Tax Time for Some and Not Others

The Bernie Sanders Ten, per release....

1) Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009. Exxon not only paid no federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to its SEC filings.

2) Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.

3) Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.

4) Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year after it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.

5) Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.

6) Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.

7) Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.

8) Citigroup last year made more than $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes. It received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury.

9) ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, but received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.

10) Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made more than $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent. - Chicago Sun Times

Just saying. Big business really needs a tax cut to create jobs. Nobody said where they would create them though did they? Like this on Facebook to speak loud and clear on the bullshit that is trickle down taxes. Big business pays less so that you can pay more. It works if you are a Republican! We all should endorse this plan of corporations making billions and paying little if no taxes to make more jobs anywhere but here in America because it is the right thing to do... NOT!

If you think it is wrong that big corporations pay little or no taxes and yet make billions of dollars in profits then please "LIKE" this and pass it on to everyone you know on Facebook!!!! Maybe we could balance the federal budget if everyone was on the same playing field! There is no common sense in this form of taxation. NONE!

Papamoka

Derivative Bank Reform

The financial institutions of this country are in a shambles due to poor choices by the nations banking institutions. If you look at small town banks that invest in the local community then you don’t see a problem. When you look at nationwide banks then you see a problem simply because they forgot the original mission of the bank. Sitting on a large pile of cash, yours and mine, they figured it was okay to gamble with it on Wall Street using one tool called derivatives.

What is a derivative you might ask yourself? It is for all intents and purposes a lottery ticket, a throw at the craps table, or a bet. By definition according to Wikipidia…

“A derivative is a financial instrument (or more simply, an agreement between two people/two parties) that has a value determined by the future price of something else. Derivatives can be thought of as bets on the price of something. Suppose you bet with your friend on the price of a bushel of corn. If the price in one year is less than $3 your friend pays you $1. If the price is more than $3 you pay your friend $1. Thus, the underlying in the agreement is the price of corn and the value of the agreement to you depends on that underlying.”

Republican opposition to such reform is outlandish in the face of so many banks that needed the Treasury to bail them out of the financial mess they were in. Banks became lazy and greedy for ever growing easier profits from Wall Street rather than focusing on the business model they started with. Greed lead to more greed and greater risk to not only the bank but individual account holders and that was the downfall of many of the institutions that Republican leaders wanted to not bail out to begin with? Which way do the Republican’s want the pendulum to swing? Our nation is at a catch 22 with some of the biggest banks and financial institutions; if they fail, they will take the nation down with them. We bailed them out when they went to Vegas and now it is time to tell those same banks that they have a gambling problem. It is called and intervention to prevent future bail outs!

Is common sense dead over on the right side of the aisle? If banking institutions are going to belly up to the bar for bailout money because greed superseded simple banking business rule of thumb, then they need big brother telling them that playing the lottery with other peoples money is not going to happen. Quarterly profits should not override common sense when it comes to banking institutions.

Is your bank playing with derivatives? If so, are you sure the check for your electric bill is going to be paid? That is the common sense behind bank reform. Protecting you and the money you deposit into the bank.

Papamoka