Sunday, February 14, 2016

HIGHER OIL PRICES PROMISED BY OPEC: WALL STREET CELEBRATES

HIGH OIL PRICES BENEFIT ONLY ONE RATHER SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE IN AMERICA.

Most economists agree.

They liken cheap gas to at least a $60 billion tax cut, most of which will get poured right back into the economy as consumers go out and spend it.

UNLIKE WALL STREET'S BIG NAMES WHO ARE TAKING THEIR HISTORICALLY HIGH TAX CUTS THAT CONGRESS JUST HANDED THEM AND CONTINUE MOVING THEIR COMPANIES OVERSEAS, ACROSS THE SOUTHERN BORDER, ANYWHERE BUT AMERICA.
THEY'LL BE SPENDING THEIR
$622 BILLION PERMANENT TAX CUT IN FOREIGN MARKETS, THANKS TO CONGRESS.

Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen also views it as a victory for Main Street.
"From the standpoint of the U.S. and U.S. outlook, the decline we've seen in oil prices is likely to be, on net, a positive," she said at a press conference last month.
"It's good for families, for households. It's putting more money in their pockets," she said.


ONLY THOSE FINANCIALLY TIED TO OIL COMPANIES ARE HURT BY LOW GAS PRICES.

"Shouldn't oil being down be a good thing for the economy and for the stock market?"
"It should be. I don't know about you but I love paying less for gas."Jeff Segelke with the Segelke Financial Group said.

If consumers are spending less on gas they can spend more on other things, like a nice toy or a night out on the town. That's more money being put into the economy, right?

Likewise, airlines are certainly spending less on fuel to get travelers where they need to be and retailers don't need to spend as much on gas in order to get products on their shelves, or delivered to customer."

"OIL SCORES BIGGEST ONE-DAY GAIN IN 7 YEARS!"

MAIN STREET LOSES, WALL STREET GAINS.

OPEC DANGLES THE GOLDEN CARROT BEFORE WALL STREET'S SILLY FACE.


“Cutting Opec production by 2.2 million barrels a day could see prices rising to $60-$70/barrel in less than two weeks,” said Mamdouh G. Salameh, an international oil economist based in London.  


GREAT NEWS...FOR WALL STREET, AT LEAST...OPEC IS SIGNALLING A CUT IN OIL PRODUCTION TO RAISE THE PRICE OF CRUDE, SO LOOK FORWARD TO HIGHER PRICES AT THE PUMP, HIGHER COST FOR EVERYTHING WE BUY AND HIGHER HEATING BILLS, AMERICA.

DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN OIL-PRODUCING NATIONS TO KEEP THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE AT UNDER 30 MILLION BARRELS A DAY?  
IS THAT REAL CAPITALISM?
IS THAT "KOSHER"?
SHOULD WE ALLOW THAT?


“It is OPEC’s responsibility since its members, and not US shale oil production, caused the glut in the market by producing 2.2 million barrel per day above their agreed production ceiling of 30 million barrel per day.
Production caps have since been removed following the last Opec meeting in November.


“Always remember that oil is like a coin: one side is economics and the other is geopolitics and these two sides are inseparable,” Salameh said.


OIL PRICES WILL SOAR AGAIN, CRUSH US AT THE PUMP AND IN EVERY OTHER WAY, BUT WALL STREET IS ABSOLUTELY JUBILANT!

NOT SO FAST!
WILL SAUDI ARABIA ALLOW THIS, REALLY?
PROBABLY NOT, AS WE WILL SOON SEE, AND SEE WHY.

MEANWHILE, WHAT AMERICANS FAIL TO SEE ABOUT OUR ECONOMY...

WHAT will it take for all Americans to just "get it"?

WALL STREET BIG NAMES ARE 100% DEDICATED TO MAKING SURE THE ONLY ONES WHO PROFIT IN AMERICA ARE BIG NAMES ON WALL STREET, AND EVEN THOSE WHO 'PLAY' THE 'LET'S TRADE STOCKS' GAME ARE OFTEN SCREWED-OVER BY THE 'STREET GANG' IF IT'S BETTER FOR THE BIG NAMES TO DO SO.


It doesn't lie within the old White House to make or break the American economy, it lies with Wall Street, the wheeler-dealer supreme, where not only fortunes are made and lost, but where our economic stability counts on the actions of our mega-corporations, the banks who finance them, and those who gamble on what the 'Street' and their banking pals will do.


Have you seen the recent "viral" video of the Carrier exec telling employees that Carrier will be moving their 2,100 jobs to Mexico?

Did the Wall Street Journal once in its article about that say "Shame on you, Carrier!"
NO.
"It's just good business."

Good for BUSINESS, lousy for American workers and the overall American economy, as it applies to "Average Citizen".

THANKS TO NAFTA, ANOTHER AMERICAN CORPORATION MOVES SOUTH...
 

Who wanted NAFTA?
America's BIG corporations did, so they could hop across a few borders and pay low, low wages to foreign workers and operate at lower cost, making bigger profits, escaping shelling out mega-billions that they had to pay here, in America. 

It's been "So long, suckers!" ever since.


WHO ELSE LIKED NAFTA?
Those who profit in the stock market when Wall Street profits.


Did the corporations or those who play in the market give a tinker's earthen dam if that meant the overall American economy tanked further?
Of course not! 

Profits always come first...that's just "good business", right?

Get those profits, laugh all the way to the bank, and let the American workers lose more jobs AND pay more for everything that the now-jobless AMERICAN workers USED to help create.


The Boyz on the "Street" have been whining and crying in their Dom Perignons ever since the rest of us caught a break from high oil/gas prices.

They've begged and pleaded with OPEC and with our American oil producers to cut back on production, EVEN THOUGH it surely meant lower costs for them in shipping and even manufacturing consumer goods when oil went lower.

WHY BEG FOR HIGHER OIL/GAS PRICES?

Because companies who pump oil got too greedy and make bad moves and so made other companies who dealt with them 'nervous'?
Because the banks who finance Wall Street got a little hysterical over the few really BIG oil companies defaulting on a few loans?

Or was it because non-oil companies had NO EXCUSE for raising prices on those goods while oil/gas prices kept falling?
They could no longer plead "high energy costs have to be passed on to the consumers, sorry, blame oil companies".


They never LOWERED prices for US, did they?
Weren't millions of Americans noticing that all over the internet, calling out the big companies for gouging us STILL?

When a gallon of gas dropped from almost $5.00 a gallon to under $2.00 a gallon, why DIDN'T we see lower prices elsewhere to match that drop?

QUICK! GET OUT OF TOWN SO WE CAN CLAIM IMPORTING GOODS MEANS HIGHER PRICES!

How long until ALL American companies move across our borders in order to FURTHER increase their profits?
After all, their favorite whores up on old Capitol Hill just LOVE to pass bills to subsidize those moves away from the USA, and Congress just handed Wall Street's finest a tax-break package and a waiver of other fees that left a huge hole in the government's revenue from the biggest names with the highest profits.

Helping out Wall Street just cost us taxpayers billions, as WE, THE PEOPLE will have to pay in what Wall Street now avoids paying out.  

Wall Street wanted it, Congress forked it over, time and time again.
After all, it IS a major election year...piss Wall Street off now and NO campaign chest loot!  

So, your elected ones painted and perfumed-up and delivered what their Wall Street johns love best... lower taxes, lower import fees, lower cost to MOVE OUT of America!

"HOW RUSSIA AND OPEC COULD SAVE THE OIL INDUSTRY FROM ITSELF" 


 SHOULD THE OIL INDUSTRY BE SAVED FROM ITSELF?
NOBODY SAVES US 'LOWLY' AMERICAN CITIZENS FROM OURSELVES WHEN WE MAKE A BAD GAMBLE, CHOOSE A WRONG PATH, SCREW-UP.

NO CONGRESSMAN PUSHES THROUGH A "BILL" TO BAIL-OUT LITTLE 'MOM-AND-POP' BUSINESSES THAT START SINKING OR FAIL. 

WHY SAVE OIL COMPANIES WHO HAVE DONE THAT? 

IF WE LOSE OUR JOBS, WHO RUSHES IN TO BAIL US OUT, PAY OUR LOANS, MAKE PAYMENTS ON OUR CREDIT CARDS?

NOBODY!



NEVER COUNT CHICKENS BEFORE THEY HATCH...

WELL, THE HOUSE OF SAUD HAS ALWAYS BEEN FULL OF SURPRISES AND MAY SURPRISE AGAIN. 

THEY'RE STILL ENGAGED IN OBLITERATING YEMEN, HAVE PROMISED TO SEND TROOPS (MERCENARIES) TO SYRIA, SO IF CUTTING OIL PRODUCTION MEANS TOO MUCH LOSS OF REVENUE....WELL...


"Saudi oil strategy has four objectives.

The first
is defending its market share against Opec rivals like Iraq and Iran and non-Opec rivals like Russia and U.S. shale oil.

The second is pre-empting Iraq’s and Iran’s future demand for bigger production quotas within Opec. This can only be achieved if Saudi Arabia reduced its own production to accommodate Iran & Iraq, something the Saudis refuse to do,” Salameh said.

The third objective is waging an oil war to undermine Iran’s economy in its undeclared war on Iran because of its nuclear programme and its involvement in Syria.

The fourth objective is to slow down if not undermine US shale oil production,” he added.


THE WORLD IS SICK OF OIL AND OF BEING DICTATED TO BY THOSE WHO BRING IT OUT OF THE GROUND.
IT'S A NASTY BUSINESS IN TOO MANY WAYS.
ACROSS THE GLOBE, NATIONS AND THEIR CITIZENS ARE SEEING A BETTER, CLEANER WAY THAN OIL AND GAS, COAL AND NUKES. 
EVEN THE CURSED U.N. IS SCREAMING FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, AND THE U.S. SIGNED UP FOR THAT.


“The world is realising now that high dependence on oil is withdrawing,” said Ahmad Al Najjar, a Cairo-based economist. 


“Now, the biggest car companies are making electric cars … also, the electrical power production from solar energy is becoming more and more of a moderate cost.”  

SO WHY, IN THE NAME OF LOGIC,  DOES THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, CONGRESS RUSH TO BAIL-OUT WALL STREET OIL COMPANIES WHO SCREW-UP TO THE TUNE OF BILLIONS, OR TRILLIONS LIKE IN THE LAST BAIL-OUT IN 2007-2008?

AFTER ALL, WHEN THE SMOKE CLEARED AFTER THE "GREAT DEPRESSION" MANY EXPERTS SAID IT WAS A GOOD CLEANSING, THAT AMERICAN BUSINESS AND BANKS HAD LEARNED SOME SERIOUS LESSONS.

THE HELL THEY DID, BUT WE DID, JOE AND JANE CITIZEN LEARNED PLENTY!


 THEN, WE OBVIOUSLY FORGOT THOSE HARD LESSONS.
WE ACCEPTED BEING DUMBED-DOWN, ACCEPTED WITHOUT QUESTIONING WHATEVER WE WERE TOLD TO ACCEPT.

"Financial experts" websites like 'Barron's' are so obviously of an elitist, "let 'em eat cake" mentality that I often literally throw up when reading on any of them.

Barron's recent whine about the cost to America of "social welfare programs" like, well, Social Security and Medicare, and pointing at the "new" taxes, while totally ignoring the billions in lost Federal revenue because of cuts in taxes Congress just gave to corporations and the Top 2%, either proves there is NO intelligent life writing articles there or doing research for their "analysis" , their "expert opinion" or it proves that, just like Wall Street and Congress, they loathe all who are not exactly like they are and berate all who don't hold the same self-blinding, egocentric opinions that they hold.  

MEDICAID AND FOOD ASSISTANT PROGRAMS ARE THE "SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAMS", NOT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE.

WHY DON'T THE UNINFORMED OR OUTRIGHT STUPID WHO WHINE AND POINT AT SOCIAL SECURITY/MEDICARE AS A BANE TO THE ECONOMY EVER EXPOUND ON WHAT THE AMERICAN ECONOMY WOULD BE LIKE WITHOUT THE ENORMOUS PAYMENTS INTO THOSE "SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAMS"?

WHY DON'T ANY OF THE WEBSITES LIKE BARRON'S THAT ARE THERE MERELY TO STROKE CLIENTS, WALL STREET AND STOCKHOLDERS, TELL US ABOUT THE ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF "WELFARE" EVERY BIG BUSINESS IN AMERICA IS GETTING HANDED EACH YEAR?

WHAT THE FEDS HAND OUT AS FEDERAL AID TO BIG BUSINESS IS WAY MORE THAN EVERY COST TO RUN MEDICAID AND THE FOOD ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.

SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFICIARIES CAN NEVER DREAM TO GET WHAT CORPORATE CEOs GET FROM THE FEDS. 
 

THE FEDS SURELY WON'T BE BUYING US "OLD FOLKS" ANY PLANE TICKETS IF WE WANT TO GO SET UP SHOP IN SOME FOREIGN NATION.

AND THEY DAMNED SURE ARE NOT GOING TO BE SUBSIDIZING US FOR A PRIVATE JET, A SECOND HOME!

CAN ANYBODY REALLY BE THAT DUMB THAT THEY CAN'T JUST PULL UP THE FACTS AND SEE WHO GETS THE REAL 'WELFARE', WHO GETS ALL THE TAX BREAKS?


#1...SINCE "PAYROLL TAXES" WERE CREATED, PAST AND CURRENT GENERATIONS OF AMERICAN WORKERS HAVE PAID IN, AS IN ADDED TO THE FEDERAL REVENUE, AS IN HANDED OVER,  $71.3 TRILLION, YES, TRILLION, MEANING THAT EACH YEAR THAT WAS PAID, THE FEDS RAKED IN A HELLUVA LOT OF LOOT.

"For an average-wage-earning, two-income couple turning 65 in 2010, the pay-in, pay-out ratio for Social Security by itself will actually be slightly negative —- the couple will have paid $600,000 in lifetime Social Security taxes and will receive only $579,000** in lifetime Social Security benefits."

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!
MISSING DATA!


HOW LONG DO PEOPLE LIVE AFTER THEY RETIRE?
HOW MANY PEOPLE DIE BEFORE THEY GET PAID ONE RED CENT OF 'SOCIAL SECURITY'?

EVEN IF EVERYONE COULD RETIRE AT 65 AND DRAW "FULL BENEFITS" (WHICH THEY CAN'T DO), THE AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY IN AMERICA IS ONLY 78.7 YEARS.

SO, THAT COUPLE WHO PAID IN $600,000...IF THEY EACH LIVE ANOTHER 14 YEARS, JUST HOW MUCH WILL THEY GET PAID?



Here are the annual Social Security benefits (in 2012 dollars) for some people who retired at 65 in 2010, based on different working life scenarios:

Single male, average wage: $17,900
Single female, average wage: $17,900

One-income couple, average wage: $26,900
(the wife never worked but draws a small part of her husband's benefits)

Two-income couple, average wage/low wage: $31,000

Two-income couple, both average wage: $35,800

Two-income couple, high wage/average wage: $45,000

[Source: Urban Institute]


STAND BACK, WE'RE GOING TO DO MATH!

TAKING THE LOWEST BENEFITS (one income couple), if that pair both live another 14 years, the MOST they will "draw" is $376,600.

TAKING THE 'AVERAGE' WAGE COUPLE WHO BOTH EARNED AN AVERAGE WAGE AND SO PAID IN MORE, IF THEY BOTH LIVE ANOTHER 14 YEARS TO COLLECT BENEFITS, THAT WILL TRANSLATE TO $501,200.
NOT $579,000**, BUT $501,000.

IT DOES NOT END THERE WITH FLAWED, MANIPULATED DATA.

IT DOES NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT MANY WHO PAID INTO SOCIAL SECURITY DIED LONG BEFORE THEY DREW OUT A DIME.
AMERICAN LIFE EXPECTANCY WAS NOT ALWAYS 78.6 YEARS.
IT WAS MUCH LOWER.


"Life expectancy at birth in 1930 was only 58 for men and 62 for women, and the retirement age was 65.

IN THE 1940s, LIFE EXPECTANCY ACTUALLY DROPPED TO 53.9 YEARS FOR MEN AND 60.6 YEARS FOR WOMEN.
OTHER STATS CAN BE SEEN IN THE TABLE BELOW, IN WHICH MALE LIFE EXPECTANCY IS LISTED FIRST FOR EACH DECADE
, THEN FOR FEMALES, THEN, AFTER THAT, HOW MANY YEARS EACH WAS LIVING, ON AVERAGE, IS LISTED, AGAIN, WITH MALES FIRST AND FEMALES NEXT.

HOW LONG DOES "AVERAGE JOE" ACTUALLY LIVE NOW, ON AVERAGE,  AFTER HE RETIRES AT THAT "MAGIC" AGE OF 65?  
ONLY  2.6 YEARS LONGER THAN IN 1930.
WHAT ARE THE ACTUAL NUMBER OF YEARS "AVERAGE JOE" CAN HOPE TO COLLECT THOSE 'BENEFITS'?
15 YEARS, IF HE'S BLESSED WITH GOOD HEALTH?

SOCIAL SECURITY ITSELF HAS BEEN KEEPING TRACK OF THAT SINCE THE 1940s AND THINGS HAVE JUST NOT IMPROVED FOR OLD "AVERAGE JOE", HAVE THEY?

1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
53.9
56.2
60.1
63.7
67.8
72.3
60.6
65.5
71.3
76.9
80.9
83.6
12.7
13.1
13.2
13.8
14.6
15.3
14.7
16.2
17.4
18.6
19.1
19.6

[SOURCE: SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION.]

WHERE WOULD AMERICA BE WITHOUT THAT "PAYROLL TAX"? 
PAYROLL TAX IS THE SECOND LARGEST SOURCE OF INCOME FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, TRAILING INCOME TAX REVENUE BY A VERY SLIM 2%. 

DID RETIREES PAY INCOME TAX?
DO MANY CONTINUE TO PAY INCOME TAX?
DO RETIREES PAY SALES TAX?
THE ANSWER IS YES, YES, YES TO ALL THREE QUESTIONS.


OTHER DATA NOT INCLUDED IN THE 'POLITIFACTS' OR BARRON'S ARTICLE?

ALL SHOWN DATA COUNTS 22 YEARS OLD AS WHEN PEOPLE START WORK.
NO, MANY MILLIONS BEGAN WORKING 4 OR 5 YEARS BEFORE THAT AGE.
THEY DON'T ADD THE PART-TIME WORKERS, SCHOOL KIDS WITH JOBS THAT TAX THEM JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
ALSO MISSING, THE NUMBER OF AMERICANS WHO KEEP WORKING PAST RETIREMENT AGE AND KEEP RIGHT ON PAYING INTO SOCIAL SECURITY/MEDICARE.

ALSO MISSING, THE UNKNOWN, BUT LARGE, NUMBER OF RETIREES WHO EITHER DO NOT SEE A DOCTOR EVERY MONTH, WHO NEVER HAVE AN MRI, A CT SCAN, AN XRAY, WHO DO NOT TAKE A HANDFUL OF PRESCRIPTIONS DRUGS EACH DAY, OR WHO NEVER HAVE A SINGLE SURGERY, AND WHO HAVE SUPPLEMENTAL INSURANCE THAT PICKS UP THE TAB ON MANY PROCEDURES THAT MEDICARE WON'T OR DOESN'T PAY FOR.

ADD AS WELL THAT ALL WHO "ENJOY" MEDICARE "BENEFITS" PAY FOR HAVING MEDICARE WHEN THAT FEE IS DEDUCTED FROM THOSE MEAGER "BENEFITS" BEFORE THEY GET THE MONTHLY CHECK FROM SOCIAL SECURITY.

RETIREES ARE STILL PAYING INTO MEDICARE AND THAT COST JUST WENT UP...AGAIN.




#2, COMPARED TO ANY/ALL MEAGER TAX BREAKS ANY AVERAGE INDIVIDUAL MAY GET, BIG CORPORATIONS GET UP TO HUNDREDS MORE.

PLEASE LOOK AT HOW MUCH TAX AMERICAN CORPORATIONS CONTRIBUTE TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

"Revenue from the corporate income tax FELL from between 5 and 6 percent of GDP in the early 1950s to 1.3 percent of GDP in 2010.
Excise taxes FELL STEADILY throughout the same period, from nearly 3 percent of GDP in 1950 to 0.5 percent in recent years.  

 In contrast, payroll taxes provided two-fifths of revenue in 2010, four times its one-tenth share in the early 1950s."

WHILE TAX HAS STEADILY INCREASED FOR MIDDLE CLASS AMERICANS, NOT SO FOR THE TOP 2% AND CORPORATIONS.

NOW LETS LOOK AT #3, FEDERAL SUBSIDIES/BENEFITS PAID TO CORPORATIONS...

PREPARE TO BE ASTOUNDED.

FORBES, SOMEHOW, LET AN ARTICLE APPEAR IN MARCH OF 2014 ABOUT THE "OUTRAGE OF CORPORATE WELFARE"...YEAH, FORBES CALLED IT CORPORATE WELFARE.

"Three-quarters of all state economic development subsidies went to just 965 corporations since the beginning of the study in 1976.
The Fortune 500 corporations alone accounted for more than 16,000 subsidy awards, worth $63 billion – mostly in the form of tax breaks.

Think about that. The largest, wealthiest, most powerful organizations in the world are on the public dole."

HUFFINGTON POST ALSO SEEMED ANGRY ABOUT HOW WE "SUBSIDIZE" AND SHELL-OUT TO COMPANIES WHO POST GAINS EVERY QUARTER. 

MARCH, 2014

"10 EXAMPLES OF WELFARE FOR THE RICH AND CORPORATIONS"


"Here are the top 10 examples of corporate welfare and welfare for the rich. There are actually thousands of tax breaks and subsidies for the rich and corporations provided by federal, state and local governments, but these 10 will give a taste.

1. State and local subsidies to corporations:
An excellent New York Times study by Louise Story calculated that state and local government provide at least $80 billion in subsidies to corporations. Over 48 big corporations received over $100 million each. GM was the biggest, at a total of $1.7 billion extracted from 16 different states, but Shell, Ford and Chrysler all received over $1 billion each. Amazon, Microsoft, Prudential, Boeing and casino companies in Colorado and New Jersey received well over $200 million each.

2. Direct federal subsidies to corporations: The Cato Institute estimates that federal subsidies to corporations cost taxpayers almost $100 billion every year.

3. Federal tax breaks for corporations:
The tax code gives corporations special tax breaks that have reduced what is supposed to be a 35-percent tax rate to an actual tax rate of 13 percent, saving these corporations an additional $200 billion annually, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
 4. Federal tax breaks for wealthy hedge fund managers: Special tax breaks for hedge fund managers allow them to pay only a 15-percent rate while the people they earned the money for usually pay a 35-percent rate. This is the break where the multimillionaire manager pays less of a percentage in taxes than her secretary. 
The National Priorities Project estimates this costs taxpayers $83 billion annually, and 68 percent of those who receive this special tax break earn more than $462,500 per year (the top 1 percent of earners).
 5. Subsidies to the fast food industry:
Research by the University of Illinois and UC Berkeley documents that taxpayers pay about $243 billion each year in indirect subsidies to the fast food industry because they pay wages so low that taxpayers must put up $243 billion to pay for public benefits for their workers.
6. Mortgage deduction: The home mortgage deduction, which costs taxpayers $70 billion per year, is a huge subsidy to the real estate, banking and construction industries. The Center of Budget and Policy Priorities estimated that 77 percent of the benefit goes to homeowners with incomes over $100,000 per year.
 7. The billions above do not even count the government bailout of Wall Street, while all parties have done their utmost to tell the public that they did not need it, that they paid it back, or that it was a great investment.  
The Atlantic Monthly estimates that $7.6 trillion was made available by the Federal Reserve to banks, financial firms and investors. 
The Cato Institute estimates (using government figures) the final costs at $32 to $68 billion, not including the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which alone cost more than $180 billion.
 8. Each major piece of legislation contains new welfare for the rich and corporations. The Boston Globe analyzed the emergency tax legislation passed by Congress in early 2013 and found it contained 43 business and energy tax breaks, together worth $67 billion.
 9. Huge corporations that engage in criminal or other wrongful activities protect their leaders from being prosecuted by paying huge fees or fines to the government. You and I would be prosecuted. These corporations protect their bosses by paying off the government. For example, Reuters reported that JPMorgan Chase, which made a preliminary $13-billion mortgage settlement with the U.S. government, is allowed to write off a majority of the deal as tax deductible, saving the corporation $4 billion.
10. There are thousands of smaller special breaks for corporations and businesses out there.
There is a special subsidy for corporate jets, which cost taxpayers $3 billion a year.

The tax deduction for second homes costs $8 billion a year.

Fifty billionaires received taxpayer-funded farm subsidies in the past 20 years.


If you want to look at the welfare for the rich and corporations, start with the federal Internal Revenue Code. 
That is the King James Bible of welfare for the rich and corporations.

Special breaks in the tax code are the reason that there are thousands of lobbyists in the halls of Congress, hundreds of lobbyists around each state legislature and tens of thousands of tax lawyers all over the country."



WHEN WE ADD ALL THE NUMBERS TOGETHER, WHEN WE UNDERSTAND THAT "SOCIAL WELFARE" (MEDICAID AND FOOD AID) IS COSTING AMERICAN TAXPAYERS ABOUT HALF OF WHAT CORPORATE WELFARE COSTS US,
WHEN WE GO AND "LOOK AT THE BOOKS" THE FEDS KEEP AND SEE THAT "LOANS" WERE MADE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, TO EVERY OTHER FEDERAL "DEPARTMENT" OUT OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY FUND, THEN MAYBE WE WILL START SCREAMING AS LOUDLY FOR CORPORATE WELFARE KINGS TO BE TAKEN OFF THE WELFARE ROLLS AS WE SCREAM ABOUT FREE LUNCHES FOR POOR KIDS.

WE CAN ACCEPT WHAT WE'RE TOLD TO ACCEPT, OR WE CAN GO FIND THE FACTS FOR OURSELVES. 
WITH OIL PRICES LOW, Main Street has more to gain than Wall Street has to lose.

"There are going to be winners and losers ... if you're holding a lot of energy stocks or energy bonds in your portfolio, that's going to be a major hit," said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont. "But on balance, the lower oil prices go, the better it is for the economy."

THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE POOR CONTINUALLY  PAY FOR THAT, AS DO WE ALL WHO ARE NOT IN THAT CORPORATE WORLD AND NOT IN THE TOP 2%.

LIKE HUFF POST SAID, THIS IS THE MERE TIP OF THE ICEBERG.
IT JUST GETS WORSE EACH YEAR.


TO SEE SOME OF THE LATEST BIG MOOCHERS AND HOW MUCH YOU GAVE THEM, YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO GO HERE:
http://www.progress.org/banneker/cw.html


EVEN THE ABOMINATION KNOWN AS THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION RECENTLY SLAPPED AMERICA FOR ITS CORPORATE WELFARE!
IMAGINE THAT!

"'The World Trade Organisation confirms that a $4bn export subsidy programme for some of America’s best known companies violates global trade rules.
A WTO rejection of the US appeal against an earlier judgment in favour of the European Union will pave the way for Brussels to slap up to $4bn in retaliatory sanctions on US goods, a move which Washington has described  as a 'nuclear weapon'.'" 
That $7.6 trillion the federal reserve used to bail out Wall Street in 2008 was almost $2 trillion more than our NATIONAL debt!

The Export-Import Bank Is Corporate Welfare At Its Worst 

"'This country has a  $6 trillion national debt, a growing deficit and is borrowing money from the Social Security Trust Fund in order to fund government services.
We can no longer afford to provide over $125 billion every year in corporate welfare.
Over 80% of the subsidies distributed by the Export-Import Bank goes to Fortune 500 corporations. 



WHEN GAS PRICES HIT THE $3.00 MARK AGAIN, WE WILL LIKELY ALL WHINE A BIT...WHEN IT HITS $4.OO A GALLON, SOME WILL SCREAM, BUT WHEN IT HITS $5.00 A GALLON, WE WILL SIMPLY PAY THE PRICE FOR A GALLON OF GAS.

THEN WE'LL JUST SIMPLY PAY MUCH HIGHER PRICES FOR FOOD, FOR CONSUMER GOODS, FOR EVERYTHING BEING MADE IN SOME OTHER NATION WHILE UNEMPLOYMENT AGAIN BEGINS TO GROW.

WE SHOULD HAVE LEARNED FROM THE GREAT DEPRESSION, BUT IF WE DID, HOW COULD WE HAVE FORGOTTEN THOSE LESSONS?


AND WALL STREET BIG NAMES?
THEY'LL JUST LAUGH ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK. 


 "Thanks to federal subsidies from taxpayers like you, CEO’s like G. Allen Andreas of Archer Daniels Midland was able to take home almost $14 million in executive compensation last year.
But he’s one of the lucky ones.

There are still corporations out there that actually have to provide goods and services to their consumers in order to survive. They need your help.

For just $93 billion a year the federal government is able to provide a better life for these CEO’s and their families.

That’s less than the cost of 240 million cups of coffee a day.

Won’t you help a needy corporation today?"
 The BIGGEST PIGS AT THE GOVERNMENT TROUGH need your help.
OVER AND OVER AGAIN, WE'VE ALL SAT AND WATCHED WALL STREET BE REWARDED FOR MAKING BAD BUSINESS DECISIONS AND COMMITTING CORPORATE CRIMES.
NO MATTER HOW MISERABLY BIG BUSINESS FAILS, UNCLE SAM AND THE FEDERAL RESERVE ELECT TO PRINT MORE FAKE MONEY AND BAIL THE FAT CATS OUT.

'BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER' AND THAT HAS MADE WALL STREET AND CONGRESS ETERNAL BEDFELLOWS.
IT'S A "SUPER LEAGUE" OF THE DISHONORABLE, A PERFECT UNION OF CROOKS AND LIARS. 

WALL STREET IS NOT ALLOWED TO CRUMBLE.
SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY ARE SEEN AS THE GREAT OVERLORDS DO AMERICANS NOT ONLY ALLOW BAIL-OUTS BUT PAY FOR THEM OUT OF SOME VERY TATTERED POCKETS. 

CERTAIN POLITICIANS ARE VERY VOCAL ABOUT "ENDING SOCIAL WELFARE", BUT GUNG-HO TO FORK OVER EVER-INCREASING WELFARE TO MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR COMPANIES.

ANYTHING FOR THE MASTERS.
EVERYTHING FOR THE MASTERS.

SINK THE NATION INTO UNPAYABLE DEBT, BUT SAVE THE PIRATES OF WALL STREET.

HERE WE GO AGAIN, CITIZENS.
ROB YOUR CHILDREN'S PIGGY BANK...WALL STREET WINS AGAIN.








______________________________________


MORE INFO:

~CORPORATE SUBSIDY TRACKER, WHICH COMPANIES GET HOW MUCH
Just enter a company's name and up come the stats.


~A new report tallies federal grants and tax credits across more than 100 different programs.
http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/terrorism-risk-insurance-act-time-end-corporate-welfare

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