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

Politics stuff from the week 21-27/5/12

The Queen of Great Britain is a mystery to all members of the public. Which is odd, considering how high-profile she is. She is on all the stamps and coins, after all.
Despite this, we know very little about her - and there's a reason for that - everything she does is secret (sssh!)
We are, quite literally, not allowed to know.
As the Queer's 60th Jubilee approaches, all criticism has been censored, and we still know just about nothing about what she really does all day long.
There is only one reason to suppress information about your career activities - they would be bad for your reputation if people learned of them!
http://phys.org/news/2012-05-majesty-secret.html

Important petition for all UK residents - keep your private info private - demand parliament keep the electoral role from entities that can not use it for favourable purposes
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/34200

Official Protesters of the London 2012 Olympic Games
10 reasons you should boycott the Games as they are
"We're not opposed to the sports events, and we're all in favour of having a big party – but only if everyone's invited"
http://www.protestlondon2012.com/10reasons.html

Oh, the Cuntservatives - how they love to victimise the 'underclass'. This time, they've been claiming that there are 120,000 'broken' families, and if we could only expunge them from society, everything would be rosy. Unfortunately, reality's not that simple
http://phys.org/news/2012-05-families-uk.html

"Well played, Daily Mail"
They've got misogyny down to a 'T'
https://twitter.com/ffffelix/status/204330392495460353/photo/1

"It is reported that Lady Warsi was claiming £165.50 a night subsistence allowance."

"Hell, I wouldn't mind trying to 'subsist' on *£1158.50 per week*..." - Mark Doran

"Baroness Warsi, co-chairman of the Conservative Party, has admitted failing to declare rental income received for more than a year on a north London flat."

"Add that to the £1158.50, and that's going to be at least two and a half grand extra per week, all straight into the pocket..."
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18225881


Michael Rosen on the Boris Broadcasting Corporation, and the Conservatives' London voicebox - the E'en Stannit (Evening Standard)
http://michaelrosenblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/boris-broadcasting-corporation.html


"A former head of security and fraud at Lloyds has been charged over her involvement in a £2.5m false invoicing scam"
Oh, my sides! Accountancy Live reports far too many of these kinds of stories :D
http://bit.ly/MZAEe4