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Category Archives: Economy

55 Corporations Paid $0 in Federal Taxes on 2020 Profits report

Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Report – “At least 55 of the largest corporations in America paid no federal corporate income taxes in their most recent fiscal year despite enjoying substantial pretax profits in the United States. This continues a decades-long trend of corporate tax avoidance by the biggest U.S. corporations, and it appears… Continue Reading

Did you work remotely last year? A surprise tax might be waiting for you.

Vox: “The pandemic has accelerated the move to remote work and with it the possibility that those employees can live anywhere they please. That could mean a higher standard of living and a lower income tax rate for the growing number of remote workers. But in some instances it could mean having to pay taxes… Continue Reading

A Computer Scientist Who Tackles Inequality Through Algorithms

Qanta Magazine: “When Rediet Abebe arrived at Harvard University as an undergraduate in 2009, she planned to study mathematics. But her experiences with the Cambridge public schools soon changed her plans. Abebe, 29, is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital and largest city. When residents there didn’t have the resources they needed, she attributed it to community-level scarcity.… Continue Reading

Another lockdown, but this time Parisians demand bookstores stay open

Boston Globe: “In France, the price of a baguette is protected by French law, and so is the price of a book. This says a lot about the place of reading in French life. In 1981, the loi Lang, named for then-president François Mitterand’s flamboyant minister of culture, Jack Lang, mandated that all booksellers, whether… Continue Reading

Amtrak proposed map of new and expanded service under Biden infrastructure plan

Amtrak connects U.S. – a vision to grow rail service across America: “New or improved routes to add millions more passengers over 15 years. With a growing and diverse population, a global climate crisis and longer traffic jams, America needs a rail network that offers frequent, reliable, sustainable, and equitable train service. Amtrak has the… Continue Reading

2021 Edelman Trust Barometer

“After a year of unprecedented disaster and turbulence – the Covid-19 pandemic and economic crisis, the global outcry over systemic racism and political instability – the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals an epidemic of misinformation and widespread mistrust of societal institutions and leaders around the world. Adding to this is a failing trust ecosystem unable… Continue Reading

CRS – Mergers and Acquisitions in Digital Markets

Mergers and Acquisitions in Digital Markets, March 30, 2021: “Some Members of Congress have expressed concern about mergers and acquisitions in digital markets, specifically those involving “Big Tech”—Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft. Mergers can be separated into three categories: (1) a merger between competitors (i.e., horizontal merger), (2) a merger with a firm… Continue Reading

Federal ‘Brain Drain’ Examined by Science Committee

[March 17, 2021] “… during the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee hearing, “Brain Drain: Rebuilding the Federal Scientific Workforce,” Subcommittee Chairman Bill Foster (D-IL) submitted a Majority staff report into the record on trends in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workforce within federal science agencies following the sequestration in the early 2010s that impacted staffing within federal agencies and… Continue Reading

The hybrid office is here to stay. The shift could be more disruptive than the move to all-remote work.

Washington Post – “Citigroup, Ford, TIAA, Target: A growing number of bellwether companies are outlining their hybrid return-to-work plans. The post-vaccine workplace is taking shape, and for many it’s going to be a hybrid model, allowing more remote work but with clear expectations that some days a week will be in the office. Workforce experts… Continue Reading

Visualizing Congressional Votes on the Coronavirus Relief Package

Visualizing Congressional Votes on the Coronavirus Relief Package – “The Washington Post has created a series of visualizations that show how sharply polarized Congressional votes on the coronavirus relief package were. Even though most Americans support the bill, one visualization shows that there were only three votes in Congress that were not Democrats voting to pass… Continue Reading

Ars Technica’s non-fungible guide to NFTs

Ars Technica: “It has been nearly 10 years now since Ars Technica first described Bitcoin to readers as “the world’s first virtual currency… designed by an enigmatic, freedom-loving hacker, and currently used by the geek underground to buy and sell everything from servers to cellphone jammers.” A decade later, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are practically… Continue Reading