Category: Corporate Power

Impassioned BBC Interview on Society with Russell Brand

Please watch the Russell Brand interview on the BBC about culture and politics. via Gawker: “I don’t get my authority from this preexisting paradigm which is quite narrow and only serves a few people,” Russell responded. “I look elsewhere for alternatives...

/ October 24, 2013

Business Groups See Loss of Sway Over House G.O.P.

Here’s the New York Times today on business leaders who bought the government but aren’t seeing it do its bidding: “There clearly are people in the Republican Party at the moment for whom the business community and the interests of...

/ October 10, 2013

GMail Alternatives in the PRISM Age: How to Host Your Own Email Server in the Cloud

Update: You may be interested in Filtered, my new open source IMAP-based mail filtering application which includes the capability to encrypt selected messages, removing them from your IMAP or Gmail account. I’ve posted a new tutorial called, How to Install Your...

/ June 19, 2013

Seattle Dance Clubs Fundraise to Pay Microsoft’s Tax Bill

In April 2010, Washington State’s Legislature changed the definition of its software royalty tax and effectively granted amnesty to Microsoft, helping the company lock up $1.51 billion in savings from its thirteen-year Nevada tax dodge – and more than $100 million...

/ April 12, 2013

Hunter’s Promised Royalty Tax Revenue Never Materialized

But the point of adding only royalty tax apportionment (out of scores of other B&O classifications) to the 2010 services apportionment bill was never meant to generate additional revenue, it was meant to eliminate the issue of Microsoft’s worldwide licensing...

/ April 12, 2013

The Third Anniversary of Washington State’s Big Tax Gift to Microsoft

Wednesday will be the third anniversary of the biggest corporate tax break in Washington State history. On April 10, 2010, the Legislature changed the definition of the state’s royalty tax and effectively granted amnesty to Microsoft, helping the company lock...

/ April 9, 2013

Is it time for the U.S. Treasury to provide digital cash?

Update: I originally posted this piece about the weight of credit card fees on our economy to TalesofChange.org in 2010 and was reminded of it today by Kim Dotcom’s tweet above. See also the Guardian’s Bitcoin: more than just the currency of digital vice....

/ March 4, 2013