| Author | Message | ||
     XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 523 Registered: 01-2006 |
Still an almighty twat.. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/week end/2009/0124/1232474678037.html?via=mr | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1353 Registered: 08-2006 |
I don't know that I agree with this article. I've never been much of U2 fan, but I do admire Bono's global ambitions, even when they're misguided or muddled. And I don't think it's fair to compare him to Springsteen. I think they've got two totally different styles and focuses. Springsteen supports local food banks, Bono aims to eliminate poverty in Africa. You could claim Springsteen doesn't shoot high enough, or that Bono overreaches. These days, though, with Wall Street bonuses paid out by taxpayer dollars and two million people losing their jobs in just a few months, I'm not prepared to write off anyone who thinks he or she can make a difference anywhere. Even a pompous rock star. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 2877 Registered: 05-2005 |
I agree with Xy and Rob, good points Rob. Ol Bonio has always been pompous, that's exactly why people love/hate him innit!? | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 61 Registered: 05-2005 |
Nah he's a twat! | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 220 Registered: 02-2007 |
Bono Inc. is to music what Oprah Inc. is to television. | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 524 Registered: 01-2006 |
Pandemic Studios, a company in which Bono’s investment partnership has financed hundreds of millions of dollars, is the creator of "Mercenaries 2". "Mercenaries 2" is an extremely realistic and vicious game in which the player leads a mercenary team to kill a "power hungry tyrant" that has taken control of oil supplies in Venezuela. Images of downtown Caracas are depicted as being completely destroyed during the game, and any "people" on the streets are to be killed. Pandemic Studios has made a similar training game for the U.S. military. ---------------------------------------- ---------- Bono participates in the world-wide offshore tax evasion system that is to a large extent responsible for the poverty of Africa. The African Union says tax dodging by foreign companies costs it $150 billion a year - three times what it receives in aid. Bono ran his music publishing company in Ireland, where he and his partners took advantage of a law that exempted musicians and artists from taxes on royalties. To dodge taxes on non-royalty income, Bono's interests had the help of offshore nominee directors. The Irish royalty exemption was begun to aid and reward creative artists, in hopes of encouraging the struggling kind, not to further enrich mega-millionaires like Bono. Last year, the law was changed. From 2007, artists who earn more than $625,450 must pay tax on half their creative income. It hardly seems a harsh measure. Bono's Dublin company earned $110 million in 2005. Taking profits through the company rather than individually, Bono would have had to pay only 12.5 percent corporate tax, a rate still below that of the local bus conductor or plumber or school teacher. But that apparently was too much for the man who has homes on the Irish Coast and in the South of France and New York City. So, last year, Bono "moved" the registration of his business to the Netherlands, where it will pay about 5 percent tax on royalties. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 2882 Registered: 05-2005 |
On reflection... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1909 Registered: 03-2005 |
XY, that is the most rousing anti-Bono case I've ever read. Superb. Maybe he needs to hang from a yard-arm or a traffic pole like all our US bankers. | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 525 Registered: 01-2006 |
Randy, could we deport him to Guantanamo instead? | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 415 Registered: 01-2007 |
It's the hypocrisy of it all which gets me. Who wants to pay loads of tax but it is the social responsibility which is important and that we get from paying taxes, and the balance of what we have for ourselves and what we pay in to the system. |