‘Turning a blind eye’: Elizabeth Warren blasts Federal Reserve for letting JPMorgan ‘cook the books’

TBIJ 23.01.25

Bankers have had it easy for too long:

‘A JPMorgan whistleblower said the world’s biggest bank was misreporting its trading activity, which could have inflated its earnings by billions of dollars and added millions to executive pay packages. They reported the issue in a letter sent to board members, the Federal Reserve and the financial regulator, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) can reveal. Another banker familiar with the matter said other major US banks were doing the same – with tacit approval from the Federal Reserve, the US central bank… In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, regulators around the world agreed on a set of rules designed to prevent another scenario where taxpayers were forced to bail out the banks. A key area of focus was ensuring that banks held enough capital to stay afloat in the event of another financial crash. Under the rules, which the Federal Reserve is responsible for upholding in the US, banks considered “too big to fail” must submit data on the trading they are doing, which determines how much capital they are required to hold against potential losses. The JPMorgan whistleblower said the bank had been deliberately underreporting this data ever since the rules were introduced in 2016. This would have artificially reduced the reserves it was required to hold by an estimated $7.5bn per year.’

Howard Lutnick and the Commandeering of the Department of Commerce

Unlimited Hangout 02.12.24

By digitising the dollar through private corporations, the humongous hole of over $35 trillion would be ‘papered’ over and US ascendancy over financial global systems would be secure:

‘Dollar-backed stablecoins are arriving as “an important net purchaser of U.S. government debt,” Ryan notes, with stablecoin issuers now the 18th largest holder of U.S. Debt. Ryan goes on to say that “if fiat-backed dollar stablecoin issuers were a country,” that nation “would sit just outside the top 10 in countries holding Treasurys,” still less than Hong Kong but “larger than Saudi Arabia,” the U.S.’ former partner in the petrodollar system. Ardoino articulated that Tether is “happy to decentralize the ownership of the U.S. debt, making the U.S. much more resilient.”… Lutnick’s appointment to be Commerce Secretary is significant in light of the fact of his ties to Israel, Zionist organizations and his circumstantial ties to the Epstein nework, as Israel – and Epstein specifically – were part of a major, largely forgotten scandal of the Clinton era that culminated with the apparent murder of Clinton’s Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and many employees of the Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) office…

The successful proliferation of a new financial system across the globe with digital dollars native to the internet is innately reliant on broadband internet, cellular network providers, readily-available smartphones powered by economical microprocessors, and wide-spread operational knowledge of every pillar upholding blockchain technology. The technological infrastructure needed to issue digital securities, “decentralize” government debt, tokenize parcels of the rain forest, or to uphold a carbon market, bring about many surveillance concerns that come downstream of the realities of a completely digital economy. The technology transfer – led in no small part by various iterations of the DOC – has enabled a globalized, internet dollar and thus severely neutered the ability of non-U.S. central banks and governments to retain capital within their border. Interestingly, the infrastructure upholding the national security interests of the United States is dominated by private sector, U.S.-based FinTech stalwarts, including the owners of the fiber optic cables running beneath our oceans and Satellogic’s satellites-as-a-service orbiting our skies. This legal or Constitutional barrier between the public sectors interests and the private sector that builds the technology actualizing said interests allows the data brokers that glean information directly from these technological spigots to package and sell user data to both private and public entities alike. In few industries is this concept more dangerous for the freedom and privacy of global citizens than it is within the purely digital economy perpetuated by Lutnick’s Tether, and the e-carbon market regime made possible by Lutnick’s Satellogic.’

US accuses Visa of monopolizing debit card swipes

Reuter 25.09.24

The banking cartel is doing good business:

‘Visa, one of the world's largest payment networks, processes more than 60% of debit transactions in the U.S., bringing it $7 billion each year in fees collected when transactions are routed over its network, the Justice Department said. The company protects that dominance through agreements with card issuers, merchants, and competitors, prosecutors allege.’

'Global Oligarchy' Reigns as Top 1% Controls More Wealth Than Bottom 95% of Humanity

Common Dreams 23.09.24

Soon, the world will be owned by five or six giants:

‘Oxfam's analysis of data from the investment banking giant UBS found that the fortune controlled by the top 1% is now larger than the collective wealth of the bottom 95%. Such inequality pervades the global economy, Oxfam noted, with a small number of corporations dominating key sectors. Nearly half of the global seed market, for example, is controlled by just two corporations, Bayer and Corteva. At the same time, just three U.S.-based financial behemoths—Blackrock, State Street, and Vanguard—oversee nearly 20% of the world's investable assets, around $20 trillion. What's more, such massive corporations are increasingly run by billionaires: According to Oxfam, a billionaire either heads or is the top shareholder of more than a third of the world's leading 50 corporations.’

Trump Embraces the “Bitcoin-Dollar”, Stablecoins to Entrench US Financial Hegemony

Unlimited Hangout 29.07.24

As debt spirals for the US, both Trump and RFK have endorsed Bitcoin to ensure US global hegemony:

‘Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of Tether, explained these actions by stating that “by executing voluntary wallet address freezing of new additions to the SDN List and freezing previously added addresses, we will be able to further strengthen the positive usage of stablecoin technology and promote a safer stablecoin ecosystem for all users.”Ardoino has previously claimed that Tether froze around $435 million in USDT for the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service. He also explained why Tether, which was intimately connected to the now defunct crypto exchange FTX, has been so eager to help the U.S. authorities freeze funds – Tether is seeking to become a “world class partner” to the U.S. to “expand dollar hegemony globally.”… The stablecoin ecosystem, where U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins like Tether dominate, has become increasingly intertwined with the greater U.S. dollar system and – by extension – the U.S. government. The DOJ has the retail-facing Tether on a leash after pursuing the companies behind it for years and now Tether blacklists accounts whenever U.S. authorities demand. The Treasury benefits from the mass purchasing of Treasuries by stablecoin issuers, with each purchase further servicing the federal government’s debt. The private sector brokers and custodians that hold these Treasuries for the stablecoin issuers benefit from the essentially risk-free yield. And the dollar itself furthers its effort to globalize at high velocity in the form of these digital tokens, helping to ensure it remains the global currency hegemon.’

Visa & Mastercard: The Real Threat To The Digital ID Control System

Corey’s Dig 11.04.24

The introduction of CBDC (central bank digital currency) via the Digital IDs, will sneak in via the banking system to make it look less ‘controlling’ than the Chinese model:

‘The question isn’t whether Visa and Mastercard are at the forefront of the Digital ID control system, the question is whether Visa, Mastercard and central banks will be able to pull it off without the implementation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). A “Digital ID” may sound convenient and harmless, but the intention behind it is far reaching – compiling and connecting data and biometrics while removing every form of privacy in order to control how one spends their money, achieves access to services, and ultimately takes control over all assets…

The BIS Innovation Hub is in its fourth year, with five concluded projects and 21 in the works, with 15 of the 26 projects focused on CBDCs. One particular project called Nexus focuses on cross-border payments with the ability to connect all of the Fast Payment Systems so countries can add the Nexus gateway. They ran a 12-month proof of concept between the Eurosystem, Malaysia and Singapore to show how Nexus can accelerate the growth of instant cross-border payments. In their 2023 report they stated that this “opens the door to other alternative payments infrastructure, such as CBDCs, to connect to Nexus.” This was followed up with a report on September 28, 2023 showing the successful test on cross-border wholesale CBDCs that was tested through BIS and central banks of France, Singapore and Switzerland. They state that “this could form the basis for a new generation of financial market infrastructures.” ‘Once they have the Fast Payment Systems connected across countries through a single gateway – utilizing the ISO 20022 messaging system for transactions that has the ability to carry a lot of data, and has assigned a QR code to individuals as a Digital ID that has already migrated each person’s information into one convenient digital location – is it plausible that banks, industries and institutions could roll out smart contracts on services and purchases to facilitate this Digital ID control system without the need for CBDCs? It sure seems plausible.’

Cashless sucks

Aeon November 2023

Yes, it does:

‘Physical cash is issued by governments (via central banks), whereas the units in your bank account are basically ‘digital casino chips’ issued by the likes of Barclays, HSBC and Santander. ‘Cashless society’ is a privatisation, in which power over payments is transferred to the banking sector. Every tap of a contactless card or Apple Pay triggers banks into moving these digital casino chips around for you. It gives them enormous power, revenue and data. They can share that data with governments but, more often than not, they’re using it for their own purposes (such as passing it through AI models to decide whether you get access to things or not)… Digital bank systems are the private Uber of payments: they may appear convenient, but total Uberisation unleashes demons that cash historically kept in check – surveillance, censorship, digital exclusion, and serious resilience and financial stability problems. The point isn’t to argue that everyone must always use the ‘bicycle’. It’s to ensure that we don’t get totally ‘Uberised’ in private and public life. We need to promote a healthy balance of power between different forms of money in the system, and that’s within our collective political abilities.’

How Covid lockdowns primed the current financial crisis

The Greyzone 15.03.23

When authoritarian measures are thought out by global idiots, something bad is bound to happen:

‘In a nutshell, during the pandemic the government issued enormous amounts of extremely low interest government debt — about $4.2 trillion of it. But now interest rates, including on government debt, are higher than they have been in 15 years and investors are dumping their old low-interest debt. As they dump, the resale price of the old debt goes down. The more it declines, the more investors want to dump. And thus, a panic is born…  Ultimately, the federal government spent $4.2 trillion propping up the economy that it was simultaneously choking to death with lockdowns. These two contradictory pressures laid the groundwork for the recent bank failures. Government mandated lockdowns hit the economy like a body blow. Factories closed, small businesses went under, ports and logistic hubs reduced operations, and about 2 million mostly older workers simply resigned. But at the same time, the federal government injected vast amounts of purchasing power into the economy, thus boosting consumption.  These two, contradictory government moves imposed almost unbearable pressure on supply chains. As shortages mounted, prices began to surge. Put simply: lockdowns plus stimulus equaled inflation.’

Scammers are creating fake receipts — and a digital shoplifting boom

Rest Of World 16.02.23

With the push for digital IDs all over the world, we are being asked to trust the digital system:

‘Since 2020, mobile wallets have boomed in places like Colombia and Peru. These are countries with long-standing unbanked populations that have leapfrogged past traditional banking, opting instead for digital alternatives. In Peru, the use of mobile wallets grew by 75% during 2020, while Colombia saw an increase of 99% between 2020 and 2021. Such broad adoption happened in part because governments have been using these apps to make financial aid payments to underserved populations, Edwin Zácipa, the founder of Latam Fintech Hub, a network of financial tech entrepreneurs, told Rest of World…  The prevalence of these sorts of scams is also related to the ease with which fake receipts and SMSes can be created. App stores unaffiliated with Google Play and Apple’s App Store — both of which tend to enforce policies that detect and ban malicious apps more rigorously — offer apps that allow users to create fake vouchers simply by typing in the target’s name and phone number, just as they would if they were making a genuine transaction. Then, scammers send these fake receipts over WhatsApp or show them directly to unsuspecting clerks…  Tesco, the executive director of Global Ecosystem Dynamics, believes these sorts of answers from payment companies reveal that they are not taking sufficient responsibility for the rise in scams. “There’s a misconception [among financial institutions] in thinking that technology is trustworthy in and of itself, and that therefore, developers shouldn’t close the loopholes used by scammers,” he told Rest of World. “But they can’t just blame the user for being too trusting.”’

A Hard-Edged Rock: Waging Economic Warfare on Humanity

Off-Guardian 24.01.23

We are at the mercy of investment firms:

‘In September 2020, Grain.org showed that private equity funds – pools of money that use pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowment funds and investments from governments, banks, insurance companies and high net worth individuals – were being injected into the agriculture sector throughout the world.  This money was being used to lease or buy up farms on the cheap and aggregate them into large-scale, US-style grain and soybean concerns. Offshore tax havens and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development had targeted Ukraine in particular…  A 2015 article by Oriental Review noted that, since the mid-90s, Ukrainian-Americans at the helm of the US-Ukraine Business Council have been instrumental in encouraging the foreign control of Ukrainian agriculture.  In November 2013, the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation drafted a legal amendment that would benefit global agribusiness producers by allowing the widespread use of genetically modified seeds.  In June 2020, the IMF approved an 18-month, strings-attached $5 billion loan programme with Ukraine.  Even before the conflict, the World Bank incorporated measures relating to the sale of public agricultural land as conditions in a $350 million Development Policy Loan (COVID ‘relief package’) to Ukraine. This included a required ‘prior action’ to “enable the sale of agricultural land and the use of land as collateral.”  It is interesting to note that Larry Fink and BlackRock are to ‘coordinate’ investment in ‘rebuilding’ Ukraine…  

Due to their size, according to journalist Ernst Wolff, BlackRock and its counterpart Vanguard exert control over governments and important institutions like the European Central Bank (ECB) and the US Federal Reserve. BlackRock and Vanguard have more financial assets than the ECB and the Fed combined.  BlackRock currently has $10 trillion in assets under its management and to underline the influence of the firm, Fink himself is a billionaire who sits on the board of the World Economic Forum and the powerful and highly influential Council for Foreign Relations, often referred to as the shadow government of the US – the real power behind the throne.  Researcher William Engdahl says that since 1988 the company has put itself in a position to de facto control the Federal Reserve, most Wall Street mega-banks, including Goldman Sachs, the Davos World Economic Forum Great Reset and now the Biden Administration.  Engdahl describes how former top people at BlackRock are now in key government positions, running economic policy for the Biden administration, and that the firm is steering the ‘great reset’ and the global ‘green’ agenda.’

Call for new taxes on super-rich after 1% pocket two-thirds of all new wealth

The Guardian 16.01.23

The system is broken and it’s highly doubtful it would be mended:

'Danny Sriskandarajah, the chief executive of Oxfam GB: “The current economic reality is an affront to basic human values. Extreme poverty is increasing for the first time in 25 years and close to a billion people are going hungry but for billionaires, every day is a bonanza.  “Multiple crises have pushed millions to the brink while our leaders fail to grasp the nettle – governments must stop acting for the vested interests of the few.  “How can we accept a system where the poorest people in many countries pay much higher tax rates than the super-rich? Governments must introduce higher taxes on the super-rich now.”’

Facebook parent Meta to settle Cambridge Analytica scandal case for $725 mln

Reuters 23.12.22

Influencing political outcomes is a costly business.  If you’re found out:

‘Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) has agreed to pay $725 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit accusing the social media giant of allowing third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, to access users' personal information.  The proposed settlement, which was disclosed in a court filing late on Thursday, would resolve a long-running lawsuit prompted by revelations in 2018 that Facebook had allowed the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to access data of as many as 87 million users…  Cambridge Analytica, now defunct, worked for Donald Trump's successful presidential campaign in 2016, and gained access to the personal information from millions of Facebook accounts for the purposes of voter profiling and targeting.  Cambridge Analytica obtained that information without users' consent from a researcher who had been allowed by Facebook to deploy an app on its social media network that harvested data from millions of its users.  The ensuing Cambridge Analytica scandal fueled government investigations into its privacy practices, lawsuits and a high-profile U.S. congressional hearing where Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg was grilled by lawmakers.  In 2019, Facebook agreed to pay $5 billion to resolve a Federal Trade Commission probe into its privacy practices and $100 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims that it misled investors about the misuse of users' data.'

Revealed: the full inside story of the Michelle Mone PPE scandal

The Guardian 09.12.22

Just a lowdown of some of the cronyism that went on through the covid crisis.  Can’t wait to see Dido Harding return the billions she took for the scandalous contact tracing deal in the UK:

‘PPE Medpro and partners made as much as £100m profits.  At least £70m from PPE.  Medpro contracts taken offshore.  Small electronics firm behind supply of gowns for NHS.  Jet, yacht and racehorse purchased after PPE deal.  Tory peer and husband now selling yacht and properties.  Mone takes leave of absence from Lords and may leave UK.’

IMF Chief says Central Bank Digital Currency should be used alongside Social Credit System to control what people can and cannot buy

The Expose 19.10.22

Before you declare this post as a ‘conspiracy theory’, I urge you to look at the video embedded within article:

‘The live stream went under the radar for many but our buddy Tim Hinchliffe over at The Sociable kept an eye on what was going on. Tim posted a video of Bi Li, the Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, explaining how CDBSs can be programmed.  He said: “The smart contract would allow targeted policy functions, like welfare payments, consumption coupons, food stamps, etc.”  “With CBDCs, we can precisely control what people can and can’t own. Also, what kind of use this money can be programmed for, like food only.” – Bi Li…  He went on to say that: “CBDCs can’t solve every financial inclusion challenge, but they can work together with financial literacy and digital literacy.”  So, a CBDC would work with other policies like digital identities and digital wallets.  This goes hand in glove with what the World Bank Group described in November 2021. “Digital identity verification is essential to the operation of CBDCs, particularly in cross-border transactions. “  “Tradable digital assets must be tied to a digital identity system, which in turn should be tied to an automatic KYC and AML/CFT verification system.“  “This is a foundational step to the potential use of CBDCs, and emerging developments in regulatory and compliance technology may benefit central banks’ experiments in the digital currency space.”

SWIFT sets out blueprint for central bank digital currency network

Reuters 05.10.22

When SWIFT took out sanctions against Russia, it took a while for the global monetary system to adjust.  With CBDC, it will be instant and you get total central control.  I personally hope that digital money never gets to see the light of day, or, if it does, that it would be totally decentralised:

‘The idea is that once scaled-up, banks may need only one main global connection, rather than thousands if they were to set up connections with each counterpart individually.  "We believe that the number of connections needed is much fewer," Kerigan said. "Therefore, you are likely to have fewer breaks (in the chain) and you are likely to achieve greater efficiency.”  The trial also tested different underlying CBDC technologies known as Distributed Ledger Technologies. The use of various technologies has also been raised as a potential hurdle for rapid global adoption.’

Ten Ways Billionaires Avoid Taxes on an Epic Scale

ProPublica 24.06.22

Ridiculous laws enable tax evasion to a disquieting degree:

‘Our first story unraveled how billionaires like Elon Musk, Warren Buffett and Jeff Bezos were able to amass some of the largest fortunes in history while paying remarkably little tax relative to their immense wealth…  Meanwhile, billionaires can tap into their wealth by borrowing against it. And borrowing isn’t taxable. (Buffett said he followed the law and preferred that his wealth go to charity; the others didn’t comment beyond a “?” from Musk.)…  Even when tech billionaires do show income on their tax return, they tend to pay relatively low income tax rates. That’s because of the type of income they have: Gains from long-term investments, such as from stock sales, are taxed at a lower rate. But what do you do if you’re making over $1 billion every year, and it’s largely from short-term trading? Do you just accept that you’ll pay the higher rate on all that income? As we reported this week, Jeff Yass, head of one of the most profitable firms on Wall Street, did not meekly accept this fate. Instead, his firm, Susquehanna International Group, found creative ways to transform the wrong sort of income into the right kind, generating tax savings that exceeded $1 billion over just six years. (Susquehanna declined to comment but in a court case that centered on similar allegations, it maintained that it complies with the law.)…  

In certain industries, like real estate or oil and gas, the tax breaks are so plentiful that billionaires can erase their income entirely even as they grow richer. That’s how real estate developer Stephen Ross (who also happens to own the Miami Dolphins) went 10 years without paying any income tax. Ross said that he followed the law. Another mogul, this one in the oil business, managed to tap a near bottomless well of write-offs via one of the biggest oil spills in history. (The mogul’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment.)…  Deductions from hobbies and side projects, which the ultrawealthy can structure as businesses, are another fun option. For some billionaires, it’s race horses: We found that six owners of thoroughbreds at the 2021 Kentucky Derby had taken a combined $600 million in tax write-offs on their horse racing operations. For others, like Beanie Babies founder Ty Warner, it’s luxury hotels. The billionaire splurged on a couple of landmark Four Seasons locations and then went 12 years without paying any income tax. (Representatives for Warner did not respond to requests for comment.)…  

For the billionaires who contributed millions to Republican politicians, the payoff came in the form of Trump’s “big, beautiful tax cut” for passthrough businesses. We found the change sent $1 billion in tax savings in a single year to just 82 ultrawealthy households. Some business owners also boosted their savings with a trick: They slashed their own salaries and categorized the money instead as passthrough income.’

Google to pay $90 mln to settle legal fight with app developers

Reuters 01.07.22

Google follows Apple with settlement payment over their monopolistic stance:

‘Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google has agreed to pay $90 million to settle a legal fight with app developers over the money they earned creating apps for Android smartphones and for enticing users to make in-app purchases, according to a court filing.  The app developers, in a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco, had accused Google of using agreements with smartphone makers, technical barriers and revenue sharing agreements to effectively close the app ecosystem and shunt most payments through its Google Play billing system with a default service fee of 30%…  There were likely 48,000 app developers eligible to apply for the $90 million fund, and the minimum payout is $250, according to Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, who represented the plaintiffs. Apple Inc (AAPL.O) agreed last year to loosen App Store restrictions on small developers, striking a deal in a class action. It also agreed to pay $100 million.’

Pfizer signs new $3.2 billion COVID vaccine deal with U.S. government

Reuters 30.06.22

Money keeps rolling towards big pharma, for vaccines that have been shown to be ineffective, with a high ratio of adverse effects.  Meanwhile in the EU, Von dear Leyen says she can’t find her texts with Pfizer CEO that detailed the acquisition of mRNA vaccines for Europe:

‘Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) said on Wednesday they signed a $3.2 billion deal with the U.S. government for 105 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine, which could be delivered as soon as later this summer.  The deal includes supplies of a retooled Omicron-adapted vaccine, pending regulatory clearance, according to Pfizer.  The average price per dose in the new deal is over $30, a more than 50% increase from the $19.50 per dose the U.S. government paid in its initial contract with Pfizer…  The new contract should boost 2022 vaccine sales for Pfizer and BioNTech, which share profits from the shots. Pfizer has forecast COVID-19 vaccine sales of $32 billion this year. Analysts, on average, have forecast 2022 sales of around $33.6 billion for the shots.’

Bitcoin: Cryptopayments Energy Efficiency

SSRN 16.06.22

All the naysayers ranting about Bitcoin’s impact on the planet and its overuse of energy, should read this peer-reviewed paper:

‘We demonstrate that Bitcoin consumes 56 times less energy than the classical system, and that even at the single transaction level, a PoW transaction proves to be 1 to 5 times more energy efficient. When Bitcoin Lightning layer is compared to Instant Payment scheme, Bitcoin gains exponentially in scalability and efficiency, proving to be up to a million times more energy efficient per transaction than Instant Payments.’

PayPal Cancels CN Account; May Seize Balance

Consortium News 01.05.22

If you investigate the non-mainstream account of the war between Ukraine and Russia, your assets will be frozen.  It seems sanctions are rampant against free speech as well:

‘PayPal has canceled Consortium News‘ account without any prior notice or due process and with virtually no explanation.  As Consortium News is today launching its Spring Fund Drive, it has lost one of its most important ways for its viewers and readers to show their support through donations.  Given the current political climate it is more than conceivable that PayPal is reacting to Consortium News’ coverage of the war in Ukraine, which is not in line with the dominant narrative that is being increasingly enforced. Last week PayPal also froze the account of the alternative news site MintPressNews.’

Unbeknown To Most, A Financial Revolution Is Coming That Threatens To Change Everything (And Not For The Better)

Zerohedge 27.03.22

CBDCs can only help central banks’ control over the flow of money:

‘But what are CBDCs? How will they work? What purposes could they serve? How might they affect the general populations of the countries where they are introduced? To answer the first two questions, here’s an excerpt from “Just Say No to CBDCs“:  You might assume that you are already using “digital currency” regularly if you rarely use physical cash anymore and instead buy almost everything with a credit card or a digital payment app. In truth, the process of moving money from A to B is vastly more complicated than that. It involves a tangle of payment processors, banks, financial clearinghouses, and, if your money is crossing borders, international communication and exchange systems, such as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). The money itself doesn’t move anywhere fast, so each intermediary institution must assume risks to fulfill your transaction by accepting promises, sending transfers, verifying receipt of funds, and so on. Many fees get collected along the way for such services.  A CBDC system would be radically simplified. A customer would open an account directly with a country’s central bank, and the central bank would issue (create) digital money in the account. Crucially, this makes the money a direct liability of the Fed, rather than of a private bank. Using a simple smartphone app or other tools, the customer can then initiate direct transactions between Fed accounts. The digital money is deleted in one account and recreated in another instantaneously. Moving money across borders no longer requires something as complex as SWIFT or wire transfers, and currencies can be exchanged instantly as long as friendly central banks have agreements to do so. No promises or trust are necessary; every transaction is permanently recorded on a digital cryptographic ledger in real time—a bit like Bitcoin, but exquisitely centralized rather than distributed…  A central bank digital currency system will technically no longer require middlemen such as banks or credit card companies. That said, one can safely assume that the largest financial institutions, most of which have been helping to install the architecture for the CBDC system, will find a new role in the new digital reality…  

One way central banks could use its expanded influence is to exert control over people’s spending habits. In June 2021, the Daily Telegraph reported (behind paywall) that the Bank of England had asked Government ministers to decide whether a central bank digital currency should be “programmable”…  As the FT reported, central bank digital currencies will almost certainly have to go hand in hand with digital IDs: “What CBDC research and experimentation appears to be showing is that it will be nigh on impossible to issue such currencies outside of a comprehensive national digital ID management system. Meaning: CBDCs will likely be tied to personal accounts that include personal data, credit history and other forms of relevant information.”  Combining digital currencies with digital IDs while phasing out, or even banning, the use of cash would grant governments and central banks the ability not only to track every purchase we make but also to determine what we can and cannot spend out money on…  

One of the most important benefits of cash is its universality, making it a vital public good, particularly for the poorest and most vulnerable in society. Also excluded in a purely cashless society would be anyone who objected to having others spy on their transactions (h/t hickory). As I note in my book, Scanned: Why Vaccine Passports and Digital Identity Will Mean the End of Privacy and Personal Freedom, if central banks and governments were to do away with cash or to vastly accelerate its demise by penalizing its use (while incentivizing the use of CBDCs), we would probably see a huge increase in financial exclusion:  Even proponents of CBDCs admit that central bank digital currencies could have serious drawbacks, including further exacerbating income and wealth equality  “The rich might be more capable than others of taking advantage of new investment opportunities and reaping most of the benefits,” says Eswar Prasadm a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and author of The Future of Money: Hoe the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance. “As the economically marginalized have limited digital access and lack financial literacy, some of the changes could harm as much as they could help those segments of the population.”  So, not only will the introduction of CBDCs strip global citizens of one of the last vestiges of freedom, privacy and anonymity (i.e., cash), it could also exacerbate the upward transfer of wealth and power that many societies have witnessed since the COVID-19 pandemic began.  Lyons warns that CBDCs, “if not deliberately and carefully constrained in advance by law,… have the potential to become even more than a technocratic central planner’s dream. They could represent the single greatest expansion of totalitarian power in history.”  Given how much is at stake, CBDCs are among the most important questions today’s societies could possibly grapple with - not only from a financial or business perspective but also from an ethical and legal standpoint. They should be under discussion in every parliament of every land, and every dinner table in every country in the world.’

Yanis Varoufakis: We are living in a post-capitalist, techno-feudalist dystopia

The Real News Network 22.02.22

I wouldn’t go as far as advocating a CBDC because that would usher in a whole new level of capital dystopia, but I take to heart all the criticism made after QE was made ubiquitous:

‘…  what has changed after this topsy-turvy world that was created after 1971 broke down in 2008 was a post-capitalist dystopia. I call it techno-feudalism because it is based on the replacement of capitalist profits by state money and the replacement of markets by platforms belonging to very few individuals, call me Jeff Bezos or Zuckerberg or whatever, with everything else. I mean, capital is everywhere. I’m not saying that we don’t have capital. Capital is everywhere, except that this system is not capitalism. It’s something worse than capitalism…  

If you look at the index of companies that… Think about Uber, Uber has never made a profit. They rely on a sense of bank money. Netflix has never made a profit. Tesla, tiny profit served, nothing to speak of. All these megaliths rely on the production of central bank money. I tell you what I think is going to happen. I think they will have to increase interest rates, but at the same time keep printing money. So, they will find themselves in this kind of conundrum. The only way of killing off techno-feudalism is by creating a Great Depression that will make the earlier Great Depression look like a walk in the park…  

So, when there is QE, effectively, the bankers get the money and then they waste it. They give it to their own mates. They give it to Google. They give it to Apple. Apple and Google don’t need money. They’re sitting on huge piles of cash. So they take this money and they go to the stock exchange and they buy back their own shares, which sends the shared price through the roof but without any investment in anything humanity needs. So, how do you cut out the middleman? Well, giving every one of us a bank account, a digital wallet, a digital wallet with a Fed, with a European Central Bank. The Chinese are already doing that. And I can tell you that people in Frankfurt, people in Washington, the Fed and European Central Bank are really… I mean, I wouldn’t be able to emulate them, nor would you, because we don’t have any hair, but they’re pulling their hair out. They are really pulling their hair out.’

Drug distributors, J&J agree to finalize $26 bln opioid settlement

Reuters 25.02.22

In the financial world of big pharma, some reckoning is being made.  Wonder how far the emergency vaccine indemnity clause will go when those pharmaceutical behemoths’ adverse effects from covid shots are brought to light:

‘The three largest U.S. drug distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) have agreed to finalize a proposed $26 billion settlement resolving claims by states and local governments that they helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic…  The deal aims to resolve around 3,000 lawsuits by state and local governments seeking to hold the companies responsible for an opioid abuse crisis that has led to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States over the last two decades.’

Big Tech Sold Out on Its Promise of an Open Internet

Gizmodo 11.02.22

The amount of monopolistic lobbying is staggering.  Tech companies should never ever have achieved this amount of power and global regulations must reflect that:

‘The report—titled Whiplash: Inside Big Tech’s Open Internet Flip-Flop—lays out a laundry list of times where Big Tech companies have seemingly expressed support for many of the same policy goals they’re currently fighting to quash. It also comes as Congress muses over several key pieces of antitrust legislation taking aim at Big Tech’s alleged monopolistic business practices.  The report spotlights Google, Amazon, and Facebook’s fierce defense of net neutrality in 2014 where the companies repeatedly cited an “open internet” as a critical component to innovation and economic growth. Tech’s biggest players, as a New York Times article from the time states, “put their reputations and financial clout behind the challenge.”…  So what changed? Well, according to the Tech Oversight Project’s Executive Director, Sacha Haworth, Big Tech somewhere along the way saw an avenue to entrench their status and in doing so chose money and consolidation over their past principles.  “These Big Tech platforms endorsed an open internet when it suited them and now that they are monopolies they want to effectively close the door and lock it behind them to prevent anyone else from becoming as successful as they have been,” Haworth said. Haworth went on to draw a through-line between Big Tech’s skyrocketing market valuations and their pivot toward gatekeeping business practices. At the time of writing, Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet had achieved valuations of $3 trillion, $2.2 trillion, and $1.8 trillion respectively.'

Covid created 20 new ‘pandemic billionaires’ in Asia, says Oxfam

The Guardian 14.01.22

More wealth divisions after disastrous governments’ initiatives in the face of a badly orchestrated pandemic response:

‘Twenty new “pandemic billionaires” have been created in Asia thanks to the international response to Covid-19, while 140 million people across the continent were plunged into poverty as jobs were lost during the pandemic, according to Oxfam.  A report by the aid organisation says that by March 2021, profits from the pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and services needed for the Covid response had made 20 people new billionaires as lockdowns and economic stagnation destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of others…  In 2020, an estimated 81m jobs disappeared and loss of working hours pushed a further 22–25 million people into working poverty, according to the International Labour Organization. Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific region’s billionaires saw their wealth increase by $1.46tn (£1.06tn), enough to provide a salary of almost $10,000 (£7,300) to all those who lost a job…  The wealth gap is set to grow. Credit Suisse forecasts that, by 2025, there will be 42,000 more people worth more than $50m in Asia-Pacific and 99,000 billionaires. The number of millionaires by 2025 is projected to be 15.3 million, a 58% increase on 2020. Both the World Bank and IMF have said that coronavirus will cause a significant increase in global economic inequality.  Talpur said: “The political system is protecting the interests of the tiny rich elite. Governments have consistently failed to work for the majority during the pandemic. It was the juncture of global solidarity, but rich countries and big pharmaceutical companies turned away their faces.”’

Cookies: the CNIL fines GOOGLE a total of 150 million euros and FACEBOOK 60 million euros for non-compliance with French legislation

CNIL 06.01.22

The Commission National de l’Informatique et des Libertés has charged two huge tech giants for infringement on liberty through their obfuscatory use of cookies:

‘The restricted committee, the body of the CNIL responsible for issuing sanctions, has noted, following investigations, that the websites facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com offer a button allowing the user to immediately accept cookies. However, they do not provide an equivalent solution (button or other) enabling the Internet user to easily refuse the deposit of these cookies. Several clicks are required to refuse all cookies, against a single one to accept them…  In addition to the fines, the restricted committee ordered the companies to provide Internet users located in France with a means of refusing cookies as simple as the existing means of accepting them, in order to guarantee their freedom of consent, within three months. If they fail to do so, the companies will have to pay a penalty of 100,000 euros per day of delay.’

Pfizer says pandemic could extend to 2024, vaccine data for younger children delayed

Reuters 17.12.21

The more the pandemic goes on, the bigger the profits. The fact that they’re even discussing a non-target age group for the virus is absolutely horrendous. Can’t wait for all the malfeasance lawsuits that should be cropping up soon:

‘By 2024, the disease should be endemic around the globe, the company projected. "When and how exactly this happens will depend on evolution of the disease, how effectively society deploys vaccines and treatments, and equitable distribution to places where vaccination rates are low," Dolsten said. "The emergence of new variants could also impact how the pandemic continues to play out.” Pfizer developed its COVID-19 vaccine with Germany's BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE), and currently expects it to generate revenue of $31 billion next year. It plans to make 4 billion shots next year.’

COVID vaccines offer the pharma industry a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset its reputation. But it’s after decades of big profits and scandals

The Conversation 03.09.21

Truly disgusting practices occurring in a profit-first industry:

‘The major problem with the drug giants is their unhealthy influence over medical science. The industry dominates research, and there’s strong evidence that company-sponsored studies tend to have a bias which favours the sponsor’s product.  Medical education is also heavily sponsored, with evidence suggesting an association between a doctor accepting just one meal at an “educational event”, and prescribing more of the sponsor’s drugs.  And the guidelines which can be so influential over a doctor’s prescribing decisions are too often written by medical experts with ties to drug companies.  Central to this marketing effort are these senior medical experts, sometimes called “key opinion leaders”, who claim to be independent yet accept fees for advice, consultancies or “educational” presentations to other doctors…  In 2009 came the biggest health-care fraud settlement in history. Pfizer was forced to fork out a US$2.3 billion fine for illegal promotion, false and misleading claims about drug safety, and paying kickbacks to doctors. That included a US$1.2 billion criminal fine, the largest ever in a US criminal prosecution.  One of the whistleblowers in that case happened to be a member of a special Pfizer sales team promoting Viagra. He revealed doctors were taken to breakfasts, lunches, dinners, Broadway shows, baseball games, golf courses, ski fields, casinos and strip clubs…  

Other court documents around the same time exposed how the giant global company Merck used dirty tricks to try and defend its controversial anti-arthritis drug Vioxx. Merck created a fake medical journal and drew up secret lists of academic critics to “neutralise” and “discredit”.  In the end, Vioxx was taken off the market because it was causing heart attacks, with estimates in The Lancet suggesting it may have led to 140,000 cases of serious coronary heart disease…  A study in 2020 found 80% of the medicos who run the world’s most powerful doctors organisations still take money from drug and device companies. For research, for consultancies, for hospitality.  Even some agencies which assess drugs, notably the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), still rely on significant funding from industry, which pays to have its products assessed.  And the harmful marketing has continued. Just last month, a group of drug companies, including Johnson & Johnson, agreed to pay a total of US$26 billion for their roles in fuelling the opioid epidemic.’

Tesla’s $1 trillion market cap valuation is not just a bubble, it is a market mania of biblical proportions

RT 29.10.21

Broken promises don’t seem to matter when it comes to Tesla:

‘Musk has not only consistently failed to deliver on technological and financial projections, but he has also failed to hire the new employees he promised governments that provided Tesla with billions in taxpayer-funded subsidies in exchange for employment guarantees that never materialized… Tesla has come a long way in five years. Tesla’s valuation is not a bubble, it’s an unsustainable mania. It is impossible to pick the exact peak of the Tesla mania but here is a frightening comparison: Tesla’s Free Cash Flow versus Volkswagen’s. Tesla’s Free Cash Flow grew by nearly $4 billion (a three-hundred and fifty price to free cash flow multiple) while Volkswagen’s grew by $34 billion (a five times price to free cash flow multiple) in the same period. While Tesla may have EV's first-mover advantage, Musk is about to be run over by his competition, and at today's insane nosebleed market capitalization, Tesla's stock is a sell here.’

Finally! A cryptocurrency for everyone on the planet

Wired 21.10.21

The article spins this as beneficiary to the world, and the coin is from Google’s Open AI. Ugh:

‘It’s a lofty goal that commands a lofty name: Worldcoin. Co-founded by Altman earlier this year, the project has raised $25 million to date from grandees such as Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures. It’s part crypto buzz, part financial inclusion dream – and Altman believes that by piggybacking on the network effect of doling out a bit of the pie to every single human on Earth, WorldCoin could evolve into a global, fairly distributed electronic currency.  Altman, who runs AI research outfit OpenAI and used to be the CEO of Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator, says that the concept is untested… All you’ll have to do to get your Worldcoin freebie – whose value, as always with crypto, will be determined by the meeting of supply and demand once the coin is launched and listed on online exchanges – is have your eyes scanned. In order to make sure that every person only gets their fair share of Worldcoin, the company has created a spheric device, called Orb, which checks people’s unique iris patterns to verify whether they have a right to some coins, or not. The company will distribute thousands of such devices to entrepreneurs across the globe, who will themselves be in charge of finding people to eye-scan and endow with Worldcoin – and who will get a Worldcoin reward for each extra person they enrol.'

Pandora papers: biggest ever leak of offshore data exposes financial secrets of rich and powerful

The Guardian 03.10.21

This is going to be interesting.  And embarrassing:

‘Branded the Pandora papers, the cache includes 11.9m files from companies hired by wealthy clients to create offshore structures and trusts in tax havens such as Panama, Dubai, Monaco, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.  They expose the secret offshore affairs of 35 world leaders, including current and former presidents, prime ministers and heads of state. They also shine a light on the secret finances of more than 300 other public officials such as government ministers, judges, mayors and military generals in more than 90 countries…  Gerard Ryle, the director of the ICIJ, said leading politicians who organised their finances in tax havens had a stake in the status quo, and were likely to be an obstacle to reform of the offshore economy. “When you have world leaders, when you have politicians, when you have public officials, all using the secrecy and all using this world, then I don’t think we’re going to see an end to it.”’

How Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft wage a domestic War on Terror, and make billions

RT 16.09.21

Embedded in all US tech giants is a one-way service agreement to the military.  Neither Kit Klarenberg nor the report mentions Musk’s satellites, but you get the idea:

‘A new report has laid bare the relationship between Silicon Valley and the American state, and the trillions of dollars they have made since 9/11.  The War on Terror was a veritable feeding frenzy for defense contractors, with the sector profiting to the collective tune of trillions. However, it wasn’t the only industry cashing in – as a new report produced by three US campaign groups reveals, “household names in tech like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have respectively reaped billions from selling tech to the war machine.”’

Profits of War: Corporate Beneficiaries of the Post-9/11 Pentagon Spending Surge

Brown University 13.09.21

The oiling of the US war engine is staggeringly lubricative:

‘Pentagon spending has totaled over $14 trillion since the start of the war in Afghanistan, with one-third to one-half of the total going to military contractors.  A large portion of these contracts -- one-quarter to one-third of all Pentagon contracts in recent years -- have gone to just five major corporations: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics,  Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman. The $75 billion in Pentagon contracts received by Lockheed Martin in fiscal year 2020 is well over one and one-half times the entire budget for the State Department and Agency for International Development for that year, which totaled $44 billion. Weapons makers have spent $2.5 billion on lobbying over the past two decades, employing, on average, over 700 lobbyists per year over the past five years. That is more than one for every member of Congress.  Numerous companies took advantage of wartime conditions—which require speed of delivery and often involve less rigorous oversight—to overcharge the government or engage in outright fraud. In 2011, the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan estimated that waste, fraud and abuse had totaled between $31 billion and $60 billion.’

Singapore, Australia amongst four central banks to test cross-border digital payments platform

ZdNet 02.09.21

Appetite for CBDC is growing.  Yes, such a mechanism may be quick and cheap for money transactions, but if most central banks implement it, the rise of surveillance and control over the flow of money rise exponentially:

‘The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Bank Negara Malaysia, and South African Reserve Bank on Thursday said in a joint statement that they were working to build and test the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for international transactions.   Working alongside the Bank for International Settlements' (BIS) innovation hub in Singapore, the four central banks would be looking to build prototypes of shared platforms using multiple CBDCs, with the aim to enable financial institutions to transact directly with each other in digital currencies issued by the respective central bank. This would cut out middleman organisations currently used to process such cross-border transactions, slashing overall time and cost.’

Sackler family set to pay $4.5bn to settle opioid claims after judge approves plan

The Guardian 01.09.21

Lessons have been learnt in the case of Big Pharma compensating its victims:

‘A US federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday conditionally approved a sweeping, potentially $10bn plan submitted by the OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to settle a mountain of lawsuits over its role in the opioid crisis that has killed a half-million Americans over the past two decades.  Under the settlement reached with creditors including individual victims and thousands of state and local governments, the Sackler family will give up ownership of the company and contribute $4.5bn but will be freed from any future lawsuits over opioids.  The drugmaker will be reorganized into a new company with a board appointed by public officials and will funnel its profits into government-led efforts to prevent and treat opioid addiction.’

Congressman Seeking to Relaunch Afghan War Made Millions in Defense Contracting

The Intercept 20.08.21

The War on Terror oiled the US’ financial engines for decades, impoverished the occupied nation(s) and led to exactly zero in securing safety:

‘Wasted dollars and failed projects are perhaps among the most defining aspects of the American-led occupation of Afghanistan, which is estimated to have cost more than $2 trillion over its 20 years. SIGAR audits have identified countless examples of mind-boggling forms of fraud and waste worth hundreds of billions of dollars, including $70 million embezzled from a trucking company, $1.6 million on a water-filtration system that failed after only two months, and $50 billion on mine-resistant vehicles that were scrapped as unnecessary.’

Drug firms poised to make billions of dollars from Covid booster jabs

The Guardian 13.08.21

Vaccine boosters are the new ‘cash cow’ for big pharma, with a demonstrated dubious efficacy for the vaccines themselves.  Hopefully that would mean that addictive opioids won’t be promoted as much:

‘The drug companies Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna are poised to make billions of dollars from Covid-19 booster jabs this autumn, with analysts estimating that sales could rival the $6bn-a-year market for seasonal flu vaccines…  Moderna, Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have already inked more than $72bn (£52bn) in sales for this year alone, in deals for supplying follow-up shots and also the initial two doses for those being inoculated for the first time in less wealthy countries.  Analysts polled by data group Refinitiv have forecast revenue of more than $6.6bn for the Pfizer/BioNTech shot and $7.6bn for Moderna in 2023, mostly from booster sales. They expect the annual market to settle at about $5bn or higher eventually, with additional drugmakers competing for those sales.'

Why Amazon’s £636m GDPR fine really matters

Wired 04.08.21

Just about anything that would hamper/hurt these tech giants is a win in my view:

‘Last week, Amazon’s financial records revealed that officials in Luxembourg are fining the retailer €746 million (£636m) for breaching the European regulation.  The fine is unprecedented: it’s the biggest GDPR fine issued to date and is more than double the amount of every other GDPR fine combined. The financial penalty, which Amazon is appealing, comes at a time when GDPR is feeling the strain of lax enforcement and measly fines. Experts say companies are allowed to get away with abusing people’s privacy as GDPR investigations are too slow and ineffective. Some people even want GDPR to be ripped up entirely.  But Luxembourg’s action against Amazon stands out for two reasons: first, it shows the potential power of GDPR; second, it exposes cracks in how inconsistently such regulations are applied across the EU. And for both of these reasons it is arguably the most important GDPR decision issued…  The €746m Amazon fine is far bigger than anything that’s come before – a €50 million fine against Google holds the current record. While GDPR allows potentially huge fines to be issued, the reality is that it was always unlikely regulators would issue them. Up to the start of 2021, a total of €272m in GDPR fines had been issued by all of Europe’s regulators combined, according to analysis from law firm DLA Piper. Italy’s data protection body, which had issued €69.3m in fines, has led the way. Germany (€69m), France (€54m) and the UK (€44m) follow.’

Fed's Brainard: Can't wrap head around not having U.S. central bank digital currency

Reuters 31.07.21

Stablecoins are being invoked in argument favouring CBDC.  What a roundabout way of saying ‘we need digital currency because it would be a very effective way of being in control of circulation’:

‘Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard on Friday laid out a range of reasons for "urgency" around the issue of developing a U.S. central bank digital currency, including the fact that other countries such as China are moving ahead with their own.  "The dollar is very dominant in international payments, and if you have the other major jurisdictions in the world with a digital currency, a CBDC (central bank digital currency)offering, and the U.S. doesn't have one, I just, I can't wrap my head around that," Brainard told the Aspen Institute Economic Strategy Group. "That just doesn't sound like a sustainable future to me”…  "One of the most compelling use cases is in the international realm, where intermediation chains are opaque and long and costly," Brainard said on Friday.  But there are domestic reasons too for a U.S.-backed digital currency, she said: the dramatic rise in stablecoins, a form of cryptocurrency pegged to a conventional currency such as the U.S. dollar but not backed by any government.  Stablecoins could proliferate and fragment the payment system, or one or two could emerge as dominant, she said. Either way, "in a world of stablecoins you could imagine that households and businesses, if the migration away from currency is really very intense, they would simply lose access to a safe government backed settlement asset, which is of course what currency has always provided.”'

Google, Apple and Microsoft report record-breaking profits

The Guardian 27.07.21

Profits alone would dwarf most countries’ coffers:

‘Collectively, the market value of Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook is now worth more than a third of the entire S&P 500 index of America’s 500 largest traded companies, as their share prices have soared during the pandemic…  Thomas Philippon, an economist and professor of finance at New York University, said big tech firms have been the biggest economic winners from the pandemic as global lockdowns have pushed more businesses and consumers to use their services.  “They were already on the rise and had been for the best part of a decade, and the pandemic was unique,” Philippon said. “For them it was a perfect positive storm.”  Analysts at Morgan Stanley reckon Alphabet is on course to achieve full-year net income of $65bn, a 59% increase on 2020. Its annual sales are, the bank reckons, on track for $243bn – a $60bn increase on last year…  Collectively, the world’s tech billionaires hold personal fortunes of $2.5tn, up 80% on $1.4tn in March 2020. Amazon’s founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, remains the world’s richest person with an estimated $212bn fortune, and is closely followed in the league table of the wealthy by Tesla co-founder Elon Musk with $180bn, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates with $151bn, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg with about $138bn.  Zuckerberg believes the internet will take on an even bigger role in people’s day-to-day lives in the future, and instead of interacting with it via mobile phones people will be immersed via virtual reality headsets.’

UK will be exposed to paying pandemic cost risks for decades-report

Reuters 25.07.21

UK and most countries are being crippled by covid and lockdowns.  Will this usher in the era of digital currencies?

‘"With eye-watering sums of money spent on COVID measures so far the government needs to be clear, now, how this will be managed going forward, and over what period of time," Meg Hillier, the PAC chair, said.  "The ongoing risk to the taxpayer will run for 20 years on things like arts and culture recovery loans, let alone the other new risks that departments across government must quickly learn to manage.”  The PAC highlighted an estimated loss of 26 billion pounds through fraud and repayment default from loans handed to businesses to help cope with the pandemic as an example of the ongoing financial risk.  In a second report, the committee said there had also been "unacceptably high" levels of wasteful spending, with 2.1 billion items of unsuitable personal protective equipment (PPE) purchased, equating to more than 2 billion pounds of public money.’

Mapped: The World’s Biggest Private Tax Havens

Visual Capitalist 09.07.21

All is well in the whorled world of tax loopholes:

‘At a glance, the top 20 tax havens are spread out across regions. Just under half of the list is located in Europe, but the rest are spread out across the Americas and Asia.  And the jurisdictions are opposites in many ways. They include financial powerhouses like the U.S., Japan, and the UK as well as smaller nations and territories like the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, and Luxembourg.  But one surprising thing many of them have in common is a link to England. In addition to the UK, four of the top 20 tax havens—Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Guernsey, and Jersey—are British Overseas Territories or Crown Dependencies.’

Global tax reform: 130 countries commit to minimum corporate rate

The Guardian 01.07.21

If the City of London is exempt, does this mean that money laundering business continues as usual?:

'Efforts to force multinational companies to pay a fairer share of tax have taken a decisive step forward after 130 countries and jurisdictions agreed to plans for a global minimum corporate tax rate.  In a landmark moment for the world economy, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) issued a statement committing each of the countries to a two-pillar plan to radically reshape the global tax system…  The principle of the agreement is that multinationals would be forced to pay a minimum of 15% tax in each country they operate in. It also includes plans to prevent the shifting of profits into tax havens by tech giants and other multinationals by enabling signatory countries to tax the world’s largest companiesbased on revenues generated within their borders.  The OECD said more than $100bn (£73bn) was expected to be raised by curbing profit shifting. About $150bn is expected to be raised from the global minimum tax rate…  Details contained in the OECD statement confirmed an exemption for financial services and natural resources companies as part of the “pillar one” agreement. Finance firms and mining giants will, however, be subject to the minimum tax rate. The UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, had pushed for the City of London to be excluded from the global tax overhaul amid concerns it would undermine the UK financial services industry.’

Covid jabs for billions of humans will earn their makers billions of dollars

The Guardian 19.06.21

No wonder Big Pharma strongly lobbied against waiving patent rights:

‘Last month Pfizer predicted it would make $26bn from its jab in 2021, a third of annual revenue. This was based on orders received by mid-April, so is likely to be an underestimate. Analysts at Morgan Stanley led by David Risinger raised their estimates for Pfizer to $33bn in 2021 and $32bn in 2022, halving to $16.5bn in 2023 and $8.2bn in 2024.’

GDP numbers are not what they seem: how they boost US and UK at expense of developing countries

The Conversation 10.06.21

Wealth ratings are a matter of some interpretation:

‘What most people don’t realise is that the rules about how GDP is calculated are highly political. In my recent research with Jacob Assa of the UN Development Programme, we unpicked how changes to how GDP is measured over the years have disproportionately benefited countries in the west, including the UK. This has enormous implications for everything from the international political clout of different countries to their credit ratings…  Both in 1993 and again in 2008, the so-called “production boundary”, which determines what is included in GDP, was broadened by the ISWGNA to include many activities that were hitherto excluded or at most seen as intermediate inputs.   Thanks to these reforms, financial intermediation, research and development, and the production of weapons all began to be counted within GDP data across the world. For example, in 1993 the income banks earned on interest from lending to households was included in GDP for the first time. And then in 2008, even bank money that had nothing to do with intermediation services began to be included.   Since western countries such as the UK and US have specialised in these activities in recent decades – the US is first in weapons and second in financial services and R&D, while the UK leads on financial services – the changes have disproportionately benefited their GDP numbers.’

US super-rich 'pay almost no income tax’

BBC 09.06.21

Rather than restructuring loopholes and demolishing them in order to serve a fairer world, authorities will go after the whistleblowers:

‘ProPublica says it has seen the tax returns of some of the world's richest people, including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett.  The website alleges Amazon's Mr Bezos paid no tax in 2007 and 2011, while Tesla's Mr Musk paid nothing in 2018.  A White House spokeswoman called the leak "illegal", and the FBI and tax authorities are investigating…  The website said that "using perfectly legal tax strategies, many of the uber-rich are able to shrink their federal tax bills to nothing or close to it" even as their wealth soared over the past few years.  The wealthy, as with many ordinary citizens, are able to reduce their income tax bills via such things as charitable donations and drawing money from investment income rather than wage income.  ProPublica, using data collected by Forbes magazine, said the wealth of the 25 richest Americans collectively jumped by $401bn from 2014 to 2018 - but they paid $13.6bn in income tax over those years.’

Google fined €220 million after being accused of ‘abuse of power’ by French antitrust regulator

The Independent 07.06.21

A good win for anti-trust policies:

‘Google has been hit with a €220 million fine in France, after being accused of abusing its power by the country’s antitrust regulator.  France’s competition authority accused Google of unfairly sending business to its own services, and discriminating against its rivals.  The company also agreed to alter its business practices in online advertising, the French antitrust watchdog said.  Isabelle De Silva, who heads the regulator, said that it was the first fine of its kind ever given out in the world. It focuses on the “complex algorithmic auction processes used for online display-advertising”, she said in a statement.’

‘Silicon Six’ tech giants accused of inflating tax payments by almost $100bn

The Guardian 31.05.21

Tax jurisdictions may end soon for tech giants. This is good news:

‘The giant US tech firms known as the “Silicon Six” have been accused of inflating their stated tax payments by almost $100bn (£70bn) over the past decade… It said they paid $96bn less in tax between 2011 and 2020 than the notional taxation figures they cite in their annual financial reports. . The six firms named handed over $149bn less to global tax authorities than would be expected if they had the paid headline rates where they operated, Fair Tax Foundation said. Overall, they paid $219bn in income tax over the past decade, 3.6% of their total revenue of more than $6tn. Income tax is paid on profits, but the researchers said the Silicon Six companies deliberately shift income to low-tax jurisdictions to pay less tax… Monaghan said Biden’s tax plans had “lit a fire” beneath the international debate on tax. “The Biden-Harris proposals would see many of the incentives underpinning profit-shifting to tax havens removed, and would see the very largest multinationals taxed not just on where subsidiary profits are booked, but where real economic value is derived.”’

9 New ‘Vaccine Billionaires’ Amass Combined Net Worth of $19.3 Billion During Pandemic

Children’s Health Defense 25.05.21

After the opioid boom, Big Pharma has entered a new lucrative market:

‘The author of the report, People’s Vaccine Alliance, said the pharmaceutical industry’s monopoly on COVID vaccines has generated a massive increase in wealth for a handful of people. In addition to the nine new “vaccine billionaires,” the coalition of health and humanitarian organizations, world leaders and economists said “eight existing billionaires — who have extensive portfolios in the COVID-19 vaccine pharma corporations — have seen their combined wealth increase by $32.2 billion.”’

Amazon wins $303 mln court fight in blow to EU tax crusade

REUTERS 12.05.21

Tax regulations must be dramatically altered when tackling tech giants:

‘Amazon (AMZN.O) won its fight against an EU order to pay about 250 million euros ($303 million) in back taxes to Luxembourg in a blow to competition chief Margrethe Vestager's crusade against preferential deals… Like Oxfam, EU lawmakers said there was a need for a systematic approach and urged the bloc to back U.S. President Joe Biden's call for a 21% minimum tax rate on multinationals. "Such a minimum tax rate would allow member states to reclaim lost tax revenues from Amazon in the future. This would put an end to Luxembourg's business model as tax haven," EU lawmaker Sven Giegold said in a statement. "At the same time, public country-by-country reporting must be introduced as soon as possible. Then large corporations will have to disclose their profits and taxes paid per country," Giegold said.’

Pfizer forecasts $26bn from annual sales of Covid-19 vaccine

The Guardian 04.05.21

Covid was good for Big Pharma:

‘On the back of the vaccine success, Pfizer now expects to generate total revenues of between $71bn and $73bn this year – it also produces drugs to treat diseases including ulcerative colitis, breast and prostate cancer – with the coronavirus jab alone accounting for $26bn of that sum. Adjusted earnings a share are forecast at $3.55 to $3.65.’

‘It’s just the beginning’: Covid push to digital boosts big tech profits

The Guardian 01.05.21

Share buybacks should never have been allowed:

‘Share price gains left the big tech companies at all-time highs (barring Apple, which has the consolation of being the most valuable company in history). The gains reflected widespread investor agreement with Nadella’s thesis that the pandemic push to digital will benefit big tech. The companies’ dominance is unprecedented in modern times… One extraordinary aspect of the last week was the scale of share buybacks. Apple’s $90bn return to shareholders alone would be enough to individually buy almost all of the FTSE 100’s supposed behemoths.’

AstraZeneca backs outlook as earnings, sales rise

MarketWatch 30.04.21

No doubt the profits will keep rising. I wonder whether the research development fund from the UK will get reimbursed:

‘AstraZeneca PLC said Friday that sales and earnings rose in the first quarter, and backed its 2021 outlook. The pharmaceutical giant said net profit rose to $1.56 billion from $780 million the year prior. Operating profit came in at $1.90 billion compared with $1.22 billion the previous year, while after-tax profit stood at $1.56 billion, up from $750 million, it said. Sales for the period climbed to $7.32 billion from $6.35 billion, the company said.’

Amazon hopes pandemic habits stick after profits triple

BBC 30.04.21

The big tech companies have done very well out of this crisis:

‘Amazon's are the latest blow-out results from Big Tech this week. Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google's parent firm Alphabet have all reported big sales increases a year after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Amazon group has continued to spread its reach into automated grocery stores, online healthcare services, even experimenting with a bricks-and-mortar hair and beauty salon in London. But its core offerings: online shopping with home delivery, media streaming and cloud-based web-services all flourished during a year of upheaval for other businesses. Revenue rose from $75bn (£54bn) this time last year to $108.5bn for the three months to the end of March.’

Government ‘wasted’ £38.4m on Test and Trace contract with Dubai-based multinational

The Independent 29.04.21

There will be much more reckoning as the cost of this pandemic reveals itself:

‘The government has been accused of wasting taxpayers’ money after a multinational company headquartered in Dubai was paid £38.4 million for a Test and Trace contract that was dropped soon after it had been awarded… The company, which provides services in almost 20 countries, was handed £38.4 million for equipment that it had already delivered to the UK, laboratory tests that had been “undertaken pending the execution of the contract” and “mobilisation costs”. It’s unknown if the £38.4 million figure covered the original costs agreed between the two parties on top of the reimbursement fees that were paid out by the government. An NHS head of procurement, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he suspected the government made upfront purchases for equipment and services that it didn’t later require, some of which were never delivered by Ecolog.’

BlackRock, Vanguard & Co – How the New Capitalist Players Are Acting Against Labour, Environment and International Law and How They Use the Corona-Pandemic

Strategic Culture 23.04.21

The de factor owners of global economies:

‘BlackRock Corporation is currently a co-owner or a shareholder, in 18,000 banks, companies, and financial service providers, primarily in the U.S. and Canada, in the European Union, and in Western-oriented nations. Such a numerous simultaneous presence of a single owner has never been seen before in the history of capitalism. Yet BlackRock is only the tip of the current, newly formed capitalist iceberg. The next largest capital organizers of this new kind are Vanguard, State Street, Capital Group, Amundi, Wellington, Fidelity, T Rowe Price, Pimco, Norges. BlackRock is exemplary for these currently determining players of US-led Western capitalism. Smaller new capital players with related, also hardly regulated business models such as private equity investors (“locusts”), hedge funds, investment banks and venture capitalists are also part of the current phase of the newly formed capitalism at the latest since the banking crisis of 2007 – they here are only briefly referred to…

BlackRock & Co are the determining shareholders of the large digital corporations Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and many others as soon as they stabilize their success. This also applies to such corporations as those in the automotive and logistics sectors that are developing self-driving cars, trucks and delivery drones with artificial intelligence, including Tesla, for example. Of course, this also applies to defense corporations. The management of the Corona pandemic by Western governments has further spurred the expansion of digital corporations by leaps and bounds, not least through government contracts for healthcare, public administration and government communications. BlackRock & Co are the first to benefit from this. Digitization with the help of artificial intelligence is also taking hold in finance. BlackRock & Co do not wait anxiously like traditional shareholders for the dividend decided and paid out at the end of the year. They take that too, but the much more lucrative business is the speculation with the shares that runs throughout the year. Every movement in the value of the stock – up or down – is used for speculation. The advantage that BlackRock is the biggest insider in the Western economy is increased by its subsidiary ALADDIN (Asset Liability and Debt Derivative Investment Network): This is the biggest collection and exploitation facility for financial, economic and political data. In the nano-second range, the values of all shares and other securities on all stock exchanges in the world are simultaneously recorded, compared with each other and evaluated, bought, sold in a largely robotized manner’.

Fifth of UK Covid contracts ‘raised red flags for possible corruption’

The Guardian 22.04.21

Cronyism flourishes in the UK under Covid:

‘One in five government Covid contracts awarded between February and November 2020 contained one or more red flags for possible corruption and require urgent further investigation, a respected campaign group has warned… The group said it had identified 73 Covid-related contracts with multiple factors that would ordinarily be treated as red flags for possible corruption, such as the company being politically connected. Twenty-seven PPE or testing contracts worth £2.1bn were awarded to firms with connections to the Conservative party, it claimed. The group said it had also identified £255m of contracts awarded to companies that had only been incorporated within the previous 60 days. The figure is surprising because the short lifespan of the companies suggests they cannot have had any track record of actual business. Many of the contracts were awarded without competitive tender. The government has acknowledged suspending tender processes for Covid procurement, arguing that the urgency of the pandemic required it to move more quickly than a tender process would allow. The report, Track and Trace, is compiled by researchers working for the UK chapter of the international organisation Transparency International.’

Serco brazens out Covid calamity as the profits roll in

The Guardian 18.04.21

The UK is a great place to remove accountability from profiteering. If you belong to the the ‘club’ you fear no reprisals:

‘The outsourcing company will be winning no popularity prizes any time soon, not least because of its role in the UK’s expensive test-and-trace programme. The National Audit Office said there was no evidence the £22bn programme had reduced rates of Covid-19 in England. Serco chief executive Rupert Soames, a grandson of Winston Churchill whose brother is former Conservative MP Nicholas Soames, has staunchly defended his company’s role, and said the test and trace team had done “bloody well”.'

China fines Alibaba record $2.75 billion for anti-monopoly violations

REUTERS 10.04.21

China makes certain that no Amazon-like monopoly is created within the country:

‘China slapped a record 18 billion yuan ($2.75 billion) fine on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Saturday, after an anti-monopoly probe found the e-commerce giant had abused its dominant market position for several years.’

US threatens tariffs on UK exports over digital services tax

The Guardian 29.03.21

The US is threatening anyone who dares impose taxes on giant tech companies:

‘The Biden administration has warned it could slap 25% tariffs on British exports to the US after the UK levied a digital services tax on major technology companies…  The duties are designed to raise $325m – equal to estimates of how much Britain can expect to raise from taxing the UK sales of Amazon, Google, Facebook, eBay and other tech companies, most of them based in the US…  Brought in last April, the digital services tax levies a 2% charge on the revenues of search engines, social media services and online marketplaces.  Tech companies will continue to pay corporation tax on their UK profits but with most profits depressed by royalty and management fees charged by parent companies abroad – a mechanism known as transfer pricing – the Treasury is expected to keep the tax in place.  At the budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility calculated the new tax would raise £300m in the current financial year, before rising to £400m in 2021-22.’

In 2020 the ultra-rich got richer. Now they're bracing for the backlash

REUTERS 25.03.21

The Covid pandemic has made billionaires reach stratospheric wealth:

‘Nearly two-thirds of the world’s billionaire class amassed greater fortunes in 2020, according to Forbes, with the biggest gainers reaching unprecedented levels of wealth, helped by the trillions of dollars in recovery money from policymakers.  Forbes, which tracks publicly known fortunes, estimated billionaires had gotten 20% richer in 2020 by mid-December.  Many enjoyed investment opportunities off-limits to ordinary retail investors, capitalising on market volatility with short-term derivative trades, according to Maximilian Kunkel, UBS’s chief investment officer for wealthy family offices…  

Henley & Partners, a global citizenship and residence advisory firm based in London, said inquiries from high-net-worth individuals seeking to relocate had jumped during the pandemic. The number of calls from U.S.-based clients surged 206% in 2020 from the prior year, for example, while calls from Brazil rose 156%.  For many in emerging countries, fears that strains on public services could lead to civil unrest have prompted younger generations of wealthy families particularly to seek opportunities abroad.  “COVID just basically took the clothes off the Emperor, and all of a sudden, people started to realize: our healthcare system is not strong, our social safety net is really not available,” said Beatriz Sanchez, head of Latin America at global wealth manager Julius Baer… “We’re at a moment, you might say, after four years of celebrating inequality, people are saying that wasn’t exactly the right answer,” said Nobel Laureate and Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz, referring to the U.S. Trump administration reducing taxation for the rich.’

Big Tech, Big Cash: Washington’s New Power Players

Public Citizen 24.03.21

What in the good old days would have been called bribes, now it’s ‘lobbying’:

‘Here are the key findings of this report:  Facebook and Amazon are now the two biggest corporate lobbying spenders in the country.[9]  Big Tech has eclipsed yesterday’s big lobbying spenders, Big Oil and Big Tobacco. In 2020, Amazon and Facebook spent nearly twice as much as Exxon and Philip Morris on lobbying.  During the 2020 election cycle, Big Tech spent $124 million in lobbying and campaign contributions –– breaking its own records from past election cycles.  Amazon and Facebook drove most of this growth. From the years of 2018-2020, Amazon increased spending by 30% while Facebook added an astounding 56% to its Washington investment.  The four Big Tech companies recruited more lobbyists into their army, increasing its ranks by 40 new lobbyists, from 293 in 2018 to 333 in 2020.[10]  Big Tech PACs, lobbyists, and employees contributed over 33% more in the 2020 election cycle than they did in the 2018 cycle, for an increase of over $4 million in funds, and a total of nearly $16.5 million in contributions to the election cycle. This marks the greatest cycle-over-cycle increase in campaign contributions from Big Tech in the ten-year span Public Citizen reviewed.  

Big Tech’s lobbyists are not just numerous, they are also among the most influential in Washington. Among the 10 lobbyists who were the biggest contributors to the 2020 election cycle, half lobby on behalf of at least one of the four Big Tech companies. Together, just these five lobbyists contributed over $2 million to the 2020 elections.  Nearly all (94%) members of Congress with jurisdiction over privacy and antitrust issues have received money from a Big Tech corporate PAC or lobbyist. In total, just in 2020, Big Tech PACs and lobbyists have contributed about $3.2 million to lawmakers tasked with regulating them…  As Brad Smith of Microsoft indicated in the comment at the beginning of this report, Big Tech’s political spending makes a huge difference, more than our democracy can tolerate. We urgently need both solutions directed at offsetting Big Tech’s undue political influence and more systemic approaches to the problem of Big Money dominance of our political system.’

Serco's top two executives handed £7.4m in pay for 2020

The Guardian 10.03.21

The UK’s favourite outsourcing firm has reaped amazing financial rewards since the pandemic and has delivered very little:

‘The two top executives at Serco, one of the companies behind the government’s much-criticised £37bn test-and-trace scheme, were handed pay of £7.4m for 2020, including bonuses worth £5.5m…  Details of the awards came on the day that the government’s spending watchdog said there was no evidence that the government’s test-and-trace programme in England had contributed to a reduction in coronavirus infection levels.  The government has already spent £22bn on the scheme, and Rishi Sunak’s budget last week included an additional £15bn for test and trace, taking the total bill to more than £37bn over two years – equal to £550 for every man, woman and child in the UK.  Serco is among the firms that work on the service, staffing testing sites and call centres. It revealed last month that it had enjoyed a £400m revenue boost from Covid-19 work.’

Frist Family Lead Pandemic Profiteer Parade in Health Sector

Institute for Policy Studies 08.03.21

This pandemic has created serious wealth for the health industry and others, mainly in the tech sector:

‘The Frist family of Tennessee are the founders and biggest shareholders of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), the largest for-profit hospital conglomerate in the U.S.  Thomas F. Frist Jr. and his family have seen their personal wealth increase from $7.5 billion on March 18, 2020 to $15.6 billion on March 8, 2021, an increase of $8.1 billion or 108 percent, according to an analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies…  U.S. billionaires have seen their wealth increase $1.3 trillion, or 44 percent, over the 11 months since the beginning of the pandemic lockdowns in March 2020, according to an analysis by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). The combined wealth of 660 U.S. billionaires now tops $4.2 trillion.  For perspective, the $4.2 trillion in wealth is nearly double the collective $2.4 trillion in wealth held by the entire bottom half of American society, or 165 million people.’

Is big tech now just too big to stomach?

The Guardian 06.02.21

It seems huge but a simple ban on overseas subsidiaries and offshore companies will knock these tax dodges on the head.  Also a repeal of shares’ buyback laws would go a long way in stopping share price inflation:

‘The extraordinary size of these companies can be difficult to comprehend. Alphabet’s  $162bn of revenues outweighed the size of Hungary’s economy in 2019.  Apple’s $67bn earnings before tax from its last financial year would pay for the UK government’s combined spending on defence and transport.  Amazon’s army of workers worldwide now numbers 1.2 million and it is rated the third biggest employer in the world, after Walmart and the China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation. A late (and perhaps debatable) entrant to the big tech ranks is Tesla. Investors appear to be valuing the US electric car manufacturer more like a tech platform, in the hope it will use its brand and nascent autonomous driving software to dominate transportation in the future…  The rise of big tech has created the biggest personal fortunes ever seen, and a new class of hyper-rich: the centibillionaires. Almost all of that wealth comes from shares retained by founders of the business.’

Mega-rich recoup COVID-losses in record-time yet billions will live in poverty for at least a decade

Oxfam 25.01.21

The global population is on its knees whilst the 1% proper:

'‘The Inequality Virus’ is being published on the opening day of the World Economic Forum’s ‘Davos Agenda’...  Oxfam’s report shows how the rigged economic system is enabling a super-rich elite to amass wealth in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression while billions of people are struggling to make ends meet…  Billionaires fortunes rebounded as stock markets recovered despite continued recession in the real economy. Their total wealth hit $11.95 trillion in December 2020, equivalent to G20 governments’ total COVID-19 recovery spending.’

A Guardian columnist suggests that surtax is the answer to level the field.

Ten billionaires reap $400bn boost to wealth during pandemic

The Guardian 19.12.20

Absolutely sickening:

‘The extra wealth accumulated by the 10 men – approximately $450bn, using Forbes figures – over the past nine months is more than the £284bn the British government is estimated to have spent on tackling the pandemic and the economic damage it has wrought on its 66 million people.  In a related report, the campaign group Americans for Tax Fairness estimates the collective wealth of America’s 651 billionaires has risen by $1.1tn over the same period. Frank Clemente of Americans for Tax Fairness said:
“Their pandemic profits are so immense that America’s billionaires could pay for a major Covid relief bill and still not lose a dime of their pre-virus riches. Their wealth growth is so great that they alone could provide a $3,000 stimulus payment to every man, woman and child in the country, and still be richer than they were nine months ago.”’

UN warns new water futures may spark bubble for vital resource

BNNBloomberg 11.12.20

Everyone’s human right to be traded on the stock exchange.  How seriously flawed is this?:

‘The United Nations said Wall Street’s new water futures risk an essential public good being treated like gold and oil, leaving the market vulnerable to a speculative bubble.  CME Group Inc.’s new contract -- which debuted this week -- could lure interest from hedge funds and banks alongside farmers, factories and utilities looking to lock in prices, said Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. That risks a price run-up for a resource that “belongs to everyone” and is a vital tool in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.  “The news that water is to be traded on Wall Street futures market shows that the value of water, as a basic human right, is now under threat,” Arrojo-Agudo said in a statement. “It is closely tied to all of our lives and livelihoods, and is an essential component to public health.”’

French watchdog fines Google 100 million euros for breaching cookies rules

REUTERS 10.12.20

Nice!:

‘France’s data privacy watchdog has handed out its biggest ever fine of 100 million euros ($121 million) to Alphabet’s Google for breaching the country’s rules on online advertising trackers (cookies).  The CNIL said in a statement on Thursday it had also fined U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon 35 million euros for breaching the same rules.  The regulator found the French websites of Google and Amazon didn’t seek the prior consent of visitors before advertising cookies were saved on computers, it said in a statement.’

Netflix to start declaring £1bn-plus UK revenues to HMRC

The Guardian 28.11.20

New tax measures may have a cascading effect on tech giants’ profitability:

‘The TaxWatch thinktank estimated that in that year the company moved between £250m and £330m in profits from international operations outside the US, including the UK, to low-tax jurisdictions such as the Netherlands.  “As Netflix continues to grow in the UK and in other international markets we want our corporate structure to reflect this footprint,” said a company spokesman. “So from next year, revenue generated in the UK will be recognised in the UK, and we will pay corporate income tax accordingly”…  On Wednesday, the French tax authorities demanded that US tech companies including Facebook and Amazon started paying France’s new digital services tax to counter the relatively small amount paid on profits.’

Amazon tells India regulator its partner Future Retail is misleading public

REUTERS 31.10.20

Can’t believe that the main judicial objection is that Amazon wouldn’t be the main operator in India:

‘Amazon says the Future-Reliance deal means the U.S. giant will lose the prospect of becoming the single largest shareholder of the Indian retailer, which has an “irreplaceable and widespread network” of more than 1,500 retail stores.’

How teenagers ended up operating crucial parts of England’s test and trace system

The Guardian 28.10.20

A galactic cockup is exactly what this government has been presenting:

‘The government has so far spent £12bn on test and trace. But, as a result of catastrophic mismanagement, it might as well have flushed this money down the toilet, as tracing has failed to reach the critical threshold (roughly 80% of contacts) needed to reduce the infection rate. Last week, after a further fall, the figure stood at just under 60%… We know that billions have been spent on untendered contracts with private corporations, but much of the money dispensed so far is untraceable. It has been reported that, of the pandemic spending by the DHSC, an estimated £3bn is missing from public accounts. The Good Law Project is suing to discover how and by whom the money was spent. I keep thinking of George Best’s response when asked what happened to his fortune: “I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars – the rest I just squandered.”  At the same time, the NHS is so underfunded that it is now asking volunteers to fill critical positions. A recent series of advertisements called for applicants for the posts of project manager, lead data warehouse developer and business analyst to work unpaid, on contracts that would usually offer between £450 and £550 a day.  People ask me, “is this a cockup or a conspiracy?”. The correct answer is both. The government is using the pandemic to shift the boundaries between public and private provision, restructure public health and pass lucrative contracts to poorly qualified private companies. The inevitable result is a galactic cockup. This is what you get from a government that values money above human life.’

Big tech accused of avoiding $2.8bn in tax to poorest countries

The Guardian 26.10.20

If tax loopholes exist, they will be used:

‘Big US technology companies are exploiting loopholes in global tax rules to avoid paying as much as $2.8bn (£2.1bn) tax a year in developing countries, according to research by the anti-poverty charity ActionAid International…  There is no suggestion that the tech firms are breaking the rules or actively evading tax. ActionAid said the potential taxes are being lost due to world leaders’ failure to implement global standards on tax that would force multinational companies to pay more tax in the countries where they generate their income.  “Little is known about how much tax these companies are currently paying in developing countries, as they are still not required to publicly disclose this information,” ActionAid said. “This research shows, however, that billions could be at stake in the long overdue reform of international corporate taxation – enough to transform underfunded health and education systems in some of the world’s poorest countries.”’

The 8th wonder of the world

The Verge 19.10.20

Empty promises in return for huge financial support.  How lies perpetuate themselves in promising a brighter future with no delivery:

‘Hopes were high among the employees who joined Foxconn’s Wisconsin project in the summer of 2018. In June, President Donald Trump had broken ground on an LCD factory he called “the eighth wonder of the world.” The scale of the promise was indeed enormous: a $10 billion investment from the Taiwanese electronics giant, a 20 million-square-foot manufacturing complex, and, most importantly, 13,000 jobs…  But for Foxconn, the show went on — for two years, the company, aided by the vocal support of the Wisconsin GOP, worked to maintain an illusion of progress in front of a business venture that never made economic sense.   That illusion has had real costs. State and local governments spent at least $400 million, largely on land and infrastructure Foxconn will likely never need. Residents were pushed from their homes under threat of eminent domain and dozens of houses bulldozed to clear property Foxconn doesn’t know what to do with.’

Amazon to escape UK digital services tax that will hit smaller traders

The Guardian 14.10.20

Amazon gets away scot-free:

‘Amazon will not have to pay the UK’s new digital services tax on products it sells directly to consumers but small traders who sell products on its site will face increased charges.  The tax, which aims to get tech companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook to pay more tax in the UK, is forecast to eventually bring in about £500m annually to the exchequer.  Amazon has already stated that the 2% tax on revenues made in the UK will be passed on to sellers but it will not be adding the charge to the cost of advertising on its platform. ‘

Palantir expected to be valued as much as $22bn in market debut next week

The Guardian 25.09.20

I wouldn’t be too sure it’s overvalued as it’s got dirty and shady dealings in loads of countries:

'The sale will be a direct listing, an alternative to a traditional initial public offering in which bankers underwrite new shares to raise capital.  Instead, no new shares are issued and current investors, including the billionaire Peter Thiel, will be able to place their shares on the open market when trading begins. The sale has raised questions about Palantir’s valuation: this month, the research firm PitchBook valued Palantir at $8.8bn, less than half what bankers anticipate will be its opening, or reference, price…  The company, which was founded in 2003 and named for the all-seeing stones in JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, has other mysterious qualities: one of its first customers was In-Q-Tel, the venture investing arm of the CIA.  Palantir has also been a target of criticism over the use of its predictive surveillance technology by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency to assist in deportations as well as by a handful of domestic and international law enforcement agencies.  Aside from the CIA, Palantir’s US client list has included the FBI, the NSA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the marine corps, the air force, Special Operations Command, West Point and the IRS. According to a 2017 Guardian report, Palantir helped convict Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff.’

The big problem with Operation Moonshot? False positives

WIRED 11.09.20

When government cronies are the ones who would profit from this ‘pandemic’:

‘On September 9, prime minister Boris Johnson announced the government’s landmark Operation Moonshot programme, which aims to deliver up to ten million tests a day – covering nearly a sixth of the entire population – and return results within as little as 20 minutes. Coming at a cost of a reported £100bn, just shy of the entire annual budget for the NHS, it has the twin aims of boosting economic activity, and avoiding a second national lockdown. But without better tests, it could end up creating more problems than it solves… The government has stated that the onus will be on the private sector in order to achieve these milestones, with GSK responsible for supplying tests, Serco and G4S for logistics and warehousing, and AstraZeneca for laboratory capacity. However a quick glance across the English Channel illustrates that the logistical challenge is not so much achieving a set number of tests, but having the ability to process them all quickly.’

Apple terminates 'Fortnite' creator's App Store account as lawsuit proceeds

REUTERS 28.08.20

An epic battle between Apple and Fortnite rests on securing profits from the game-maker for purchases (30%):

‘Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said on Friday it had terminated “Fortnite” creator Epic Games’ account on its App Store amid a legal battle over the iPhone maker’s in-app payment guidelines and accusations they constitute a monopoly…  Apple pulled Epic after the popular games creator implemented a feature to let iPhone users make in-app purchases directly, rather than using Apple’s in-app purchase system, which charges commissions of 30%.   Apple had said it would allow “Fortnite” back into the store if Epic removed the direct payment feature. But Epic refused on Thursday, saying complying with Apple’s request would be “to collude with Apple to maintain their monopoly over in-app payments on iOS.”’ 

U.S. big tech dominates stock market after monster rally, leaving investors on edge

REUTERS 28.08.20

Obscene gains for the big five and when accused of anti-trust competition they say they compete against each other!:

‘The combined value of the S&P 500’s five biggest companies - Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) - now stands at more than $7 trillion, accounting for almost 25% of the index’s market capitalization. That compares with less than 20% pre-pandemic… “These few behemoths dominate their industry and can set the rules of the global economy,” said U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat who has been outspoken about antitrust issues. “This kind of concentrated power is always dangerous.”   The opposition is a worry for investors hoping the companies will continue delivering robust growth that justifies their valuations.   Amazon said it operates in a “fiercely competitive” market, citing U.S. Census Bureau data that only about 10% of U.S. retail sales occur online.  Apple declined comment. The company previously said it competes vigorously against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) and other Android device makers in the smart phone markets.  Alphabet declined comment. It previously said it competes with Amazon, Microsoft, Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O), AT&T Inc (T.N) and many others.’ 

Facebook wins preliminary approval to settle facial recognition lawsuit

REUTERS 20.08.20

The more the lawsuits against illegal pilfering of data, the stronger the message against these tech giants:

'Facebook Inc won preliminary approval late on Wednesday from a federal court for settlement of a lawsuit that claimed it illegally collected and stored biometric data of millions of users without their consent.   The social media company had in July raised its settlement offer by $100 million to $650 million in relation to the lawsuit, in which Illinois users accused it of violating the U.S. state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act…  Facebook allegedly violated the state’s law through its “Tag Suggestions” feature, which allowed users to recognize their Facebook friends from previously uploaded photos, according to the lawsuit, which began in 2015.   The company has recently faced criticism from lawmakers and regulators over its privacy practices. Last year, it agreed to pay a record $5 billion fine to settle a Federal Trade Commission data privacy probe.’ 

Apple surpasses $2 TRILLION, doubling in value in TWO years. It’s INSANE, amid the worst depression ever, and it will end badly

RT 19.08.20

Has Apply buyback share scheme help propel it to such inflationary heights?  Totally obscene market values on display:

‘Apple is a terrific company. They make excellent products, and Apple makes profits. Over the past ten years, Apple has spent nearly 300 billion dollars buying back its shares, which gives an illusion that it is more profitable than it is. Central banks like the Swiss National Bank have been buying Apple shares…  Apple is the most significant component of the NASDAQ 100 index with 13.6 percent share, Bill Gates’s Microsoft is around 11.2 percent, Jeff Bezos’ Amazon is 11 percent, Brin/Page’s Google 7.2 percent, Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook is approximately 4.3 percent, St. Elon Musk's Tesla, 3.4 percent. To be crystal clear, all of these companies are grossly overvalued at today's prices…  

No article on an outrageous technology bubble would be complete without mentioning Elon Musk's Tesla. Tesla shares are up 39 percent over the last week, 136 percent in the previous 90 days, and 745 percent over the last 52 weeks. St. Elon will ‘earn’ a $10-billion bonus this year alone, and his holdings in Tesla have surged 75 billion dollars in the past year. Not bad, considering Tesla makes no profits, uses creative accounting, receives massive government subsidies, and sells "business-as-usual carbon credits.” Tesla will be the Harvard business school case study in bubbles and irrational exuberance.’ 

Tim Cook is now a billionaire, but not the Jeff Bezos kind

The Verge 10.08.20

Obscene figures of wealth in the age of vile corporate dominance:

‘A new analysis by Bloomberg finds that the net worth of Apple CEO Tim Cook has passed the $1 billion mark, officially making him a billionaire. It’s certainly an impressive number, but assuming it’s just over $1 billion, he’s got a long way to go before he catches up to the other CEOs on the Bloomberg Billionaires list. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, tops the list at $187 billion, followed by former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates at $121 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook at $102 billion. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is only No. 10 on the list, but even he is well ahead of Cook at $68.7 billion.  Yes, these are obscene amounts of money, and it’s difficult to comprehend how wealthy Bezos is (especially during a pandemic with a 10 percent unemployment rate and evaporating economic relief). Who cares? It’s a bunch of rich guys getting richer, right? Well, these are the guys — and the list is overwhelmingly men; the first woman on the list is Alice Walton at No. 16, with $57.1 billion — who run the world’s most valuable companies and influence our lives in myriad ways. As reporter Kashmir Hill has documented, it’s nearly impossible to completely extricate oneself from the economy that Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple have built.’

Australia unveils plan to force Google and Facebook to pay for news

BBC 31.07.20

This may level out the playing field:

‘The Australian government has unveiled its plan to force tech giants such as Google and Facebook to pay news outlets for their content.  Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the "world-leading" draft code of conduct aimed to give publishers "a level playing field to ensure a fair go”.  Many news outlets have shut or shed jobs this year amid falling profits.  Facebook and Google strongly oppose the proposal, even suggesting they could walk away from Australia's news market.  Mr Frydenberg said the code of conduct - drafted by Australia's competition regulator - would be debated by parliament.  It could impose "substantial penalties" worth hundreds of millions of dollars on tech companies which fail to comply, he said.’

Tech giants' shares soar as companies benefit from Covid-19 pandemic

The Guardian 30.07.20

And the winners of this pandemic are …:

‘Tech giants Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google released results on Thursday that showed just how richly the sector has benefited from the coronavirus pandemic, sending their already sky-high share prices soaring in after-hours trading…  Thursday’s results came a day after the tech companies were accused by Congress of wielding “too much power” in a historic committee hearing. The complaints against the tech giants were varied, but centered around criticisms that they have used their dominant position to quash rivals and overcharge the people and businesses reliant on their services.’

Apple and Ireland win appeal against €13bn EU tax bill

The Independent 15.07.20 

Apple wins at court, for now:

‘Apple and Ireland have won a court appeal over a €13.1bn (£11.9bn) bill in back taxes that the EU had said the iPhone maker owed… The commission was “wrong to declare” Dublin had granted Apple “a selective economic advantage and, by extension, state aid”, the EU’s second-highest court said. The ruling added the commission “did not succeed in showing to the requisite legal standard that there was an advantage”.  Welcoming the decision, Apple said: “This case was not about how much tax we pay, but where we are required to pay it. We’re proud to be the largest taxpayer in the world as we know the important role tax payments play in society.”’

Crunch time for Apple in fight against $15 billion EU tax order

REUTERS 15.07.20

Sweet tax deals for tech companies threaten to disturb governments when the crunch comes in:

‘Apple’s clash with EU competition regulators comes to a head on Wednesday as Europe’s second-highest court rules on whether it has to pay 13 billion euros ($15 billion) in Irish back taxes, a key part of the EU’s crackdown against sweetheart tax deals…  If Ireland’s appeal succeeds, the government will be ridiculed by opposition parties for not taking the cash, which could cover at least half of a budget deficit forecast to balloon to as much as 10% of GDP this year.   Should Ireland lose, the government will be castigated by the same politicians for launching the appeal. A ruling in favour of the Commission could also raise questions about the application of Ireland’s tax code at a sensitive time, when new global rules for taxing digital giants are being debated.’ 

Multinational companies are calling out injustice everywhere—except in China

QUARTZ 08.07.20

When appearing to be on the side of morals whilst ignoring ignominious practices because it would hurt your wallet:

‘William Nee, the business and human rights strategy advisor and analyst at Amnesty International, said he wasn’t surprised that companies standing behind the Black Lives Matter movement were not vocal about rights abuses in China. “Clearly, these companies know that Beijing will retaliate fiercely against any criticism of their policies, and there is not a big domestic audience in China who will reward them for their progressive stance either,” he said.’

'We've bought the wrong satellites': UK tech gamble baffles experts

The Guardian 26.06.20

A lot of money spent for useless satellites:

‘The UK government’s plan to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in a satellite broadband company has been described as “nonsensical” by experts, who say the company doesn’t even make the right type of satellite the country needs after Brexit.  The investment in OneWeb, first reported on Thursday night, is intended to mitigate against the UK losing access to the EU’s Galileo satellite navigation system.  But OneWeb – in which the UK will own a 20% stake following the investment – currently operates a completely different type of satellite network from that typically used to run such navigation systems.’

OneWeb: UK to bid hundreds of millions for share of collapsed satellite firm after pulling out of EU project

The Independent 26.06.20

Sure, let’s increase UK’s debt to acquire satellites.  Everyone’s doing it, right?:

‘The government is set to spend hundreds of millions of pounds in a part-purchase deal for struggling US satellite firm OneWeb, it has been reported.  The UK had found itself in need of access to a satellite navigation system after Brexit barred the nation from utilising elements of the European Union’s Galileo project.  Now, the nation is expected to put forward £500m towards OneWeb, a low level satellite company that filed for bankruptcy in March due to the impact of the coronavirus, the Financial Times reports.’

Visualizing Tech Giants’ Billion-Dollar Acquisitions

CBInsights 05.05.20

A lot of money being bandied around - a useful guide to see each tech giant’s direction:

‘Our graphic shows every billion-dollar acquisition made by Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Apple, from Facebook's $22B purchase of WhatsApp to Microsoft's recent $1.4B bet on 5G cloud specialist Affirmed Networks.  Over the last 3 decades, the FAMGA tech giants — Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Apple — have collectively made 770 acquisitions. Even amid the Covid-19 pandemic, some have continued to write checks, with Apple being the most active acquirer in 2020 to date among them.’

Zoom sees sales boom amid pandemic

BBC 03.06.20

The pandemic has enabled a stratospheric growth for the company:

‘When the lockdowns started, Zoom lifted the limits for the free version of its software in China and for educators in many countries, including the UK, helping to drive its popularity.  But the firm's bread and butter customers are corporate clients, who pay for subscriptions and enhanced features.  Zoom said on Tuesday that sales jumped 169% year-on-year in the three months to 30 April to $328.2m, as it added more than 180,000 customers with more than 10 employees since January - far more than it had expected.  It also turned a profit of $27m in the quarter - more than it made in all of the prior financial year.’

Exclusive: Volkswagen in final talks to seal biggest M&A deals in China EV sector - sources

REUTERS 27.05.20

That’s bound to anger the US:

‘The firm is poised to buy 50% of Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Holding, the parent of EV partner JAC Motors (600418.SS), for at least 3.5 billion yuan ($491 million), the people said on condition of anonymity as the matter was private.  It is also set to become the biggest shareholder of EV battery maker Guoxuan High-tech Co Ltd (002074.SZ), the people said, adding both deals could be announced as early as Friday.’ 

Stop censoring us, Big Tech! Joe Rogan’s $100 million move to Spotify sends stark message to YouTube

RT 21.05.20

By censoring content to please advertisers, YouTube may be losing capital:

‘In the years to come, Rogan’s move to Spotify will come to be seen as a landmark moment in the history of the media. Having seen earning potential, a slew of content creators are likely to begin shifting away from YouTube while it continues to pander to the old media giants. YouTube is watched by younger people in search of something fresh, whereas the average age of Fox and CNN viewers is north of 60. If YouTube wants to hang on to its stellar talent it needs to stop trying to force its California liberal West Coast values onto its viewers and stay true to its original mission, “Broadcast Yourself”.’

California officials reject subsidies for Musk's SpaceX over Tesla spat

REUTERS 15.05.20

SpaceX has the highest injection of money already.  Why ask for more?:

‘A California state panel on Friday rejected a request from Elon Musk’s SpaceX for $655,500 in state job and training funds, citing the chief executive’s recent threats to move Tesla, the electric carmaker that he also runs, out of the state.   The snub comes as Musk has sparred with officials in Alameda County over his plans to resume production at the Tesla plant there, which was stopped because of the coronavirus.’ 

Coronavirus: Amazon to stop its hazard pay increase for frontline employees at end of May

The Independent 14.05.20

With Jeff Bezos soon to become a trillionaire, this is downright stingy:

'Amazon will drop its hazard pay raise for frontline staff at the end of May, despite warehouse workers saying it's too soon.   The e-commerce giant announced in mid-March it would give its workers an increased pay of $2 per hour, among other benefits, as it worked to keep its warehouses open during the coronavirus pandemic…  

"Two weeks of extra pay isn't close to what we need," Monica Moody, an Amazon warehouse worker in Charlotte, North Carolina, said in a statement, according to Bloomberg. "At a minimum, hazard pay should be extended for the entire length of this pandemic. If we are putting our lives at risk to pack and deliver Amazon packages, we deserve to be paid for it.”  Corporate employees also spoke out against the company for allegedly attempting to silence workers who protested about poor work conditions and benefits.’ 

Naomi Klein: How big tech plans to profit from the pandemic

The Guardian 13.05.20

Naomi Klein on new technology’s usurping of fundamental societal needs:

‘Tech provides us with powerful tools, but not every solution is technological. And the trouble with outsourcing key decisions about how to “reimagine” our states and cities to men such as Bill Gates and Schmidt is that they have spent their lives demonstrating the belief that there is no problem that technology cannot fix.  For them, and many others in Silicon Valley, the pandemic is a golden opportunity to receive not just the gratitude, but the deference and power that they feel has been unjustly denied.’

Intel set to buy Israeli co Moovit for $1b

Globes 03.05.20

Data is the new petrol:

‘Intel Corp. (Nasadq: INTL) is set to acquire Israeli company Moovit for about $1 billion. The company has developed a public transport and mobility journey planner app. Intel Capital, the venture capital investment arm of Intel, is one of the shareholders in Moovit… Shashua said, "With significant investments in automated driving, mobility management platforms and smart infrastructure, Intel is at the forefront of a fundamental transformation of urban mobility. We’re working with some of the most innovative transit companies, municipalities and transit authorities to build critical foundational technologies for this transformation. Moovit is one of the world’s leaders in public transit data and analytics. The combination of Mobileye’s and Moovit’s technology and data will be instrumental in making cities ready for autonomous vehicles.”'

Amazon reportedly accessed third-party seller data to develop private-label products

The Verge 23.04.20

Stealing is a sure way to increase your market presence/share:

‘Amazon employees have accessed sales data from independent Marketplace sellers to help the company develop competing private-label products, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal... One former employee told the WSJ they knew they were violating the policies:  “We knew we shouldn’t,” said one former employee who accessed the data and described a pattern of using it to launch and benefit Amazon products. “But at the same time, we are making Amazon branded products, and we want them to sell.”’

Amazon given €294m in tax credits as European revenues jump to €32bn

The Guardian 21.04.20

Something is very wrong with this picture.  And 2% just doesn’t cut it:

‘Amazon received €294m (£258m) in tax credits last year that it can deduct from future bills for its European business, as revenues at the online retailer rose significantly to €32bn.  The company said it received the tax credits because it made a loss last year due to its investment programme and the highly competitive retail environment across Europe and the UK… The UK government has set out plans to impose a 2% digital services tax on the UK revenues – not just profits – of online companies including Google, Facebook and Amazon to address the issue.’

Coronavirus: Amazon extends closure of French warehouses

BBC 19.04.20

Rather than risk a $1 million fine per day, Amazon closes all six warehouses in France:

‘Amazon workers have raised concerns about their health and working conditions in Europe as well as in the US, claiming it is almost impossible to practice social distancing.  The company says its guidelines are adequate and that it provides employees with face masks.  On  Tuesday, a court ruled that it must limit deliveries while an investigation takes place into whether it is taking sufficient precautions to protect its staff.  It followed legal action by the French union group Solidaires Unitaires Démocratiques (Sud), which claimed that more than 100 Amazon employees were forced to work in close proximity to each other.  The court said Amazon had "failed to recognise its obligations regarding the security and health of its workers".   The company could have been fined €1m ($1.1m; £0.87m) per day if it had failed to comply.’

Amazon closes French warehouses after court ruling on coronavirus

The Guardian 16.04.20

Amazon told to shut its warehouses so that hygienic measures get put in place:

‘Amazon has ordered the temporary closure of all six of its French distribution centres, a day after a French court ruled that it was not doing enough to protect workers from the coronavirus pandemic.  The company said in a statement: “This week we are requesting employees of our distribution centres to stay at home. In the longer term we will evaluate the impact of that [court] decision for them and our French logistic network.”  Amazon’s French warehouses are to be shut down for five days from Thursday for a deep clean and to “take all the necessary measures to guarantee the health and safety of staff”, the company said. Management said the 10,000 full- and part-time staff would continue to be paid.  Amazon France also said it was appealing against Tuesday’s emergency ruling, which requires the company to stop selling non-essential goods for a month while it works out new worker safety measures.'

Amazon reaps $11,000-a-second coronavirus lockdown bonanza

The Guardian 14.04.20

Measures of surveillance rolled out across the world.  This pandemic has proven to be a god-send for voyeuristic governments:

‘Governments in at least 25 countries are employing vast programmes for mobile data tracking, apps to record personal contact with others, CCTV networks equipped with facial recognition, permission schemes to go outside and drones to enforce social isolation regimes.  The methods have been adopted by authoritarian states and democracies alike and have opened lucrative new markets for companies that extract, sell, and analyse private data. One of the world’s foremost experts on mobile phone surveillance said the pandemic had created a “9/11 on steroids” that could lead to grave abuses of power.’

Coronavirus: Huawei urges UK not to make 5G U-turn after pandemic

BBC 13.04.20

Anti-Chinese sentiments are growing:

‘In January, the UK government approved a limited role for Huawei in building the country's new data networks.  But in March, a backbench rebellion within the Conservative party signalled efforts to overturn the move… 

Huawei says it has been working with partners like BT, Vodafone and EE to deal with the growth and has also set up three new warehouses around the country to ensure spare parts stay in supply.   Mr Zhang also says the current crisis has highlighted how many people, especially in rural communities, are "stuck in a digital slow lane". And he warns that excluding Huawei from a future role in 5G would be a mistake.  "There are those who choose to continue to attack us without presenting any evidence," he writes. "Disrupting our involvement in the 5G rollout would do Britain a disservice.”  The government has banned Huawei from the most sensitive parts of the UK's mobile networks, and limited it to 35% of the periphery, which includes its radio masts.  But critics argue it is a security risk to allow the Chinese company to play any role at all because of fears it could be used by Beijing to spy on or even sabotage communications ‘

These are the trade-offs we make when we depend on billionaires to save us

Vox 07.04.20

Following Jack Dorsey’s $1 billion offering for post-pandemic efforts, the question to be asked is why should there be so many billionaires from the tech world in the first place:

‘But saviors, of a sort, loom: billionaires — and tech billionaires in particular.  Tech billionaires dominate the list of the world’s wealthiest people. And so Silicon Valley could not be better prepared to step into this void. And it has, even if unevenly. Jack Dorsey on Tuesday promised a new $1 billion philanthropy. Apple has donated 20 million masks. Bill Gates is building factories to produce vaccines that don’t even exist yet. And other tech elites — think millionaires, not billionaires — have mobilized their networks for ambitious efforts to find equipment from around the globe or feed hospital workers in their hometowns... 

There are four interrelated spheres in which tech billionaires have commanded more plutocratic influence during this crisis: their philanthropic power, their corporate power, their political power, and the power of their personal brands. We are living in their world more than ever, and it’s worth asking if that’s a good thing… 

Big Tech’s billionaire class will have more power after the crisis than they had before, argues Sally Hubbard of the Open Market Institute. Brick-and-mortar retail is hemorrhaging jobs at a time when Amazon is adding hundreds of thousands of their own. Google is gaining even more of a foothold in the home as educators across the country deploy Google Classroom to teach students remotely — whether you want your family to use it or not. Officials, among others, from California Gov. Gavin Newsom to Vice President Mike Pence have repeatedly gone out of their way to offer thanks for the generosity of Cook and Zuckerberg — corporate leaders that they themselves will need to regulate for years to come… f

I the powerful exerting their power to save lives brings them more power, there’s an argument to be made in three words: So be it.  But there is a trade-off there that shouldn’t surprise us when this crisis is over and we see tech billionaires standing taller than ever in the rubble.  “We’re in a situation where we’re both more reliant on the government than we’ve ever been,” said Richards, “but we’re also more reliant on the private sector than we’ve ever been.”  And at the end of this, our society may be more unequal, too.’

'Jeff Bezos values profits above safety': Amazon workers voice pandemic concern

The Guardian 07.04.20

Amazon has still not delivered its protective measures:

‘At least 50 Amazon warehouses in the US have confirmed one or more employees have tested positive for coronavirus, as its network of facilities, which are operated by about 400,000 workers, remain open as online orders surge. Workers at Amazon warehouses in New York City, Chicago and Detroit have held walkouts in protest of working conditions during the pandemic.  The firm insists safety is paramount, and that its benefits changes during the crisis include an additional $2 an hour, double time for overtime and two weeks of paid time off for regular part-time and seasonal employees who test positive. Workers can also take unlimited unpaid time off, though some of those who spoke to the Guardian said this was not a choice they could make financially… 

“Hundreds of us are still working and they just hired a lot more. We have been training new people for the past two weeks and we have more people coming in this week and next,” said the worker. “The building runs 24 hours a day. We have people working day shifts and night shifts, meanwhile the virus lasts on cardboard for up to 24 hours, putting all of us at risk who come in contact with boxes or plastic wrap.”  The worker said daily temperature checks have begun, and workers who have over 100F temperatures will be sent home for 72 hours, but noted workers will not be paid if they are sent home with fevers.’

Amazon executive on defense after comments about warehouse protest leader 

REUTERS 03.04.20

Fallout with labour unions might bring balance to this case:

‘Amazon.com Inc’s general counsel on Thursday said his emotions clouded his judgment when he wrote meeting notes in which he allegedly outlined a public relations strategy against a protest organizer and questioned the employee’s intelligence… The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which said it was working with Smalls, called the alleged behavior “disgusting!” The affiliated United Food and Commercial Workers International Union said in a statement that federal regulators should investigate Amazon’s actions and Zapolsky and other executives should be fired.’

Amazon executives conspired to smear fired worker who led protest over Covid-19 safety conditions

RT 03.04.20

Making the workplace hygienic and safe proves to be too much of a financial burden for Amazon.  Smear campaign by executives followed employee asking for safe measures in warehouses:

‘Amazon’s top lawyer crafted a strategy to scapegoat the man who organized a protest at a New York warehouse, calling the African-American ex-employee ‘not smart, or articulate.’ President Obama’s ex-spokesman helped carry it out… Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky’s strategy to deal with the fallout was to propose “strongly laying out the case for why the organizer’s conduct was immoral, unacceptable, and arguably illegal, in detail, and only then follow with our usual talking points about worker safety,” according to the notes from a daily meeting of the company’s top executives – including CEO Jeff Bezos – obtained by Vice on Thursday… “He’s not smart, or articulate,” and the press focusing on him will put Amazon “in a much stronger PR position,” Zapolsky argued.’

‘We will go to the governor’s door’: Fired Amazon walkout leader vows BIGGER protest if Covid-19 safety demands not met

RT 01.04.20

One of the richest tech companies in the world is the most miserly:

‘The walkout’s demands were modest: shut down and disinfect the warehouse, provide adequate cleaning supplies and personal protection equipment, and operate within safe social distancing guidelines. “People are scared to work” in the massive 5,000-person facility, he said – even the cleaning crews – because the company refuses to disinfect its facility even after as many as a dozen people tested positive for coronavirus.’

Revealed: £1bn of taxpayers' cash to help foreign countries buy British arms

The Guardian 28.03.20

Pandemic will not stop cropping up arms and surveillance tech exports:

‘The government has quietly drawn up proposals to lend other countries £1bn of public money so that they can buy British-made bombs and surveillance technology…
The plan was revealed in a single sentence slipped into this month’s budget. Unveiling a new £2bn lending facility for projects supporting clean growth, the government also announced the creation of “a new £1bn (fund) to support overseas buyers of UK defence and security goods and services”.’

Drum roll please! And the BIGGEST WINNER of the deadly global virus is…

RT 27.03.20

‘Rating agency Moody’s said that “retailers such as supermarkets, pharmacies, shops and grocery stores are going to benefit, as consumers will stock up on food and other necessities.” It added that retailers who had developed an online sales platform before the crisis have benefited greatly. Thanks to this, operating income at food stores such as Whole Foods (owned by Amazon), Walmart, and Kroger has grown significantly as consumers try to avoid shopping.
Of all these retailers, “Amazon, I would say, is the strongest,” Gary Korolev, sovereign US private equity manager, told RIA Novosti.
He noted that Amazon offers a range of basic-needs’ products and services for customers locked at home, such as entertainment (movies, books), food delivery and essential goods. At the same time, it is Amazon that has the most developed network of delivery centers throughout America, Korolev said. The company, which is currently experiencing rapid growth, plans to hire 100,000 new workers to collect, pack and deliver orders.’

Class war in the making? Coronavirus quarantines pit well-off hermits against serfs who supply them

RT 23.03.20

Wealth inequality is doomed to increase exponentially:

‘New York warehouse workers at FreshDirect and Amazon – the two e-commerce giants emerging as the economic winners in the coronavirus epidemic for their near-monopoly on groceries and, well, everything else – tested positive for coronavirus last week, bringing into sharp focus the high-risk nature of their jobs. Along with gig economy workers – rideshare drivers, couriers, and food-service delivery people – and grocery clerks, the warehouse employees handling the surge in deliveries to pandemic shut-ins represent the “have-nots” of the new coronavirus caste system…
No job security, scant health insurance, and high likelihood of exposure to the virus – these jobs don’t come with much to recommend them, but employers can squash any rebellion by dropping a hint that workers are lucky to have a job at all. With so many newly-unemployed ex-bartenders, ex-waiters, and ex-retail workers trying to sign up for benefits that state websites are crashing, no one wants to join the ranks of the newly jobless – ranks that the Trump administration hinted earlier this week could swell to 20 percent of the labor force by the time the pandemic subsides…
Amazon cut healthcare benefits for part-time Whole Foods employees at the beginning of the year, and its stores have remained open even after employees turn up with the virus, with one New York location shuttering only long enough for a brief cleaning as panicked customers waited to pack the aisles. While Amazon has enacted a $2 per hour hazard-pay wage bump, the small bonus is hardly worth employees’ lives, nor will it cover the high costs of medical treatment for uninsured workers who do fall ill. Given CEO Jeff Bezos’ world’s-richest-man status – and Amazon’s pledge to bring in 100,000 new employees to deal with the coronavirus-related surge in business – the notion that the company can’t afford to treat its workers better rings hollow, and more workers are waking up to the sense that they’ve been cheated.’

France hits Apple with record €1.1 BILLION fine for monopoly practices

RT 16.03.20

That’s going to hurt:

‘The authority said that two of Apple’s wholesalers, Tech Data and Ingram Micro, were fined €63 million and €76 million respectively for unlawfully agreeing on prices.

According to the French regulator, “Apple and its two wholesalers have agreed not to compete with each other and to prevent distributors from competing with each other, thereby sterilising the wholesale market for Apple products.”’

Huawei teaming up with Russia’s largest bank to develop cloud services for businesses

RT 08.03.20

Huawei set to become huge:

‘SberCloud Director General Evgeny Kolbin explained that “This is an exclusive offer for the market, consisting of interconnected cloud services complementing each other, which gives the client a single convenient approach to using these services, a variety of the most modern IT platforms, as well as built-in tools for monitoring and controlling the cloud infrastructure.”’

Amazon's fight against $277 million EU tax order kicks off in court on Thursday

REUTERS 02.03.20

That’s a lot of money:

‘The EU competition watchdog said the Grand Duchy allowed the U.S. online retailer to shift a significant portion of its profits from a subsidiary to a holding company without paying tax, giving the company an unfair advantage. 

At issue was the royalty paid by the subsidiary Amazon EU on certain intellectual property rights to Amazon Europe Holding Technologies, a company which the European Union said had no employees, no offices and no business activities.’ 

Huawei shut out from scheme to see how 5G can link communities

The Guardian 20.02.20 

Sounds like 5G PR to me:

‘BT, which owns the mobile operator EE, said complying with the new regulations would cost it £500m as it stripped out and replaced Huawei equipment in its network over the next five years. Vodafone has said it will cost €200m (£169m) to comply across Europe, although in the UK it is already almost compliant.

The government has committed to a total £200m investment in testbeds and trials across the UK to explore new ways 5G can be used, such as in farming, connectivity on trains, connecting rural communities, tourism and healthcare.

“We’re determined to make the UK a world-leader in 5G and deliver on our promise to improve connections for people and businesses across the country,” said Oliver Dowden, the DCMS secretary. “This includes seeing how it could create new jobs in the countryside, make businesses more productive and unleash even more ideas in our cutting-edge creative industries.”’

Google seals takeover of Looker after UK green light

REUTERS 13.02.20

Google acquires Looker with acquiescent nod from UK’s competitive watchdog:

‘Google announced the cash deal in June, the first major acquisition for its new cloud business Chief Executive Officer Thomas Kurian. The deal aims to build upon the success of Google Cloud’s BigQuery, a tool for managing large datasets..  

Looker’s tool enables analysts and other workers to define calculations for items such as revenue or high-value customers and then visualize trends in their data without writing complicated scripts. It competes with Tableau Software Inc DATA.N, Domo Inc (DOMO.O) and Microsoft’s (MSFT.O) Power BI.’

White House Earmarks New Money for A.I. and Quantum Computing

NY Times 10.02.20

From $50 million to $249 million to be invested in AI in the US:

‘The new budget proposal would increase funding for artificial intelligence research at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a research arm of the Defense Department, to $249 million from $50 million, and at the National Science Foundation to $850 million from about $500 million. The administration also vowed to double funding for A.I. and quantum computing research outside the Defense Department by 2022.’

GM’s Cruise values autonomous vehicle industry at $8 trillion

CNBC 05.02.20

You cut the human labour cost, you’re going to make money:

‘To “unlock the market opportunity,” Ammann outlined how an autonomous vehicle lowers operating costs for companies that currently use human drivers, like Uber and Lyft, as well as advancements the company has made in bringing down costs related to vehicle production, software development and other factors.

“Our goal in the simplest possible terms is to build a superior product,” Ammann said. “It’s to build a product that is better than what people have as transportation alternatives today.”’

Why is Tesla selling insurance and what does it mean for drivers?

The Conversation 31.01.20

‘So why is Tesla selling car insurance? For one thing, it has the real-time data from all its drivers’ behaviour and the performance of its vehicle technology, including camera recordings and sensor readings, so it can estimate the risk of accidents and repair costs accurately. This reliance on data may well mean it never branches into selling insurance to drivers of other manufacturers’ cars…Broadly speaking, the work of the insurer is shifting from local human expert underwriters to automation driven by big data and AI. The existing industry players that I evaluated essentially fell into three categories. Some had recognised they cannot compete with tech companies. They were focusing on interacting with customers, branding and marketing, while outsourcing everything else to companies with the relevant skills.’

Facebook: Privacy scandals take toll on profits  

BBC 30.01.20

Shares plummeted following its 2018 forecast, but they had rebounded last year, as user growth and advertising revenues remained strong, despite ongoing investigations. On Wednesday, Facebook said an average of 2.26 billion people were active on its family of platforms each day in December, up 11% from a year earlier. Facebook alone counted an average of 1.7 billion active users each day during the month, up 9% - ahead of expectations. "Facebook can't avoid change though," said Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. "The Cambridge Analytica scandal intensified regulatory scrutiny, and tightening data security as well as fighting fake news is an ongoing - and expensive - challenge." Facebook reported more than $70bn in revenue for 2019, up from $55.8bn the previous year. However, expenses rose faster, increasing 51% to $46.7bn, driven by legal costs. Facebook warned that further costs were yet to come, as growth slows due in part to new privacy regulations.’

Most children own mobile phone by age of seven, study finds

The Guardian 30.01.20

In the UK:

’57% of all the children surveyed said they always slept with their phone by their bed, while the same proportion admitted they did not know what they would do if they lost their device.  And 44% said they would feel uncomfortable if they were somewhere without phone signal, while 42% admitted to being “constantly worried” about running out of charge.  Simon Leggett, a research director at Childwise, said it could be difficult for parents. “The moment a child owns a mobile phone, it can be a challenge to monitor what your child is accessing online because it’s such a private technology that most keep, literally, close to their chest,” he said.’

Apple’s fastest-growing business segment, which includes AirPods and Watch, is now bigger than Mac

CNBC 28.01.20

‘“With each Apple product that a customer buys, I think they get tighter into the ecosystem that’s the reason that they’re buying into it is they like the experience, the customer experience, and so from that point of view I think each of our products can drive another product,” Cook said. “I would think in that case it’s more likely that the iPhone comes first but there’s no doubt in my mind that there’s some people that came into the ecosystem with the Watch.”’

The UK will let Huawei build parts of its 5G networks—despite US pressure

Technology Review 28.01.10

On why the UK has accepted Huawei:

‘One problem facing the UK government was the lack of affordable alternatives to Huawei, and the fact that many of its major telecoms operators had already purchased Huawei 5G equipment. If it had banned the company, it would have had to start building 5G networks all over again from scratch.’ 

Sorry, 5G is not going to save falling smartphone sales in the UK

WIRED 27.01.20

‘Research released this week by analyst firm Gartner predicts that UK smartphone sales will not just fail to surge, they will flatline with zero per cent growth expected. Despite the continuing rollout of the 5G network and additional 5G-ready phones coming on the market, the UK is literally not buying into the 5G hype….  But a lot of money has already been spent on getting 5G-ready – in 2018, the UK’s biggest mobile operators spent almost £1.4 billion to secure spectrum, while last year the UK government pledged £30 million to help rural communities access the network.  “You can only expect so much of an uptick because prices are going to be elevated,” says Peter Jarich, head of data firm GSMA Intelligence. In order to be 5G compatible, smartphones cost more to make and therefore cost more for the consumer.’

How big tech is dragging us towards the next financial crash

The Guardian 08.11.19

Tech corporations are acting like big banks and risk becoming ‘too-big-to-fail’ industries:

‘…hidden within these bullish headlines are a number of disturbing economic trends, of which Apple is already an exemplar. Study this one company and you begin to understand how big tech companies – the new too-big-to-fail institutions – could indeed sow the seeds of the next crisis.  No matter what the Silicon Valley giants might argue, ultimately, size is a problem, just as it was for the banks. This is not because bigger is inherently bad, but because the complexity of these organisations makes them so difficult to police. Like the big banks, big tech uses its lobbying muscle to try to avoid regulation. And like the banks, it tries to sell us on the idea that it deserves to play by different rules…. The Trump corporate tax cuts added fuel to this fire. Apple, for example, was responsible for about a quarter of the $407bn in buy-backs announced in the six months or so after Trump’s tax law was passed in December 2017 – the biggest corporate tax cut in US history… In telecoms and media especially, many companies have taken on significant amounts of debt in order to bulk up and compete in this new environment of streaming video and digital media.  Some of that debt is now looking shaky, which underscores that the next big crisis probably won’t emanate from banks, but from the corporate sector… Hiding in plain sight was an amazing new discovery: big tech, not big banks, was the new too-big-to-fail industry.

…The idea that a lower corporate tax rate would raise investment in such businesses is ludicrous.” In short, cash-rich corporations – especially tech firms – have become the financial engineers of our day.

…As with the banks, systemic regulation may well be the only way to prevent big tech companies from unfairly capitalising on those advantages.’

Why design will make or break the 5G revolution

QUARTZ 05.11.19

The roll-out of 5G presents unknown challenges:

‘Most network operators are rolling out their 5G networks in phases, mostly because it’s proven to be quite a difficult task. Many are starting by just adding higher speeds, essentially adding new radio technologies to existing cell towers, because this won’t be as much of a heavy lift as decreasing latency. To do this, cell companies will have to add considerably more radios that utilize a shorter wavelength than 4G radios.  Some argue that this will mean exposing cities to under-researched radio frequencies, and others say it won’t be financially possible to bring this sort of coverage to less-populated—and by default, less affluent—areas.’

Spending on wearable technology to surge to $52 billion by 2020: Gartner

ZDNet 30.10.19

The wearable economy is set to be increasing:

‘Wearables economy “This year, spending on wearables -- including smartwatches, ear-worn gadgets, intelligent clothing, and head-mounted displays (HMDs) is set to reach $41 billion, Gartner said on Wednesday’.

Vodafone’s search for the G-spot

The Economist 22.08.19

The Economist looks at 5G and its as-yet unfulfilled financial rewards:

‘Mr Webb invokes the aerospace industry to warn of the perils of betting on ever-faster speeds. “5g could end up being like Concorde—a superb feat of engineering but of limited value to all but a small minority.”… until the equivalent of a “killer app” comes along to bring the benefits of 5g to billions, it is not clear who will make much money from it. It is up to the telecoms firms to show that they can defy history.’

It’s not worth buying a 5G smartphone yet

QUARTZ 19.12.19

No sense in buying 5G phone yet:

‘Millimeter wave coverage—the fastest variety—has been “very limited,” said Brad Akyuz, a mobile broadband ecosystem business analyst at the NPD Group, a market research company. “You have to be outdoors, you have to have line-of-sight to the cell tower. If you’re indoors, you lose a lot of the signal on the millimeter wave coverage,” he told Quartz.  But those troubles were to be expected, and 5G adoption will probably take years. Akyuz foresees immersive AR and VR experiences, supported by 5G networks, but he admits, it’s hard to say exactly what the new networks will bring. “It’s going to be a while before consumers look at the 5G options out there and say, ‘Hey, I really need this. I’ll pay extra.’’

Is it worth getting a new phone? (video)

BBC 19.12.19

BBC 5G video on connectivity and poor performance.

While China harvests human organs from its persecuted minorities, Britain is staying silent to protect free trade

Independent 25.09.19

Free trade with China:

‘While China is earning an estimated £800m a year from its organ trade, countries such as Britain are looking forward to raking in far more in future Anglo-Sino economic transactions. So the UK will certainly play down the words of Hamid Sabi, a senior lawyer for the China Tribunal who, presenting their findings to the UN’s Council in Geneva this week, said events inside China now amounted to the “genocide” of racial and religious enemies.’ 

5G Report 2019

Crucial Compass 22.08.19

‘5G will cost around $500 billion to install and may produce over $12 billion in sales.  RiskHedge’s Stephen McBride writes that “5G will run on a new frequency that’s never been used before. This is very important, because it means every phone and computer will need new antennas and chips to connect to 5G… This is why the GSM Association, which represents 800 of the world’s largest mobile operators, says companies will have to spend $500 billion in the next two years to get 5G ready… Not many people know this, but QCOM owns the cell phone service known as CDMA. It’s the technology underpinning wireless networks that allows your phone to send and receive data…  QCOM collected $6.44 billion through its licensing segment last year. This business is ultra-profitable, as its 85% operating margin shows.  QCOM holds 15% of the patents for 5G - the most of any in the world. Which means it will charge many device makers a fee of 3%–5% on the price of each 5G device sold… When the world switched from 3G to 4G between 2010 and 2013, QCOM’s sales skyrocketed 126%.’  

5G Report 2019

Crucial Compass 22.08.19

IHS Markit concludes that, by 2035:

‘5G has the potential to stimulate $12.3 trillion in global sales activity across a broad spectrum of industries and use cases, will support a global value chain ecosystem that generates $3.5 trillion in output, will supports 22 million jobs, and will make long-term sustainable contributions to the growth of global GDP.’

“5G” Wireless Is the New Fiber Optic, Bait-and-Switch Scandal

Medium 03.08.18

Bruce Kushcnick likens 5G to the bait-and-switch scandal which happened when telecom operators in the US failed to deliver broadband via fibre to rural parts of the US.  He quotes Fran Shammo (Verizon’s former CEO) as blatantly saying:

‘The fact of the matter is Wireline capital — and I won’t get the number but it’s pretty substantial — is being spent on the Wireline side of the house to support the Wireless growth. So the IP backbone, the data transmission, fiber to the cell, that is all on the Wireline books but it’s all being built for the Wireless Company.’

4 reasons Cisco’s IoT forecast is right, and 2 why it’s wrong

Network World 05.04.17

Costs related to the emerging IoT market may be too great to shoulder:

’IoT devices are expected to be low-power devices, but the number of IoT devices that Cisco predicts will be 50 billion by 2020 is an order of magnitude larger than the number of smartphones and tablets in use today. If the energy consumed by these devices and the networks and data centers to which they are connected is considered, energy consumption by IoT will impactfully increase the rate of energy consumption growth…  If energy utility regulators do not factor in the IoT component in energy consumption forecasts and promote increased energy production by utilities, there may not be enough energy to power 50 billion devices.’