Posts tagged ‘income taxes corporations’

Debt Relief

If corporations are people, where's debt relief for the people?

Considered by many as a serial flip-flopper on political topics, Mitt Romney now earns the greater distinction of the “Proverbial Capitalist.” In 2011, the former Massachusetts Governor made a slip that may hurt his run for the White House and it also questions: Why hasn’t debt relief arrived for the working class?

While at the Iowa State Fair, Romney quoted, “corporations are people.” He tried to make the argument that money goes to people through companies. But, it was no laughing matter. Not for working class Americans, the unemployed or people stuck with high federal income taxes. And, if corporations are in fact “people”, the equal rationale is that people are “corporations.” Obviously, no factory can manufacture a product without a factory worker and no farm can harvest a crop without a farm worker.

Thus, it’s unequivocal that people are the essential lifeblood of corporations. People are also the primary component of the corporate profit mechanism. Yet, there is a wide-scale income disparity between people – the 99% and corporations – the 1%.

Illustrating the economical disconnect, in 2011 there were 412 U.S. billionaires with a net worth clearly extrapolated from the coffers of corporations and the exploits of American workers. Incredibly, from the total number of billionaires, precisely six Walton family members (founders of Walmart) represent a net worth equal to the bottom 30 percent of all Americans.

In contrast, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2010 the nation’s poverty rate rose to 15.1% (46.2 million). Of the developed countries, only Israel, Mexico, and Chile have higher poverty rates.

Additionally, as U.S. taxpayers are revitalizing from a recession, they are are also paying a greater share of federal income taxes than many corporations.

Between 2008 and 2010, thirty U.S. corporations, including General Electric, Verizon, and Wells Fargo, paid less than nothing in aggregate federal income taxes. And, some wonder why the great divide between the 1% and the 99% continues to widen.

Romney also made the following unconscionable response to a question on what should be done about housing and foreclosures: “Don’t try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom. Allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up. Let it turn around and come back up.”

However, Romney’s surrealistic response was apathetic to millions of homeowners that are in peril of losing their homes, not out of choice, but because of Wall Street (“corporations”). Corporate greed catapulted the mortgage lending crisis. which consequently caused millions of workers to be without jobs.

Insensitive to the ongoing housing crisis, Romney seems oblivious that America’s working class has never received any federal debt relief, loans, or bailout money. However, in December 2008 the Federal Reserve gave corporations a combined $1.2 trillion in bailout money, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.

Bloomberg Markets magazine now reports that the bailed out banks also took tens of billions of dollars in emergency loans and used the Fed’s below-market rates to reap an estimated $13 billion of income.

Since the aspiring President claims corporations are people, why not ask corporations, “Where’s the people’s share of the profits?” Moreover, you might as well ask the Federal Reserve, “When is consumer debt relief finally coming?

(Youtube video)

Yet, despite amassing colossal profits, corporations aren’t paying it forward. Instead, in 2012 another onslaught of foreclosures by the largest mortgage corporations, including Bank of America, GMAC, and JPMorgan Chase is expected to displace more homeowners into the streets.

Sadly, this year the saga of the soon-to-be homeless taxpayer continues. Financial hardships will also cause millions to contemplate bankruptcy. But, it’s just another happy new year for numerous corporations, which get to enjoy paying little or no federal income taxes.

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