Some of the world’s biggest companies have figured out a way to keep more of their profits by going through countries with low or no corporate taxes. A 2008 report showed that 83 of the 100 largest publicly traded U.S. corporations have subsidiaries in tax havens or financial privacy jurisdictions.
Earmarks may not be the most expensive problem in Washington D.C., but they do snag a lot of the press when it comes to budget news. While earmarks generally total less than 2 percent of the federal budget, they provide an easy target for lawmakers who want to denounce bloated government spending. With the focus […]
Conventional wisdom says “spare the rod, spoil the child.” Through most of history corporal punishment has been the accepted method of parental discipline, and often in schools and other institutions as well. The National Association of School Nurses defines it as “the intentional infliction of physical pain as a method of changing behavior. It may […]
Some of the richest people in the country pay the least, relatively speaking, in taxes. How is this possible? Answer: Through the clever manipulation of the U.S. tax code’s loopholes. And it works: as income rises, effective tax rates rise as well, but only up to a point. IRS data shows that the effective income […]
The Internal Revenue Service is a thorn in the side of everyone — even the rich and famous, and infamous. The IRS can garnish wages, freeze bank accounts, and even seize property to pay the money owed to them. And if you’re convicted of certain tax-related illegal activities, you can go to jail. Celebrities have […]
If you’ve used Craigslist, odds are someone has tried to scam you. The site is appealing to scammers for the same reasons most people like it: the ads are free, it’s easy to post, and there’s something for everyone, from job ads to used cars to free pets. You might think you would never fall […]
An 86-year-old driver killed 10 people and injured more than 70 when he confused the accelerator and brake pedals of his Buick Le Sabre and drove it into a crowded farmers’ market in Santa Monica, California, on July 16, 2003. In Massachusetts in 2009, seven people were injured after a car driven by a 73-year-old […]
Antarctica is 5.5 million square miles of frozen, inhospitable, uninhabited wasteland. The land mass is covered with a sheet of ice more than a mile deep. It’s technically owned by no one and is not open to mineral or oil exploration—at least not yet. For six months of the year, the sun doesn’t even rise […]
In stark contrast to the most peaceful nations in the world, these seven countries were ranked the most violent by the Global Peace Index (GPI). No place is safe every minute of every day, but these are locations where violence and fear are often a part of daily life. The GPI ranks countries according to […]
Bankruptcy is a hot topic lately, both at the personal and national level. The recession, massive national debt, and a global financial crisis have some folks saying that a bankrupt United States is not outside the realm of possibility. It might seem impossible that the world’s wealthiest nations could face financial collapse, but it’s happened […]