The thing we really want to start talking about today is the fact that this year, as most years, Congress will vote to give subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. Billions and billions of dollars in taxpayer money. Not because they need a subsidy. We’ve known how to burn coal and gas and oil for 250 years. There’s no secret to it that we need to subsidize for them to figure out. And it’s not because they need the money. They’re the most profitable industry on earth. Exxon made more money last year than any company in the history of money. What’s going on instead is that they are giving small presents to our legislators, and in return our legislators are giving them big presents with our money.
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"There as a study in which it comes out that thirty of the largest companies in the United States are now spending more on lobbying than they pay in federal taxes. …Who really pays for that? And the answer is America’s middle class — they’re the ones who are left to pick up all the pieces, to pay the taxes to keep the country running. And, more to the point, they’re the ones who are paying for the fact that there’s not enough money left to invest in our kids’ future."
— Massachusetts Senate candidate ELIZABETH WARREN, on The Daily Show (via andyouhavetogivethemhope)
(Source: inothernews)
"
“We have no evidence that C.E.O.’s are fashioning, with their executive leadership, more effective and efficient enterprises,” the study concluded. “On the other hand, ample evidence suggests that C.E.O.’s and their corporations are expending considerably more energy on avoiding taxes than perhaps ever before — at a time when the federal government desperately needs more revenue to maintain basic services for the American people.”
…
Verizon, which earned $11.9 billion in pretax United States profits, received a federal tax refund of $705 million. The company’s chief executive, Ivan Seidenberg, meanwhile, received $18.1 million in compensation. The online retailer eBay reported pretax profits of $848 million and received a $113 million federal refund. John Donahoe, eBay’s chief executive, collected a compensation package worth $12.4 million, the study said.
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Many US corporations pay their CEO’s more than they pay in taxes (NYT)
Trickle up economics makes the world go ‘round.
(via morninggloria)
Some days I read this stuff and I think it’s going to come down to all of us ‘little people’ gathering up our pitchforks and standing outside of offices demanding justice.
Why poor people support tax breaks for the rich?
Why do lower middle-class and working class Americans support tax breaks for the rich? New research suggests it might not be about aspirations—i.e., “Maybe I could be rich someday.” Instead, says the Economist, people are more concerned with how social programs and wealth distribution might help people worse off than them become better off than them.
In other words: Nobody wants to be on the bottom and national economics looks a lot like a junior high locker room.
Food for thought?
I think there’s a bit of truth here. But I think it’s also LARGELY about the false perceptions people have about the other people on any kind of government assistance.
There are a few prevalent images people have of those on assistance, 2 big ones being:
- The “welfare queen” - usually a POC, pictures as lazy and just getting knocked up (she’s always a single mom, never in a stable home environment, in this perception) so she can stay on assitance.
- The “redneck” in a trailer park, probably in the South, drinking too much and wasting money on lottery tickets and parts for their truck
The wealthy have done such a great job of convincing everyone that ALL THE PEOPLE on any assistance are on it because they’re just “lazy” and cheating the system. It plays into classism and racism and people’s general fears.
(Source: sarahlee310)
Perfect Examples of “Fiscal Responsibility” (or lack thereof)
- John Boehner tweets the government will be returning to the use of plasticware (oddly enthusiastically too); even though it is neither fiscally responsible or environmentally sound. (Mother Jones)
- Tim Pawlenty says “taxes are too high” for BOA; even though BOA doesn’t pay any taxes because they exploit a tax loophole. (Think Progress)
- Michele Bachmann creates the “Light bulb Freedom of Choice Act” that reverses a mandate that actually saves consumers money and reduces energy dependence. (Fox Nation and logic)
- Bailing out Big Oil, refusing to recoup tax payer money, and sustaining corporate welfare when companies are making record breaking profits. Additionally, forking over millions to Koch Industries in corporate welfare so they can make billions in profits and pollute for free. (Think Progress)
- Ohio wastes time in court with “fetal testimonies” knowing that there is no chance that the bill will be passed through SCOTUS. (Think Progress)
- And last but not least, failure to cut defense; while approving funds for Army Nascar, horse contraceptives, and lowering taxes for the top 2%. (Every news source and blog on the internet)
John Boehner tweets the government will be returning to the use of plasticware (oddly enthusiastically too); even though it is neither fiscally responsible or environmentally sound. — I heard this one on the radio and AND what an idiot — how is good to waste a finite resource. And why the hell boast about it.
The Army Nascar is a little more complicated because apparently (this total waste — my view of nascar) this expense more than pays for itself in terms of advertising Army recruitment (another thing I am not so keen on), but the thing is why the hell can Republicans comprehend the concept of being penny wise and pound foolish when talking about military recruiting but not when providing health care? It absolutely ticks me off.
They spend 7 million a year on the Nascar sponsorship. I don’t see how that is at all profitable for them when they have a propaganda video game and comic book that seems to be doing a much better job.
I wish I could get all the right-wing leaning people I know to read this stuff.
"If [politicians’] main concern is generating economic activity, extending tax cuts for the wealthy isn’t the way to go. The $128,000 the average millionaire will save would generate no more than… $76,800 of economic activity By comparison, spending the same amount of money on infrastructure would generate between $128,000 and $320,000 worth of economic activity, according to the CBO’s estimates of stimulus effectiveness. Same amount of expenditure, wildly different impacts on the economy. It’s fine to argue that the rich should pay lower taxes—arguing that cutting their taxes is a good way to stimulate the economy, however, is unreasonable."
—
Number Of The Day | The New Republic (via abbyjean)
I really wish the politicians soliciting my vote would talk about these kinds of issues intelligently.
No, this has nothing to do with sound economic policy. Instead, as I said, it’s about a dysfunctional and corrupt political culture, in which Congress won’t take action to revive the economy, pleads poverty when it comes to protecting the jobs of schoolteachers and firefighters, but declares cost no object when it comes to sparing the already wealthy even the slightest financial inconvenience.
So far, the Obama administration is standing firm against this outrage. Let’s hope that it prevails in its fight. Otherwise, it will be hard not to lose all faith in America’s future.
This is an op-ed @ the New York Times about the state of some Bush-era-enacted tax cuts that are due to expire 12/31/2010.
“But if taxes paid are put in relation to income earned (the denominator) we will realize that because women still earn 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, women pay a greater share of their income in taxes.
For me, thinking about taxes in terms of tax burdens — who pays how much of their income in each type of tax — is necessary to cut through the political brou-ha-ha about the virtues of tax cutting.
You absolutely should read this entire article
stfuconservatives:waifsworld:tennroof:Top Tax Rate? Socialism | The Big Picture
Ahh yes! I’ve been looking for this cartoon again for ages.
