A major U.S. private prison operator known for inmate abuse, violations, and disregard for the truth reported a 56-percent spike in profit in the first quarter of 2013, due in part to its new strategy for drastically reducing its taxes, the Associated Press reports. During a conference call touting its success, representatives at GEO Group boasted that the company continues to have “solid occupancy rates in mid to high 90s” and that they are optimistic “regarding the outlook for the industry,” in part due to a “growing offender population.”

1. Accelerated stock returns
2. Bull markets make CEOs fabulously wealthy, and they make shareholders indifferent to their fabulous wealth.

[Atlantic] Ron Johnson, the disgraced outgoing CEO of JC Penney, made an astonishing 1,795-times the average wage and benefits of his department store workers, according to a new survey from Bloomberg. That makes JC Penney the single most unequal company in the U.S., by CEO-worker pay ratio.

[eFinancialCareers] In the UK, only the top 1% of income taxpayers earn anything more than £150k according to figures from the Office of National Statistics. In the US, the top 1% of people earn more than $370k according to the Internal Revenue Service.  And yet, some bankers in the top bracket are having money troubles.

[eFinancialCareers] The social conditioning to spend heavily is insidious and is enforced by bankers’ peers, said Nell Montgomery, an ex-Goldman Sachs sales trader-turned psychotherapist. “People in banking get into a thought process whereby having three children at private schools costing £100k after tax is normal. You hear people saying they’d rather pay for private tutoring than spend £10k on a holiday. It’s a mindset in which things which are not normal come to be perceived as standard,” she said.

Keeping up with the Jones's isn't a good enough reason to justify the rampant, corrupt overpayment of banking employees. Sorry chumps. But we hope all of you greedy bastards go bankrupt.

[Daily News] FBI agents have asked questions about gifts the McDonnells have received from company CEO Jonnie Williams and whether the Republican governor or his administration aided the company in return.

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NY Daily News >>

Washingtion Post >>

[Miami Herald] Miami Heat President Pat Riley sold his spectacular bayfront mansion in gated Gables Estates for $16.8 million last March.

The 12,856-square-foot Mediterranean-style dream house at 180 Arvida Parkway has a theater, wine cellar, library, and a sprawling pool with waterfalls and an aqua bar.

View a slideshow of the former Riley estate here >>

We don't need more corporate control of our media and our politics. We need journalism that fights corruption — not hack writing that covers it up.

Stopping the Koch brothers’ bid for the Tribune Company is about supporting the kind of journalism that serves communities and acts as a watchdog against the wealthy and powerful.

Tell the Tribune Co.: Don't sell your papers to the Koch brothers.

[WAPO] Drawn by the prospect of double-figure profit margins on rents and the resale of homes whose prices plummeted in the crash, hedge funds, Wall Street investors and other institutions are crowding out individual home buyers.

Lured by the promise of big monetary returns, 70% of all home sales are being closed by banks and the top 1% of the nation's financial elite. Yet again, big business, banks, and the wealthy are proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are the most destructive entities in the country. Fleecing every penny they can possibily scratch away from the middle class. 

[USA Today] Coming off a year in which the Standard & Poor's 500 gained 13% and companies ended up sitting on record amounts of cash, CEOs are back to collecting big raises. While many CEOs fell short of performance targets and saw their bonuses get cut as a result, lucrative salary gains and stock awards powered by a rising stock market are more than repairing any hit. Meanwhile, big raises continue even as many companies are laying off employees.

All told, CEOs scored an 8% pay increase in 2012, taking the median to $9.7 million, for the biggest increase in two years. These are the results of a USA TODAY analysis of data from GMI Ratings and S&P Capital IQ based on 145 Standard & Poor's 500 companies that have reported 2012 CEO pay this year with the same CEO for all of 2012 and 2011. These results are preliminary, as companies continue to file their CEO pay data.

This is a comprehnsive article, detailing every aspect of outrageous CEO thievery. Be sure to check out the  2012 CEO COMPENSATION graph USA Today provides about half way down the page. 

[Canadian Press] The agency's voluntary disclosures program encourages taxpayers who have deliberately or inadvertently failed to pay their taxes to come forward. If the disclosure is accepted, penalties are waived and no legal action taken, as long as back taxes are paid.