Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Passion Party #563 - Behind The Front Page

I never use this blog for this purpose, but I just have to share the various news stories I read today in the Wall Street Journal.  None of these showed up on the first page, and none of them were reported in the LA Times.  I believe they are more newsworthy than the latest thing that any politician said today.
  1.  -  Millions of documents that were leaked from Mossack Fonseca & Co. list 140 very prominent public officials, executives and celebrities that used their services in setting up shell companies and offshore accounts for its clients: Many business associates of Vladimir Putin, The Prime Minister of Iceland, eight relatives of China's Politburo Standing Committee, the brother-in-law of Chinese President Deng Jiagui, Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko and others.  The law firm and all individuals have denied any wrongdoing.
  2.  - Although college students take notes on the computer 33% faster than if they hand-write the notes, students that take notes by hand  consistently learn better,  retain information better and are faster to grasp new ideas.
  3.  - New rules from the Labor Department will, for the first time, require stock and insurance brokers to act solely in the best interest of their client, and fully disclose the commissions they earn by making an investment recommendation.
  4.  - Although the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (established in 2009 after the Great Recession started) named specific executives at Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and AIG that they felt should be brought to trial for violating federal securities law in 2011, NO Wall Street executives have faced criminal charges for the events that brought about the financial crisis.
  5.  - Bill Gross, the "Bond King" of Pimco was paid a $300 million bonus for his work with the firm in 2013.  He quit in 2014, and is now suing PIMCO for $200 million in damages for a bonus he claims he is owed for the time he worked there in 2014 before he resigned.

 - Just another day here in paradise.