corruption Archives

IT’S TIME TO BRING BACK RENT CONTROL IN MASSACHUSETTS

Some cause for hope in new tenant protection legislation being filed at the State House Yesterday, I saw some good news in the local press. A rarity to be sure. The Boston Globe reported that Rep. Mike Connolly and a coalition of other state legislators are about to file

JASON PRAMAS March 27, 2019

THE FALL OF THE GE BOSTON DEAL, PART II

AG Healey should form independent commission to investigate the failed agreement Last week in the first installment of this two-part column, I ran through the many problems with the January 2016 deal between General Electric, the city of Boston, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that has now collapsed for

JASON PRAMAS March 6, 2019

THE FALL OF THE GE BOSTON DEAL, PART I

The official narrative and the real story Readers might feel that this should be a time for me to take a victory lap. The GE Boston deal that I criticized from the moment it was made public in January 2016 has crashed to Earth a bit over three years later.

JASON PRAMAS February 28, 2019

THE MERRIMACK VALLEY DISASTER: IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT OLD PIPES

The magnitude of the disaster is just starting to sink in. About 8,500 homes were affected, and its occupants are being told that it will take months to replace the cast iron gas pipes under city streets and restore service.

JASON PRAMAS September 18, 2018

BROKEN MEDIA, BROKEN POLITICS

If Mass journalists were doing their jobs, Baker would not be so popular May 1, 2018 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS It’s always funny to hear that Charlie Baker is a very popular governor… The most popular governor in the country at the moment, according to polls. Because

JASON PRAMAS May 1, 2018

YOUR MOVE, BOSTON

Only a massive protest movement can stop government giveaways to megacorps March, 2018 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Boston politics—in both its state and local variants—seems to consist largely of backroom deals between government officials and major corporations punctuated by rituals of representative democracy that are increasingly put

JASON PRAMAS March 7, 2018

TOWNIE: CORPORATE TAX FABLES AND COMMUNITARIAN KIDDIE TABLES

December 12, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Big local corps quiet about huge profits to come from Repub tax scheme… except GE An interesting WBUR article, “Largest Mass. Companies Are Mostly Silent On GOP Tax Plans,” asked the top 12 corporations in the Commonwealth to comment on the

JASON PRAMAS December 12, 2017

GENERAL ELECTRIC FAIL

Conglomerate’s woes throw Boston HQ deal contradictions into bold relief November 15, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS What a surprise. General Electric is tanking, and the scheme to bring the multinational’s headquarters to Boston is looking worse by the day. And whom shall the public blame if

JASON PRAMAS November 15, 2017

TOWNIE: A WORM’S EYE VIEW OF THE MASS POWER STRUCTURE+

Students at rally at Boston City Hall by NewtonCourt (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons From the guy that brings you Apparent Horizon October 18, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The rich and powerful interests that control Massachusetts politics and the state economy have their fingers in

JASON PRAMAS October 18, 2017

GE BOSTON DEAL: THE MISSING MANUAL, PART 4

February 29, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS In May 2012, three former GE executives were imprisoned after being convicted on multiple charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and defraud the United States. Dominick Carollo, Steven Goldberg and Peter Grimm had all worked for GE Capital—the financial division that operated

JASON PRAMAS February 29, 2016