Category Archives: fools ‘n frauds

Treasury Receives $2 Billion TARP Repayment from American International Group. U.S. Taxpayers Still out at Least $51 Billion

During the financial crisis and Great Recession caused by Wall Street financiers, the U.S. Government’s support for AIG totaled approximately $180 billion. After today’s repayment, the taxpayers remaining outstanding investment in AIG through Treasury is $51 billion. Not one of the involved executives has been prosecuted for what were various forms of financial fraud that lead up to the near collapse of the global financial system and the ongoing Great Recession. Continue reading

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Editorial: Happy Fourth of July! More Independence Needed

We should celebrate our past today, and honor the men and women of vision – and property – who created this country starting with the War of Independence, continuing through the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution that is still in place, as fine a document of governance of the people, by the people and for the people that ever existed. Remember well the resounding words of its preamble – WE THE PEOPLE. And we need to toss out of office the people who don’t understand WE, who are in it just for ME. Continue reading

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Volvo Winces at Dour Depiction of British Pol in Project Volvo

The Daily Telegraph broke a story about the 2006 plot – dubbed Project Volvo – designed to ultimately replace Prime Minister Tony Blair with Gordon Brown. In it Brown was said to be viewed by voters as “”humourless, dour, moody, aggressive, unapproachable.” Brown was characterized as a “Volvo, British Rover.” Continue reading

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Tavares Replaces Pélata as COO of Renault as Fallout from Spy Case that Embarrassed French Government Continues

Renault announced yesterday in Paris that Carlos Tavares is its new chief operating officer, replacing Patrick Pélata. It was the latest development in an industrial espionage case that embarrassed the French government and saw the firings of Remy Pagnie, Director of Group Security, as well as his two co-workers, Dominique Gevrey and Marc Tixador. Continue reading

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Toyota Recall Study Finds Adversarial Relationship with NHTSA

The Quality Report, since it was paid for by Toyota, has already come under attack for bias from organizations linked to product liability lawyers. Nonetheless, the Report describes Toyota’s attitude toward federal safety regulators as “adversarial.” Unintended acceleration or stuck gas pedal problems are implicated in thousands of incidents and more than 90 alleged deaths. Continue reading

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Pork Update – USDA and DOE Award $47 Million in Taxpayer Dollars for Biomass Research to Special Interests

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu have announced that $47 million in taxpayer dollars will be diverted to fund eight research and development projects to support the production of biofuels, bioenergy and biobased products from … Continue reading

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Heads Roll at Renault over Industrial Espionage Case that Embarrassed French Government. Pélata, Ghosn Survive

As a result what it deemed of failures and dysfunctions within the company, the Board of Directors of Renault today erected the corporate equivalent of a guillotine outside of Paris that saw the firings of Remy Pagnie, Director of Group … Continue reading

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House Bill Says Greenhouse Gases not Air Pollutants. Republican Attack on EPA Despite Supreme Court Ruling

Since nothing in the Act precludes states from pursuing their own GHG policies, this is a severe setback for automakers that need one coordinated national standard for fuel economy and CO2 emissions. Continue reading

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Ghosn, Pélata, others Lose Bonus over Renault Spy Case

Renault’s board of directors has approved a plan that would see CEO and President Carlos Ghosn and Chief Operating Officer Patrick Pélata, as well as other involved senior managers lose their 2010 bonuses and 2011 stock options because of the wrongful termination in January of three employees on false charges of industrial spying.
This ends speculation that Ghosn’s and Pélata’s positions were threatened by the corporate bungling, which became a minor political controversy in France. Pélata had tendered his resignation, but Ghosn refused to accept it.
Continue reading

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Renault Spy Case Executive Firings Wrong Prosecutor Says. French Government Investigations Continue into the Fraud

The board of directors of Renault met today in an unscheduled meeting after a French prosecutor said earlier that three executives dismissed by Renault are innocent of claims by Renault that industrial spying was going on and that the executives were depositing payments into bank accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Continue reading

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Senate Dithers as Highway Trust Fund Goes Broke

During a hearing today in Washington, Democrats and Republicans postured over President Barack Obama’s proposal for a six-year, $556 billion highway bill with none of the partisans suggesting how it will actually be paid for.

This ducks the real issue of the ongoing decline in highway trust fund revenues that built the interstate system during the 1950s and contributed to what was then a booming American economy. Continue reading

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Allstate Says Its Zodiac Accident Rate Release is Hooey

The Allstate Corporation set off a furor last week when it issued a press release that compared Zodiac sign accident rates.

In it the auto insurance giant said that during the past year, Virgos were “nearly 700% more likely to be in a car accident when compared to the determined and aware Scorpio accident rates, the best drivers in the study.” Scorpios were only involved in 1.5% of all accidents in 2010. Continue reading

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Workers Paid Eight Cents for Each $25 NFL T-shirt!

Women at the Ocean Sky “sweatshop” in El Salvador are paid just eight cents for each $25 NFL T-shirt they sew, according a press release just issued by the National Labor Committee.

Their wages amount to just 3/10ths of one percent of the NFL shirt’s retail price, according to the non-profit pressure group with un-posted sources of funding. Continue reading

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Akerson Reorganizing GM Again! Product Development Split. Vice Chairman Stephens Moved to Chief Technology Officer

The new CTO position was said to be a “major element of Akerson’s goal to make the company more customer driven and technology focused.”

However, the previous GM technology position occupied by Larry Burns was in practicality more of academic exercise that produce reams of press releases extolling the virtues of fuel cells and other advanced technologies that had no immediate production prospects, and did not connect GM to customers or advance sales as the company sped toward bankruptcy. Continue reading

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NHTSA Administrator Strickland Visits NAIAS Show Promoting Jobs, Not Safety? The Endless Partison Political Campaign Continues

The man responsible for traffic safety in the United States, David Strickland, visited the North American International Auto Show – NAIAS – this week promoting the Obama Administration’s jobs agenda – or at least the let’s talk, but do little, part of it, with nary a word about traffic safety. Continue reading

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