Lean/TPS Schemes Are Capitalist Pseudoscience

Date started: 21/4/16                     Date finished: 23/4/16                     Date first published: 23/4/16


Lean/TPS Schemes. What are they??

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing

http://www.lean.org/WhatsLean/


Lean Principles' principal principle: "to maximize customer value while minimizing waste"


On the face of it, this can't be a bad idea. Who wants to be more wasteful? Who wants customers to receive lower value? But then, what is lower value? And what counts as waste? And most of all, what are the specifics of how this scheme would attempt to change either of these?


Like many ideologies, Lean escapes commonplace skepticism by being the kind of friendly pie-in-the-sky idealism that gets reviews starting with "On the face of it, this can't be a bad idea. Who wants to be more wasteful? Who wants customers to receive lower value?" But vacuous idealism is exactly that. It would be lovely if we could stop raping mother Earth, and live off sunlight, but if we all try it, starting tomorrow, the species will be extinct within a week.

Similarly, it's vacuous to think that writing the word 'natural' on food packets is going to make any difference to anything inside the packet. Everything is natural, however it tastes, and whatever nutritional content it has. But that doesn't stop people from thinking that something must be better because it has the word 'natural' written on it. Heck, people have even marketed 'gluten-free' shampoo, in the midst of glutophobia. Gluten doesn't matter unless you eat the stuff, and if you're eating shower gel, your problems don't start with gluten!

In order to know whether something is genuinely beneficial, there must be evidence to back it up, otherwise all the effort that's gone to, is spent chasing no gain. Effort's only worth going to, if there's going to be a reward at the end of it. As i've said before: all rational decisions involve cost-benefit analyses. Doing anything involves a cost; it's only worth doing it, if the benefit outweighs that cost.


Sometimes, ideologies can be harmful simply because they are vacuous, and nothing more. An ideology that is purported to increase capital efficiency, for example. Any effort spent complying with the scheme to increase efficiency, is actually wasted effort, which is actually decreasing efficiency. It's an unjustified cost.

Lean is one example of these schemes. It's supported by no substantial evidence base, but that hasn't stopped idealists from assuming that it must be a good thing. The only article cited on Wiki as evidence for Lean (under the name 'TPS' - Toyota Production Scheme) is a facetiously-titled 'Can lean save lives?' And the study was conducted on some unwitting NHS department, no less. This is a question to which no answer is provided - just more pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking.

It has a placebic 'motivational' quality, in that it makes people think of happy things, like rainbows, and unicorns, and infinite profits, but when it's requried to pay out, so far all of the cheques have bounced.


Through scouring job profiles, i happened to find out that the Ministry of Justice, in the UK, already employs this capitalist pseudoscience, to reduce 'waste' in its own departments, even though the only utility of the Lean/TPS 'value flow' rubbish is to distract competitors from the real thing that makes one company better than another - better business decisions.

All business is inevitably wasteful. We live in a lossy universe - from thermodynamics 'up' we can't live without waste. But that doesn't stop management-types from thinking that they can reduce costs and increase 'performance' by employing costs and reducing performance, as part of a drive to increase efficiency and the 'flow of value' to the 'end customer'.

Toyota didn't become a multinational automotive giant by permanently checking its flow of value (it might as well be tracking 'qi') it became a multinational automotive giant by making adroit business decisions, in an environment that was congenial to extensive business growth. No degree of adherence to TPS would make Toyota successful, if there were no demand for cars!


It's as embarrassing that government departments are subjugated to these 'value' ideologies, in countries like the UK, as it is that employees in France are commonly subjected to pseudoscientific 'graphology' tests, in which their ability to do the job is judged according to spurious aspects of their handwriting, by applicant-and-company-abusing charlatans.

And in Japan's closest neighbour - China - people suffer bad business decisions, because those decisions are misinformed by astrological superstition. Virgos, for example, are turned away from employment, through the superstitious belief that they are a disruptive influence in the workplace - picky, spoiled, and fussy to the point of being obsessive-compulsive - fundamentally incompatible with a harmonious workplace. Astrology, as well as Feng Shui, are officially condemned as 'feudal superstitions' by the Chinese State. The Railways Minister was dismissed in 2011, and charged with corruption and abuse of power, partly for employing Feng Shui charlatans as consultants, to provide 'auspicious dates' on which to start construction projects.

You might like to think that this weirdness is peculiar to the Chinese, but it is most certainly not. All around the world, Feng Shui 'consultants' are given vast sums of money to tell businesses of varying sizes, where they should put their toilets, to stop the yang from leaking away. This is nothing short of ridiculous, but the arid lack of evidence supporting the costs that have been gone to, is seen as irrelevant, by those who waste their time, money, and even health, on such schemes.

Far from increasing efficiency, and avoiding waste, these schemes impose waste, because they are waste, themselves! This means they are reducing the efficiency of the company, not enhancing it. Successive governments of supposedly 'developed' countries have pandered to these delusory ideologies, the way they have adhered to prohibitionism and isolationism. Because they have committed to them so whole-heartedly, any evidence of harm is met with bloody-minded denial.


As a result of the imposition of Lean/TPS ideologies, who is it who takes the blame for the lack of 'value flow'? Well, of course, it's the employees. Who else can it be? It can't be the managers who impose these dotty schemes on their staff - it has to be staff failing to comply with it sufficiently. And while the staff are toiling away, trying to comply with it, their skeptical/cynical resistance can only fade away to unthinking compliance. Or they resign. Or get fired for lack of 'work ethic'. This is not good business practice - unthinking compliance to unsubstantiated dogma is the methodology of a cult.

Rejection of these schemes is treated as a pathology, exhibited by a defective employee. The UK's DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) has exhibited this attitude to its own employees, by which i mean the Unemployed folks who have to work for their JSA (dole) money.

"In the UK and other rich nations such as Australia and the US, welfare claimants are increasingly required to comply with interventions intended to modify their emotions, beliefs and personality."

Many people suffer with poor mental health, as a direct result of unemployment. But the DWP sees unemployment as a medical problem of its own. One that can be cured by 'motivational speaking', akin to the bollocks that gets spouted at them, when the numbers start to look unflattering, despite their faultlessly beautiful minds. It can't be that they're wrong about some things - the blame must lie elsewhere. It's just easier for them to treat the unemployed - the power-less - as pathologically so, than it is to treat each other that way.

"[Welfare] claimants are already coerced into “confidence building” programmes, made to take part in humiliating psychological group activities (like building paperclip towers to demonstrate team work), and obliged to take meaningless and unethical psychological tests to determine their “strengths”. Unsolicited “motivational messages” are emailed to some job seekers daily."

For some, it's just frivolous (vacuous) fun. For others, it's both frustrating, and insulting. I can't count how many people i've seen put on 'employability' courses, but have 40 years of employment behind them. They are being blamed for lack of vacancies, and for the changing world around them. These schemes can only help to make people in executive positions feel like they've done something. When they're unimpressed by some numbers, they get a consultant in to give them a vacuous team-building course; so they intuitively think that such vacuity will mend other people's woes, too.

"Bogus constructs like “psychological resistance to work” and “cultures of worklessness” are used to legitimise coercive regimes that stigmatise and punish."

Because of these schemes, blame is shifted from the real guilty parties - those who make bad executive decisions, such as Management and Ministers of Parliament - onto the victims of those bad decisions. "Don't agree with what i say? Then there must be something wrong with you, mustn't there" is the attitude that is adopted. And so no matter how amusingly vacuous the ideology might be (and how easily disagreed with) there is always an underlying insidiousness to its imposition.


This is not peculiar to Lean. Not at all. But it should not be gullibly accepted, just because it's been dressed up as 'progressive' capitalism.

As an aside, Leanist pseudoscience reminds me of the book 'Who Moved My Cheese?' The story is a very simple one, of mice that eat their cheese, and either do or don't realise that they have to go somewhere else when the cheese they used to have, runs out. It's a simple analogy for people's attitudes to wealth, and changing times.

But the story's been serially abused by corporats, who've bought the book in large numbers, and distributed it to their staff, thinking that the moral of the story was "Things are changing around here. Get used to it!" and therefore reading the book would instill compliance in their juniors.

When Jon Ronson met a certain businessman, while scouring the world for psychopaths, as part of writing a book called 'The Psychopath Test', Ronson found that "he turned the Hare psychopath checklist into 'Who Moved My Cheese?'" The way that businessman got rich, was by taking over ailing companies, and firing a large portion of their employees, often in highly callous ways. His attitude was typical of the "I'm not sharing the cheese with you, so go away!" misunderstanding.

I think this is because there's a cultural sociopathy in the world of telling-other-people-what-to-do that creates the illusion of there being more biological sociopaths than in actual fact.

To the population that imposes these schemes, they're an opportunity to feel that they're all right, Jack. It excuses them. They're OK. They're not to blame. They don't have to care.

If they were unabateably sociopathic, then they wouldn't need these schemes, because they wouldn't need anything to make them feel better; but because they're not unabateably sociopathic, an ideology that simulates sociopathy can achieve the same result. And at the same time, it appeases the very people who should be most annoyed about it!


Lean, and any other similar pseudosciences, provide both perpetrators and victims with an opportunity to blame the subjects, for lack of compliance with the scheme; and to simultaneously deflect criticism from the only thing that the instigators exist for - making business decisions.

Any good businessperson would want to avoid such poppycock, if they were aware of what it were costing them. They'd want to avoid astrology, Feng Shui, graphology, qi, and even chemical supplementation. I've heard of businesspeople giving their employees supplements, through the belief that it would improve their performance, in the workplace. Online, i found this: a quack magazine's review of companies that waste money on 'organics' and 'wellness' etc etc etc, in a bid to make their employees more pepped for the job.

Any good businessperson would want to avoid all of this. Unless, of course, they were selling it! In which case, i can only appeal to their moral instinct, or continue the campaign to get their shit recognised as fraud, and to get funding for agencies to put them out of business, against their will.


So whether as an employer or an employee, it's important that we stay skeptical of schemes that do not warrant respect, due to lack of evidence of efficacy. It's not good business to squander money on them, and it's not social to subject other people to facile obligations.

Stay skeptical, people. Stay skeptical.
.

Business stuff from the weeks 23/7 - 12/8/12

Apple has accrued tens of billions of dollars, that have gone untaxed, and are sitting in non-US accounts, while they lobby the US government to change the law, so that they don't have to pay any tax on it!
This is why there is a campaign to change the world's tax regimes, so that revenue is taxed according to where it came from. This way, companies can not have limbo money, that is taxed by neither source nor destination.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-apple-phantom-taxes-billions-profit.html
The campaign:
http://www.tackletaxhavens.com/the-solutions/

Don't forget that companies like Apple really are, each, soaking billions of dollars out of the world's societies, every year. And paying very little tax on any of it. If at all.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-apple-profit-bn.html
http://www.accountancylive.com/croner/jsp/Editorial.do?channelId=-601050&contentId=2211233&Failed_Reason=Session+not+found&Failed_Page=%2fjsp%2fEditorial.do&BV_UseBVCookie=No
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-glaxosmithkline-profits-tax.html

But they're still seeking billions in settlements from 'intellectual property' breaches...
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-apple-billions-samsung-patent.html

And paying out for massive legal cases, as they keep bully each other across the econo-scape...
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-spyker-sues-gm-saab-takeover.html
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-hp-court-oracle.html
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-apple-ditch-iphone-youtube-app.html

And then you've got Pfizer being fined $45 million for bribing people to win contracts. For them, that's a pittance, by the way.
http://www.accountancylive.com/croner/jsp/Editorial.do?channelId=-601066&contentId=2222543&Failed_Reason=Session+not+found&Failed_Page=%2fjsp%2fEditorial.do&BV_UseBVCookie=No
But let's not miss Google's $22.5 million fine for breaching privacy rules. They'll notice that amount even less than Pfizer will miss theirs.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-google-fined-225mn-safari-privacy.html

Of course, the cartels are all part and parcel of the capitalism that are wholesale-bought politicians tell us has made us all so rich. Even though we're not.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-eu-probes-cartel-cd-makers.html

And even though public sector funding is too high, we can't afford to tax businesses, to cover the costs of it, because... because... because then they might actually pay *some* taxes (refer to first post)
At every turn, we've got lobbying groups setting up, or pushing anew, to get concessions from ministers, who are blissfully unaware at how they're being *used*
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-eu-scrap-airline-emissions-tax.html
Let's not pretend that the companies that 'own' the internet will really be lobbying in our interests.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-google-facebook-ebay-internet-lobby.html

Beyond the corruption and financial malpractice, of course, we've got your good-old-fashioned, greed-based profiteering, like in the olden days....

Gambling: 
'Robot trading loses firm $440 million in 45 minutes'
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/08/robot-trading-loses-firm-440-m.html

And exploitation of lands far far away, where we didn't really notice, so it's okay, no really, they're only foreigners/animals/whatever we're allowed to say...

'Gibson Guitar reaches agreement in ebony investigation'
Gibson - yes, that Gibson - has been paying local companies to plunder the rainforests of Madagascar, so that they can have nice-looking fret boards on the guitars they make. Isn't that nice. Not for all the animals that die, in the process, though.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22147-gibson-guitar-reaches-agreement-in-ebony-investigation.html

Politics stuff from the week 16-22/7/12

You've got to suspect something's gone badly wrong in Conservatives' minds, when they're faking Twitter followers, to get attention:
'Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers'
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/07/17/revealed-the-epidemic-of-tories-and-fake-twitter-followers/

More dangerous muppetry from the Conservatives:
'Tories plan to sell off NHS blood supplier'
"Coming so soon after the out-sourcing debacle of G4S, it beggars belief the Tories would so easily put the lives of people in private hands."
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/07/15/tories-plan-to-sell-off-nhs-blood-supplier/

At least we can't say that the moronics aren't diverse:
'Miliband smacks down Warsi over Miners Gala'
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/07/15/miliband-smacks-down-warsi-over-miners-gala/

Although they are often trite and feckless:
'No further action against councillor who compared gay marriage with bestiality'
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/07/17/no-further-action-against-councillor-who-compared-gay-marriage-with-bestiality/

'New study finds fastest-growing cities not the most prosperous'
Growth causes job opportunities, drawing people in -- influx of peoples does not cause growth.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-fastest-growing-cities-prosperous.html

'Why is the government keen not to upset the drinks lobby?'
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/07/20/why-is-the-government-keen-not-to-upset-the-drinks-lobby/

[video] 'How lobbying (probably) works'
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/07/12/how-lobbying-probably-works/


'China produces as much CO2 per person as Europe: report'
Because of its high economic growth rate, China is now equivalent to europe as regards carbon emissions per person. Emissions attributable to the actual people, however, are low - the massive increase is due to industrial growth.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-china-co2-person-europe.html

'Drugs & al-Qaeda money laundering rap for HSBC'
"Shockingly lax controls at HSBC are believed to have allowed Mexican drug cartels to launder billions of dollars through its US operations, and helped fund al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, a US Senate committee investigation has found."
"Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate investigations panel, also criticised the federal agency supervising the bank's US operations - Office of the Comptroller of the Currency - saying it ‘tolerated’ HSBC’s weak controls against money laundering."
http://www.accountancylive.com/croner/jsp/Editorial.do?contentId=2200757&BV_SessionID=@@@@1172136461.1342962280@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadfhfmdlidlcflgceggdfnfdgfg.0&channelId=-601070

While in the UK, money-laundering regulations are to be relaxed for the lowest risk group, in order to save them millions in unnecessary expense.
http://www.accountancylive.com/croner/jsp/Editorial.do?contentId=2207920&BV_SessionID=@@@@1172136461.1342962280@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadfhfmdlidlcflgceggdfnfdgfg.0&channelId=-601061

Business stuff from the week 9-15/7/12

124 of 775 unelected members of the UK's second house (of Lords) are in the pay of the City's financial sector.
"Four of the 11 members of the Lords committee set up to consider the 2011 finance bill, for example, held positions in banks, and a fifth was about to join a bank. The Finance Act gave large tax breaks to businesses with offshore interests, including multinational banks and insurers.
On the committee were Lord Griffiths, a Goldman Sachs director, Lord Hollick, a partner at private bank GP Bullhound, Lord MacGregor, who was at the time co-chairman of the UK food and agriculture advisory board of Rabobank International and Lord McFall.
Lady Noakes’ appointment as a director of the Royal Bank of Scotland was announced shortly after the committee reported.
Other members in the pay of the finance sector  included the late Lord Maples, who at the time was the chairman of a venture capital trust – and previously founded Maples and Calder, one of the world’s largest offshore law firms – and Lord Wakeham, an adviser to LEK Consulting, a firm with a large client base in the financial services industry.
This gave Lords who were paid by the finance sector an overwhelming majority on the committee."
This is how corruption works - conflict of interest - no 1st or 2nd house members should be allowed employment at profit-motivated organisations, because the association alone is enough to corrupt their judgement!
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/07/10/house-of-bankers-16-of-lords-are-paid-by-city-firms/

'Revealed: The £93m City lobby machine'
"Beyond the Corporation are at least 26 industry bodies lobbying government and regulators based in the UK with an advocacy war-chest of  at least £34m.
A total of 38 public affairs consultancies and public relations firms earn fees worth an estimated £15.8m from banks, insurers, hedge funds and private equity firms.
Some 124 Lords, equivalent to 16% of the House of Lords, have direct financial links with financial services firms. On Lords committees scrutinising last year’s Budget, peers who were paid by finance firms formed the majority.
Political donations by firms and individuals connected to the City contributed £6.11m in 2011 to the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties."
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/07/09/revealed-the-93m-city-lobby-machine/

'The G4S scandal also shows outsourcing does not work'
"When the only definition of value is cash profit nothing of real value to the people involved, the community they serve or of lasting relevance is created.
The state has the ability to create that value through commitment. Outsourcing does not. Which is why it is a disaster."
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/07/15/the-g4s-scandal-also-shows-outsourcing-does-not-work/

'How is a private contractor allowed to charge for NHS treatment?'
There should be a 'separation of Church and State'-like separation of private and public healthcare. The private sector is a millstone around the NHS' neck - it usurps resources, exploits patients, steals expertise, etc, etc.
"Twitter was ablaze with reports that an NHS walk-in health centre in Sheffield is charging patients £25 to be treated for whiplash. The reports seem accurate."
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/07/14/how-is-a-private-contractor-allowed-to-charge-for-nhs-treatment/

'The more the merrier -- farmers must diversify to survive'
CSIRO’s Sustainable Agriculture Flagship has compiled a study, and advises farmers to diversify in order to protect themselves from economic and climatic fluctuations.
This makes sense - biodiversity means more chance that a particular species will be thriving, meaning a more reliable baseline for productivity.
"diversification could reduce standard deviation by up to 52 per cent of average net returns and increase the probability of breaking even by up to 20 percent."
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-merrier-farmers-diversify-survive.html

Google to pay $22.5 million fine for tracking millions of surfers via their Safari browser
That should set them back by a few hours' work! Google expects to make $46 billion this year.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-source-google-225m-fine-privacy.html

Despite exhorting a history of environmentalism, Apple has ceased compliance with an environmental ratings registry.
Because San Francisco's city rules require compliance, they have already stopped buying Apple computers.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-apple-environmental-registry.html
Update: Apple has rejoined the registry, following negative PR, but has still offered no explanation for leaving in the first place.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-apple-rejoins-green-tech-spat.html

Wahey - more debt for businesses that can't afford to pay it back!
http://www.accountancylive.com/croner/jsp/Editorial.do?contentId=2199933&BV_SessionID=@@@@0280379059.1342345127@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadfhfgdgkehcflgceggdfnfdgfg.0&channelId=-601070


Don't be fooled by the Gay Pride Oreo cookie -- it's exploitative marketing, by a mega-corporation.
http://youtu.be/3-04bKMlX9I
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/06/oreo-pride-rainbow-stuffed-cookie-sparks-boycott/

'Shamed Bob Diamond walks away £2m richer'
"Diamond would waive his deferred £20m bonuses. Diamond’s £2m golden parachute is made up of a year’s pay, pension and benefits."
"Diamond has banked around £100m from Barclays since 2006 alone."
http://www.accountancylive.com/croner/jsp/Editorial.do?contentId=2200746&BV_SessionID=@@@@0280379059.1342345127@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadfhfgdgkehcflgceggdfnfdgfg.0&channelId=-601070

Business stuff from the week 2-8/7/12

More bad news for the UK economy - the banks are being given yet more money, straight out of the public purse, for screwing everyone over already. Thanks for helping them out, pollies!
http://www.accountancylive.com/croner/jsp/Editorial.do?contentId=2194336&BV_SessionID=@@@@1846627751.1341744175@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccadfhejmlmegcflgceggdfnfdgfg.0&channelId=-601070


The pharmaceutical industry's been doing well, recently <s>
GlaxoSmithKline's accepted blame for health fraud (and a $3 billion fine!), following last week's story about Roche, being found out about their side-effect cover-ups.
"GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay $3 billion for introducing "misbranded" drugs and failing to report safety data, following a criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice. The settlement is the largest for healthcare fraud in US history."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528723.800-glaxosmithkline-agrees-3-billion-fraud-payout.html
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/gsk-pays-3-billion-fine/
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-glaxosmithkline-fined-3bn.html
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-glaxosmithkline-guilty-health-fraud.html
And Pfizer's being sued by other companies, for inhibiting the consumption of cheaper, generic drugs, that would negate Pfizer's market monopolies on them
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-retailers-sue-pfizer-lipitor.html

''Leap second' wreaks Internet havoc'
"A later message by Reddit attempted to make fun of the issue: "You ever wish you had an extra second or two? This is not one of those times.""
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-wreaks-internet-havoc.html

'Shell, BASF ordered to pay $500 mln in Brazil pollution case'
Anglo-Dutch fossil-fuel company, Shell, and German chemical company, BASF, have been ordered to pay a $500 million fine into a compensation fund, to make up for the health defecits incurred due to their reckless business activities, in Brazil.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-shell-basf-mln-brazil-pollution.html

Electronics firm Toshiba has been fined $87 million for price-fixing. Although they might get off without even paying that paltry sum.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-toshiba-fined-antitrust-case.html

'US arrests head of online poker site'
"[Raymond Bitar] had been charged last year with gambling, bank fraud, and money laundering offenses in connection with the operation of Full Tilt Poker."
"The Justice Department said Bitar is charged with promising players that their funds would be protected in segregated accounts when the company actually used them to pay for operations and to pay Bitar and other owners over $430 million."
Hang on! Isn't that what banks do, as a matter of course? Oh, yeah - but different rules apply to them...
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-online-poker-site.html

'Google in crosshairs over gun ban'
Google has endeavoured to prevent weapons trading via its shopping platform. Good news - for anyone who doesn't like being shot by a moron with a weapon.
The gun-toting maniacs who can't see past the end of their barrels, however, have come out with the same old guff that people in their situation (irrational) always do - "we're being discriminated against, because we aren't allowed to shoot each other in the face, by accident"
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-google-crosshairs-gun.html

Business stuff from the week 25/6 - 1/7/12

[audio] Jonty Bloom explains Barclay's LIBOR rate fixing corruption in 1 minute:
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/06/29/audio-the-barclays-libor-scandal-explained-in-one-minute/

London Olympics on track to be 'most costly Games ever'
Since Sydney 2000, Olympics have been, on average, ~47% over budget. The London Olympics is due to be 101% over budget, by their figure of £8.4bn, but the government figure is £9.3bn...?
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-london-olympics-track-costly-games.html
http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/news/1136462/olympic-underspend-must-go-back-big-lottery-fund/

News Corp - Rupert Murdoch's company - is rumoured to be splitting. The entertainment branch draws in the vast majority of the profit, but Murdoch will retain his majority shares in both the entertainment and publishing companies.
Imagine a world without Murdoch's companies corrupting the media, with all its propaganda, and contrarian crap! We could actually have a functioning media, that holds its governments to account, like it's supposed to!
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-news-corp.html

Cyber attacks hit global banks for $80 million
"The report from [Guardian Analytics and McAfee] said the attacks tried to steal between $75 million and $2.5 billion (60 million to two billion euros) from at least 60 banks worldwide."
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-cyber-global-banks-mn.html

What happens when profit-motivated organisations won't employ you, because they want your wage money for themselves?
Well, if you can move back in with your parents, your prospects will be far less bleak...
'Economist shows the value of moving back with mom and dad'
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-economist-mom-dad.html

French police have conducted a search of Microsoft's french offices.
This news comes in the light of disputes regarding the amount of tax Microsoft owes due to its ventures in France.
Microsoft could owe 100,000,000 euros for its French activities - but that's on turnover which is thirty-three times less than its turnover in the UK!
Tax rules are notoriously sloppy in the UK, which is why they suffer the worst corruption in Europe, and the worst market abuse.
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-french-police-tax-authorities-microsoft.html

A botched software upgrade by UK banks left hundreds of thousands of people unable to access their money.
Ironically, banks have long lauded their 'services' as financial security, but if this kind of thing happened and were prolonged, the paltry amount that people keep in their wallets nowadays would motivate them to riots and looting far quicker than before!
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428711.500-banking-outage-gives-tiny-glimpse-of-cybergeddon.html

One of the world's problem Tax Havens is throwing its toys out of the pram, amidst the tax evasion topic going around at the moment.
Note to remember: Jersey is one of *many* tax havens that businesses and individuals arbitrarily route their money through, in order to legally avoid paying tax.
http://www.accountancylive.com/croner/jsp/Editorial.do?contentId=2186449&BV_SessionID=@@@@0540289274.1341135629@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccgadfhedmmiehcflgceggdfnfdgfh.0&channelId=-601053

Business stuff from the week 18-24/6/12

'Renewable energy use surged worldwide last year'
Solar power alone had a global investment rise of 52%, to $147 billion. Europe remains behind China and the US, and the capitalist 'austerity' slashes to the public sector have caused setbacks, but the industry appears to be maturing as expected.
"In 1903, the United States had over 500 car companies, most of which quickly fell by the wayside even as the automobile sector grew into an industrial juggernaut... Writing off the auto industry based on the failures of weaker firms would have been foolish. Today, the renewable energy sector is experiencing similar growing pains as the sector consolidates." - Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-renewable-energy-surged-worldwide-year.html

Why has the US recovered from recession so much better than the UK?
For the plain and simple reason that they didn't cut State expenditure as much. We knew that budget cuts would cause damage, but the Conservatives, with their boundless confidence, ignored that little thing called 'knowledge' and started slashing away!
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/06/20/why-is-the-uk-economy-doing-much-worse-than-the-usa/

I seriously doubt whether any/many of these corporations are actually going to do what they've said they're going to.
Organisations such as those mentioned are notorious for making populistic claims, and then either not bothering to do anything, or employing a series of tricks to make it seem like they've achieved, when in fact they haven't - foe example, exporting the costs to other franchises/countries.
Greenpeace has recently been executing a rather large campaign against Volkswagen for 'greenwashing' - making claims of ecological friendliness, when in fact, their market-leading car is a tiny proportion of their stock!
Saying you're going to do something, and actually doing it, are two very different things. And they don't have a history of following through on their promises.
"Rio+20 will be known as Greenwash+20 because governments are failing to hold corporations to account and are serving the interest of polluters not their people," said Mittler [political director of Greenpeace International]
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-ceos-pledge-sustainability-urge-green.html
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-corporations-pledge-sustainability-rio20.html

'Honda to recycle rare earths to be green'
Either Honda's really going 'all out' with the greenwashing, or they actually mean it!
They have plans to produce electric vehicles, to supply all their energy needs from renewable sources, and they also plan to recycle all the rare earth metals that they use.
Currently, the rest of the world demands its rare earth metal consumption be fed by China, despite the fact that only 30% of the world's resources are actually in China.
The reason the other economies of the world are demanding China do their work for them, is that the overheads in rare earth metal extraction are large.
Rather than bothering to collaborate in extracting some of the other 70% of the world's resources, they're just insisting that China do all the work!
Listen up, capitalist economies of the world: if you want REMs so desperately, then get off your arses, learn how to do collaboration, and extract some yourselves!
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-honda-recycle-rare-earths-green.html

"The protection of the environment is never a pretext for gaining advantage or increasing economic returns," said Su Bo, a deputy industry minister, at a news conference.
Precisely - it could also be said that gaining advantage or increasing economic returns is never a justification for damaging the environment.
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-china-defends-curbs-rare-earths.html

This better be regulated properly, or they'll just claim low emissions in the interests of greenwashing.
And that will look highly suspicious! Lower collective emissions than have been observed...
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-british-firms-greenhouse-gas-emissions.html
There are already-known techniques to locate the source of emissions. They should use them.
http://phys.org/news/2012-05-co2-global-scientists-future-greenhouse.html

'Roche probed over faulty drug-safety reporting'
Point to note: They have not been picked up on any particular drug's side-effects - only their process for reporting them.
This is not evidence for specific fraudulence, but of systematic recklessness. Industry-funded trials are notorious for 'losing' bad results.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-roche-probed-faulty-drug-safety.html

Vince Cable, on behalf of the UK government, has announced a completely spineless attempt to mitigate obscene executive pay - instead of proper regulation, the shareholders get to decide when pay goes up. Rubbish!
http://www.accountancylive.com/croner/jsp/Editorial.do?contentId=2183286&BV_SessionID=@@@@1021739452.1340533786@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadfhdhmhlflcflgceggdfnfdgfh.0&channelId=-601070

From April 2013, UK charities will not have to do any paperwork for small contributions, rendering Gift Aid unnecessary for small amounts.
This should mean far more people being accosted by charity-workers with buckets!
http://www.accountancylive.com/croner/jsp/Editorial.do?contentId=2183296&BV_SessionID=@@@@1021739452.1340533786@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadfhdhmhlflcflgceggdfnfdgfh.0&channelId=-601051