major court decision has seriously placed the blame and responsibility where it belongs. And the court also made it clear what it thinks about BP, Transocean, and Halliburton ethics and behavior.

‘Worst Case' BP Ruling on Gulf Spill Means Billions More in Penalties
MARGARET CRONIN FISK, LAUREL BRUBAKER CALKINS and JEF FEELEY – Bloomberg

BP Plc acted with gross negligence in setting off the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, a federal judge ruled, handing down a long-awaited decision that may force the energy company to pay billions of dollars more for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: BP Gulf Spill “Gross Negligence” – $18 Billion Fine? Does Corporate Accountability Begin Now?”

2014/09/022014/09/02

SchwartzReport: US Telecomms Strike Three — Lazy, Ignorant, Irrelevant

Commerce, Corruption, Ineptitude, IO Impotency

We are in our own way a developing world. Here you see the naked greed of aging infrastructure corporations attempting to block new technology owned by the public.

US Telecoms Giants Call on FCC to Block Cities' Expansion of High-Speed Internet
DOMINIC RUSHE – Reader Supported News

The US telecoms industry called on the Federal Communications Commission on Friday to block two cities’ plans to expand high-speed internet services to their residents.

USTelecom, which represents telecoms giants Verizon, AT&T and others, wants the FCC to block expansion of two popular municipally owned high-speed internet networks, one in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the other in Wilson, North Carolina.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: US Telecomms Strike Three — Lazy, Ignorant, Irrelevant”

2014/08/302014/08/30

SchwartzReport: Feds Lie, Marijuana Good… Could Marijuana Plus 9/11 Plus Unemployment Plus Wanton Wars Lead to Electoral Reform?

07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government, Ineptitude, Law Enforcement

I think this essay is stating the truth. I have read stuff coming out from the government on the subject of marijuana so flagrantly wrong that it has to be deliberate. Nobody speaking truthfully about the present state of research could possible make those statements.

The Feds Are Incapable of Telling Truth About Pot
PAUL ARMENTANO – AlterNet (U.S.)

In her latest blog post [3], US National Institute on Drug Abuse director Nora Volkow claims that ‘science should guide marijuana policy.” But if the nation’s top anti-drug doc truly believes that facts, not ideological rhetoric, ought to shape America’s drug policies, why does she feel the need to keep distorting the truth about pot?

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Feds Lie, Marijuana Good… Could Marijuana Plus 9/11 Plus Unemployment Plus Wanton Wars Lead to Electoral Reform?”

2014/08/292014/08/29

Jean Lievens: Sharing Economy Sucking Chest Wounds…

03 Economy, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence

The Unbearable Loneliness Of The Sharing Economy

by Brian S Hall

August 25th, 2014

The sharing economy promises the potential for riches, personal empowerment, new modes of work, and fear, the kind of fear that swells from a livelihood dependent upon algorithms, star ratings, and the feedback of strangers.

When we imagined the future, certainly starting from the point when the smartphone was born, few of us expected a world where in-kind tips and real time number crunching might determine where we live, how well we ate, the size of our home, the composition of our dearest friends.

Of course, in a world where billions are virtually connected, all fighting over the same job, the same task, the same dollars to be made by sharing our rooms, our cars, our talents, can we have any real friends? Or does everyone morph into some 21st century amalgamation of customer-competitor?

The billions of dollars fueling Uber, Airbnb and the sharing economy appears to generate as much fear as it does potential, and rightly or no, the great minds and deep pockets of Silicon Valley are failing to address these fears.

Continue reading “Jean Lievens: Sharing Economy Sucking Chest Wounds…”

2014/08/292014/08/29

SchwartzReport: Market Basket — Board Fires Progressive CEO, Boomers Go on Strike to Reinstate — Mutuality Economics from the Bottom-Up

03 Economy, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Ethics

This is a lovely story of how capitalism could be run. It illustrates very clearly the difference between the vampire capitalism that dominates our economy, and the compassionate capitalism we could have.

Market Basket: The Return of Boomer Activism
LAUREN STILLER RIKLEEN – Forbes

Workers at the Market Basket supermarket chain just successfully undertook a high-risk job action with potentially historic repercussions. But this was more than just a fight for leadership control. It was also a story about boomers standing up for workplace values.

. . . . . . .

Arthur T. ran Market Basket with a straightforward and progressive management philosophy: treat its 25,000 employees (and customers) with respect and attention; promote from within; provide great pay and retirement benefits and continually invest in your staff. As a result, he developed an extraordinarily devoted workforce of people who grew up at the company and remained for decades and took great pride in making the stores so successful.

Over time, though, Arthur T.’s pension programs and above-market salaries were criticized by the board, who felt such generosity depressed shareholder dividends. On June 23, the board ultimately voted to remove Arthur T. as president.

The Employees Push to Bring Back Their Boss

That’s when the chain’s employees – many of them boomers – rose up in revolt. Some went on strike; others played key roles in protests including rallies attended by thousands.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Market Basket — Board Fires Progressive CEO, Boomers Go on Strike to Reinstate — Mutuality Economics from the Bottom-Up”

2014/08/282014/08/28

Owl: CDC Cover-Up, Moral Degeneracy of Media & Government

07 Health, Commerce, Corruption, Government

Latest News on CDC Vaccine-Autism Coverup

This is just the beginning. Much more will be emerging on this story in coming weeks and months. Because while the focus will be initially on how this fraud has so harmfully affected Afro-American children, it will inevitably open up questions on how vaccines affect all children and adults, questions which the vaccine industry, their government shills and media cheerleaders do not want to be raised because they know the answers will mean the end of the vaccine industry, not to mention ruin the credibility of the government and media shills. Karma is such a bitch to bastards.

3 major stories below the fold.

Continue reading “Owl: CDC Cover-Up, Moral Degeneracy of Media & Government”