__/ [ Rafael ] on Saturday 03 March 2007 23:18 \__
> Maverick wrote:
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>
>>> Bill Gates to address Senate panel
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is scheduled to descend on
> >> | Capitol Hill next week to pepper a U.S. Senate committee
> >> | with his suggestions for boosting American competitiveness.
>>> `----
>>>
>>>
http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-6163930.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
>>>
>>> Yet again, it's proof that in America commerce watches over
> >> the Government and sets policies to suit industry, not the
> >> other way around.
>>
>> I know. He can't seem to hire compentent programmers, so he
> > wants the H1B visas scrapped.
>
> http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061122-8276.html
>
> American commerce watches over the Government and sets policies
> to suit the industry?
>
> | Vista and IE7 have received a clean bill of health from the
> | government team overseeing Microsoft's compliance with the US
> | antitrust ruling (PDF) against it.
>
> | They are also satisfied with Microsoft's progress on the
> | documentation, which has been a source of contention in Europe.
> | The Commission has complained multiple times about the
> | shoddiness of the protocol documentation, even threatening the
> | company with new fines if it did not produce better material.
>
> Also it seems he can't hire competent documentation writers,
> unless money making is involved:
>
> | The company has occasionally complained that the state of the
> | documentation has been due to the difficulty of finding
> | qualified people to write it?a claim scoffed at by those who
> | believe the world's largest software company would have no
> | trouble doing the same thing if it were making money at it.
Politics and tech companies: follow the money
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft took first place with $651,100 given out, while
| Hewlett-Packard gave only $185,550, and Gateway gave a paltry
| $2,000. Microsoft's donations certainly illustrate well the true
| size of the company and the extent of its political concerns.
|
| [...]
|
| For instance, Microsoft's PAC spent $1.7 million in the 2006 election
| cycle, but only a third of this went to federal candidates. What
| happened to the rest? It went to local campaigns, paid out a few
| thousand dollars at a time to groups like "Boal for Iowa House" in
| Ankeny, IA. It also funded other PACs like the "Associated Republicans
| of Texas" and the "Blue Dog Political Action Committee." No race is
| apparently too small to be funded; even Indiana State Representative
| Terri Austin of Anderson, IN got $500.
| Lobbyists
|
| But the real money isn't even given to the candidates directly. It
| goes to lobbyists, which can be safer investments since they stand no
| chance of losing at the polls. The complete-year figures from 2005
| show that Microsoft spent $8.7 million on lobbyist expenses. Almost
| a million dollars of that money went to Covington & Burling, a
| lobbying firm that also represents the National Football League and
| the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America. Microsoft's
| total spending on lobbying has risen substantially from the $4
| million it spent in 1998.
|
| [...]
|
| Where does it come from?
|
| Although some of this money comes from large employee donations,
| most of it does not. Take Microsoft, for instance; the Center for
| Responsive Politics says that the company received only $302,599
| from individual donors who gave more than $200 in this election
| cycle, only a small fraction of the $1.7 million actually spent.
| As is typical, much of this money came from the company's top
| brass, while the rest was made up of small contributions.
|
| The maximum individual contribution to a PAC is $5,000 a year.
| Melinda, whose occupation is listed in Federal Election Commission
| records as "homemaker," regularly contributes this amount, as does
| Bill. Steve Ballmer coughed up, too. Microsoft can use general
| company funds to support the PAC and its operations, but cannot
| give directly to candidates.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061110-8194.html
--
~~ Best wishes
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bYsxaMyFV2Y http://youtube.com/watch?v=QNb7gPA1JFk
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Load average (/proc/loadavg): 0.97 0.45 0.51 5/133 6829
http://iuron.com - semantic search engine project initiative
|
|
