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Apple Avoided Billions in Taxes -
Think Different
Using web of offshore entities.
It really was too good to be true. A Senate investigation unveiled Monday showed that between 2009 and 2012, Apple sheltered over $74 billion in profits from U.S. tax collectors by creating subsidiaries in Ireland. The investigation revealed that on $30 billion of that amount, Apple paid no taxes, and on $22 billion it paid a rate of 0.05 percent (compared to U.S. rate of 35 percent). Apple CEO Tim Cook as well as other executives will testify Tuesday morning before the Senate, and argue that Apple is not breaking any tax laws, and that the money saved goes to research and development.
SAC May Close Fund - Sacre Bleu!
As investigations mount.
Billionaire Steve Cohen may be throwing in the towel. After a five year investigation into his firm SAC Capital Advisors over insider-trading charges, Cohen has reportedly considered proposing a deal with prosecutors to shut down his hedge-fund to outside investors and admit wrongdoing, but would not be prosecuted unless SAC broke the law again. The firm would then focus solely on managing Cohen’s personal fortune. Unknown is whether federal prosecutors would be satisfied without a conviction of Cohen himself.
Tumblr Founder Was Hollywood Squares Dropout
Homeschooled so he could focus on computers.
Before he created Tumblr—a micro-blogging platform acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 billion—David Karp was a high-school dropout. Bored with his classes at Bronx High School of Science, the bright teenager decided to opt for homeschooling. His mom, Barbara Ackerman, says it was the best decision he ever made. “It became very clear that David needed the space to live his passion. Which was computers,” Ackerman says. Now 26, with neither a high-school diploma or a college degree, Karp is a newly made billionaire. Currently living with his girlfriend in a $1.6 million loft in Brooklyn, the tall, slight brunet still entertains the thought of going to college one day. “At least I should be able to afford it,” he quips.
Vets + Veggies = Jobs Now
With the Marines’ former top trainer on board, the ex-newsman’s venture into sustainable farming and changing prospects for returning U.S. military launches today.
Less than two years ago, Dylan Ratigan was ubiquitous. The journalist, author, and entrepreneur’s MSNBC show was the channel’s top-rated program outside prime time, and his book Greedy Bastards was a bestseller. But the disillusioned newsman walked away last June, when his contract was up.These days, he’s working full time with a group of combat veterans on a hydroponic farm near San Diego. Inspired by these environmentally conscious Marines, he’s partnered with Maj.
The Slumburbia Myth
Suburbs have more poor people mainly because they have more people, write Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox.
In the wake of the post-2008 housing bust, suburbia has become associated with many of the same ills long associated with cities, as our urban-based press corps and cultural elite cheerfully sneer at each new sign of decline, most recently a study released Monday by the Brookings Institution—which has become something of a Vatican for anti-suburban theology—trumpeting the news that there are now 1 million more poor people in America’s suburbs than in its cities.
GrubHub, Seamless Merge
No name selected yet.
It certainly is the day for mergers. Two of the U.S.’s largest online food-delivery services, GrubHub and Seamless, announced on Monday that they will combine into one company. GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney will become CEO of the new joint operation, and Seamless CEO Jonathan Zabusky will be president. GrubHub, based in Chicago, has about 350 employees, while New York–based Seamless totals about 300. And the two companies are certainly moneymakers: they had a combined revenue of about $100 million in 2012. The merger will help fight off competition from newer startups, as well as cover the growing number of restaurants that want to use their services. There is no name yet for the joint venture.
‘Star Wars’ Gets Animated Series
Premiering on Disney Channel in fall 2014.
The next Star Wars installment doesn’t hit theaters until 2015, but the Jedis will return in an animated TV series premiering in fall 2014. Disney has greenlighted Star Wars Rebels, with a one-hour pilot already in production at Lucasfilm that will premiere on the Disney Channel before debuting as a full series on Disney XD. The new series will reportedly explore the 19 years between Episode II and Episode IV, “a time where the Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy and hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights as a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking shape,” in the words of the studio. But don’t expect any other plotlines in advance. “Details about the show are a closely guarded secret at this point,” Disney and Lucasfilm said in a statement.
The Most Indebted Class of College Graduates... Ever
The Wall Street Journal reports that the average college graduate from the class of 2013 will enjoy a lovely $30,000 in student debt.Total outstanding student-loan debt stood at $986 billion at the end of the first quarter of this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That’s up 2.1% from the previous quarter and nearly 50% from the same quarter in 2009.The average debt load for each borrower receiving a bachelor’s degree this year is about $30,000, according to an analysis of government data by Mark Kantrowitz, publisher at student-marketing company Edvisors.
Why Are American Taxpayers Subsidizing Sugar?
Three senators are heroically attempting to reduce federal government price supports for America's sugar industry. Roll Call's Niels Lesniewski writes:[Sen. Mark] Kirk is one of three senators leading a push to reduce price-support levels for sugar. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Patrick J. Toomey, R-Pa., and Kirk will reintroduce their sugar program overhaul as an amendment to this year’s farm bill after it reaches the Senate floor Monday afternoon.
The Chief Problem With 'Lean In'
Anne Applebaum reviews Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In and assesses it as a pile of poorly considered, self-contradictory huckster cliches.[I]t’s absolutely true, only twenty-one Fortune 500 CEOs are females. But is this really a major social problem? Is this an issue that “transcends all of us”? Does the solution require “reigniting the revolution,” and does it mean men and women alike must rethink their lives and priorities? To put it differently, would the world be very different for women—or for men—if two hundred and fifty Fortune 500 CEOs were female?To the last question, the answer—purely on the evidence of Sandberg’s book—is no.
Stories We Like
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International Business Times
Biting The Apple: Senators To Grill Tech Giant On Its Tax Avoidance
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Rolling Stone
It's Hip to be Huey Lewis
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Huffington Post Tech
The Problem That May Plague Driverless Cars
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Ask Men
10 Aging Myths You Probably Believed Were True
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International Business Times
How To Get The Most Out Of The Sharing Economy
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Huffington Post Politics
Paul Ryan Backtracks on Harsh Obama Charge
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International Business Times
Drones: Which Countries Have Them For Surveillance And Military Operations? (
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Mental Floss
5 Other Sites Yahoo Bought
Colbert Rips 'Spreadsheet Error' in Austerity Supporting Harvard Study
After a University of Massachusetts student found significant errors in a study beloved by budget cutters world over by Harvard economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart, Stephen Colbert does what he does best -- leaves them in the dust.
Writers We Like
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James D. Hamilton and Menzie Chinn
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Mark Thoma – Economist’s View
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Barry Ritholtz – The Big Picture
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Tyler Cowen/Alex Tabarrok – Marginal Revolution
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Greg Mankiw
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Peter Boone, Simon Johnson, and James Kwak
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Brad De Long
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Nouriel Roubini
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Calculated Risk
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Dealbreaker
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Eddy Elfenbein — Crossing Wall Street
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Zero Hedge
Business
Daniel Gross
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Big Fat Green Government
Tree huggers and deficit hawks rejoice: The federal government is buying up to 10,000... More
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Our Swiftly Melting Deficit
Just when everyone wrote us off as the next Greece, we started shrinking our deficit,... More
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American Apparel’s Dov Charney on the Bangladesh Tragedy
Paying a living wage comes at a cost, but it can help the bottom line, says Charney, who... More
Asymmetrical Information
Megan McArdle
Those Generic Drugs May Not Have Been What You Thought They Were
Years of abuses at Ranbaxy raise worries about the FDA's oversight of the generics market.
Latest from The Daily Beast
At U.S. Behest, Europe Delays Labeling Settlement Products
Ali Gharib on American pressuring Europe to lay off Israel for its settlement project.