Tax Investing IMHO

2 – CRATERAIR

Coffee, tea, or bankruptcy?

—Forbes, September 26, 1994

In the case of the Caterair buyout, Carlyle made up for the money they lost— like many of the company’s early deals, Caterair was horrendously unsuccessful—by hiring the man that would eventually be the leader of the most powerful country in the world: George W. Bush. Caterair may have been a complete failure by ordinary business standards, but the relationships cultivated therein were more than worth the stinging financial losses.

In Washington, it’s not what you know, but who you know, and knowing George W. Bush, then son of the nation’s president, was a valuable connection indeed. But getting an in with the president’s son wasn’t easy, and it all started when the man known simply as “Mr. Marriott” got a hankering to sell one of his businesses.

Access to Eskimos

1 – THE POLITICIAN, THE BUSINESSMAN, AND THE UNLUCKY ESKIMOS

It was a great scam.
—Stephen Norris, co-founder Carlyle Group, May 20, 2002

Stephen Norris is getting excited now. Even today, recalling the events that led to the formation of the Carlyle Group, the company that would eventually come to represent Norris’ legacy, gives the 53-year-old Washington dealmaker a thrill. Though they didn’t know it at the time, co-founders Norris and David Rubenstein, a young staffer from the Carter administration, were embarking on the ride of a lifetime.

With a nose for the big deal, the cocksure Norris is, by his own admission, a difficult man to get along with.

The Skim Opinion

The Great Eskimo Tax Scam

by Robert Lettin, March 30, 2016

[H]ere’s a fun story from the Wayback Machine to remind you it’s never the wrong time to pay attention to taxes.

Back in 1971, President Nixon signed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The law was intended to settle a long history of land disputes dating back to before Alaskan statehood. It distributed up to 104.5 million acres of land to the native tribes, paid out $962.5 million… and created 13 “Alaska native regional corporations” to manage those assets. But timing, as they say, is everything. Fishing, timber, and oil industries collapsed, and nearly all of the new corporations were left with losses.

Grab Them By the IMSI

A phone signal grabber or IMSI-catcher is one of the most powerful devices for conducting surveillance and invading your privacy – legally or illegally. Which is why not just anyone is allowed to possess one. This little beauty can perform loads of magic tricks including cloning your phone, intercepting calls and SMSes, turning your phone into a transmitter and much, much more.

Meet The Grabber: How government and criminals can spy on you (and how to protect yourself)
By Shaun Swingler, 01 Sep 2016 (South Africa)

Last week an Israeli-made cellphone signal grabber, or IMSI-catcher, made headlines after amaBhungane published an investigation into Willie Lotter and Joseph Pooe, who were arrested by

Poppy Happy Aussy

Painkiller demand drives crop expansion beyond Tasmania

GEOFF HISCOCK, Contributing writer

SYDNEY — Strong global demand for painkillers is underpinning moves in Australia, the world’s biggest legal grower of opium alkaloids, to expand the cultivation of opium poppies.

Consumers around the world spend about $30 billion a year on pain medication, with North America and Europe the biggest markets for codeine, thebaine, morphine and other opiates that go into branded pharmaceutical products such as Panadeine, OxyContin and Roxanol.

From just 10% of the total production area, Australia produces about half of the concentrate of poppy straw (CPS) used by the global pharmaceutical industry, ahead of Turkey (23%), France (21%) and Spain (4%).

Crossing the water

Narcotic Notice

Importer of Controlled Substances Application: Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

A Notice by the Drug Enforcement Administration on 01/16/2018

This document has a comment period that ends in 31 days. (02/15/2018)

Publication Date: 01/16/2018
Agencies: Drug Enforcement Administration
Dates: Registered bulk manufacturers of the affected basic classes, and applicants therefore, may file written comments on or objections to the issuance of the proposed registration on or before February 15, 2018. Such persons may also file a written request for a hearing on the application pursuant on or before February 15, 2018.

Grading Their Trading Exams

WTO TRADE POLICY REVIEWS:

Chronological list of TPRs

Cambodia: 21 and 23 November 2017
Bolivia, Plurinational State of: 14 and 16 November 2017
Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo: 25 and 27 October 2017
Iceland: 4 and 6 October 2017
Paraguay: 20 and 22 September 2017
Jamaica: 13 and 15 September 2017
Brazil: 17 and 19 July 2017
European Union: 5 and 7 July 2017
Nigeria: 13 and 15 June 2017
Switzerland and Liechtenstein: 16 and 18 May 2017

All Still In Favor of Globalization?

The Relationship Between Globalization and Militarism
by Steven Staples, Social Justice magazine, Vol. 27, No. 4 (2000)

Globalization and militarism should be seen as two sides of the same coin. On one side, globalization promotes the conditions that lead to unrest, inequality, conflict, and, ultimately, war. On the other side, globalization fuels the means to wage war by protecting and promoting the military industries needed to produce sophisticated weaponry. This weaponry, in turn, is used-or its use is threatened-to protect the investments of transnational corporations and their shareholders.

1. Globalization Promotes Inequality, Unrest, and Conflict
Economic inequality is growing; more conflict and civil wars are emerging. It is important to see a connection between these two situations. Proponents of global economic integration argue that

All In Favor of Developing Countries?

WTO: Celebrating the crumbs
By Percy F. Makombe, 2006

“Who will stand up for the poor?” asks Percy F. Makombe from the Southern and Eastern African Trade Information Negotiations Institute in the light of the recently concluded World Trade Organisation meeting held in Hong Kong 13-18 December. Makombe writes: “By agreeing to the Hong Kong ministerial text, developing countries are accepting short term and insignificant gains in agriculture for the serious loss of the right to develop policy space and options.”

It was the English poet John Milton who made the famous statement that “They who have put out the people’s eyes, reproach them of their blindness.” Milton was of course speaking of other times. Yet after monitoring six days of World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade talks in Hong Kong between December 13-18, one could be forgiven for thinking that Milton was referring to these times.

After a week of haggling, 149 WTO countries gave their thumbs up to a statement that is supposed to keep alive the prospect of a global trade deal.

WTO Chair Dance Appeal

TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues
By Third World Network, in SUNS #8583, 27 November 2017

US rejects proposal by 52 WTO members on AB selection

Geneva, 24 Nov (Kanaga Raja) – The United States has again blocked efforts to launch the process for filling three vacancies at the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization.

At the meeting of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) on Wednesday (22 November), the United States rejected a new proposal tabled by some 52 members calling for the simultaneous launch of the selection processes to fill three vacancies at the seven-member Appellate Body (AB).