Last November, Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy issued a major study of the
federal income taxes
paid, or not paid, by 280 big, profitable Fortune 500 corporations.
That report found, among other things, that 30 of the companies paid no
net federal income tax from 2008 through 2010. New information for 2011
shows that almost all these 30 companies have maintained their tax
dodging ways.
In fact, all but four of the 30 companies remained in the no-federal-income-tax category over the 2008-11 period.
Three years since a Wells Fargo
Bank loan officer
shared the details
of how she and her colleagues targeted and directed prospective African
American homebuyers into taking out expensive high-interest subprime
mortgages to The New York Times, racial discrimination in the housing
market is still an issue.
According to a new investigative
report by the
National Fair Housing Alliance
(NFHA), a coalition of fair housing non-profit organizations, six major
banks are engaging in discriminatory practices in the maintenance and
marketing of foreclosed Real Estate Owned (REO) properties in
predominantly Latino and African American neighborhoods.
CEO and President of the NFHA, Shanna L. Smith, said in a
press release that the report “offers evidence that banks responsible for peddling unsustainable
loans
to communities of color and triggering our current foreclosure crisis
are continuing to damage those communities by failing to properly
maintain and market the properties they own.”
The special prosecutor investigating the shooting death of unarmed
Florida teenager Trayvon Martin has ruled out using a grand jury in the
case, meaning her office alone will decide whether to charge shooter
George Zimmerman with a crime. The decision means Zimmerman will not be
charged with first-degree murder — a serious charge that would indicate
the crime was premeditated and would require the convening of a grand
jury in Florida. The special prosecutor, Angela Corey, said her decision
"should not be considered a factor in the final determination of the
case."
George Zimmerman, the alleged killer of Trayvon Martin, has launched
his own website in an attempt to raise money for what he described as
his "living expenses and legal defense." The website contains photos of
pro-Zimmerman slogans, including a sign at a rally by Koran-burning
pastor Terry Jones and a photo of a vandalized black cultural center at
Ohio State University where someone spray-painted the words "Long Live
Zimmerman." Every page on Zimmerman’s website includes this quote from
Edmund Burke: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for
good men to do nothing."
In media news, a Fox affiliate in Florida is facing criticism after
it referred to a neo-Nazi group as a "civil rights group" in a report
about Trayvon Martin’s killing. Here is part of the Fox report that
includes an interview with Jeff Schoep of the National Socialist
Movement.
Anchor Jennifer Bisram: "There’s another civil rights group in town: the National Socialist Movement."
Jeff Schoep: "A lot of people in the community, in
the white community down there, had been contacting us out of concern
for their safety just because of racial tensions."
Anchor Jennifer Bisram: "Racial tensions after
17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman.
Zimmerman is claiming self-defense and has been in hiding now for
weeks."
Jeff Schoep: "We’re a white civil rights organization, and we go into areas where we’re needed and where white citizens need our help."
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Socialist
Movement has its roots in the original American Nazi Party. It is now
one of the largest neo-Nazi organizations in the country. The group
openly idolizes Adolf Hitler and calls for the deportation of every
non-white person in the country.
Two white men accused of shooting five black people in Tulsa,
Oklahoma, killing three of them, have reportedly confessed to
authorities. Tulsa police say 19-year-old Jake England has admitted to
police that he shot three of the victims, and 33-year-old Alvin Watts
has said that he shot two others. Police said the suspects drove through
the streets of north Tulsa, a predominantly black neighborhood, and
randomly shot pedestrians. Both men were ordered held on bail of more
than $9 million during their first court appearance on Monday.
The family of a 22-year-old woman who was fatally shot last month by
an off-duty police officer in Chicago has filed a wrongful death
lawsuit. A lawyer for the family of Rekia Boyd said Detective Dante
Servin shot Boyd and a man she was with after getting into an argument
with the man, 39-year-old Antonio Cross. The lawyer said neither victim
was armed. Police originally claimed Cross had pulled a gun, but no gun
was found at the scene. Boyd was shot in the back of the head and died a
day later.
There is a new development in the case of the police killing of
68-year-old Kenneth Chamberlain, the former Marine who was killed in his
own home in White Plains, New York, after a medical alert. According to
an autopsy report obtained by Juan Gonzalez of the New York Daily News,
Chamberlain died from a single bullet that entered his right arm and
ripped through both lungs. A lawyer for Chamberlain’s family said the
autopsy contradicts the police account of his death. Police say
Chamberlain was holding a butcher knife when police officer fired two
shots to stop him. But an attorney for Chamberlain’s family said the
trajectory of the fatal bullet suggests Chamberlain was neither facing
the police nor holding up a weapon.
Tire makers say South Carolina’s high-tech workforce makes the state
an easy choice for tomorrow’s factories, where highly automated plants
require skilled operators.
Three tire manufacturers have laid plans over the next year to build
new plants in the state. Michelin’s announcement Tuesday, of a new $750
million plant came after Continental Tire began construction of the new
plant last month. And Bridgestone announced in September plans for a new
1.5 million square-foot plant in Aiken County, S.C., which will bring
850 jobs to the area.
The tire makers say they have chosen to expand in the state because
of an education system that grooms students to work on an increasingly
high-tech factory floor. The latest announcement from Michelin comes
as manufacturing jobs are slowly returning to the U.S. after losing more
than a million positions during the recession. The sector expanded by
37,000 jobs in March, in its 32nd straight month of growth, according to
the government.
BMW 3 Series Sedan
courtesy BMW
When BMW rolls out an all-new 3 Series, it's big news, since these
have been the benchmark of German sedans for the last 30 years or more.
It also sets off a tectonic shift in the entry-level luxury market, with
the Mercedes-Benz C Class, Audi A, not to mention the
Cadillac CTS, Infiniti G and the Lexus GS suddenly called upon to step up their game to follow along.
This automotive war of attrition becomes a win for the consumer, as
the arms race among the automakers gives the consumer a lot more choice.
Really, who can argue with better, faster and safer cars every few
years?
