POINT / COUNTERPOINT

 With the entire World going to Hell in a hand-basket, I thought I might give this a whirl. I “cherry picked” some of the Headlines

from articles in the New York Times, Vol. CLXII…No. 56.167. Friday, June 14^th, 2013. Read ‘em & weep!

                 NY Times Headline:                                                “We The Peeps 1” Interpretation:

“Justices, 9-0, Bar Patenting Human Genes”	The Supreme Court never does anything 9-0. Who on that Court even knows what a Human Gene is? But, what the Hell, they’ll vote on it anyway.
“Push To Prepare City’s Buildings For Next Storm”	I’m guessing that President Bloomberg is going to deploy the Defense Department’s “Iron Shield”. Why not; it worked so well in Israel (not!).
“Suit Over Who Owns A Song”	We can’t pray in schools. We can’t say Merry Christmas. And now, we can’t sing Happy Birthday!?? Oh, come on.
“China-Japan Dispute Brews”	Oh, crap…..not again! Can’t anyone tell China to shut up and sit down?
“Murdoch Files For Divorce”	Before he’s all done, good old Rupert will eclipse Liz Taylor in failed marriages and failed News Agencies.
“Bloomberg Reporters’ Tactics Become Crucial Issue”	I’m not in the 1%. I didn’t know that Bloomberg Reporters were getting hung out to dry. I didn’t have to read half the Article to realize all the hullabaloo is about Insider Trading; only, we can’t use that term for these folks. It’s time to man up and call it what it is.
“ Turkish Protestors Say Talks With Premier Lead To A Tentative Agreement”	Good! Now we won’t have to watch them burn down Istanbul on the nightly news. And, things better quiet down some before all those U.S. Service Men and Women arrive. Hey, I can see Syria from my back porch. How about them apples?!
“Citing Chemical Warfare, U.S. Is Said To Be Ready To Send Arms To Rebels”	I just love Red Lines. Don’t you? The biggest line we’re going to cross is that of starting another senseless Armed Conflict in the Mideast. I hope our Army likes Turkish cuisine.
“Nicaragua Approves Building Its Own Canal”	Oh, this ought to fun to watch. I know they’re hard working; but, a Canal? I don’t think so.
“Hague Court Turns Down Abuse Inquiry”	Please don’t tell me the Vatican has the World Court in its pocket. A parent has to be crazy to allow one of their children to step foot inside a Catholic House of Worship.
“Greece: Unions Stage a General Strike”	Who cares?!!
“Inspector Commits Suicide After Building Collapse”	It’s time someone took ownership of their bad behavior.
“Agency’s Crusade Against Leaks of a Potent Greenhouse Gas Yields Results”	Yep…we got your depleted ozone layer, global warming, climate change, super storms, major draughts….that Crusade is doing some mighty fine things, I’d say.
“A Promise Of Changes For Access To Secrets”	Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but that kind of makes them NOT secrets anymore. I know the logic is hard to follow, but we pay these folks big bucks to dazzle us with BS.

I will leave you with these sweet little morsels. There were more, but I would run the risk of putting you to sleep, if I continued.

Oh, wait, I’d end up putting myself to sleep, too.

Secret Global Offshore Banking Scheme Exposed!

Now this from: The Progressive Press

   And all of you thought I was talking out of another orifice than my mouth!?

Secret Global Offshore Banking Scheme Exposed!

Posted by Emine Dilek on Thursday, April 4, 2013 · 

Former chief economist, and a board member of the Tax Justice Network, James S. Henry’s research reveals that an estimated $21 trillion to $32 trillion in private financial wealth is tucked away in offshore havens, roughly equivalent to the size of the U.S. and Japanese economies combined.

These offshore havens are managed by the world’s 50 largest “private banks” –considered legal and legitimate-, and their coffers grew from $5.4 trillion in 2005 to more than $12 trillion in 2010.

Now, twelve diligent and patient journalists of International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) organization, and 86 journalists from 46 countries, sifting through millions of leaked files, emails and account ledgers, uncovered who these people are and where do they hide their cash to easily evade taxes or launder money.

ICIJ released their findings in a report titled “Secret Files Expose Offshore’s Global Impact”, discovering more than 120,000 offshore companies and trusts that conduct hidden dealings with politicians, con men and the mega-rich. The scheme extends to more than 170 countries and territories.

ICIJ reports that, during an interview with the CBC, Arthur Cockfield, a law professor and tax expert at Queen’s University in Canada, who reviewed some of the documents, said “I’ve never seen anything like this. This secret world has finally been revealed.”

According to the article, “Government officials and their families and associates in Azerbaijan, Russia, Canada, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia and other countries have embraced the use of covert companies and bank accounts.”

Moreover, “They include American doctors and dentists and middle-class Greek villagers as well as families and associates of long-time despots, Wall Street swindlers, Eastern European and Indonesian billionaires, Russian corporate executives, international arms dealers and a sham-director-fronted company that the European Union has labeled as a cog in Iran’s nuclear-development program.”

Report’s key findings explain how these tax advantages, the mega-rich use, are not available to the average people, and how the complex offshore structures allow them to purchase and own mansions, yachts, art masterpieces and other assets without having to pay any tax on them.

However, the scheme is not only about wealthy citizens trying to avoid paying taxes, it also exposes that savvy swindlers and drug lords have been taking advantage of this clandestine money hiding operation. Ponzi schemers, large-scale fraudsters, mobsters and oligarchs routinely use offshore havens, to not only hide their money, but in many cases also to launder it.

A well-paid industry of bankers, accountants, middlemen and other operatives help these customers to hide their identities and money, under the supposed legal guise of international and national laws, through an elaborate financial web that spans countries, continents and hemispheres.

Despite the efforts of several tax justice groups, and few international economic justice organizations, to reduce the secrecy and get tougher on money laundering, the offshore havens remain as a “zone of impunity” for anyone determined to hide their money, engaged in money laundering and tax fraud.

In the USA, most states have minimum mandatory sentencing of 1 to 5 years for robbery. Of course, the fancy world of “offshore” banking is not considered petty theft when it comes to international banking, because we all know bankers wear suits and ties, and that makes them legitimate.

http://www.progressivepress.net/

I rest my case. Anyone care to redirect?

The Real March Madness: Part Deux

The Real March Madness: Where does all our money go?

I have chosen to look at 15 of the largest U.S. Corporations that have effectively stopped paying taxes. These Corporations are, at the same time, cutting jobs across the board using the current “sequestration” and the Depression as an excuse. It's time for the corporate sector to report their first-quarter earnings.  windfall profits. So, why don't our biggest corporations pay more taxes?

Because they don’t have to: thanks to our wonderful Corporate Tax Structure. The real March madness is here, and my personal bracket for the “f-you fifteen” is as follows.

1.      General Electric: The worst tax record  with $81 billion in profits and a $3 billion refund.

2.      Boeing: $21.5 billion in profits in addition to receiving a refund.

3.      Exxon Mobil: Made $??? , by far the largest profits in the group, but paid less than 1% in U.S. taxes.

4.      Verizon: Second worst tax record, with a refund despite $48 billion in profits.

5.      Kraft Foods: Received a refund (bailout) from the public despite $13.5 billion in profits.

6.      Citigroup: One of the five big banks who are estimated to get a bailout/refund from the American public amounting to three cents from every tax dollar.

7.      Dow Chemical: Received a refund despite almost $10 billion in profits.

8.      IBM: Paid less than 3% in taxes.

9.      Chevron: A meager 4.3% tax rate and a share of oil subsidies.

10.  FedEx: The company paid less than 5% in federal taxes while relying on the publicly-funded Post Office to deliver thirty percent of its ground packages.

11.  Honeywell: Less than 6% in taxes.

12.  Apple: Where to begin? They are among the leaders in using what is termed  "Double Irish" to transfer profits from  around the World to Europe then, to Bermuda,

13.  Pfizer: Cash rich and one of the leaders in stockpiling untaxed profits overseas.

14.  Google: Along with Apple, a  master at the "Double Irish" revenue shift to Bermuda tax havens. Recognized as one of the world's biggest tax avoiders.

15.  Microsoft: Named as one of the biggest offshore hoarders. ^[1]

Since 2008, these Corporations have, for practical purposes, stopped paying their taxes. But, as business got better and their stock values went through the roof, they never even tried to restore their tax obligations. (Dow Jones Industrial Average in January, 2009 = 8,000.86: Dow Jones Industrial Average in January, 2013 = 13,860.58) The shareholders were getting richer. Corporate upper management was getting a lot richer. And, the stock brokers were getting filthy rich. Is there any thought given to Social, Moral, or Ethical standards? Apparently not!

Who wins at this game? No one wins this game in the long run. Financially they do (in the short term), but the gains are outweighed by the greed and irresponsibility of tax avoidance. All these companies use our infrastructure, technology, research facilities, higher education and national defense to build incomparably successful businesses. They do everything in their power to avoid paying anything back, using write-offs, exemptions, and loopholes to cut their tax bills to almost nothing. On top of all that, some of them get whopping Tax Refunds and juicy Government Subsidies to line their greedy little pockets.

[1] http://www.alternet.org/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/16-giant-corporations-have-basically-stopped-paying-taxes

March Madness: Part Une

Occasionally, what you wish for turns out to be something you didn’t really want. The United States wished for, and got, a laissez-faire Capitalist economy. From the late 1800’s through the 20^th Century, this brand of economic structure worked pretty darn well. We have been witness to the maturation of the Industrial Revolution, the dawn of the Electronic Age, and now we find ourselves at a crossroads, of sort. What we do with what we have is going to define our Society for a very long time to come.

There has been a recent and very staggering increase in the division of wealth in this Country. The top 2% are laughing all the way to the bank. The Middle Class has all but disappeared. The ranks of the working poor and impoverished are growing exponentially. The democratic style of government we chose has grown into this behemoth of a bureaucracy that is crumbling under its own weight. In keeping pace, our business sectors have run the table with tax breaks and subsidies (Corporate Welfare). They have perfected this to the point where the U.S. has a fast dwindling tax base with which to operate. If you are on the outside looking in, you might wonder what the problem is. We seem to have enough money, so why are we in such a crisis?

The answer to that is GREED. Most of the working populace has traditionally relied on business ownership and management to “do the right thing”. We believed that there was good in all humankind, and that the owners of the wealth would not forget who got them where they are today. It’s bad enough that “We the People” are getting the short end of the stick from business, finance, and manufacturing. Our own Government is sticking it to us at the same time. I give you the Military/Industrial Complex.

       

                                                

+  

After half a Century of paying lip service to the perils of this consortium, we have done nothing at all to close the wound and stop the bleeding. The vicious cycle of campaign funding, lobbying, politics, running an arms race with no real opponent, and lining the pockets of a chosen few has this Nation broken down and in the ditch. Someone in this game has to blink sooner than later. We do have a lot of money, but the well is running dry at an alarming rate.

The big question is, “Where do you start?” Below is a list of the top 20 defense contractors based on their 2009 defense contract revenue. The numbers reflect what the Company actually made on their “corporate welfare” contracts. The contracts, themselves, have numbers whose zeroes would run off the page. The political will of the People can break the cycle right here.

Rank	Top Defense Companies	Defense Revenue ($ Millions - 2009)
1	Lockheed Martin Corp.	$11,904
2	Northrop Grumman Corp.	$9,324
3	Boeing Co.	$8,189
4	Raytheon Co.	$6,187
5	General Dynamics Corp.	$4,730
6	KBR Inc.	$4,545
7	Science Applications International Corp.	$4,108
8	L-3 Communications Corp.	$3,656
9	Computer Sciences Corp.	$2,221
10	ITT Corp.	$1,894
11	CACI International Inc.	$1,690
12	BAE Systems Inc.	$1,659
13	Hewlett-Packard Co.	$1,589
14	Harris Corp.	$1,330
15	United Technologies Corp.	$1,320
16	URS Corp.	$1,006
17	Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.	$1,005
18	DRS Technologies Inc.	$994
18	Dell Computer Corp.	$987
20	Rockwell Collins Inc.	$912

Source: Washington Technology - 2010 Top 100 [1]

These Companies, along with hoards of others, treat out National Treasury like their own personal ATM card.

You certainly recognize most of them, and, of note, are the Corporations that are Foreign, and, as such, pose a threat to the security of Military manufacturing capabilities of the U.S.

1. “…BAE has described the rationale for expansion in the US; "[it] is by far the largest defense market with spend running close to twice that of the Western European nations combined. Importantly, US investment in research and development is significantly higher than in Western Europe." The company's 2004 strategy review confirmed a "strategic bias" for expansion and investment in the US… “ ^[2]
2. DRS Technologies Inc. is a US-based defense contractor. Previously traded on the NYSE, the company was purchased by the Italian firm Finmeccanica in October 2008. ^[3]

[1] http://defensesystems.com/articles/2010/05/27/top-20-defense-contractors.aspx

[2] http://washingtontechnology.com/toplists/top-100-lists/2010/bae-systems-inc.aspx

[3] http://defensesystems.com/articles/2010/05/27/top-20-defense-contractors.aspx