General News Corporate Greed vs. America - America's Corporate Tyranny a Global Problem

Corporate greed is destroying our country.. just in case you didn't know already. So, I figure it would be good for us all if I spent time doing research for you guys so that you can be better educated on what is really going on behind closed doors.

John Paulson, a hedge fund manager, collaborated with Goldman Sachs to build sure-fail subprime mortgages and then bet against them accruing 3.7 billion dollars in this 'investment'. Our deregulated tax code allowed him to call his earnings "carried interest" which, by the way, is taxed at a 15% rate. That was just the beginning.. Deregulation enabled him to wave the taxes on this profit altogether. That means the 1.3 billion dollars that were supposed to be collected in taxes remained in his pocket (35% of 3.7 billion dollars) all of which could have paid the salary of 30 thousand LPNs. What kind of shit is that?

If you want to read something that will make your heart sink keep on reading.. 10 of the richest Americans made enough money last year alone to feed every hungry person on earth for a year... I'll repeat that - feed every hungry individual on this planet for an entire goddamn year. They increased their total wealth by 50 billion dollars in just one year alone.

I'll keep going.. Tax abuses such a Paulson's and Sach's of which I mentioned above cost us about 1 trillion dollars a year... Does that number ring a bell to you? It should - that is the national deficit. I mean, shit, they could be honest and pay taxes just like you and I do or, even better, pay for 20 million jobs. This isn't the case (as I am sure you are well aware), instead corporations increased their profits by 1.9 trillion dollars in less than 10 years.. it gets better - since 2008 they have dropped their tax payments from a 20 year average of 22% to just 10%. That is a 225 billion dollar difference! Not to mention the Tax Justice Network reporting that an estimated 32 trillion dollars is hidden off shores.. just sitting there.. not being taxed. Resulting in 750 billion dollars in missing United States income meaning that we are losing 260 billion dollars in taxes. The IRS estimates that 17% of taxes owed went unpaid leaving a deficit of 450 billion dollars. If you sit down with a calculator or a pen and paper you would come to number that closely matches the U.S. deficit.. All thanks to lax or completely nonexistent regulations that allow the wealthy and corporations to avoid their tax responsibilities.

The above listed are just a few examples. Other examples include: substituting jobs and labor institutions offshore instead of here in the states, excessive credit card use, purchasing houses we can't afford, managers of financial institutions granting easy loans with little to no down payment, Wall Street's creation of mortgage-backed securities and credit default swaps, CEOs receiving outrageous compensation packages, etc. The list goes on and on and they have all taken a toll on our economy, government, and most importantly our livelyhood.

I expect to get messages or comments with the intent on 'informing' me that the wealthy and these corporations worked hard for their money, however; this just isn't true.. 60% of the income from the Forbes 400 came from capital gains. Another good portion of their income came from evasions and schemes: CEOs using 'carried interest', performance-related pay, stock options, as well as deferred compensation.

If you want to get this country back into financial shape fight for strict tax laws, regulations, and consequences for disobeying these laws and regulations for all classes. Why should we sacrifice funding education, health, and safety while the rich continue to make gains? One conservative view is that enriched individuals will one day enrich society and that the government should butt out; well, we see exactly how well that has been working... In no way, shape, or form do I think we should resort to socialism (I am not that short sighted), but I do think that what is fair is fair and what is just is just. Tax evasion is a serious offense. So then, why are we allowing this to take place?

The day will come where our economy will be equivalent to that of poverty unless we stand up to corporate tyranny. Mark my words.

I didn't make up these numbers and I will confess it took me 3 hours of reading and research to write this out and I'm not even in school. I did this because at least one of you guys might actually enjoy reading this and learn something or even (hopefully) write a letter to a congressman or share it on facebook, your blog, etc.