Sunday, April 3, 2011

GE Pays No Taxes on $14 Billion Income (?!)




Yes, it's true and I'm sure most people here have already heard about this. To me, it's one more indication that the corporate power of multinational entities over the federal government--through lobbyist and advisors in the White House cabinets of both major political parties in the USA---can hardly be overestimated on economic matters.

Some business groups complain that the US tax code has a top corporate rate of thirty-five percent and that's too high. OK, that's a debatable point and good people can disagree on this.

But for GE, that made an estimated 5 billion dollars last year in the USA alone, to pay no taxes? And to be subsidized by $3.2 billion?

This while our public schools have to cut back and our public universities increase tuition? This while our seniors are threatened by the Congress with cuts in Medicare? This while we are in such debt to foreign banks the government itself could shut down?

This is the sort of thing that might make reasonable people interested in civic affairs a tad cynical.

12 comments:

  1. There is so much one could say about this as there was a special on last night where things such as this was being mentioned and it was on that Jan Behar show. This again is the same old thing Doug one that there is that special entitlement. I don't think it's fair ball and so many had large hopes with this President. Yet what has changed. I have to say that I admire Ford within all this economic arena. As here is a company that never rendered special privy and did make things work. Without the needs of areas such as this. It does go to show that there there are something that are not any different than they were before. It's truly a pity.

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  2. Corporations are now people, Doug. We should not be surprised at anything which follows.

    Increasingly; I'm convinced it's time to start looking for the exits....

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  3. No surprises there Doug, General Electric are a major arms manufacturer which is of course right up Mr Obama's street, he's not going to penalise US arms producers when he only exists to pursue imperialist wars - particularly upon the continent of Africa (e.g.. Libya) that cannot be described by any dissenters as "racist".

    GE are big players in the corporate new world order scam, so obviously if you run with the Mob somebody else has to pay, enter the US taxpayer who is subsidising the whole shooting match with public funds magically transformed into private profits by the alchemists of Greater Bilderbergia who are busy at the Fed.

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  4. Well...........GE CEO, Jeff Immelt sits as chair of President Obama's Council on Jobs & Competitiveness. Go figure.

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  5. That's a good point about the automaker, Jack. At least in its modern incarnation, Ford Motor is rare bird that pays some taxes to the government that builds the roads their products rn on and didn't need a taxpayer bail-out this last time out.

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  6. No, it's increasingly harder to be surprised, Will, but, in my case at least, it still happens.

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  7. Some of those "busy at the Fed" were not so busy warning us about the financial meltdowns of the huge Wall Street banks, AA. This is what comes from having a revolving door between Wall Street and Washington, DC. (And many other companies like GE as well.)

    We've seen private losses made up with public money with the banksters holding a gun to the head of the government and the taxpayer. I guess now we see the handiwok of GE, Lockheed-Martin, Haliburton, et al, working a variant on the same old money and power game.

    So much for the myth of progress.

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  8. Yes, that's a letdown, Lucija. When it comes to macro-economic hegemony over the public good, it doesn't seem to matter which party is in the White House.

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  9. "Iacta alea est"
    I also believe that we've been a Plutocracy much longer than many people realize.

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  10. It seems that way, more so in the past thirty years then even was "normal" before.

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  11. I read, (& possibly heard via online video), a brilliant definition of a Plutocracy by Noam Chomsky. I'll post the link if I can find it. I think it's past time that Americans realize we are NOT a democracy. Yet we have attempted to shove 'our' democracy down the throats of other countries...so sad.

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  12. I'd really hope you find the link, Lucija.

    Suffice to say these are times where American ideals and our social reality are at high variance.

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