Britain's elite get pills to survive bird flu

Britain's elite get pills to survive bird flune

From the article:

Members of Britain’s elite have been selected as priority cases to receive scarce pills and vaccinations at the taxpayers’ expense if the country is hit by a deadly bird flu outbreak.

Workers at the BBC and prominent politicians — such as cabinet ministers — would be offered protection from the virus.

Ken Livingstone, the London mayor, has already spent £1m to make sure his personal office and employees have their own emergency supplies of 100,000 antiviral tablets.

The Great American Jobs Scam

The Great American Jobs Scam

From the article:

Lurking within the records of most cities and states in America there lies a scandal. A tax scandal. A jobs scandal. A corporate and political scandal.

It’s the Great American Jobs Scam: an intentionally constructed system that enables corporations to exact huge taxpayer subsidies by promising quality jobs – and then lets them fail to deliver. The other benefit often promised – higher tax revenues – often proves false or exaggerated as well.

Take for example: New York City, which must hold the record for job blackmail, though it is hardly alone. One study of 80 companies that had received “retention” subsidies from the Big Apple found that at least 39 had later announced major layoffs, or they had entered into large-scale mergers or put themselves up for sale – events that usually trigger mass layoffs. A detailed analysis of 10 subsidized companies found they had a total loss of more than 3,000 jobs.

Millions of dollars flow from taxpayers to the corporations, which in turn funnel it to the wealthiest people in Amercia.

Rupe son gets 18M goodbye

Rupe son gets 18M goodbye

From the article:

The New York Post may be losing up to $70 million a year, but its ex-publisher, Lachlan Murdoch, is walking away with a big wad of cash.

Rupert Murdoch's son, who abruptly quit the money-bleeding tabloid and its parent company News Corp. last week, is eligible for a 'separation cash payment' that could hit nearly $9 million, according to papers the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday.

That megapayday would come on top of Lachlan's fiscal 2005 salary and bonus - which could be as much as another $9 million, papers say. That's a cool $18 million for bailing out of the hemorrhaging Post.