Tag: Corporations

Thanks to Antitrust Officials, iRobot Will Be Acquired by a Chinese Robotics Firm Instead of Amazon

Posted on by Lone Candle

“iRobot, the creator of Roomba, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday. If Amazon had been allowed to acquire the company in 2022, consumers likely would have enjoyed improved quality and lower prices. Now, thanks to antitrust regulators, iRobot will be acquired by a massive Chinese robot vacuum manufacturer, Shenzhen Picea Robotics, instead of American-owned Amazon.”

https://reason.com/2025/12/17/thanks-to-antitrust-officials-irobot-will-be-acquired-by-a-chinese-robotics-firm-instead-of-amazon/

Zohran Mamdani’s $5 Billion Corporate Tax Hike Threatens NYC’s Status as the World’s Financial Capital

Posted on by Lone Candle

“He’s planning to pay for these proposals with various tax hikes, including a large jump in the city’s corporate tax rate from 7.5 percent to 11.5 percent.

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Unfortunately, raising the corporate tax rate could also hinder the job market, cause corporations to relocate, and decrease long-term government revenue, potentially damaging New York’s status as the financial capital of the world.

Corporations hit with higher tax rates would seek ways to cut costs, possibly harming workers through either layoffs or lower wages.

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In the United Kingdom, for example, around one in six British companies cut hiring in the fourth quarter of 2024 in anticipation of tax hikes that took place in April 2025. If New York employees aren’t directly laid off, they could face lower wages in the long run.

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Already, the exodus of banks from Wall Street to corporate tax havens, such as Elliot Management’s relocation to Florida, has cost the city millions in managed assets. New York City simply cannot afford to watch other businesses follow.

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“”Businesses have only three options to pay for higher taxes: raise prices; reduce costs; or lower returns to investors,” as the authors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce report wrote. “In reality, they do all three.” The fourth option, one even more feasible if a tax hike only hits New York City, is that businesses will flee.”

https://reason.com/2025/10/31/zohran-mamdanis-5-billion-corporate-tax-hike-threatens-nycs-status-as-the-worlds-financial-capital/

Why do people get paid to invest their money?

Posted on by Lone Candle

Another reason investors deserve their income is that by having a system where corporations work toward the goal of increasing investor return, they have the incentive to be productive. So indirectly, by taking part in such a system, investors produce things with their money.

https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/why-do-people-get-paid-to-invest?r=1o36hf&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

Trump’s Plans for Intel Take a Page From Bernie Sanders’ Playbook

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The Trump administration is seeking a 10 percent stake in Intel, Bloomberg reported this week, which would involve converting some or all of the company’s CHIPS Act grants into equity in the company. The exact terms of the deal remain unclear”

https://reason.com/2025/08/19/trumps-plans-for-intel-take-a-page-from-bernie-sanders-playbook/

Jon Stewart Reacts to Colbert’s Cancellation & Trump’s “Bawdy” Epstein Doodles | The Daily Show

Posted on by Lone Candle

Jon Stewart Reacts to Colbert’s Cancellation & Trump’s “Bawdy” Epstein Doodles | The Daily Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwOLo_U6bTw

Kroger-Albertsons Merger Halted by the Federal Trade Commission

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The FTC’s stated motivation for challenging the merger was to avoid “higher prices for groceries and other essential household items for millions of Americans.””

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“Kroger and Albertsons would still only account for 9 percent of overall grocery sales, as C. Jarrett Dieterle has noted in Reason, belying the FTC’s concerns that the merger would grant them significant market power. The FTC’s overly narrow definition of the grocery market is the actual cause of concern: The Commission’s definition includes traditional supermarkets and “hypermarkets” like Walmart and Target, but excludes Amazon and Costco, the second and third largest grocery retailers, respectively.

Considering Kroger’s and Albertsons’ single-digit shares of the properly defined market, and competition from other grocers not recognized by the FTC, the merger was more likely to save Albertsons from insolvency, not afford them enough market power to increase prices. Kroger and Albertsons projected the merger would create $500 million in cost savings—at least some of which would be passed onto consumers. The pair also planned to invest $1.3 billion to improve customer service, according to Nate Scherer, a policy analyst with the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit research institute dedicated to the promotion of consumer welfare.”

https://reason.com/2024/12/12/kroger-albertsons-merger-halted-by-the-federal-trade-commission/

Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel Merger Poses No National Security Threat

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) was unable to reach a consensus on Japan’s Nippon Steel’s $15 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel. The very committee that is responsible for safeguarding the U.S. from compromising foreign investments doesn’t recommend blocking the merger”

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“CFIUS’s inability to recommend blocking the merger on national security grounds is not surprising: Japan is not an enemy of the U.S., but a close ally. The U.S. has been formally allied with Japan since the signing of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in 1951. In April, Biden and former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida issued a joint statement celebrating “a new era” of bilateral security cooperation and announcing “several new strategic initiatives to strengthen our defense and security cooperation [and] bolster economic security.”
A section of the joint statement details the two countries’ commitment to economic cooperation under the U.S.-Japan Competitiveness and Resilience (CoRe) Partnership, which the Biden administration announced in April 2021 to advance cooperation “on sensitive supply chains…and on the promotion and protection of critical technologies.” The statement also celebrates mutual investment, pointing to Microsoft’s $2.9 billion investment in AI and cloud infrastructure in Japan and Toyota’s $8 billion battery production investment in North Carolina—a mere 1 percent of Japan’s $800 billion in foreign direct investment in the U.S.

If mutual investment in critical industries like semiconductors and batteries doesn’t compromise national security, the burden of proof is on those opposing Japanese investment in American steel production to explain why it does. CFIUS could not meet this burden and refrained from issuing a recommendation accordingly.”

https://reason.com/2024/12/26/nippon-steel-u-s-steel-merger-poses-no-national-security-threat/