Signs of the Times
A few weeks ago, I wandered down Broad St.. picked up a placard, and participated in the first political rally of my life. Here are what some of the signs read:
Tax the Rich: We are no longer the Land of Opportunity, but the Land of Profit for only the Very Wealthy.
According to a recent News Week article, since the 1970s, median income has grown 5% for 90% of Americans compared to 281% for the top 1% of Americans. Those top 1% now possess 40% of our nations wealth.
After 10 years of the Bush Tax cuts that saved 4 trillion dollars to the rich, job growth remains stagnant.Tax rates are below what they were under President Eisenhower, yet Conservatives are adamant that they will not raise revenue by taxing the Super Rich and large corporations because they are the job creators. Really?
People Over Profit: Lets look at one large corporation that has prospered over the last decade. One of the so-called job creators, Apple Industries, is expected to make a whopping 80 billion in revenue this year. Because they still employ more Chinese than Americans in their manufacturing, Apple is responsible for contributing billions toward our national trade deficit. Like other big corporations, Apple disguises profits as foreign earnings in lower taxed countries and do not pay their fair share of taxes.
Make Wall St. Pay: "Liberty and Justice for all" no longer has meaning because there has been no justice for those criminals in Wall St. investment firms who intentionally packaged risky mortgages into unregulated derivatives.
People have lost their jobs, their homes, their savings, and not one Investment banker or Wall St. trader has been indicted.
Corporations out of Washington: Corporate power has too much influence in Washington. Is it still "We, the People", or "We the Corporations" that our elected representatives strive to serve, protect, and defend?
The House of Representatives chose to lose our national debt rating rather than negotiate a debt ceiling. With the pawns of the Corporate elite scurrying to defend the profit margin for their benefactors, we have made little progress toward balancing our federal budget.No Lobbysits: Lobbyist has become a nasty word. Even Herman Cain has ommitted his stint as a Restaurant Industry lobbyist from his resume. The flaky as his crust candidate who is the frontrunner for Conservative Presidential slot earned his living lobbying in Washington against smoking bans in restaurants, against a lower alcohol blood level limit, and against a higher minimum wage.
No More Unpaid Wars: Starting a war while simutaneously cutting taxes in 2001 and 2003 has so far contributed a whopping 800 billion to our national debt, and sacrificed 4500 American lives, and 654,965 Iraqui lives (British Medical Journal, The Lancet), and for what? The troops will be home with their families for Christmas, but the Iraquis are rewarding China and India with oil contracts
Corporations are Not People until Texas executes oneYou may have your brains laundered and locked up tight by Corporate owned media that passes for news like Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp....you know the one that is under investigation for phone tapping? Sarah "Take the Money and Dont Run" Palin took a college student to court for hacking into her e-mail. He was sentenced to a year in jail. Billionaire Rupert Murdoch runs his media empire with an iron fist. How much time do you think he will
serve?
Why is it that when greed and corruption impacts common welfare and forces the government to take action, legislate, regulate, prosecute, and fine. .. too often the actual fine is a miniscule percentage of the overall profit and billionaires go free? Corporate crime does pay in the United States of America.
When I stopped on a Broad St. crosswalk to let a motorcyclist cut through the mass of people, he thanked me by shouting back,"Go home!" Hey, motorcycle dude, I dont know where you are from, but we are home. We have been patiently listening to a group of people yelling at us for the last 2 1/2 years while the country continues its decline. So now listen to this. You just ran over my First Ammendment toes. And this Motorcycle Mama has laid her big spike down! We are the 99% and we will Occupy Wall St. and Restore Main St.
Starting right here on Broad St.
#OWS
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Tax Holiday from Reality
Corporations and their lobbyists are pressuring Congress to reinstate Bush's taax holiday for corporations to bring home offshore profits at a lowered 5.25 tax rate. Apple would like to shake 12 billion from their offshore tree. Microsoft's ofshore accounts compute to around 29 billion, and ask Google if they want to retrieve their 17 billion out there in cyberspace.
Money is power, so it just might happen again as it did in 2005 when President Bush and Congress appeased corporations with a tax holiday at a one year 5.25 tax rate. Companies with huge assets offshore were offered the opportunity to return $312 billion back to the United states with a much lower tazx rate and stimulate the job market. However, the majority of that money that returned to the country, a whopping 92%, was returned back to stockholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks (National Bureau of Economic Research)
Hiring and job creation remained flat.
The truth is that the companies pushing the hardest for the next tax break are the ones sitting on billions in cash right here in the United States that they could readily use to hire if they so chose.
According to fromer labor Secreatry Robert Reich, between 1980 and 2011, the Anerican economy has doubled in size, but where has all that money gone.? Almost all the gains have to to the Super Rich.
1. The top 1% who used to take home 10% of the wealth, now take home more than 20%. The Super Rich hold 40% of the nations wealth.
2. The Super Rich have the political power to lower their tax rates from 70% to less than 35%. But because much of their income is capital gains, they are taxed at only 145%. According to the IRS, the richest 400 Americans pay only a 17% income tax rate.
3. Wages have barely increased with adjustments for inflation
4, Revenues are down to less than 15% resulting in huge budget deficits.
"This is about creating jobs," Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas said when introcducing the Tax Holiday bill this Spring. Jobs. The word that was dangled like a tank of oxygen before a gasping population of unemployed in order to pass the extension of tax credits for the 2% of the wealthiest Americans who live up where the air is rarified. It was supposed to create jobs and resuscitate the economy. We're still wheezing out here. Because statistics prove that as long as stockholders, executives, and politicians continue to grow their own record profits and accumulate wealth in the exclusive dynamic of the laslt 30 years, there will be little effect on jobs, the working middle class, or the economy.
The tax holiday is just one more Corporate conciliation, one that rewards companies, once again, for moving jobs and investments overseas.
Money is power, so it just might happen again as it did in 2005 when President Bush and Congress appeased corporations with a tax holiday at a one year 5.25 tax rate. Companies with huge assets offshore were offered the opportunity to return $312 billion back to the United states with a much lower tazx rate and stimulate the job market. However, the majority of that money that returned to the country, a whopping 92%, was returned back to stockholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks (National Bureau of Economic Research)
Hiring and job creation remained flat.
The truth is that the companies pushing the hardest for the next tax break are the ones sitting on billions in cash right here in the United States that they could readily use to hire if they so chose.
According to fromer labor Secreatry Robert Reich, between 1980 and 2011, the Anerican economy has doubled in size, but where has all that money gone.? Almost all the gains have to to the Super Rich.
1. The top 1% who used to take home 10% of the wealth, now take home more than 20%. The Super Rich hold 40% of the nations wealth.
2. The Super Rich have the political power to lower their tax rates from 70% to less than 35%. But because much of their income is capital gains, they are taxed at only 145%. According to the IRS, the richest 400 Americans pay only a 17% income tax rate.
3. Wages have barely increased with adjustments for inflation
4, Revenues are down to less than 15% resulting in huge budget deficits.
"This is about creating jobs," Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas said when introcducing the Tax Holiday bill this Spring. Jobs. The word that was dangled like a tank of oxygen before a gasping population of unemployed in order to pass the extension of tax credits for the 2% of the wealthiest Americans who live up where the air is rarified. It was supposed to create jobs and resuscitate the economy. We're still wheezing out here. Because statistics prove that as long as stockholders, executives, and politicians continue to grow their own record profits and accumulate wealth in the exclusive dynamic of the laslt 30 years, there will be little effect on jobs, the working middle class, or the economy.
The tax holiday is just one more Corporate conciliation, one that rewards companies, once again, for moving jobs and investments overseas.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Walker and Koch: A Bad Connection
When Wisconsin Governor Walker refused to have a dialogue with union workers in his own state who had already compromised on their pensions and salaries, but took the out of state phone call from someone identifying himself as oil and gas mogul, David Koch , his communication sent a message that passed loud and clear through that telephone line to the voters of his state and the entire country. Republican governors in this nation are working very hard to pay back their Corporate benefactors with one hand, while taking from their own constituents with the other. As fast as they can.
Following the Arizona mass shooting that took the lives of several Arizonans, Gov. Brewer has decided to save $79.8 million in the budget by dropping 5,200 other severely mentally ill people from the state's Medicaid program. With the other hand, she hands over 538 million in Corporate tax cuts.
Florida Governor Rick Scott cuts 4.6 billion , inlcuding 3 billion in education , and ends 8,000 jobs with one hand. With the other hand, he cuts Corporate property taxes by 4 billion.
Michigan Governor Dick Snyder cuts 1.2 billion to schools and universities and another 180 million from public employee concessions with one hand. With the other hand , he provides 1.8 billion in tax cuts for business.
In Ohio, 2 Commerce and Labor Committee members who voted against the budget were simply replaced.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder wants the power step in and auction off municipalities that are in financial debt.
Governor Walker is handing over 147 million in Corporate tax credits, free tax zones, and loopholes to his corporate friends, but that is not enough. He wants to show them the love by crushing the Unions and silencing the voices of American public workers. He can hear the voice of someone alleging to be an oil and gas mogul loud and clear, but cant quite hear the Wisconsin judge order an injunction to stop the anti-collective bargaining bill . He signed it anyway. The judge has since ordered no further implemention of the Budget Repair Bill.
Greedy. Parasitic. That's what a FOX News commentaor recently called the Union members. The teachers, firemen, police and social workers with families to feed and raise.... who pay state and federal taxes. According to the New York Times, 2/3 of US Corporations pay NO federal taxes. GE made a whopping 14.2 billion in profit last year. They paid NO federal taxes. And cut their American job force by 1/5 and boosted their labor force overseas. That's patriotism for ya.
Take Wisconsin. With a 130 million deficit, the state gives 140 million in tax breaks to large multinational Corporations, ie. WalMart. The state provides a 15 page litany of tax credits options, including a Water Consumption Credit that defers up to $3000,000 a year in payments by Corporations to the municipal water company until 2020. I bet teachers have to pay their water bill on time or get their water shut off.
The John Birch Society is headquartered in Grand Christie, Wisconsin. They stand for Limited Government. They stand for a Constitutional Republic based on Christian Principles. They stand for Personal Freedom. They oppose the United Nations and Free Trade Agents. David Koch's father, Fred Koch, was a founder of the John Birch Soceity
. With 100 billion dollars in revenue last year, the Koch brothers own the second largest privately held company in the U.S. Koch Industries funds Right Wing Think Tanks, lobbyists, Tea Party candidates, Union busting candidates, and anti Democratic groups like Americans for Progress and FreedomWorks. The latter took credit for creating the Tea Party movement in March 2009. They contributed 1 million to Proposition 23 on the California ballot last year. They historically play a key role in selecting GOP presidential candidates.
American Union workers are working very hard to keep their jobs and support their families. Republican governors appear to be working very hard, too, but not for middle class working families. Republicans have given a tax credit extension to the 1% of the mega wealthy who possess 40% of this country's wealth. Republicans have given Corporations tax breaks. Republicans in the Supreme Court have given Corporations the same campaign donor status as individuals. And Governor Walker freezes Union dues.
Hello? Can you hear me? Can you hear me now?
Following the Arizona mass shooting that took the lives of several Arizonans, Gov. Brewer has decided to save $79.8 million in the budget by dropping 5,200 other severely mentally ill people from the state's Medicaid program. With the other hand, she hands over 538 million in Corporate tax cuts.
Florida Governor Rick Scott cuts 4.6 billion , inlcuding 3 billion in education , and ends 8,000 jobs with one hand. With the other hand, he cuts Corporate property taxes by 4 billion.
Michigan Governor Dick Snyder cuts 1.2 billion to schools and universities and another 180 million from public employee concessions with one hand. With the other hand , he provides 1.8 billion in tax cuts for business.
In Ohio, 2 Commerce and Labor Committee members who voted against the budget were simply replaced.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder wants the power step in and auction off municipalities that are in financial debt.
Governor Walker is handing over 147 million in Corporate tax credits, free tax zones, and loopholes to his corporate friends, but that is not enough. He wants to show them the love by crushing the Unions and silencing the voices of American public workers. He can hear the voice of someone alleging to be an oil and gas mogul loud and clear, but cant quite hear the Wisconsin judge order an injunction to stop the anti-collective bargaining bill . He signed it anyway. The judge has since ordered no further implemention of the Budget Repair Bill.
Greedy. Parasitic. That's what a FOX News commentaor recently called the Union members. The teachers, firemen, police and social workers with families to feed and raise.... who pay state and federal taxes. According to the New York Times, 2/3 of US Corporations pay NO federal taxes. GE made a whopping 14.2 billion in profit last year. They paid NO federal taxes. And cut their American job force by 1/5 and boosted their labor force overseas. That's patriotism for ya.
Take Wisconsin. With a 130 million deficit, the state gives 140 million in tax breaks to large multinational Corporations, ie. WalMart. The state provides a 15 page litany of tax credits options, including a Water Consumption Credit that defers up to $3000,000 a year in payments by Corporations to the municipal water company until 2020. I bet teachers have to pay their water bill on time or get their water shut off.
The John Birch Society is headquartered in Grand Christie, Wisconsin. They stand for Limited Government. They stand for a Constitutional Republic based on Christian Principles. They stand for Personal Freedom. They oppose the United Nations and Free Trade Agents. David Koch's father, Fred Koch, was a founder of the John Birch Soceity
. With 100 billion dollars in revenue last year, the Koch brothers own the second largest privately held company in the U.S. Koch Industries funds Right Wing Think Tanks, lobbyists, Tea Party candidates, Union busting candidates, and anti Democratic groups like Americans for Progress and FreedomWorks. The latter took credit for creating the Tea Party movement in March 2009. They contributed 1 million to Proposition 23 on the California ballot last year. They historically play a key role in selecting GOP presidential candidates.
American Union workers are working very hard to keep their jobs and support their families. Republican governors appear to be working very hard, too, but not for middle class working families. Republicans have given a tax credit extension to the 1% of the mega wealthy who possess 40% of this country's wealth. Republicans have given Corporations tax breaks. Republicans in the Supreme Court have given Corporations the same campaign donor status as individuals. And Governor Walker freezes Union dues.
Hello? Can you hear me? Can you hear me now?
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