July 1st, 2011
Most people know America is unequal. Many of us have heard the statistic that the richest 1% of Americans receives 24% of the nation’s income. This number looks big. It might even look huge. But if it doesn’t utterly shock you, you don’t really understand it.
This graph illustrates inequality by lining up the incomes of the U.S. population along a football field with $100 bills.* The median U.S. family earns a stack of bills approximately 1.7 inches high—that’s $42,327 (this exercise assumes there are 250 bills in a 1 inch stack, which of course depends on whether or not...
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June 29th, 2011
Black stays beautiful
Business Today, June 29, 2011
Exclusive: U.S., Swiss at impasse on tax dodge accord
Reuters, June 28, 2011
Biggest Tax Avoiders Win Most Gaming $1 Trillion U.S. Tax Break
Bloomberg, June 28, 2011
Blow, Bling and Bucks: IMF Work Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing
The Huffington Post, June 28, 2011
Bangladesh allows 'black money' in stock exchange
IST, Reuters, June 29, 2011
An Anti-Bribery Boom in China
Wall Street Journal, June 29, 2011
June 28th, 2011
You go to a DMV to get a driver’s license. You submit an application and take an eye exam, you pay the relevant fees, take a written exam, and then an official grades your score. If you pass, you get to take a driving test and another official evaluates your performance. Upon successful completion of these steps, someone takes your picture and 5-8 business days later your license arrives in the mail.
Well, that’s the way it is for some people. But if you were unlucky enough to be taking your driving test in a country where corruption runs rampant,...
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June 28th, 2011
Nearly 5 years ago the international community, led by the United States, imposed the first in a line of increasingly harsh economic sanctions on Iran in the hopes of ending the country’s nuclear ambitions. Despite some signs of success, consensus on the effectiveness of the sanctions remains elusive. However, what is becoming clear is that sanctions are contributing to an explosion of corruption and funneling billions of dollars to Iran’s fastest growing group of kleptocrats: the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, is like an amalgam of the Iranian CIA, Marines, Mafia and Fortune 500....
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