2001 to 2012
After September 11
Warrantless surveillance and the Patriot Act, the Iraq war, Kelo, and the 2008 bailouts.
Key facts
- The president authorized warrantless collection on Americans on October 4, 2001, three weeks before the Patriot Act was signed.
- The Iraq Survey Group found no weapons of mass destruction. The Senate Intelligence Committee said the case for war was not supported by the intelligence.
- On October 13, 2008, nine bank executives were given $125 billion at one meeting, with no conditions on mortgages or pay.
Timeline
3 events in Housing & Private Equity, oldest first
- 2005June 23, 2005Housing & Private Equity
Kelo: homes may be taken for a private developer
5 to 4. The land stood empty for nearly twenty years.
- 2012August 21, 2012Housing & Private Equity
Sony granted a patent on commercials the viewer has to interact with to end
U.S. Patent 8,246,454, filed October 23, 2009. Examples in the patent include saying the brand name into the television's microphone and throwing a virtual pickle at a burger. The patent has not been used.
- 2005 to 2012Housing & Private Equity
IRS seizes more than $242 million in structuring cases
More than 2,500 people; 91 percent with no other alleged crime.
Stories (2)
- 2005 to 2026Kelo v. New London: Eminent Domain to Seize Private Homes for Corporations and PipelinesIn 2005 the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that a city could take homes from their owners and give the land to a private developer because the new use would pay more taxes. The homes in New London were demolished, the developer never built, Pfizer left, and the lot stood empty for nearly twenty years. Forty seven states changed their laws in response. The power has since moved to pipelines and power lines, where a federal certificate lets a private company condemn land across state lines, and where Congress in 2023 ordered one pipeline approved and barred the courts from reviewing it.Housing & Private Equity
- 2009 to 2012Sony's Patent on TV Commercials That Only Stop When You Say the Brand NameIn 2009 Sony applied for a patent on television commercials that stop only when the viewer does something: says the brand name into the TV's microphone, throws a virtual pickle at a burger, or drives a delivery car through a course. The patent was granted in 2012. It has not been used, and Sony owns it.Housing & Private Equity