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Is it a car? Is it a taxi? Or is it an ATM? It’s just another <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> Cab fitted with ATM. 
 After petrol pumps, cash can now be withdrawn by swiping debit cards at select Ola cabs as India's largest ride-hailing service partners with lenders like <keyword id="6354731" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="State-Bank-Of-India">State Bank of India</keyword> (SBI) and <keyword id="62034" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Punjab-National-Bank">Punjab National Bank</keyword> to ease cash crunch, according to a news report by an agency. 
 
With banks and ATMs not being able to cope with the rush for access to lower denomination or new currency after old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes were banned, cash dispensing through swipe of debit cards at POS machines was introduced at around 3,700 petrol pumps. 
 The same is being replicated by Ola on a test basis in its cabs in <keyword id="6354925" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kolkata">Kolkata</keyword> and Hyderabad where taxis with a bank officer and POS machine are parked at different locations and dispense cash of Rs 2,000 per card. 
 Ola Chief Operating Officer <keyword id="2904207" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pranay-Jivrajka">Pranay Jivrajka</keyword> told that the initial response has been tremendous and the company was exploring with banks to expand this service to other cities with cash being dispensed on the go rather than current experiment of cars being parked at a particular busy point. 
 In Kolkata, Ola has partnered with Punjab National Bank (<keyword id="47268" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="PNB">PNB</keyword>), while for Hyderabad, it has collaborated with SBI and <keyword id="6358006" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Andhra-Bank">Andhra Bank</keyword>. "The week-long activity, that is already servicing thousands of citizens, will continue till end of the month. It (cabs) will visit areas like Chandni Chowk Metro Station, Esplanade Metro, Barabazaar, Salt Lake, Exide and <keyword id="2668672" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rashbehari">Rashbehari</keyword> (in Kolkata)," he said. 
 Cars carrying POS machine are servicing citizens in popular areas in Hyderabad like <keyword id="184466" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="KBR">KBR</keyword> Park, JNTU, Inorbit Mall over the weekend, he added. 
 
"We are also looking at flagging off the programme in other key cities, including Delhi. The banks are providing on-ground executives to enable people withdraw cash seamlessly," he said. 
 
Following the government's move to scrap old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes earlier this month, there have been serpentine queues at banks and ATMs as people lined up to withdraw valid currency. 
 
There have been demands for setting up more mobile ATMs across the country and also refilling them more often as there seems to be a crunch of liquid cash given the long queues. 
 
Ola, which has its mobile wallet service, claimed it has seen 1500 per cent growth in recharge of 'Ola Money'. 
"The number of trips paid in cash has certainly gone down. More people are now paying using digital platforms like Ola Money and credit/debit cards," he said.

You can now swipe
card and collect cash on Ola Cabs

This article is part of "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/workforce-innovation">Workforce Innovation</a>," a series exploring the forces shaping enterprise transformation.Since the launch of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-chat-gpt-2023-1">ChatGPT</a> in 2022, artificial intelligence has been hailed as the answer to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-tools-reality-vs-hype-letdown-big-tech-2024-8">technical challenges</a> such as optimizing systems and machinery and managing vast amounts of data. Now some companies are turning to AI to tackle the human side of business: <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employee-wellbeing-programs-help-companies-perform-better-and-manage-cost-2024-7">employee well-being</a>.Employers including Navistar, Adidas, and Cisco are experimenting with AI to monitor employee sentiment, strengthen relationships, and provide opportunities for personal and professional growth. The goal is to help managers respond to emerging trends within their teams while making sure employees get timely access to support.The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-high-earners-moved-office-work-from-home-remote-work-2024-3">rise of remote work</a> and a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-lazy-hiring-jobs-careers-hr-training-pandemic-2024-8">new generation of workers</a> with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-work-talking-about-mental-health-anxiety-depression-hr-2024-6">different needs and expectations</a> have forced companies to rethink the employee experience. With distributed teams and fewer face-to-face interactions, staffers are experiencing more <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/work-friends-spouses-loneliness-remote-hybrid-benefits-of-work-connections-2024-6">loneliness</a> and disconnection. AI offers a way for some employers to bridge the gap.To be clear: As companies and investors channel <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-big-tech-spending-on-ai-investments-2024-7">billions of dollars into AI</a>, applications to boost employee well-being are a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/flexibility-can-increase-worker-well-being-2024-8">small fraction</a> of the focus. But while few companies are pursuing this now, more could follow, said Matt Beane, an assistant professor of technology management at the University of California, Santa Barbara."Companies might experiment because engagement is so important and the pain is significant — especially since talent today is mobile," he said.Beane said he found these efforts "genuinely exciting" but described many drawbacks. "When new technology rolls out, the first 10 to 40 years are often filled with waste, confusion, and sometimes even harm," he said.<h2 id="d1678e8e-7cbc-4f85-ab59-004f883505fe">Helping managers get a vibe check</h2><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/priorities/workplace-well-being/index.html">Employee well-being</a> is a somewhat squishy term that encompasses workers' mental, physical, emotional, and economic health. But despite its seemingly nebulous nature, a workforce's well-being has real <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employee-wellbeing-programs-help-companies-perform-better-and-manage-cost-2024-7">bottom-line implications</a>. Studies suggest that improving employee well-being can <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3870481/">increase engagement and productivity</a>. And Gallup's research indicates that organizations with higher engagement have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236927/employee-engagement-drives-growth.aspx">greater profitability, retention, and performance</a>.Still, employers have long struggled to grasp how employees feel about their jobs, colleagues, and workload. Some have relied on annual engagement surveys, which can be slow to analyze and interpret.Mike Conover, the head of learning consultation and delivery at Navistar, a manufacturer of trucks and diesel engines, is familiar with this problem: His seven-member team is spread across the US. "When you don't see someone in the office and you can't pick up on their demeanor or facial expressions, it's hard to gauge," he said.For the past several months, Conover's team has piloted Rapport, an AI tool designed to support employees and managers. Rapport, which is integrated with email, Slack, and Teams, asks employees to rate their energy level and workload using emojis daily. It follows up with tailored questions to dig deeper into their responses, which are shared with managers only with the employee's permission.The tool alerts Conover about important changes or times he needs to step in, along with tips on how to handle the situation based on <a target="_blank" href="https://people.climate.columbia.edu/projects/view/1912">research from Columbia University</a>. The tool helps Conover connect employees with Navistar's internal resources, whether they need HR support or help with a work-related problem."It breaks down the walls of management," he said. "As a newer leader, sometimes you don't know how to handle things."<h2>From feedback to action items</h2>Many of these AI tools can also spot potential issues and make recommendations.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bjorn-gulden-is-trying-to-save-adidas-after-yeezy-controversy-2024-3">Adidas</a>, the sportswear giant, uses Qualtrics Assist, an AI agent that looks at pulse-survey data along with unstructured data like public reviews or anonymized conversations on internal communication platforms. Combining this with details like work hours, location, and tenure can help managers better understand employee engagement.Managers can use the tool to get advice on their engagement results. For instance, a manager might ask "How well is my team working together?" or "How can I improve my team's overall experience?" Qualtrics Assist analyzes the data and offers insights and suggestions based on industry benchmarks and best practices.The company says the aim is to let "managers have a conversation with the data to understand the lived experience of their team members.""We leveraged AI to democratize insights, reduce bias, and save time," Sebastian Projahn, a senior director of people insights at Adidas, said in May at a summit in Salt Lake City. "Managers can focus on driving impact rather than interpreting data and reading lots of comments."Trevor Keavney, a director in Gartner's HR advisory practice, said these AI tools could be helpful for new leaders, but he mentioned a few concerns. "There's still a lot of uncertainty about AI, and some employees may have reservations," he said. "They might wonder how their data is being collected and used, and whether they're comfortable with their manager having access to this information."Another challenge arises if managers take time to collect feedback but don't act on it. "When employees see no changes based on their feedback, they may lose trust in the process," Keavney said.<h2 id="aadc4eb1-83f2-4e35-a6a8-1d265c922a86">Practical support and help with HR</h2>Other companies are using AI to help employees make use of their benefits.This year, Cisco <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cisco-is-using-ai-to-help-with-recruitment-2024-5">launched</a> an internal bot called WellNest on Webex. Employees fill out a brief intake survey and then receive daily personalized questions related to their financial health, physical fitness, focus, or social connections. Based on their responses, the bot offers two recommendations: a practical "<a target="_blank" href="https://thriveglobal.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044471974-What-s-a-Microstep">Thrive Microstep</a>" and a relevant Cisco resource. The bot's suggestions are designed to become more personalized over time as it learns from employee conversations.In August, meQuilibrium launched an AI-powered dashboard focused on mental health and resilience. In a feature called Ask meQ, employees select prompts like "I want to boost my emotional intelligence" or "I want to be more present," and the dashboard provides relevant activities and articles.The tool's employee assessment is designed to help identify an employee's risk of anxiety, depression, and burnout and recommend relevant resources. If it detects a risk of depression, for instance, the dashboard might highlight employee-assistance-program resources or suggest virtual therapy. If it identifies a need for more physical activity, it might recommend a gym-membership benefit.The engineering company KBR is piloting this technology. "Most of the time employees approach us knowing that we have a lot of resources for them, but they don't know where to start," Ashley Owens, a senior specialist in global mental health and fitness at KBR, said in an email. "This dashboard gives us the ability to identify needs in a region or in a demographic and allows us to maximize our time, resources, and funding."Beane, the researcher at UCSB, suggested that companies with strong engagement and positive manager-employee relations are better positioned to benefit from these AI applications. In other words, AI reinforces existing strengths.But if AI is seen as replacing meaningful human interactions, it could face resistance. "If a company is struggling in these areas, investing in robots might be seen as problematic," he said.

Can AI help companies boost employee well-being?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>OpenAI whistleblowers urged the SEC to investigate the ChatGPT maker for potential rule violations.</li><li>The whistleblowers claim OpenAI used nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence employees.</li></ul>OpenAI whistleblowers are calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether the ChatGPT maker violated SEC rules and prevented employees from speaking out.Legally protected whistleblowers sent a letter to Gary Gensler, chair of the SEC, on July 1 calling on the regulator to investigate OpenAI. The letter, which was also sent to Sen. Chuck Grassley's office, was later shared with Business Insider.The letter states that the whistleblowers provided documents to the SEC supporting their claims that OpenAI's NDAs "violated numerous precedents of the SEC."Sen. Grassley said in a statement shared with Business Insider that assessing the threats posed by AI fell under Congress's constitutional responsibility to protect national security. He added: "OpenAI's policies and practices appear to cast a chilling effect on whistleblowers' right to speak up and receive due compensation for their protected disclosures. In order for the federal government to stay one step ahead of artificial intelligence, OpenAI's nondisclosure agreements must change."OpenAI didn't respond to a request for comment from BI. An SEC representative said: "The SEC does not comment on the existence or nonexistence of a possible whistleblower submission."The whistleblowers' complaint comes after Vox <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2024/5/17/24158478/openai-departures-sam-altman-employees-chatgpt-release">reported</a> in May that OpenAI <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-docs-openai-pressure-departing-employees-vox-altman-nda-nondisclosure-2024-5">could take back vested equity</a> from departing employees if they did not sign non-disparagement agreements.Sam Altman <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-openai-nda-clause-vested-equity-ilya-sutskever-2024-5">said on X shortly after the report was published</a> that he "did not know this was happening."Nine former and current OpenAI employees <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-employee-letter-google-deepmind-ai-risks-protections-2024-6">signed an open letter</a> in June calling on major AI firms to ensure greater transparency and better protections for whistleblowers.William Saunders, a former OpenAI employee who quit earlier this year after losing confidence that the company could responsibly mitigate AI risks, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-engineer-quit-safety-concerns-right-warn-letter-sam-altman-2024-6">previously told BI about what led to him signing the letter</a> and speaking out. He said an incident in which another former OpenAI employee, Leopold Aschenbrenner, was fired and the requirement that OpenAI staff sign NDAs led to the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-employee-letter-google-deepmind-ai-risks-protections-2024-6">four principles set out in the June open letter</a>.<h2 id="dde8bdb7-9248-46e5-b28e-39963c9e876d">Read the full letter sent to the SEC:</h2>

Read the letter OpenAI whistleblowers sent to the SEC calling for action on NDAs

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Plans to withdraw the last US troops in <keyword id="6354541" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="afghanistan">Afghanistan</keyword> by September include the thousands of US contractors still there as well.</li><li>The thousands of US contractors sent to Afghanistan and Iraq were a massive experiment in how Uncle Sam could lean on the private sector help it wage war.</li></ul>The golden post-9/11 years of the war contractor - the providers of food and transportation, fuel, construction, maintenance, IT, not to mention security and interrogation services for the US military - appear to be drawing down.With the (hopeful) withdrawal of the remaining 3,600 troops in Afghanistan by September, <a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2021/04/23/pentagon-contractors-left-in-the-dark-on-afghanistan-withdrawal-plan/">attention is also on the nearly 17,000 contractors</a> on the US payroll there, 6,147 of whom are American citizens."The US contractors will come out as we come out. That is part of the planned withdrawal we have in place right now," said CENTCOM Commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/federal-contracting/bidens-afghan-exit-alarms-contractors-who-outnumber-u-s-troops">in a briefing</a> with reporters last week.Despite <a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/03/29/the-military-signed-contracts-for-afghanistan-well-into-2023-thats-their-problem/">earlier reports</a> that the government has numerous contracts with companies stretching far beyond the deadline to leave, it would appear the thrust of US operations in Afghanistan is diminishing, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/25/world/asia/usa-military-withdrawal-afghanistan.html">and the withdrawal has begun</a>.<div type="image" title="Afghanistan soldiers contractor" height="1334" width="2000" msid="82619156" hostid="261"></div>Even if that takes a while, or the United States manages to keep some presence in the country after September 11, the private sector footprint will never be as big as it was at its height in 2011, when there were over <a href="https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R40764.html">90,000 contractors in Afghanistan</a>. At times, including now, contractors outnumbered uniformed personnel.To put it into perspective, there were 155,000 contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, compared to 145,000 active duty service members, in 2011. Contractors made up 62% of the workforce. The money paid to contractors is even more daunting: <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/federal-contracting/bidens-afghan-exit-alarms-contractors-who-outnumber-u-s-troops">$104 billion</a> for services in Afghanistan alone since 2002, nearly $9 billion just in the last five years.With so much dependence on contractors, came trouble. Huge companies like <a href="https://www.halliburtonwatch.org/about_hal/logcap.html">Halliburton</a>, with subsidiaries such as KBR, <a href="https://www.dpc.senate.gov/dpcdoc.cfm?doc_name=sr-110-2-140">took advantage</a>. Not only were companies overcharging and caught engaging in fraud during the early salad days, but worse, they cut corners to make more money.Who could forget the flimsy, <a href="https://washingtonindependent.com/348/house-panel-probes-pentagon-on-electrocutions/">defective showers</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29891090">electrical systems</a> electrocuting troops throughout Iraq? The <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10977706">unsafe drinking water </a>on bases? <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2005/6/28/126012/-">Spoiled food</a>?Then there are the contractors who helped <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/abu-ghraib-lawsuits-against-caci-titan-now-l-3/">torture inmates at Abu Ghraib</a>, and massacred civilians at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisour_Square_massacre">Nisour Square</a>. Armed mercenaries who rolled with our <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/11/blackwater-in-cia-pakistan-base">CIA in secret</a>, trained troops, guarded dignitaries.<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/01/us-contractors-and-hidden-costs-us-wars-iran/605068/">Many died with no mention in the papers</a>, came home injured and sick with none of the benefits of Pentagon health care or VA. They were a shadow army really, a massive experiment in how Uncle Sam could wage war across several countries cheaper and longer by leaning on the private sector to do it.<div type="image" title="Afghanistan contractor aerostat" height="1333" width="2000" msid="82619161" hostid="261"></div>But it wasn't cheaper, and the cost not just in dollars: For every positive thing contractors did in-country, there is a school or a hospital or some facility <a href="https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/evaluations/SIGAR-21-20-IP.pdf">that literally won't stand</a> after we're gone. Afghan security forces that won't be able to challenge the Taliban, bridges and infrastructure that will crumble. The largesse was corruptible and it was corrupted.Halliburton and KBR and Blackwater are names of the past. But they got their gold, they care not about "the graveyard of empires." Others, like <a href="https://www.stripes.com/ex-employees-sue-defense-contractors-fluor-and-kbr-in-multi-million-dollar-fraud-claim-1.565757">Fluor Group,</a> which provides logistical support to the military currently in Afghanistan, are going to see an end to the lush days, and they're feeling it."The timetable to do this properly is already too tight," said David Berteau, president of the Professional Services Council representing 400 government contractors, many working in Afghanistan. "We don't have years, we have only months."All good things must come to end, right?

America's shadow army is leaving Afghanistan too

<ul class="summary-list"><li>40 million Americans filed for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/coronavirus">unemployment during the pandemic</a>, but <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaires-profited-average-of-42-billion-weekly-during-pandemic-2020-7">billionaires saw their net worth increase</a> by half a trillion dollars.</li><li>This isn't the first time billionaires have seen gains while others dealt with loss, and it tends to tie back to two things. First, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-representatives-blast-large-companies-small-business-coronavirus-loans-2020-5">government disproportionately gives more aid to larger companies.</a></li><li>Then, when the stock market bounces back, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-repeating-critical-mistake-2008-financial-crisis-inequality-2020-5">unequal bailouts</a> mean that the wealthy still have money on hand to invest and thus profit, while the middle and lower classes do not.</li><li>Wealth-friendly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-microsoft-avoids-taxes-loopholes-irs-2013-1">tax laws and loopholes</a>then keep those billionaires at the top. Knowing all of this, some are advocating for policies to help level the playing field and create change.</li></ul>Following is a transcription of the <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>:Narrator: This is the unemployment rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. And this is Amazon CEO <keyword id="191583" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Jeff-Bezos">Jeff Bezos</keyword>' net worth during that same time span. From March to June 2020, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos saw his wealth rise by an estimated $48 billion. The founder of the video-conferencing platform <keyword id="10296" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Zoom">Zoom</keyword> grew his nest egg by over $2.5 billion, and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's net worth increased by $15.7 billion.These kinds of examples might lead you to think that when billionaires profit during a crisis, it's just a matter of right place, right time. Well, that's not false, but it's not entirely true either. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson saw his wealth increase by $5 billion, while <keyword id="6355315" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elon-musk">Elon Musk</keyword> saw an increase of $17.2 billion. When you add up the numbers, billionaires in the United States have increased their total net worth $637 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic so far.At the same time, more than 40 million Americans filed for unemployment. With tens of millions of Americans out of a paycheck and the stock market plummeting by 37% in March, how is it that the rich have continued getting richer?This isn't the first time billionaires have seen gains while a large portion of Americans were feeling losses. When the housing bubble burst in 2007, home prices fell 21% and roughly 3.1 million homes were foreclosed on in the United States. The stock market plummeted by over 50%. And by the end of 2009, 8.8 million Americans had lost their jobs. And the effects lingered. From 2009 to 2012, the incomes of the bottom 99% grew by only 0.4%, but the income of the top 1% grew by a staggering 31.4% in the same time span. And it all ties back to two things.First, the government disproportionately gave more aid to banks and corporations. In 2008, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act was signed into law, creating a $700 billion program to purchase devalued assets from banks. This was called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Later, President Obama would direct $75 billion in funds from TARP to help reduce interest payments for homeowners. That means homeowners received around 10% of the direct relief that banks and corporations did.And this leads to reason No. 2. When the stock market bounced back, the unequal bailouts meant that the wealthy still had money on hand to invest and thus profit, while the middle and lower classes did not. In 2008, the Federal Reserve lowered short-term interest rates to near zero. They would remain that low for nearly a decade. This paved the way for a historic bull market on Wall Street that began in 2009 and lasted until March 2020, when the pandemic hit.In that time, the S&amp;P 500 gained 462%. That means that a $1,000 investment in the S&amp;P 500 at the low point of the financial crisis could have returned roughly $4,620, while someone who could afford a $1 million investment could have pulled in over $4.6 million.By 2009, the world's high-net-worth individuals had grown their share of global wealth by 19% to $39 trillion, recouping nearly all of their losses in a single year. That quick recovery and larger share of the world's wealth enabled them to continue to make money at an exponential rate. In fact, the top 1% captured 95% of the income gains made from 2009 to 2012. And by 2020, the combined wealth of the <keyword id="25931" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="billionaire">billionaire</keyword> class in the United States had increased by over 80%.Which brings us back to the moment when the coronavirus pandemic rocked the economy. In 2019, the Fed reported that four in 10 Americans didn't have enough cash in their bank accounts to cover a $400 unexpected expense. And in the first few months of 2020, 40 million Americans found themselves unemployed due to COVID-19. Many small businesses had to close due to lockdowns and social distancing, while others were forced to try to operate with entirely remote staff.The Small <keyword id="6355515" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="business">Business</keyword> Administration made $349 billion available to small businesses with the Paycheck Protection Program. But like in 2008, $243 million of that was snapped up by large, publicly traded corporations, some of which were valued at over $100 million. Even hedge funds submitted claims to try to tap into what they saw as free money.On March 16, 2020, just five days after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, the Dow suffered the worst single-day points drop in its history. But by June 4, seven of the world's richest people had seen their fortunes increase by over 50%. Part of what made this possible was a stock-market rebound fueled both by the Paycheck Protection Program and actions by the Fed. Again, the Fed lowered short-term interest rates for banks to near 0%, and as before, they have promised to hold those rates low until the economy is on track.This is a cycle that has happened time and time again. During the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, only 2.5% of the $195 million of relief funds went to Haitian companies. Much of the rest was awarded to DC-based construction companies. And when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, real-estate developer Joseph Canizaro said the clearing out caused by Katrina represented some "very big opportunities." Canizaro was selected as part of a panel to develop the Bring New Orleans Back plan, part of which put a stop on reconstruction of low-income neighborhoods until the residents returned. Of course, residents couldn't return to their destroyed homes, and many were foreclosed on, paving the way for others to buy those properties and develop them.When the time did come to rebuild New Orleans, the engineering and construction company KBR received no-bid contracts from the federal government for tens of millions of dollars. KBR received $31 billion in contracts from the government between 2001 and 2010. Vice President Dick Cheney served as CEO of KBR's parent company, Halliburton, for the five years leading up to his two terms in office.Combined with their immense investing and purchasing power, billionaires have had government resources in addition to their own resources to profit from during economic upheavals. And wealth-friendly tax laws and loopholes then keep those billionaires at the top. Legal structures such as limited liability companies protect personal assets from being repossessed to pay the debts from business downturns. As it's set up today, IRS rules allowed Amazon to pay $0 in taxes two years in a row. When its bill finally came due in 2019, it paid just $162 million, a measly 1.2% of the company's income that year.And it's not just Amazon. Taxes paid by billionaires have decreased 79% since 1980. And those are just the legal avenues that the wealthy take to avoid paying taxes. In 2017, researchers estimated that about 10% of the world's GDP was stashed in offshore tax havens. A study in 2012 found that as much as $32 trillion was being held offshore by the world's wealthiest people.So, after reviewing all this, what can be done to help level the playing field? A recent report by the Institute for Policy Studies lays out several action items. It suggests forming a pandemic profiteering oversight committee that would go beyond the oversight of federal stimulus money. It also supports the Corporate Transparency Act, which would create stronger regulations to prevent US billionaires from using shell corporations to hide their income. After the House passed the bill in 2019, it was introduced in the Senate but has not been brought to a vote.Other suggestions include an emergency 10% millionaire income surtax, a stimulus package aimed at funding charities, instituting a wealth tax, and reducing the amount allowed by the gift and estate tax. Last, and perhaps most importantly, the report underscores the need to shut down the global hidden-wealth economy. The US alone is estimated to lose nearly $200 billion in tax revenues to offshore havens each year. That's roughly three times the amount of all the money budgeted for the Department of Education in 2021.Changes like the ideas above are global in scale and require political cooperation to become reality. If the relationship between wealth and income inequality are ever going to change, it's going to require all of us.

How billionaires got $637 billion richer during the coronavirus pandemic

ReutersDiego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago and site of a major US military base in the Indian Ocean leased from Britain in 1966.<ul class="summary-list"><li>The remote Navy base at Diego Garcia provides logistical support to forward-deployed forces in the Indian Ocean and Middle East.</li><li>But personnel based at Diego Garcia also need to be supported - that's where the once-a-month visits by the merchant ship SLNC Corsica come in.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>DIEGO GARCIA - The hot, humid air gusts over the pier and through the red, rusty cranes sitting atop a blue cargo ship, which casts long shadows on the workers down below. Crusty leather gloves pull on ropes attached to heavy metal cargo containers.The blue-shirted contractors use the ropes to guide their heavy burden from the pier to the ship. Then, a crane operator carefully lifts the container up in the air. When the contractors get the container above the Merchant Vessel (M/V) SLNC Corsica, the merchant mariners assigned to the ship help guide the containers into place.With all of the vessels that come and go from Diego Garcia, Corsica is the most important because she provides the primary logistical support to the people and commands working on the island.Corsica's job is similar to US Navy Support Facility (NSF) Diego Garcia's, which is to provide logistical support to forward deployed forces. The US armed forces work alongside the UK British forces on the island to continue the Navy's mission of supporting maritime trade around the world.US Navy/Seaman Apprentice Michael PorterfieldMerchant Vessel (M/V) SLNC Corsica, a cargo container ship, in the lagoon at US Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia, January 29, 2020.NSF Diego Garcia sits on an atoll in the British Indian Ocean Territory. The island contains 12 square miles of land in a footprint shape. It's also a part of one of the largest marine environmental reserves in the world known as the Chagos Marine Reserve in the middle of the Indian Ocean.The remote location makes supplying the island a logistical challenge. Fortunately, the Corsica, owned by Schuyler Line Navigation Company (SLNC) LLC, supplies the island with the materials the service members and contractors need to complete their mission.Merchant vessels bring everything from spare tires, and fresh produce, to full aircraft. Once a year, the ship also removes all hazardous materials from the island."Our main job is to supply the base of just about every need," said Capt. Hedi B. Marzougui, Corsica's ship master.Marzougui has been the commanding officer of Corsica for about two years. He's made the trip from Diego Garcia to Singapore and back a dozen times.He's in charge of a big ship. It was built in 2001 and has a gross weight of 5,548 tons. It arrives in Diego Garcia once a month, and brings the majority of supplies needed to run the island.US Navy/Seaman Apprentice Michael PorterfieldKBR INC. contractors guide a cargo container clamp onto a cargo container at US Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia, January 29, 2020.Once arriving on the island, the ship goes through processing. The British forces provide customs and sign in the sailors. Afterwards, US sailors provide security to unload cargo and bring it to its designated location. After initial processing is finished, Corsica's crew spends the next week making repairs, if needed, and preparing the ship for its journey back to Singapore."While on the ship, we work on general maintenance on equipment as well as other things that pop up," said Nick Turano, a boatswain's mate assigned to the Corsica. "While in port we do mooring operations, dropping anchor, and whatever is needed."Turano has been a member of the crew for two years, but other members have been working for the company for almost 40 years."The whole reason I went deck department is because I like working outside," said Turano. "I like this style of ship because we have cranes on board. There's always something going on whether we are doing cargo operations or maintenance. We always have something to do."REUTERS/U.S. Department of Defense/Senior Airman Rebeca M. Luquin/Handout JDA US B-2 Spirit stealth bomber stops for refueling at the US military base on Diego Garcia after an airstrike in Afghanistan, October 8, 2001.The ship's crew stays on the ship for up to six months at a time before switching with another crew. Each sailor usually has six months off of work before returning to the Corsica.Without the dedication of the sailors aboard Corsica, Diego Garcia would not have the supplies to run a forward operating logistics base.With the sun beginning to dip, the blue-shirted contractors finish guiding the cargo containers onto the ship. The ship sways in the clear blue water as fish and other animals dart in its wake. The next morning, the ship pulls anchor and sails away to Singapore, planning on returning the next month with the supplies US and British forces need to run the island. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/life-camp-humphreys-closest-us-military-base-north-korea-2017-12">What life is like on the $11 billion US military base right next to the North Korean border</a></h3>

How one ship keeps operations going at a secretive US Navy base in the middle of the Indian Ocean

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Since Thursday, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/hurricane-irmahttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/hurricane-irma-2017">Hurricane Irma</a> has been gaining strength and is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-irma-strength-category-forecast-updates-2017-9">now a Category 5 storm</a>.That means&#xa0;parts of the hurricane's core have sustained wind speeds of at least 175 mph - violent enough to destroy homes and overturn trains. Though storm surge level range depending on the location, there's also a risk Irma's storm surge - a crest of water formed&#xa0;before a storm by powerful winds - may reach a height of 11 feet above a typical&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-ocean-tides-work-lunar-gravity-2017-6">high tide.</a>The National Hurricane Center&#xa0;has issued warnings for the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic,&#xa0;where Irma&#xa0;could strike as early as Wednesday morning. Some hurricane experts say the US Gulf and East Coasts - from Florida to Maine - should prepare.Several official weather agencies&#xa0;and experts (some known as <a href="https://www.omao.noaa.gov/learn/aircraft-operations/about/hurricane-hunters">hurricane hunters</a>) are tracking the storm as it gets closer.The two&#xa0;largest national US organizations tracking the storm&#xa0;are <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/">the National Hurricane Center (NHC)</a>&#xa0;of the <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/">NOAA</a>&#xa0;and the <a href="http://www.weather.gov/">National Weather Service (NWS).</a>&#xa0;They&#xa0;are providing live updates on their sites and on Twitter.Using data from drones, satellites, radar, and&#xa0;buoys, these organizations&#xa0;are tracking the possible path, wind speeds, heat, and (eventual) rain levels of Irma.Below are other reputable meteorologists to follow on Twitter, who are continually sorting through&#xa0;NHC, NWS, and NOAA data:<ul><li><a href="https://twitter.com/WX_Overlord">Jeremy Smith (Senior meteorologist at FedEx)</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/GarySzatkowski">Gary Szatkowski (NWS meterologist)</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelRLowry">Michael Lowry (FEMA task lead)</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/EricHolthaus">Eric Holthaus</a> (Meterologist and host of the podcast <a href="https://twitter.com/ourwarmregards">"Our Warmest Regards"</a>)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/StuOstro">Stu Ostro</a>&#xa0;and <a href="https://twitter.com/DrRickKnabb">Rick Knabb</a> (Senior meteorologists at The Weather Channel)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/philklotzbach">Philip Klotzback (Meterologist at Colorado State University)</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/MJVentrice">Michael Ventrice (Meteorological scientist&#xa0;at the Weather Company and IBM)</a></li></ul>YouTube user&#xa0;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz64xQocVSwEXWfboiZMrdQ">Alex Pier</a>&#xa0;has also made <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe8ttZXftwNftiS0RqxnVLdh2UUWiQNlu">a playlist of webcams</a> that are livestreaming a number of areas where Irma could hit. These may show the storm on the ground level.<div></div><div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-watch-solar-eclipse-without-special-glasses-tips-tricks-2017-8">Here's the best way to watch the solar eclipse if you don't have special glasses</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

How to track the path of Hurricane Irma - which could soon hit the US

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Axiom Space, a startup co-founded by a former NASA space station program manager, has inked a deal to fly all-private missions to orbit with SpaceX rockets and ships.</li><li>Axiom told Business Insider that "part of the crew is locked in" for the first mission, scheduled to launch in 2021, but declined to name those private astronauts.</li><li>NASA says it can accommodate two private missions to the International Space Station (ISS) per year, and Axiom plans to launch that many per year.</li><li>The startup eventually hopes to fly its own modules to the ISS in a few years, then later reconfigure them into a private space station.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Axiom Space, a startup co-founded by a former NASA manager, has inked a deal with SpaceX to launch the first all-private crewed missions into orbit.The venture capital-backed company announced the deal on Thursday. The news, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanocallaghan/2020/03/05/spacex-will-launch-three-space-tourists-to-the-international-space-station-in-2021/#2e06301253ae">broken in Forbes by Jonathan O'Callaghan</a>, follows a NASA announcement in June that the agency is opening up its modules on the International Space Station (ISS) to private crew members <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-international-space-station-commercialization-tourists-2019-6">for $35,000 a night</a>.Private astronauts have flown to the ISS for years, but always as part of a larger professional crew and always on board Russia's Soyuz spaceship. <a href="https://www.axiomspace.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Axiom</a>, led by CEO and co-founder Mike Suffredini, who managed NASA's space station program for a decade before retiring from the agency, says it aims to launch the first all-private ISS mission "as soon as the second half of 2021.""This history-making flight will represent a watershed moment in the march toward universal and routine access to space," Suffredini said in <a href="https://www.axiomspace.com/post/axiom-space-plans-first-ever-fully-private-human-spaceflight-mission-to-international-space-station">a statement</a>. That first mission will fly a privately trained commander and three other private astronauts aboard SpaceX's new Crew Dragon spaceship. Crew Dragon has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-spaceship-splashes-down-returns-earth-safely-nasa-2019-3">flown to orbit and back</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-crew-dragon-spaceship-abort-test-success-elon-musk-nasa-2020-1">proved its escape system works</a>. The spaceship has yet to fly any people, but that should change this spring with SpaceX's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-boeing-nasa-commercial-crew-program-launch-astronauts-2020-1">Demo-2 test mission for NASA</a>, which will rocket veteran astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley into orbit.When asked about its arrangement with SpaceX or how much a ticket aboard Crew Dragon might cost, a spokesperson for Axiom told Business Insider in an email that "it is our policy not to discuss pricing or contract details." However, NASA's Office of Inspector General estimated in <a href="https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-20-005.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a November 2019 report</a> that the agency would pay roughly $55 million per astronaut (which is about $35 million cheaper than a spot aboard <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-cst-100-starliner-spaceship-orbital-flight-test-mission-rescue-2019-12">Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spaceship</a>).The spokesperson also declined to name the mission commander or any space tourist on the flight, but said "part of the crew is locked in," indicating one or more the four crew members have yet to finalize a contract to fly."[W]e have a pipeline of prospects with whom we are always in various stages of discussion about seats on several of our planned flights," the spokesperson said.The first mission is slated to dock with the ISS for more than a week to allow the private crew to experience "microgravity and views of Earth that can only be fully appreciated in the large, venerable station," the announcement said.Around 2024, though, Axiom hopes to launch its own private modules to attach to and expand the ISS - then reconfigure them into a private space station once NASA <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacecraft-cemetery-point-nemo-google-maps-2017-10">decides to de-orbit</a> its decades-old, football-field-sized facility.NASA, when asked about the fresh announcement, gave Business Insider the following statement:"Axiom's partnership with SpaceX directly supports NASA's broad strategy to facilitate the commercialization of low-Earth orbit by United States entities. NASA's goal is to achieve a robust economy in low-Earth orbit from which NASA can purchase services as one of many customers. A robust commercial space economy ensures national interests for research and development in low-Earth orbit are fulfilled while allowing NASA to focus government resources on deep space exploration through the Artemis program and land the first woman and next man on the surface of the Moon in 2024."<h2>Axiom is on its way to cornering the private space-mission market</h2>NASA told Business Insider that, as part of its <a href="https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/cmdocumentid=740091/solicitationId=%7B21E0270C-BC1F-EFC4-3D87-30713B5FF373%7D/viewSolicitationDocument=1/2012%20Research%20Opportunities%20for%20ISS%20Utilization%20NRA%202020_3.4.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plans to increasingly commercialize</a> low-Earth orbit and the ISS itself, the agency "intends to accommodate up to two short-duration private astronaut mission opportunities" per year."Interested entities need to make an agreement with NASA for those missions," NASA said. "At this point, all private astronaut mission opportunities are available to outside entities."However, Axiom hopes to launch two all-private missions per year to the ISS. Should NASA sign off on such an arrangement, Axiom may be the premier private-mission provider for some time.Such a decision may affect the plans of competitors such as Bigelow Aerospace, which is also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bigelow-aerospace-mars-transporter-inside-interior-pictures-photos-2019-9">building private space station modules</a> designed to attach to the ISS or serve as independent research laboratories (and hotels) in orbit.Although Axiom can approve whomever it wants to fly aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon, NASA says it and its space station partners "will have final approval for all crew traveling to the ISS.""Private astronauts will have to meet FAA regulatory requirements, which include liability waivers, insurance, and indemnification during launch and reentry activities," NASA said.Those who are approved for flight will train at Axiom and NASA facilities in Houston, Texas, and, for Crew Dragon-specific training, at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. At NASA facilities, private astronauts will be <a href="http://www.kbr.com/en/insights-events/press-release/space-industry-first-nasa-grants-kbr-right-train-private-astronauts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trained by KBR</a>, "a leading solutions provider to the civil, military and commercial space industry" that recently signed a Space Act Agreement with the agency and has helped train professional astronauts for decades."The commander will be trained to the same level as a NASA astronaut," Axiom said, and with an Axiom-designed curriculum crafted in part by "two former NASA astronauts and a long-time Mission Control flight director."Axiom views itself as distinct compared to Space Adventures, which recently acquired seats aboard Crew Dragon missions and has flown space tourists for decades."Space Adventures is a broker. Axiom is not. Axiom is a full-service mission provider that manages its own missions," a spokesperson said. "Additionally, our flights will go to ISS and allow customers to experience life aboard ISS and have, essentially better views and room to move around - as opposed to merely floating in a capsule in orbit for a few days."Axiom says it hopes to take advantage of its fuller access to reach a customer base made up of governments "that want to get into human spaceflight" or expand their existing presence on the ISS. The company is also, of course, targeting (presumably very wealthy) private individuals.Practically, the startup says it hopes to help agencies and companies - likely including NASA and SpaceX - test Mars-bound systems. Axiom also wants to boost commercial activity in space through "in-space research, microgravity manufacturing, or media and brand partnerships."Get the latest Boeing stock price <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/BA-Quote">here.</a>

Axiom Space inks deal with SpaceX to take private astronauts into space - and possibly corner the private space-mission market

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image">REUTERS/Chris Helgren</div></div>
There's a huge difference between the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obamas-iraq-announcement-wasnt-earth-shattering-2014-6">very limited expansion</a> of the U.S.'s presence in Iraq that president Barack Obama announced on June 19 and the full-on U.S. invasion of the last decade.
Still, the very fact that the U.S. is sending additional troops to Iraq, where the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has taken over major cities and infrastructure, brings the last big U.S. military operation in the country to mind - as well as its steep costs.
Obama's response to this latest crisis won't look anything like Operation Iraqi Freedom. In this case, the military's aims, scope, methods, and targets (if it comes to that), will be far different than they were when the U.S. invaded in 2003. 
But with Iraq back in the news, it's worth reflecting on the staggering price of the last big U.S. entanglement in the country - and recalling what the U.S. has already sacrificed there.
We drew from sources including various news reports, The Brookings Institute 's <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/about/centers/saban/iraq-index">Iraq Index</a>, and the <a href="http://costsofwar.org/iraq-10-years-after-invasion">Costs of War Project</a> to document money and blood spent on the Iraq war between 2003 and 2011. 
189,000: <a href="http://costsofwar.org/sites/all/themes/costsofwar/images/Direct-War-Deaths(2).pdf">Direct</a> war deaths, which doesn't include the hundreds of thousands more that died due to war-related hardships.
4,488: U.S. service personnel killed directly.
32,223: Troops injured (not including <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-army-doesnt-want-you-to-see-the-results-of-its-shady-ptsd-probe-2013-2">PTSD</a>).
134,000: Civilians killed directly.
655,000: <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001442.html">Persons</a> who have died in Iraq since the invasion that would not have died if the invasion had not occurred.
150: Reporters killed.
2.8 million: Persons who remain either internally displaced or have fled the country.
$1.7 trillion: Amount in war expenses spent by the U.S. Treasury Department as through Fiscal Year 2013.
$5,000: Amount spent per second.
$350,000: Cost to deploy one American military member.
$490 billion: Amount in war benefits owed to war veterans.
$7 trillion: Projected interest payments due by 2053 (because the war was paid for with borrowed money).
$20 billion: Amount paid to KBR, contractor responsible for equipment and services.
$3 billion: Amount of KBR payments Pentagon auditors considered "questionable."
$60 billion: Amount paid for reconstruction, (which was ruled largely a waste due to corruption and shoddy work.)
$4 billion: Amount <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/17/iraq.main/">owed</a> to the U.S. by Iraq before the invasion.
1.6 million: Gallons of oil <a href="http://energy.aol.com/2011/06/15/energy-for-the-warfighter-the-militarys-operational-energy-str/">used</a> by U.S. forces each day in Iraq (<a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-04-02-2602932101_x.htm">at</a> $127.68 a barrel).
$12 billion: Cost per <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23551693/#.UUneiOs9ycE">month</a> of the war by 2008.
$7 billion: Amount <a href="http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/10/26/us_can_t_produce_1_billion_of_fuel_receipts_in_iraq">owed</a> to Iraq by the U.S. after the war (mostly due to fraud).
$20 billion: Annual air conditioning cost.
Missing: $546 million in spare parts; 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47s.
40 percent: Increase in Iraqi oil production.
$5 billion: Revenue from Iraqi oil in 2003.
$85 billion: Revenue from Iraqi oil in 2011.
$150 billion: Amount oil companies are expected to invest in oil development over the next decade.
$75 billion: Approximate amount expected to go to American subcontracting companies, largest of all Halliburton.
0: Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction found (though a bunch of <a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/10/wikileaks-show-wmd-hunt-continued-in-iraq-with-surprising-results/?utm_source=Contextly&amp;utm_medium=RelatedLinks&amp;utm_campaign=Previous">chems</a> were discovered).
Perhaps most importantly, this list doesn't account for the emotional damage caused to <a href="http://costsofwar.org/sites/all/themes/costsofwar/images/Imagining_Military_Suicide.pdf">service members</a> and their <a href="http://costsofwar.org/sites/all/themes/costsofwar/images/The_War_Comes_Home.pdf">families</a> as well as the destruction to the <a href="http://costsofwar.org/sites/all/themes/costsofwar/images/The_Last_Year.pdf">homes</a>, <a href="http://costsofwar.org/sites/all/themes/costsofwar/images/McBride.pdf">social fabric</a>, and <a href="http://costsofwar.org/article/iraqi-refugees">psyche</a> of the Iraqi people. 
For some visual accounts, check out Buzzfeed's <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/the-iraq-war-timeline-as-told-through-front-pages">Iraq war in front pages</a> and Time's <a href="http://lightbox.time.com/2013/03/18/a-decade-of-war-in-iraq-the-images-that-moved-them-most/#1">Iraq war in images</a>.

The Staggering Cost Of The Last Decade's US War In Iraq - In Numbers

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div>REUTERS/Chris Helgren</div>The <keyword id="6355112" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iraq">Iraq</keyword> War was so messy and costly that the best attempt to assess the sheer damage is through numbers.
We drew from sources including various news reports, The Brookings Institute 's <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/about/centers/saban/iraq-index">Iraq Index</a>, and the <a href="http://costsofwar.org/iraq-10-years-after-invasion">Costs of War Project</a> to money and blood spent on the war. 
189,000: <a href="http://costsofwar.org/sites/all/themes/costsofwar/images/Direct-War-Deaths(2).pdf">Direct</a> war deaths, which doesn't include the hundreds of thousands more that died due to war-related hardships.
4,488: U.S. service personnel killed directly.
32,223: Troops injured (not including <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-army-doesnt-want-you-to-see-the-results-of-its-shady-ptsd-probe-2013-2">PTSD</a>).
134,000: Civilians killed directly.
655,000: <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001442.html">Persons</a> who have died in Iraq since the invasion that would not have died if the invasion had not occurred.
150: Reporters killed.
2.8 million: Persons who remain either internally displaced or have fled the country.
$1.7 trillion: Amount in war expenses spent by the U.S. Treasury Department as through Fiscal Year 2013.
$5,000: Amount spent per second.
$350,000: Cost to deploy one American <keyword id="6359526" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Military">military</keyword> member.
$490 billion: Amount in war benefits owed to war veterans.
$7 trillion: Projected interest payments due by 2053 (because the war was paid for with borrowed money).
$20 billion: Amount paid to KBR, contractor responsible for equipment and services.
$3 billion: Amount of KBR payments Pentagon auditors considered "questionable."
$60 billion: Amount paid for reconstruction, (which was ruled largely a waste due to corruption and shoddy work.)
$4 billion: Amount <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/17/iraq.main/">owed</a> to the U.S. by Iraq before the invasion.
1.6 million: Gallons of oil <a href="http://energy.aol.com/2011/06/15/energy-for-the-warfighter-the-militarys-operational-energy-str/">used</a> by U.S. forces each day in Iraq (<a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-04-02-2602932101_x.htm">at</a> $127.68 a barrel).
$12 billion: Cost per <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23551693/#.UUneiOs9ycE">month</a> of the war by 2008.
$7 billion: Amount <a href="http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/10/26/us_can_t_produce_1_billion_of_fuel_receipts_in_iraq">owed</a> to Iraq by the U.S. after the war (mostly due to fraud).
$20 billion: Annual air conditioning cost.
Missing: $546 million in spare parts; 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47s.
40 percent: Increase in Iraqi oil production.
$5 billion: Revenue from Iraqi oil in 2003.
$85 billion: Revenue from Iraqi oil in 2011.
$150 billion: Amount oil companies are expected to invest in oil development over the next decade.
$75 billion: Approximate amount expected to go to American subcontracting companies, largest of all Halliburton.
0: Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction found (though a bunch of <a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/10/wikileaks-show-wmd-hunt-continued-in-iraq-with-surprising-results/?utm_source=Contextly&amp;utm_medium=RelatedLinks&amp;utm_campaign=Previous">chems</a> were discovered).
Perhaps most importantly, this list doesn't account for the emotional damage caused to <a href="http://costsofwar.org/sites/all/themes/costsofwar/images/Imagining_Military_Suicide.pdf">service members</a> and their <a href="http://costsofwar.org/sites/all/themes/costsofwar/images/The_War_Comes_Home.pdf">families</a> as well as the destruction to the <a href="http://costsofwar.org/sites/all/themes/costsofwar/images/The_Last_Year.pdf">homes</a>, <a href="http://costsofwar.org/sites/all/themes/costsofwar/images/McBride.pdf">social fabric</a>, and <a href="http://costsofwar.org/article/iraqi-refugees">psyche</a> of the Iraqi people. 
For some visual accounts, check out Buzzfeed's <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/the-iraq-war-timeline-as-told-through-front-pages">Iraq war in front pages</a> and Time's <a href="http://lightbox.time.com/2013/03/18/a-decade-of-war-in-iraq-the-images-that-moved-them-most/#1">Iraq war in images</a>.

BY THE NUMBERS: The Staggering Cost Of The Iraq War

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonShareholder activist John Chevedden, 67, talks to a Reuters reporter after the DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc stockholder meeting in Hollywood, California May 29, 2013.</div></div>LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Shareholder activists come in different flavors. One is the deep-pocketed investor, such as Carl Icahn or Dan Loeb, who takes big stakes in companies and forces management to change strategy.
Another type is the persistent provocateur who buys a handful of shares and agitates on a shoestring. That's John Chevedden.
Now 67 years old, Chevedden launched his career as an activist - he rejects the term "gadfly" - after being laid off from the aerospace industry in the early 1990s.
Since then, he has unleashed a relentless flow of shareholder proxy measures at some of the largest U.S. companies.
Even skeptics grant that Chevedden has become one of the most influential U.S. shareholder activists. James Copland of the Manhattan Institute, a free-market think tank, says Chevedden is "leading the intellectual curve, getting proposals out there before they start to get traction." Texas attorney Geoffrey Harrison, who has faced Chevedden on behalf of corporate clients, describes him as possibly the most persistent sponsor of shareholder resolutions ever.
Chevedden's method is to target deep-in-the-weeds details of corporate governance, such as how often directors are elected and when shareholders can call special meetings of investors. The measures, he says, are meant to give shareholders more say and make executives more accountable, which in turn improve operations and boost value.
Last year, 50 of his proposals made it onto proxy statements, disclosures to shareholders on issues requiring a vote and related information. He successfully pushed through 58 proposals as of mid-September, the most of anyone this year. The resolutions won 41 percent of shares voted on average over both periods, in line with the overall average, according to corporate-governance researcher FactSet SharkRepellent.
He has helped persuade companies to make procedural changes, including grocer Whole Foods Market Inc's move to make it easier to remove directors. Two years before "say on pay" votes became widely required under U.S. law, he successfully pushed the utility holding company Edison International to give shareholders more influence over executive pay. This year, under pressure from Chevedden, Bank of America Corp required its chief executive to hold on to stock for at least a year after he retires.
The latest sign of his influence: Companies have begun suing Chevedden to keep his proposals off their proxies, with some arguing he can't prove he owns the shares needed to qualify. The lawsuits mean additional expenses for a man on a shoestring budget.
In a series of interviews, Chevedden said he's motivated by a desire to improve how companies are run and is disappointed when executives battle his ideas or shun him at shareholder meetings.
"It feels like I'm crashing the party," he says.
For all his notoriety in the board room, the bottom-line impact of Chevedden's work is hard to gauge. Big-money activists suggest the importance of small-scale operators like him is overstated. Chevedden's proposals generally seek procedural changes, and companies often aren't obliged to implement winning proposals.
Icahn, who became a billionaire through a brand of activism driven by the brute force of buying big stakes, said in an interview that Chevedden's approach does not "move the needle much." It's better for investors to put up their own directors, Icahn says, and negotiate from a position of strength.
"You can't get these guys on boards to be accountable, unless you have a lot of capital and a lot of firepower," Icahn said. "You get one or two of your candidates on the boards. That's how it's done."
Chevedden says the support he garners from shareholders "tells you that management could do a better job, and they should listen." Over the years, Chevedden guesstimates, his proposals may have added some $100 million of shareholder value. But there is no way to know for sure.
Told of Icahn's critique, Chevedden replied: "It's great what he can do with all that money."
<h3>SILENT GIANTS</h3>
In addition to small-time activists, labor unions - which hold shares through their pension funds - also lodge a large number of resolutions. In theory, there should be another thorn in the side of corporate managers: institutional investors such as mutual fund firms, which own vast swaths of shares in major companies. They, too, are in a position to push reform resolutions.
But data from SharkRepellent show that since 2005, there have been no shareholder proposals at S&amp;P 1500 companies by the largest fund families. Governance experts say part of the reason for the lack of push from big asset managers is simple: The payoff is often not direct and does not justify the cost.
Into the gap have stepped Chevedden and several like-minded allies, often supported by the votes of fund firms happy to let them take the lead.
Chevedden grew up in Southern California. He attended a Jesuit high school and what is now Loyola Marymount University, and eventually the University of San Francisco, another institution run by the Catholic religious order. He also earned an MBA from Pepperdine in 1984.
Chevedden worked at various aerospace companies over the years, including Allied Signal Inc, now part of Honeywell International Inc, and Hughes Aircraft, then part of GM. His jobs included scheduling parts orders for satellites or turbochargers, and he says he had to learn how to hold engineers accountable.
"I had to know enough about what they were doing that they couldn't feed me baloney," he said.
In 1991, at the age of 45, Chevedden was laid off by Hughes, during a time of major retrenchment in the aerospace industry at the end of the Cold War.
Chevedden responded by filing a complaint against Hughes with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging age and gender discrimination. (Two other employees with the same job who were not laid off were women, records showed). The EEOC turned down the claim.
Around the same time, he read the 1991 book "Power and Accountability" by Robert Monks and Nell Minow, which drew more attention to shareholder rights. He filed his first shareholder proposal in 1994: a request that GMput on its 1995 proxy a measure to have it disclose more details of employment practices at Hughes.
<h3>FIRST BATTLE</h3>
In his filing, Chevedden described the move as intended to promote morale among "dedicated employees who made a valuable contribution to Cold War Victory." He denies it was an attempt to get back at Hughes.
The effort failed. Citing Chevedden's EEOC complaint, GM won the SEC's permission to drop the measure, under rules allowing it to skip proposals related "to the redress of a personal claim or grievance or to further a personal interest." A GM spokesman said executives would not comment on Chevedden's work.
Chevedden regrouped. He looked up corporate governance experts such as Bart Naylor, a union official at the time, who urged him to push ideas that big fund managers would back. The next year Chevedden landed a measure at GM calling for an independent board chairman. The measure won just 15 percent of shares voted, but Chevedden was on his way.
Chevedden says he is now more selective in his targets. Any resolution he files now, Chevedden says, must be one that "seems to be good policy and seems to get votes."
A bachelor, Chevedden lives in a rented apartment in Redondo Beach, California. He wears a 1990s-era Timex watch, and frets over postage and printing costs. He is known to arrive at meetings on foot or by bus. But he gets some respect in high places.
In May, Chevedden put on a suit and took the Los Angeles subway to the annual shareholders meeting at DreamWorks Animation SKG. There, the Hollywood studio's Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg and Chairman Mellody Hobson - about to marry Star Wars creator George Lucas - walked across the room to say hello to Chevedden.
After the meeting got under way, though, Chevedden began quizzing Hobson on Katzenberg's pay as the CEO twisted in his chair nearby. Chevedden also spoke in favor of a proposal that would diminish the voting power of shares for company insiders. "Without a voice, shareholders cannot hold management accountable," he read from a script. The measure failed to pass.
A DreamWorks spokeswoman said executives had no comment.
At most of the companies where Chevedden invests, he owns just around the minimum amount of shares needed to be eligible to file a resolution, or $2,000 worth. He said he owns shares in about 100 companies, choosing them both for growth opportunities and for the chance to sponsor resolutions.
He also uses his father's holdings and teams up with like-minded small investors, such as William Steiner and his son Kenneth, based in New York. (Chevedden's father, Ray Chevedden, passed away on Saturday.)
Chevedden declined to talk about his finances and portfolio in much greater detail.
Company executives and lawyers say there is no reasoning with him. "Some of his proposals are good, but you can never talk to him about his positions or his supporting statement. He wouldn't change them voluntarily," says Gregory Lau, General Motors' retired director of corporate governance, who was on the receiving end of many of Chevedden's proposals.
Chevedden says few companies offer substantial changes when they reach out. "They want to talk you to death," he says.
Now with dozens of proposals a year, Chevedden tracks his work on a document with codes. A typical entry, ESRX=WCjc=55•, signifies a proposal he landed on an Express Scripts Holding Co proxy to allow shareholders to take actions such as changing company bylaws by "written consent," rather having to hold a meeting. It won 55 percent of votes cast in May 2012.
Allies and opponents alike marvel at Chevedden's focus on such minutia. "He has attention-surplus disorder," says Naylor, the governance specialist and former union official.
His meticulous approach extends to hobbies. A car buff, Chevedden co-authored a book listing 100 years of Oldsmobile cars with details such as their weight and number of engine cylinders.
<h3>COURT PRESS</h3>
Chevedden and former SEC attorney Keir Gumbs estimate that among the hundreds of requests that companies have made to the regulator over the years to block Chevedden's proposals, they have succeeded about half the time. In recent years, some companies have opened a new line of attack against him - lawsuits.
Since 2010, energy company Apache Corp and engineering firm KBR Inc have successfully sued to leave Chevedden's proposals off their proxy statements, claiming in part that he failed to prove owning shares.
In June, trash services company Waste Connections Inc won a judgment after suing to exclude from its proxy statement a board-declassification proposal that Chevedden brought with an ally, James McRitchie, publisher of the website corpgov.net. The proposal to have all directors face election every year, instead of only some of them, is seen as making it easier for activists to push for changes. Chevedden and McRitchie have appealed.
Some worry about the companies' decision to go to court. While they have the right to do so, "these straight-to-court challenges may be used as a scare tactic" to deter shareholder proponents, especially smaller ones with fewer resources, said Ann Yerger, executive director of the Council of Institutional Investors, which represents big pension funds and other investors.
Chevedden told a judge in 2010 that he was "disadvantaged by the extreme expense" of Apache's litigation. He regards the suits as an attempt to silence him.
A Waste Connections spokesman declined to comment. Apache Senior Vice President Sarah Teslik says the company turned to the courts mainly for a new legal perspective rather than to silence anyone. Teslik also says Apache often reaches out to shareholders to work things out directly.
"If you want to solve a problem, you talk about it," Teslik says. But when it comes to Chevedden, "He doesn't try to talk to us; he tries to attack."
Geoffrey Harrison, the Texas-based corporate attorney, represents KBR. He said via e-mail that while the engineering company has moved to elect all its directors at once, as Chevedden had urged, several other shareholders had sought the same change. "Chevedden certainly is not responsible for the company's decision," Harrison says.
Chevedden says he doubts KBR would have acted without his prodding. Perhaps only someone with his relentless focus could have come this far. When executives offer what he considers to be poor compromises, he says: "I tell them, 'good shouldn't be the enemy of better.'"
(Edited by Richard Valdmanis, Paritosh Bansal and Michael Williams)

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