Fighting fake identities

Much harder to make friends than enemies. I was informed by my blogging mates that my skill at the latter is improving.

Panama Papers News: 'Panama Papers' whistleblower says Russia 'wants me dead'

DHS Broke its Own Rules to Buy Huge Trove of Warrantless Phone Data: ACLU Ars Technica

Fraud syndicate accused of targeting Telstra and big banks

KPMG has for the first time revealed the lowest level of employee pay in each tier as it moves to close the gender gap and attract staff in a tightening professional services market.

KPMG reveals its minimum pay rates (and directors start at $200,000)

Revealed: KPMG publishes salary levels to lure staff

Revealed: KPMG publishes salary levels to lure staff

The latest wisdom on corporate income tax cuts

A corporate income tax cut leads to a sustained increase in GDP and productivity, with peak effects between five and eight years. R&D spending and capital investment display hump-shaped responses while hours worked and employment are much less affected.

That is from a new NBER working paper by James Cloyne, Joseba Martinez, Haroon Mumtaz, and Paolo Surico.  You will hear many economists, including Paul Krugman, tell you that the Trump corporate tax cuts were a failure.  It would be more accurate to say that we still do not know how effective they will be, noting that the pandemic may have extended the “five and eight years” benchmark a bit.  And it would be more accurate to report that the best available science indicates the tax cuts stand a good chance of succeeding.  See this earlier research, in top-tiered outlets, and also this.

Punj - 5 most scandalous fraud cases of 2021

Fraudsters hit a gold mine several years ago. They used complex data storage and virtualization machines to combine stolen personally identifiable information (PII) — names, addresses, Social Security numbers (SSNs), birthdates and the like, plus fabricated data — to create “humans.” They used these synthesized identities to automatically open bank accounts and shell companies and to monitor bank activity, patiently waiting for opportunities to cash in.

Fighting fake identities How the U.S. Federal Reserve’s synthetic identity fraud resources can help the financial sector

Leadership, governance, and EA.  An insightful piece.

Feds charge former GOP congressman Stephen Buyer with insider trading after he ‘used information from consulting business clients to bank at least $400,000 in illicit profits.’

Clobbering cyberfraudsters

Rachel Wilson was a cybersecurity expert before the broader world was even aware of such threats. The former head of the U.S. National Security Agency’s cyber exploitation operations now works to protect Morgan Stanley’s wealth management clients and systems. She talks to us about the latest dangers lurking in cyberspace and much more.

Servant of the Corrupt Consortium News. Important, but I am concerned when I see errors. In 2013, the EU offered an association deal to Ukraine. I believed Russia offered some sweeteners to its existing deal too. There likely were also private sticks and carrots applied to then Ukraine president Yanukovich. Yanukovich said he intended to sign the EU deal. However, Ukraine had an existing tariff-free deal with Russia. 

Having an EU association deal with the EU would mean EU goods could enter Russia tariff-free via Ukraine but Russian goods would not be able to go into the EU tariff-free. Putin told Yanukovich, “You are free to do whatever you want, but Russia isn’t paying for it,” as in he could kiss his existing trade deal with Russia good-bye because Russia. 

The existing trade between Russia and Ukraine was large, and tariff barriers between Russia and Ukraine would do more harm to Ukraine than the benefit of EU access, at least for quite a few years. Putin offered to have three way talks with the EU to try to find a solution but the EU refused. Yanukovich paused, not exited, the EU deal while he looked for a remedy.