Behind The Lobbying Effort That Helps Save Apple $2.4 Billion In Taxes A Year
The New York Times dropped another bomb on Apple’s “iEconomy” this weekend with an expose that shows how the world’s biggest corporation evades billions of dollars in taxes by creating subsidiaries in low-tax states and countries like Nevada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the British Virgin Islands. While some of Apple’s monumental success is due
Continue Reading >>>
This May Day, Remember That Big Money Is The Reason American Workers Don’t Have More Rights — And Income
Today is May Day, a global day of celebrations in favor of workers’ rights — and the day that labor unions in the United States marked as their day of action to win an eight-hour workday. Yet as American unions and Occupy activists take to the streets to celebrate our hard-fought rights, it’s important to
Continue Reading >>>
Leaked Documents Show How Corporations Have Veto Power Over ALEC Bills That Affect Our Lives Every Day
The corporate front group the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) brings together legislators and powerful corporations. Drawing the vast majority of its funding from Big Business, ALEC serves as a conduit for corporations to write legislation and then pass it off to state legislatures to be secretly passed without citizens ever knowing that these laws
Continue Reading >>>
Michelle Rhee Says She’ll Tell For-Profit Colleges To Clean Up Their Act
Michelle Rhee writes in the Huffington Post that “some have questioned” why she would speak at the upcoming annual meeting of the largest trade group of for-profit colleges, APSCU, and she offers an answer. I first raised this question 10 days ago, so I want to evaluate Rhee’s response. First of all, Rhee, the former chancellor
Continue Reading >>>
Beyond Wal-Mart: Five Other Corporations That Bribed Officials Then Lobbied Against Anti-Bribery Laws
Imagine if the next time you were caught speeding, you decided to finance an elaborate lobbying operation to change the speed limit and weaken laws against driving too fast on public roads. You probably find that to be a silly hypothetical, but for some big corporations it’s standard operating procedure. All eyes are on Wal-Mart
Continue Reading >>>
A Good Day: Obama Stands With Troops Instead of Wealthy Predatory Colleges
At Fort Stewart, Georgia, today, President Obama signed an executive order aiming to protect U.S. troops, veterans, and their families from the predatory abuses of some for-profit colleges. It remains to be seen if this new directive will do enough to guide our service members into programs that actually help them build careers — and away
Continue Reading >>>
Exclusive: Washington Post’s Kaplan and Other For-Profit Colleges Joined ALEC, Controversial Special Interest Lobby
Republic Report has learned that the Washington Post Company’s Kaplan for-profit college division, was, last year, a member of the controversial business advocacy group the American Legislative Exchange Council. Other major for-profit education companies also joined ALEC. Republic Report has obtained a July 2011 document showing Kaplan Higher Education and other for-profits as members of
Continue Reading >>>
Wal-Mart Deploys Lobbyist Who Used To Work For Congressman Cummings To Fight Cummings’ Investigation Of Bribery Scandal
On the heels of the blockbuster New York Times investigation of Wal-Mart’s systematic bribery of Mexican officials — and subsequent cover-up — Republic Report’s Zaid Jilani revealed that the company has since used corporate lobbying fronts to weaken the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law that establishes penalties for U.S. firms engaged in bribery abroad.
Continue Reading >>>