Top 1% Got 93% of Income Growth as Rich-Poor Gap Widened Bloomberg ...the U.S. has gone through two recoveries. The 1.2 million households whose incomes put them in the top 1 percent of the U.S. saw their earnings increase 5.5 percent last year, according to estimates released last month by the U.S. Census Bureau. Earnings fell 1.7 percent for the 96 million households in the bottom 80 percent -- those that made less than $101,583...
CEO Council Demands Cuts To Poor, Elderly While Reaping Billions In Government Contracts, Tax Breaks Huffington Post ...The corporate CEOs who have made a high-profile foray into deficit negotiations have themselves been substantially responsible for the size of the deficit they now want closed. The companies represented by executives working with the Campaign To Fix The Debt have received trillions in federal war contracts, subsidies and bailouts, as well as specialized tax breaks and loopholes that virtually eliminate the companies' tax bills...
Factory Fire Kills More Than 100 People in Bangladesh New York Times News Service ...an “ethical sourcing” official for Walmart flagged “violations and/or conditions which were deemed to be high risk” at the factory in May 2011, though it did not specify the nature of the infractions. The notice said that the factory had been given an “orange” grade and that any factories given three such assessments in two years from their last audit would not receive any orders from Walmart for one year...
Offshore secrets revealed: the shadowy side of a booming industry Guardian ...a worldwide joint investigation by the Guardian, the BBC's Panorama and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has uncovered a booming offshore industry that leaves the way open for both tax avoidance and the concealment of assets. More than 21,500 companies have been identified using this group of 28 so-called nominee directors...
NLRB Judge Rips 24-Hour Fitness Class Action Ban Trial Insider ... The fitness centers’ “arbitration policy unlawfully requires its employees to surrender core Section 7 [organizing] rights by imposing significant restraints on concerted action regardless of whether the employee opts to be covered by it or not...”
Catalans start voting in election that could lead to independence Guardian ...Catalonia has its own distinct language and culture, and many Catalans think they would be better off without Spain, because some estimates show they pay more in tax than they get back from Madrid...
