| To: JakeStraw who wrote (163768) | 6/14/2019 2:22:26 PM | | From: Sr K | | | | Biden is a pandering idiot.
That "new tax code" was passed 26 or more years ago.
This started in 1993 when a combination of Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, and Congress, passed a limitation on the deductibility of salaries over $1,000,000/year. In response, companies issued more stock to tie compensation to stock gains realized. If stocks go down, they expire. If they go up, they value them on the front-end using a measurable expectation, usually using a Black-Scholes valuation, as granted. But if the gain is a lot, they have to look when they vested, and the employee pays more taxes due some time later, possibly the end of tax year of vesting plus time to the next April 15. To match gains and expenses, the company gets a tax deduction then for the other side of an employee or even a director exercising for a gain. Those negative costs can be seen in a Statement Of Cash Flows.
It's a significant offset to a company when options rise in value and vest with a gain for the shareholder.
Apparently Biden only looks at the employee side, or doesn't even see that, and is surprised that Amazon and many other companies get the losses (deductions) from employee exercises when a stock rises. They also get instant deductions for capital expenses (current law), for warehouses and sortation centers they operate, and even for the towers they've built around Seattle and the world.
The WSJ today asks and then answers some of these questions by the pandering candidates who want employees to gain, consistent with a socialist model, and for the companies to build and lose, what he is aiming for, until he gets nominated, and remembers what he's running for. |
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| To: Labrador who wrote (163770) | 6/14/2019 2:42:45 PM | | From: Sr K | | | | Even though SALT is a current topic in the news, for Individuals, companies deduct SALT so the .21 can grow by compounding of .06 and .21 or even .09 plus .21. The $35 in the WSJ example as a stock price rising, sounds familiar because of the old 35% rate for larger corporations, but has nothing to do with a .35 rate.
You may know it better. |
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| To: Julius Wong who wrote (163774) | 6/15/2019 3:42:56 PM | | From: ig | | | | If Amazon can make a success of delivery bots, it will be amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing the brave new consequences of these things.
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| From: JakeStraw | 6/18/2019 12:19:51 PM | | | | | | TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that Bebo, one of the earlier platforms to let people share thoughts and media with their friends, has been acquired by Twitch, the streaming video platform owned by Amazon. Together the two will be working on building out Twitch’s esports business.
techcrunch.com |
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| From: Glenn Petersen | 6/21/2019 12:01:20 PM | | | | | | A big win for AWS:
DHS to Move Biometric Data on Hundreds of Millions of People to Amazon Cloud
The department seeks a new platform to identify people using fingerprints, irises and faces, and eventually DNA, palm prints, scars and tattoos.
By Jack Corrigan,
Staff Correspondent, Nextgov
June 19, 2019 10:47 AM ET
The Homeland Security Department is looking to upgrade the software it uses to analyze biometric data on hundreds of millions of people around the globe, and it plans to store that information in Amazon’s cloud.
The agency’s Office of Biometric Identity Management will replace its legacy biometric analysis platform, called the Automated Biometric Identification System, or IDENT, with a new, more robust system hosted by Amazon Web Services, according to a request for information released Monday.
IDENT essentially serves as an enterprisewide clearinghouse for troves of biometric and biographic data collected by the Transportation Security Administration, Customs and Border Protection, Secret Service and other Homeland Security components. The system links fingerprint, iris and face data to biographic information, allowing officials to quickly identify suspected terrorists, immigration violators, criminals and anyone else included in their databases.
In total, IDENT contains information on more than 250 million people, a Homeland Security spokesperson told Nextgov.
According to the solicitation, Homeland Security is in the process of replacing IDENT with the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology System, or HART. The new system will include the same biometric recognition features as its predecessor, and potentially additional tools that could identify individuals based on DNA, palm prints, scars, physical markings and tattoos.
Whereas IDENT stores records in government-run data centers, the Homeland Security solicitation states “HART will reside in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) FedRAMP certified GovCloud.” Further, “biometric matching capabilities for fingerprint, iris, and facial matching will be integrated with HART in the Amazon Web Services GovCloud.” Amazon Web Services will also store HART’s biometric image data.
Amazon Web Services’ GovCloud US-East and US-West regions are data centers specifically built by the company to house some of the government’s most restricted information. AWS is no stranger to hosting sensitive government data, having already claimed the CIA, Defense Department, NASA and other federal agencies as customers in part because of perceived security improvements over government legacy systems.
When reached for comment, an AWS spokesperson referred inquiries to DHS.
In 2018, Northrop Grumman won a $95 million contract to develop the first two stages of the HART system, and its contract is set to expire in 2021. The department plans to use responses to the latest solicitation to inform its strategy for further developing the platform, the DHS spokesperson said.
Specifically, officials are asking vendors for ideas on how to build those multiple identification functions into the new system, while leaving room to add any new recognition “modalities” as they arise. Officials also want input on developing a handful of general reporting, analytics and search tools, as well as desktop and mobile web portals where Homeland Security employees can access the system.
Interested vendors must respond to the request by July 17.
In addition to the hundreds of millions of records stored locally in its IDENT system, Homeland Security can also access swaths of biometric information housed at other agencies.
According to the solicitation, the agency shares biometric data and technology with the Defense Department and the FBI, which can access some 640 million photos for its own facial recognition operations. Officials also said they can tap into the State Department’s Consular Consolidated Database—which contained nearly 500 million passport, visa and expat records as of 2016—as well as the databases of “several foreign governments as well as state, local, tribal and territorial law enforcement agencies.”
The government’s use of biometric technology, particularly facial recognition, has come under sharp scrutiny in recent months. Members of the House Oversight Committee have expressed broad bipartisan support for reining in the use of biometrics at agencies like the FBI, and on Monday, a group of lawmakers raised concerns about CBP’s expanding facial recognition program.
Frank Konkel contributed to this article.
nextgov.com |
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| From: Glenn Petersen | 6/21/2019 12:28:41 PM | | | | | | CVS is worried about Amazon
Catlin Owens
Axios
June 21, 2019
A lawsuit filed by CVS against a former employee suggests that major industry players are more worried about Amazon's foray into health care than they initially let on, CNBC reports.
What's happening: Amazon gained a pharmacy arm when it acquired PillPack, and it's also part of the trio that has formed Haven.
-- UnitedHealth has also sued a former employee for attempting to join Haven. The incumbent companies are worried that Amazon could negotiate directly with insurers, cutting out the need for pharmacy benefit managers.
-- CVS' PBM arm made up about 60% of its overall revenues in 2018. -- "Given its robust infrastructure, operational capacity, and distribution reach, Amazon-PillPack is uniquely positioned to negotiate directly with payers (insurers) and displace CVS Caremark's mail-based services," CVS argued in a lawsuit to prevent a former employee from working for PillPack. What's next: CNBC reported last month that there have been talks between PillPack and Blue Cross Blue Shield.
The other side: "It is important to keep in mind that what's being reported here is another company's speculation about our business strategy for a lawsuit to which neither Amazon nor PillPack is a party," a PillPack spokesperson told CNBC.
Go deeper: Read CVS' lawsuit
axios.com |
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