Monday 11 June 2012

Business stuff for the week 4-10/6/12

How low can Facebook go?
Scientists estimated that Facebook was way over-valued, pre-flotation, so i expect it's share price to drop further.
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-facebook.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428643.900-facebook-shares-are-overvalued-say-financial-analysts.html

Industry investment into mobile-phone-based persuading-you-to-buy-stuff-you-don't-really-need (advertising) alone was $5,300,000,000 in 2011
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-mobile-advertising-worth-bn-survey.html

Renewable Power has, due to the economies of scale already enjoyed by fossil-fuel, finally reached parity in price.
The industry will, however, still require subsidy, because it's imperative that safe, sustainable, renewable energy completely displaces harmful, polluting fossil energy sources.
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-renewable-energy-falling-agency.html

More employment of the 'intellectual property' fallacy: this market-monopolisation rubbish will only do more damage as the companies grow and monopolise more and more markets!
'Samsung fights Apple move to block Galaxy sales'
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-samsung-apple-block-galaxy-sales.html
Patent for a... curve? Ridiculous!
Anyone patented curved walls yet?
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-math-professor-side-mirror-patent.html

Why would anybody bother saving for their retirement when they think that any pension'll get stolen before they reach retirement age, and any money lent to banks is going to get paid a paltry amount of interest?
People just aren't going to think that long-term. This is why long-term but private schemes just don't work.
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-enthusiasm-uk-survey.html

OK, let's take a stroll through a thought experiment...
You want to buy/inherit a house/property. You have two options:
- Buy it as a person, and pay a large portion of its value in tax
- Pass its paperwork through an offshore-listed company, and pay next to no tax whatsoever
Which one are you gonna go for?!? [queue melodramatic music while you ponder]
Clearly, the system must be changed so that the transaction is taxed independently of the medium via which the transaction is made!
http://www.accountancylive.com/croner/jsp/Editorial.do?contentId=2169848&BV_SessionID=@@@@2091998780.1339269007@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadfgmemggglcflgceggdfnfdgfg.0&channelId=-601053

The whistleblower who uncovered massive accounting fraud at the Japanese camera and medical equipment manufacturer Olmypus has won the equivalent of £10 million in compensation for his being fired.
Apparently, he's become a hero in Japan, where whistleblowing is rare and is usually suppressed.
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-olympus-whistleblower-millions-settlement.html

Europe's fishing industry has sealed its doom!
Europe's Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki is clearly acting as a fishing industry advocate, as she calls for the fishing sector to... get this... regulate itself... :D :D
They use the same bullshit tactics, EVERY TIME.
It's so obvious - it's right before their eyes - if they don't fish *less*, they won't be able to fish *at all*. Myopic capitalism!
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-sea-european-fishing.html
There's more on this same theme of myopic capitalism in this week's Politics news, article 4
http://tapejarascience.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/politics-stuff-from-week-4-10612.html

Gues what! Bankers are lobbying ministers to preserve their sky-high incomes! [shock, horror]
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/05/14/bankers-lobby-steps-up-to-save-sky-high-bonuses/

Secret donors and foreign businesses bankrolled the diamond jubilee; including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, Japanese brokers, and many others who withheld their names. Presumably they don't want to be associated with the British monarchy?
The jubilee has incurred several hundred million poundsworth of waste in the form of souvenirs, surfeit food and drink, coins and tokens, mugs and pottery items, teapots, books, and toys, all of which is completely unnecessary and will have caused environmental damage through their production.
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/06/01/how-big-business-cashed-in-on-jubilee-as-thames-pageant-struggled-to-find-british-sponsors/

Claims new gas plants could help cut emissions branded 'ridiculous'
There is no good reason why we should slow displacement of fossil fuel power with renewable power - they simply can not be afforded, either environmentally or financially. Prices of fossil fuels will go up, with scarcity, prices of renewables will go down with economies of scale.
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2182819/claims-gas-plants-help-cut-emissions-branded-ridiculous

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