Get the wealthy off welfare

[undergroundpanther]

Before they tell the poor they need to make do with less.Get the rich corporations off welfare before the government of rich people cut food stamps to make themselves RICHER,or medicare is robbed of funds by anti democratic and anti government corporate suited government teat hogging THUGS posing as"conservatives" the only things these pigs conserve is their OWN power and wealth..fuck the corporations, eat the rich.

From 1996 through 2000, just ten large profitable companies enjoyed a total of $50 billion in corporate tax breaks. That brought their combined tax bills down to only 8.9 percent of their $191 billion in U.S. profits over the five years. In just the most recent two years for which data are available, these ten companies got $29 billion in tax welfare, and paid a mere 5.9 percent of their profits in federal income taxes.

Microsoft enjoyed more than $12 billion in total tax breaks over the past five years. In fact, Microsoft actually paid no tax at all in 1999, despite $12.3 billion in reported U.S. profits. Microsoft’s tax rate for the past two years was only 1.8 percent on $21.9 billion in pretax U.S. profits.

Ford enjoyed $9.1 billion in corporate tax welfare over the past five years. It reported $18.6 billion in U.S. profits over the past two years, but paid a tax rate of only 5.7 percent.

Worldcom paid no taxes at all in two of the last three years, despite reported U.S. profits of $15.2 billion. Worldcom’s total tax rate over the three years was only 1.6%. Corporate tax welfare slashed Worldcom’s tax bill by $5.3 billion over the past five years.

http://www.ctj.org/html/corp0402.htm

And because I am disabled, I get around 500 bucks a month,ooh I am such a burden on the tax system Shit, Ceo's are bigger and more evil parasites because they are predatory too. I bet if one of the fat pig CEO's had to live on what I live on they would do like bankers during the stock market crash of 1929, they'd jump out their penthouse windows rather than BE poor like the"plebeians" they exploit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't feed the Gators!" read a U.S. representative's sign during the welfare reform debate. "If we feed them, wild wolves become dependent," noted another. Comparing the poor to wild animals, these legislators continued our political lurch back to a time when poverty was blamed on inferior human beings and not on the flawed political economy of society.
It's a neat trick, this willed innocence that hides the truth: that poverty's problems are a result of political choices made by the rich and the powerful that further impoverish the poor. The iron fist of power always needs a velvet glove of persuasion - the drapery of a justifying philosophy to legitimate the dominance of wealth over want.

http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0303-01.htm
http://www.corporations.org/index.html
http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Apr2005/mcclellan0405.html
Corporate welfare shame page
http://www.progress.org/banneker/cw.html

[Erika]

1. That's why W was selected and marketed by the rich n/t

[undergroundpanther]

2. And that is why we need to TAX the wealthy,

TAX them HARD. Make it impossible for them to BUY our government from us ever again.

[upi402]

3. I'm with ya, and THEN SOME!

confiscate their ill-gotten windfall$, I say.

[grasswire]

4. there's an interesting idea

Tax political contributions from corporations. Big time. Fifty percent.

[grasswire]

5. I mean tax the donor, not the recipient.

Corporation wants to give a politician five grand, must pay $2500 tax.

[undergroundpanther]

6. On each dollar given

25,000 on every dollar slipped a politician, from a Ceo or corporation and those fees must be spent on the lowest tiers of income for social programs , cleaning up pollution,education, national healthcare ect. Methinks that kind of $$$ payback to the poor will get corporate PIGS out of the government manipulation business pronto.

[The Wizard]

32. They always

threaten to leave, but never do. They like it here. Willie Sutton robbed banks because that was where they kept the money. Nothing's changed but some terminology.

[OllieLotte]

9. Yeah, all those greedy shareholders... oh...well looky here

If I had bought shares of all those stocks that the Panther is ragging on, I would have actually lost lost money over the past 4 3/4 years (Jan 2002 to present) I'll bet all those "greedy bastards" would be happy to have broken even, much less get $500 a month. One thing to keep in mind that those companies are the engine that supports this country (and they are not all healthy).

[Deja Q]

10. If they are supporting *this* country, why are they offshoring?

They can slice jobs from Americans all they want... but they are also slicing their proverbial wrists. If America's economy goes, they won't be able to escape from it. Nobody will.

[Hugin]

12. An article recently told of how 'outsourcing' isn't the boon it was thought to be...

Turns out, it only really works on certain select products and services...

Outside of that narrow range of products it costs the same or more to produce
a product overseas.

Looks like these 'Free Market Libertarians' are getting a dose of their own
medicine. In that after they educate, build infrastructure, and pay-off the
local authorities they might as well be home paying taxes. Sort of ironic.

Oh, yeah... and now many of these foreign labor groups are going Union.

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. How do they "support this country"? By NOT paying their taxes or

by outsourcing our jobs? :shrug: I think Exxon Mobile and Chevron are quite healthy as you put it, given their outrageous profits of late, made from gouging the crap out of us at the pump.

[acmejack]

18. How many invested 401K $ in these stocks?

There is no place for Corporate welfare. If your cold little heart can justfy lettling the disabled try to live on $500/month you are in need of a conscience transplant. The Grinch would love you or are you he?

[ninkasi]

33. Do the CEOs of those companies

live on 500 a month? Somehow, regardless of how the company does, the fat cats at the top come out ahead by millions of dollars. The engines that support this country should do so without outsourcing jobs, inviting foreign workers to be trained by American workers who will then be replaced by those same workers. It's funny, but only individuals are treated as individuals.

Corporate personhood is very selective in which areas the corporation is treated as a person. If the law, or custom, will work to their advantage, they are treated as people. Claiming First Amendment rights by giving political donations is chalked up as the corporation's right to freedom of speech. When it comes to responsibilities, however, it's a different story. Some executives have lately come to justice for their actions, but it's an exception rather than the rule. Taxes are one area where corporations are treated much differently than we lesser mortals.

How many corporate executives have to serve this country in times of war? Individuals do, and pay far more in taxes than the corporations whose interests they die for. Some are more equal than others, in Orwell and Bush's world.

[Lasher]

7. Very good rant, and highly justified (EOM)

[NMMNG]

8. Tell the corporations to PULL THEMSELVES UP BY THEIR BOOTSTRAPS!

Bloody freeloaders! :sarcasm:

[Hugin]

13. Hear! Hear!

It's time they were pried off of the teat of the middle class!

:thumbsup:

[Vinca]

14. A very good post - big oil still making record profits and

still subsidized. They need corporate welfare like I need Tasty Kremes.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. What we need is a court reversal of the ruling that corporations

have the same rights as individuals in this country.

[philly_bob]

16. A good book: "The Conservative Nanny State" by Dean Baker ...

tells all about how government helps big business.

What I remember: How Bankruptcy law uses government power to collect money that companies loan without using reasonable care in checking financials of borrowers. Banks push credit card and risky loans because they know the government is there to twist the borrower's arms.

The book was written before "no-doc" mortgages -- you tell us how much money you make and we'll believe you.

[Captain Hilts]

17. Actually, the CATO institute is THE campaigner against corp. welfare in DC. nt

[acmejack]

19. I can't really support anything the CATO Institute does.

Any outfit founded & funded by the Koch family is no friend of mine. Koch family as in the Koch family that helped fund the campaign against the "Death Tax". Koch Family as in Dorothy Bush Koch. Koch Family as the largest Family held business in America. No sale.

[Captain Hilts]

22. I didn't say I supported them, but they are a MAJOR campaigner

against corporate welfare.

Just sayin'.

[Lasher]

21. I don't see any mention of the CATO Institute in the OP

Help me out, I'm confused. I see the OP has been edited? Was the CATO Institute mentioned there at one time? :shrug:

[acmejack]

24. I don't think so, We were conducting a side conversation

[GeorgeGist]

20. The rich need more poor people...

to work more for less ... therein lies the only source of increasing their profits.

[Rosemary2205]

23. This article is wrong.

"Ford enjoyed $9.1 billion in corporate tax welfare over the past five years. It reported $18.6 billion in U.S. profits over the past two years, but paid a tax rate of only 5.7 percent."

Ford Motor Company has lost money in the US every quarter since 2nd quarter 2003. Any profits it made were made outside the US.

The basic premise of the article, that corporate pigs need to be kept at bay is fine and I agree with that, but the article obviously has some facts wrong.

[Yupster]

25. Ford made $ 18 billion the last two years?

I thought they were on their way to bankrupcy.

[Rosemary2205]

26. Ford has made money in other parts of the world

but it's North American operations has lost money every quarter for quite some time now. Factually, the article is just plain inaccurate.

[undergroundpanther]

29. If they are, they might pull an Enron..

http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0501/21/autos-65497.htm
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~rgibson/scandals.html
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2005/04/20/043999.html

[aquart]

27. Excellent slogan.

[undergroundpanther]

28. Two sets of rules

One for the poor, which resembles a competitive libertarian self hating for not being successful enough attitude imperative to bash each other, mixed with a kind of corporate feudalism,

For the rich everything is taken care of,they have no wants, their health care is paid for..Hell they hire underpaid little people to deal with the insurance forms that drive most of us insane that we must wade through while we are sick.The rich suck up more than anyone does of the taxes..They expect the US government will bail out the failed corporation because their cronies are in there. If a rich thug does massive corporate fraud they are sure that their well bribed lackeys in the government will say.. tsk tsk,and ensure the wealthy parasite they will still get that pension and golden parachute,regardless.


It's dog eat dog world where you are on your own... for the poor.. For the middle class at least in the dog eat dog world they share with the poor but believe will never happen to themselves,they are not treated like dogs..Middle class are not called beasts by the Representatives who are supposed to be their advocates in Washington. The poor are called beasts, and the middle class believe the rich's line because they got something to lose, and so some middle class people treat the poor like lessors.It's easier to pretend than look at reality for some.

And for the rich, this is the ultimate sweetheart scam,state welfare and socialism, all paid for by the sweat and going without by poor and middle class. A life denied most of America can be had through the government corporate subsidy,and knowing the right palms to grease and asses to kiss. Too much of our taxes go to fatten the rich who already have too much. Our taxes go to protect their hegemony,monopolies, and to crush upstarts,and protect big gorillas from the scary smarter wiser, more clever little monkeys the big gorilla steals from and buys out when the little company with an innovative idea can't compete because the rules are not fair.

the rich truly HATE a free market, a free society if that freedom extends beyond the limits of their own kind of wealthy. So much tax from the working poor and middle class goes fund those rich boys failed"adventures' ,lavish parties,and porky piggy projects, which too often revolve around how to destroy peoples lives and dominate,..Stupid impossible shit that drains the tax base to motivate the wish I was rich too crowd to cut the social safety net. Like the bridge to nowhere, star wars .and the war in Iraq.


It is so easy for the "I wish I were rich too" crowd to kick the poor dogs beneath them rather than take on the monster that REALLY IS robbing them blind , fight along with the poor they mistakenly blame for their stagnant situation financially that is deliberately crafted by the rich to ensure the rich are whom never suffer,and never taste failure..never ever have to live by their merits,efforts and labor alone.And the rich have rigged the system so,unlike most of us the rich never have to give up their big dreams to have money for rent and to feed their kids.

EAT THE RICH! And you will not be forced to go without what you need anymore.

[Cleita]

30. Not only that. The fact that Halliburton and other corporations

have benefitted from this war belies the conservatives claims that they are engaging in "free market" practices. Sucking at the tit of the government is not free market. These companies would go bankrupt in a true free market economy.

[robinlynne]

31. You are so very right!