Tag Archives: Corruption

EPA Falsifies Data on Coal, Bypasses Its Own Scientists Who Loudly Cry Foul

You may recall that when Barack Obama was running for president in 2008, he said he would “bankrupt” the coal-fired energy industry. That would mean everyone’s energy prices would “necessarily skyrocket,” and he thought that was a good thing.

This editorial in the Wall Street Journal the other day (subscription required) shows that Obama’s politicized Environmental Protection Agency is doing all it can to make his promise happen. And to do so, Obama’s EPA is engaging in a War On Science.

According to the WSJ, the EPA “cut out the [agency’s] independent science advisers who exposed the junk science behind the EPA ban on newcoal power.”

blog.heartland.org/2013/12/epa-falsifies-data-bypasses-its-own-scientists-who-loudly-cry-foul/

EU’s billion-euro influence to Egypt

The EU allows Europeans politicians to behave more like their US counterparts. From today’s Open Europe news summary:

The European Court of Auditors has concluded that the €1bn of EU aid to Egypt over the last seven years under the European Neighbourhood Policy has been “well-intentioned, but ineffective” in terms of improving human rights and democracy.
ECA press release Le Figaro FT

Bankster shortsale of 400 tons of (paper) gold drives down price

open quoteThe price of bullion is not set in the physical market where individuals take delivery of bullion purchases. It is set in the paper futures market where short selling can drive down the price even if the demand for physical possession is rising. The paper gold market is also the market in which people speculate and leverage their positions, place stop-loss orders, and are subject to margin calls.

When the enormous naked shorts hit the COMEX, stop-loss orders were triggered adding to the sales, and margin calls forced more sales.close quote (Read more)

Study Finds Most Haiti Aid Went to US Groups

open quote A new report on American aid to Haiti in the wake of that country’s devastating earthquake finds most of the money went to U.S.-based operations.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research analyzed the $1.15 billion pledged after the January 2010 quake. The group says a lack of transparency makes it hard to track all the money. It found the “vast majority” of the money it could follow went to U.S. companies and organizations, more than half in the Washington area alone.

Just 1 percent went to Haitian companies.close quote (Read more)

Alameda County rewards boss: $400k…for life

California will be the first state to declare bankruptcy.

open quoteAlameda County supervisors have really taken to heart the adage that government should run like a business — rewarding County Administrator Susan Muranishi with the Wall Street-like wage of $423,664 a year.

For the rest of her life.

According to county pay records, in addition to her $301,000 base salary, Muranishi receives:

– $24,000, plus change, in “equity pay’’ to guarantee that she makes at least 10 percent more than anyone else in the county.

– About $54,000 a year in “longevity” pay for having stayed with the county for more than 30 years.

– An annual performance bonus of $24,000.

– And another $9,000 a year for serving on the county’s three-member Surplus Property Authority, an ad hoc committee of the Board of Supervisors that oversees the sale of excess land.

Like other county executives, Muranishi also gets an $8,292-a-year car allowance.

Muranishi has been with the county for 38 years, and she’s 63. When retirement day comes, she’ll be getting a lot more than a gold watch.

That’s because, according to the county auditor’s office, Muranishi’s annual pension will be equal to the dollar total of her entire yearly package — $413,000. She also has a separate executive private pension plan, for which the county chips in $46,500 a year.close quote