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Are you American? Or a United States citizen, more specifically? Have you ever written a real paper letter to your representative in Congress? Or to a Senator? If yes, what fired you up enough to get you to write? How long ago was it? Do you ever go publicly protest, and hold a sign? Been out recently? Do you fill out petitions online? Do you vote? Where do you draw the line in your efforts to influence the course of this nation?
It appears to me that most of us do very little. I fill out a few petitions, and send a little bit of money sometimes, and put some effort into researching my votes, but that's about it. I haven't been putting any real energy into the project. I feel like congress should take care of this stuff for me, that I'm no expert and somebody more expert than me should be making the decisions. I don't really want to OWN my part in a democracy because it's a whole lot of work. But as our nation suffers increasing challenges, people are noticing, and activism seems to be on the rise. I was heartened when I heard support for Audit the Fed on an Occupy youtube video. The new activism is less party oriented than at any time in my political consciousness. There is a chance that we might be able to get something done.
( ruminations )
It appears to me that most of us do very little. I fill out a few petitions, and send a little bit of money sometimes, and put some effort into researching my votes, but that's about it. I haven't been putting any real energy into the project. I feel like congress should take care of this stuff for me, that I'm no expert and somebody more expert than me should be making the decisions. I don't really want to OWN my part in a democracy because it's a whole lot of work. But as our nation suffers increasing challenges, people are noticing, and activism seems to be on the rise. I was heartened when I heard support for Audit the Fed on an Occupy youtube video. The new activism is less party oriented than at any time in my political consciousness. There is a chance that we might be able to get something done.
( ruminations )
In order:
1) EXXON Mobil: 2009 $19 billion in profits, paid no taxes and got a $156 million IRS rebate according to SEC
2) BANK of AMERICA: 2010 $4.4 billion in profits, nearly $1 trillion bailout, and $1.9 billion tax refund
3) GE: $26 billion in US profits past 5 years, $4.1 billion tax refund (friends work there)
4) CHEVRON: 2009 $10 billion profits, $19 million tax refund
5) BOEING: $30 billion Pentagon contract, $124 million tax refund in 2010 (plant in my hometown)
6) VALERO Energy: 2010 $68 billion in sales, $157 million tax refund, and $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction (25th largest co in US)
7) GOLDMAN SACHS: 2008 profit $2.3 billion, $800 billion bailout, paid 1.1% of its income in taxes
8) CITIGROUP: 2010 over $4 billion in profits, $2.5 trillion bailout, paid no federal income taxes (worst credit cards I ever had, except maybe for AmEx)
9) CONOCOPHILIPS: 2007-09 made $16 billion in profits, received $451 million in tax breaks (oil & gas deduct) (#5 oil co in US)
10) CARNIVAL Cruise Lines: 2005-10 made $11 billion in profits, fed income tax rate 1.1%
Sanders suggests:
--closing corporate tax loopholes
--eliminating tax breaks for oil and gas companies
--introduced legislation to impose a 5.4% surtax on millionaires-->$50 billion a year
--spending cuts must be paired with new revenue
SOURCE
compiled by Senator Bernie Sanders
http://carloz.newsvine.com/_news/2011/03/27/6355442-tax-time-not-for-giant-corporations-the-top-ten-tax-avoiders-who-refuse-to-pay-up-and-share-the-sacrifice
Hat tip: BuzzFlash.com
1) EXXON Mobil: 2009 $19 billion in profits, paid no taxes and got a $156 million IRS rebate according to SEC
2) BANK of AMERICA: 2010 $4.4 billion in profits, nearly $1 trillion bailout, and $1.9 billion tax refund
3) GE: $26 billion in US profits past 5 years, $4.1 billion tax refund (friends work there)
4) CHEVRON: 2009 $10 billion profits, $19 million tax refund
5) BOEING: $30 billion Pentagon contract, $124 million tax refund in 2010 (plant in my hometown)
6) VALERO Energy: 2010 $68 billion in sales, $157 million tax refund, and $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction (25th largest co in US)
7) GOLDMAN SACHS: 2008 profit $2.3 billion, $800 billion bailout, paid 1.1% of its income in taxes
8) CITIGROUP: 2010 over $4 billion in profits, $2.5 trillion bailout, paid no federal income taxes (worst credit cards I ever had, except maybe for AmEx)
9) CONOCOPHILIPS: 2007-09 made $16 billion in profits, received $451 million in tax breaks (oil & gas deduct) (#5 oil co in US)
10) CARNIVAL Cruise Lines: 2005-10 made $11 billion in profits, fed income tax rate 1.1%
Sanders suggests:
--closing corporate tax loopholes
--eliminating tax breaks for oil and gas companies
--introduced legislation to impose a 5.4% surtax on millionaires-->$50 billion a year
--spending cuts must be paired with new revenue
SOURCE
compiled by Senator Bernie Sanders
http://carloz.newsvine.com/_news/2011/03/27/6355442-tax-time-not-for-giant-corporations-the-top-ten-tax-avoiders-who-refuse-to-pay-up-and-share-the-sacrifice
Hat tip: BuzzFlash.com
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Eliot Spencer vs the Fed and the Banks
Jul. 27th, 2009 08:44 amNice, simple explanation here of what has happened with the federal reserve, banks, and the bailout. Spitzer gets it. This is why I still give Obama an F on the economy.
I'm Proud of Obama
Jun. 14th, 2009 10:15 am
I just took the time to watch Barack Hussein Obama's Cairo speech. People disparage his "polished words" but I am overjoyed to have a president who is both educated and moral. Obama speaks for me. I agree that it is time for all peoples, all nations, all races, all individuals to cease and desist from the disrespect and violence that have poisoned our interactions. It is time to see all sides.
( more )
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The proposed bill simply requires that our Federal Reserve be transparent and accountable. Congress is coming around, seeing the value in knowing the doings of our central bank. If your congressperson isn't supporting it yet, it might be a good time to suggest they consider it. Seems like people want our congress to take a little more interest in where our money goes and what is done with it.
Here's the bill:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc111/h1207_ih.xml
And some about it:
http://www.ronpaul.com/on-the-issues/audit-the-federal-reserve-hr-1207/
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1207
( And a list of the 100 sponsors, so you can give 'em a pat on the back if they're on it. )
Here's the bill:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc111/h1207_ih.xml
And some about it:
http://www.ronpaul.com/on-the-issues/audit-the-federal-reserve-hr-1207/
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1207
( And a list of the 100 sponsors, so you can give 'em a pat on the back if they're on it. )
Tea Bagging?
Apr. 12th, 2009 08:21 pmI was disappointed to watch Rachel Maddow's Thursday and Friday night shows. Most of what she has to say is astute and witty, a voice of productive discourse. But her report on the upcoming Tax Day Tea Party demonstrations missed the mark. She was having great fun with the fact that "tea bagging" means putting your testicles in someone's mouth. I suppose it could be indicative of the straightness/cultural cluelessness of certain Republicans that they didn't choose to name their event something else. Or perhaps they just never thought someone would make a big dirty joke out of "tea bagging" when it is so beside the point.
Rachel initially portrayed the Republican tea baggers as racist ignoramuses who could not tell you where Obama was born and suspected he wasn't actually the president because he was foreign. She correctly links the tea bag events to Ron Paul. Unfortunately she mocked those who desire to dissolve the Federal Reserve. She clearly had no clue, and I was saddened. We need discussion on this issue, not mockery. There is no doubt that the Republican party is fractured to its core. But there are still good ideas out there.
Does she not grasp what has happened with the banking system in this country, and on this planet? Does she not understand how much the revision of this system would mean for the future of humanity? I guess not. It's not easy to understand. I am only barely beginning to grasp it myself. And I sorely want Rachel Maddow to educate herself about it because she is a person who could really help educate the public.
Rachel initially portrayed the Republican tea baggers as racist ignoramuses who could not tell you where Obama was born and suspected he wasn't actually the president because he was foreign. She correctly links the tea bag events to Ron Paul. Unfortunately she mocked those who desire to dissolve the Federal Reserve. She clearly had no clue, and I was saddened. We need discussion on this issue, not mockery. There is no doubt that the Republican party is fractured to its core. But there are still good ideas out there.
Does she not grasp what has happened with the banking system in this country, and on this planet? Does she not understand how much the revision of this system would mean for the future of humanity? I guess not. It's not easy to understand. I am only barely beginning to grasp it myself. And I sorely want Rachel Maddow to educate herself about it because she is a person who could really help educate the public.
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Finally something productive and useful that citizens can get behind and force congress to do: look at the books, get serious about our financial system. Our congress must take stock of the Fed before the dollar fails, before some other currency replaces it in the world. And that's what this bill does. The explicit purpose of the bill is to amend the law regarding the way the Federal Reserve is audited by the Comptroller General, and the way in which such audits are reported. Ron Paul's idea in crafting this bill is to get the financial information out in the open, so we can decide what to do next.
So far fifty five members of congress have signed as co-sponsors of this bill. THIS ALONE IS AMAZING. This means that Congess is beginning to see that Ron Paul was RIGHT about all this that is happening. Our congress wants to consider these questions a little more deeply now. This bill won't solve our problems. It will give us the information we need to choose a strategy for the cleanup and renovation of our financial structure. A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1207
So far fifty five members of congress have signed as co-sponsors of this bill. THIS ALONE IS AMAZING. This means that Congess is beginning to see that Ron Paul was RIGHT about all this that is happening. Our congress wants to consider these questions a little more deeply now. This bill won't solve our problems. It will give us the information we need to choose a strategy for the cleanup and renovation of our financial structure. A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1207
Ron Paul speech at CPAC
Feb. 27th, 2009 07:51 pmIt's 23 minutes of the man talking sense. He's fired up. The audience is interesting to watch.
Root on Business and Bailouts
Jan. 5th, 2009 08:19 pm“Little by little, business is enlarged with easy money. With the exhaustless reservoir of the government of the United States furnishing easy money, the sales increase, the businesses enlarge, more new enterprises are started, the spirit of optimism pervades the community…bankers are not free from it. They are human. The members of the Federal Reserve board will not be free from it. They are human…Everyone is making money. Everyone is growing rich. It goes up and up…until finally someone whose judgment was bad, someone whose capacity for business was small, breaks; and as he falls he hits the next brick in the row, and then another, and then another, and down comes the whole structure. That is no dream. That is the history of every movement of inflation since the world's business began, and it is the history of many a period in our own country. That is what happened to a greater or less degree before the panic of 1837, of 1857, of 1873, of 1893 and of 1907…when credit exceeds the legitimate demands of the country the currency becomes suspected and gold leaves the country.”
--Wayne Allyn Root, 2008 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate
--Wayne Allyn Root, 2008 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate
This impressive collection of Ron Paul clips (posted by Joseph Mercola) shows that the current bailout battle is the result of a long slow process that really kicked off in 1971 when the gold standard was dropped, and our money became just paper without anything of value behind it. When money is just paper, and a central bank (the federal reserve) can print more at will, the government thinks that it can spend more money than it has. This is what has happened. The federal reserve has kept interest rates falsely low, and created the housing bubble that just popped. If we allow congress to authorize the TRILLIONS to bail out banks and other corporations, we are signing the death warrant for our own currency. We are in a recession, and headed for a Greater Depression, and it will be much worse if we allow the Bush regime to shove through a bailout like they shoved through the Patriot Act. But Ron Paul says it better than me. Check it out, and let your representatives know if you would rather that we NOT bail out every giant failing business. We, the taxpayers, would be foolish to saddle our great grandchildren with this kind of debt. It is time for average lazy Americans to pull ourselves together and stop our government from ruining the rest of our lives. NOW. Today. Call. Write. Fax. Email. DO SOMETHING. Don't just sit back and expect me to do it for you. If you are a CITIZEN you are responsible. It's easy to find the contact info on the web. Do it for yourself, not for me. And God Bless us ALL.
Congress Passes Housing Bailout
Jul. 24th, 2008 12:33 pmThis is Ron Paul speaking on H.R. 3221, The American Housing and Foreclosure Prevention Act, which passed yesterday. This 7 minute video made it to the front page of Digg in 3 hours--so lots of people have already seen it.
( Comments on what's in the vid in case you'd rather read than watch: )
Ron Paul quote of the day:
"When the value of American's savings is deliberately eroded through inflation, that is a tax, albeit a hidden one. I call it the inflation tax, a tax that is all the more insidious for bing so underhanded: most Americans have no idea what causes it or why their standard of living is going down. Meanwhile, government and its favored constituencies receive their ill-gotten loot. The racket is safe as long as no one figures out what is going on."
( on inflation and central banking history )
"When the value of American's savings is deliberately eroded through inflation, that is a tax, albeit a hidden one. I call it the inflation tax, a tax that is all the more insidious for bing so underhanded: most Americans have no idea what causes it or why their standard of living is going down. Meanwhile, government and its favored constituencies receive their ill-gotten loot. The racket is safe as long as no one figures out what is going on."
( on inflation and central banking history )
