|
|
On the last day Americans have to file their taxes, which coincidentally fell on the same day Paul Revere started his ride warning the colonies of a British invasion, GE got an earfull from about 45 protestors about its tax bill. See the above link to the bad video I shot.
GE has come under fire for reaping the benefits of the corporate tax system that allows it to keep profits offshore and to claim deductions for losses in its financial business, while still reporting billions in profits.
Bridgeport-based Aquarion announced today, Wednesday, it is buying 20 water companies from Bethel-based Rural Water Co. Inc.
The price was not disclosed.
The systems serve residents in Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield and Ridgefield. This is the third Aquarion acquisition in the Greater Danbury area in the last year.
Auarion is among the nation’s largest investor owned water companies.
Passport Capital of San Francisco announced that it has hired former Structured Portfolio Management trader Jeffrey Kong, a Norwalk resident, as a portfolio manager.
Earlier this year, Kong was embroiled in a lawsuit with his former boss, Don Browstein, the founder of SPM in Stamford. After more than a decade of collaboration and building SPM into a $2 billion hedge fund, Brownstein and Kong had a falling out and Kong left the firm.
In 2010, Kong accepted a job with Passport, sparking a lawsuit from SPM, which claimeda noncompete clause was still in effect. Kong filed a counterclaim asking for $74 million in bonus for managing SPM funds, but the two sides settled their dispute out of court earlier this year and have not revealed the terms of that settlement.
Kong will manage Passport’s mortgage-backed securities portfolio and related fixed income strategies. He has been given control over asset selection, risk management and hedging. Passport has an office in Stamford.
“Hey, can I buy a cig?” the man in the striped hoodie, wearing a bandana or ski mask over his face, shouts from the corner of State and West Tuesday morning. He’s yelling at another young man in a grey hoodie on the opposite corner.
“My last one!” the grey hooded kid shouts back holding up the lit stick. He takes a small drag. Neither breaks stride as they go about their business walking in different directions.
Barely any cars were heading towards downtown during their exchange. And there was no pause or haggling over the price, though presumably, the grey hooded guy could have got a good deal. I’ve heard guys offering a buck for a cigarette and, though it’s not supposed to happen, there are places where you can buy a single cigarette over the counter.
Cigarettes cost from $6 to $8.25 a pack one Bridgeport grocer said. That’s more than a gallon of gas, which is going for $4 or more for regular at some stations, and maybe why, there weren’t so many cars at 9:30 a.m. on State Street.
It’s all part of an economy that’s burning like a last cigarette, for many people. It’s like each puff is the rising price of gas and food burning up the family budget leaving ashes.
Of course, the sensible thing is to quite smoking and save yourself a few bucks. After all every dollar counts.
So far, Atlas Shrugged Part 1 will open in two movie theaters in Connecticut on April 15, it’s official release date.
Fairfield Cinemas at Bullard Square, 41 Blackrock Turnpike and in Plainville at AMC Loews.
For a movie based on a revered book that graces many an MBA’s desk, it’s been getting decent reviews indicating co-writer and co-producer John Aglialoro has stuck to Ayn Rand’s plot and honored the spirit of the novel.
Not an easy thing to do with this book in particular, which has a complex cast of characters operating in a world where Communism, socialism and capitalism are all vying for dominance.
To understand the book, however, you should remember Rand was born in Russia and her family lost its business to the communists after the revolution. After earning a degree in her native country, she came to the America of the Roaring 20s and stayed becoming a successful writer who defended elitism and competence as well as capitalism after watching the Great Depression and World War II unfold.
(It’s still hard to fathom why being elite in this country has become a bad thing.)
Her two most famous works of fiction were The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.
Atlas Shrugged is the more complex of the two books, and, in typical Russian novelist tradition, tends to go on-and-on-and-on in parts. There is an exceptionally long passage on a train ride. I know it’s supposed to convey the importance of opening a new line and serve as a symbolic passage on the nature of creation and conflict, but man. That aside, the work itself is unequaled in its portrayal of the battle between talent and social organizations bent on hammering all people into equal rolls.
The main characters are a second generation railroad heiress, an engineer who builds a static engine that runs on air, and an industrialist who by himself creates a new allow of metal that is stronger than steel.
Despite the serious nature, there is some humor in this story. Particularly when you learn the genesis of the phrase “Who is John Galt?” That’s a question that people ask when something goes wrong that shouldn’t.
The actual premis is clever and funny as well. It’s Rand’s vision of what would happen if the creative and competent people in society went on strike.
While the book’s heroes are businessmen and women, Rand also casts businessmen who don’t create things and use government to glomb on to the success and genius of others as villains as well as government officials who try to create a forced equality of people, instead of allowing equality of opportunity.
It will be interesting to see if director Paul Johansson, (who by the way is John Galt, according to IMBD) and the production can manage to make this point rather than just dumming the book down to the premis of “Businessman good. Government bad.”
For more information on the movie, visit http://www.AtlasShruggedPart1.com.
The IRS issued a press release this weekend advising people to stay away from its dirty dozen “tax scams.”
They include hiding income in off shore accounts. Then the IRS reminds taxpayers that it works closely with federal prosecutors. You’ve been warned.
The Feds want, heck they need money.
Here are some of the other things the taxman will be looking for:
Zero income
Misuse of trusts
Disguised corporate ownership
Frivolous arguments (those include that the income tax is illegal)
Abuse of charitable deductions
Anyway you have until April 18 to file this year. Good luck.
The Connecticut Department of Labor said it cut a deal with a private company to provide up to 1,000 people free access to classes that can carry college credit or allow someone to earn a technical certification. The program is being run by through CTWorks Centers and is open to unemployed residents already registered with the centers.
The Labor Department said staff would be contacting individuals who would benefit from this program, whihc requires an email address and access to a computer.
The access, granted by Metrix Learning System, is only good for 90 days.
For more information, visit your local CTWorks Center or email Metrix@etiworks.com.
GE announced it will build a solar panel manufacturing plant in the U.S. raising some interesting questions and a dilemma for the company.
First, will the Fairfield company recycle an old industrial site, or defile a pristine piece of land?
It’s a hard choice for the Ecomagination company. The green field would probably be cheaper and the plant could go up faster. But the brownfield would be in keeping with its goal of responsible development.
Then, there’s the mystery location. The company hasn’t divulged where the plant will go. Is this GE angling for some tax benefits or other considerations from competing communities?
And has Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch called Immelt, yet to remind him there’s room in the Park City?
Copyright © 2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
