Get the facts from BMC's 6th Annual Mainframe Survey For the 6th year running, BMC has surveyed 1,300 mainframe users worldwide. Why? So we can better understand the world of mainframe through the eyes of the people who use it every day.

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Econintersect:   Katherine Eban, along with reporter associates Doris Burke and Frederik Joelving, have published an excellent investigative journalism story in Fortune.  The subtitle for the article tells only part of the story:

"The epic inside story of long-term criminal fraud at Ranbaxy, the Indian drug company that makes generic Lipitor for millions of Americans."

This is not just a story about Lipitor, and not just about Ranbaxy, but also about an entire system of drug approval, oversight and regulation which is seriously flawed, even criminogenic.

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Econintersect:  The U.S. Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations released a report Monday evening 20 May 2013 charging Apple of creating what are essentially shell entities in Ireland to shelter (by special arragement with the Irish government) as much as $74 billion in income from taxation by the U.S. or any other government.  Perhaps even $138 billion of income is involved; Econintersect is having trouble adding up all the numbers at this point.   One of the techniques that was exercized involved both the use of U.S. tax law loopholes and by claiming they "are not tax residents of any jurisdiction", according to the report.  The committee is headed by Carl Levin (D. MI) and John McCain (R, AZ).  The committee will commence hearings on the report today, Tuesday 21 March 2013.

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Special Report from ProPublica

by Kim Barker and Justin Elliott

ProPublica.org published this article originally 17 May 2013.

May 18: This post has been corrected.

The IRS division responsible for flagging Tea Party groups has long been an agency afterthought, beset by mismanagement, financial constraints and an unwillingness to spell out just what it expects from social welfare nonprofits, former officials and experts say.

The controversy that erupted in the past week, leading to the ousting of the acting Internal Revenue Service commissioner, an investigation by the FBI, and congressional hearings that kicked off Friday, comes against a backdrop of dysfunction brewing for years.

Moves launched in the 1990s were designed to streamline the tax agency and make it more efficient. But they had unintended consequences for the IRS’s Exempt Organizations division.

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Econontersect:  What Intel Corp. calls the "world's largest high school science research competition" was won by a 19-year old Romanian, Ionut Budisteanu, at the award ceremnoy in Phoenix, AZ last Friday (17 May 2013).  The contest was sponsored by the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a program of Society for Science & the Public.  Budisteanu was selected for the top prize from 17 category winners who were determined after judging of 1,600 entires from more than 70 countries.  His entry involved the use of artificial intelligence to create a viable model for a low-cost, self-driving car.

Click on photo for larger image of all three top winners at gizmag.

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