CD revenues fell 12% to $1.85 billion in 2014. Meanwhile, streaming services accounted for $1.87 billion in revenue, up 29% from the year before. Digital downloads from services such as iTunes were the biggest money-maker at $2.6 billion, but even that figure was down 8.5% from 2013.   read more

In a move long fought by Big Pharma, the FDA has approved the first generic version of a biologic drug in the U.S., which could reduce the amount of money spent on the specialty medications. The Zarxio approval will directly affect the sales of Amgen’s Neupogen, which also targets chemo patients with infections. Amgen has gone to court in an effort to block the sale of Zarxio. Its availability in the U.S. market could save $5.7 billion in drug costs over the next 10 years   read more

Iberdrola, Spain’s largest electricity provider but hardly a name familiar to most Americans, has raked in more than $2 billion—billion with a “b”—from the U.S. Treasury by investing in American power plants and renewable forms of energy, such as wind farms, according to a report from Good Jobs First. The funds come via a provision in the 2009 Recovery Act that allows companies to take cash payments in lieu of tax credits for some investments.   read more

The tax-free bonds were first used to make it easier for cities and counties to finance important infrastructure projects, roads or bridges. But once franchise owners started threatening to leave communities if taxpayers didn’t build them new sporting venues, lawmakers began using the special bonds to finance some of the enormous costs associated with stadium projects. In some cases, the bonds have been proposed to absorb nearly 50% of a new stadium price tag.   read more

“The C.I.A.’s contribution to Qaeda’s bottom line,” Rosenberg wrote, “was just another in a long list of examples of how the United States, largely because of poor oversight and loose financial controls, has sometimes inadvertently financed the very militants it is fighting.” The CIA contribution to the ransom payment was discovered in letters written to Osama bin Laden and obtained by the Navy SEALs who stormed his compound in 2011 and killed the al Qaeda leader.   read more

On average, the country is spending 15% less per pupil in the poorest school districts ($9,270 per child) than in the most affluent ($10,721 per child). The disparity also is visible in 23 states that have favored rich school districts over struggling ones. Pennsylvania has the distinction of having the largest gap between rich and poor districts (33%), while Colorado (0.2%) has the smallest among the 23 states. Education Secretary Duncan called the situation “unconscionable.”   read more

Citigroup got the most help of the four in the bailout, $2.5 trillion. That company has at least 427 offshore divisions where it squirrels away profits out of reach of the American people. Those funds, as of early 2014, totaled $43.8 billion, which would mean $11.7 billion in tax revenue for the United States if they were brought to this country. Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat was rewarded with $1.5 million in salary, $4.5 million in bonuses and $8 million in stock for his work in 2014.   read more

“Time is running out for people who didn’t file a 2011 federal income tax return to claim their refund,”said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “People could be missing out on a substantial refund,.. Some people may not have filed because they didn’t make much money, but they may still be entitled to a refund.” The IRS estimates that about a million taxpayers may rightfully lay claim to a portion of that billion dollars.   read more

Thousands of Americans impacted by the storm subsequently complained that FEMA wrongly rejected or “low-balled” their claims. Those complaints led New Jersey’s U.S. senators, Democrats Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, to contact FEMA officials. Following a meeting between the senators and FEMA chief Craig Fugate, the agency announced it would review the claims belonging to 141,800 homeowners with federal flood insurance.   read more

“In light of the unsettled science, I am concerned that insurers could be denying claims based on the unsupported belief that these earthquakes were the result of fracking or injection well activity," said State Insurance Commissioner John Doak. Such policies include exceptions that allow insurers to deny claims for damage caused by man-made earthquakes. Those caused by fracking could fall into that category. With the increase in quakes in Oklahoma, sales of earthquake insurance have gone up.   read more

The decline in net farm income, which was $108 billion in 2014, is chiefly due to a drop in prices for feed grains. Dairy, poultry and pork prices have also fallen, although beef prices have remained high. Another factor expected to depress agricultural income is a drop in exports. The report said that they’ll be down 6% from 2014’s record $152.5 billion. However, farm asset values are expected to increase by 0.4% to a record $3.005 trillion in the United States.   read more

The pizza industry has two main political goals. The first is to fight off attempts to force calorie and nutrition information to be accessible to consumers. Big Pizza’s second goal is to roll back school lunch nutrition requirements that make the food less likely to be served in cafeterias. Rules that mandate maximum amounts of sodium and fat and require whole grains are anathema to frozen pizza makers.   read more

The DNC has spent $4.5 million since 2011 renting the White House for gatherings such as the president’s annual Christmas party and other events throughout the year. Republicans have also taken advantage of the White House when their party has been in office. From 2003 to 2006, the Republican National Committee paid $3.6 million for catering, meetings and decorations.   read more

Three men are charged with stealing email addresses from email service providers (ESP) and then using those companies’ computers to send out massive amounts of spam directing recipients to the defendants’ sites. Nguyen and Vu used “phishing” schemes to gain access to some of the ESPs. Employees there were sent legitimate looking emails. Once they clicked on a link within the emails, malware was installed on their computers that allowed the defendants to gain access to their company’s network.   read more

The program with the most improper payments was Medicare, with nearly $60 billion paid out to undeserving recipients. The next largest category of improper payments, and the one with the highest error rate, is in the Earned Income Tax Credit program (EITC), with $17.7 billion and an error rate of 27.2%. This program is meant to reduce taxes for low- and moderate income Americans.   read more

Ronald J. Brockmeyer, a judge in the city where a policeman, Darren Wilson, shot and killed unarmed Michael Brown last year, has a string of unpaid taxes going back to 2007, according to The Guardian. The newspaper said he owes $172,646 to the IRS. Yet he has no compunction about sentencing a poor defendant to jail for not being able to pay a fine. Brockmeyer developed a series of fees to raise revenue for the city on the backs of its poor residents.   read more