This summer, as the world eagerly awaited the latest i-offerings from Cupertino, the city associated with the latest in cutting-edge and fashionable tech from computer behemoth Apple Inc., James Comey, the current director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, published a list of concerns online regarding recent evolutions in encryption.1 According to Director Comey, the…
Month: September 2015
Proposal for a Flat Tax Rate Falls Flat
Anyone currently following the Republican primaries may not have noticed Rand Paul’s plan to abolish the tax code as we know it among the many controversial proposals. Paul is calling for the entire IRS tax code (comprising more than 70,000 pages) to be repealed and replaced with a 14.5% flat tax on individuals and businesses.1…
Master Limited Partnerships: Where They Have Been and Where They Are Going
A master limited partnership (“MLP”) is a business that acts like a corporation (meaning it is publicly traded and an investor can buy units of it like it would buy shares of a corporation) but is organized as a partnership—thus not subject to double taxation like a traditional corporation. The first MLP came into existence…
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s Implications on Global Project Finance
Over the past couple months China has made massive strides in the chartering of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and with 50 countries signing up to join the bank in June, the AIIB seems near functional.1 Developed by China as a counter to the Western dominated World Bank and IMF, the stated objective of…
Implications of Department of Justice’s New Guidelines for White Collar Investigations
Earlier this month, the Justice Department issued a memo setting forth a new set of guidelines for white-collar civil and criminal investigations, signaling a new departmental focus on individual employees in the white-collar context.1 Aiming to “ease some barriers” to the investigation and prosecution of individual employees, the new guidelines codify Department priorities and establish…
Three Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Should Consider Detroit
It is not news that in the summer of 2013 Detroit filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.1 In spite of the bankruptcy proceedings, which formally concluded when Judge Steven Rhoades confirmed the City’s plan last November, Detroit received a lot of press as a burgeoning hub for entrepreneurial activity. While many may still…
What is behind China’s sudden devaluation of its currency?
On August 11, 2015 and in midst of a weakening economy, China loosened the yuan’s peg to the US dollar allowing a 3% devaluation through a three-day period.1 Although a single digits fluctuation may seem normal for other currencies, this move by the People’s Bank of China is the biggest drop of yuan since 1994.2…
NOLA’s Economic Recovery After Ten Years
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast in what became a devastatingly historic event that affected hundreds of thousands of lives in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.1 Katrina left catastrophic damage in New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) and caused over $100 billion in damage.2 Approximately 30% of NOLA’s residents lived in poverty at the…
Are Fantasy Sports Really “Games of Skill”? Part One
Participation in and betting on fantasy sports has exploded over the past few years. Fantasy sports are defined as any sports competition with imaginary teams where the “participants own, manage, and coach” their teams, with the games “based on statistics generated by actual players or teams of a professional sport.”1 Websites such as Yahoo and…
A General Motors-Fiat Chrysler Merger?
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sergio Marchionne has made headlines in recent months, calling for his company to merge with fellow Big Three auto manufacturer, General Motors (GM).1 Marchionne believes automobile manufacturers need to consolidate to avoid waste by developing multiple versions of the same technology to meet environmental regulations.2 Although Marchionne…