Obama pushing hard for Buffet rule for taxpayers. Here we
see 26 Fortune 500 Companies with no accumulated taxes paid for 2008-2009-2010
& 2011 combined!
I think we can see why lobbying expense, according to
OpenSecrets.org, has gone from $1.4 Billion with a B in 1998 to $3.31 Billion
on 2011, and political donations have gone from $1.8 billion in 98 to $3.6
billion in 2010.
The tax burden of these Fortune 500 companies are directly
linked to the business investments these and other firms make on lobbyists and
political campaign contributions. These companies were refunded monies from the
US Treasury and had net negative tax bills for the combined four years since
2008.
For those that suggest that much of the Occupy movement is
just sour grapes over losses in the political arena here is exhibit A as to the
total fallacy of that argument. For those that argue that civil disobedience is
a unlawful act and suggest that all that energy ought to be pushed into the political
arena, here is the gaping hole in that posture.
The arguments for fairer taxes, or better environmental
laws, affordable and decent health care were not lost in the political arena they
were swamped over like a wave across the bow of a small sailing dingy, by a
flood of excessive and increasingly deregulated and opaque campaign contributions.
Most of this giving was before Citizen’s United which we will see in full
flower this fall. There can be no doubt that this elections this fall will be
the most costly in American history, with very few of the donors of the actual
money raised known to the public, and individual billionaires contributing tens
of millions to a totally skewed and hopelessly corrupt game.
It is incredibly important to keep in mind that again
according to Open Secrets, the dems have outraised the Repubs since 2004.
The American political system is awash with the corrupt
influence of deep pocketed donors. As Rachel Maddow said on Bill Maher's show
some weeks ago, the reason nothing gets done in Washington is not exclusively
or even primarily because the dems and repubs can’t get along. The reason
nothing gets done is that wherever and whenever something is proposed there is
always an entrenched interest with substantial and available cash there to
oppose it.
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