Business
Large firms awarded small business contracts by U.S. agencies
An analysis by The Washington Post found “U.S. government agencies made at least $5 billion in mistakes in their recent reports of contracts awarded to small businesses, with many claiming credit for awards to companies that long ago outgrew the designation or never qualified in the first place.” The Post looked at sample data from…
Read MorePollution credits profitable for landfills
Jeffrey Ball of the Wall Street Journal reports that landfills all over the country may be capitalizing off the sale of carbon credits for environmental initiatives they already had in place. A pollution credit allows a company to offset their own “carbon footprint” by purchasing credits earned by others for their green initiatives. “The credit…
Read MoreDangerous Fakes
“The American military faces a growing threat of potentially fatal equipment failure—and even foreign espionage—because of counterfeit computer components used in warplanes, ships, and communication networks,” according to a report by Brian Grow, Chi-Chu Tschang, Cliff Edwards and Brian Burnsed of BusinessWeek. The business of salvaging microchips from computer refuse is booming in China. Old…
Read MoreAIG benefited from founder’s Washington connections
The Washington Post‘s Carol D. Leonnig gives readers a glimpse into the power and influence Maurice R. “Hank” Greenberg wielded as the CEO of the AIG financial firm. Under Greenberg’s leadership, AIG employees donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican and Democratic candidates who held key financial regulation positions. Additionally, Greenberg’s charisma and donations…
Read MoreSt. Louis towing lot illegally sold impounded cars
Reporters Joe Mahr, David Hunnand and Jeremy Kohler of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch have uncovered a scandal involving St. Louis police and a private towing contractor. St. Louis police, who do have access to a public impound lot, allowed the proprietors of the St. Louis Metropolitan Towing lot, to illegally keep and sell stolen and…
Read MoreUS policies lead to crackdown on Iranian businesses in Dubai
The Boston Globe‘s Farah Stockman reports that small Iraqi businesses in Dubai and across the United Arab Emirates are suffering as the UAE refuses to register Iranian work visas or open bank accounts for Iranian businesses. Although these measures are designed to place pressure on the Iranian government, many Iranian small-business owners in Dubai are…
Read MoreTreasury secretary issued ultimatum to Lehman Brothers
With Wall Street undergoing a major crisis, Deborah Solomon, Dennis K. Berman, Susanne Craig and Carrick Mollenkamp of the Wall Street Journal report that New York Federal Reserve Bank president Timothy Geithner, with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, told about thirty Wall Street executives with Lehman Brothers Holdings, “There is…
Read MoreWeak rules hinder appraiser oversight
Mitch Weiss of the Associated Press found that the system set up to protect consumers from rogue appraisers following the savings and loan crisis nearly 20 years ago has failed, playing a major role in America’s housing collapse. His six-month investigation showed more than two dozen states and territories are violating federal law by failing…
Read MoreSan Diego redevelopment chief resigns, projects in peril
A voiceofsandiego.org investigation has led to the resignation of San Diego’s downtown redevelopment chief and put the future of a $409 million hotel and condo project in question. The investigation revealed that the redevelopment chief acknowledged receiving almost $3 million in income from a business deal with a developer while her agency chose the company’s…
Read MoreLabor exploitation rampant in Chinese-owned mining companies
In China in Africa and China in Peru, parallel investigations for Bloomberg Markets, Simon Clark, Michael Smith and Franz Wild report on the exploitation of indigenous peoples by Chinese-owned mining companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The authors report that “hundreds of workers have been injured or killed since 2005 working for Chinese companies.”…
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