Deathstalker 3 Still, when

Deathstalker 3

Still, when working people see their teachers and firemen being laid off while corporations rack up huge profits yet appear to pay almost nothing into the system, its no wonder hackles are raised, whether outside a State House in the Midwest or in a bank branch in New York City. Jon Sobel is Co-Executive Editor of Blogcritics. As a writer he contributes most often to the Culture section, where he often reviews NYC theater; he also writes a semi-regular review round-up of independent music releases. If these corporations are underpaying their taxes by taking legal deductions, US Uncuts beef is with Congress, not the corporations. Anyone, individual or corporation, who doesnt take every deduction legally available to them is mismanaging their money. I very much wonder if the enemy here can be identified well enough to be affected by such protests. Taking aim strictly at corporations ignores the dynamic by which politicians pretty much just do the bidding of their corporate funders. US Uncuts beef is with Congress, not the corporations. Unless, of course, the congressmembers are bought and paid for by the corporations. Wouldnt the officers of a corp be remiss and unresponsive to their shareholders if they didnt use every opportunity to bribe congressmembers? There is a very high ROI on political bribery, better than RD budgets, better than employee education, and even better than executive bonus plans! After all, SCOTUS has proclaimed bribery is free speech and thus immune to government control. Unless, of course, the congressmembers are bought and paid for by the corporations. The beef is still with the congresscritters; they werent elected to be on the take. If your congressman is taking bribes from corporations hes certainly not representing you; on the other hand, if her refuses the bribe, hes probably not in office. Actually, the beef is with the corporations that put their money in offshore accounts called tax havens in order to make it appear that they lost money. Make the tax havens go away and enforce honest income pay your taxes. MW Yes! Problem: if laws need to be changed to eliminate these tax havens, it has to be Congress that changes them. And Congress is in the pockets of the companies that use the tax havens. Only a very large upwelling of popular dissent can be a stronger influence on the politicians than corporate backing. Can union-inspired protests US Uncut coalesce into such an uprising? Time will tell. Can union-inspired protests US Uncut coalesce into such an uprising? Probably not, because the pols especially the Dems are in the pockets of the unions as well; in fact, the unions are among the biggest donors to politicians. For example, according to Opensecretsdotorg, from 1989 to 2010, these unions gave: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees AFSCME: 43, 477, 361 98% to Democrats International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers IBEW: 33, 056, 216 97% to Democrats National Education Assn. NEA: 32, 024, 610 93% to Democrats Laborers Union: 30, 292, 050 92% to Democrats Teamsters Union: 29, 319, 982 93% to Democrats Carpenters Joiners Union: 29, 265, 808 89% to Democrats Service Employees International Union SEIU: 29, 140, 232 95% to Democrats American Federation of Teachers AFT: 28, 733, 991 98% to Democrats Communications Workers of America 14: 28, 376, 306 98% to Democrats These unions are all in the top 15 of donors for that period. In addition to the unions, the top 15 included ActBlue which is ActBlue is a Democratic only PAC. It gave the Dems more than 51 million. National Assn of Realtors 4: 38, 721, 441 49% Dem, 50% GOP Goldman Sachs 5: 33, 387, 252 61% Dems, 37% GOP American Assn for Justice 6: 33, 143, 279 90% to Dems no surprise there Citigroup Inc 15: 50% Dems, 49% GOP And thats it. Very few corporations 3 1 trade association and 1 Professional Association, and even they gave more money in the aggregate to the Dems than the Reps. So, by all means, lets stop corporate and union donations; it will likely hurt the Dems more than the Reps. Who cares if the dems are more hurt than the reps? The corporate chiefs, canny devils that they are, buy BOTH sides. Now THAT is called a successful hedge. And its generally the case that campaign funds DO buy election victories. Clavos, yes, both parties are in the pockets of special interests. What Im saying is, the government as a whole, regardless of party, can be swayed by a popular uprising. The unions may be spearheading the protests in the Midwest, but the unfair treatment of unionized government employees has tapped into the passions of something much wider than that: what we might call the liberal base. The corporate chiefs, canny devils that they Jon, what Im hearing is that the national sentiment is swinging AGAINST the government unions, but not the private sector ones As well it should, since those workers receive better compensation packages wages benefits and because of stronger unions and the fact that the government NEVER cuts back not even in recessions, enjoy near total job security. What Im saying is, the government as a whole, regardless of party, can be swayed by a popular I hope so, Jon, I really do, because the government itself doesnt seem to be up to the job of correcting whats wrong, and we sure have lots of wrong. It is about time that we go after the corporations that dont pay their fair share of taxes. It only makes sense to go after the corporations since they are the ones who pay off the politicians.