1. AIG and General Re Fraud

Right near the start of this blog, this post about AIG and General Re corporation points out that AIG simply put, is a corrupt corporation. The post is a revision of an essay I wrote (with a classmate–group project style) for an accounting course at the Northeastern University, in it we discussed how AIG essentially purposely accounted for insurance premiums as pure revenue in an attempt to inflate the value of AIG. The purpose of the essay was to examine if the Sarbanes-Oxley Act would prevent accounting fraud; we concluded that:

AIG intended to commit fraud, planned how to cover the fraud, committed the fraud, and then put into action their cover up plan. No act, no matter how strict, can force someone to tell the truth and to play the game fairly.

Hopefully now you understand why I was so furious at the federal government rewarding AIG with federal loans.

2. U.S. GAAP vs. I.F.R.S vs. Unified GAAP

In this essay I examine the differences between the US, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, accounting system and the more commonly used international system, International Financial Reporting Standards. The crux of the essay is that the US G.A.A.P. system relies on rules while the I.F.R.S. relies on principles. This seemingly small semantic detail actually creates a huge difference, as the US system is open to interpretation and loopholes while the I.F.R.S. provides guidance and covers more area and thus leaves less loopholes. An apt analogy is that the G.A.A.P. system promotes the letter of the law while the I.F.R.S system promotes the spirit of the law. In reality, we see many, many more instances of accounting fraud in the US and in my amateur opinion it is due to the loopholes in the US system. A telling sign is that the US is adopting more and more international standards as we move towards a global accounting system.

3. The Rise of Corporate Fascism in America

In this post I look at the rise of power by the corporations, from gaining person-hood to an ever increasing influence over government. The next two paragraphs are quoted directly from the posts and explain our current economic crisis damn well:

The State is not only implicit in the growth of power in corporate management, but also suffers a loss of power to promote that growth. By replacing charters with incorporation laws, the State gave up its power to supervise capital contributions to corporations. Thus corporations began accepting property in exchange for stock rather than being forced to accept cash for stock. As property must be appraised, mis-valuations were a natural aspect of this exchange and could be used fraudulently, as long as the corporate management appeared ignorant.

Thus, the corporation itself, and to a lesser extent it’s management, took power from the other two parties, making itself the most omnipotent force on our planet. Yet the State would not stand idly by while it’s power was used by the corporation. So the State separated itself from the public, from the people, as they were merely interested in living their lives, and did not care much for this whole power competition. As State and corporate battled, they eventually found out they had a lot in common and decided to unite, and conspire to obtain the last remaining morsel of power from the public, from the people.

We’ve seen direct evidence of this separation of the government from the people the last few days as the majority of Americans decried the bailout yet congress still jammed it down our throats.

4. Modern Globalization: The Perversion of the Word Free

Over the past few weeks, many people have screamed and yelled and shouted that the free market is to blame for every evil brought upon the world. Yet, we have not seen a free market here in the United States nor on the global scale in a very, very long time. The argument is simple, we are currently living in a free market system, why can I not buy a Cuban cigar?

Or put another way:

While, I wholeheartedly agree that free economic trade between nations will lead to benefits for all nations, the current globalization strategy does not promote free trade, but rather institutes pseudo-free economies with control shifting out of individual nation’s hands and towards global organizations with the interests of the most prosperous nations as a priority.

If we actually allowed free trade, our current economic crisis simply would not have occurred. I do not disagree that there ought to be regulations (based on principles, not rules) but we should not ban items from being traded and then call it a free market!

5. You Can Change the World, But Do You Know How to?

We’ll end on a good, positive, optimistic note, and discuss how we can change the world for the better, with social entrepreneurship as a model. The grandfather of social entrepreneurship, Bill Drayton, is the focus of this post. We take a look at Bill’s work at the EPA and his role in founding Ashoka, a non-profit group that provide social entrepreneurs with the capital they so desperately need to achieve their goals. It’s amazing how little capital some of theses entrepreneurs need to create a huge positive impact on their communities and the story of Mr. Drayton and the social entrepreneurs he helps is an inspiring story for us all.

Though there are many reasons for the success of Ashoka and Bill Drayton, his belief in himself and his ideas allowed Bill to seize an opportunity and create an organization that empowers social entrepreneurs around the globe to improve their societies via business logic. Much like Bill’s vision of emissions trading took hold twenty years after the original idea, Ashoka’s vision of a world where individuals have the power and confidence to change their own communities and society at large is gaining ground quickly. Soon, hopefully, people will laugh at the thought of I’m just one person, I can’t change the world.

6. Notes on the Bank Bailout Bill, Economy & Other News

OK, technically this post is not from the past (it’s actually from the future!) and it’s not even from this blog, but I’m adding it in (after the fact) in case any of you would like to see my take on the past week’s worth of economic news head on over to My Last Name Means Money. There’s quite a bit to digest, from CEO face punches to the next economic crisis down the road to discussions of how corporations would be better off without their CEOs! Check it out if you’d like to get caught up on the most important economic news of the week in one spot, and without (too much) fear mongering!

Hopefully you find at least one of these classic posts intriguing and thought provoking. If there’s enough of a positive response I’ll consider running another of these posts from the pasts down the road.

Have a great weekend everyone and I’ll see ya on the other side!

Repeat as necessary until government simply owns medical industry.

My RSS feed reader was also well over a hundred feeds and quickly kept multiplying how many unread posts it contained (well into the thousands). RSS technology is great because it’s so simple, easy, and quick to sign up for site updates but also dangerous because it’s just as simple, easy, and quick to get overloaded with information! My feed reader now sits at 17 feeds (not counting a 404 report for this site and three delicious tag feeds) with only 51 unread posts (all of which are three delicious tag feeds).

Speaking of those tags, a while back I blogged about del.ico.us tags [yes, I know they dropped the dots but I haven't!] and how they’re useful to setup a system of tasks, such as toread, toblog, tobuy etc.

Well, I realized I’ve rarely blogged about the items in my toblog tag so to solve this issue here’s a nice quick list of six things I was gonna blog about but didn’t for some lame reason(s) but now that I’m motivated we’ll bounce through them quickly and painlessly. I have a total of 54 toblog stories saved, so watch out for a few more quick post n run style articles!

1. Ron Paul hoped to make an impact in New Hampshire primary

On the surface, New Hampshire seems like the ideal place for Ron Paul’s libertarian platform, the state motto is, after all, “Live Free or Die”. The results show Ron only scored 7.7 % of the state’s votes, which makes me skeptical of something; either New Hampshire does not care about living free anymore or the vote was rigged or voters don’t vote well (methinks it’s a combination of all three).

2. Cream of Boston

Are you a young sexy Bostonian? If so, Cream of Boston wants you to sign up for their exclusive dating site for hot people only! I’m not sure quite how I feel about this site yet. Perhaps after I apply and get rejected I’ll form a stronger opinion. As for now, it is what it is. Alternatively, if you’re a smart and hot girl living in the Boston area you can join a much more exclusive club by simply dropping me an e-mail for more, ahem, details!



3. The Gentrification of my neighborhood continues?

When I was younger I really hated the influx of richer, more “sophisticated” people into my neighborhood. All of a sudden BMW’s, cafes, and other signs of the yuppy started showing up in my beloved ghetto fabulous hood. Well, now that I’m older and umm, more “sophisticated”, I welcome the newbies to my hood! Our neighborhood has changed a whole lot over the past ten years, and reflecting back it has certainly changed for the better. There’s a bunch of awesome new restaurants and other businesses (The Avenue Grille, Real Tacos, Astra Salon, Sugar Bowl Cafe), a lot more students from UMASS Boston and a whole ton of renovated triple deckers acting as condominiums.

Well, the trend continues with a proposed new development at the Bayside Expo Center, with a bunch of new shops and office buildings, and I welcome the proposals and new developments. The Bayside Expo Center is quickly turning into an eyesore in an otherwise great area. If you haven’t been to the Dorchester waterfront behind the Bayside Expo Center go soon! It’s now a part of the Boston Harborwalk and is a very nice place to go for a stroll.

4. Dorchester, the most up and coming neighborhood!

As a Dot rat born and raised, at first I was skeptical of all the praise my grimey neighborhood was getting but now love it! In March of last year Business Week named Dorchester as Boston’s most up and coming neighborhood. It’s always been the biggest and most populated part of Boston but perhaps soon it’ll also be one of the nicest places to live. Even now it’s diversity and sheer size makes it a wicked exciting place to live. Rock on Dot!

5. Rock The Earth

Honestly not sure why I bookmarked this site but it’s a non-profit that helps the music industry and its fans act more sustain-ably. I find this a bit ironic as the giant worldwide tours big musicians go on create such a large amount of pollution that it’s a bit hypocritical to ask their fans to cut back. It’s a bit like Al Gore preaching the green lifestyle while he jet-sets around the world. PUHLEEEZE!

6. Massachussets woman commits suicide because of home foreclosure.

So big bad corporations get bailed out when they frack up but honest working class people are criminals who don’t pay their bills?!?!

Here’s a plan, the U.S. government bails out the people with a mortgage instead of the rich corporation. Call it trickle up economics. The poor and middle class people get mortgage only money to pay for their homes, thus keeping their homes and keeping the mortgage companies afloat.

It’s a win-win situation except for the smart and humble Americans who paid for their homes. People like my mom who slowly but surely paid for a house she could (barely) afford.

What a mess. People are dying and becoming homeless while corporations get bailed out by the taxpayers. It’s not government, it’s a racket!

Socialism for the rich, welfare for the poor and capitalism for the rest of us!

OK, now that I’m all outraged and angry let’s end this edition of Webquotes and Counterpoints so I can cool off a bit!

That’s six toblog stories down, 48 more to go.