Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Wednesday, 10 June 2015

The European Union Times


Posted: 09 Jun 2015 07:25 AM PDT


Monsanto, the agrochemical and seed giant, is eyeing a move to the UK as part of a complex merger with Swiss rival Syngenta that would take advantage of Chancellor George Osborne’s lower corporation tax rate.
The US firm is proposing a so-called “corporate inversion,” or “tax inversion,” which would involve setting up a new company registered in the UK.
Syngenta rejected the $45 billion revised bid from Monsanto on Monday, priced at $489.84 per share – a 43 percent premium on current prices.
The US agrochemical firm, known for its genetically modified (GM) crops, also offered a $2 billion termination fee to be paid in the event an anti-trust regulator blocks the merger.
Under the plan, Monsanto investors would end up with a 70 percent holding in the UK company while investors in Syngenta would take the rest.
Syngenta shareholders would also receive cash, which when combined with shares in the new firm would reach a total value of around $45 billion.
“A new parent company, domiciled in the UK, would demonstrate that our merger will create a new global enterprise … [and] provide additional synergies,” Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant wrote.
“We would also propose a new name for the combined company to reflect its unique global nature.”
The Swiss firm rejected the offer, saying it included “the same inadequate price, same inadequate regulatory undertakings to close, same regulatory risks.”
Britain has become a more attractive destination for corporations to set up their headquarters since Chancellor George Osborne cut corporation tax from 21 percent to 20 percent and established generous rules on the taxation of complex overseas subsidiaries based in the UK.
The corporation tax rate in the US is 35 percent, one of the highest in the developed world.
A wave of “inversion” deals last year prompted President Barack Obama to label the practice “unpatriotic” and introduce new laws in a bid to limit the transactions.
Despite this, three American companies have made inversion agreements to relocate their headquarters outside the US since September.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s effort to merge with the UK’s AstraZeneca last year was an attempt at “corporate inversion.”
Monsanto came under fire from US senator Dick Durban on Monday, who accused the firm of attempting tax avoidance.
The Democrat from Illinois said: “It’s clear that Monsanto – a company that has prospered and expanded in large part due to US taxpayer-funded programs and services – intends to reincorporate overseas as part of its proposed acquisition of Syngenta in order to avoid paying US taxes.”
“Hundreds of millions of dollars that could be invested in the infrastructure, education and research that companies rely on will be lost if Monsanto is allowed to go through with this corporate inversion scheme.”
Durban has joined Senator Jack Reed and Representatives Sandy Levin and Lloyd Doggett, all Democrats, to introduce the Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2015.
Monsanto executives will meet Syngenta’s investors and its own shareholders in Europe this week in a bid to shore up support for another merger bid.
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Posted: 09 Jun 2015 07:09 AM PDT


In response to the false news story that a Pakistani had won the Joker (the Greek lottery), SYRIZA MP Maria Kanellopoulou took the opportunity to draw fire against the Greeks through a deeply anti-Greek, racist delirium!
“Hahahahahahahaha….. What am I hearing??? What am I reading???? What am I learning???? A Pakistani won the Joker???????? There is a God after all!!!!”
The SYRIZA MP concludes with “There is a God after all”, because a Greek didn’t win, but rather some illegal immigrant.
The next step for the SYRIZA MP will be from the floor of Parliament exclaiming “Allah Al Akbar!” with applause from the Unconstitutional Arch.


        
Posted: 09 Jun 2015 07:02 AM PDT


John Brennan, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told Face the Nation the United States creates terrorism.
“I think the president has tried to make sure that we’re able to push the envelope when we can to protect this country. But we have to recognize that sometimes our engagement and direct involvement will stimulate and spur additional threats to our national security interests,” Brennan said Face the Nation.
Left unmentioned by Brennan is the fact the CIA creates terrorism. This is not speculation or a conspiracy theory, but rather a documented fact.
Al-Qaeda and other terror groups, including ISIS. are documented CIA assets. The director of the National Security Agency under Ronald Reagan, General William Odom, admitted as much when he said “by any measure the U.S. has long used terrorism” to realize foreign policy goals.
Robert Gates, director of the CIA under Ronald Reagan and George Bush Senior, and Secretary of Defense under both George W. Bush and Obama, wrote in his memoir the CIA had a hand in building up the Afghan mujahideen that would eventually become al-Qaeda.
Former British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, told the House of Commons al-Qaeda was unquestionably a product of the CIA and western intelligence.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also admitted the U.S. created and funded al-Qaeda.
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Posted: 09 Jun 2015 06:55 AM PDT
The 50 hospitals overcharging patients are marked in the US map.
A new study shows that 50 hospitals in the United States charge uninsured patients around 10 times more than the normal care cost.
Out of the 50, half are run by the Community Health Systems while 14 others are operated by Hospital Corp. of America, the Washington Post reported on Monday based on the study published in Health Affairs.
“They are price-gouging because they can,” said Gerard Anderson, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, co-author of the study in Health Affairs.
“They are marking up the prices because no one is telling them they can’t.”
On top of the list, there stood North Okaloosa Medical Center, a 110-bed hospital in Florida, where the uninsured are charged 12.6 times the real cost.
All of the 50 medical facilities are for-profit entities, except one, while most of them, 20, are in the southeastern state of Florida.
None of the hospitals were particularly located in upscale areas thus their high prices could not be justified based on pricey neighborhood trends.
“These are the hospitals that have the highest markup of all 5,000 hospitals in the United States. This means, when it costs the hospital $100, they are going to charge you, on average, $1,000,” Anderson said.
Those in charge of the hospitals have reportedly questioned the credibility of the findings, arguing that they offer discounts and support for the underinsured patients.
“For-profit players appear to be better players in this price-gouging game,” said Ge Bai, an assistant accounting professor at Washington and Lee University and a co-author.
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Posted: 09 Jun 2015 06:36 AM PDT


Nearly 100 people have been arrested after police moved in to clear a migrant camp in Paris. Law enforcement officers clashed with refugees and activists, amid a wider campaign to clear illegal immigrants from the French capital.
French police started surrounding the camp at Rue Pajol in the 18th district of Paris that housed around 100 migrants at about 14:00 local time. Migrants and activists formed a human chain as they refused to abandon the site.
However, after more than an hour, a few clashes began to breakout between the police and the activists. Officers used tear gas to disperse the crowd and made subsequent arrests.
“We were trying to feed them when riot police arrived,” Fanny Gaillard, an adviser to Paris’s 19th district, told 20 Minutes, after nearly 350 migrants were evacuated from similar camps on June 3 and June 5.
Local media reported that around 90 people including activists were detained, with police carrying people away onto buses by force. Their actions were met with boos from the crowd, who held placards reading: “Freedom, freedom,” “Solidarity with immigrants,” and “We are the Republic.”
Those who were arrested were placed onto two buses and were taken to an undisclosed location. Others were taken to hospital, with at least three people being reported injured.
On June 5, police carried out a similar crackdown near La Chapelle. Almost 350 people, mostly Sudanese and Eritreans had been living there before being forced to seek alternative shelter. Last week, French forces also evacuated migrants camped outside the nearby Saint-Bernard Church.
Police were criticized for using unnecessary force during the evictions following a wave of migrant makeshift camp closures. The authorities have also been slammed for failing to provide adequate accommodation and ignoring pledges to find them with shelter, regardless of whether the migrants are seeking asylum in France.
“We continue to request the opening of a gymnasium for charities to take care of them,” Gaillard said.
Ahead of Monday’s raid, the Green party officials at the Paris Municipal Council “solemnly requested [Paris mayor] Anne Hidalgo to open a shelter for [the migrants] starting this evening.”
The head of the French Communist Party (PCF), Pierre Laurent, said on Twitter that he was “revolted” by Prime Minister Manuel Valls’ choice to “send security forces against the refugees at Pajol.”
The influx of immigrants has left many European countries, namely Italy, Greece, Malta, Germany and Sweden, exhausted by the burden, with the number of those crossing the Mediterranean to get to Europe increasing.
Over 80,000 have arrived so far this year, while the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 1,820 others have died or gone missing while trying to get to Europe. Under the proposed emergency relocation plan (which would have to be backed by member states and the European Parliament) countries will reportedly receive “€6,000 ($6,531) for each person relocated on their territories” from EU coffers.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 11:14